6 Grandchildren & Santa

Today Santa was kind enough to stop by my mom's house to take a picture with all the kids so that we didn't have to cart everyone to the mall. Julie coordinated the event since she loathes malls more than anything. Good job Julie, and good job Santa. Santa was as jolly as ever! Jack and Ryan took the whole thing very seriously, and seemed to be totally wowed that Santa was sitting in Grammy's living room. Finnley screamed the second Santa walked in the front door, and Jovie screamed the second I put her down. It was eventful, and the video that Rob took is priceless. My pictures on the other hand didn't turn out very well. I wasn't paying much attention to my settings, so my red eye is off, as well as my indoor flash. Oh well, it's a pretty cute sight anyway.

Grammy, Finnley (20 months), Almira (4 days), Ryan (4), Jovie (11 months), Peter (5 months), Jack (4)

A little more torture:)

Me and Almira. Beth and Adam welcomed baby girl Almira Kathryn on Monday night. She weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, was 20 inches long, and is a sweet little girl. Beth and Adam are proud first parents, and are doing great! We are all proud aunties, but I think Adam's family wins the prize for most excited/enthusiastic. This is the first grandbaby for the Hodgins family, and the girls are just loving and spoiling Almira already.

Tis the season

Here was Jovie being rewarded with a Christmas cookie and juice for being a perfect angel after a short (20 minute) trip to Target on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, Jack was serving part of his punishment in his bedroom for being an absolute monster in Target, which is of course why our trip lasted 20 minutes.  I have never had a problem with my eldest child in a store before. Nothing that could not be solved with a free children's size popcorn or a piece of gum. I think however that there was a sense of holiday madness in the air, and Jack just decided to run with it. Needless to say I will NOT be going back to any store in the near future with either of the children, and I am so thankful that Rob ordered all of our Christmas presents online 2 weeks ago, making it possible for me to avoid department stores altogether until after Christmas! Oh...the rest of Jack's punishment is that he lost all his video games until after Christmas. This is a big deal for this child. In his free time he lives for playing Lego StarWars or Lego Indiana Jones video games. The kid hums and sings the theme songs for these games every chance he gets. I think it will be good for him to have a break.

Here is Jack tromping through the tree farm last weekend. He was pretending he was Darth Vader, and with his pretend light saber he was slashing through the tall brush saying "Wait for me Darth Vader's mom!" Did I mention we were taking a break from his StarWars video game?

Yes, that is Rob, my dad, and my brother in law Adam tying our tree to the racks of our brand new (old) mini-van. We got this mini-van from Rob's parents a while back, and are loving it! We only had to make one stop on the way home to secure the tree back to the racks, but that was because of a harsh Northeasterly wind.

Annual Almond Stick Making

Four generations of Van Diest Family members got together on Saturday for our annual almond stick making. It's a tradition from my Grandma Van Diest's family, and I don't know how long they've been doing it, but I've contributed for probably 5 or 6 years now. It has been a long time since there have been children at this event, but now that all of us grandchildren have children, my grandma's church gym was overrun with baby equipment, kids games, and toys. I just had to take a few pictures to document what an amazing task almond stick making is, and how much work and love goes into them. We all give them away as gifts during the holidays, and I've learned in the last few years that they sell at a few stores in Lynden for like 7 or 8 dollars a piece. They are a long standing Dutch tradition in our family. Beth and I were discussing how special it will be to carry on the tradition for years to come.

Thanksgiving Fun

What a wonderful day. We had so much to be thankful for today. My dad summed it up best...today we are so grateful for our health, the beautiful kids that keep blessing our family, each other, the wonderful food we get to eat, and most importantly our mom. She has been through so much in the last 7 months from her surgery, to chemo, and now radiation, but today we are so thankful for the recovery that has taken place. Scans don't show any visible cancer, which is a complete miracle. That's just all there is to it. Yes, she's had amazing doctors from the surgeons to the oncologists, but the way everything has come together is nothing short of a blessing from above. For this, there just aren't enough words to describe our thankfulness.

After the Thanksgiving festivities wrapped up, my mom brought out these gingerbread kits for the kids. It was quite the task putting them together so that they would stay put, but very enjoyable. The kids loved all the candy. They decorated the houses with the candy and then took it all off to eat it. I didn't see the point in stopping him, however he did get a very thorough teeth brushing when we got home.

Jack, Finn, and Ryan

Jack

Finn and Ryan

Jack (Finn and 9 month pregnant Beth in the background)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you could think of plenty of things to be thankful for. Now onto Christmas!!!

Blog Question

In talking with some of my friends last night, I learned that even though I update my blog almost weekly, it doesn't always show up on some of your blogs that I've updated. Like on Sarah's blog it says I updated 1 month ago, but really I've updated probably 3 times since then. Anyone know why, or what I can do to fix that? If not, check often because I try to update every week.

Jovie's Appointment

We had a really good appointment with Jovie's new Pediatric Urologist, Dr. Grady, from Children's Hospital on Friday. He explained Jovie's condition to us in excellent detail, and is allowing her to continue a prophylaxis antibiotic (preventative daily antibiotic) for another year to year and a half while we wait to see if the problem corrects itself. In case you don't remember from my previous post, Jovie has vesicouretal reflux, which means that urine which should normally stay in the bladder until being emptied travels back up the ureter into the kidney (just on the right side) when the bladder gets full. This puts Jovie at a high risk for kidney and/or UTIs because of potential bacteria that could enter her urine and travel up to infect her kidney. The problem is a "weak" connection where the ureter meets the bladder. This problem can sometimes be outgrown with age, so the doctor wants to see us again in 12-18 months to retest to see if anything has improved on its own. The most likely scenario however is that she will remain infection-free for 12-18 months because of the antibiotics, but will still have the weak spot and reflux when she is retested, which will lead us to dealing with correction of the problem (ie: surgery). Overall it was exactly what we wanted to hear at this point in time (no rushed surgery for our 10 month old), and we feel reassured with this doctor and the attention we received during our appointment. Still no easy fix for this, and it's been brought to light that there is a 30% chance that Jack could have the same condition, and when they asked us if he's ever had any unexplained fevers, Rob and I just looked at each other and I replied, "Yeah, lots". This doesn't mean that he has it...there are lots of explanations for random fevers, but it does mean that he has to have an ultrasound to get everything checked out. So, antibiotic every night for Jovie, an ultrasound for Jack, and an appointment at Children's in another year at the earliest to get Jovie retested.

We spent the end of the week in Seattle with Rob's parents. Jack's grandma took him to the zoo and took care of him while we had Jovie's appointment. From there we went up to Mill Creek to Jason and Sydney's house for fun-filled weekend. We played games, went to So You Think You Can Dance (the tour) at the Everett Events Center, and lounged around the house for an overall relaxing weekend. A great time with family and friends! Now we're just getting geared up for Thanksgiving (thank the Lord it's only a three day work week for me) at my mom's, and hopefully a visit from Rob's family on the weekend.

Rainy Day Post

No, Jack and Jovie could not look more alike, and yes, Jovie finally figured out how to get her feet underneath those chubby thighs to pull herself up. She's been pulling herself up to her knees for awhile now, but today she had lots of practice and finally mastered the skill of standing to reach the remote control.

I stayed home from work today for an extended weekend to let Rob recover from a head cold and to get new tires on the CRV. We had such a nice day all hanging out inside together while it was cold and rainy outside.

Halloween and Company

For this past Halloween weekend Jason and Sydney, our dearest friends from college, came up from Mill Creek to visit.

Jack as a "Superhero". We're not really sure who he was, other than Superhero Jack. It was a makeshift costume. Jump suit courtesy Danielle (Jack's preschool teacher), mask courtesy Jason and Sydney as a gift, and the cape was an old pillow case. I wonder how many more years I'll be able to get away with a Halloween costume like this. Everything was free...that's my kind of costume.

At my aunt Robin's house, Jack ran into a little boy dressed as Optimus Prime (Jack's costume last year). He stopped and stared at him, then told him "I love your costume", then gave him a thumb's up. Jack was all about observing others and enjoying the night. Several times he would say, "I just love Halloween."

Jovie's costume was a little more involved. She had a fairy costume that at the last minute ended up being too small, so we tried the backup costume, a duck, which also ended up being too small (she's quite round these days). It's a good thing that we held onto this frog costume that Jack wore when he was 1 year old, because we pulled it out of the closet at the last minute. It worked out perfectly, because it was warm enough for her to come along trick or treating. This picture of Jovie and my mom is priceless. She was all smiles until my mom put that witch hat on. Then she wasn't so sure.

Jason and Rob in matching superhero shirts. They also had masks like Jack, and fashioned capes out of Hawaiian sarongs (an old college dorm room memory)...a four year old is a grown ups excuse to dress up for Halloween.

Sydney and I (and our new friend Nick Cannon aka man in the horror movie in the background). The four of us are just sitting down to what ended up being an all night Cranium tournament. Sydney and I won the first round, and the boys won the 2nd and 3rd rounds. We played until 3:00am, but with the "fall back" time change it was only 2:00am when we called it quits...not too shabby.
Overall a wonderful weekend with our dear friends. I just wish they lived closer:(

Jack and Jovie

I've been wanting to post a comparison picture for a long time. I know this picture of Jovie is already on here, but it's the closest age and most similar pose I have of both of them. The similarities are obvious, and they really are exactly the same age here...9 months old. Both have 8 teeth and love to eat, however there are quite a few differences in each child too.

Notable differences: As chubby as Jovie is, Jack still takes the cake!

Jack had already undergone his first haircut, where Lisa VanderGriend cut at least two inches off! Jovie's is just starting to fill in a bit more. Rob just said it looks like Jack is wearing a hair piece!

Jovie is more vocal than Jack was, while Jack was already crawling and pulling himself up on things. (Boy versus girl I wonder?) Jovie crawls when she feels like it, but definitely likes to let the action come to her.

Jovie sure makes you work for a smile, whereas Jack was a little more liberal with his grins:).

Anyway, I thought it would be neat if one day when Jack and Jovie are older they would be able to see this...that is if I turn this blog to print like my friend Julie has done.

Jovie's UTI update: Rob took Jovie for her VCUG test on Monday and quickly found out why it's so important to be cautious and conservative when it comes to your children. We learned that she has Vesicoureteral Reflux on one side of her urinary tract. Translation-the kidney connects to the bladder via the ureter (small tube) and on Jovie's right side, there is a problem where the ureter attaches to the bladder, which causes urine to travel back up the ureter from the bladder to the kidney when the bladder is full. We can speculate all we want on what we think our treatment options will be, but we won't know until we meet with a Pediatric Urologist at Children's Hospital on November 20. What we think now is that surgery is a possibility, but again, don't feel comfortable jumping to any conclusions until we talk to an expert. Until treatment occurs, Jovie has a higher likelihood for kidney and bladder infections, which can be harmful over time. The silver lining, which I always try to look for, is that it's just on one side, effecting one kidney and not both. On a little side note, the antibiotics that Jovie took for her UTI wiped out her system so thoroughly that her bacterial balance in her intestines was thrown out of wack, causing a secondary infection in her intestines called c. difficile. We've been in and out of the doctor's office more times than I can count with her during the last 3-4 weeks, but finally we think we have some solid treatment and are getting her back to "normal". At least for now anyway. All in all, we're tired and pray for some relief from the schedule we've been maintaining. With all the doctor's appointments and days that Jovie has been sick, I have already used a few sick days, and Rob has totally been rearranging his schedule. Today Rob walked out the front door to go to work at 3:30pm while I was walking in the back door. Maybe next week we'll both be able to work a full week:)

Shots all around, and then some

On Friday Rob and I took both of the kids into the doctor for checkups and shots. Jack got "pokes" and was not very happy about it, but it paid off because he got treats. He had his official 4 year well child exam, and is doing really great. He weighs almost 45 pounds, and is 41 and a quarter inches tall (still on the high end of the growth charts, although leveling off a little bit from previous years). Jovie weighs 21 pounds 15 ounces, but hers wasn't a well child exam. Her appointment was a follow up from her UTI, and the doctor ordered a VCUG ultrasound to check her kidneys. That means another little catheter procedure, and since her doctor really doesn't want to sedate her, she gets to be awake to feel the whole thing:( I'm not very happy about that part, but I guess doctor knows best. We of course pray that all is well inside her little body. The procedure is on October 12th.

I took this random picture tonight, and Jack thought it was really "nice" that Jovie was patting him on the back.

Random Happenings

Wow, is it really the first day of October? As excited as I am about the arrival of Fall, I cannot believe that September came and went so quickly. September is probably our craziest month of the year. Rob is still fairly busy at work, and things come around full swing for the rest of us with school and work. Saying that it was a blur would be an understatement. However, now that Fall has officially arrived I feel like things really are calming down a little bit. We've finally gotten into the swing of our work/childcare/home-life routines, and are starting to really enjoy the wonderful things about fall. Baking, cooking, Cardinal's Football, and crisp, cold days. We've really gotten a taste of all those things in the last week or so.

Anyway, the first picture was taken back at the beginning of September from Jack's first day of preschool (his 2nd year) and the second picture is just from this past Sunday when Jack and I made special treats for our weekly "Cardinals football party". By the way, those would be Jack's words. He's always saying things like, "Hey mom, should we save this for our Cardinals football party?" Rob has him so trained it's criminal.

I know I don't have an updated picture of Jovie. I'm working on it. She was sick for a long time and ended up having a UTI (poor baby) and will see the doctor tomorrow to make sure everything inside her little urinary tract is functioning properly. She's pretty young to have a UTI, and it could be a sign of a problem, but we'll find out soon. She's just now starting to act like her jovial (get it...Jovie) old self again. She's still eating everything in sight (wonder where she gets that from) and now has 6 teeth! She's been enjoying all of the concoctions that I come up with for her to eat, and the ladies at nursery seem to really like what I make for her too. The gal today said, "What was that orange stuff that Jovie had today? It smelled so good that I wanted to eat it." It was sweet potatoes, chicken, and cheese. Thank you Staci and Sarah for inspiring me and reminding me that I am capable of making my own baby food! Anyway, back to Jovie. I keep thinking she's going to take off on all fours one of these days, but she's perfectly happy to get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth to her heart's content...which is fine by me. We really need to babyproof our home, so hopefully I have a little more time to do so.

Stats on both kids' doctor's appointments tomorrow coming soon.

Random Pictures

It's too bad that the actual quality of these pictures that my friend Staci took with her amazing camera and photographic skills is not going to show through on my blog. However, I just love these pictures, and wanted to share them. They remind me how much fun we had this summer just lounging around and playing in the back yard, and how excited I already am for next summer! I'm having a hard time letting go of summer, can you tell? I am however very excited for the fall season and all that it entails...pumpkin patch, Halloween treats, and falling leaves.

By the way, I think the next pictures I post will be of Jovie crawling. Even though she is a little under the weather today (103 degree fever...1st virus of the season), she stills wants to keep practicing her new skills. She's almost there! She rocks back and forth on her hands and knees like she wants to take off, but just doesn't know how to yet. It's very cute.

Jam and Work

So, a few years back when Rob and I were living with his parents in Brier, my friend Sarah came over to help me make jam. It started a tradition that I now do with the two girls that I graduated in Family and Consumer Sciences with at WSU. Last year Sarah and Staci made the trek up to Lynden to see our new house and make jam. We made lots of it and had tons of fun! This year we planned to do it again, but circumstances were a little different. Sarah couldn't make it because of Justus' recent surgeries, so just Staci came. I woke up with one of the worst migraines I've ever had on jam day (throwing up...the works), but that didn't stop Staci. She somehow managed to take care of both of my kids in the morning until Lisa could come and pick up Jovie. Then she occupied Jack while making 6 batches of jam. It wasn't a very easy task, and she did badly burn her thumb, but it definitely wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Thanks Staci for everything you did for us, and I'm sorry I wasn't a better hostess. Sarah, you were greatly missed, but we're confident you'll be here next year! I'm already looking forward to Jam Fest 2010. Love you girls!

On a different note, today was my first day back to work. Students don't actually start school until Thursday, but it's back into full swing for us. I'm quite sad about being away from the kids again, but they are in good hands and it sure makes me thankful for every second I have with them.

Disneyland

Everyone had such a good time at Disneyland! Jack's highlights of the trip were Star Wars and Splash Mountain. I loved the Electrical Parade at California Adventure, and the character breakfast at Disneyland. Jovie loved It's a Small World, and the big waterfall at California Adventure. Rob loved the Soarin' Over California ride at California Adventure. Sara loved Space Mountain, although her highlight was probably spotting Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter outside of the Alice in Wonderland ride at Disneyland. I don't know if Joe had a favorite ride, but he sure pushed Jovie around in the stroller a lot (Thanks!), and I think Cathy just enjoyed being with her children and grandchildren. We loved this vacation. It was much needed for us, and of course, we can't wait to go back.

Clint Black

Yesterday my sisters, my mom, and I went to our local fair to see Clint Black. It was an amazing show! More than a decade ago (actually more like 15 years?), my mom took us girls down to the Puyallup Fair to see Clint Black. We loved it then, and loved it even more now. He's a great entertainer, and still looks and sounds great! It was a special evening. My mom presented us with the tickets on Christmas. She wrapped a framed family picture for each of us from Beth's wedding, and placed the ticket right on top. Soon after we all unwrapped them and realized what it was, Julie's next words were "Well, I guess I'll have to get a babysitter"...her way of telling us that she was pregnant. Needless to say, it was more than just a fun evening out with my favorite girls in the world! Thanks Beth for the picture, and thanks mom for always making everything so special!

Jack is 4!

Four years ago on August 5th, our first child, Jack, was born. He made his appearance 13 days late, forcing me through many hours of labor, and then ultimately a c-section. All of that unpleasantness was quickly forgotten when I held him for the first time. It was love at first sight. Now he's 4, is about to start his 2nd year of preschool, rarely lets me change his clothes or help in the bathroom anymore, and is becoming so independent and self-assured that he reminds me to calm down when I get too uptight. "Mom, just calm" he says.

A few months ago I asked Jack if I could read him my favorite book "I'll Love You Forever". It was my favorite book as a child, and is still my favorite book because my mom gifted it to me at the hospital on the day that Jack was born. When my mom used to read it to me, she would sing the words of the song with her own little made up tune (at least I think she made it up). I now do the same for Jack, and even though he's starting to get annoyed with me when I do it, he usually lets me. The last few months have been pretty difficult and emotional, and the last time I read the book to Jack I was a complete basket case. However, it just reminds me that there is no stronger love than a parent for their child, and even though Jack is growing and the years are flying by, my baby he'll always be.

Gotta love that enthusiasm! This present is a Star Wars light-saber by the way.

Yes, he is actually hugging his new Transformers pj's saying, "I love it!"

A Lego Star Wars Starship

Baseballs!

Happy Birthday to you Jack! I can't believe you are 4!