Christmas 2009 Highlights

The last few days are kind of a blur. But, it was a fun blur. :) Bryan and I are blessed with families that celebrate Christmas very well, and I'm excited for Elise to grow up in that Christmas spirit every year. Here are a few (okay, many) highlights of our Christmastime 2009:

Christmas Eve morning at my parents' house

My parents and their grand kids: Ella, Noah, Elise, and Felmata. This was Felmata's first Christmas in the Hoekstra family!

I received beautiful jewelry made by my brother-in-law, Paul

Bryan made my sister, Abby, beaded serving utensils

I made a platter for my mom's famous "big plate" Sunday lunch



My mom made Bryan this amazing quilt.


Elise, a little worn out by all the excitement, enjoyed her Christmas eve dinner at
Burger King on our way to Ft Wayne.



Elise with her grandma on Christmas Day

This is Marylyn Cecilia, Elise's cabbage patch kid who was adopted into our family thanks to grandma and grandpa Linn. Elise loves her already!

As tradition, we donned our Santa hats to go caroling in Bryan's mom and dad's neighborhood Christmas night. I look forward to this all year!

The weekend ended with a colts game for Bryan and his dad. Unfortunately, they witnessed the colt's first loss of the season, but had a great time at the Lucas Oil Stadium.

Not a Santa Fan

I've never been a Santa fan. I'm not anti-Santa, I just don't care for all the fuss about him. Bryan, on the other hand, grew up with Santa as a pretty big part of Christmas. Now that we have Elise, we were at a crossroads as to what to do about Santa this Christmas. We decided to take Elise to see him. It was a free picture, and she's so little, I reasoned that it wouldn't hurt anything to have a quick visit. So, on Friday we found out just how Elise feels about Santa, and I'm pretty sure that she's in my boat on this one...

it was too quiet.....

I was being a bad mom on Friday afternoon. After a week of long days for Bryan at work, Elise was probably just as sick of me as I was of her. (and I mean "sick of" in only the most loving way) I just needed a small break from reading books, singing the alphabet of nations song, playing peek-a-boo, talking to, for, and about farmer Jed..... Yes, a bad mom for a few minutes. Anyway, as I was deep into facebook I noticed that the house was way too quiet. I also noticed that Elise was no longer playing in the living room, which means she's definitely in the kitchen. I got up from the computer and turned the corner to find her in this mess:

snow excitement

West Michigan is finally covered in snow. It was so nice to have the sunny days and warmer weather through November, but now that it's December, it's time for the snow to fly. And fly it did! After only a few hours of snowfall, the houses, trees, and roads were layered with the beautiful white cover. There's just something so magical about the first snowfall. When Elise woke up from her nap yesterday she delighted by all the snow outside. I also decorated the house with all of our christmas stuff, so the timing was perfect. As far as she knows, the decorations just came right along with the snow. :)

Elise's new winter coat. So far, she doesn't mind it at all.

Checking out the snow from the front window.

Snowsuit time! I bundled her all up over top of her jammies this morning to take a walk with Indy in all the freshly fallen snow.

hope, hope, hope

I received this quote in an email the other day from a friend who had lost his friend, mentor, and pastor after a long battle with cancer. It's a quote from a book that I don't remember by an author that I don't know. But, it made an impression on me that I can't shake, so I thought I'd share it here. As the Christmas season is here, and joy and peace are words on our lips more now than in any other season, I can't help but think of all the family and friends who are hurting. Doesn't it seem like hardship is all around us?? Maybe it's just us, but it feels like every time I talk with a co-worker, friend, or family member, they share some sort of trouble or family crisis. How is it that my little family and I have been spared? I'm so thankful for that, but also wonder at the grand injustice of those who have such long uphill battles ahead of them. Anyway, here is the quote I received:

"Hope and despair are not opposites. They are cut from the very same cloth, made from the very same material, shaped from the very same circumstances. Most of all, every life finds itself forced to choose one from the other, one day at a time, one circumstance after another. The only difference between the two is that despair shapes an attitude of mind; hope creates a quality of soul. Despair colors the way we look at things, makes us suspicious of the future, makes us negative about the present. Hope, on the other hand, takes life on its own terms, knows that whatever happens God lives in it, and expects that, whatever its twists and turns, it will ultimately yield its good to those who live it well. When tragedy strikes, when trouble comes, when life disappoints us, we stand at the crossroads between hope and despair, torn and hurting. Despair cements us in the present; hope sends us dancing around dark corners trusting in a tomorrow we cannot see. Despair says that there is no place to go but here. Hope says that God is waiting for us someplace else. Begin again." Joan Chittister

Thankful!

Wow, this year has brought so many changes and new things to be thankful for! I'm excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and be thankful to the One from whom all our blessings flow. I am thankful for...

My awesome husband who not only takes care of our family, but loves his girls so well.

My healthy, happy, and adorable little girl.

My job at the hospital and my fantastic co-workers. I love working part-time, and some days I can't believe that they pay me to be there.

Bryan's job-not always easy, but Innotec is a great company to work for and we are delighted to be a continued part of their unique business.

The H1N1 vaccine.

Grandparents who love Elise to pieces and take care of her often so that her mom and dad can have a night out or a weekend away. They take good care of all three of us.

A church that has a continued passion to reach lost people for Christ. We are so blessed to be a part of that ministry and to see God at work in Holland and Zeeland, furthering God's Kingdom each week.

My sisters-they are who I call when I need a sitter in a pinch, have a question about their newest fabulous recipe, or I'm wondering what to do about the beads that Elise swallowed. Sisters are a HUGE blessing, and I have TWO!

Friends, friends, friends! Playgroup, high school girls, college roommates, innotec connections, small group....I am so blessed with great friends!

My new-found love of cloth diapers. Yes, a strange "thankful," but I really do love them, so I had to include this one.

Okay, the list could go on and on and on. Blessings to you this Thanksgiving, and I pray that our hearts would remain thankful to God as we head into the new year.

Happy Halloween!

What a fun weekend! Dress-up for playgroup, visiting daddy and Aunt Abby at work, Trunk or Treat at church, stopping in on the Hoekstra's pumpkin carving, passing out candy, visiting the neighbors, and having our friends over made for a great weekend. Here are a few of Elise in her bee costume...... and one at the end of her scary daddy.

Walking

Elise has been walking for a few weeks, and until last night, I couldn't get a very good video of her on the move. Last night, with Bryan's help, we caught a few unsteady steps.....

One Year Old

The balloons are still afloat and we still have some cake left over, but the party is long over and Elise is definitely not a baby anymore. We are amazed every day at the things she's learning and how fast she's growing up!

We had a great time at her party on Sunday, and our family and friends were so gracious to spend their afternoon with us celebrating our little girl's big day. Elise did great the whole time, sitting with us to open presents and eating over half of her little cake. She ended up going down for a nap a little before the party was over, but at one year old, we kinda assumed she would wear out before we did.

At one year old, Elise is officially walking. She's still pretty shaky, but she's becoming more and more brave every day. With a little more practice, she'll be chasing Indy in no time. Her other big accomplishment is that she can clearly say "daddy" and she says it nearly all the time. She just adores Bryan, and so it's no surprise that she often crawls around the house calling for him, even when he's not home.

I'm a little sad that Elise's first birthday is over, but it's so fun to have a one year old. I can only hope that her 2nd year is just as great as the first.

early birthday fun

I just had to have one. Everyone said their kids adored theirs, and they played with it for years. But really, is it all that great? We found on on Sunday night.

We bought Elise a cozy coup for her 1st birthday. The beautiful thing about a 1-year old is that they don't know what the big red box in the living room contains, and they can't exactly ask. Elise has been climbing around and looking at her present for almost a month, happy as a clam to have something new and exciting to pound her hands on.

On Sunday evening, Bryan assembled the cozy coup. It is really the cutest thing! It has a locking door, a movable steering wheel, an open and close gas cap, and even a little license plate. It took no time at all before Elise was climbing in and out of it, pushing it around the house, and loving any ride that we're willing to give her in it. She can't quite honk the horn yet, but she's working on it.

So, they were all spot-on right. Our cozy coup is our new favorite toy, and I predict that it'll be a favorite for a very long time.

Signing Success

I have been signing with Elise since about 6 months. I think that she recognized the signs, but, until last week she didn't sign them herself. Her first sign was "all done," which she'll sign as soon as she sits in her chair, so I don't think she really gets it, but it's a start. Today I taught her "please," and she has been doing it all day. Again, not sure she really understands, but the fact that she's excited to communicate and she's learning is a success in my book. Here she is at her afternoon snack signing "please":

These are a few of my favorite things.....

Elise has always been a happy little girl, and over the past few weeks we've noticed a few things that really get her all excited. It's so fun to discover her personality as it develops. It seems like she's doing something new nearly every day! Here is our picture list of Elise's favorite things at almost 11 months old:

Feeding Indy

Climbing up and down the stairs all by herself!

Getting into the fridge every chance she gets

Climbing into her toy basket or any other basket that she can fit herself into

Sitting, kissing, playing with, and petting Indy

Watching Jeopardy-it's the only show she'll watch, really!

Watching daddy mow the lawn

on the move

This is Elise's latest thing. She has figured out her push toy, and she loves to "walk" around the house. This video isn't great, but you'll get the idea. Now, if we could just teach her how to turn......

"International" fun

We've had a little bit of 'international" fun the last two weekends. First, we traveled to Canada to visit a college friend of mine. The DeVrieses, Nymans, and us left on Friday evening and drove to London, Ontario to visit the Kooys. Between the four families, we had 5 kids under 2 1/2 years old. Elise was the only girl! Needless to say, we had a very busy, fun time with everyone. We spent a better part of our day on Saturday at Storybook Gardens right in London. It was a huge park with animals, storybook statues, a train, a jungle gym, and a splash pad. The kids had a riot, and Elise enjoyed playing with Bryan at the splash pad. It was Elise's first time to stay in a hotel, and she did very well. We never really love sharing a room with her because she's kind of a noisy sleeper, but we all slept well after playing so hard. It was a short weekend as we left right after brunch on Sunday, but we all promised to do it again soon.

Elise loved playing with her daddy at the splash pad. The water was cold, but she did great!

The girls: Tara (with Luke), Beth, Erica, and me. Rooks girls forever. :)

Our picnic at the gardens: this picture doesn't quite capture the chaos and mayhem. :)

Our next little "international" adventure took us to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek where we met up with Bryan's whole family for the afternoon. We met for a great picnic lunch at noon on Saturday and then enjoyed the zoo all day. The best part of Binder Park Zoo is definitely the "Wild Africa" exhibit, which requires a tram ride to get to and entertained us for most of our stay at the zoo. We saw all kinds of African animals, and the best part was feeding the giraffes. They are right at eye level and eat out of your hand! Elise wasn't afraid of any of the animals, and it was no surprise that the wild dogs kept her attention the best. She also waved at the goats and laughed at the prairie dogs. I think that the zoo may become a favorite outing in the years to come.

The best way to see the zoo is definitely on daddy's shoulders!

Gma and Gpa Linn with their grand kids: Elise , Charlotte (2yr), and Isaac (3yr)

Waving at the goats. Okay, so this is kind of a silly picture, but I was just so surprised how much she actually paid attention to the animals. :)

A Few Firsts

A few firsts for Elise this week included spaghetti dinner, climbing up all 14 of our stairs and surprising mommy at the top (daddy was "watching" her!), feeding the ducks, a new big girl car seat, and, unfortunately, a fever. I took a few pictures of the spaghetti dinner and car seat, but I didn't have the heart to take a picture of her sick-she was just too miserable. Thankfully the fever/cold ended on Monday afternoon, and she is back to her happy self today. We had her 9 month appointment on Monday and she's doing great! She's still tall, 65th percentile in height, and thin, 25th percentile weight, which we don't understand because she eats all the time!

She loved to climb in and out of her new big girl car seat as it sat in the kitchen.

Hopefully she'll like it just as much inside the car.

Feeding the ducks at Huizenga Park. Daddy had to hold Indy back or none of the ducks would even come near us, and mommy had to hold the bread or Elise would have eaten it all!

Spaghetti...what a mess! She LOVED it and even figured out how to slurp the noodles into her mouth, too cute. Notice Indy standing by.....

She stopped just long enough for me to take her picture, and then it was off to the stairs! She's sporting her Calvin t-shirt. Thanks Aunt Angela!

He's Home!

Here is a picture of our new nephew, Felmeta Judah Hoekstra, who came home from Ethiopia on Saturday.

Bryan and I had prepared ourselves to meet a shy, crabby, and overwhelmed 3-year old little boy who had just traveled over 30 hours. We figured we'd need to give him some space, be gentle and not too affectionate. We couldn't have been farther from the truth!

Felmeta is a very energetic, happy little boy who was so excited to see all of us. He came right up to the large group gathered at the airport and gave us high-fives. He immediately took Noah's hand and even said both Noah and Ella's names. He was excited to show off his light-up tennis shoes, and eager to check out everyone. He even gave Elise a kiss and put her shoe back on. Jessica says that he "has a smile that won't quit." He is going to be such a fun part of our family!

Jessica is an excellent writer and has kept a really good account of their adoption journey thus far. Her blog is linked to mine, if you want to check it out.

9 Months ago......

Elise Jolea is 9 months old today! I say it every month, but holy cow is she growing fast! In the last week she has learned to wave (mostly at herself in the mirror), clap her hands, and get into anything and everything that's less than 3 feet from the floor. Life around the Linn house is more fun and busy every day. :)

Nine months ago I was 10 days overdue, uncomfortable, and slightly annoyed at my sister Jessica's excitement day after day about the baby. I know the Bushes and the Linns were all very excited to meet our baby girl, but nobody was as excited as Jessica. At the time I thought she was just crazy. She was crazy enough to call every day, drive past the hospital looking for our car, wake up in the night wondering if we were in labor, and drop by in those last few days with treats to brighten my day.

Now the tables are turned. Jess and Paul are on their way back from Ethiopia right now. Their plane took off about an hour ago, and I can think of little else than the little boy sitting between then in seat E, on his way to a whole new life with the Hoekstras. And I might be going a little crazy. Crazy enough to check my email almost hourly, constantly figure out what time it is in Ethiopia, and look at Felmeta's pictures over and over again. I just can't wait to meet their newest son.

Turns out neither one of us is crazy. Sisters are just like this. It's in our going crazy that we show each other how much we love them.

I can't wait until tomorrow. I can't wait to see them walking up the gate, probably tired, holding on to the newest Hoekstra. I can't wait to see this boy from halfway around the world make his place in the Hoekstra family.

Finally, I can't wait to see what the next nine months will hold. In 9 months Elise will probably be talking. And I bet that she'll be able to talk about her cousin, Felmeta, who looks nothing like her but is as much a part of our family as she is.

busy girl.....

Bryan and I were trying to get dinner cleaned up, and we found Elise entertaining herself IN the dishwasher. It was hard to tell her "no" when we're both laughing and taking picttures. :) Her other love is the refrigerator. She is such a busy little girl, and we are just trying to keep up!

Weekend Fun

We are so blessed to live in west Michigan. Bryan and I have said so many times over the last couple weeks how nice it is to live where people come to vacation. One of the best parts of the weekend was taking Elise to the beach for the very first time. She just loves being outside, and so we were pretty confident that an evening at the beach would be a lot of fun. We picked up a $5 pizza and made our way to the Holland State Park. Watching boats, listening to the waves, dodging poorly thrown footballs, and a walk on the pier and up the shoreline made for a great night...hopefully the first of many over the summer.

Eight Months!

It's hard to believe that our baby girl is already eight months old! Elise has changed a lot in the last month.

The biggest change is that she is very very mobile. Poor Indy gets "chased" around all day by our little mover. As soon as Elise gets close to Indy, he gets up and goes to the opposite side of the room, and so Elise just turns herself around and heads toward him all over again. It's entertaining and exhausting all at the same time.

Elise has decided that she really prefers to feed herself. She has pretty much abandoned being spoon-fed and throws a fit if we try it. She is basically surviving on formula, cheerios, bananas, and frozen waffles. I'm trying to get a little more creative, and introduce things like peaches, avocados, peas and carrots. So far she has just one front tooth, and we're hoping for more to follow soon.

Some new favorites of Elise's include her swimming pool, the wipes wrapper, standing up her crib to look outside, saying "dadadadadada!", playing with her friend, Leyton, and feeding Indy from her highchair....a battle I will not win.

We are so thankful for our happy, healthy little girl. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks....

Seriously?!

I went garage saling last weekend to get a few new toys for Elise. She was gone for the weekend with Bryan's parents, and it just felt good to shop for a few fun things for her. I found some great additions to our already overflowing toy basket.

So, tonight I introduced her to my exciting finds. She humored me for maybe 10 seconds and then headed straight for....

....the dog's bone: Indy's chewed-up, sometimes left outside dirty old dog bone.

Go figure!