Christmas Eve

Future Pastry Chef?

Colin has a love for chocolate that is immense. He especially likes good quality chocolate. For Christmas, he made everyone some chocolate fudge. He had a lesson to learn in that we were giving it all away, and he couldn't have a piece. But...there is always the consolation of licking the bowl!

Dressing Himself

Pant legs are tucked into his socks. Sweater is on backwards. Guess who dressed himself???

Drama Queen

No one offered me a part in the Christmas play!

Dinosaur Day!

It was Dinosaur Day at the Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor. Colin liked it a lot. If you ignore the ridiculous evolutionary attempts to explain things, you can learn a lot.

These are some of the dioramas that they are removing in their eternal attempt to please everyone. Personally, I don't see what is so offensive about learning from and admiring the great skills of people of our past; but, apparently, some people differ.

Wouldn't mind one of these on the hearth, but I think they are prettier on the animal.

Colin in a dug-out canoe.

Wow! What a difference once you remove a lot of feathers!!

We have these by our house. We hear them howling different times in the night.

We also have a fox that lives in the woods next to us. We saw him just yesterday. I think he's interested in our neighbor's rooster!

Colin really loves the mastadon mammoth things!

There is no way I came from a monkey! I have yet to see an intelligent support for this idea. What a joke! We are made in the image of God!!!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas?!

My mom is always afraid she will make Victoria cry.

What are you looking at?

Ham of the year. He likes to be a silly monster.

Brother and sister. We are so thankful to the Lord for the children He has given us.

The Christmas Tree

Jason does the yucky parts, but we all help.




Ready for the trimmings.

Colin has this weird fear of his mouth being sucked on by the vacuum cleaner. We don't know why, but he always puts his hand over his mouth while we are vacuuming. Jason pretended like he was going to do it to Victoria, but Colin quickly covered her mouth!

He really wanted me to take his picture like this.

Plug, spitrag, bib and toy. Everything you need in life.

Colin's (very breakable!) snowman from Grandpa Van Oel.

Victoria's (very breakable!) snowwoman from Grandpa Van Oel. Colin picked it out!

My victorain lady reading a book! :)

Our manger scene. Um, there are important pieces missing that must be on the table.

The next day Colin and I decorated it.

Michigan Winters

Ready to brave the cold (complete with strategically placed bib).

First Foods

I don't think she is impressed with the rice cereal. She keeps looking at our food as if to say, "Can I eat that instead?" But, alas, Victoria must go through the palate-training ordeal of simple, plain food. No sugar (other than natural fruit) until she is one. The rule in our house is to eat what has been given to you. The Lord provided it. I rarely repeat a recipe, so if you didn't think the best of something, odds are you won't see it again anyway. Regardless, I don't believe kids are as picky as "they" say. I think much is parent-induced. I also believe if the Lord wants to use them as a missionary someday, it won't do to be unable to adapt to tastes from different cultures.



So, the journey begins!

Techno-Funeral

Well, we've been without a computer for a few days! :( The peg is all wiggly and it can't be fixed! We will need to get a new one soon. Any suggestions? This is your chance to give me a piece of your mind! :) We don't need anything fancy, but I would like Windows 7. Also, I prefer a laptop. Any suggestions?????

Little of This and a Little of That

She had just come out of her bath. Now she's all squeaky clean! She does not like her bath!
She is starting to be jolly more often.

Jason runs to the phone when it rings; I detest the sound. I'm just noticing this is one of our cell phones. We rarely use them. He is very proper on the phone and very animated.

This is my cool dude. He loves his Chewbacca sunglasses!

Thanksgiving & Jenny's Birthday

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We did, as well as we celebrated Jenny's birthday (which was on the 25th). She turned 42. Just kidding. :)





Jason "had" to work 12 hours and John was working as well, so we were down by some this year (they came later). I think I have captured the personalities of my family here. I have to say we are a family that likes to laugh; hopefully, that means we'll live a long time.

My mom is always the stressed-out one, since she does most of the cooking. Sometime I'll have to take over.

This is a picture of the counter in my parents' kitchen. It hasn't been seen in years (due to my dad's Franklin Planner). Just thought I would take a picture of it, since it is sure to go into hiding again!