July - filled with vacations and fun!

July started out with a visit with friends from Lethbridge and playdate for the kids.


Then we went on our 2nd annual trip to Pahoja, this time with Micah’s parents and sisters: Kiley, Jill, and Jena. Bobbie and Eric took the girls up for a visit one day and even the Bierma’s joined us all for an evening. Despite the dry heat it was a great time and we had a lot of fun!




At the end of the month we took a trip to Michigan for my cousin’s wedding and we were able to hang out with some cousins, Aunts and Uncles we haven’t seen in almost 4 years! It was a lot of fun and we really appreciate them putting up with us all! :)

Playing on the beach of Lake Michigan after a picnic supper of pizza:

A walk down the jetty to the lighthouse:

Hanging out at Corey & Jamie’s wedding reception:


Our amazing host & hostess:

Traveling in Grandma’s van on our way home:

June 27, 2012 - Alexa’s 4th Birthday!!!

I can’t believe my sweet, innocent, always wanting to sleep little baby girl has turned into a crazy, mostly outgoing, talkative, silly, imaginative 4 year old! She is VERY opinionated and rather “bossy” at this stage in her life & loves to tell us all how it is, what we should do, and where we should be!

In all seriousness Alexa is a joy to have in our lives and we feel blessed to be her parents. She does a great job of watching over and helping her brother, of taking care of Patches, and of generally being a well-behaved little girl…generally at least! :)

Here’s a few pictures of Alexa’s cake & birthday get-together, it was an incredibly HOT (make that sweltering) day but we tried to have fun anyway!

Alexa loved having Auntie Kiley home from Honduras ~ here she and Auntie Jill are in the bouncy castle with her



The big kids (Aunt Jena, Aunt Jill, Aunt Kiley, & Aunt Coby) take a turn jumping :)

Alexa was super excited that Aunt Coby and Koen were out for a visit too!
(Above right side) Papa Schouten holding cousin Koen, Oma, Aunt Coby & Grandma Fennema watching the fun!


(below left) Alexa blowing out her candles with cousins Faith & Kinzie near by
(below right) Cousin Sophia looking cool in her new shades :)


Alexa received a pretty cool card Kinzie made all on her own & as you can see she was pretty thrilled with her new umbrella and apron as well! - She loved ALL her gifts - if you can imagine that!


(below left) Cousin Koen chilling out in the heat)

Where have we been?

What I meant to be a few weeks off between posts, putting off updating what we’ve been up to lately, turned unexpectedly into the silence we’ve had for the last 4 months! Oops!

We have a good excuse (at least I do) & I’ll let you know that a bit later on -- but for now I’ll start with July & see if I can recap what we’ve been up to the last several months! :)