The VanValkenburgs: 2012

Monday, December 10, 2012

To be continued.....

I've run out of storage space! I'm trying to figure out where we'll be going next!

UPDATE: We are now located at www.vandarlings4.blogspot.com!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Megan originally said that she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty for Halloween this year and so we were gifted a beautiful hand me down costume. After trying it on, I think she decided it was too itchy and decided to go with the old standby: Rapunzel. I had the idea to dress Joshua as a biker and was looking to purchase a costume but online they were around $40 - way more than I wanted to spend. Fortunately the Pass it On Sale was coming up and I kept an eye out for things that might fit the look. Miraculously I found a "leather" jacket, went to look for black jeans, found them, needed black shoes, found them, wondered if they made white "wife beater" tank tops for toddlers and found them at Walmart. I think those were the most expensive single item but overall it only cost about $20 and he looked so adorable. That is why you'll see I took pictures of him from just about every angle! We applied some make up to his chin to give him a tough lookin goatee and he was perfect!! Everyone commented on how cute he was.

Joshua did pretty well for about half of the night. He was able to hold off on eating candy and was satisfied with just looking to see what he was given each time. Eventually the urge overtook him and we basically had to give him candy to entice him to keep walking. He was good about saying "Trick or Treat" most of the night but towards the end, he was just saying, "More candy!" He also figured out that when he was given candy and put on his cutest face and said, "More?" that most houses didn't refuse. He worked it.

Daddy and Megan sat down to sort the loot and he and I were pleasantly surprised at how much chocolate there was! Usually the majority is made up of the sugary sweet tart type of stuff. Mom and Dad need some chocolate and we got it! They got a ton of candy including 2 full size candy bars!

The kids had a great time. Joshua was high on sugar by the time we were done, so I'm hoping he has a major sugar crash and sleeps AT LEAST until the sun is up!

Megan's Birthday Party

We celebrated Megan's birthday at Out of this World Pizza this year. We had considered taking a shot on the weather - it's always been beautiful weather on her party days - but luckily we didn't this year. It was pouring down rain! That also meant that the pizza place was packed with people. Although we didn't get to sit where I would have preferred in order to keep a better eye on the kids, it all ended up working out for the best. I think the kids had a great time and the adults got to sit and chat. Megan had lots of friends and family join her celebration. She is definitely loved!

Disney on Ice

After a long 4 day countdown, it was time to go to Disney on Ice. Tami and her foster daughter joined us. Both girls dressed like their favorite princess and looked beautiful. When the show started, Megan just beamed! If she didn't know about Disneyland, this would have been it. She was singing along with the music and focused on the whole show, the whole time. It really was fun to watch and I'm glad we went. She had so much fun, I went home and started researching flights to Disneyland. Reality soon took over though!

Megan is Six!

Megan is a big 6 year old! We celebrated first by bringing cookies to Megan's school after lunch. Her classmates sang Happy Birthday to her and of course she lit up!

Megan had fun playing show and tell with her brother too. She and the kids at her table kept asking him to say different words and they would laugh and laugh at how cute it was. Joshua enjoyed being the center of attention too.

It was a busy birthday including her last soccer game to go to. Before we left, we let her open her birthday present from us.

Inside of a card was a poster that came in the mail of the Disney on Ice event coming to town - because we bought her tickets to go. SHE however saw it and said, "I'm going to DISNEYLAND!?!?!" Uh, no, but you do get to go watch some princesses skate around on some ice. Happy Birthday! :)

Luckily she was just as happy!

Fire Department Open House

During Fire Prevention Week our local firefighters visited Megan's school and had an Open House at their station. They even gave rides in their fire trucks - HUGE HIT! It's a terrible cell phone picture but you can see that Joshua got to sit in the front seat! He loved it!

Every Kid Loves a Parade!

The high school was having their homecoming parade a few weeks ago so we surpised the kids after school, took them out for a scoop of ice cream and oh my goodness, a parade started right outside. They LOVE parades, big and small. It's probably for the candy, maybe the fire trucks but mostly for the candy. They were so excited and they got a ton of candy thrown and sometimes CHUCKED pretty hard at them. Luckily no injuries, but we did go home with a huge unnecessary basket of candy!

Mom's Group Blind Date

I've decided that if I'm ever going to meet anyone in our neck of the woods, I had to try something new. I went to Meetup.com and found a local mom's group. My first meet up was at the beginning of the month and I just went to dinner with 3 of the mom's - no kids. I felt a little awkward about it, like I was going on a blind date but they were all very nice. All of them were like me in one way or another and I think we got along pretty well. I joined them on a playdate to Plumper Pumpkin Patch with Mister after we dropped Sissy off at school. I felt very guilty not having her with us, like I was cheating on her but it's fun spending one on one time with Joshua. We had already done our family pumpkin patch visit so it's not like she was really missing out! We haven't been able to get out with the mom's group since I had my surgery - oh yeah - I had shoulder surgery if you didn't know. But I'm hoping soon we'll be able to get together with them again.

We had some pictures taken back in September because I got a great deal on Sharing Spree. I thought it would be a nice change to the usual studio pictures. And it was great timing since we needed 2 and 6 year old pictures taken. The kids did a great job, even Joshua cooperated! They were taken by Tanya at Capturing Magic Photography.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Baggenstos Farm

We went to Baggenstos Farm last Sunday as a family and Grandma and Grandpa as well. We were picking the kids up from Tami's house and as we got into the car Josh and I were questioning whether we were a little overdressed for the weather. We were dressed for FALL, not the 80 degree weather it ended up being. It's crazy to complain about being hot when we are going to be begging for the sun before we know it. But.....we were HOT and our trip was probably cut a little shorter because of it.

This place is the most affordable pumpkin patch we've ever been to. We went on the hayride to the pumpkin patch field, played on the play structure, picked two pumpkins and were out only $9! Of course there are all sorts of other ways to spend your money but not if you don't want to.