Happy Thanksgiving

This is the "Nice" Miya Last week, Miya and Grandma Berens made some Turkeys for Miya's friends. Miya talked about going to Grandma's house and making somftin (something) all day. She cried when I said she would have to do it another day because Grandma didn't feel good. Grandma was a trouper and pulled through her spell quickly and made turkeys with Miya, making her day! Miya loved handing them out to her friends; she also enjoyed eating them...she enjoyed licking off all of the frosting. Thanks Grandma for making a memory with me!!

This is the real Miya!!

Every dads dream!

Hey everyone! Dads turn again!

What a blessing it is to have healthy kids who love to play. Another cool blessing is vacations days from work! (best blessing would be to have the option of being a stay at home dad, but that day isnt here, yet) Anyway, Miya and I got to do some cleaning in the garage. A hidden blessing about children is a two stall garage is no longer a two stall garage when kids have toys (notice vehicle #2 standing outside in the snow). We put all of Miyas stuff in the barn, and before retiring the lawn mower for another season, we decided to have a little fun.


Miya wasnt a big fan of sledding, (something tells me she somehow remebers last years face plants into the snow after falling off the sled) so we decided to hook the wagon up from grandpa and grandma Westra and do a little offroading. It was fun, but I think it may have been costly. Got stuck with the lawn mower a few times, no big deal, but got finished, parked the mower in the garage and saw we had a completely flat tire on the mower. Oh well, next years hunny do list I guess.

Weve been getting a lot of snow at work. A couple feet to be exact while only getting about 5 inches at home. (I didnt believe the lake affect snow thing when I moved out here, so I wont bother explaining it to anyone who isnt from Michigan...gotta experience it I think)

Other than that, things are going very well. Kids are growing too fast, and the seasons are definately changing.

As often as I write on this thing, I better add one more comment. Holidays are quickly approaching! Hope everyone really enjoys them. Stay out of the stress of them, remember what they are all about, and dont take family for granted! Weve had a few reminders here the last few days that we dont know how many of these holidays we have left. Live life to the fullest and have no regrets! Love you all

Jeff

Walking

Jayden has discovered that it's fun to walk behind toys. She really hasn't shown ANY interest in walking until last night when she "accidentally" started walking behind the tractor. When we hold her fingers while she's standing by us she won't put one foot in front of the other. However, last night she was trying to stand-up by the tractor and it started moving. The first time she did a face plant. She got right back up and tried again and then proceeded to walk behind it. As you can tell from the video, she thinks it's quite funny...not sure I think it's so funny! Thanks for the tractor Gramma and Granpa Hokesbergen!

Surprise!

A week ago tonight, Jeff came home with these beautiful flowers for me. I thought they were because I was having a rough weak. He thought they were because he said something he shouldn't have earlier in the day (something that on a normal day would have been nothing). Either way, they are beautiful flowers and still look great after a whole week! Thanks honey, I love you.

What a Day

I knew today would be full of fun already at breakfast. Jayden would not leave Miya alone. She kept standing up by the highchair, grabbing the tray, and pulling. She had to reach on her tip-toes to grab it; almost to the point of hanging from the tray. After she would white-knuckle the tray both girls would start laughing until Jayden fell down. Then it would start all over again. Jayden so wants to be just like her big sister (and her big sister can't seem to leave her alone these days). The next event for the day was laundry. The girls decided to do the laundry for me while I was doing something in the kitchen. Once again I noticed it was very, very quiet...except for Jayden's giggle every once in a while. So I grabbed my camera and went to check it out. Jayden was sitting in the middle of a pile of clothes that Miya was pulling from the 'clean, FOLDED' laundry basket and throwing on the floor. I asked her what she was doing and she said "I help you fold laundry mom". I replied with "thank you for your help Miya" One of the pictures below shows Miya just after she whipped a shirt into the bathroom!!

**Photos have been removed due to an forseen (by me) necessity that need not be seen by others! :)**

While I re-folded the laundry, Miya started a new trend. I know it will quickly catch on in all of your households too! I'm not sure who was the first to sport the halo of stickers, but I couldn't resist the cute photo op. Just so you know, there were no tears pulling Jayden's out. The verdict is still out on Miya...she wanted to wear them for her nap :)
What will they think of to do AFTER their naps??

Happy 50th Birthday Dad

The 19th will be my Dad's 50th Birthday. So we decided to throw him a SURPRISE party this past Friday. It worked (barely), he had no clue. I think it was the first time he didn't know something. I have a video of him but it's very hard to see because of the lighting. If anyone knows how to lighten it up please let me know. I would love to show everyone the SCARED look on his face as he entered in the house! Thanks to everyone that came to the party and waited forever....

Sleeping

This is a picture of Jayden sleeping durning her nap today-might I add her very, very, short nap. She didn't want to sleep today and was determined not to fall asleep. Well, she ended up falling asleep for about 30 minutes, sitting up in her crib. After her nap she stood up by the railing and called (cried) to get out. I guess when she's tired enough she'll fall asleep anywhere!

Five Minutes

I was folding laundry in the laundry room for no more than five minutes this morning. Just before I went in there Miya went running into Jayden's room because she had just woken up from her nap. I told Miya to play nice with Jayden and then went to fold the laundry. I was bringing the folded clothes to Jayden's room and noticed it was very, very, quiet. I figured there must be something going on. At first glance, all appeared to be fine. On second glance I could see Miya's guilty face and a couple of air heads (candy) in her hand. On third glance I noticed Jayden's mouth was completely red. A more in depth look showed that Jayden was enjoying a cherry red air head. It was all over her face, pj's, sheets, bed, pretty much everywhere. I asked Miya what was going on and she said it was snack time because the timer went off; which it had because we were making cookies. So she was sharing her snack with Jayden. I couldn't get mad at her. She was sharing one of her candies, which is very precious to her, with her sister. They were having a great time eating and playing in Jayden's crib. The joys of motherhood!

Little Jayden

So tonight little Jayden decided that it would be fun to try to climb into the bathtub. At the time she was the only one in the bathroom (Miya couldn't be left out and quickly jumped in the tub to be in the middle of it all), Jeff looked over at her and saw her lifting up her leg...like a dog. She kept doing it. She then started to climb up on the wipes container before lifting up her leg. Her goal was to get into that empty tub, especially when Miya was sitting in it.

What will she try next??? Riding a bike?

M-I-Y-A

For some reason I'm unable to upload the video of Miya spelling her name. I'll keep trying. In the meantime here are some pictures of the girls.

When in the kitchen, Jayden's favorite place to play is by the stove. She sees her reflection in the door and gives it kisses. She LOVES giving kisses. Especially to the younger girls at church (Brylynn, Brittany, Anika, and Riley)...they think it's great too and keep coming back for more!

Miya with her Daddy!

As you can see, Jayden is a go-getter around Miya. Whenever Miya is reading books Jayden wants to try too. However, Jayden prefers to eat the book, not look at the pictures. Only board books for Jayden!

Miya always to tries to hold Jayden like this, actually she tries to pretend Jayden's her baby. This is one time that Jayden actually played along without screaming for help!

As you can see by the clothes, all these pictures were taken on the same day. They were not poses, I promise. I've been trying to good pictures of the girls playing and they both happened to have 'good' days on the same day. :)

That's all for now. Thanks for checking out our blog. It really is fun to do if I can stay on top of it. If anyone else wants to start one it's really easy and I'd love to help you...Glenda, Tonia, Marcy, Sandee, Dawn (I could keep going but I won't). I would love to see pictures and hear of what's going on in everyone elses life.

Saying Prayers

After reviewing our blog I noticed that we don't have many videos of Miya lately. So we did some catching up tonight. These will probably have to be in different posts due to the size of the videos...if they fit at all. The first is of Miya "tucking Daddy in" on the kitchen floor and saying their prayers. She usually says them better but I know everyone out there understands....kids won't do their normal thing when the camera is on. The second is a video of Miya "coloring" as she calls it. She tries to spell her name as she doodles (thank you again Uncle Kyle for the cool Christmas present). FYI this is Miya's normal (if you can call it normal) Saturday night attire...nightie (complete with fleece and footie's) and of course, curlers for that pin-straight hair.