Sammy's School Christmas Program

On Wednesday, Joshy, Nana, and myself went to Sammy's school to watch his preschool classes little program. The first thing Mrs. M (teacher) said was that the kids chose what they wanted to be....Sam apparently chose to be an Angel (there was one other boy Angel). They came in singing Gloooooooooria....



Here is a picture of almost the whole class (minus the wisemen) Sam's friends Jaden and Caroline were Mary and Joseph.



They sang lots of songs. I was very impressed with Sam- he even did motions! I loved watching him sing "Oh Tannenbaum" and "God's Love is like a Circle" and many more. Unfortunately Mrs. M's head was in my way for most of the singing...



After the singing Mrs. M explained that they have been lighting the advent wreath and she was going to let the kids tell the story. At this time the boy next to Sam was tickling him and Sam was kind of loud so Mrs. M said, "Samuel, what does Advent mean?" Sam says quite loudly, "I don't know!" Anyway, Mrs. M started the "story telling"- she asked lots of questions so the kids could tell the story- but really it was like 5 or 6 girls that answered every question. The below picture is what Sam looked like during the entire Advent story...

Babies babies babies....

From a church email I received today, "We continue to be greatly blessed with new babies. By an informal count, we have grown by 9 infants since sometime in early October!" Including myself, I know, personally know, 6 more people in our church who are pregnant or trying to adopt. These are only the people I speak too on a regular basis so there very well could be more! Doesn't seem like THAT big of news, but honestly, as part of the nursery committee- our church is overflowing! Which is a good thing!

Let it Snow!

No church? The weather isn't THAT bad...so the boys shovel!



Sam complains that he doesn't want to go outside...then he seems to have fun. When he comes in he says, "mommy, I liked playing outside!"


Joshy too looked at me like I was nuts when we put all his stuff on. He whimpered that he "couldn't see" and "I can't walk"...but he too LOVED being outside. Who knew shoveling was so fun?


Daddy is very happy about the snow and did lots of work/watering/patting on the "ice rink".


Are they actually playing together? Maybe a minute? Oh wait, Sam is telling Josh he is doing it wrong...



Sam has been really into building houses and other things with blocks...all we have right now is the Jenga game and he loves to build with it.

Prayer Requests

The past several weeks have been stressful with trying to plan and get ready for Christmas. On top of that, there is a lot going on with our family and friends so I wanted to list some prayer requests. I know that some people are not ready for names to be mentioned, so here it goes:

Continual prayers for the Vedra family, prayers for Ellie but also may they continue to enjoy being together at home and have a good Christmas.

Prayers for our friends whose young daughter was recently (this week) diagnosed with cancer.

Prayers for our friends and family who are spending their first holiday season without a wife, mother, friend. We also have several family for whom this may not be the first holidays without a loved one, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Please pray that Aunt Sarah is feeling better soon!

Be with Aunt Brooke and Uncle John who we don't get to see this year.

Pray that our family, Uncle Nicholas, Aunt Ashley, and anyone else who is traveling have good weather and a safe trip.

Last two weeks and the upcoming week we have 8 (maybe more) new babies being born into our church family. Pray for mothers, babies, fathers, siblings and let them all welcome and enjoy their new family member.

I know there is more I could mention but I think this is more than enough "requests"! Praise God for his wonderful listening ear !

Pestering

For awhile now Sam has been such a...pain. Here is an example from my morning:

1. Josh wakes up and come downstairs with Red Lightening McQueen. Sam starts whining, it is my turn for tred lightening McQueen. I NEED that one. (nevermind that we have like 4 other lightening mcqueens, he NEEDS the car joshy has.)

2. Sam is in the kitchen playing blocks. Josh goes into the living room, grabs the blanket and takes it into the kitchen to hide under it. Sam sees it and says I want the blanket! Takes it from Josh and tries to run out of the room. Again, he was not even considering the blanket until he saw josh with it.

3. They are playing with the cars together (rare) and Josh decides he wants to leave. Sam does not want him too, Josh you HAVE to stay here (crying running josh screaming...) Sam tries to block Josh from leaving the room, then decides to sit on him.

4. Sam is doing a puzzle. Josh comes in and grabs a marker and a coloring book. Sam looks up walks over to Josh, and says, "Josh, I have to have that pink marker." Again, he wasn't even considering coloring until he saw Josh!

5. Sam come here. Sam come here. SAM COME HERE! He doesn't listen, instead throws a car.

Sam has had 4 time outs this morning and still he is at this moment telling Josh he HAS to put the car in a certain spot.

Help! I don't know what to do with this kid!!!

School Pictures

As I have mentioned before, Sam's teacher takes a lot of photos. She just posted several albums from the last couple months. Since people always ask how Sam likes school, I pulled several photos to post here- some are just around the classroom, decorating pumpkins, field trip to VanAndel Museum, and the Thanksgiving Feast which Kevin went too. The first picture is kind of funny- it was taken when Mrs. M (teacher) opens the oven and the kids see that their Gingerbreadmen have "run away"- Sam's expression is priceless with the open mouth. But it is also a funny picture because the kids are just standing there...but are Sam and Jaden holding hands???

You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

Last week at school Sam and his class made gingerbread men. He was very excited to show me and take it home...and eat it! And yes, he even shared with Joshy!





We brought home all of Kevin's lego's from when he was a kid. There was even one of the old books of directions to build things. Kevin was very excited to put things together with Sam. One night, Sam and him worked on it for more than hour, and even after Sam went to bed Kevin continued. I think he may have enjoyed it even more! Poor Josh wanted to so badly to join them, I tried to distract him with other things, but he mostly sat near them touching all the little lego pieces.

Elf Yourself

Thanks B for showing this! So funny- if you haven't had a chance to view the VanSchepen's dancing....check out this link!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9624580560

Thanksgiving at Aunt Jane's House

What's happening lately...

Here is an update:

Sam: Still enjoying school. He has had some fun field trips and is currently learning about Native Americans. Sam also still loves his "screens" computer games and gamecube. He would play all the time- good thing we keep a limit on this, however, I am a little worried about wintertime when he is in the house more. One more thing, Sam rarely takes naps anymore, which was a big adjustment for me, but he goes to bed earlier and thus is up on time for school. But we still have some evenings where you can just tell he is exhausted.

Josh: WOW- Josh is two. He has also been very independent-more so than I remember Sam being. I
1. Common phrase: "I do it!" like he won't let you help him in and out and of the van. a couple times now we have lifted him out of the van and he said, "NO! I do it!" Climbs back in and climbs out.
2. He also tries to do everything Sam does- The other night I finished clipping Sam's nails and Josh said, "My turn!" Sam tried on new boots and gloves, and Josh says, "Where my boots?" And, going on the potty. Which sounds promising, except he only wants to go pee- which means he STANDS next to the potty FOREVER and won't let you help him in anyway. So when the little trickle FINALLY comes, it ends up on the floor. He of course is SO EXCITED that he did this, he needs to keep standing there because he is sure more will come....I know I shouldn't complain about this. But really, I would MUCH MUCH rather have him SITTING!!!
3. He is also trying to get everything his way- and he can be very demanding! "I want to watch Cars NOW!!" Or, Joshy you have to eat your supper, "NO! I want RICE CAKE!" Needless to say, Josh has experienced time outs!

That is what is happening with our boys! As of this week- it looks like lots of runny noses and coughing...

In the dark

Well last night, Monday night, was sort of exciting. At around 6:00 there was this big flash of light and the electricity flickered. Then we heard this loud buzzing. First, we determined that the buzzing was our fuse box. We looked outside- where there were still sparks- and saw that one of our wires was down and stuck in the tree. Kevin got right on the cell phone. Soon the fire department arrived and tried to get the wire down. (that was fun to see the fire truck- but that 'fun' only lasted a little while). Half our electricity worked and half didn't, but they told us to turn it all off until the wire was fixed. Then, we had to wait until consumers energy could fix it. So, we were in the dark. Hadn't eaten supper yet...so Kevin walked and got a pizza. The wire was across our driveway and sidewalk so the fire department had put up some tape. Of course, as we sit in the dark we realize the TiVo doesn't work (OH NO! OUR FAVORITE SHOWS!! How I Met your Mother and Hero's) thankfully several friends and family have TiVo's/DVR so that was taken care of....=) Put the boys to bed around 8:00- the laptop had some battery so they watched a DVD. Finally at 9:40 the company had fixed the wire. 6-9:40 doesn't sound long to go without electricity- but with kids, and the house getting cold... it seemed like forever! Poor Sam kept going to different rooms- like the bathroom- and would try to turn on the light... he really didn't "get" it. Anyway, here are a few pictures- they're not the best but you can see the tape around our yard and the guy fixing the wire..





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Leaves and Halloween

We had a great Halloween night- despite the rain. The first picture is the very first expression the boys had when Grandpa John came in the house. I was laughing so hard I was on the ground. He was a big hit! While we were trick or treating the people at the houses loved the clown! The boys' costumes were nothing new, but they were still cute! Sam was Pablo again (you can always tell who has kids and who doesn't, one lady thought Sam was a blue bear!) Josh got to wear the old Tigger costume but he was cute! He LOVED his costume and loved going to the door for candy (of course!) We later decided to drive to some friends' house, but Sam, who of course did not have a nap, fell asleep in the van. I mean REALLY asleep- Joshy was screaming for candy and Sam was OUT!








Tuesday we had a lot of fun playing in the leaves. We were babysitting Amber and she was laughing so hard while the boys threw leaves at eachother! They even helped me put them in the buckets!