Gender Reveal Party

This past weekend we all met up at a local park for Adam and Ally's gender reveal party for "little G."  I had been rooting for a boy for months because I wanted A&W to have a little boy cousin to run around with.  I started to have a gut feeling that a little girl was on the way however.  The pictures can tell the story better than I can so you will have to scroll down.

Num-num-num

Team Pink!

Team Blue!

The Gender Reveal Cake

Family from both sides ready to find out the exciting news.

Aunt Frances' name was drawn for the honor of cutting the cake.

That is some pink frosting!

 

Little G is a girl!

It was a fabulous spring day albeit a bit windy.  The boys had another fantastic afternoon using their walkers toys all over the park. 

Go, Abraham, go!

Winston is very determined.

Papa made tunnels for them to go through.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great weekend as a family and enjoyed some fabulous spring weather.  Eric came home from a work trip on Friday night.  We had a little party planned at our house for Saturday evening and had friends and neighbors over.  Sunday was church and I had nursery duty.  I do not normally put the boys in nursery because of the fear of germs.  It was incredibly sweet however to see them play with other little kids their age.  Our church had a lot of little boys born in late 2010 and early 2011 so it was great seeing our boys trying to keep up with the other little guys.  I am seeing that A&W need to learn to share better and not try to take over what other little kids are doing or playing with.  Later on Sunday we went to Eric's parents' house for a barbecue and got to visit as a family. 

On Memorial Day we went to our church's annual picnic which is held in a local park.  The boys were a little nervous about being outside with all the noise and people but soon were loving all the room to explore.  We brought their little walker toys and they got some serious distance on those things that day.  It was the first time my little men got their shoes all dirty and filled with rocks.  Watching our little guys truck around on their walkers and explore in the grass was an amazing moment for me.  Memorial Day weekend is always a nostalgic time for me because it is an anniversary.  Four years ago I packed up all my earthly belongings into a U-Haul and left Southern California for my new home in Nevada.  Eric and I were engaged at the time and I had secured a job and needed to start that next week.  I left a career that I loved and was really good at, my condo, my family, my friends and my church to create a new life with the man I loved.  It was hard and the following months and years have not been without their difficulties.  This past weekend I got to see my sweet boys exploring the world around them and their papa so clearly delighting in them and it was just another affirmation of how blessed I am and God's sovereign plan in my life.  Last Memorial Day was difficult with colic and teething issues and I was disappointed to not spend that time as a family enjoying the holiday.  I was reflecting on how different our lives are since last year.  I was working full time with two tiny babies and wondering if I was ever going to be a SAHM.  God has been so faithful to us and it is amazing to see how far He has brought us. 

I am thankful for the life God has given me here in Nevada.  I am thankful for my marriage and the wonderful husband Eric is to me.  I am thankful for what a loving and tender papa he is to our boys.  I am thankful for my precious Abraham and Winston.  I am thankful that I live in a country with countless freedoms and for the lives that paid the ultimate price so that I could know what liberty is.

Life is good because God is good.  

Abraham with his friend Audrey.

Mr. Winston would keep letting go and practice his standing.

 

Winston can keep standing now with no problem.

Winston was racing despite Abraham getting pushed.

Truckin' along

Abraham and Auntie Alicia

Family Time

The past several days have been a whirlwind due to family coming to visit.   My mom, stepdad, brother, opa and oma all came to visit.  It was my opa and oma's first time visiting our home in Nevada and meeting Abraham and Winston.  My opa and oma live in the Netherlands so we do not get to see them very frequently.  Unfortunately with the timing on both sides, Eric was away on business and did not get to visit with them.  The up side is that entertaining four adults and taking care of two little toddlers kept me very busy and my mind off missing my hubby (as much).

Since the boys have been born we seem to get a lot more visits from family.  Hmmm, I wonder why that is?  It's like the motivation to visit now is greater than it was before.  I never blogged about all those visits but I want to stay more on top of it from here on out.  It is fun to see how much the boys change from their pictures visit to visit. We are blessed to be so loved that people make the long drive to visit us.   

 The boys got Holstein print klompen from groot opa and groot opa.

Winston likes his klompen and his giant bunny.

Abraham loved listening to all the conversation in Dutch. 

 He likes hanging with the guys and was quite content sitting with opa Kurt.

 On Sunday we went to up to Lake Tahoe and the boys did so 

well with getting in and out of the car so frequently.

 The boys with opa and mimi.

 Plus Uncle Jeremy, groet opa and groet oma.

Me and my little peanuts at one of my favorite places--Emerald Bay.

 Me and my mama in Virginia City

We all spent some time in Virginia City, the famous silver mining town 

which was a booming area in the 1860's. 

The famous hundred mile view from Virginia City. 

It was fun sight seeing with family and getting to spend time together.  It definitely meant a lot that my family drove up to see me and the boys since traveling to So Cal at this stage is still difficult. The weather turned out to be great considering that spring can mean bad wind storms and snow.  It allowed us to enjoy the beauty of the surrounding areas.  I spent time preparing for my family's visit and it was over so quickly.  The house was so quiet again this morning. The boys are such little troopers when their schedule gets thrown to the wind but it is always nice to get back into a routine as well. 

Not So Wordy Wednesday

I am enjoying the beautiful spring weather. It's actually been sunny for a change. It can get so crazy windy in Northern NV in early spring and we can have a real latent winter at times. It's nice to be in the latter part of spring and heading into summer. I love all the green fields from flood irrigation and how beautiful the snow capped mountains look.



My squirmy little boys. They really are are all boy. They lay on the floor and kick and coo and smile. It really is one of my favorite things. Can't you just see the fun Abraham is having by the look on his face?



Winston discovering his hands. He likes to suck on his fingers as of late. The pacifier appears to be demoted. Hopefully it won't be such a problem that they have problems with their teeth and jaw alignment down the road like their mama and papa.

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April Update

I have been getting behind again and I am sorry for that. We are doing well and staying busy. The good news is that spring is finally here! Longer and warmer days facilitate activities like evening walks, gardening, barbecuing and of course spring cleaning in the garage! I for one am a much happier girl now that spring is here. It makes my commute easier and I have so much more energy. I know that my husband sees the difference.

As for news in our neck of the woods, as previously mentioned Eric is getting involved with the Youth at our church again. We recently had a group of the high school boys over for a video game-pizza eating-soda drinking fest. Eric and I had been talking about getting a TV for months and with our tax return money (we try to only make purchases with cash otherwise we don't buy it) we found a sweet deal on a 47'' LCD. The guys a did tourney style rounds of some street fighter game (here I display my ignorance) and Halo. I spent that night at Harmony and Jeff's and when I came back the next morning the games were still going! I think they they all had a good time although minimal sleep was had. Eric made blueberry waffles with the supersweet belgian waffle maker we had gotten for a wedding present. Then the hubby did a reading of a Psalm with the boys. Coincidentally Eric and I have just finished reading through the Psalms together which has been a wonderful experience.

Eric has also started physical therapy and is doing well! No more sling which is really nice but he finds himself in pain a lot. His range of motion is actually really good but as you can imagine his arm does not have much strength and it will take a while to build that back up. The main thing is for him to not over do it which is hard because certain activities don't bother him whereas more simple things that have a different motion really bother him e.g. pulling weeds vs. hanging a picture on the wall.

We had an encouraging Resurrection Sunday and a nice time with family. Jeff and Harmony got to celebrate with us this year as well as a friend of Fran. Another big thing for our family is that as of the beginning of April, Adam has been working out of the Bridgeport area. This means we get to have him at our family functions again! I know Eric is happy to have his brother close by.