Monday Catch-up

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Here at the Hiemstra House, we had a wonderful day. I hosted this year which meant that I didn't have time to take a picture until after we had all feasted and the table didn't look so pretty anymore. Oh well. I believe this picture actually captures a Hiemstra family Thanksgiving better anyway.

No, I did not go Black Friday shopping. I may be cheap but I am not crazy. Holly and I did venture out to Bellingham on Saturday though. Wise choice...no lines and nice people. I think all the crazy people were home sleeping. Holly needed a dress for her semi-formal bowling party. Yes, she is planning to bowl in a fancy dress. Whatever...at least she won't need fancy shoes. Unfortunately, we were not successful in the dress department. Let's just say that most of the dresses she tried on looked absolutely stunning on her but her father would have never let her out of the house with them on. I am thinking of opening a store in the mall called "Nice Clothes for Nice Girls". Can I hear an amen?
This is what happens to your nice clean living room when you leave your husband and two little children home all day...

Saturday was my baby sister's birthday. She is funny and smart and kind and amazing and I love her very much.

My Sam. Sometimes I don't know what I am going to do with this boy. I don't know how a little boy can be so sweet yet so naughty. Grampa and Gramma Hiemstra had given us Christmas gifts for the kids when we were there this summer and they have been stored under the couch all these months. Since I put up the tree this weekend, I went to retrieve the presents and this is what I found...

Here's a closer look...

I know what you are thinking mother and no, this is no the result of normal wear and tear from being stored under the couch.

I carefully unwrapped the Legos that Grampa and Gramma had given him and replaced it with this...

He will now be receiving Star War's briefs from his Grampa and Gramma Hiemstra and will get the Legos at a later date...maybe. I would love to blame his naughtiness and apparant lack of successful sneakiness on his father but I must admit that I had a similar incident involving a Cabbage Patch kid and a pair of green corduroy pants when I was not much older than him. Live and learn son.

We attempted to take some family photos after church on Sunday. This is our funny face one. I was actually very tempted to use it on our Christmas cards but it kind of looks like Sam is flipping everyone off (he wasn't). Not the sort of of holiday greeting I wanted to send this year.

Happy Monday!

Happy Birthday Mom!

I know many of you reading this think you have a great mom but mine is the bestestest.

She's showed me and continues to show me what a Christian woman should be and I hope I am just like her when I grow up. I love you mom. Happy Birthday.

Wordless Wednesday

Go Steve-O Go

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go watch John's nephew Stephen (and the rest of the Dordt cross country team) run at Nationals. We left very early Saturday morning for Vancouver, Washington. We drove through some snow and rain on the way down so I wasn't feeling really optimistic for a nice race day but Vancouver was dry and even a little sunny. It turned out to be a really fun day!
Here are some of Stephen's fans waiting for the race to start. Here's Stephen racing. Go Steve-O Go! Those boys had to race five miles. I got exhausted just watching them.

Here he is on the home stretch. It had rained pretty hard the day before so the course was pretty wet and sloppy. One of the Dordt boys lost his shoe and ran for three miles without it. They grow them tough at Dordt.

Here's the racer with his mom and dad who flew all the way from Wisconsin to watch him. Stephen did his PR (I found out this weekend that means personal record) so we were all pretty proud of him.

Here's some cute kids that were incredibly well-behaved at the race for getting up so early.

We spent the night in Vancouver and headed for home on Sunday morning. Even though it was cloudy and we figured we wouldn't be able to see the mountain, we decided to stop at the Mount St. Helen's visitor center on the way home. John, Holly, and I had been there 13 years ago but it was overcast (imagine that!) so we couldn't actually see the mountain. Both Sam and Holly had learned about the Mount St. Helens and it's eruption (can you believe it's been 31 years?) in school and we thought they would enjoy it.

Although it was very overcast at the visitor's center, we found out it was clear and sunny 20 miles up so we drove up to another lookout point. I'm so glad we did because we finally got to see the mountain!

That valley used to be Spirit Lake until it was buried under 200 feet of ash.

There was patches of snow up there and a certain little boy couldn't resist throwing some snowballs. Do you like his new Angry Bird's stocking hat? He's pretty proud of it.

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween 2011

Lucky for me, my dear hubby remembered to take some pictures of the kiddos I left behind on Halloween. I was very impressed that he carved pumpkins with them too.

Holly already shared this picture of her at her friend's costume party but she's just so cute that I had to post it again!

Sam was a scary guy again this year. Don't judge me. He's a boy and he loves stuff like this. I made him wear a cow costume for four years in a row so this is my penance.

Trick or treating at Auntie Grace's house.

Meanwhile...back in South Dakota; Katie was a pirate.

Katie and I got to trick or treat with Aunt Amy and Chase. I don't know when the last time I spent Halloween with my sister. It was probably the year that she won first prize at a party dressed up in my bride costume that I wore for Halloween like ten years in a row and I never won anything. I'm still a little bitter.

Katie wouldn't share her eye patch so Grampa had to make his own.

A Katie-ism

I think I've shared before how stubborn our Katie Kat is when it comes to praying (actually she's stubborn in a lot of ways). Anyhoo, she absolutely refused to say the "God is Great, God is Good" prayer that both the other kids learned. Instead she does her own unique prayer of thanking God for every member of her family. It goes something like this...
"Thank you for Holly. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for Sammy. Thank you for Katie. Thank you for Mommy. Amen."
After our trip to the midwest, Grampa and Gramma are now added to her prayer and occasionally Uncle Kurt, Aunt Amy and Chase.
Yesterday afternoon I took the opportunity to explain to her that as nice as it is to thank God for her family, she may want to thank God for all the other wonderful things He has given her.
This was her prayer last night...
"Thank you for Teacher Leslie. Thank you for Teacher Leslie. Thank you for Teacher Leslie. Thank you for Teacher Leslie. Thank you for Teacher Leslie. Amen."

Finishing up South Dakota

I gotta get this trip finished up. I've been back for over a week now and life is moving on.
Here's me outside my Gramma's church with a cat. I just about brought him home for John. John wants a cat. He has never completely forgiven me for putting Gus (our 14-year-old severely obese cat) to sleep before we moved here. Only in the Midwest do they use John Deere tractors for display purposes in the grocery stores.

Katie LoVeD getting rides on Great Gramma's walker.

One afternoon my mom and I went to my sister's new home to have lunch with her and her new MIL. If you are ever in Pipestone, Minnesota and need some lunch, I highly recommend the Calumet Inn.

I just love old building and there were lots of them in "downtown" Pipestone.

After lunch, the front desk lady gave us keys (yep, you still get a key at the Calumet) so we could look inside some of the rooms. They are very vintagey...except for the t.v., microwave, and mini-fridge.

We got to see Aunt Amy's new office too. I told my sister that her desk is kind of boring. She needs some pictures or a Chia-Pet or something.

She gets to work in one of the cool old buildings! If you ever are in Pipestone, Minnesota and need some financial advice, I would highly recommend the downtown Edward Jones office.

My sister and her new hubby are re-doing the upstairs of their house. This will be the master bedroom.

John's niece and his cousin's daughter (who happen to be roommates at Dordt) came to visit me one afternoon. I love these girls so much! They are both amazing and yes, they both are single. However I will only allow them to date guys who want to live in the Pacific Northwest.

I love this picture of my Aunt Jen and Katie. As much as I missed my family and was ready to come home, it was sure hard to say goodbye to everyone!

the end.

Wordless Wednesday

Fun on the Farm

When I was a wee lass, I LOVED going to my Grandparent's farm. I remember asking my dad why he couldn't be a farmer like Grampa. Well, as time has passed it became evident that God knew what He was doing (I find He usually does) by making me a city girl. I really like sleeping in late in the morning, I'm not very good at driving a tractor, and I don't really like the smell of poop.
Nonetheless, I still love going to my Grandparent's farm, which is now my Uncle's farm. Here's some pics from when Katie and I went over to help him fix fence. We actually didn't help him fix fence at all. We just watched him for awhile and it really didn't look like all that much fun so we went and did our own thing. Yep, probably a good idea that I didn't go into farming.
Here's Katie feeding a calf named Squishy. Don't ask me why. I was not responsible for naming him. Actually, I am against naming things that will one day be eaten.
One thing nice about the farm is that cats always love you - no matter who you are. Our neighborhood cats back home avoid Katie like the plague. It may have to do with the fact that she tries to pick them up by their front legs or thinks it's fun to pull their tail. But here, on the farm, they don't care. They just want some love and attention....actually they just want some food.

Look! This one is even giving her a kiss! Yes, I do know where that cat's mouth has been. I personally think kids nowadays would be a lot healthier if there parents weren't so afraid of their children consuming small amounts of dirt, cow spit, manure, etc. Just my opinion there.

Katie found my cousin Amy's old trike and had to try it out for a spin.

She also had to try climbing up a grain bin. No, I did not let her climb all the way up.

Here's me and Squishy. He was a very friendly calf.

Katie and some more cats. I was glad to see more variety this visit. I kid you not....last time I was here he must have had fifty orange cats, every single cat was orange. I'm pretty sure in-breeding like that is only allowed in Arkansas.

I gotta wrap this up...Holly needs to be picked up from violin. I will leave you with some pretty field pictures. It really was a beautiful time of year to be in South Dakota.

Grandma's birthday party

The main reason I went to South Dakota was to celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday. She actually doesn't turn 90 until December but some smart people in her family decided to have the party early since the weather in December can be very unpredictable in the Midwest.
It was a wonderful day! Over 200 people came to wish my Grandma a happy birthday at her open house and later that evening we had a really nice family supper. My Grandma smiled throughout the whole day and claimed she wasn't even tired at the end of the night!
Here's some pictures from the day... My aunts hard at work making ham buns because everyone knows a Midwest open house is not complete without ham buns.

We even put Grandma to work at her own party!

My Aunt Evelyn did a great job with the decorations.

Me and the birthday girl...I hope if I live to be 90 that I am as healthy and good looking as she is!

Four generations

The line to see Grandma. At one point in the day, the line was out the door and nearly every table was full. The kitchen "staff" got a little panicky and an emergency trip to the local grocery store was made. Don't worry, I think everyone got a ham bun.

Lots of people. Lots of white-haired people...did I just type that out loud?

I love this picture of my Uncle Dick and Aunt Ev. At least he isn't putting his tongue in her ear. Yes, this is my family. Now you guys know why I am the way I am.

I love this picture too. There's something about a guy who thinks he's big and tough cuddling with a little baby. This is my cousin Paul with our newest cousin Nathan. Hey all you single ladies....just so you know, Paul is available. He likes babies and he's willing to move to the Northwest.

My Grandma and all her kids.

My Grandma and all her grandkids and great grandkids.

This is my mom doing a stellar job at devotions. She honestly should have been a preacher!

And no party would be complete without a game involving toilet paper...

and DeAnn having to get balls out of a Kleenex box attached to her backside. By the way, I totally rocked this.

So, that's the party. Next up...fun on the farm. I know you can't wait.