A Taste of Christmas

This Christmas was pretty busy. We were able to keep it to one party a day for five days. The kids did pretty good, but by the end of the week there were pretty tired. Here are a few of the highlights from the Grandparents' Parties.

Ruiter Family Christmas

Our tradition on Christmas Eve is to celebrate with the immediate Ruiter family. We always enjoy a gourmet meal, prepared by Chris' sister Kim & her husband, Dean. This year we had Indian cuisine. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and exchanging gifts. We are so fortunate that everyone lives close enough to do this every year. We are also grateful that we made it there & back safely, as we have had a plethora of winter weather & snow this past week.

Summertime

We got about 10-12 inches of snow today. It was pretty nasty for most of the morning. This is a picture at about 3:30 when it was just winding down.


I had this video around from this summer in case you are from Western Michigan and got dumped on today. We aren't supposed to get snow again until the blizzard this weekend. :-)

Christmas Program

Every year at church our 2's & 3's sing "Away in a Manger" & "Jingle Jingle Happy Bells" in the Children's Christmas Program.

We were so thankful that Addie has been doing well enough that she was able to participate. She sang all the words and stood & behaved beautifully for the songs, this alone brought tears to our eyes, as over the past 6 months we've wondered if she'd get her personality & skills back. We were very encouraged by her behaviour last night & praise God that she is doing so well right now.

Needless to say, Holden brought tears to our eyes for an entirely different reason.
This year Holden was the only boy there, typically he has 3 or 4 other friends to sing & dance with, but this evening it was Holden & the girls. The girls all behaved beautifully. Holden is definitely staking his claim as the middle child, and he will not go unnoticed. The video speaks for itself.

Adjusting...

Many have asked, "How are the kids?" I thought I'd do a quick update, which is best summarized by the pictures.

This is still my favorite picture of Weston...the look on his face says it all. Where am I? What's all the commotion about?


This picture summarizes Holden's philosophy right now, "Get while the gettin's good!" No one is watching....right?


Addie is doing her best at being a big sister. Despite intermitent melt-downs, she is loving having Weston around. She likes to hold him, and we're working on saying "I'm done now, please take him." As opposed to throwing, rolling or dropping him with no warning. Mom & Dad are quick, but not that quick! You can see the subtle look of mischief in her eyes...

Weston Henry Ruiter

Born :12.7.08 4:29 A.M.

8 pounds 10 ounces

20 inches