It was a white Christmas!

I figured before all the snow melts away I had better do the annual playing in the snow post! We've had quite the winter so far. Lots and lots of snow and below average temperatures! The kids love it of course...but the WTA bus that we ran into and the coinciding truck repairs we could have done with out!! Oh well no one was hurt and as I type the snow is melting away! All of these picutures were taken from the comfort of my livining room out the window! Here's Taiji cheesing it up!
My little dork...Jakey!

Kali with her best dude...Truman!

The cousins came over for a day! Here is Kali with Emily!

All dressed up and ready to go! Kali lasted about 15mins...but she had fun. The boys and Em were out in it for a couple of hours! Then back inside for another round on the new Guitar Hero 4 world tour! We have a regular little band in the making!!

A VanDalen Christmas Eve

Last night the entire Buddy VanDalen Family braved the weather and met at our house for our annual Christmas Celebration! This crew is like no other! It's loud...it's funny...it's fabulous!! We had so much fun talking, laughing, sharing and singing! The grand kids ranging in age from 2 to 27 all just love each other! They all match up and off they go! We start with lots of food and beverages then it's social time which leads into singing then the Christmas story followed by lots of presents! The singing was great with our accompanist, Taylor! Great job Tay!! Blake and Scott sang us their rendition of Adam Sandlers Hanukkah song and Paul had the honor of reading the Christmas Story! I'm so blessed by this crew and this night was no different!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

A Faber Christmas

Tuesday night we gathered with Aunt Sandra and Dad for a little Christmas party. Everyone had a great time.

A Christmas Lesson!!

A Christmas lesson by Amy VanDalen....No matter how much you water your tree, it will still dry out if put directly on a vent without closing it!! My sad sad sad...dead dead dead...tree!
Moving the presents to remove the fire hazard!

The culprit...I'm an idiot!!

What a mess!!

December 21, 2008....The VanDalen Christmas tree in the front yard!!

On the bright side...I have a head start on all of you putting my Christmas decorations away!!

Attempted Christmas Card Pictures!

Welcome to the VanDalen Clan!

Some of you are visiting for the first time after receiving our Christmas card in the mail...

this here blog is a daily (or not so daily) journal of what goes on at the VanDalen Household.

If you want to know what's happening with us, check back often!

The Kids continue to grow like weeds! Truman is 14 1/2 and is looking forward to getting his drivers permit this coming June!! Please Pray!!!!! He is doing well in school but his real passion is on a court or field! He loves him some sports!! He's very entertaining and is hitting the terrible teens...(the terrible 2's have nothing on this)!! We love him and pray everyday that he is seeking God in all his choices!!

Jake is 10 1/2. He is really enjoying school this year, but he would never admit it! He loves doing projects and getting them done. He has a new passion for board games (not sure where that came from). He too loves the sports and had an excellent year as the quarterback for his select football team this year. Our prayer for Jake is that he continues to grow in the Lord and seek him in all aspects of his life. Taiji is 10 1/2. He loves school this year and has found a new passion for reading. He still doesn't initiate it himself, but once he gets started it's hard to get him to stop. We always joke that Taiji is everybody's best friend (I sense we have a successor to VanDalen Insurance). He follows his brothers everywhere so that means he too loves sports! He played baseball, football and is now playing basketball. He and Jake are always on the same team so that's fun for us. Taiji is very sensitive and he is seeking God's guidance in his life. Every Sunday our Preacher does a sort of alter call...Taiji raises his hand every Sunday, we pray that this will always be the case!

Our little Kali Faith is now 3 1/2. She is a chatter box. She has something to say about everything. She loves making up songs and stories. She is passionate about school and playing with her cousins...usually princesses or boyfriend/girlfriend (don't ask). Kali makes us all smile, she is very special. She loves her big brother Truman and tolerates Jake and Taiji. She loves heading to the gym or field to watch the boys play. She will either be our best athlete or want nothing to do with sports....so far so good!

We are proud of our crew!

We hope that this post finds you all feeling the real Holiday 'Spirit'!

It's important that we not forget the true reason for the season!

"For God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life!" -john 3:16

Not really a Christmas verse...but such an amazing gift and promise! Abbey is spending her Christmas with Jesus...celebrating the fact that someday we will all be there with her...because of that very gift and promise!

Merry Christmas!

The Annual Tree Trek

Our Annual Tree Trek is always an adventure. First it's looking at the schedule...Do we have any games? Do we have Jake? Is there any thing open today? Once all those questions are answered we head out...rain or shine! Well it was rain this time! We went to a local tree farm in Lynden. Once there it was a game of avoiding the two large dogs and all the mud puddles. Everyone has their opinion on the perfect tree. I like them tall and skinny and not so full. Truman likes them tall, fat and full. Taiji likes them small and full, and well Jake he just wants to get a little one for his room. We finally compromised on a tall, fat and not so full tree. Shane went to work and we were back in the truck heading to basketball practice!! Fun times...Fun times!Small....
Medium...

and large!

Actually the boys always want me to take a picture of them next to a tree that is as tall as them!
Crazy traditions!

My and my girl. Notice her boots are clean and dry! As stated earlier there were two very large rambunctious dogs running around! Kali is really not strong in the big dog department....actually she's not strong in the little dog department either!! Oh well!

A Faber Gathering!

Sorry for the lack of posts! I'm afraid if I don't get my act together I may lose my loyal followers. It's not really for the lack of wanting to...just the lack of time and the ever present computer issues!! Regardless I'm still here!!This last weekend we gathered as the Faber family. We had some awesome soups and sandwiches and Brett and Jessie put together a great project for the kids. They built Gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. This feat may look easy, but it took some great engineering on the part of Brett!
Of course someone had to keep the lil monkey's busy...a rousing game of duck duck goose!
Jessie helping out Taiji

Cousin Em getting in on the fun!

Always a ham! Young Jake!

Grandma's turn to entertain the monkey's! So Cute!!

Grandpa always has time for a game of cribbage.

I was surprised how much Truman got into this. He was creating garages and carports! Surprised he didn't make a derby shop!

Cousin Luuk decorating!

So much fun and the candy was pretty good too!

I don't think Josie knew she was eating logs for the cabins!

Jessie and her girls!

An over view of the action!

Kali even got in on the action...One candy on the house and one in her mouth!

Truman's finished Product!

Taiji's finished product

Jake with his creation

Erik showing off his hard work!

Now let's eat them!!

Huskies fun x2!!

This has been a tough football year for the state of Washington!! Those Seahawk's, Cougars and especially the Huskies have had a very hard time winning even a game!! However, we still love them and our boys love football. So when tickets fell into Shane's lap he couldn't pass them up. He packed up the boys and some of their friends and took them down to a Huskies Game. The following week I joined them along with several of our friends in an RV that we had purchased at a Auction. It was a ton of fun, very relaxing and the Huskies actually pulled out a win....just kidding, but that would have been cool!! HeeHee!!

Halloween Fun!

Well we made it home for Halloween! I had made sure the costumes were sorta ready before we left...and Stacey helped with Truman's! Kali as our whole family knows fit her costume to a tee...she was and is a little princess! Jake wanted to be a Zombie this year and so we made him into a Football Zombie that played on the Tombstones for the city of Zombieville! Taiji wanted to be a mummy. This proved to be more challenging then we first expected. I got a sheet tore it up. We wrapped him up in it, not really thinking of the bathroom issues we may face later...also not thinking of how movement would change the look. Well as you can see in the progression of pictures he looked different at each stop. Now Truman on the other hand, he's starting to get to cool for us. He went to the football game with his friends and then graced us with his presence for about 3 minutes while getting in to costume. All in all it was a great night and the kids made out with more candy then they need and we...well we survived!!

The final installment!!

I would be remiss if I didn't have one last post of our amazing vacation...You may be thinking is was awesome because we were in Puerto Rico with the sun and tropics, but you would only be half right. It was amazing because of the great people that we met and the awesome family we came home to!! Juan was our bartender the whole time we were there! He took care of us and we really appreciated the great service! The last night we were given drink tickets from our friends Rory and Mandy who had to leave a little early. They hooked us up and Juan made a great drink!! A Grey Goose, Dirty Martini, straight up! Yumm-o...but one was enough!!
Bill and Geris was a couple that we met on our first night at the resort. They took us under their wing. We kinda invited ourselves out to dinner with them and they accepted! We were fast friends and ran into them the whole week! This is my shout out to them since they said they would be checking! Thanks guys!
This is Rory and Mandy! They were so great! They made this trip so much fun and adventurous! We look forward to many more PC councils with you guys!!

...and of course this trip would not have been what it was if it weren't for Shane. He treated me like a queen and we shared so many memories that we will have for a lifetime! Thanks Honey!!

Last but not least....my family!! (that includes you guys, Guela and Stac) It is always so hard to leave the kids behind, but Stac and Guela filled in our shoes so well I think the kids didn't even know that we were gone!

The picture above is what we came home to! A amazing birthday cake and homemade birthday cards! What a family we have!!

We are so blessed!

Thanks for taking this little journey with us!