Thanksgiving in Dallas

We had a great time in Dallas the week of Thanksgiving! We flew out late Monday night and actually got in around 1am...yikes and then flew back on Friday afternoon. We had nice weather although it wasn't 80 like I had dreamed about but it was still nicer than what it was here during that time. The girls did a ton of playing outside, they were able to go in the hot tub several times. It was too cold for the pool but they had just as much fun swimming and playing around in the hot tub!

The first afternoon we were there the girls went to a trampoline park which was followed by a trip to a shaved ice place called Bahama Buck's...Amazing! Oh my goodness I can't even describe how good this shaved ice was it was like ice cream only it was ice. It was so smooth and creamy it was one of the best treats I've had in a long time. Good thing we don't live there because I could easily have that every day! Of course there are a million different flavors to choose from and I think Maya got root beer and cotton candy and Cora had strawberry and birthday cake. So yummy!

The girls also went rollerskating one afternoon. It was Cora's first time and she had a blast!

Thursday was of course all things Thanksgiving. The boys had a great time grilling the turkey - a Seitz tradition- on the Big Green Egg.

We had a great time and the week went by way too fast. We hadn't been to Texas since Maya was two and Cora wasn't even in the picture yet. We can't wait to go back and certainly hope it won't be that long until our next trip!

Leaves

Leaves, leave and more piles of leaves. It's that time of year when leaves overwhelm our yard!
This was the first weekend it was actually sunny and we could get some work done outside around the yard. So.Many.Leaves.

These pictures don't even do it justice and you can't even see all the piles of leaves. Joel says we are about 1/10th of the way done.

 This picture does not do the situations justice...I see about 7 piles here...but there were oh so many more. And the one tree hasn't even dropped yet. Gotta love Brookfield in the Fall!

Halloween 2018

The girls carved their pumpkins on Sunday night. Always a sticky gooey mess!

Maya was determined to carve her own this year.

Cora went on a field trip last week to a pumpkin farm with her 4K class and they were able to pick out their own pumpkin. According to Cora the kids were instructed to pick one out that they could carry themselves. Carving a tiny little one is a bit challenging but Daddy did just fine 

helping with the carving.

The girls took it easy on their costumes this year. Cora wanted to be the same thing as last year. Perfect! A big pumpkin. Maya wanted to be a waitress and then at the last minute she wanted to make it specific and decided to be a "Chili's Server" and she had a special name tag and all thanks to her talented artist Daddy! 

I just wish the Chili's server could have brought me some chips and salsa and a diet coke!

The girls had fun going around our neighborhood. Last year we went with our small group so we didn't get a chance to go in our neighborhood. It was nice to meet some more people living by us! The usual response was "oh are you the family that lives on the corner? We see you girls playing outside all the time and it always looks like you are having so much fun!" I think I heard that at least 5 times. 

Trinity Volleyball

A few weekends ago Juliana was playing volleyball at Trinity International University not to be confused with Trinity Christian College.  Cora was so confused about where we were going and couldn't understand that we were going to a different college. It has the same name and it was in Chicago too just on the north side not the south side. Anyway by the time we got to TIU after an hour of being in the car and answering questions my head was spinning and quite confused too.

Juliana is a star Volleyball player for TCC and we were excited to go see the team play! Joel was gone for the weekend so it was a perfect road trip for a Saturday.

We all know Maya and Cora don't have a shy bone in their body and they immediately went wild when they saw all the volleyball girls. Here they are with the team in between one of their matches. The girls were all so sweet to them and even let them do warm up exercises with them. And then we got to cheer them on to a victory!

Six of us gals in our Trinity spirit ware.
Sweet sisters (most of the time), friends, cousins, nieces, aunts, moms...

Dentist Appointments

The girls had their Fall dentist appointments last week and can I just say I love our dentist for the girls! Granted it's a pediatric dental office so they do cater to kids but they are amazing! All the hygienists and the dentists that work there are so great with the kids and actually make it fun and interesting!

Dr. Annie let Cora count Maya's teeth at the end of her appointment. Dr. Annie was looking to see if Maya had any cavities and nope she didn't find any! Probably because she's had most of her teeth filled already. :)

Cora thought it was pretty neat that she got to count Maya's teeth with the special dental instrument and use the mirror that the dentist uses during check ups. 

Oh and wearing the special mask and gloves was an added bonus too!

Open House & Book Fair

 Last week was open house and the book fair at the girls school. It's always a bit crazy getting back to school between 5:30-7:30 at night.  But it's a great night to see the girls classrooms and talk with their teachers.

Maya was excited to show us her classroom. The 3rd grade classroom has a super special bunk bed reading area. Each day the teacher picks students that get to read up in the bunk bed. Super fun!

In third grade they get their Bibles that the kids use until 8th grade. Maya was showing us hers and where it's kept behind her.

Maya with her teacher Ms. Pearson. She's been teaching 3rd grade at BCS for 30 years!

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Cora and her classroom or her teacher. She had so much to show us in her room and then of course the girls were anxious to get to the book fair.  I did however get a pic of her and Clifford at the book fair!

Night Reading

Here is a very rare occasion of the sisters reading nicely together before bed. 

It's sweet when it happens!

Painting

We've been saying that we would paint Maya's room for that past year. And finally a few weekends ago I psyched myself up and woke up one Saturday morning and said Maya let's paint your room today!  It was a cold rainy weekend and so why not spend the weekend inside painting?
So we headed to Home Depot and picked out a color and got some paint supplies and away we went.
She originally wanted a light purple but as we were looking at colors I kind of persuaded her to go with a light turquoise color instead which turned out to be much brighter than we thought it would be. (But this goes way better with her current decor in her bedroom) I was relived when she agreed because this is not an easy task to get her to agree with something that is not her idea.

My little helpers and wow did they ever "help" - there was paint everywhere! I am just thankful that she has wood floors and that the paint wiped up quite well. If she had carpet I can't even imagine. 

We only did two walls which was plenty! And we kept the other two walls gray. We still have some touch ups to do and keep in mind I was painting with an 8 and 5 year old so we that's about the quality we got. And then when we were done of course Cora decided she wanted her room painted too.

And by the time we got to Cora's room they were "tired" and didn't want to help anymore. Honestly that was fine by me! Her room went a lot faster!

Then the following Friday we moved on to the girls bathroom. Their bathroom needs a lot of work - like a total redo but we're not quite ready for that yet. But I decided maybe a coat of paint would freshen it up a bit.  And I had a little helper for that too!

We went from yellow to gray

I think we'll be done with painting projects for a little while!

So much work! 

Feed My Starving Children Service Project

The 1st - 8th grade students at Maya's school did a service project a few weeks ago called Feed My Starving Children.  They packed   "MannaPack"  meals, which are scientifically developed to reverse and prevent malnutrition. These packs are then sent to selected missions and humanitarian agencies worldwide who use it to operate orphanages, schools, health care facilities, community feeding programs, and other interventions in poverty.

Maya had a great time and she was very excited that she could contribute to this project. Seeing and helping pack the meals with her own two hands really made her think about the food and that is was going to help other kids that are in need.

I didn't get the exact stats on her group but one group in her class stated that in about 2 hours they mixed, sealed, and boxed 41, 472 meals.  This will feed 113 kids for a year. So glad that the kids were able to participate in this service project and think about kids all around the world that aren't as fortunate as they are! 

First Day of School 2018

We are almost a month into the school year! It's hard to believe that Maya is in 3rd grade and Cora started 4K this year! It was exactly one year ago we had moved on the first day of school. This year we are settled in our home and loving the location, having more space, a larger yard, and being so close to school and church!

In 3rd grade the class is presented with their Bibles that they keep until 8th grade. This happens at the opening chapel of each school year. Maya was super excited to get her Bible and I was so glad that Cora and I could be there to see her receive it.

Here's the whole school - it's in its 55th year. 

There are 279 students this year which is the largest student body in its history. 

We are so grateful!

Can you spot Cora & Maya? The girls were excited that I was in the all school photo with them this year too. I'm really enjoying being able to work at BCS and can't believe it's been 9 months already. It's definitely been an adjustment and it's been a bit challenging at times.  But I'm so grateful that I get to use my HR background and work there! God is good and we are looking forward to another great school year!

Camping

Yes you read that right we went camping the weekend before school started too! This was just as shocking to me as to everyone but we actually had a really fun time. Joel and I had done a little bit of camping before we had kids but it had been a super long time since we had gotten the tent out! Don't get me wrong it's not like I want to do this for weeks on end but I kept telling myself I can do anything for a few nights.

The girls had a blast and loved it!

We went to a beautiful state park about an hour away from here on Lake Michigan. So we were on both sides of the lake within a matter of a few days. Super fun! We went with a few other families and I think there were around 40 of us total - 24 of which were kids!

The water on this side of the lake was super warm on this Saturday too! And the waves were crazy it was like we were at the ocean. The kids had so much fun!

Maya with a few of her friends

Cora with one of her besties Ada

All the kiddos

Maya slept in a tent with her friends and who knows if or when they ever went to bed. Cora and her little friend Ada slept with us in our tent and went to bed super late each night.  The adults stayed up late around the camp fire and everyone was up when the sun came up so needless to say we didn't get much sleep that weekend. But we had a good time and made some fun memories with the girls!

Here they are on the way home; they were wiped out! Oh and do you see how packed to the gills the car is? So.much.stuff. needed for camping. Ridiculous!

August Trip To Michigan

Still trying to get caught up over here. We took a quick trip to Michigan at the end of August right before school started. We hadn't been all summer and couldn't wait to go visit Grandpa and Grandma!

We went to Holland State Park one late afternoon and brought along a little picnic dinner.  The girls thought it was fun to eat at the beach!

 After dinner the girls decided that they wanted to play in the sand and swim a little bit in the lake. It was the perfect time to be there! It was a bit cloudy yet it was warm and the lake water was super warm to swim in. No sunscreen required was the absolute best part!

 These two were swimming out quite far and it was making me nervous. But Maya reassured me that she'd keep an eye on Cora. I kept having visions of me having to run into the lake to grab one of them but they did fine.

Grandpa treated us to ice cream!

What a fun night! Although we did miss the sunset because it was too cloudy. 

The next day we went to the Holland Farmer's Market. I wanted to get blueberry donuts, Grandma wanted to get some fresh beans, the girls wanted kettle corn and they also ended up with these special balloon flower creations.

We had a fun few days together and always enjoy our trips to see G&G.

Cora's 5th Birthday

Cora had a great 5th Birthday! Her request that day was to go to sky zone. So we did that and then she picked going to Chili's for dinner. Grandpa and Grandma Sikkema were here for the weekend and we had a great time!

She was very patient all day and waited until Daddy got home to open her presents.

Maya reading Cora her cards. I love this!

Maya picked out some Pete the Cat books for Cora. 

She was so excited to wrap them and give them to her.

A very fun gift arrived from Texas...a jumbo surprise Pikmi Pop. Who knew these crazy things would be such a big hit. She received a smaller one from Maya too.

Grandma and Grandpa got Cora a Fingerling, some clothes for school, and her 5th year bear figurine. And her big gift from us was a pink trampoline to jump on in the basement!  All this to say she had a very fun day and I can't believe my baby is five!

She wanted to make her own cake so Grandma, Maya, and Cora made this yummy beauty! She wanted pink frosting, sprinkles, and a funfetti cake.

Cora kept saying she would learn how to ride her bike with out training wheel when she turned 5. Well the Friday night before her big day she learned how to ride her bike in about 20 minutes! She was thrilled!



Questions for the Big 5 year Old:

What do you want to be when you grow up? - a doctor at a hospital. 
What was the best thing about being 4? - having lots of playdates with my friends
What is your favorite thing in school? - play time
What is your least favorite thing in school? - gym time
What is something you are thankful for?  - that God has made everything for us
Why do you love Jesus? - because he gave us everything
What are you good at? - riding my bike
What is your favorite thing to do outside? - ride my bike
What is your favorite thing to do inside? - play "day care"
What is your favorite color? - pink and purple
What is your favorite food? - spaghetti
What is your favorite thing to drink? - chocolate milk
What is your favorite dessert? - ice cream