Thanksgiving in Minnesota 2008

Grandpa and Grandma with Ella and Nathan

Darin and Tricia, Brayden and Breanna
Dan, Laura, Bennet, Caleb, Kylie and Avery

You know who we are of course

Ella all excited opening her first present

Ella and Nathan opening their first gifts

Laura and Avery

Ella loved to give Avery kisses

Brayden loves pumpkin pie

Pheasant hunting success

Ella loves the being in the car

Grandma and Brayden filling up Ella's car

What a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving with the babies in Minnesota. The babies did so well on the trip down. They slept the whole way there. They were slightly overwhelmed with all the new people around them and became quite the Mommy's babies while we were there. Towards the end they were warming up quite nicely to Grandpa and Grandma Beckering, so hopefully they will remember them when we go back for Christmas during New Years. The whole crew, including 8 adults and 8 children stayed at my parents. You can imagine some chaos, but I have to admit, it actually went pretty well. We did of course resort to some TV/video time in order to have some piece and quiet when needed. We were able to see the Van Dyke and Beckering extended family and it was great to catch up with cousins and aunts and uncles. We feasted on Turkey and fixings and also ate a lot of everything in between. Tim was able to go pheasant hunting with my dad and brothers. Tim hit a pheasant at a very close range....so lets say, there was not much left of the pheasant to see. Ella fell absolutely in love with Avery and wanted to give her kisses all the time. We had to keep a close eye on her otherwise she would be smothering Avery! The week went fast and it is always hard to say goodbye. Luckily, we'll be back at New Years.

Eating Cheerios

Car Seat Fun

Ella and Nathan just love to play in their car seats. Who knew they would be a multi-sue item. Ella is also into books. Nathan likes them too, but Ella will just sit and play with them forever. She likes to read books in the car seat as you will see. They are standing on their own now (if they want to). They both took a couple steps by themselves on Saturday, but they haven't done it again. They walk by everything, so I am sure it will not be too long before they are wobbling around.

The Stuive Birthday party

We celebrated Megan, Ashley, Colten, and Elijah's birthdays!

Nathan and Grandma Stuive hanging out.

Ella loves Dakota the puppy, but does Dakota love Ella? Not so much!

Dad and Ella

Grandma and Ella watching the kids blow out candles

Grandpa Stuive and Nathan

Earlier that morning a picture of brotherly and sisterly love!

Ella falling asleep at the noon meal

Ella's new way to drink from her cup

Halloween 2008

We had a fun Halloween this year. We dressed Nathan and Ella up and headed out to a party with some friends from church. Nathan went as Tigger and Ella as a Leopard. They only wore them for 15 minutes, but actually didn't put up too much of a fuss while they wore them. It was quite something to take a picture of all the kids and their outfits. The bottom pictures shows a majority of the kids, but I think there were 3 missing from the picture. Tim went as a monk and I went as a nurse/doctor in my nursing uniform (due to the lack of creativity and time to think or make anything else)!

A walk out in the dunes

This past Saturday was so beautiful, so we decided to take a walk by Saugatuak Dunes. It was so pretty with all of the leaves covering the ground and we enjoyed a nice walk to the beach. It was a little windy at the beach, but we did get some nice pictures. I am sure this is one of the last times we will be out there before the snow flies!

Fall updates

Ella and Callie at a "work Halloween party"

Carissa and Ella doing some fall camping at the Christian conference-grounds

Ella and Nathan loved the outdoors. It sure is a lot more work to bundle them up for the cold

Ella and daddy playing in the leaves...Ella is not to sure about it!

Nathan tried to stay awake till mommy got home from work, but he just couldn't do it

Nathan and Ella with their "gords"

What a cutie!

"Mom..are these going to be our dinner later?"

Close up of Nathan

Ella is really starting to ham it up for the camera

Their new play spot..the dishwasher!

It has been a little bit since I blogged. Just haven't had a lot of free time at night when I actually have access to the computer and Internet! Let's see what we have for updates. Of course the biggest news, is that my brother Dan and Laura had a precious baby girl on October 23. They named her Avery Mae. She was bigger than all of Laura's other babies, weighing in at 8lbs and 3 oz and 21 inches long. She has a huge amount of hair. Thank goodness for Internet, so we could see her on-line. Sounds like things are going well. I think the other kids are going back to Edgerton with Laura's parents, so that Laura can recuperate and adjust without 3 other children around. It was my 32nd birthday last week and Todd and Kathy and girls graciously took our babies so that we could go out to eat. It was so nice. We went to a restaurant downtown and enjoyed a quiet, uninterrupted meal with no babies hanging on our legs or trying to take away our food. We definitely overate, but it was all worth it. The babies currently have little colds. Both have runny noses and croupy coughs. Luckily they are able to sleep at night, but they are a little clingy during the day (which makes for a long day). They are not walking, but love to walk with our help and walk around furniture or anything that will support them. Ella loves to wave and clap and she now knows how to do, "so big!" Nathan does things when he wants to..but not consistently!!! I cannot believe they are 10 months old already. That one year old mark is getting pretty close. Last week, I also went to stay the day with Carissa and Rachel, who were camping at the Christian Campgrounds near Grand Haven. It was a beautiful day and we spent a lot of the day outside. The babies had fun, but they needed to be watched closely or they would try to eat acorns, rocks, bark, etc. The rest of the weekend was rainy, so I am glad that we had a nice day when we were there. Tim continues to be busy at his work which is a blessing here in Michigan. We are looking forward to going to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. We cannot wait to see all our family, especially little Avery.

Nathan and Ella and the puppies

Uncle Scott and Aunt Barb got these puppies for them when they were born and they all of the sudden are loving them. It so cute to watch them give the puppies kisses.

Summer fun in October

Nathan getting more daring at the beach

Nathan got a little daring at the beach. From the post below, you see him nicely playing in the sand, but he decided he wanted more. We took off his soggy diaper and decided against a swimmer and let Nathan go all natural. He was such a dare-devil. He would crawl right into the water and many times we had to go fetch him from the water's edge. It was pretty cute. We got a lot of smiles. Here is video of him and also of me grabbing him from going all the way into the water.

Ella and Nathan at the beach in October

It was such a beautiful weekend and so we spent some time outside and at the beach. We took our jogger stroller to Saugatauk Dunes and hiked to the beach. We let the babies play in the sand. They just loved to play in the sand. We did have to watch where their hands went because often times, we would see them going up to their mouths! I know this weather will not last, but it was sure fun to be at the beach and have 80 degree weather in October!

More Nathan and Ella lov'in on each other