9 already!

I can't believe how fast they grow up! We celebrated Emily's 9th birthday on Saturday with a party for her and her cousin Hailey who's 6.

Beth, Emily and Laura

Steph, Emily & Laura
Danielle, Megan, Beth, Steph, Emily, Laura
Brianna, Brooke, Kaitlyn, Marie & Hailey
Marie & Kendra
Em & Holly

Then we went to Denny's that evening (kids eat free on Saturday nights... ya we're Dutch). Marie took one look at the food and got sick. Then Emily got sick and they kept us up all night... Nice way to end the day! :)

Josh the tax man/loan officer

We went to the open house at the new bank where Josh is now a loan officer.
Isn't it great to get a job you enjoy? Good luck Josh.

A baby shower for Robert

Sorry, Jen, I couldn't resist posting this pic!
It was fun to watch everyone play the baby diaper game.

Our sanity break

...at least, that's what we like to call it although it was more of a break from sanity. Lots of fun! Don't worry Jenn & Bobby, I'm only posting the picture and not the videos :)

Breaking ground, finally...

Doesn't look like much, I know, but we're pretty excited that our builder finally began digging for the foundations.

Congratulations, Warren & Anneke!

...on the birth of your son, Robert Nikolas. Looks like John is enjoying his new little brother :) Thanks be to God for a safe delivery and a healthy child! Hope you don't mind if I post your beautiful pictures.

Happy new year!

Emily and Marie were our company for New Year's Eve, staying up for the first time. They felt pretty grown-up, with a tiny bit of wine and the movie we watched together, "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" (wish I had gotten Marie's hysterical laughing on video camera--they enjoyed the movie. Or maybe it was just the wine :) Steve fell asleep but the girls jumped on him till they thought he was awake enough to greet the new year.

Emily likes to take pictures with my camera, but she usually takes them while we are shopping because she's bored. This one actually turned out pretty good in spite of the Lowe's background (we were picking out fixtures for our new house).