Photos By Bill

My soon to be brother in law (Jan 2, 2011) took some pictures when we were at my bother's cottage Sat/Sun for my family's Christmas celebration. Here are a few favorites of our family:

I have more pictures to post from these 2 days, but I'm using my Mom's computer and don't have them downloaded yet. Before we opened presents, we were able to play outside on the lake. My brother's family loves hockey so of course, a bit of skating and shooting was involved. We didn't take skates due to flying, but Gerrit and Adam still enjoyed themselves (and saved their ego as they don't skate quite as well as our 3 yr old niece!).

Name That Tune

"Twinkle, twinkle, star...
who you are"*

*Gerrit's version

Sledding

A few weeks ago Adam, Gerrit, Luke, Paul, Anne, and Abby went sledding at the golf course. I went to take pictures. This was Gerrit's first time really sledding. (He has been pulled around our yard but nothing with a serious hill.) He loved it! We first had to switch to the next size up in winter gear before heading out. Sad to see Max's snow pants too small but thankful that Luke's fit now!

Top left: Gerrit gets the best end of the deal, not having to walk back up the hill!

Top middle: Gerrit enjoying the toboggan, refusing to look at the camera, of course

Top left: side angle of the sled (compliments of Rockne's)

Bottom left: Adam and Gerrit on our sled

Bottom middle: Another great thing about being small, you can get a ride up the hill too.

Bottom right: my attempt to get a picture of the boys on the sled together. (Anne and Abby stuck together as they didn't want to go down the jumps like the boys.)

Gerrit had a blast and talks about sledding again soon. We here Oma and Opa have a nice hill outside the condo that Gerrit and Adam will have to check out next week.

The Family

I never thought I'd dress my kids in the same clothes (I grew up with having similar outfits as my sisters), but I couldn't pass up matching jammies. Gerrit loved the fact that they matched so maybe they will have matching or coordinating outfits from time to time...

You can tell that the picture of me and the boys was taken when Emmit was about a week old as he still had his 'tan'. The picture of Adam and the boys was taken this week and Emmit's color is much better! Gerrit is a pistol these days when it comes to looking at the camera for a photo!

Oma and Opa

I realized it has been a while since I last wrote and posted pictures...and tomorrow we are off for MI so I thought I'd take a quick minute to post a few pictures. We had a great time with Oma and Opa. They let me sleep often and took care of the kids as much as possible, plus cleaned part of the house and ran errands. I think they should've stayed another week (I could get a lot more done then!) Here they are doing what they did most of the time they were here:

Oma held Emmit as much as she could...

Opa wasn't allowed to hold Emmit - Gerrit insisted he play with him! They played bouncy ball, baseball, basketball, Noah's ark, and some sort of combat/army (top photo). Gerrit came home from Luke/Paul's house with the GI Joe helmet (my brother had one growing up too). I laugh every time he puts that thing on as it reminds me of my childhood. He uses it more for his batting helmet and football helmet than combat which I laugh at too.

We are excited to be going to MI to have Emmit meet the rest of his family.

Brothers Quiz

Guess who is who?

Indy 500

Today we took Gerrit to the high school for the Indy 500 (an hour of riding your favorite toy). It was well worth the $2 and we wish they had this every month! Here are a few of the high lights:

Top left: a view from across the gym - Opa taking pictures

Top middle: Emmit enjoying the Indy 500 with Oma

Top right: coasting down the hallway - wishing there was a hill to gain more speed

Bottom left: Dad walking with the first few times around the track

Middle left: taking a break and watching the basketball practice

Middle right: torn between 2 favorites: basketball and biking

Bottom right: taking a break and smiling for mom