Christmas 2009

The week before Christmas I was shopping at Home and Company and they were offering pictures with Santa Claus. Unfortunatly I didn't have my camera with me but a really sweet lady took one with her camera and e-mailed it to me. The Santa was really nice and friendly so I felt good about her sitting good by him but that was not the case. She flipped out and would not go near him so I had to be in the picture too. This is just another instance of Ella not liking Santa:) We were blessed with a wonderful Christmas...a lot of time was spent with our family - I think 5 parties in all! It was great being with family and celebrating the birth of Jesus. My favorite part of Christmas this year was having Ella be an active part of it. Last year she was just a little bundle and this year she had so much fun playing with the family (especially her cousins) at parties, opening gifts and liking the wrapping as much as the presents, seeing her eyes light up when she would flip the switch to the Christmas tree, and just generally enjoying all the festivities right along with us. She is a bundle of energy so she was into everything/everyone at the parties...she brought a lot of joy to the holidays.

Rotman extended family party

Ella with Andrew (my cousin Angie's boy) - a couple of happy little tikesGrandpa Rotman with our little familyGrandpa Rotman with the grandkids - Carley, Kennedy, Kolter, Andrew, Reed, Ella & Kooper

Koning extended party

Grandpa Koning with Ella

Ella playing with her cousins (second or third..not sure;) Evan, Caleb, and Nolan. She chased them around all night! I wish I had more pictures...I love that family and don't see them much so I wish I had taken more pictures...there's always next year.

Our little family "party"

Rotman family party

Of course Santa Brad came to visit the party and as always he had a mixed receptioin...about half loved that he came and the other half cried and made their parents hold them, including Ella

Kooper, Reed, and Kennedy with Santa (the Santa lovers)As you can see, Ella was not into Daddy's new persona:)The kids with Santa (with a little support from Grandpa and Bryan)My parents gave all the kids camping t-shirts to help get them pumped up for family camping trips this summer - Ella is sporting hers nicely...maybe by summer this shirt will be above her knees:)The girls playing...and the guys playing... and the kids playing... the piano - Kolter, Carley, Kennedy & EllaGrandpa and Grandma with all the kids...Kooper, Ella, Kolter, Reed, Kennedy & Carley

Koning family party

Bright and early!Yea! Candy!Ella sitting at her new play table with Lily and Grandpa and GrandmaElla and Lily with Grandpa and Grandma KoningWrapping up the morning with some Christmas music (...I see pianist in her future:)

Essenburg family party

Our little family with Santa (Grandpa Essenburg)

Ella enjoying all of the attention

It was a wonderful holiday season and we feel very blessed to have shared it with our loving families!

To Be or Not To Be A Real Christmas Tree

On Saturday we went to Bosch's tree farm to get our Christmas tree. For the past couple of years Brad has begged me to let us get a fake Christmas tree, but every year I convince him to keep letting us get a real one. My family always had real trees when I was growing up and Brad is the one that introduced me to frasier furs and now I don't want anything else. I want to keep up the tradition and I hope that our little family will continue to go out and cut down or pick out a Christmas tree as a family for years to come. Brad and I are both suckers for anything Christmas so it is my prediction is that I will always win this argument:)

Ella on Santa's lap - not loving it to say the least:)

Checking out the baby chickens - she was loving watching them sleep but when they sprang to life, she was outta there:)Our little snow bunny

The Matchmakers

A little over a year ago Brad and I decided to try and set up two of our friends...my dear friend from work and his buddy in his band. We put our heads together and decided they would be an awesome match. I wanted to take an aggressive approach but Brad insisted we keep it low key:) Through a couple of "chance" meetings" Eric and Kathy got acquainted and we were right - sparks flew...and they took it from there all by themselves! Fast forward 1 year, Kathy and Eric were very much in love and wanted to start a life together. They decided to get married in an intimate ceremony at a family cottage with their immediate family. We were blessed to be able to be invited to share in their joy...after all, we were the matchmakers:) They asked me to take pictures and Brad sang/played guitar ("Unfailing Love"). It was a very special night...as you can see from these pictures they did an amazing job at creating an enchanted forest ambiance. We are so glad that God used us to bring these two loving souls together and we are blessed to have them in our lives! Congrats Eric and Kathy and may you have a life full of love and happiness!

What we've been up to...

It has been a while since I have updated the blog, so I thought I would post some highlights of the past few weeks. I should post more about the day to day things going on, but I am trying to play a little catch-up here so here are some recent family activities that I have captured with pictures (I am sure that I am cutting out some highlights with only using those that have pictures, but that is how I work I guess:)

A few weeks back we decided to take advantage of the closing of the autumn season by heading out to Crane's orchard to run around in the open field area and grab some cider and donuts. Ella loved having free rein running around and playing with us and she of course liked having the treats just as much. Here are some Mommy/Daddy moments.

We welcomed the beginning of the winter season by going to the Christmas Parade of Lights downtown Holland with our neighbors. It was a perfect night - not too cold but cold enough to put us in the Christmas spirit. Ella loved to look at the lights and all the people, but her favorite part was us letting her walk up and down the empty sidewalks while the parade was going on and waving to all the people...she is definately a girl who wants her independence but only at arms length away...thank goodness:)

Our buddies - Grah, Carrie, Chris & Ella

Ella was very intrigued when the first snow began to fall - she just stood at the window and pointed so we decided to venture out and give her a "taste" of it close up. She absolutely loved the snow- she wanted to run on it, lay on it and eat it:)

Ella had her boyfriend, Alden Lucas, over to play the other day and at the end of the night I told her to give him a little smootch...she did and then gave him seconds and thirds and even fourths...hopefully she doesn't make me regret using the cute little command:)...I don't think he minded though.