Long Time No Post...

Yeah. I'm a slacker. But in my defense...it's beautiful outside and we've been having lots of fun around here. Joel and Grace seem to be growing by the minute. I called Curt at work this week to tell him that I was sure Grace was bigger after her afternoon nap than she was before! Since I know you all enjoy the pics more than you do my nonsense...I tried to post a bunch of shots of the kids so you can see how big they're getting.

Here's my little supermodel. She doesn't even try to take off the sunglasses. Anything that she thinks makes her pretty ("pitty!"), she LOVES. She walks around the house with my purses and stares at me while I put on makeup waiting to get a little dab of lip gloss. Man...girls are so different than boys, and I'm loving it!And here she is on a less glamourous day. Gracie...meet pudding.Joel and Grace really do get along well together. It's been fun to watch them this summer. She definitely knows how to drive him crazy, but for the most part they play nicely.Here's my J-man in the tub...getting so big and handsome. He tells me all the time that he's almost FOUR (not until March!). His new favorite thing is knock knock jokes. So if you have any good ones...let me know. Perhaps the funniest thing about this knock knock joke phase is that we have discovered that Curt can NOT tell a knock knock joke!!! He messes it up every time which cracks me up even more. Sorry to sell you out, babe, but it's just too funny.

Now that it's summer time, the kids are loving eating outside. We have picnics at the park or in the backyard quite often. So...when it's not nice out, they like to have picnics on the living room floor. Here's Gracie having some cereal. I think this was just Joel's clever way of convincing me that he can eat in the living room. Man, he's smooth!And...here's why I don't usually like having them eat in the living room. I will find cereal in couch cracks and toy drawers for the next two weeks.Joel, Grace and I hit some garage sales this morning and found some steals. Here he is in my new rocking chair for outside. And Grace with some sidewalk chalk. She does more eating than drawing. I actually looked up how much chalk one needs to eat before a parent needs to be concerned. The answer...a lot.

Muscle man... C'mon. This is just funny.

I think this is payback for all the times Joel has gotten Gracie. It's amazing how fast kids learn the "big brother trade." I was personally a victim of this for years. How many times did my brother trade me 8 pennies for a quarter?? Too many, my friends. The really sad part...I thought I was getting a deal. Also...wicker rocking chair...garage sale. $5!! Love it!This was our other big find at the garage sales. A seesaw for $5. What better way to start your weekend than a bevy of spectacular garage sales. Mmmmmm....

Love this. Joel and Dad.

Love you all! Hope you are enjoying your summer!

My Parents...Published Authors!!!

Many of you know that my parents have a full-time marriage ministry called REAL LIFE ministries. Over the past twelve years, they have gone from Illinois to Michigan to California to Colorado...from full-time jobs to full-time ministry. They have taken many big steps of faith as they have followed where the Lord has led them.

They have been working on a marriage book for the past few years and it is finally published. I have a copy of it, and it's just fantastic. If you are looking for a great book on marriage, this is the one you need! Seriously. If my endorsement is not enough to sway you (which it should be!), check out the endorsements from Josh & Dottie McDowell (Campus Crusade for Christ), Dick & Dee Eastman (Every Home for Christ), Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian (co-founder of Willow Creek Community Church), or Ben & Lauretta Patterson to name a few...

Check out their ministry and website at http://www.reallife.us.com/. You can order the book directly from the website.

Congratulations on the book, Mom & Dad! I love you and am so thankful for both of you.

Chicago Here We Come...

The kids and I headed down to Chicago this past weekend to visit family and celebrate my sister Cate's graduation. She just finished her Masters in Social Work at UIC. She also found out that she won the PACT fellowship in Boston. Only ONE social worker is placed each year, and she got it! We are so proud of her! Way to go miss Harvard fellow!
Curt drove down on Saturday (after winning the first annual Amy Winter Memorial Golf outing...way to go, babe!) Andy, Al & Amanda...I wish we could have all been there. We can't wait til next year!

It was great to visit with my Gram, my aunts, uncles and cousins and of course my mom and dad. We even fit in a trip to the zoo. Too fun!

Gracie & Pop Pop...

Gracie and Nonie...

I made Gracie a tutu!

Tiny dancer...

Gracie & Daddy

Gracie's new outfit. She thought she was quite the supermodel!
Stealing Auntie Cate's shades...
Checking out the Rhinos at the Lincoln Park Zoo...

When we got home...Joel had his very first dentist appointment. He did fantastic! The dental hygenist was very sweet to him and let him play with the water squirter and air blower. He thought it was great. She was actually able to do a cleaning on him which is more than we expected. She said he was amazing for a three-year-old! As we were driving home, he was flossing his teeth in the back seat telling me how important it is to keep your teeth clean!

Feeling Better and Tulip Time...

Well...it's been a good few weeks and a bad few weeks. On one hand, both the kids ended up with nasty ear infections. Gracie even had a perforated ear drum (poor baby!). We were supposed to fly out to Dallas on Saturday to visit Colleen and Trey, but that trip got cancelled. So, we were seriously bummin' over here.

On the other hand, the kids are starting to perk up. We even got to head over to Tulip Time and meet up with Auntie Cate and her friend, Tracy. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved seeing Cate, and I tried to get some good tulip pictures. We love Auntie Cate!!!

We also had some fun playing over at Nik's house today with the kids. Here are Joel and Layla checking out a rolly poly bug that was desperately trying to get away from them. He finally fell down the crack in the driveway...lucky bug!

Here is the J-man in action! We were teaching the kids how to play hop scotch. They were having lots of fun. Niki had them hopping on one foot, skipping, walking like bears...all kinds of fun stuff. Before we knew it, it was time to come home for naps. Time flies when you're walking like a bear. Um...Nik, can you and the girls come over every day?

And here is Joel on his new bike (thanks, Nonie & Pop Pop). He thinks he's really something! He loves riding down the driveway. Going up is another story, but he'll get it down pretty soon.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week! I am looking forward to visiting with all my EG family this weekend at Cate's graduation party!

Just Dance

(you may want to turn off the music at the bottom of the page before playing this...)

I don't really have anything more to say on this one. ;)

For the Birds...

The exciting news at the DeBoer house these days is that we have a robin's nest on our front porch! Joel is beside himself. Grace has no idea what is going on, but she is feeding off of Joel's energy with lots of giggles and squeals!
Curt had a ladder out on our front porch, and the bird must have built this nest in like a day! It has three little eggs in it that we are very excited about. Joel says that those birds will hatch soon, so we will have to wait and see. I'm just doing my best to keep them from climbing up and grabbling the nest or pulling the eggs out!

JOEL-ISMS...

Other than the nest, Joel has been cracking me up more than usual lately (hard to believe, I know!). He started referring to things as "the donk" the other day. It took me awhile before I realized that he was trying to say "ridonkulous" which is just a crazy word that Curt likes to use. So I laugh every time Joel says something like, "That show was the donk."

We were in the car yesterday and he was being very quiet. So, I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm just thinking about something." I responded, "What are you thinking about, buddy?" To which he said, "Maybe I'll tell you when I'm older like four or something. I'm gonna keep this one."

I called him Buster the other day in passing. He was NOT a fan of that. He told me, "I am not Buster. You can call me Joel or the J-man. That's all."

April Showers (Wedding Showers, that is...)

So...where is spring anyway? I know that it's supposed to get nice in the next few days, but I'm getting sick of waiting! The kids are both feeling better and they're ready to head outdoors and run around. It'll be great to see the sun again. Grace is getting so big. She is constantly jibber-jabbering and telling us all that is on her mind. It will be nice when we can understand her. Her go-to word for anything is "baby." She is also trying to figure out the whole head nodding thing. She just can't nod up and down for yes. So, no matter what you ask her, she shakes her head NO. It has gotten a little confusing at times, but we're figuring it out.
Joel has started to incorporate some big words into his vocabulary. It's funny. I picked him up in the fitness club daycare yesterday and he was mid-breakdown. The teacher explained that he was trying to play the Wii with some older boys and got frustrated. So...the rest of the day, Joel was telling me how "FUStrated" he felt. I finally asked him what it means to be frustrated, and he replied, "It is NOT good." He also has been referring to his chair as his "miracle." I haven't figured that one out yet, but oh well!

One exciting event of the past week has been Mel's bridal shower. Grace and I had a blast celebrating with the beautiful bride-to-be. Mel is Curt's cousin who we love. She lives in California and is getting married to Keith (who is going to try and rival yours truly as the favorite in-law...good luck with that, Keith! ;) Seriously...we are super excited and can't wait for the wedding this summer.
Here are some pics from the shower. Gracie got to wear her adorable dress from Grandma & Grandpa DeBoer.

Gracie and her big cousin Alyssa...

The DeBoer ladies (minus Amy who is taking the picture!)...

Here are a couple more pics for you...Gracie LOVES to be outside. She stands by the front door and bangs on it when she knows that we are getting ready to go out.

Joel loves to golf just like his dad does. Here he is getting some practice swings in.

Gracie is learning to feed herself. It's fun...and very messy.

Happy Easter!

It was an interesting Easter for us this year. Unfortunately, Joel got really sick Saturday night. We were up all night with him. Poor guy. So, Joel & I hung out at the house while Curt & Gracie went to celebrate Easter with the DeBoer family. Joel stayed on the couch for almost the whole day. Although it's never fun to be sick, I think that this was the first time Joel has been old enough to realize that being sick means lots of lovin' from mom and dad and special "treats" like gatorade and orange sherbert. He definitely hammed it up a little bit, but after the night he had...I happily let him ham away! It is amazing how resilient kids are. Even in the midst of being sick, last night he told me, "Don't worry, mom. I'm gonna feel better real soon." He's such a sweetie.

We were bummed that Joel wasn't able to participate in the family Easter egg hunt, so we made a little egg hunt of our own once Curt got back. The kids had so much fun. Here is Gracie running around the backyard with her egg bucket. She was more interested in taking the eggs OUT of her basket and hiding them in new places, but she loved to run around outside. We are constantly laughing with her...what a character! Joel was much more aware of the purpose of the egg hunt and he was immediately off running for the nearest egg. We had to keep asking him to leave a few for Grace (not that she really cared!). He was pretty good at finding them, too. I think he was just glad to be out in the fresh air after a long day cooped up inside.

Here is Miss Grace in her pretty Easter dress from Grandma & Grandpa DeBoer. She LOVES anything "pretty." She will point to the flowers on my shower curtain and say "pitty!" She also loves to sit in her high chair while I pretend to put blush and lipstick on her. She will sit soooo still and smile while she does her "makeup" right along with me.Grace & Curt heading out for their Easter celebration at Dad & Pam's place. (Sorry we couldn't be there with you guys!!)

And here is a picture that Grandma took of Gracie with her cousin Alyssa.We hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your family and friends!

Miss Grace...

Here's my Gracie girl in her sweet little jean jacket.

Have I mentioned that I love my camera?!?!? I've had it for like two weeks now...and this file was picture #779!!! It just doesn't get old. Especially when I have such cute models!

Gracie got a little pair of ballerina slippers and a tutu. She had fun dancing around the living room. Look at these sweet little feet.

She is starting to figure out that she can fight back when big brother tries to steal her toys. I've been laughing lately because she will find something of his, hold it out to him like she wants to give it to him...and then snatch it right back. It's like she's baiting him into a fight. He will, of course, steal the toy from her and she'll immediately turn on the tears and come running to me. Well...today I caught her in the act! Instead of consoling her for getting her toy stolen, I gave her my best crossed-arms-and-raised-eyebrows-I-know-what-you-just-did look and she immediately dropped her head to the side and started to giggle. Little stinker!

Oh...do I ever love her!