We have been busy!

You know it's getting close to Christmas when you have things going on every single night...and this week we did!

For Family Night we decorated this gingerbread house and then had fun eating it. We barely got a picture before the kids dug in!
Kelsi attends a drama/singing class once a week and on Tuesday they had their Christmas show. They did a few short plays and sang some great Christmas songs. It was so fun to watch her perform.

Wednesday night was Kelsi's school program. It was great and the kids actually got to sing CHRISTMAS songs....something many public schools are not allowing these days. Can you find Kelsi?

On Thursday night, after celebrating Uncle Nick's 21st birthday with dinner at Red Robin (sorry no pics!) we hurried over to Andrew's preschool where he had his Christmas program. He has been practicing the songs for months and it was fun to hear all the kids singing the songs that we have heard bits and pieces of for a while.

He was so excited to be singing for us, especially after watching his big sister perform the two previous nights. :)

Now I am just hoping for a lazy, stress free Christmas break so we can get ready for our new baby to come.

Feeling a little huge...

This isn't really me...though I certainly feel like it could be.

Don't worry though, I wouldn't wear a bikini around like that- it is December! :)

Happy Birthday Andrew!!

Andrew with his favorite person, his big sister! They are still the best of friends...most of the time.


Here is our handsome man when he was just a few minutes old...he isn't too sure what to think of this new place.



Our sweet little boy came into this world 4 years ago and forever changed our lives. He has grown into a handsome little man and we are so blessed to have him in our family! Some of Andrew's favorite things are: The movie Cars and anything related to that, reading stories with mommy, playing with daddy, doing anything with Kelsi, shopping at Target (that one is mom's fault, but everyone needs a shoppping buddy!), eating anything chocolate or cheese pizza, racing on Mario Kart, puzzles, watching Diego movies and pretending to be Diego, and singing songs. It is fun to see him learn and grow! He recently learned the song, "I am a Child of God" for our primary program and he will sing it for anyone, anywhere. He is so proud of himself that he knows all the words. It brought tears to my eyes during the program to see him singing so loud and proud. He is such a funny boy and he always keeps us laughing with the crazy things that he says and does. He has a very tender side and can't wait to be a big brother. He is so excited to have a baby sister who he can teach things to. (He wants to teach her to walk and sing as soon as she is born. :) ) He is my little sidekick during the day while Kelsi is at school and daddy is at work and we have lots of fun together.


We love you Andrew!!

Where is the love?

Yesterday the kids and I took a super quick trip over the mountains to see family. I got to go shopping (well, stand in line mostly!) with my sister, sister-in-law and my mother while the kids got to play with their cousins. It was a win-win situation. Because of work, Dave did not get to come with us and his only request was to bring back some Krispy Kreme donuts for him and his coworkers. The nearest store is 2 hours away, so we usually try and get some while we are over visiting my family. Imagine my delight when I pulled into the parking lot and saw that their famous Hot Light was on! In case you don't know, this means that they are making fresh glazed donuts at the moment and if you come in, you can have one that is nice and hot. That's the best way to eat them, they just melt in your mouth. Every other time that I have been to a Krispy Kreme when the sign was on, they gave us a free glazed donut, just off the belt. YUM!! Not this time. They offered us half of a bite of a donut that wasn't even warm! I know that the economy is not that great right now and maybe people aren't scooping up these donuts like they used to...but really, come on. At least give the pregnant lady and her two young children an entire bite and one that is warm!

If I wasn't so distracted picking out my dozen assorted donuts I was taking home, I would have been a lot more upset. I know that I am super pregnant and often a little grumpy lately, but really, where is the love Krispy Kreme?

Happy Halloween...a little late :)

On our way to the trunk-or-treat...

Kelsi was a pink witch, with pink hair, of course!
Andrew was Spiderman and was putting people in webs all night!

This is how we roll...

My sister has started a new vinyl lettering business with two of her sister-in-laws,

Windmill Lettering.

I am a huge fan of all the fun things you can do with vinyl, so I was happy to hear about their new adventure!

They made us 5 buttons to put on our van...and look how cute they turned out! I know we don't technically have 5 people in our family yet, but pretty soon we will. I am not sure why Dave had to put his Mountain Dew in the picture...maybe he is worried about how much caffeine his body will need to function as the father of three children instead of only two.

Cute as a Button (or five Buttons!)
If you are interested in any adorable vinyl for your car or home or anything, check out their website at http://www.windmilllettering.com/

Pumpkin Carving, Button Style

This is the newest member of our family, our Pumpkin Potato-Head, Mrs. Witch.

Isn't she lovely?

The kids love her!
Our adorable kids with their new friend

I love that it took about five minutes to decorate and there were no messy pumpkin guts all over the place! I think this may be a new tradition in our home as far as pumpkins go...we will see how long it lasts until I get out voted. :)

I Heart Celine Dion!

Last Saturday I got to go with my sister to see a Celine Dion concert. I love that woman, her voice is amazing and just as great live as on her CD's! I went with my mother in law 5 years ago to see her in Vegas, so I was really excited to get the chance to see her again. My sister took her camera and I did not, so to see just how close we were, check out her blog:
http://vanderhoeven.blogspot.com/2008/10/celine-dion-in-tacoma.html

Wii went bowling for Family Night!

After having way too much fun playing Wii with the VanderHoevens, we somehow ended up with one in our home. I am pretty sure my husband said at one time that we would never own a video game system...but some things are just too much fun to resist!

Here are Kelsi and Dave bowling...

Notice that Kelsi did a lot better than her dad!!!
Even Andrew got into it...we may have some professional bowlers in this family.
A perfect way to end a perfect day...Hot Cocoa with a scoop (or two!) of vanilla ice cream. Heaven in a mug, I am not kidding you!!

The Fair!

Last weekend we went to the Central Washington State Fair. We started the day by attending a parade then off to the fair. It was a long, but fun day. The kids of course just wanted to ride the rides. I was the designated picture person since they don't let pregnant ladies ride anything. :(

This was in the evening and as you can see, Andrew is wiped out! We didn't take a stroller this year because we figured the kids were big enough and we wanted to wear them out. We did run into some friends who had a double stroller and they were so kind as to let Andrew sleep for a bit in the back.
While Andrew was sleeping, Kelsi and Dave took the opportunity to go on the all big rides that Andrew was too small for. They had a little too much fun...we are just glad the Dave was able to get Kelsi to a garbage can before she lost her very pricey fair lunch! And if you ask her, she now hates the Zipper ride. :) We can't wait to go back next year!

Delicious Washington Peaches

Wahoo for New Baby Cousins!!

This is our newest nephew/cousin...Baby Zachary. He entered the world on Sunday, September 21st at 11:43 pm...and he is so cute!!
His proud siblings and dad. Since it was so late, they decided that his other brother Benjamin (age 2) could meet him later.

My sister is amazing, this pregnancy was not the funnest for her. At the beginning she had to have shots every day...as if just being pregnant isn't hard enough! She also had 4 extra people living in her home (us!) to deal with on top of everything. Of course, after all she had to deal with she has a beautiful baby boy! My mother, who lives pretty close to my sister, happened to be over the mountains at our house for a work conference. Well, as soon as she was done Sunday evening we drove over to be with Valerie (and so Grandma could meet her 11th grandchild!) We finally got some sleep around 1 am and had to get up at 5 am to head back over to Yakima in time for her to attend the remainder of the conference. It was a super quick trip...but we wouldn't have missed it for anything! We are both so glad that we could be there to meet him, though bed time will be early tonight.

We have had a cousin explosion in our family lately. Annika in February, Madison in June, Beckham in August and now Zachary in September. The next baby will be ours...but that still seems a long time away!

Andrew's First Day of Preschool!

Andrew has been wanting to go to school like his big sister for a long time. Today his dream came true. He started his first day of preschool!!

Can you tell that he is a little excited?? I think he is so adorable!
Today was a play day at school. They got to meet the teachers and just play with whatever they wanted to help them get comfortable in the classroom. Andrew had so much fun, he didn't want to go home. Hooray for preschool!

**We also found out that we are having a baby GIRL today...we are super excited!

Busy Busy in Boise!

We made a quick trip over to Boise this weekend for the baby blessing of Madison, our newest little niece. We were so excited to meet her and spend time with family.

On Saturday we all went to Zoo Boise. It was lots of fun and just the right size for all the little ones we had with us. Dave growled at a snow leopard and I am pretty sure the thing really wanted to eat us for dinner! Thank goodness for the strong metal fence that was seperating us. :)
A quick family photo at the zoo.
We took the kids to the Boise Temple. Kelsi took this picture of us.
This is heaven in a pie tin. :) A chicken green chile salad from Bajios...it does not get much better than this. We really miss Bajios, there is nothing like it where we live now.
This is the reason for our visit, Madison! She is a cutie and we all had fun making her smile. We can't wait to see her again.

First Day of Second Grade!

Kelsi started her first day of second grade yesterday...I can't believe I am the mother of a second grader! She woke up super early and was ready to go about 2 hours early, I guess she was a little excited! She had fun picking out the perfect outfit for her first day. Isn't she cute?
Andrew was sad that Kelsi was leaving for the whole day, they have been best friends and playmates all summer. He is excited to start preschool next week, stay tuned for more news about that day!

*Dave and I also celebrated our 9th anniversary yesterday. Since we didn't have a babysitter, we were going to go out this weekend and do something. However, Olive Garden was calling my name all day ( I love their salad!) so we took the kids and went out after all. We had a great time and the salad was just as great as I had imagined all day long. :)

Birthday Fun

Since Kelsi was sick on her birthday, she didn't get a very fun birthday dinner. Once she was healthy, she chose to go to El Porton for her dinner. They sang Happy Birthday in Spanish and gave her a HUGE serving of fried ice cream. Our whole family was eating it and we could barely finish it. It was delicious!
My birthday was last week...I have entered my last year of being a 20-something. We had a great day which included:

• breakfast in bed (yummy french toast!) and lots of beautiful roses
• a family hike that almost killed me...I am not in very great shape since I have been laying in bed sick for 3 months!
• a dinner at Outback with just Dave and me...it was delicious and so fun to go out with my husband, we don't do that enough!
• yummy cheesecake for dessert...I am not a huge cake person, but I always can eat cheesecake!
  

Just a picture of my cute family...we took down their bunk beds and put them both on the floor. They are having so much fun and love their "new" room. :)

Summer Fun!

Hopefully this isn't picture overload...but we have been having lots of fun lately and wanted to share a little.

New Bubble Machine!
Bubbles are so fun. The kids have spent hours playing in the backyard with bubbles and sprinklers this week. Yay for mom, I just had to sit in a chair and watch. :)
Running hard!
This is the bucket we keep our outside toys in...but the kids decided to bathe in it instead. They were both in it together at one point, though not long enough for me to get a picture.
Num Nums!! Gotta love Costco's chocolate muffins! Andrew's favorite part is the chocolate chips and he just digs through the muffin to find them- as you can see by looking at the table!
Camp Z!! We got to go spend the evening up at a church camp with Dave's parents. The kids had tons of fun while the mosquitos tried to eat us alive.
Grandma and Grandpa Button...what a treat to get a whole evening with both of them! Dave's dad is serving as our Stake President right now and that tends to take a little bit of his spare time...

Our dirty, but always cheesy kids!
We hope you are all having as much fun this summer as we are!