SNEAK PEAK FOR KATIE

this is a sneak peak for katie's mom. what a fun day in holland with katie! a beautiful girl, inside and out. and God's spirit truly shines through...

MORE WISCONSIN PICS

here are a few more pics. on the last day there i really wanted a pic of the four generations, my grandma, my mom, myself and the boys. justin was not cooperating and my flash on the camera was not working right. needless to say, the pics are pretty bad.

MEMORIAL WEEKEND IN WISCONSIN

ok, i was crazy and took all 3 boys to wisconsin this past weekend to see the family. we stayed at great-oma's house (talk about not baby proofed) and had a fun time. on saturday we went to my cousin rhonda's house and played in the barn. these pics are of the boys with the animals. jordan wanted to manhandle them all and brendan was not too sure about it all. justin loved the baby kitties and wanted to take them all home.

CAREER DAY

justin had career day at school a couple weeks ago. so we asked him what he might want to be when he grows up. his first answer was an army guy, but we didn't have much army camo in the house. his second answer was a police man, but again not much police gear in the house. he ended up wanting to be a rock and roll guitar player!

DAD'S HOCKEY BOY

sorry, one more post tonight. karl is still waiting for one of our boys to follow in his footsteps and love hockey. maybe brendan will end up being that boy! he was loving the hat tonight.

RUB A DUB DUB

my three boys in the tub. ok, i had to do some creative photoshop work to justin, hence the "fake" bubbles in a convenient place. and he also has icecream all over his face. all three really needed a bath tonight, so i dumped them all in there together. if you would have told me ten years ago that i would end up with three boys, i would have laughed out loud. but i love them all and don't know what i'd do without them.

BIRTHDAY

one year ago today i'm sure i was trying to get some sleep after a very long and stressful day. i'm glad it's done and already one year ago. the twins have decided to start taking only one nap per day now instead of two, although they really can't make up their minds, so then end up taking their second nap very late. and now it is eight o'clock and they are upstair in their beds being very naughty, laughing, giggling and crying. whoever thought up the concept of twins (or any multiples for that matter) must not have been in the right frame of mind. or maybe it was just a man. :) anyway, let's hope the next year is that much better than the first. one of these weeks we might make it a whole week of sleeping through the night. one can hope.

ONE YEAR OLD

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY

it has arrived, jordan and brendan have almost turned 1. their actual bday is on monday, but we had their party today. they decided to skip their afternoon nap today, so they were quite serious for the whole party. but we all had some fun. brendan loved his cake, jordan was not so sure about it. now let's hope they sleep through the night after all that sugar!

NO MORE PICS MOM!

does this face tell you i'm taking too many pictures?

BRENDAN'S FIRST YEAR

a year in the life of brendan

JORDAN'S FIRST YEAR

a year in the life of jordan

11 MONTHS OLD

jordan and brendan are now 11 months old! i can't believe that they will be 1 year old in one month, it really did go pretty fast. brendan has 3 teeth now and jordan has 2. brendan is almost walking/crawling, jordan is happy just hanging out and watching his brother do all the work.

JORDIE BOY

since i had a pic of brendan by himself a while ago, i thought i better get one up of just jordan, otherwise aunt sara starts thinking we are playing favorites. aunt sara always has jordan's back!

WE WILL MISS YOU CLAIRE

this past week was the last day that our in-home nanny, claire, was with us. we will miss her much, but wish her all the best in nursing school. love you claire!

SNEAK PEAK WINDY

these are for you windy! thanks for including me in the fun!

VACATION CONTINUED

here are a few more, i didn't realize you could only post so many pics at one time.

FLORIDA VACATION

here are a few pics from our recent trip to florida. my in-laws got a last minute condo for the week of spring break in daytona beach and took us along for the ride. and what a trip! we flew down, and yes, that includes all 5 of us and just hung out for the week. i have decided that it is not very relaxing to take 10 month old twins on extended vacations, but we made it through the week! the weather was beautiful, until we got off the plane in chicago, where it was snowing. welcome back to the real world.

BRENDAN BEAN

i just had to post this pic of my little brendan paul. i love that you can see his two little teeth in there...he makes me laugh on a daily basis, so much personality already!

THE WHOLE FAMILY

easter sunday after church at papa and oma essing's house. i was again reminded this morning that we are so lucky to live in a country where we have the freedom to go to church and worship with other believers. and i had my "proud mom" moment at lunch when justin asked to pray, and then proceeded to thank god for sending his son to die for us. even at the age of 5, he is starting to see that easter is not just about bunnies and candy.