Christmas Concert At School

Maya had her first school Christmas concert last week. It was 1st through 8th grade choirs and bands. It was a great concert and I'm amazed at how wonderful the band and music teachers are at her little school.

We weren't in a very good spot to take pics but I tried to take a few. Can you spot Maya? She's in the front row wearing a black sweater. 

A picture of most of the students and the music teacher.

Maya with some of her friends from first grade. Thanks to my friend Sharon for sharing this precious photo. I see this appearing again in an 8th grade graduation video. 

Will they even have videos by then?

Half Birthday

A few weeks ago we were able to help Maya celebrate her half birthday in her classroom. Because she is a June birthday we've celebrated in December the last 3 years with her class and this year was no different. Her birthday this year falls on the very last day of school so I asked her what her preference was and she wanted to celebrate it now. Of course she did. So Cora and I went in and brought some treats and then we were able to hear all her classmates share with her why they are thankful for her. What a blessing! The paper below is where all the special words were shared with her.

Then the class sang happy half birthday to Maya as she stood on a chair in front of the room. And then we passed out the treats. Maya requested fruity candy canes and fruity pebbles krispie treats. She had a fun day. It was also pajama day in class that day so an extra special Friday was had by all! And as of December 9 we have a 6.5 year old in the house. 

F O R T Y

It's been a week and so far forty hasn't been that bad. I had a great day celebrating last Tuesday and it certainly made entering into this new decade pretty fantastic.

A dear friend watched Cora for the morning while I used a gift card that I had from a year ago to a local spa. I was able to get a mani/pedi along with a massage. I'd say a pretty good way to start off my birthday!  I then met up with some friends and some of their kiddos for lunch. We tried out a new deli and it has free ice cream so all the kiddos were pretty excited about that.

Here's my cup from Jason's Deli...quite appropriate for being there on my 40th B-day. It was started in 1976 too! Do you see the 40 on the cup?

A friend gave me 40 gum balls and a few balloons to help celebrate the big day. 

If you can't see the writing on the jar it says "40 Blows."

I then came home to two different beautiful flower deliveries.

Always fun to get flowers!

Like I said I had a fantastic day and certainly felt loved!  I was able to go away this past weekend for a quick 24 hour get away with another friend that recently turned 40 too. I'm so blessed by all my friends and family and so so thankful for the way they've made entering into this new decade pretty easy. Cheers to 40!

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving weekend in Palos Heights at the Dykstra's. This was the first holiday in their new home and we had a great time and a wonderful meal together.

Friday night the adults went out to dinner together and the cousins stayed home 

and had a pizza party. 

We celebrated our November birthdays which are only 3 days apart.

So thankful for our mom!

So thankful for amazing parents!

So thankful for our hubbies who most likely didn't know what they were getting themselves into when they married these Sikkema ladies. 

Children's Museum in Dayton

While we were in Dayton we took the girls to the children's museum. The amazing part is that we get in free because it has reciprocity with our Milwaukee family zoo pass. The girls had a fun afternoon and spent most of their time in the pizza parlor area.

 Maya taking pizza orders at the counter.

Shealy and Cora making the pizzas. Cassano's is a popular pizza place in Dayton.

Shealy and Maya delivering the pizzas for Cassano's.

Then they moved onto the recycling center. Cora was driving the truck.

 Shealy sorting all the recycled goods. 

 Another big hit was the veterinarian clinic. Maya was looking at x-rays of different animals. 

Cora getting the animals ready for their check ups.

We're thankful for such a fun place to be able to go when we are in Dayton!

Early Thanksgiving in Ohio

We decided to do an early Thanksgiving celebration in Ohio this year. Eric, Susanne, and Shealy all met us in Dayton the first weekend in November so we could all celebrate together. This was the first year that Gigi and Snazzy were in their new apartment at the Wellington so it was a bit different for us not to be celebrating on Sulky Trail.

Friday night we went to The Houston Inn a supper club that is a favorite of Gigi and Snazzy. We had a very nice dinner celebrating our Thanksgiving together. Although I don't think any of us had turkey I know steaks, lamb chops, and frog legs were enjoyed.

 Gigi and the girls waiting in the lobby

Saturday afternoon we all went to Carillon Historical Park together. Carillon Historical Park is a 65-acre park and museum in Dayton which contains historic buildings and exhibits concerning the history of technology and the history of Dayton and its residents from 1796 to the present. It was a beautiful Fall day to be outside and we had a great time learning about Dayton's history.

Snazzy worked at National Cash Register (NCR) for 37 years which was a big company in Dayton from 1884-2009. The museum had tons of old cash registers and it was fascinating to look at the intricate detail and all the different types they had. I think there were over 100 displayed for us to look at.

Inside the museum they also had the last GMC SUV that came off the line in Dayton as well as the last Frigidaire refrigerator that came off the line. So interesting.

We then headed outside to an old one room school house that the girls loved!

They couldn't believe that the school would have 1st through 8th grade in one room together.

The Newcom Tavern was right next door and it is the oldest standing building in Dayton.

The right side of the building was the family home and the left side was the tavern.

They were actually having a "tavern dinner" fundraiser the day we were there and the girls got to help out with it. Cora got to stir the soup which was being made over an open fire. Maya and Shealy got to help set the table for the dinner. They had a great time!

The most significant piece of history that we were able to see was the original 1905 Wright Flyer III.
This is the only airplane designated as a National Historic Landmark, and was the world’s first practical airplane. Wilbur and Orville Wright lived in Dayton which is known as the birthplace of aviation. 

Gigi and Snazzy enjoyed being outside and seeing everything at the park!

We had a great family day together!

So thankful we could spend the weekend celebrating Thanksgiving! We are so grateful for all our blessings and the way the Lord has provided for us all over this past year.

Chicago Trip for the Big Bday

We had a great 48 hour trip without the kiddos to Chicago the last weekend in October. (Exactly one month before my big birthday) I was joking that the celebration was the beginning of the end of my 30's and entering into a whole new decade. I have just a few days left and I'm still not sure how I feel about a new decade. It sounds so old.

Anyway my family was gracious and they watched the girls for the weekend for us. It was the first time we had gone away leaving both girls.  Needless to say Joel and I had a great time! It was fun to be in Chicago without kids and do some of the things we did while we were dating. We went to a few of our favorite restaurants and took the train, and walked around the city, and enjoyed being together. 

 We walked around Millennium park and took a few pics of "the bean." 

 

It was the weekend that the Cubs were playing in the World Series in Chicago so there were Cubs fans everywhere! I wanted to go up to Wrigleyville to take some pics and be part of the action but then we came to our senses and knew it would be way too crazy.  

We enjoyed the view from the 96th floor of the Hancock Building. 

Pics from the 96th floor. It was starting to get cloudy just as we got up there. 

If you look far enough North can you see Milwaukee?

As we were leaving the clouds were even heavier. 

I think this is a neat picture with the clouds and lights of the city

We had a great weekend together and it was a good way to celebrate the big birthday. I'm thankful to be entering into a new decade with this guy by my side. 

Plus he's a few years in and seems to be doing just fine. 

Fall

We've had a busy Fall and it feels like we've been gone a lot! Last weekend was the first weekend we've been home in a few weekends and it was time to clean up the yard and get stuff ready for winter. We trimmed back all the bushes, brought in the patio furniture, and of course did some raking. The girls had fun jumping in our small pile of leaves. We don't have a single tree in our yard so all our leaves come from the neighbors.

Fall break was in mid October and we went to visit Grandpa and Grandma in Michigan.  We spent some time outdoors even though it was a bit chilly the days we were there.

We also had fun going to the library in Holland one morning. 

They had a great story time and a fun kids area to play and read in.

This Fall also brought a nice 48 hour trip to Chicago sans kids for my big birthday coming up and we also were in Ohio for an early Thanksgiving celebration with the Seitz family. More pics to come...

Happy Halloween 2016

We had a fun night Monday night doing a little trick or treating. We went with some of our friends from our small group at church.

Maya wanted to be a princess /Sharpay from the movie High School Musical. Thanks cousin Emma for the "Sharpay dress."  Cora wanted to be Tigger which was also from cousin Emma from when she was just a preschooler.  So fun!

Here's the whole crew of kiddos all dressed up and ready to go. 

I think everyone is adorable! I love this photo!

We only went a few blocks because it was getting chilly and dark outside. 

But the kids had fun and got TONS of candy! 

The last stop was back at our friends house and the kids were trying to "trick" Joel who was on "candy duty" along with the other dads into giving them even more candy. It didn't work!

Another successful Halloween in the books and don't tell the girls but we are secretly throwing away several pieces of candy each day. And their buckets are still so full!