Front Yard Beauty

My Big Girl

My little two-soon-to-be-three year old got an early birthday gift from a friend at the Windmill.

She was pretty happy. :)

A real bike, for a real big girl!

Rachel had found an incredible bike at yard sale, and blessed Katy with it, as well as a real cute dress (but not the one she's wearing here :) for her third birthday. Since Saturday, Katelyn has been working on biking, and doing well. She rides all the way to the Windmill and back.

I'm super proud of her.

My big girl.

Now I have to walk fast to keep up with her, as opposed to her walking beside me. :)

And she loves dinging her bell.

Coloring - in Black and White

Erik loves to color. He colors on himself, the occasional book, and when he has it available, actual paper. I can't tell yet, if he's a leftie or a rightie. Katelyn seems to be left-handed, so I imagine we'll have a mix. :)

I sure hope they inherit some of their Opa's artistic-ness. :) They're not getting any drawing skills from their mama.:)

Little hands, making squiqqles.

Precious moments.

(why does life somehow seem absolutely more precious or sentimental in black and white? :)

Our Victoria Day

We enjoyed our "Victoria Day", and spent most of the day being together. Windmill folks never get a "long" weekend as they're closed Mondays anyways, (and open Saturdays) but we still have that feeling of no pressures... :)

Here's my little man, enjoying his first official "freezie".

It was Katy's first one too. :) She had two halves at least. :)

Then off we went for a supper picnic with Aunty Nel. Katy rode her bike most of the way to the fish ponds. She's pretty good at that. Almost ready for a two wheeler - with training wheels! :)

Erik, holding on to his prized possession. :)

Blowing the dandelions.

Our family at the picnic.

Nelly and I swapped spots. :)

So blessed to have such great aunties and uncles on both sides of our families. :) I've been enjoying having Nel around a lot, as she'll be leaving for school in the fall. So I'm soaking it in.

Two in purple

Beautiful Nel.

It's fun to see the kids love their aunts/uncles/grandparents, getting excited to see them and play with them.

Erik loves his Uncle Rob - he also knows, that Rob is one of the key people who can get him to the tractor. :) (or a "car car" as Erik calls it)

Now that the weekend was done, we were ready for the week.

Bethel Park Ladies

We had our bi-annual Ladies Prayer Breakfast at our church a few weeks ago. It was such a special time together with these precious ladies. (and a nice morning without my darlings, thanks to Mom Heikoop babysitting)

Almost all these photos were taken by Shelly! :) Thanks Shelly - lovely job. :)

After an amazing breakfast, we spent a couple minutes making nylon flowers, before the prayer time, and hearing the testimonies from two of the ladies.

Pretty Amber, working away.

Don't I look like, "what? she said that?" :) Not really.

 I am, Intense. Like. All. The. Time. And I just look, ummm, not nice most of the time for candids. :)

A couple of the kiddos, working away.

Learning from Georgie - the amazing lady who heads this all up.

Vickie, giving her testimony. She's such a sweet woman. She never married, but still raised two wonderful nieces.

Debbie, sharing what God has taught her through the recent passing of her mom.

Singing on Mother's Day. Nelly organized a little choir, which was fun to do together.

Picnic's and Cuteness

We'll start off with the cute, but terribly dirty little boy. (but that's what bathtubs are for!)

And move right on to the picnics...

Picnic outside one bright sunny day, in our backyard.

Exhausted after a meal.

Having a sausage BBQ outside a few weeks ago.

Mom and Dad reading to the kiddo's before leaving for Ohio again.

(it's kinda special, cause they're reading a book of mine when I was around 5. :)

Celebrating Mom's Birthday

Mom and Dad were in Belguim during her birthday, so when they returned, we all got together to celebrate and have one last big get-together at the Windmill, before the upstairs is turned into a showroom. (and for you wondering, those living at the Windmill, are moving into the home they bought next door. :) Changing times...

Darling Elita smiling at Auntie Sarah

Hudson the round head cutie. (this is the last time we got to see Hudson, as Ben and Deanna left for 5 weeks in Quebec)

The tables, which Nelly made beautiful

Nelly arranged the seating plan, meaning, we all had to pick a number between 1 and 4 in our heads, and when she said go, run to the table that corresponded with our picked number. That seperated all the married spouses, except Mom and Dad, who either think the same after being married so long, or else they told each other which table they were going to sit at. :) But it was fun to get all split up. :)

Nathan and Katy managed to sit at the same table, because Nathan grabbed her hand and took her here.

My table. :)

Mom (Oma) unwrapping Katy's present. (her second happy face that she has drawn in her little lifetime - and pretty amazing if I do say so myself!)

A fun evening.

7 Cooks in a Kitchen

As all mom's (and daughters who cook a lot) know, sometimes making dinner, is just not fun. :) There isn't time, you're exhausted, you're gone all day, and so on and so forth.

To remedy that frusterating feeling, I love having freezer meals available. But that also just doesn't work out. So, six other gals from our church decided to spend a day together, cooking 8 difference recipes, splitting the cost, and having meals available when we needed them. :)

After all, it's more fun if you do it together, right? :)

We were able to meet together at the Windmill, and cook, cook, cook, all day. Some of the ladies were unable to stay all day, but it worked out pretty well.

When we do it again, we will simplify things a bit more. Like, less recipes, more teamwork. Plan for a longer day, and maybe only a couple ladies do the shopping. But we live and learn, and we had fun.

Janice and Althea putting together a Chicken Lasanga.

The meals that were made were:

Shepherd's Pie

Chicken Lasanga

White Chicken Chili

Italitan Tortalleni Soup

Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Rice

Mexican Lasanga

Beef Stew

Chicken Pot Pie

(now doesn't that make you wish you were here. :)

Deanna working away on her delectable Shepherd's Pie.

Krissy poaching her chicken for the Chicken Pot Pie - super way to have tender chicken.

And here's the little mischief maker: Erik. :) He was strangely quiet in the corner, before I discovered him in my casserole, and some of the casserole (in the making) on the floor. He was greatly enjoying himself.

Two casseroles in the making - Mexican Lasanga and Shepherd's Pie

Some of the cooks.

Ben even got involved mashing the potatoes.

Dear Steph, who litterally spent the whole day cutting up chicken for the chicken chili. (I think it was 35 lbs of chicken-ness.) But she did it cheerfully and with love. :)

Janice and Steph came back after supper to help Diane and I finish cleaning up the diaster we made at the Windmill, which was a huge help!

And now we have, or had eight large meals in our freezer, either to save our skin/sanity or bless someone else with, on one of "those days"!