Engelsma Thanksgiving

Here are some random pics from the Engelsma Thanksgiving (and I can't get this underline to turn off!). This was after we had dinner and were all sprawled around the house. I think a few people were napping.

Our niece, Corinna, and my sister-in-law, Ang.

Jayden Gillon (He's only a few months older than Joel.)

Andrea, Jayden's mom and Chris's sister and Noah.

Kaimira and Noah

Connie Ella

Grandma DeVisser and Cindy

Another Andrew story

I know my titles aren't very creative. Have to work on that. But this is just a short story.
This morning I tried get Andrew to talk to Chris on the phone, but he wouldn't. When I asked him why, he told me he was "shiny." After thinking about this, I realized he meant shy!

Family Picture Attempts

I've been wanting to take a family pic for our Christmas cards this year, so I thought Thanksgiving day would be the perfect opportunity since we would be dressed up nice. Didn't turn out quite the way I expected. So this year there will be just a pic of the three boys on our Christmas cards.

Andrew hurt himself right before the pics so he was crying and wouldn't look at the camera.

Still not looking and Noah is distracted too.

Probably the best one of the bunch but I still don't want it on our card. Maybe next year!

Indianapolis 2008

A few weeks ago we took a short and sweet trip to Indianapolis. Chris had a conference there, so Andrew, Noah, and I went along to keep him company (Cindy kept Joel for us) and play in the pool. Here are some pics:

Noah dipping his feet in the pool (This is right before he stood up and fell on his head. The floor around the pool was super slippery!)

Andrew playing in the pool. He used to be really scared, but now as long as he has his wings and ring, he's all good.


Andrew and Noah

Andrew and Noah before we went in the pool. The hotel was freezing so I made them wear sweatshirts down to the pool and we froze our tails off going back to the room.

Mommy and boys! (This took more than one try. I figure two out of three looking at the camera is pretty good.)

When the Fruit is Brought Forth

Nearly a century ago a young girl on the Hudson fell into an evil life and the county records show the history of her descendants. They were 900 in number. Of these, 200 are on the county records as criminals; 9 of her own children served an aggregate term in state prisons of 50 years; and a considerable proportion of her descendants were prostitutes and drunkards.
History records a corresponding fact: Jonathan Edwards was a man whom the Word of God had changed from sin to holiness. A record of his descendants is known. Out of 1400 of these, 8 have been presidents of American universities; 100 have been professors; 100 have been ministers of the gospel; 600 have been doctors; 30, judges; 25, officers in the Army and Navy; and others, mayors, senators, governors, and ambassadors.
(Taken from The Banner of Truth, Publication of the HRC)

I find it astounding that the way you live your life and raise your children has such an affect on your descendants. What an awesome responsibility.

An Andrew Story

Setting: Riding in the car to blue grandpa's house (Blue grandpa is my dad. As far as I can figure, he is called blue grandpa because his shop is blue. Chris's parents are white grandma and grandpa. Their house is white. Go figure.)
Andrew: Mom! (whimpering voice)
Me: What's wrong?
Andrew: My foot went to sleep and its not even dark yet!

From the mouth of a three year old.

Noah and cheese

Noah's absolute favortite food is cheese. He will stand at the fridge and say, "Chee, chee," when he wants some. So the other night, Andrew told me he was "hungry" (code word meaning he wants candy). I said he could have some cheese and he went and got a package of the presliced cheese out of the fridge and sat on the floor with Noah to have some cheese. I wasn't really paying attention, so when I glanced down at the floor, I was surprised to see this...

He had the whole package of cheese and he was chowing down, even eating the pieces of paper they place between the slices! So I snapped a pic before I took it away. (And yes, he threw a total fit!)

Joel, 8 weeks old

So I really planned to announce Joel's birth on my blog, but as you can see it didn't happen. So here are some pics of him at 8 weeks. I'm sure most of you have seen pics of him on facebook, but these are new. He is growing like a weed and is a mostly happy baby. He sleeps all night which is so helpful for me. I really can't believe he is two months old already. We are going to have so much fun with 3 boys, right Aunt Marlene??


Joel Adrian Engelsma, 8 weeks.




Discovering the world.

Laughing!

Great cleaning tool

I will admit, I do not scrub my bathtub every week like I should. So it had gotten really bad, like big ring of dirt/soap scum around the tub. So my mom had told me to try this magic eraser and I happened to get one free in the mail and it worked great! I only had to do light scrubbing (which is good since my belly kind of gets in the way while leaning over the tub) and all the dirt and grime came right off. Not only that, I used it on my fixtures in the tub which were very cloudy with soap and they shined right up! So now this cleaning product is a staple in my bathroom. Just thought I'd share that info and hopefully save someone some cleaning time!

Win a coupon organizer!

Enter here to win a coupon orgainzer, called The Couponizer!

I have been using more coupons lately and could really use this!

5 weeks to go

I had a dr appointment this morning and everything looks good. The heartbeat is in the 140's and I am measuring right on. I will NOT be revealing how much weight I have gained! :-) We are looking forward to this new arrival. Due date: Sept 23

Some summer pics

Here are some pics of Chris with his boys:
Chris just got home from one of his first days of work and the boys had just gotten up from their naps. I think Chris looks the most tired of the three!

Chris is just about to leave for one of his interviews.

Yummy popsicle!

Mmmmm!

This boy loves his cheese. There are blueberries on his plate, but none of them got eaten. His new thing is throwing food behind his back. The other day he squished a banana all over his shirt and I cannot get it out. I've washed it 5x already.

Cousins play day

Our garden

I really wanted to have a small garden this year so I planted some beans, tomatoes, cabbage and brussel sprouts (Chris really wanted those). However, I didn't take care of it very well so we're not really getting a bumper crop of anything! Here's a picture of my first bean picking.

Ludington

The boys and I went to visit Chris's family in Ludington on Tues. Noah and Andrew both had barrels of fun on the beach. Noah crawled right for the water. I think they must have played in the sand for over two hours.

Noah and cousin Kaimira.

Adrienne, Andrew, and Cady

Mommy and Noah (the sun was really bright).

Andrew playing in the sand

News around here

Chris started his new job last week so he is now entering his second week as Director of Distance Learning at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and he is loving it! Stop in and see him sometime, he would love to show you his office and all the cool techno stuff he gets to use. He also loves the Christian atmosphere--everyone in the building meets every morning for prayer at 9:45. Although he is home later in the evening than when he was teaching, he is home in the morning when the boys get up and is able to stay up later at night.

The boys are continuing to grow. Discipline is a continuing issue with Andrew, but he is also very affectionate and loving. Noah has a mind of his own and is sooo close to walking, but he crawls so fast, a stumbling walk doesn't hold much interest to him yet.

I currently have 7 weeks until baby number 3 arrives and I haven't done a thing yet! I guess all I really need at the moment is some diapers since the baby has a place to sleep and I have plenty of boy clothes. Chris and I are pretty sure its a boy so we will see what the Lord brings. I have been sorely lacking in energy lately, but today I actually got part of my house tidied up. So I'll try keep that momentum going.

Hope everyone enjoys the last month of summer. I am looking forward to slightly cooler weather!

My Baby

Strawberry Jam

I decided to make strawberry jam this summer. I had never done it before, but we all love homemade jam. I bought a bunch of pectin at Save-a-lot and made 9 large containers of jam.
Unfortunately, I was trying to make freezer jam but followed the directions for canned jam. So my jam didn't jell up as well as it should have, but it still tastes good. Here are a couple of pics. I was going to take more but got too involved in the process. Chris helped me pick and nip all the berries which was a big help.

Noah's VanDen Toorn Birthday Party

These are a little late, but here are some pics from Noah's 2nd first birthday party (if that makes sense!)

Noah opening gifts.

Andrew "helping!"

Noah with his new fire truck from Uncle Nate and Aunt Shell.

Noah's new ball from Uncle Bill and Aunt Laurie, which is bigger than his head!

The food spread.

The "kids" table.

Grandpa and Grandma

The brothers.

Eating cake, or more likely, dropping it on the ground.