Our Christmas

We celebrated with our little family on Christmas night. We had a party at noon so we got home around 4:00 and I made homemade pizza's for supper. The girls got make their pizza with what ever toppings they wanted. While the pizza was in the oven the girls opened their stockings. After supper we opened our presents. It's so fun to see the girls faces as they open each gift. Brooke has no expression on her face when she opens gifts so you can never tell if she likes it or not. Kenzie and Ashley both have the greatest expressions and says thank you after each gift. Every year Corey surprises them with gifts from just him. This year was no different - Brooke got some wood working crafts, Kenzie got a barbie set, and Ashley got a piggy bank. I love our little family Christmas each year!!!

Two Years Ago

Two years ago we almost lost our dear Ashley to RSV. I remember it all like it was yesterday. There were so many awful memories of that day. You feel so helpless when your child is suffering and the doctor's and nurse's are trying to help her, but it's just not working like they would like and all you can do is stand back a watch. After they got her vented and the room cleared out of the 10 doctor's and nurse's that were working on her when she stopped breathing and her vitals were all going down fast. There where two nurse's remained in the room and they told us "Someone sure was watching over your little girl tonight and thank goodness she is a fighter" I will never forget those words. I don't think I stopped praying the whole time we were in the ER. God decided to let her live that night and he must have some big plans for her. Today will be filled with tears, but they are tears of joy that we have our daughter and tears of saddness with the memories and the sights of that day.

De Vries Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas with Corey's family on Christmas Eve. We have a tradition of getting there in the afternoon and let the kids go sledding and then Grandpa pulls them behind the tractor down the driveway. This year Corey took the girls out bird, rabbit, and squire hunting. No luck hunting, but the girls loved hiking in the woods and looking for animals. It's so nice to get outside and enjoy family time during winter. The De Vries party is always very casual which is so nice. The girls always wear their Christmas nighties and we get into our comfy clothes. We had a great night of opening presents, great food, outdoor fun, and watching the kids play with their new toys.

Tubergan Christmas

We had my family Christmas on Saturday night. My mom always makes a big meal which is always so good and we love it. The girls were so excited to open gifts especially Kenzie since Ashley and Brooke already opened birthday gifts this month and none for her. What the girls don't understand is that after dinner we need to clean up, make a fire, set the goodies out, and then the dreaded family pictures. We finally got everything done and it was gift time!! The girls love seeing their piles grow bigger and each time a new present comes theres a bigger smile on their faces. Ashley loved opening up her gifts again, but had a REALLY hard time waiting her turn. We went home with a car load of gifts again this year. Thank you Mom, Dad, Brandon, and Kristin for all the gifts.

Kenzie got a BIG box of paper from Brandon and Kristin. She uses so much paper so I think this will keep us well stocked through out the year.

The only picture of Brooke I got that night.

Pure joy on her face.

Brooke Turns 8!!!

Brooke turned 8 on Friday, it's hard to believe that she's 8 already. Her birthday stated out on Thursday afternoon. We took her out of school a little early and surprised her to get her ears pierced. I told her in the morning we were going to pick her up early for a surprised. I seen her a noon and she was asking what she was going to do and I told her "it's a surprise"

She had a great day on Friday she passed her birthday treat out, class Christmas party, and to top it all off a family party at night. She had fun opening presents and even let her sisters help her. She wanted me to make her cake for her this year. I made my best attempt at it she liked it.

Birthday Party #2

I promised Brooke a school birthday party last year. Thinking she would forget about it over the year, but oh no she remember. Why not through another party together in December :) I got to emit that I was not looking to forward to entertaining 10 girls. I finally got two crafts and games figured out and countless trips to Dollar Tree for supplies. I'm happy to say that the party went off without a hitch and it was a lot of fun. Brooke wanted Aunt Kristin to help so I had an extra help which was nice.

Look Who Turned 2

Ashley turned 2 on Saturday. We worked with her all week to say two and hold her two fingers up. She just started saying two and hold two fingers up. After all that work she would not do it for our family at the party. We had a party for her Saturday night with both sides of the family. She totally got into opening of presents, but had to be close by Brooke to help her if needed. I wanted to get some pictures with just Ashley so I told Brooke to move over and Ashley would move over with Brooke too. We are so thankful that this year was a lot less eventful than her first year. She's starting to get a personality and it's looking like she has a little of Kenzie in her - Yikes!! She brings so much joy and laughter to our family.

Christmas Tree

We went out Saturday afternoon to cut our Christmas tree with my family. It was a nice day out, but we could have had some snow to make it more Christmas like. The tree lot was not the nicest so it took a while to find the perfect tree this year.

We put the tree up Sunday afternoon with the girls help. Monday night we were sitting in the living room and there it went right to the floor. We had to decorate it again, hope this is the last time. We are known for our trees falling down. In the old house we tied it to the window and that worked well, but in the new house there's nothing to tie it to.

Shoe's

Ashley has a new thing for shoe's lately. If there are on the floor they are on her feet. It doesn't matter if they are big or small.

Life Lately

We sure have been busy this last month. Nothing to exciting going on around here just the normal every day stuff. Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing.

Brooke got new glasses a few weeks back. I hope these hold up better than her old ones did. We were always in getting them fixed. She got hit twice in the head this week and they still look brand new.

We still have Whiskers around. It's suppose to be an outdoor cat, but it ends up inside more than I like. Kenzie wakes up every morning and gets her from the garage and then wakes up Brooke and Ashley with her. I found her across the street the other day so hoping she doesn't go across to often.

Brooke made this cake all be herself one afternoon. We found Ashley on the bar stools that she climbed up herself and helped herself to the cake. We asked her who ate the cake? She said "don't know" with her hands up with frosting all over.

Brooke wanted to shoot Corey's 4-10 so bad. We took it to his parents house and let her shoot and then of course Kenzie wanted to try. Kenzie did not like it to much it was to loud for her. I think Brooke could have stayed out there all afternoon shooting. Corey might have found his hunting buddy.

So I don't get yelled out by Corey. He spent 9 days in Missouri hunting with some other guys. She shot a 9 point while there. We had a good time while he was away we kept busy with church auction, shopping, parents house for supper, and movie nights. The girls had some time with Aunt Kristin, Uncle Brandon, Grandma and Grandpa's house. They had a great time and so did I with some down time. We are so glad that Corey returned safe and sound!!

We have a busy month coming up with three birthday parties that I have to host, 7 Christmas parties, and everything else that goes with the Christmas.

Trick or Treat

Friday night we did our trick or treating. We headed to a couple family members homes and then went to our church which had trunk treats and supper. The girls were so excited about going this year. Brooke was a witch, Kenzie was Cinderella, and Ashley was a ladybug. Ashley was so cute this year she had a smile on her face the whole time. You could almost read her mind "people are giving me candy" towards the end she started grabbing hands full of candy. She got home and emptied all her candy out and justed looked at it. The next morning she would grad some candy and go hide in her room and eat it -sweet tooth already :)

11 Point

If I didn't post this Corey would be upset. Corey shot his biggest Michigan buck on Saturday morning. He has not shot a deer in Michigan for the last two years. He was supper excited and so were the girls. I dressed them in their camo and headed to see what he shot. Ashley went running towards it and touched it no problem. Kenzie just liked holding the horns. Brooke was excited but did not show it (typical Brooke) Looks like we will be having another deer head on the wall. If I'm lucky it will go to the office with the other ones :)

Take 2 - Kenzie, Ashley, and Girls