Voogt Family Christmas

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with all of the Voogts.  We started the party with egg nog, cookies and the Christmas story (the birth of Jesus), followed by a couple Christmas songs.  Rebecca is not a fan of singing in a group.  So she wouldn't join in.  And she was adamant that Mommy not sing either.  But she sang plenty of solos for everyone the last couple days :)  Then we opened presents.  Everyone got great gifts and we are thankful for a generous family.  Rebecca loves her little piggy bank (thanks Uncle Kevin!!).  She likes to put coins in.  She will also have tons of fun with her cupcake set, Little People farm, pots and pans, books and balls.

After presents we had a yummy dinner of ham, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, beans, fresh fruit salad and rolls.  Once dinner was cleaned up we enjoyed peppermint stick buster bars for dessert.

We spent a little more time visiting before Justin's siblings had to be on their way.

We had a fun time celebrating with family.  We will be saying goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma this morning.  Rebecca will be sad about that.  She has had a blast with them here for a few days.

We look forward to our last two Christmas celebrations on Saturday and Sunday.

19 weeks 2 days...Ultrasound!

We had our 20 week u/s this morning.  The baby looks great!  He/she is in the 90th% for size and was moving all over the place.  We are looking forward to welcoming this little one into our family on May 6, 2011.  Here are a few pictures of the baby's acrobatics. The first one shows the legs up by the face.  You can see the hands/arms well in the other two.

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we had our first of several Christmas celebrations.  We celebrated as a family.  It was fun to relax and spend time as a family.  Rebecca was so excited to open her presents this year.  Although she was still a little hesitant at first when it came to actually tearing off the paper.  We all got some wonderful gifts and feel very blessed.

Today we will get our 2nd celebration...our ultrasound to see the baby.  We are all beyond excited.

Grandma and Grandpa Voogt will be here tomorrow.  The Voogt party will be Wed.  Saturday we'll be celebrating with the Van Heukelums. And Sunday we'll be celebrating with the Hollebooms.  Lots of fun, family and food.

Rebecca got some really fun presents yesterday: a princess puzzle, princess tic-tac-toe, Toy Story Memory, a Dora jump rope, a baby Belle doll, a castle building set, finger paint, a wedding Barbie set (with bride, groom, flower girl and jr. bridesmaid), a play stand mixer, 2 matchbox cars, strawberry shortcake and orange blossom dolls and a doll house!  The doll house was the big finale :)  Rebecca wanted to play with it the rest of the night.  I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time upstairs playing from now on (it's in her bedroom).  She also really loves her stand mixer.  She got to work baking cookies as soon as she opened it :)

Mommy and Daddy got some fun gifts too, including sewing gadgets, cloth diapers, sprouting lids, clothes, books and a djembe drum!  That was Justin's big surprise this year.  Now there will be even more dancing and music in the house :)  Rebecca already likes to play the drum while singing the ABC's (video to come).

We had a wonderful day celebrating as a family yesterday.  And we are looking forward to celebrating with the rest of our family over the next week.  Be sure to check out the photo album for pictures.

And just as a little update on other things Rebecca has been up to lately...she is very into reading her Bible.  Her favorite story is David and Goliath.  She likes to be Goliath :)  She got all dressed up in her bronze coat of armor, helmet, sword, spear and shield the other day.  And Paul (her monkey) is usually David.  He carries a little shepherd's bag with "stones.  Another favorite is to take the kitchen dish towels and smack them on the floor...she says she's Elijah hitting his coat on the Jordan River to make the waters part :)  I even heard her the other day saying she was walking on water.  Ahhh, the faith of a child.

Rebecca has also been trying to imitate Mommy more lately.  She decided that she was going to put on her own makeup.

Rebecca is making great progress with potty training.  She wears underwear most of the time.  And stays dry most of the time.  She is very proud of herself and likes becoming more and more independant.  She is really looking forward to trying out her big girl bed next month.

We feel so blessed to have our little girl and a brother or sister on the way (a sister if you ask Rebecca:).  God is good.  Merry Christmas.

The Tree is Up...And A Baby Bump, Bump, Bump

Music, Dinner and Gymnastics

On Sunday afternoon we went to East Lansing to the Wharton Center to see a musical for children.  It was based on a variety of children's books.  We met Mary's brother, SIL and nephew there.  Both Carson and Rebecca loved the show!  We were impressed with how well they sat through the whole thing.  Rebecca especially loved the Fancy Nancy part, of course :)  Carson and Rebecca both made crowns that they wore the entire evening.  And they had a blast spending time together.

After the show we went to Bravo! for dinner.  Carson and Rebecca both ordered pizza.  And got enough for almost the whole table to share :P  I think they each at one piece of their gigantic pizzas.  They were more concerned with being loud and silly than they were with eating.

It was great to spend a little time with Kevin, Sara and Carson.  Rebecca can't wait for Christmas so that Carson can come to our house and play with her toys :)

Monday was Rebecca's first day of gymnastics.  We decided to sign her up since she is so energetic.  It will be a great way to keep her active in the winter.  It is a Christian facility that also focuses on education.  We learn a letter every week and do things related to it.  They actually have a full preschool there.  Rebecca was so excited to wear her new leotard.  And she couldn't wait to "do gymnastics."  Of course her favorite part is the trampoline (wondering now if we should have bought her a small one for Christmas :P).  But she loved all of it.  She got to try so many different things already the first day.  She asks every day if we can go again.  We've been practicing our stretching, somersaults and rolling every day.  Rebecca wishes there was a bar she could hang on.  But I think the one outside would be a bit too cold right now :P  Rebecca and Mary are both looking forward to our weekly visits to the gym.  And we're hoping Daddy can join us on the 20th if we can make it to class on time after out ultrasound.

First Snowfall

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!  We have so much to be thankful for.  One of which is loving family.  We were blessed this week by a trip to see Grandpa and Grandma Voogt and Uncle Kevin in WI.  We left Tuesday morning and got there around 3 (WI time).  We spent the afternoon playing with Grandma and getting some energy out.  In the evening we had some yummy homemade pizza.  Rebecca got her favorite...ham :)

Wednesday morning was more play time (it's fun to play with all of Grandma's toys :).  Rebecca played dress up with Uncle Kevin's old raccoon costume.  Uncle Kevin arrived around lunch time.  While Rebecca napped in the afternoon Grandpa, Daddy and Uncle Kevin did a little clay pigeon shooting.  Then we had more time for visiting, playing and eating a delicious dinner.

Thursday morning we played and did bath.  After lunch there were plenty of naps :)  In the evening we celebrated Thanksgiving.  Grandpa and Grandma's pastor and his family joined us.  Rebecca had a great time playing with Ethan!  She loves to be the leader, so having someone just a little younger to play with was a treat :)  They played with Grandma's toys and looked at Grandpa's bird book.  Ethan even tried out Rebecca's headband.  He liked wearing it more than she did :)  Rebecca was sad to see them leave, but it was already past both of their bedtimes.  She kept asking when "that boy" was coming back.  As always we had a wonderful feast with more than enough food for everyone.  Followed by pumpkin pie and cheesecake.  Mmm.

Friday morning we had breakfast, packed and headed home.  It was a great trip and we feel blessed to have such a loving family.  We enjoyed our first trip in the minivan...especially with the DVD player :)  Rebecca did have a UTI and a cold while we were in WI, so naps and nights were a bit rough.  But she still loved seeing Grandpa and Grandma and their kitties :)  We're looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks when they come here for Christmas.  We are thankful for wonderful grandparents and for God's goodness and mercy.