Looking forward...

Today we were talking about the many things that we were looking forward to in 2009. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Our second wedding anniversary in January
• The birth of my niece in February--we are super excited!!
• I am looking forward to starting an on-line Beth Moore bible study that Tim bought me for Christmas. (It's too far to go to Orland--so hopefully this will help)
• I am looking into being a Crossroads Bible volunteer and reviewing Bible lessons from people who are incarcerated.
• I am thinking about going to lap time at our local library as a way to get out of the house and connect to other mothers.
• Looking forward to Josiah's 1st birthday in June!!
• I'm sure that there will be many other exciting things that will happen in the coming year!!

Who would have known?

I must be totally inept at blogging

• I always wondered how people did cool stuff like different colors and formatting and now I figured it out
• so this is my experimentation!!

Stellan

Update: Stellan is doing much better--such an answer to prayer!!

Praying for little Stellan and his family!!

Praying

The blogging world connects you with so many people that you would never know about. Somehow I happened to come across a blog for a little guy named Braden who is less than 2 months old who has heart surgery. It just breaks my heart to see babies and young children with serious health issues. We continue to pray for Braden and for so many other people that we know that are struggling medically!

Depressing

I'm so sad that the Chicago Bears season is over already!! I love watching football so much. I wish that they would have played better this year. They have so many areas that need to be addressed but I'm not sure if Lovie will do it or not :(

I'll have to find a new team to root for during the playoffs!!

David & Kelly's Wedding

On Saturday we went to the wedding of Tim's cousin, David & Kelly. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time. Josiah came with us to the wedding so that he could be in the family picture (even though he was super crabby for it) and then he went home with my mom so that we could go to the reception. It was fun to be at the reception and enjoy time with Tim's family.

David & Kelly!!


Family picture with Josiah not cooperating :)

Evan and Bekah handing out rose petals!!

My sisters in law!!

Boss Christmas

After our Christmas we went to church and then headed to my grandparents. We enjoyed opening our stockings/bags. We had a nice lunch and then played some bingo for prizes.

Austin and Kruesie with their cell phones

Josiah and Kruesie with their Ozinga shirts on from Grandpa B.

Pictures from dinner!!

Our Christmas

On Christmas morning we enjoyed some time together as a family. Josiah seemed to enjoy opening the presents. He really enjoyed chewing on the wrapping paper :)




Our family pictures with the stockings that my mom and grandma made for us!!

Tim's immediate families Christmas

On Christmas Eve we celebrated Christmas with Tim's family. The kids had a great time opening all of the presents!!


The kids and grandkids

Grandpa & Grandma K. and the grandkids

Evan and Uncle Phil

Schaap Christmas

Saturday evening we celebrated Christmas with Tim's extended family. We opened the white elephant gifts and the game continued on for quite a while as the family "fought" over some prized items including the four pack of Coke that Tim really wanted!!



Fuego the fish and Aunt Eileen

Most of the cousins

Joel cutting the beloved "crack"

My immediate family Christmas

Our immediate family celebrated Christmas on Saturday, December 20th. I have been terrible with updating the blog, but ... It was a wonderful morning and we enjoyed spending time with four kids under the age of two. My parents really enjoyed the book that we made for them and a picture of the four grandkids was a big surprise and we were even able to get a few tears for that one!! So, here are the highlights!!

Josiah as baby Jesus

Josiah did a great job up on stage last night!! Steve D. was super nice and posted just Josiah up on stage on You Tube. So hopefully that will work and you will be able to watch it!!

Josiah's Announcement

If you couldn't make out what he was saying, I think that he was trying to tell everyone that he is going to be up in front of church with Pastor E. on Sunday at 4 pm during the cantata. Josiah will be playing the role of baby Jesus during the children's sermon on Sunday!!

Lunch

Today we had ham and cheese pinwheel sandwiches for lunch--I saw this on the Rachael Ray show and figured that it would be a good way to use up some of our ham. They weren't perfect, but they looked pretty good!!

Marathon Love

We watched this television show on Discovery last night that was called Marathon Love. The couple live in Tinley Park and just have an incredible story of love. Tim actually thinks that he saw them running in his neighborhood when he lived in the condo with Kevin. I found their website if you would like to read more

Bulthuis Christmas Party

Last night our family was in charge of the Bulthuis Christmas party. We had the party in elementary school gym. It went very well because my sister was super organized. We enjoyed seeing everyone again. We also had Santa come out which the kids always seem to enjoy. The bingo game was pretty crazy because everyone brought white elephant gifts--some people were pretty funny by bringing lingerie and feminine hygiene products. Karissa also made some of Grandma Bulthuis' pea soup which my dad's family really enjoys.

Great Grandma

We stopped by great grandpa and great grandma's on Saturday to drop off their picture of Josiah. They were very happy to see him again!!

DeMotte

On Thursday night we headed out to Indiana to watch the Bears game with Jeff & Lisa. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner (we even had squash which I've never had before, but was very good) and enjoyed watching the Bears win even though they didn't play all that well. Josiah enjoyed seeing his cousins and particularly enjoyed chewing on Daylia's fingers!!

Favorite picture

Beth gave me this picture a couple of weeks ago and I keep forgetting to scan it in. It is my favorite picture. I have it on the fridge and when I look at it I can't help but smiling. I hope that you enjoy it too!!

Austin

I watched Austin on Saturday while Rob & Lisa went to her company party. We enjoyed spending a little time together just by ourselves :)

Twice baked

For anyone who knows me--I used to never cook. But since Josiah has come along I have been trying to make new things. So, the other day I tried to make twice baked potatoes and I thought I did a pretty good job. What do you think??

Collision

Yesterday we headed out to Tinley to have Josiah's 6 month pictures taken. We picked up my mom and then ran some errands. We arrived at the picture place and it was sooooooooooooo busy, crowded and loud :) Josiah did not cooperate for the pictures--he did not want to be away from me and by the ladies but they were able to get a couple of cute pictures of him. As we were turning out onto the street we were hit by a postal employee--who knocked the passenger side mirror. The person also failed to stop even though we were honking at her and stuff. So, we took down the number of the truck and called the police (No one was hurt either). Now we have to wait to see what will happen--supposedly the USPS has to "investigate" the accident!! Here are some pictures of the damages:

No category

There is no rhyme or reason for these pictures besides the fact they are just sooo much fun!!

Sleeping Baby

Nothing is cuter than a sleeping baby!!