Birthday Bash

Our beautiful little pumpkin has turned ONE!!!!  We had a small birthday party for her on Saturday; here is a small montage of photos from the day.

 Balloons and ribbons were quite a hit!

 She got to spend lots of time with Grandma and Oma!

 A cupcake....looks interesting.  But I don't really like it.....

 Opening gifts:  She was more interested in the tissue paper and in climbing on the colourful boxes than with unwrapping the boxes.  Once they were unwrapped, however, she loved playing with all her new toys!  (I thought it was about time Tom and Sarah made it on our blog!)

 Here's our big girl! 

Anneke, you have brought so much joy to our lives!  We love watching you grow and learn new things.  We are so blessed to have you in our family!  Thank-you for all your smiles and hugs!  We can't wait to see what exciting things the next year will bring!  We love you as big as the sky! :)  ~Mommy and Daddy

September Whirlwind

September has felt like a whirlwind.  All three of us have been thrown into totally new situations, so it has been a huge transition.  But we're all surviving!  Dave is enjoying school.  His class is good (so far!), the drive isn't too bad yet, and the staff there is great!  So we're glad he's feeling welcomed and that things have started well.  My job seems to be requiring more brain power than I have some day and I often feel like I'm totally confused most of the day.  There are a lot of new things to learn in Resource, and French is a lot of work too.  But I'm hoping that once I figure out how everything goes it'll settle down.  Anneke has been doing well at the babysitters.  She cries every morning when I leave, but the last couple days it only lasted a couple minutes!  She has several other kids to play with and they all love her, so we're glad that she's fitting in there!  It was pretty heart-wrenching to drop her off that first morning, but it's getting easier every day!

Anyways, here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

"There's no place like home!"  Anneke got these shoes from one of the teachers I work with and they fit now!  So I took some pictures to show her and thought I'd share.

 Daddy was racing her around the living room in the laundry basket, very fun!

 But now Daddy left, and I want out....how to get out.....

 Success!

 The laundry basket is a pretty cozy place to watch baby einstein from.  By the end of the movie she was totally leaning over sideways with her head on the side!

Mischevious

Well, she found it--the tupperware cupboard.  She discovered she can open it on her own and clear it out.  It provides great entertainment, multiple times a day!

And unveiling her newest "trick", as well as her newfound awareness of when she's being funny:

Adventures with Daddy

Some people from our church gave us their front-riding bike seat.  I think Anneke likes it (and so does Daddy)!

Impromtu Water Fun

We had some impromtu water/hose fun this afternoon.  It took Anneke a second to get brave enough to put her hands in the water, and another minute or so to figure out that she could put her mouth over it and drink it!  So fun!

 Cuddles with Daddy after the fun.

Geertsema Cottaging 2011

Well, we have returned home from another successful round of cottaging this summer!  Fun was had by all!  We could have done with softer mattresses and a few less rocks outside the cottage to make it a bit more kid-friendly, but it was fun to be together and relaxing!  Since we've been gone so much this summer we really haven't noticed how much trouble Anneke can get into.....now that we're home it's disaster at every turn!  Since leaving she's learned to crawl well, pull herself up, and walk around furniture.  Needless to say, our house is now a whole new world!  And back home for us means we are much more seriously shopping for a vehicle and starting to think about going back to school--blech on both counts!
Anyways, here are some photos from our week--Enjoy!

The waterfront--The water was quite warm!  We had some ducks to feed and a very tippy dock to walk on.

Coffee Time outside....

Reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Anneke and Rachel played together a bit.  Their favourite location was in front of the window.  Anneke loved standing up and banging on it....glad I don't have to wash it!

S'mores, please!

 Hanging out with Uncle Michael and the girls!  We're so glad that Uncle Michael could come!

 Anneke's other favourite place to stand--the screen door.  Perhaps not the best idea with so many people going in and out, she did fall out once.....but it's so entertaining outside!

 Playing with Oma and reading her book--we're going straight to the novels with this child!

VandenDool Cottaging 2011

 Mom and Dad VandenDool invited their kids up to a cottage North of Sturgeon Falls in the middle of July.  Here are some of the (many, many) pictures that were taken!

Above, David and I were out in the canoe.

Above, Anneke was learning to eat cheerios.  Which took some practice. 

Below, the VandenDool siblings.

Above, Anneke's favourite thing to do in the water?  SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH!!!

Below, Anneke really getting used to crawling...  She was still struggling with it a little, until David got down on hands and knees and said, "Alright Anneke, I'll race you!" At which point, Anneke took off!

Below, Anneke's first bike ride.  Which grandpa kept saying made her look too grown up!

Above, Anneke showing her curiosity about anything and everything.

Below, Anneke being held by Aunt Rachel (who she shares a birthday with)

Above, Anneke learned to eat ice cream.  But only likes it if it's between two layers of chocolate cookie...  She didn't like it on an ice cream cone.

Below, we learned that Anneke LOVES being in the Baby Bjorn thingamajig.  She also LOVED watching Daddy and others throw around the dangle-balls, or, Lasso Golf.  Which we played a lot!