Our First Time at the Zoo and more

Nathan and Ella having a loving moment

Waiting patiently for lunch

Can you say "cheesy" smile

Nathan having some crackers after a hard play outside

Ella cashed out early for her nap on Daddy

Precious

Nathan snooping some whip cream

Ella and Nathan checking out the bear

Nathan was not afraid at all to touch the goats

Someone loves being outside

"all aboard"

Nathan and Malachi

"Giddy up"

All the cousins loving the Zoo

Feeding the ducks

A baby shower for my friend Annette

Great friends.. Becca, me, and Annette

This past Monday, I took the twins to the Zoo with Aunt Jessica and cousins Malachi and Sam. We had a great time. The weather was perfect and the twins did so good just being in the stroller looking at all the animals and people. They really like being able to pet the goats. We had a little picnic afterwards and the babies took a great nap.  I helped host a baby shower for one of my girlfriends from out small group. It was so much fun getting ready for the shower and hanging out and catching up with Becca and Annette.  Ella and Nathan love the outdoors and I love it too.  We go outside as much as we can. We take walks, play on our toy scooters, and playing with our neighbors.

Some exciting updates

We sold our house!!!!!!!! It is still surreal to us. It happened last weekend. We had a couple come through the house on Friday. They made an offer on Saturday, we counter-offered on Saturday night and they accepted on Sunday afternoon. Yes....that is how fast it happened. I will be honest to say that I was not really prepared to move from my house or my neighborhood. We have wonderful neighbors, including one of them who is our babysitter. We like our house and with Tim being somewhat out of commission, we were prepared and okay with being here for the summer. We are again reminded that God is in control and His timing is best. So, "now what?" you might ask. We have decided to rent for awhile. We are totally sure where we want to live (some of that depends on where Tim finds a more permanent job) or where we will find a house we like. We know the general area, but thought it would be a bit too much to figure that all out in 5 weeks (we have to be out by June 22). One of my co-workers is moving away for a year and they were looking for someone to rent out their house for a year. We took a look at it and decided it would be a perfect fit for us and for them. We will be living in Georgetown Forest (in Hudsonville). We are excited for this new transition in our lives. We covet your prayers and we get things packed up and pray the twins will transition okay.

As for other updates. Last Saturday, I ran a 10K in downtown Grand Rapids. It felt good to get back into running. Unfortunately, it rained for most of the six mile run, but at least it was warm and there was no rain. It got me motivated to do more training, maybe a half marathon in the fall, but we'll see!
The twins are doing good. Still loving the outdoors. Not too many more words, but lots of gibberish. Nathan has an obsession with our vacuum and so I found a play vacuum on a garage sale and he follows me all over the house "vacuuming."

Lunch Time.....can be messy!

April Fun

Ella and Mom

Ella in her spring dress

Nathan in his new spring shirt for church

Saturday coffee at the park

Anna and Ella

Nathan and Ella like to dip pretzels in hummus. Who knew!

Vroom...Vroom....

Nathan...where's your pants

Hey goof ball

We love to look out the window

These boots are made for walking

Where are you going

Ella loves to dress up in anything. Now she is into rain boots. I picked them up at a garage sale and she wears them with everything

Having a snack after our naps

Outside fun

Can we live outside mom?

Ella loves her car

Here are some pictures of the month of April. Cannot believe May is right around the corner. Hope you enjoy!

Nathan's first haircut

Nathan loves to throw balls

This is a couple weeks old, but cute. Nathan would throw the ball and then quickly fold his hands. I have several short videos of it, but I think this one was the best. They come up with something new all the time

Ella dancing to "Wheels on the bus"

It is slightly hard to hear the music from the play bus, but Ella loves to dance to it. She like to balance on her knees and shake her butt. So cute. Tim thought I dressed up Nathan like he worked at Best Buy. Oh well, he was dressed, that is the main point.

A new place to hide

So the twins found a new place to hide. Pretty cute, but I think the cupboard could be bigger!

Tim updates: Well, I wish I could say things are improving, but he still is having pressure and pain. He actually went today and got the cast taken off. He had a new and looser one put on last week Tuesday, but still felt like the cast was the culprit. He feels better, but has some new pain issues. I have come to the conclusion that it is going to be a long road yet and pressure and pain are going to be a part of it. Hopefully he can start to put his foot down a little more now that the cast is off. They actually encourage him and want him to try and keep his leg down for most of the day and just put it up when needed. So it will be a slow road, but we are prayerful for a complete recovery. The twins continue to keep us busy. They are now re acclimated to G & G Stuive's house and have spent some time there when I work. It is so nice to have family here to help and the twins love it there. Nathan got his haircut this past Saturday by Tim. I will post some video or photos soon. He looks more like a toddler now. Ella is next. They continue to amaze us at what they understand and mimic. For instance: we go and look at the horses across from our sub division when we take a walk. I often would pick some grass and let the horses eat out of my hand and wouldn't you know it, but Nathan and Ella love to reach down on the carpet, grass, dirt, or where ever and mimic me feeding the horses. They are so cute that way. No words yet, but they do have their own little gibberish. Nathan and Ella love the outdoors. They could be out their rain or snow! We spend a lot of time outside and it helps to tire them out at night!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other than that not too much. I'll try post some other videos soon.

Lunch Time

Here is Nathan and Ella after they were finished eating lunch. They can be such characters!

updates on Tim

Tim after surgery ready to go home!

Whew.......it has been awhile since I have updated. Life has changed a little bit around here and I have not had enough time or energy to blog. Tim is doing as good as can be expected. He did great through the surgery. They did a nerve block to his leg and so he was without any pain for 36 hours. At first it was scary not to know how long he would have a numb leg, but when the block wore off and the pain started, I think he wished the nerve block could have lasted for a week!!!!!!!!! He still is having pain (or pressure is the best way to describe it). He is slowly decreasing his amount of Vicodin, but still needs it. I think we were both hoping the pain would be a little less almost two weeks out, so we'll see what the doctors have to say Wednesday when he goes in to get his stitches out and get a permanent cast put on for 4 weeks. Tim reads lots of books to the the babies and will play with them on the floor for a little while. At first, I think Ella and Nathan knew something was different with daddy, but now if he gets down on the floor and plays with him, the same old dad is back! I seem to be managing okay. I cannot say enough to everyone who has helped out with the babies or has brought us a meal. It is wonderful to have such support. I have still been working part time. We have manged to figure out a daycare schedule on my weird shift hours. Tim's parents are now back from Florida, so they now can help out too. We ask and covet your prayers that Tim's Achilles is healing and stays free from infection. We also pray that the pain will lessen and he can get around a little more without having his toes go purple! And finally, I would love a prayer for strength and endurance. I get down now and then, not having my active, very helpful husband there to help me. We know God works in mysterious ways and I feel closer to him and yearn for him even more during this time. Thanks for all your support and prayers!

Tim's injury and surgery

Last week Monday, Tim was playing basketball with some guys from church and ended up tearing his Achilles Tendon. He said he was charging for the ball and heard a pop and said it felt like someone kicked him in the back of the leg. He went to the doctor the next day and yes he had indeed ruptured his tendon. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow at around 3pm. He will be in a cast for 6 weeks. He will not be able to bear weight on that leg for 6 weeks too. I feel so bad for him and for myself because now I will be caring for 3 children!!!!! We would covet your prayers that surgery goes well and that Tim heals completely.

Ouch!

Ella reading (yes with her pipe)

Nathan smiling for the camera.

Having a snack before bed!

Checking out the hotwheels. Might be too big for us, but we love em.

Bath Time

Nathan and Ella enjoying all the bubbles!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Beckering

Nathan was just sad he wasn't there in person to give you a Birthday hug and Ella thinks a pacifier is kind of a cool thing to suck on. She would have it in her mouth the whole day if we let her! Love you Grandpa Beckering!

A night of swimming at Zeeland Recreation

Nathan, Tim, and Ella in the pool

Malachi was a fish

Here is Eric and Sam having fun at the pool

Tuesday night we met up with Eric, Jessica, Malachi, and Sam and went swimming at the Zeeland Recreation Center. We thought it would be fun to get the babies used to the water for the upcoming summer. At first Ella didn't know if she would like it, but she was splashing and laughing at the end. Nathan thought it was fun if we put him on the side and pretended to let him jump off into the water. It was a nice way to get out and the babies slept in the next morning after a big night of swimming. It was great to catch up with Eric and Jessica again. We plan to do it more often. On a side note, we would covet your prayers for my Grandpa Lance who is in the hospital in Minnesota with a bowel obstruction. He is not the greatest surgical candidate and we pray that the problem will resolve on it's own time.

Nathan dancing for Grandpa Beckering's Birthday

Nathan and Ella have fallen in love with a CD from the library and we probably listen to it at least 2-3 times a day. They know the songs and love to dance, sway their heads, or tap their feet to the music. Tonight Nathan really got into it and even gave us hand gestures. Ella was a little more subdued and preferred to push her belly in and out! We dedicate this dance to Grandpa Beckering for his Birthday tomorrow. We love you Grandpa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick update -minus pictures!

No pictures have been taken recently, so you'll have to be content with a written update. We were happy to find that Nathan's hemoglobin went up to 11.2 so the iron supplements worked. We still have to continue with them for awhile to help build up his iron stores. Both Nathan and Ella have colds (or possibly teething). Poor Ella has it the worst. Her cheeks are rosy, her nose just runs, she has diarrhea, and she just seems to be uncomfortable. We call her our fragile girl, because if something accidentally happens to her (like she trips over a book) she bawls like she broke her leg. She gets consoled quite often this week. We have been excited to have quite a few people looking at our house to potentially buy. It is quite a task trying to keep it up or getting it ready to show with 14 month old twins destroying everything. It does force us to keep things up which is nice. So far everyone has loved it, but not enough to make an offer. Oh well, we actually love our home and neighbors so we are content with whatever happens. We have gotten back into running just lately. We both signed up to run the Riverbank Run in May. Tim doing the 25k (15 miles) and I doing the 10k (six miles). Tim is a little further in training and I am at the frustrating part of trying to run and realizing how out of shape I truly am. It does feel great to get out though. Otherwise not too much new here. We'll get pictures or video up this weekend.

Baby Stroller

Ella and Nathan have fun pushing each other in the baby stroller. Grandpa Beckering spent a lot of time pushing Ella back and forth in it. She thought it was so soothing. Such characters!

Grandpa and Grandma visit

Nathan handed his unfinished bottle to Ella in the tub. Talk about special treatment before bed!
Nathan looks like "karate kid"

I feel so bad......my parents were here last weekend and I didn't get one picture of them with the kids. Sorry mom and dad. We had a such a nice time when they were here. We did a lot of hanging around and playing with the babies and I think every afternoon we all took a small nap while the babies napped. Very relaxing. It was so nice to have them here and it makes me wish we all lived closer to each other. The babies are really understanding things we say. When I tell them it is time for a bath, they run to the bathroom. When I tell them it is time to eat, they run to their high chairs. They know a lot more than you think. Ella has learned the fun of turning in circles till she falls down. Nathan loves corners. Any corner he can squeeze himself in, he will find it. They both are obsessed with books. Not that they sit still enough so that you can read it to them, but they like to get one, sit on your lap, point to their favorite page, and then go and get another book!! We are frequently telling Nathan not to pull on cords plugged into outlets. He laughs when you tell him no and turns around and runs to another outlet after you have dragged him away from one. Another favorite past time is dancing. We got a CD from the library and now every time we turn it on, the babies start to sway back and forth. Nathan likes to gently stop his foot. It is adorable. I'll try get video of it soon. At our 1 year doctor appointment, Nathan's iron was low. We started him on iron supplements. We went back for a hemoglobin check a week ago and he is still low. So now we are giving him iron 2 times a day. Nasty stuff. He loves it with orange juice! Hopefully at our next lab draw we will see some improvement, otherwise we'll have to draw more labs and further investigation. Tim is ice climbing this weekend in Canada. He went up their with a bunch of guy friends and they are going to spend 2 day snow shoeing and ice climbing. Sounds cold to me. I am sure we'll have pictures to post on that too.

Organizing mom's lazy susan

rocking it out on the rocking chair