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