Picture Update

There are so many little things that have been happening this spring/summer. Hopefully I will be able to update this blog in the next few weeks! Until then, here are some cute Spring pictures!

Drew colored this picture and brought it to Clearwater to give to Winter!

 Drew loves to carry things.. and people. Especially cute little people named Clint!

 Getting ready for Tulip Time 2015! We participated in Klomp the Record this year so we had to go to Dutch Village to get some new wooden shoes!

 Drew found the pair she wanted!

 We also went to the Critter Barn this Spring. I LOVE the Critter Barn! This time, we learned how to milk a GOAT!!!

 Clint and Drew both did amazing!

 They held baby chicks!

 I fell in love with this happy fella!

 Sweet boy got to hold a baby duck!

 Drew and Clint pose in this tree at my grandma's house every.single.Sunday! Here she is sporting her amazing cat face dress.

 And Clint is sporting his own amazing smile.

 Catching fish with some neighbors at the neighborhood pond!

 They kissed this moose! And they have the shirts to prove it!

 Tulip Time 1k run. They did AMAZING this year! Clint ran it all by himself and Drew didn't puke! Success!

 My sweet babies holding hands at the starting line!

 Her form is superb!

 I mean. Are you KIDDING ME?!?!? THIS FACE!

 I am not really sure what is going on here.. Clint is wearing the red pants, but it looks like her head is on his body.

 Next Drew had her R Star Showcase. She has been on the team track for a while, but she moved up to the level where she had a separate showcase, rather than the R Star Show she did the last 2 years. This is Drew's favorite gymnast, her name is Bre. She is also from Rockford and she is incredible! This summer Drew transitioned to 2-3 hour classes a week. It is pretty intense, but she loves it. Clint also transitioned to Ninja classes instead of gymnastics and he loves it!

Ivy and Lily, some of Drew's friends. Drew looks so old here!

My little Dutch girl..

And my precious Dutch boy!

We love the dancers!

My Dutch babies eating Dutch food, homemade by their Aunt Joey! These are a special recipe my family has been making since forever. We used to have big family get together's to make these as kids! They are called Saucijzebroodjes, or Dutch pig in the blankets.

 Aunt Joey makes food for the entire festival! I tried kale mashed potatoes this year. Delicious!

 I have more of these pictures on my real camera, but the kids look forward to this jumpy thing every year!

 On the way to Klomp the Record! Trying to break the record for the most people dancing in wooden shoes in one place!

 We didn't break the record, but we had fun! Jon even got some wooden shoes and learned the dance!

 These two cuties even made the news!

I love this picture of little buddy falling asleep praying. Or at least that is what I tell myself he was doing when he fell asleep! :)

Winter Updates...

I have been lax on the blogging. I have such great intentions! :) The big winter events are obviously birthdays!! We have so many special birthdays in the winter months! Clint, Grandma (90 this year!!), Jesus, Emerson, Cullen, Charlie and Lexie, and DREW, all in December and January alone!
Here are some of the highlights of Drew and Clint's birthdays, below:

Clint's THIRD birthday!
Poor buddy. Clint, Drew and I were ALL sick leading up to Clint's party. It is a really good thing I started planning it MONTHS before I should have because I was completely useless the days leading up to his party. I had to even sit down to frost his cake the day of his party! Despite not feeling great, and the non stop coughing, we had an awesome Paw Patrol party for the sweetest little boy I could ever imagine! He is always such a light, even not feeling well, coughing, anything.. he just loves to smile and to make other people smile! Paw Patrol is a show with dogs that all have different 'specialties'.. one fights fires, one works construction, etc... so we did masks for all of the kids along with construction hats, Home Depot aprons, fire hats, construction cones, etc... for our decorations! We also had dog themed food like graham cracker dog bones, food served in dog bowls, and 'pup'corn! Oh, and Clint got a drum set for his birthday gift.. cutest thing ever!

Clint is growing like a champion! At his 3 year check up he was 37 inches and 29 pounds! It is the 25th percentile, but that is really good for him! He took a while to even get into the double digits! He is perfect and precious!

Drew's FIFTH Birthday!
The continued tradition of drawing out the kids birthday's continued this year! Drew got some earrings for Christmas. Previously she had said that she thought the right time to get  her ears pierced was age 7. However, suddenly she owned earrings of her very own and that is all she could think about! She said she wanted to get them pierced the day of her party, but we were worried that they would be sore and she wouldn't enjoy her party. Then she decided she wanted to get it done ON her birthday.  Well, I had to be out of town on a business trip ON her birthday (insert heartbroken mom face here). So, I devised a plan. A couple of weeks before her party I told her that I thought we should go to the mall just to look at the earring choices that they had. I knew she wouldn't be able to leave without those earrings in her ears and I was right! LUCKY for ME! Jon met us there, and she was SO brave!
Before:

During:

After: (her eyes got red but there were no tears!)


The weekend before her actual birthday we had the most EPIC Frozen Party Ever! I MIGHT have gone a little overboard, but it is what I DO! :)
We had a food room, a tea party room, a hair/makeup/nails room and a dress up room with tons of dress up clothes, a 'stage' and a backdrop!! On top of all of that ANNA and ELSA CAME TO DREW's PARTY! She was a little nervous at first, and I was such a mess that I started crying when they walked in!!

Drew is continuing to grow! She is still in the 90th percentile in height and weight. (45 1/2 inches and 49 pounds) We have been putting off shots as long as we could, but yesterday it was inevitable! She had to get 2 shots before she could get into kindergarten so we went for it! There were 4 medicines in 2 shots, thankfully. She did great! She claims it didn't hurt as bad as getting her ears pierced but she sure cried more from the shots!

Drew also had her first field trip! Unfortunately for her, it was to Catch Air! ha! Fortunately, though, SHE GOT TO RIDE THE BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Biggest.Deal.Ever for Drew!! The director was nice enough to take a picture for us so we could experience her freak out with her! Her class made a thank you card for Catch Air and Drew said that her favorite part of the day was "playing tag with my dad" which melted Jon's already soft and squishy heart!

Our little fish...

Drew is a ROCKSTAR SWIMMER! She has really been doing great in her lessons and has been moving up to new classes super fast! The big thing to move up from her current class was that they told her she needed to get her arms out of the water, instead of doing more of a doggie paddle. Well, something must have just clicked last week and suddenly she has the most beautiful stroke! I was so proud watching this I wanted to burst into the pool room and pull her out to hug her!
 Clint is doing amazing too, and I will try to get a video of him next week! :) His big thing is to keep his head down in the water; when he looks down, he swims GREAT, but when he looks up, he sort of sinks. Jon says he gets that from him because Jon says he sinks in the water, too! ha!

They are both also doing great in gymnastics. Clint got moved up to the 3 year old class and Drew started on Tiny Team, despite my hesitations. :)  We shall see how it goes! :) This gymnastics place does a Ninja class and I can't wait for Clint to be old enough to do that class! It looks like so much fun!

ALS Ice Water Challenge