Don't Drink the Water

LC's final performance of "Don't Drink the Water" was last night.  They performed in front of an almost sold out crowd.  The kids really hammed it up and it was lots of fun to watch. 

Holly, as the Sultan wife had no lines but she spoke a lot with her eyes!

"Don't Drink the Water" is about an unsuspecting family of Americans who are accused of being spies when they accidentally take pictures in a forbidden area of a communist country.  They are forced to seek refuge at the American Embassy and it's up to the Ambassador's politically inept son to keep them from being arrested by the Soviet police.  

The Sultan of Bashir and his wife show up at a very bad time and are insulted by Mr. Hollander,  the American tourist.

The sultan's wife got a little flirty when she has a little too much to drink.

No, she did not dye her hair. 

Holly and her drama buddies.

This doesn't happen very often so when it does, I have to capture it on film!

Friday

Just a quick one here.  It's a half day at school today and I got lots to do. I also promised Sam and Katie we'd play Poo when they get home.  Poo is a card game that my sister bought for the kids.  It is the dumbest card game in the world.  The basic idea is that the players are monkeys and you throw poo at each other.  The kids love it.

I tried to take some pictures of the amazing spider web outside my front door.  I've been admiring it for weeks now.  It's especially cool when the morning dew is on it.

 This week was Spirit Week for Holly.  Monday was tacky tourist day, Tuesday was twin day (she didn't get a picture of her and Cassie dressed up as bees), Wednesday was Duck Dynasty Day (I didn't get a picture of her dressed as a duck), Thursday was Disney Day (she told me someone took a picture of her as Tinkerbell  and I will get it soon), and today was Blue and White Day.  Tonight is the homecoming game.  I have been working the concession booth for the football games.  I am glad tonight is the last one - I'm getting tired and it's getting cold out.

One more thing...I LOVE my new dryer.  Guess what?  It doesn't squeak and it actually gets my clothes dry!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Tacky Tourist Day

This past weekend.

"Don't Drink The Water" opened.  Holly plays the part of the sultan's wife.  She is having a blast.  If you live around here, you need to go this weekend.  It's very funny and the sultan's wife is amazing.

 Here she is with her good friend Lauren who is also in the play.  What do you think of my brunette?



All of her classmates were saying that she looked just like her mom with dark hair.  I don't know if she really appreciated that.

Sam had his last soccer game.  It was very foggy out.  

We raked the yard and had some fun in the leaves.

Saturday night John and I went on a romantic date to the appliance giant.  I got a new dryer and he got a happier wife. 

We celebrated our new appliance (and his birthday) at our favorite restaurant.  I think he was just a little bummed that he didn't get carded.  Sorry honey but now that your 43, I think those days are over.

Life



These are "the coffee ladies".  I've been meeting with them once a month for eight years now.  Let me just say that I like them a lot and I'm glad they invited me into their group.  

Katie Kat goes to kindergarten three days a week which means that two days a week it is just me and her.  We have a good time together.  Some days we go to the bakery.  Some days we do laundry together.  Some days we play lots of UNO.  Some days we don't change out of our jammies until right before the big kids get home. 

 I love these guys.

Here is Katie's "wall of animals".  She's been working on it for quite a while now.  She's quite proud of it.

Sam has been playing fall soccer.  He loves it.  He has a great coach and it's been lots of fun to watch how much the boys have improved. We've been pretty fortunate when it comes to Saturday morning games - they've only played one game in the rain.  That's pretty incredible.

I brought John lunch on his birthday.  He was on call so he had to eat and run but I had a wonderful time visiting with all the other doctors and nurses who came down to eat.  I think I may have to eat lunch at his office more often.  The only thing I miss about working outside the home is socializing.  This is just the answer I have been looking for.  I can just go to the office and chat. 

The final installment of what I do with my mom when she comes to visit and my favorite guy's birthday.

I gotta finish this up, my mom's been gone for weeks now!  I didn't get pictures of everything we did when my mom was here but here are a couple things I don't want to forget...

*We brought pizza over to Auntie Grace's one night.  When we got there, she had the table all set up beautifully.  I do believe that's the only time I've ever eaten pizza off of china!  We played cards after supper.  We taught mom a new card game and we let her win since she was the guest!

*My mom was fortunate enough to be here when I was hosting my accountability group at my house.  I thought this would be a great opportunity for her to work on my sheep ears.  Unfortunately for me, she had other plans.  Auntie Denise picked her up for lunch and she never came back!  After all my girlfriends left, I called her to find out what happened.  She told me she was playing bocce with Denise.  Don't you hate it when your friends think your mom is cooler than you are?

*Getting back to those sheep ears.  Auntie Denise had us over for lunch Sunday afternoon and we finished them up at her house.  Her and my mom had some good ideas but John and I ended up doing most of the work! 

*We played lots of games of Bananagrams and Aggravation while mom was here.  When John and I were first married and Mom and Dad would come to visit we would play cards and eat apples dipped in caramel.  We brought back that tradition one night.  YUM!  You missed out Dad!

*If you want to know about thunder and lightening, just ask my mom.  She's an expert.  :) 

*Katie Kat had her first gymnastics class while Gramma was here.  My mom took lots of videos so if you want to see Katie in action, go check it out.  I took a couple of pictures.  The lighting is horrible in the gym but you get the idea. She LOVES gymnastics but I am guessing you aren't going to be seeing her in the Olympics any time soon...she has inherited my sense of coordination, her father's rhythm, her sister's girly run, and her brother's habit of sticking out her tongue when concentrating. 

And this ends my series on "What I do with my mom when she comes to visit".  Here she is all sad because she is leaving.  I was sad too.  I have an awesome mom.

It's my hubby's birthday today!



He is the best looking 43-year-old I know and I wouldn't trade him for all the Reeses in the world! 

What I do with my mom when she comes to visit #5

My mom picked a good time to visit.  There was lots of exciting things happening around the Hiemstra house, like the LC jog-a-thon.  Okay, maybe it's not that exciting and maybe it's just a little bit annoying because my kiddos have to ask people for money and maybe it was cold and raining but nonetheless, we loved having Gramma here to share it with.

Katie ran first.  She got really excited when she saw mom, me, and Aunt Sally in the bleachers.  She wanted me to "run" with her so I did.  Gramma joined us for one lap too.  Katie did great - ten laps around the high school track.  That's about 2 1/2 miles.  She could have run more but it was lots of fun to stop and get a drink from a Dixie Cup after every lap! 

Katie stayed pretty dry but unfortunately Sam was not so lucky.  Fortunately for me, he didn't really want me to run with him.

Sam ran 15 laps - a little under four miles.  He didn't wave at us every time he jogged past us like his little sister did but I kinda think he liked having us there too.

The plan was for mom and me to go watch a movie after the jog-a-thon.  Since we were a little chilly from sitting in the bleachers, we thought it would be a good idea to go home and sit in front of the fireplace for a while first.  We never made it to the movie.  I think we both might have fallen asleep.  My mom is a bad influence on me.
We did catch a movie on Saturday though.  Our babysitter (Holly) had other plans so we had to watch a kid's flick.  They chose Monster's University.  It was actually pretty cute.  Gramma even bought us one of those humungo tubs of popcorn!  

Afterwards, we went out for Mexican.  This was my view from across the booth.

I had a really good picture of my mom trying to retrieve rice that had fallen down her shirt but since I'm a kind and considerate daughter, I won't post that picture here.  I will wait for a more opportune time...like maybe her birthday.  She has a "big one" coming up!

Things I do with my mom when she comes to visit #4

One of my most favorite things to do with my mom when she comes to visit it to go out for breakfast.  I think we've tried every place in Lynden.  One of our favorites is the bakery...although we really do miss their Irish Cream coffee.

My mom really likes to work on a project while she's at my house.  Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration.  The truth is I usually have a project for my mom when she's at my house and she tolerates them most of the time. This time it was sheep ears.  I was put in charge of making 18 sheep ears for the church Christmas program.  I just knew my mom wanted to help me.  After getting some ideas on Pinterest, we headed to Bellingham for supplies.  Katie LOVES checking out the Halloween stuff in the stores this time of year.

While we were at the mall, I tried really hard to convince my mom she needed to get her ears doubled pierced.  She's talked about doing it for years but she's kind of a chicken.  Katie told her it "only hurts a tiny bit" but we couldn't talk her into it.  Maybe next time??

On our way home we stopped at Bellewood Acres to get some mini donuts for Sam and Holly.  Turns out they only make them on the weekends so we just sampled some goodies and took a few pictures instead.

One night Sam and I took my mom to a LC volleyball game.  We had a lot of fun...especially once Gramma  figured out which team to root for! :)

Another one of my favorite parts of my mom coming to visit is watching her play with my kiddos.  She is a wonderful Gramma.  She spends lot of time with them doing things they love to do - putting together puzzles, reading books, playing Wii, going to McDonalds, and cuddling. 

My mom usually takes over bedtime duties too.  On this particular night, both Sam and Katie wanted to sleep on the bottom bunk.  Apparently Katie decided sleeping under the bed made her the winner.  

What I do with my mom when she comes to visit #3

Yes folks, it's another installment in the exciting series of "What I do with my mom when she comes to visit".  I am totally aware that this is very, very late.  I'm going to blame it on my mom.  She told me she was going to write a blog for me about what she did when I was on my one-night cruise.  She never did.  So, I am "stealing" this from her blog.  You'll have to excuse all the funky font stuff going on...it did not copy kindly and I am too lazy to fix it all.

Boyfriend Bears

When I first thought I might go to Washington for a little "Gramma fix", DeAnn told me that she thought I would enjoy a Boyfriend Bears Session that Holly would be participating in on Sept. 21st. She said it was a special session for parents, family and friends. So, of course, I jumped at the chance to see my girl "in action". John and I went along with five friends of Holly's and it was inspiring and challenging. The theme the girls have chosen is "Purity is a Battle" and their program encourages young girls to remain sexually pure until marriage. At the end of their sessions with girls from 12--whatever, the girls are given a white bear with an opening in the back and they are encouraged to write a letter to their future husband. The opening has velcro on it and they can add additional notes as time goes on. It is a wonderful endeavor for these young girls and you can read a lot more about it on their website: boyfriendbears.org - check it out.

My very favorite teenage young lady with one of their boyfriend bears. Love you forever, Miss Holly!! Isn't she the most beautiful 16-year old around? Both inside and out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Grammas are always allowed to brag. In fact, I think it's their job.)

This is a very, very dear lady who has become an important part of the Hiemstra family and a dear friend of mine. Auntie Denise is "one of a kind" - an amazing lady who supports our family in Washington with lots of love and prayers.  Denise, I hope you know how much you are loved!! Plus she makes an amazing pot of potato soup.

 

This is the group of young ladies who make up the boyfriend bears board and give the sessions. Next week they will be going to Prescott, AZ to give a session at a school for girls who have had some problems in their lives. The head of the school read about them in a magazine and contacted them to see if they would be willing to come down.

The first priority in their sessions is to help girls to have a personal, on-going relationship with the Lord Jesus and purity will flow from that. I wish everyone could hear what these young ladies have to share. There are so many areas in our lives where we all need to be on guard to stay pure in today's world.

Well, that was my first event. I did not take many pictures while I was there but I have at least another 3 days worth. If I can get connected while we are "sheep sitting", I'll see you all tomorrow. Otherwise it will be Monday.

Have a GREAT weekend!!!!!

 Love to all

Gramma and MOM