Christmas in Canada

Following the Dutch tradition, my family waits for Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet to come to my parents house on December 5th... or whatever evening works best for all involved ;).  This year it was December 10.  The day was filled with great company, good food, and a nice visit from St. Nick himself.

The first thing James said when he saw Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet come down was, "I don't know about this, mom!"  He was leery to sit on St. Nick's lap, but became more comfortable when he saw the bag full of gifts for him.

Lucas, even with presents in hand, would not be content.  Opa even blew his cover to help Lucas not be scared... but to no avail.

Peter did not sit for long.  He wouldn't even look at the gift he was given.  Poor kid.  What we do to them in the name of tradition, eh? 

In the role of Sinterklaas... my dad; and in the role of Zwarte Piet... my mom.  No bag or switches for the naughty boys and girls... I guess they weren't so bad this year :)

Peter Jeremiah Haveman - November 28, 2010

So, our little Peter man turned 1. 

 Crazy.  

And what a sweetheart he is :)  Very good natured and always giving out free smiles.

My joy is how cuddly he is, laying his head on my shoulder to give a hug.  And kisses!  That wet open mouth comes at me more than I care to admit ;)

My other joy is to watch him play so well on his own.  He practically crawls into the toybox (he made it a couple of times) to find that perfect toy to chew on for the moment.

And he's growing so fast... He's walking better and better everyday over the past couple weeks.  He's got to go fast to keep up with James and Lucas.  

Like father like son :)

The cake was not a cake, but cupcakes.  I bought cupcake holders with silly feet to make a caterpillar.  James and Lucas helped and it was fun.

Opening gifts... I just had to choose this one because he's making such a face. 

See our happy boy?

Fall Days

 A day of raking is great fun for the boys :)

After all the piles of fun we had with the leaves, we went for a short bike ride around the neighbourhood.  Well, James pedaled, Lucas was not so consistent :)  In this photo (left)  Lucas would not pedal on until the train was done going by.  I had hoped to catch the train, but by the time I thought this could be a cute photo, the train was gone.  Ahh well.
And below, you see James wait ever so patiently for Lucas to be done watching the train.  Sweet boys.

Peter got into the flour jar... what a little stinker!!  But who can resist that smile  :)

I took the boys with a good friend of mine to Dollinger's Pumpkin Patch and they each got to pick out a  pumpkin.  James wanted to carve a smiley face in his and so we did; but I put stars on the other side ;)  Stars for our Christian friends and a pumpkin face for our secular friends.  Ha!  But, James really liked the smile and so there it sits, smiling at all our friends :)

This photo I tried to adjust the brightness... didn't work so hot.  Ah well... there they are.

Happy Birthday to James!!

"How old are you James?"

 On September 24, James turned 4 years old.  What a big boy :)  He is a sweet boy whose imagination has grown by leaps and bounds... literally.  He is always racing his cars and crashing them up, hollering and running at the same time.  He loves to go outside and help his Daddy and jumps at the chance to ride in Daddy's big truck.  It's fun to watch him become more academic too.  He's always loved to look at books, but now he will sit and do independent work with colouring or the like. He started Sunday school this year and loves it! Sure it's only been 2 classes, but his face brightens up and now he loves to go to church. :)  And when we pass by a playground on the way to the grocery store, he always points and says "when I'm 5 I can go to school, right?"  One day he will be off to school... where does the time go... And for now we just have to make a point to savour the days of year number 4.  We love you, little James!

"Happy birthday dear James, Happy Birthday to you!"

How much do you want to bet he wishes for a truck?

So, if you're wondering who decorated the cake, it was Jerry, all the way!  It was fun to watch him build it and try to get it all right.  I think he did a fabulous job!  And so did James :)  So did Lucas... On Sunday after church, Lucas decided he wanted a piece.  He managed to take the whole thing out of the fridge, but the cake  slipped off just before he could get it on the table :(.  Sad day with no air bags to cushion the fall.

It must have been a busy day, because I'm sure the truck videos Jerry's watching are far from this boring :)

Camping... Shawnee National Forest, Trail of Tears

So we finally went camping.  We've had all the gear, except the tent, ever since we were married, and we hoped to go every year.  Well, this year we bought the tent and went!  It was great :)  We spent 2 nights, 1 day, and probably spent more time packing, setting up, taking down and packing again, than we spent time enjoying ourselves; but, it was still fabulous!!  The boys enjoyed it too, even though there wasn't much for them to do.  I think they enjoyed it because of the excitement of something different.

We traveled about 5 1/2 hours south, close to the border of Illinois.   After about 4 hours of cornfields and soybeans, the terrain finally became interesting.  The above photo is a shot a t a rest area beside a lake I can't remember the name of.  Very beautiful!  

Our little man... Peter!  He had a great time too, though I had to keep a constant eye on him to keep him from eating EVERYthing.

Our Tahoe was loaded to the gills with all our gear so there wasn't much room for toys.  The boys made their own fun trying to take rides in the bike trailer and pedaling back and forth in front of our campsite.

Here's our camp site.  The most fabulous you will find in Illinois, I'm sure.  Major selling point is the 3 walled cabin complete with fireplace.  Also, it was very private and quiet.  Downside, very hilly (hard for us people who are out of shape, to pedal) and no water holes for swimming or for fishing.  Great hiking trails, but not so great for little ones.

Old fire tower

Check out this look :)

Putting the Dirksen cup to good use :)

A few more snapshots of the peeps.

Sunday Afternoon

Last weekend we headed up north to celebrate my brother Arend"s 40th birthday.  Hip hip hoorah!  And because (as I stated  last post)  I'm not so quick with the camera, I didn't get his photo :(  So here's a not so recent one... he hasn't changed too much!  

And I had to share our snapshots from Sunday afternoon: