Christmas Cards...Check

Two weekends ago we had Christmas at our house for about 30 minutes. I saw a good deal on Snapfish and decided to take advantage of it. The Christmas dresses (bought last year on sale) came out of the closet, the pre-lit garland was hung above the fireplace, and a fake little christmas tree came out of storage. Perfect setting for a christmas card. It wasn't as easy as I thought. Aliya was very interested in the "surroundings" and Emmory thought the idea was fun and that everything looked beautiful for about 5 minutes. Well, I was able to get a picture and the cards are already printed and in my hands. Last year I had the cards made when I was on christmas break. At least I'm on the ball with one task. Enjoy these pictures...you'll have to see which one made the cut.


"Over here girls"


"Emmory, cover your leg"

"Aliya, look at mommy"

"Em, pay attention"

(Am I a teacher or what?!)

Happy 9 Months Aliya!

My baby is 9 months old today. Where has the time gone? In the last month she has changed from a baby to an explorer. She is on the go! When we went to the Dr., Aliya showed her all of her tricks. She weighed in at 19#-50% and measured 29.25" tall -95% and now what I know you're all waiting for....Head circumference was a whopping 46.5 cm.-97%. Those Van Hofwegens have a lot of brains. We're dealing with her reflux still (thus the bibs in every picture), but hopefully she'll begin growing out of it with the more solids she's eating. She has 6 teeth and more are coming in. As you can see in the pictures her hair is growing like a weed as well. We've had 2 haircuts at the salon and I just trimmed her bangs again last night. We love you Aliya and couldn't imagine our lives without you.

Aliya is moving all over the place and loving it!

She loves her sister's toys. Emmory doesn't really like that.

She's pulling herself up on everything.

Aliya is an extremely content baby. She is always happy and very easy going.

The only time she cries is when it's time for bed. I guess when you're discovering everything for the first time I can see why you wouldn't want to go to bed.

Hug A Tree

Our house with our lovely willow tree. It was beginning to make us nervous with it over our house, so we thought we'd get it trimmed.

Trimming cost alot of money and had to be done every year. We were also told that it probably should come down eventually because of the CRACK in the base of the trunk. Our decision was made: bye bye tree or bye bye kitchen.

Still trimming.

Bye Bye willow tree.

This is what remained. Now that is gone as well and we did plant a new tree in its place. Not nearly as large but at least we did our part. I'm getting use to more light in my house and feeling like I live in a fish bowl-it gave us a lot of privacy. At least we won't have any leaves to pick up!

Happy Halloween!

We carved pumpkins earlier in the week. Aliya loved playing with them.

Emmory wasn't sure about the slimy insides.

I had a San Francisco 49er's cheerleader and a princess for Halloween.

The weather was awesome this year and Emmory got a ton of candy.

There were about 5 houses giving full size candy bars or boxes.

Don't worry, I confiscated those right away.

Pumpkin Patch

On Friday at 4:30 we packed up the kids and headed to "the country" according to Emmory. We went to a small pumpkin patch in Lowell. If you can go on a Friday at 5:00 you have the whole place to yourself. It was great! I would highly recommend Heidi's Farm Stand.

We had a private wagon ride through the corn, woods, and along the pumpkin patch.

City Girl meets Country

This is the pumpkin Emmory picked out.

The girls by the pumpkins. Aliya was loving it.

Emmory & Aliya

A good time had by all! We came home with apples, apple cider, and 6 pumpkins.

We are ready for Fall!

Promised Pictures

Emmory loves "making her hair" by herself. I never know how many bows or barettes will be in it.

Aliya as happy and content as can be. She just had her second haircut and started saying "da da da"

Slack-Attack Blogger!

Okay-I know I've been slackin' lately on the blog. My excuse is that school has started. Now that we are in the routine of things (at least we better be by now) I'll update on what has been going on. You'll have to wait for some new pictures because I still need to put them on my computer.

Aliya (7 1/2 Months)
-She has her two bottom teeth and she's working on the top ones
-Still a very happy baby and very content
-Shows a lot of excitement when mommy, daddy, and Emmory come by her
-Beginning to eat Cheerios and drink water from a sippy cup
-Loves jumping in her Jumperoo!
-Is getting up on all 4's and rocking (uh oh!)

Emmory (3 1/2)
-Shooting up like a weed!
-Very interested in writing her name and letters
-Loves doing crafts and coloring
-Loves playing with Mykah at daycare
-Loves playing outside, especially with daddy
-Doesn't take naps too often anymore, maybe once a week
-Very inquisitive and asks many questions

Lisa
-Working every morning
-Trying to get everyone out the door all ready by 8 am (usually 8:05)
-Teaching Children's Worship at church
-Hugging and snuggling my girls whenever I can
-Trying to talk with my husband about our days (very difficult because Emmory talks alot!)

Eric
-Working ALOT! Which we are very thankful for after hearing of people struggling
-Working at church quite a bit since he is the Treasurer
-Trying to get some running in but due to lack of sleep and time it is very difficult
-Being with his girls whenever he can

There's a little run down of our lives right now. I'll try to get some pictures up in the next few days.

Here's A First!

I needed to quickly finish something on the computer so I put Aliya in her jumperoo with Baby Einstein on and when it was finished this is what I found. She does fall asleep easily when there's action but I thought this was hilarious. Don't worry, she is sleeping in the comfort of her bed now.

Aliya is eating baby food-and liking it, although her reflux isn't. Now we have colored spit up.

Aliya is sitting up! And her first tooth finally came in! No wonder she didn't sleep much yesterday and was very fussy.

Emmory got to make a tiara with Mimi this weekend. She wears tiaras a lot but has never made one. Emmory also had a trip to the med center this weekend(not a first) but with a painful injury nonetheless. She got a splinter (a.k.a chunk of wood)as long as her big toenail wedged between her nail and skin on Sunday evening. She was in a lot of pain until it was removed. Now it's getting better with a purple bandage over it. That was definitely a first and hopefully a last.

Four out of the six cousins sitting nicely for a picture-a true first!

Aliya is 6 months old! (yesterday)

Aliya swinging on our swingset


Almost sitting up


Rolling all over the place & loving it


Still so precious


My baby is growing up! All of a sudden she wants to do stuff like jump in her johnny jump up, roll around on the ground, play with toys, pull Emmory's hair, and talk. I love this age but I feel like my little baby is disappearing before my eyes. I'll stop now before I get too sappy since I've been a little sad about going back to work tomorrow.

Higgins Lake

10 Loads of Laundry = An okay Day

We came home from camping yesterday evening from Higgins Lake, hence the amount of laundry that needed to be done. At least it's done and I can do something different tomorrow. We went with friends that we have met through Eric's work, both of us have 2 girls about the same age. It was a beautiful place to relax, swim, boat, and let the girls run around. We started out with some cool windy weather which resulted in playing games in a trailer, but it was better the last part of the trip. Here's some of our personal highlights. Pictures to come later.

Emmory = "the candy store" ( I also think she liked tubing)
Aliya = "sleeping in the bottom bunk" (she woke up 3 times in her crib last night)
Lisa = "sitting on the beach and water skiing -still can slalom, although very sore"
Eric = "skiing, wakeboarding, and relaxing in the sun" (with his girls of course)

National Night Out

National Night Out was Tuesday. Were you out with your neighborhood? We had a neighborhood picnic with lots of food and fun!

Bike Parade-Emmory went for most girly and won most creative.

She received a 10.00 gift certificate to Coldstone Creamery!

We're so proud, or should we say excited for the gift certificate?!

Her winning bike - I put the feather boa on and she did the rest.

A fire truck came and the firemen opened the hydrant for the kids to play in.

Emmory was a little hesitant at first but by the end she was dripping wet.

It was great for a very hot night.

Playing water balloons with Kathy & Dahlea (our neighbors).

Just a cute picture of Aliya for those relatives who want to see her too.

Forever In Blue Jeans

Friday night we, along with the Wits and Deters, went to the Neil Diamond concert at the Van Andel Arena downtown. Some people may wonder why? For one, Eric and I feel like we grew up with Neil because our parents always listened to it. We also have a greatest hits CD we listen to on road trips because it's a good sing along. Another reason was it was a good excuse to go out with friends, and lastly the tickets were free- thanks Steve and Crystal.

At the concert Eric and I had tickets that were not by the other four. We decided to just sit with our friends until we got kicked out by the other people. When we got kicked out we went to our seats which were on the floor 6th row front and center. I guess we didn't think it was that big of a deal until we got down there. It was a riot! Everyone was dancing, singing, and having a great time. Every age group was represented and I must say it was a great show. I think I may have gone home with a few pieces of glitter from his outfit on me-that's how close we were. All in all it was a great night with friends-it felt like the good old days.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Emmory playing princess



Aliya is always happy-especially outside


Playing in the sand at Grand Haven


Going to the beach


Taking a nap in the shade


Just a little glimpse of what a great week we've had!

California

We're Home!

We made it home from California at 12:30 am. Eric is dying at work he said since he only got 3 hours of sleep. I'm doing okay but will crash once I sit down. I had class this morning so my mom came over so the girls could sleep. Aliya slept until 10:30 and Emmory until 11.

I have the best travelers in the world! We couldn't have asked for better behaved children on the plane. We were even told that on the plane by different people. I'll update with some pictures once I get unpacked and find the camera!

5 Months - 3 Days = First Haircut!

Crazy hair after a bath!

Ponytail day.

Flying in the wind.

That's right folks! Aliya had her first haircut today. She was born with a head full of dark thick hair (very similar to her daddy's) and has not lost any of it. In fact it keeps growing. It is beautifully layered and lays very nicely. I decided it was looking a little straggely. Is that a word? Anyway, I got my haircut today and brought Aliya along. She got bangs cut because her hair grows forward right now and also got it cut in the back and along the sides. I think she looks like a flapper with a cute little bob. I guess people told me having girls was expensive. Especially if I start the haircuts at 5 months. Good thing the first one's free!

My little lady with her first haircut!

Beachin' It!

Friday after Eric got home from work we packed up the van and headed to Holland. If you know us we love the beach but don't get to frequent it quite as often as we would like. The evening was very hot and it turned out beautiful at Holland State Park. The water was warm enough for Eric and Emmory to swim in and breezy enough for Aliya and myself to sit and not get too hot. We were on the beach until 9:oo at night. Then we wrapped up the night with ice cream, how else?

Happy 4th of July!

Love Hate Relationship

This summer we have had some crazy storms resulting in large rainfalls. Our house+large rainfalls=STRESS! As many of you know we had a flood in our basement shortly after we purchased it and fixed it by building the great wall of Kentwood. Usually we feel very safe with our wall, except, when the power goes out. When the power goes out our sump pump doesn't work. We broke down 2 summers ago and bought a generator which has never been used until last week. Although we weren't completely stress free it saved us from a flood and from having to throw any food away after being without power 15 hours. Eric even got up in the middle of the night to check the gas and oil-what a guy! We didn't get any water and now we know we can be dry as long we have our generator. I posted one picture to show our lovely sunsets we get and why we love the pond but also two pics to show why we get very nervous.