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.