Are you ready for this???

When Jake and Taiji were in Kindergarten and Truman was in 3rd, we decided it would be a fun way to end the year if they all got Mohawks! It was a way to say, 'You worked hard and made it...now let's have a little fun!!' Well the tradition lives on and last night on Mohawk Monday each of the boys and friend Isaac received their very own new look!! Jake-Before
Jake-After
Truman- Before
Truman-After
Taiji- Before
Taiji- After

This Morning Kali woke to find her brothers looking familiar but oddly different, she quickly warmed up to the idea and received her own little blue Mohawk! My 'COOL' gang!
On the wall behind the boys is a picture of Abbey in the tub with a Mohawk. The boys thought it would be cool to have a picture with her!! One of those teary, what if moments!
We are defiantly a different group....but I wouldn't have it any other way!!
This is their attempt at looking mean...nice try boys!!
WOW, look at all that hair!!

Fun Stuff!!

We had a great weekend here at the VanDalen household. There was some baseball, yard work, splashing around in the creek, friends over, graduation parties, church, naps, deck swimming, and movie night. I'm sure I forgot some stuff, but I think you get the point...sometimes it really is the little things in life that make life worth it!! We had fun!! Kali at her cutest!
Gotta love the outside bath in a turtle no less!
Movie night-"Everyone's Hero" A baseball movie....of course!!

Field Day Fun!!

I'll be honest, it feels like yesterday that I was at field day for the boy's when they were in 2nd grade....now they are almost done with the 3rd grade, where did the year go!! This year they were on the white team, and they were disappointed, "The blue team always wins", they said. I responded with, "well it's time for a change, time for the white team to win!!" I was right, the white team stepped up and won Field Day!! I think it had something to do with the fact that I came with the white hair spray and white face paint.... Here is the white team I was in charge of...we rocked!!
My 9's!!
Jake's victory look after he threw the ball through all the rings and scored a perfect ten!!
Taiji and his buddy Nathan.
After the white team won, Taiji created a victory sign...this is it!!

Of course my competitive spirit came out and they will probably ask me not to come back next year....but it was a beautiful sunny day and we had a ton of fun!!

I'll let you know about next year!! =)

It's that time of year....

1. Dinner on the deck!! The boys love it, the oven never gets turned on, and just look at how cute they all are!! 2. Bees and wasps at every turn

3. No school....no homework!

4. Free babysitters

5. Baseball, baseball, baseball

6. Vacation...Look out MI here we come!!

7. Golden skin

8. Working in the yard.
9. Backyard BBQ's with friends!

10. Fun adventures with the kids!

Hope you enjoyed my ten things that this time of year can bring....if you have your own ten things, I would love to read it!! Oh how I love summer!!

What Kali does at the ball games!!

Oh little Kali...what a trooper! We had a tournament this weekend and all three boys were apart of it. The games started on Saturday and went up until Monday at 2:30!! With the help of both her grandmas she didn't have to watch all 11 games, but she did catch her fair share. She really does very well and at all of Jake and Taiji's games she has her best bud Duke to keep her entertained!! Here is Kali and Duke trying to get as dirty as possible!! People think that I dress her in brown because of the big brown eyes....now you know the real reason!
Who could pass up a nice big stick!!
Just way to cute for words!!

Field Trip!

Jake and Taiji had their field trip last week. The whole 3rd grade class went to post point, (aka the beach) They have been studying sea creatures and this was their opportunity to check them out. Thankfully Guela was able to go and be there with them for this adventure. They said that they had a blast and each came home with a bag full of stinky shells and creatures!! Guela and her 9 year old's!
Taiji's discovery!
Yuck...what are those things!!
This is the cool picture of Jake with his brother and sister...both of which are in his class!!

Thanks to Guela for the pictures!!

The First PEE!!

Big day for Kali Faith!! She went pee in her potty chair for the first time!! I know not the most of glamorous of pictures....but it was the first time so bare with me!! Lately Kali has been coming up to me and will say, "Potty Mom!". I then would tend to ignore her because I practically live at the baseball field and have no desire to be running to the bathroom every 10mins. But last night I thought I would put her on the potty just to see if she even knew what to do with it...well she did!! However, I think the fact that she actually did it scared her so much she might not be so enthusiastic anymore....I'll keep you posted!! (I promise there will be no more urine pictures!!)

Happy Birthday Shane!!

Shane turns 39 today!! So Happy Birthday Shane!! Jake, Taiji and I went shopping last night and came up with some goodies!! With Shane pretty much anything with AC/DC on it and you've got a winner. So we found an old school AC/DC album, the first season of M*A*S*H on DVD, Shorts, shirt, shoes and a DVD player to replace the broken one!! All in all I think he liked his gifts!! Kali is not in this picture, cuz she wasn't up yet...gotta love it when they sleep to 8am.
Of course seconds later, she realized she was missing the party and called for Shane to come get her.
Here is my Gang!! Gotta love um!!

A Backyard Adventure!!

It was a great day for a Mother's day BBQ!! After a Saturday filled with yard work and prep the VanDalen Clan and the Faber Clan got together for a combination Party. It always is a great time. The food was great the company even better! One of the cutest moments was watching the two year olds explore the backyard by themselves. It's all fenced in and they were the only ones back there. They were all over the place!! Monkey see-Monkey do!! Follow the leader....
Stop drop and roll...
Catch me if you can...
Yeah!! It's a beautiful day!!
This is how you play in the sandbox without getting tooo dirty!!

Ordinary day

Kali and I decided that it was time for us to check out the new park. They have a few things to finish up, but for the most part it is complete. As a fund raiser they sold pickets that you could write on and they would be part of the fence that surrounds the park. We decided that we would each get a picket and of course do one in memory of Abbey. I found hers first and it is very fittingly placed near the swings in the toddlers section!
Kali found the park to be very fun and exciting. Her word of the day was FUN!!
They have lots to do and to see. This here is a musical pipe thingy...she loved it even if I don't really know what it is!! LOL!
And of course no day at the park is complete without lunch with Grandpa. My two KF's (Ken Faber & Kali Faith)
To round out the day, as is with most days, we went to Bender Fields to cheer on the boys to a victory over Blaine!! Good Job Jake and Taiji!! I have learned with lil' miss KF...make sure you dress her in stuff you don't mind getting ruined!! She was a trooper as always!!

The three amigos!

Dexter
Ruby

Kali

Last night we had a visit from Dexter, Ruby and their dad Tim. They needed a little outing and we loved the company. Of course Shane is trying to be their favorite and so he got them each an ice cream sandwich!! As you can tell by the pictures they each have very different personalities....but when you combined them together they form the three amigos! We are very grateful to have them in our lives and look forward to watching them grow up together!!

Continue to keep them in your prayers...this is a tough month for them, with what would have been Fletcher's due date, Mother's Day and the twins 2nd birthday they really could use all of the prayers that they can get!!

Million Smiles City Park!!

What an amazing project this has been. The City of Lynden decided to update the city park. They consulted some experts....the kids, and designed a new park. What they have come up with is nothing short of amazing. The entire park has been created by volunteers and donations. The spirit of the town is at an all time high...and the best part is we will have an amazing park when it is done. Here are a few pictures from a couple of different angles.

Hey who is that painting up there...it's a bird...it's a plane...no it's super Grandpa!!
A fun feature of the park is the 30ft tall tree house!
A new park...and all only a couple of blocks from our house!!