SuperMan and SuperGirl!

Reuben wanted to be SuperMan for Halloween. Nadine did too.
Reuben said, "No, Nadine. You can't be the same as me!" I assumed this meant that he didn't want her to copy his costume design. But,
He said, "You can't be SuperMan! You have to be Supergirl!" What a good sharer!

It was a lot of fun taking the two kids out. They totally didn't understand the candy thing. Even now, today, they haven't even mentioned the big pile of candy yet. Reuben had the most fun running up to the houses, checking out the decorations, the carved pumpkins and having a little chat with the neighbour. He was often startled by the offer of candy. Nadine never failed to say, "sankyou!" 

Congratulations Auntie Jenn and Uncle Brian!

Married September 30th 2006 

Our little sister....

In just a few days our little sister will be Mrs. VanOosten!!! Yay!!! Congratulations, and we're praying for you guys!
Eric, Marya & Evan

guess who...

This is my first attempt at a photomosaic. Even at this size, you have to blur your eyes a bit to see what's there... 

No room at the inn!!

Yes, we are completely booked up here at Hotel Renkema. Our distinguished guests include the ever-famous world-travelling Mr. Dave VanBreda, whose stay is an un-defined length. The most recent guest is the soon-to-be Mrs. VanOosten. She is currently on a 2 night stay. Including the permanent residents of the hotel (2 adults, one baby, and a cat) we are currently fully booked. But we do have some openings coming up in the next few weeks. For your entertainment, there is an adorable little boy (who knows how to say "night-night" and "down").

Another One! (tooth that is)

 

Idea - Christmas names...

Just a thought, since we haven't come to a consensus yet. Maybe for just this year, we can assign names to people (not secret) because it's too difficult to figure out without all getting together. For example, with the Renkemas, we have the girls switch names and the guys switch names. And to make it easy, we could assign by age: Mom has Sarah, who has me, who has Jenn, who has mom. Eric has Steve, who has Brian, who has Dave, who has ERIC.

This way we can still have a decent amount of time to look for gifts, without having to wait for a secret drawing (that CERTAIN PEOPLE would forget all about!!!).

Any thoughts??
Marya

Judah's New Tooth!

Hey! This 5 month old baby can now roll over and can chew your finger with zest! 

Open House

Common upstairs and see our apartment!


This is our living room.


Our living room from a different angle.


The ugly part of our livingroom.*


The view out of the 'ugly part' window.


From the living room to the dining room.


From the kitchen to the dining room.


From our dining room to the kitchen.


From the hallway to the kitchen.


From the back room to the kitchen.


The back room.


Bian's office (it's too small to get a good picture of).


Going upstairs to the bedroom.


Back of the house.


Front of the house.



*We only call it the "ugly part" because of the flooring. We're hoping to find a nice area rug with which to cover it.

Hope you liked the tour! David's the only one in the family who has actually seen it for real.

Names for Christmas

Brian and I have absolutely no clue who we got for christmas this year. I'm not really sure what should be done about this, there's really no way to figure out who we have except by asking everyone else who they have, and I'm getting the feeling that that wouldn't go over well. In the intrest of not leaving this until November to deal with, what can we do? We can guess who we have, and we'll probably end up having a few folks who don't get anything then.

Welcome Home David!

 

Grandma Comes to Visit

 

Reuben's Self Portrait

Reuben decided this week that he would begin drawing. This is his first drawing of person ever! He is very talented as you can see. He also sees himself as a pretty cute "thing". 

Anyone Remember This...?

Teaching Important Life Skills

These two just love their Daddy time. Nadine is especially attentive to the proper method:) 

Our new apartment!

Soo, this last week was a fabulous week indeed. Brian and I got a fabulous apartment in a beautiful section of downtown - a five minute walk away from our pastor (which is important, after all) and a ten/twelve min walk from First CRC. We sign the papers tomorrow and take posession on August 1st. I'm so excited! Here's a few pictures of the outside of our place - we have the second floor/attic.





Our street:

Another Doctor's Visit

We went to see Evan's doctor yesterday. He's pretty much convinced that Evan has asthma, and the little guy was wheezing pretty heavily yesterday. The doctor gave us some more medication to control the swelling in his lungs, which should work in about 5 days. Apparently this medication may increase the appetite....I asked if that was even possible with Evan!! He is still such a happy little guy...even after a big coughing fit, he's all smiles! I wish I could post you a picture, but I'm not familiar with these computers at school.

THose vanBreda Genes...

There is definately a little bit of their Daddy in these monkeys.

(This is Sarah... and you thought I was joking about blogging these babies:) 

One Year Old!

So your nephew/grandson is now one year old. He has been happy and giddy ever since you all were over for the party. He is so smiley - even at the babysitter's! He takes long naps there and is the centre of attention because he is the youngest. He has recently learned how to sign "Please" when he wants more food. We told the babysitter about this, and now he signs "please" when she's having her own lunch too - even after he's been fed!!

He is currently on inhalers because the doctor thinks he may have asthma. We have to give them to him twice a day and he doesn't enjoy it very much. We'll see the doctor again soon for a possible diagnosis. His weight gain is great now. He even has a little tiny gut!

It was great to have you all over for his birthday and we hope to see you soon.
Marya, Eric & Evan

The Influence of Veggietales...

Reuben: Daddy, I was thinking... [starts to sing] "I was lying in my bed..." and I was thinking that we should go outside!

What's worse than Disney's revisionist Pocahontas?

I found this at our local library...

Click on the picture to make it bigger. 

Nadine and Reuben

Reuben: La la la...lalala laaaa la la la laaala la-

Nadine: Hi Reuben!

R: Nadine. I'm singing a song. La la lalaaaa la la laalala...la l-

N: Hi Reuben!

R: Nadine! I'm singing! Laaa la lalala lala la la la-

N: Hi Reuben!

R: Na-dine! I'm singing! La la laaaa...lalala la-

N: Hi Reuben!

R: Nadine, please stop saying "Hi Reuben." I'm singing a song. La la la l-

N: Hi Reuben!

R: Daaaaddy! I'm trying to sing, and Nadine keeps saying "Hi Reuben!"

Me: Nadine, Reuben doesn't like it when you say that, and Reuben, why don't you try singing somewhere else?

R: [walking away to the bedrooms] Lala laaa la la la la....

N: [following] Hi Reuben! Hi Reuben! Hi Reuben! Hi...

My First Review!

I've had my first review of one of my blogs!

...Granted, it would have felt a little more affirming if it was for The Answerman, the one with all the hard work and research, but I'll take what I can get.

Steve takes a picture from his front room daily and posts it at his blog. I find that satisfying and humane. At 1/125 of a second per day we get to view a slice of life in the suburbs of common decency and care.

I had no idea I was this deep...

Judah Johannes

The vital stats:

Name: Judah Johannes
Birthday: 4:52 am March 26, 2006
Weight: 6 lbs 10 oz
Length: 20"
Hair Colour: Red
Looks Like: Reuben
Interesting trivia: Born with water intact. According to the
midwife, it means that he will never drown at sea. *whew!*

Getting Ready...

Well, we've plastic-wrapped our bed. We've got the herbal bath mixture prepared and frozen. We've got separate bags packed for our kids, as well as instructions for each of their routines. We've got Plans A, B, C, and D. We've got the baby's cradle assembled, and clothes ready. We've pre-registered at the hospital, just in case. Our (new-ish!) freezer is stocked with delicious suppers prepared by Sarah (and one or two by me).

All we need now is the baby....

Disappearing Snow

What with all this warm weather and all, we're down to just 1/2 an inch of snow in our backyard. Boo.