Kindergarten

This year Sabrina has started Kindergarten with Maestra Zondervan. She has been looking forward to it since last year's visiting day. She goes every AM but wishes it was all day. Sabrina loves the freedom to play on the playground before the bell rings, recess and "more learning time, its not so babyish like preschool". She has made some new friends in her class already and maintained some friendships from last year too. We are excited to see all the growth than happens over the course of the year!

Some friends from last year on the first day of K! :)

ONE

Oh My. I cannot tell you how amazing the last 365 have been with this tootie. She has brought a whole new dimension to our family. She brings each of us so much joy and has really completed our family of 5. Emeline Jo is all shades of happy and is so easy going. She is a little ham and has facial expressions for days! She adores her big sisters and tries to join in on everything they do (whether she is actually capable or not). She sends Sabrina and Anabelle in to endless giggles daily and as big sisters, they celebrate Eme's milestones right along mom and dad. We love you Emeline and are thankful for every day God gives us with you!

Flip into Spring Meet

For about the last year the girls have been taking gymnastics at a great gym in Zeeland. They sterted with a summer camp and loved it so much they have continued through the school year. Anabelle enjoys the ramming around and the activity (but misses the tutus and glitz of dance). Sabina however it SOLD, I mean all in! :) She just loves gymnastics and really pushes herself to try new things. At home, we see her upside down more than right side up these days! This past friday, the girls participated in there first Meet...it was a fun meet that worked as a fundraiser for the gym so no judges or anything, just fun showing off their routines for family!

At the beginning they got a pep talk from Miss Tammi and did some stretching.
Anabelle doing her floor routine
and beam.
Sabrina on Bars (one of her faves)
and her floor.
At the end, the kids had handstand contests with their age group for anyone who wanted to try. Sabrina jumped right in...she did well, but didnt win.
At the end the kids all got ribbons and trophies. They were SO excited to have a REAL trophy! Anabelle kept stroking it on the whole ride home saying "is my fragile, goldish statue mom, I just love it!". Too cute!

Easter 2011

Easter 2012 was a weekend of family, easter egg hunts, great food and great worship time. So thankful for a Risen Savior! We have all been sick with colds this last week which has been ok since it was spring break so no missing school or anything, but since my new niece was born at the beginning of the week, I had to wait a WHOLE WEEK to hold her for the first time! It was definitely the hi light of my Easter! She is SUCH A PEANUT!! Below is the first pics of Nana and Poppy with all four Grandgirls! :)

Spring Program

Last sunday the kids had their spring program at our church. Sabrina was so excited to perform her songs that she had been practicing from her CD for FOREVER! :) Thankfully, they are cute songs and totally adult friendly...even catchy! They all had to wear summer attire and really boogied down. :) So awesome to see some many kids enthusiastically praising God together!

Sabrina is the one in the pink tank top :)

Disney on Ice

Some bunny loves me!

Anabelle made this sweet mask at school and wears it around all the time. The other day, she came up the steps with it on and Emeline started belly laughing at her! It was so cute!

Sisters

Oh I love watching my girls fall in love with each each other! Since Emeline has gotten older, she has begun to develop such a little personality. She is so smiley and giggly and always is looking for her sisters to provide a little entertainment, and entertain they do! They put on shows for Eme and show her toy after toy, explaining in great detail all of its features and why she should love it. They hold her, and plop her on their laps and pretend she is their own baby. They sing songs and play patty cake and crack to pieces when Eme shakes her head furiously.




All of this stirs my heart and brings me so much joy!...It also gives me a small window into what my parents watched unfold as their three girls, all born within 5 years fell in love with each other. Don't get me wrong, there was fighting and all...but those moments, those magical moments when it all clicks, when everyone is getting along, are what forms that bond...that lifelong, undeniable connection that will hold together through those rough years. I just hope and pray, day after day that my girls will love their sisters and cherish and support each other in the same way we do :)


The Hoogie sisters and baby "Tilly"!

Florida

Our first vacation as a family of 5 was a total success! We were a little nervous about travel with a 6 month old who has a hard time napping when out and about, but overall she did great! We couldn't have asked for more! We spent the majority of our time in Ft. Meyers beach relaxing. The girls swam, swam, collected shells and swam some more! We had a little trouble with the kids and Brad getting a little sick (croup, colds, and fever) but largely, it didn't slow them down too much. Just a good reason to get everyone to bed a little early. Eme had a few firsts while we were down there: she experienced sand, swimming and mastered sitting up!



After a few days, we went to Port Charlotte to visit Brad's Grandma Gert for the day. We played games, fed the turtles and went to visit the place where she volunteers. Last year, I was pregnant when we visited and this year we were able to introduce Grandma to Emeline. It was so sweet to see them get to know each other!

After a few more days in FMB, we packed up all our stuff (and let me tell you, there was a crazy amount of stuff involved in traveling with a baby! YIKES) and headed to Orlando to Brad's other Grandparents. We got to spend two nights visiting with them and swimming in their pool.

WHile there, Brad was able to hit the Daytona 500 which had been rain delayed and got to see the fireball track dryer incident unfold! We also got to surprise the girls with a day at Disney with Nana and Poppy! It was a truly magical day seeing the Magic Kingdom through the eyes of the girls. They were over the moon! They continue to pray every day "thank you God for letting us go to Disney". Such seriously amazing family memories! (It would not have been nearly as enjoyable without the help of my parents...they were so awesome about taking Emeline while we took the big girls on rides.

Seriously, it was a busy vacation packed full of fun stuff and lots of memories made. Best of all, I got to have my Hubby with be 24/7 for over a week, AWESOME!

a swing and a miss

Time is flying past though Eme could have started solids a while ago, I'm bigtime dragging my feet because lets be honest, the "lets eat and drool mush" stage isnt super fun. A week or so ago I decided I should at least give the food thing a test run and well...this is what happened:

Spoon in

gets "the willies" aka that shiver thing people do when something is gross

and a solid GAG (I look at this pic and can HEAR it!)

So sadly, Emeline does not have the same love of food as her mother! We worked at it for a bit with very little improvement but at least at the end we got this:

Yep, she's a doll!

We've postponed more food feeding while we try to get a handle on the reflux that has just come uo (no pun intended!). Hopefully we'll find the right combination of formula, prune juice and temperature to keep her rolly polly as ever! :)