packing up!

We are in the process of packing and its more work than I thought it would be. We have boxes for garage sale, for the hotel, for storage, for jeff and angies, for dumping...its crazy!!! Dan has been busy making a new home at the Meistes for the dogs. They will stay there until we move to our new house. Thank you meistes!!! He has finished that and today we will be getting the enclosed trailer for bringing boxes away! The timing of all of this couldn't be better, again God has perfect timing! Dan had to use up vacation so he is off all week and Leona is on Christmas break and is able to help out watching the girls.

Aubrey is very excited about all of this. She just really wants to go in the pool! Ellie is having a harder time, she cant quite comprehend whats happening. She tells me often she doesn't want to move, and she wants to live here forever! So sweet. This is the only home shes ever known! When we tell her how much fun she will have living next to her cousins and that they can play all the time she is excited but I think she thinks we will be living outside in the woods, she doesn't get that there will be a house there eventually! I know that she will be just fine and they will adjust! I continually tell them that it doesn't matter where we live as long as were all together as a family!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to you all!! This is a crazy time of year with a lot of busyness going on and this year we have even more!!! We have sold our house! We sold it in less than 2 months, we were shocked!! We have had a lot of inspections and waiting to hear back from those but we passed all of them and we will be signing this week Wednesday and out of the house 7 days after that. We will first be living at the Residence Inn for about 6 weeks. I am totally looking forward to that, Monday through Thursday they serve breakfast and supper!! Hot Dog!!!! Plus we will have the pool and hot tub to enjoy! After the hotel stay we will be moving into Jeff and Angies house until ours is finished. We pray that this will all go smoothly and we can enjoy it and not get too stressed out as we hope to not have to do this building thing again!! Happy Holidays to you all and Happy Birthday to our Savior Jesus Christ!!!!

Thanksgiving week!

Heres whats happened in the Nyhof home lately...We have had a lot of activity with our house being for sale! We have been surprised at how many showings we have had. I have a routine on how I clean the house for them! We have had an offer and if all goes as planned the house could be sold. Where are we going to live you might be asking and the answer is we dont know, but God does. We have a few options out there and I am sure everything will fall into place! Building probably wont happen until Marchish.

This week my great friend Steph and I went to go see the much anticipated movie NEW MOON, it was fantastic and we cant wait for the next one in June. Who knew that I would become so obsessed with this series. I seriously feel like a teenage girl dreaming about a heartthrob on t.v. Its crazy!

A few weeks ago I dragged my grandma with me to a Punch Needle Embroidery class in Jenison. I loved it!! Its just another thing I can do during the long winters! This is the one I just finished tonight...mine has a few different colors, I grabbed a picture of this one on line. I would like to try and do a few Christmas ornaments next!! If you want to learn I would be happy to show you how! Its easy!!!

Thanksgiving was great! I love the holidays!! Wednesday night dan and I did the turkey, we did it different this year. Its called spatchcocking a turkey...you cut out the backbone, flip it over, crack the bones and throw it in the oven for a few hours. It was easy and yummo! Dan wanted creamed turkey so thats what I did. We had dad over for dinner on Thursday and went to my moms at night. Friday we had a showing, and on Saturday. Saturday night we went to Dans side for Thanksgiving and that was great too!! Prayerfully next year we will be able to have all the parties at our NEW house! Wouldnt that be great!!? I am super excited to be able to do that! Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving with your families! Enjoy your week!!

Winning at Home!

I had my first counselor meeting today and I wasnt quite sure what to expect but it went great. I really believe they can help me control my anxious thoughts without having to continue to up my medication! It feels so great to know that this can be solved. It sounds like over the next few sessions I will be having to dig up the past and she has warned me that it can get tough but it will all help in the long run. I just really felt like I was right where God wanted me to be. I will not let Satan steal my joy and peace I will live my life to the fullest as God has intended for all of us.
Something else that has really helped me out lately and has drawn me closer to God is the book Sparkling Gems by Rick Renner. My dad recommended it to me and I havent given it back to him yet. Sorry dad!! I just love it and am soaking it up like a sponge!! So if you need a new devotional or a great Christmas present this would be great!! Have a great week bloggers!!

Things have been better with my anxiety. I am thrilled to have been able to get in at Winning at Home and to see someone who takes insurance! That's coming up in about a week. I also have a Dr. appt. set up in a few weeks to see if maybe I will need to change my medications. I have received so many emails from people after writing my last post...we should start a support group or something!! Gee Whizzers! This cartoon is perfectly fitting for me...



So far, my kiddos have been healthy! Praise God for that!! I did have them get the first dose of the HINI, hoping to be able to get the next dose when they need it!

Aubs has been as naughty as ever but hilarious too! Ellie is 4 going on 14, she is suddenly into the Jonas brothers show, Hannah Montana, and Suite Life on Deck...so crazy. The other day I had to do her hair just like Miley Cyrus. Shes still adoring school, and we love seeing her grow. Dans been remodeling the old Family Fitness center in Holland, kind of nice that hes working close to home so we can stop in and see him. The girls love to visit daddy at work! So far it looks like a quiet week at the Nyhofs and I am totally great with that. Hope you all have great weeks as well!

Just not myself...

So I am going to share with the world a bit about myself so I can ask for your prayers. For about 7 years I have been dealing with generalized anxiety disorder and have been on medication for it which has been working and I have been doing great but recently I had a health scare that I have been told I am okay and I am so thankful for, but my anxiety has not gone away even on my meds. I know this is satan trying to take me down and take my joy. If you have never experienced anxiety its kind of hard to explain but its like I am doing my day to day activities while living in fear of anything and everything. So that brings on a type of depression where I just want to sleep the days away...its honestly just a horrible thing. I have contacted winning at home for advice and counseling, I refuse to live this way it affects everyone around me. It affects me physically and I am just drained!! So if I am not myself,please forgive me and know that I am doing all I can to get this fixed. So if you think of it and can send a prayer my way i would appreciate it. Thanks blog friends!!

life lately...

Life at the Nyhofs has been great. Let me catch you up on whats been going on. I had jury duty the middle of September, that was a learning experience I could have lived without. It wouldn't have been so bad if the case didn't bug me like it did. We live in a very sinful world and I have just had to remind myself who is in charge of that world and He brings me comfort. Because of that, we had to pass on our last camping trip of the year...that was a bummer. So the camper is all winterized and put away.

On the up side, its fall and that's my favorite time of year! I love all the fall foods, the crisp air, colors and smells. Its the best!!

Ellie adores school! She is great at it!!! She loves her teachers and everything that goes with it. Its amazing how much of a difference I see in her already. Dan went on her first field trip to Teusinks farm. It was a chilly wet day but they had a great time together. She has a great daddy willing to do that kind of thing with her!!

Aubrey on the other hand is a bit difficult lately. I love the girl with everything I have but boy is she a stinker!! She is my more artsy daughter, she loves to sit and color or paint and for 2 years old, shes pretty good. A few nights ago we thought she had finally fallen asleep. (lately its been between 10-12 before she falls asleep) So, I went off to bed and as I go up the stairs I see this drawing all the way up the stairs and I am not just talking about a line...there are many large circles!! I was so mad for not hearing her!!! She wants to do EVERYTHING herself and she gets down right ticked off if you try to help her. She is evil to Ellie, but that can go both ways! She cracks us up and has a great personality but right now...she just poops me out!!!

One more big thing in our lives is we are looking into selling our house! We have talked to a realtor and are thinking we will have the house up for sale in the next few weeks. This seems so crazy yet we have been talking about it for so long. Who knows what will happen, we are just really praying and listening to what God wants for us. So that is all for now! Thanks for reading!! :)


This is what we caught Aubrey doing at 10:30 tonight...making beds for babies.


Ellie with Daddy!

this is when I caught Aubrey coloring this wall, I made her clean it up. If you could see her face, you would see her crying asking for more soap (on the washcloth). Getting caught isnt good!!

School days!!!

At the new school!!

Getting excited!

Ellie before school


Ellie had her first day of school today. It was only for one hour but she loved it and did great. Getting up so stinkin' early was a little rough on all of us but we managed. Ellie had some nervous stomach issues this morning and couldn't eat any breakfast...she is such a Prins. Once we were there it was fine. Being super on time was kind of nice so she got comfortable b/f all the kiddos came! She came home with all kinds of papers! I am so excited to make the first scholastic book order...I dont know why I have been so looking forward to those!? We got her color,number and shape of the month plus all of it in spanish!! Wow! We pray she continues to do well and enjoy her year at preschool!!

Day at DeVos

Well she did it, Aubrey had her tests done at DeVos today and did soo well!! We arrived on time and she had a chance to play in the cool waiting area with a large fish tank, play room with a tv for video games, toys, books, it was definetly kid friendly. First she had her ultra sound and she did amazing, the nurse had her lay on her tummy and play with a toy then had her flip on her back to get some more pics of her kidneys. The tech told us if she didnt know it, she wouldn't have ever guessed that she was only 2. She did that good. We were brought to another kid friendly room to wait to take the medication that would make her sleepy. She played with all the toys in the room and watched a show about tigers with Dad. Eventually she was given the sedative and it only took a few minutes before we noticed her giggles and heavy limbs. We had to laugh, it was like she just got off of a merry-go-round and her head was 20 pounds. She thought it was funny too! Praise the Lord that she was silly, we were told some kids get super emotional because they cant move like they want to. When we did the test she did really well until she had to pee, she started crying pretty hard then. I dont know if it hurt or she started to panic but it was soon all over and we could go home. All in all it went so well and we were so proud of her, and thankful to God that so far it all looked good!
Not sure if this video will work, I will work on it if it doesnt.

School is right around the corner and I feel I need to get myself more organized. There is alot of things coming up that I cant forget about! SO, my question for you moms that have been doing this school thing for a while is how do you stay organized? I was thinking of getting some kind of calendar or planner...what do you use? Thanks for your input ahead of time!

Birthdays and Bladder Infections

This week has been a little rough for Miss Aubrey. On Tuesday afternoon she started complaining of a back ache (lower) really bad complaining!!! So I called the Dr. took her in and of course she was totally fine...so we thought. On Friday she had started with a fever and super tired, fussy just couldn't seem to get comfortable. Saturday we called our Dr. and he recommended going in. We sat in the ER for a good chunk of the afternoon. Got a cathedar and did so good with it. As a mom and a person with super high anxiety issues I am thinking the absolute worst and PRAYING for a simple solution. Praise God we got an easy solution, she has a bladder infection. Kind of weird that she never complained when she had to pee but I guess were all different. Anyway, I was thinking that by Sunday afternoon she'd be feeling better. Wrong!! She woke up from her Sunday afternoon nap with Daddy with a fever again and just the same as before. I was holding her just praying that God could give me an answer and tell me what to do for her and seconds later it hit me that I needed to check the messages on my phone and God answered my prayer by having a nurse from the hospital call and say we needed to call her back, the medicine they gave us wasn't going to be helping her get better. So with this new drug she should be feeling better tomorrow. As a mom I am praising God that we have medicine and doctors and most of all prayers for our kids!

It was Ellies fourth birthday on Saturday too!! Luckily she was totally thrilled to go hang out at grandpa and grandmas for the day. Saturday night I took her with me to church and while we were gone daddy baked her a cake...how sweet is that!!? She was super excited. We also took her to toys r us and she got a cool new marble racer toy and the bedroom set to her dollhouse!! She had a great birthday!! We are looking forward to a stress free relaxing week camping again before all the school events start!! School...ahhhh!!!

Busy Fun Summer!!

We are having a great summer over here at the Nyhofs! I havent blogged in a while so let me bring you up to speed. Since my last post we have a new nephew/cousin, Owen Mark was born on July 3!! Hes so sweet, looks just like his daddy!
We have camped three times (i think). That is just the best. Our girls love it and so do I...we have had great trips with so many different people. Looking forward to all the rest.

Ellie took swimming lessons a few weeks ago. It went better than I thought and it really boosted her confidence. Praise for Monica for taking on the challenge of ellie in the water!!

I have been selected for jury duty for the last few weeks of september...of course over a camping trip!! Grr, not excited but ya gotta do what you gotta do I guess.

The girls have gotten a new sandbox made by their dad and they love that. Ellie really loves throwing sand down aubreys diaper! Everyday is an adventure with the girls...they are so active and curious. I could put that another way by saying they have so much darn energy and are into everything they shouldnt be...thats really what I was thinking!!! I love them so stinkin' much!!!!

We had this big ol ordeal with our bed and to make a long story short, we got money back for our old one and got a new one for a lot cheaper so we purchased carpet that we got on sale too. It looks so much better and more up to date.

I think thats about it for now. Coming up we will be getting ready for some school shopping!! I am so excited for that to start for Ellie!! We have some more camping to do, a birthday for Ellie, day at Shipsea, good times and more sunshine ahead!!!!!!

Aubrey is two!!! Not that I would have to tell you that, if you spend any amount of time with her you will know how old she is. She wants her way all the time and throws many tantrums because I wont give in to her!!! She is a stinker lately and yet she is our cuddler, our singer, our brave one, and always an entertainer!!! We love her dearly, she is precious and is such a blessing!!! Here is pictures from today, her first birthday party combined with Ellies. Her birthday is in August so instead of having 6 parties we have 3. The girls had a great day dinner, cake, presents, and a water fight to top it off!!

Obsessed...

So I have a new obsession going on right now. A few weeks ago I was at the library and they had the movie Twilight there, I decided to rent it to see what all the hype was about. I quickly found out and am now in love with a fictional character who happens to be a vampire and I am kind of digging the werewolf too. I normally wouldnt get into a vampire book but this movie got me hooked and the books are even better!! Call me crazy but they are really good, so if you want to try something new and you havent read these yet go and get them because I would love to chat with you about them. Thank goodness my girlfriend is also reading them and we can talk together about what is going on! Dan doesnt really get why I am so excited so thanks Steph for loving Edward the way I do..ha ha ha!! I am on the third book right now and there is one more...I want to know what happens but yet I dont want them to end!! So now you know what I have been doing all week!!!

updates in reverse

Sorry that I have been slacking in blog world lately. Here is some of what we have been doing. Summer is so busy and I absolutely love it!!! I feel like we live outside as much as possible! Dan just built the girls a sandbox so they love that, I have been planting and weeding and we just started a little garden out back. We are so excited to get back into camping! For me, it just doesnt get much better than being with great friends, relaxing, drinking coffee, playing games, watching the kids get filthy dirty, spending time as a family and just making memories!!!


A trip to the zoo

Camping at Dutch treat in Zeeland. We had a great week with great friends and cant wait for more!

JEff and Angies wedding was perfect. Everything went so smooth and it was so beautiful! They had a great honeymoon and are adjusting nicely to married life!

Free Jewelry...

I just wanted to share with you ladies the FREE jewels I just recieved for having a small show!! All but two of these were free, the other two were half off!! I am just super excited to wear all of these jewels and had to share my excitement. If you want to know a great jeweler let me know and I will have Stephanie get in contact with you!!

sunday adventures...

Dan was gone overnight for the bachelor party so Sunday we decided to head over to Wildlife Unlimited. If you have never been there before, it is a great time for adults and kids!! I have just as much fun as they do!! Plus its a great time for them to learn some things and get exercise!! The girls are beyond tired and so am I!! Good times!!!

Dentist

She did great!! Ellie had her first dentist appointment today and did well. A while back I took her for her first haircut and she had a crying fit and I had to be mean! So...I figured this could go real bad as well. Ell shocked me by sitting still and listening to the hygenist and Dr. Maybe it helped that Dr. Bolt is family but either way I was so glad she did well! As a reward we stopped at Rite Aid for a prize. She reallllly wanted fake nails like the "cool girls" ( i dont know where that comes from??) but she settled on blue nail polish with fun nail stickers. Here are a few pictures...

stuff...

The countdown to Angie and Jeffs wedding is getting closer!! A few weeks ago we worked on her super cute wedding favors! Her dress is finally here and ready to go, our dresses are all set, things are coming along.

Another craigs list buy...Ellies headboard and footboard. Soo cute!! She thinks she is sooo cool. She says "I have a big girl bed like Natalie and Abby!!" She is just so grown up. Tomorrow we head off to her first dentist appointment, I am not sure how that will go. Say a little prayer!!

Heres a few pictures of Aubrey doing her peace out sign and in her crib. When I took Ellies picture she had to have hers taken too. She will in this crib until shes 15. Cant trust this one yet!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter. I think that its better than Christmas! I especially love church that day, I get goosebumps all over!! The girls had a great time on an easter egg hunt..sorry forgot my camera. I am so glad its warming up!!! I guess thats I all I have to report on for now!

I love Craigslist!!!

I am an addict of craigslist!!! I have been on a hunt for a few things. I have been looking for a swing set for the girls. Just a cheap one to get them through a few summers so I dont have so much stuff in the yard!! I found out that many others also are looking for a swing set so I have been checking 3-4 times a day and I think we got one! Dan is going tomorrow night to pick it up!!

I have also been looking for a dutch dance costume and am hoping to go look at one tomorrow morning!! Today we got a cute dress for Aubrey!! Its so cute!! I love finding deals!! Woo hoo!

Acai Berry anyone???

So, its only a few weeks until Jeff and Angies wedding and I am trying to hit the weight watchers pretty hard again. Can I just say YUCK!! Steph, I am right with you that dieting is noooo fun!! Anyway I feel I need more help this time and everywhere on line is this berry stuff and I am wondering if anyone knows anything about it or has tried it? Is it a pill, a liquid?? Kmart and Target dont sell it, I have checked and I am leary of buying that kind of thing on line. So just leave me your thoughts if you know anything about it. Thanks!

New Easter Eggs...

I came across this craft in a magazine and had to try it. I included the girls and my sister Cara which made things a bit more difficult. Cara is messy when she comes over for crafts. Shh...dont tell her I said that! :o) Anyway, you can check out the pictures and see what we did.

I havent written in a while so I will fill ya in a little bit. Last weekend Dan and I had a getaway for the weekend to IKEA and Birch Run. It was my first weekend without both the girls. It was great but I missed them!!! Dan and I got a lot of shopping done and eating in nice restaurants without spilling drinks and throwing food on the floor. It was great hubby and wife time!!!

Cara turned 21 last weekend too and we all went out as a fam to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings!! Tomorrow we are going out to a comedy club for sibling night! It should be a great night that we're all looking forward to!!

The girls have been loving the springy weather!! Everytime I leave to go somewhere Aubrey just runs to the backyard saying "eep, eep" she wants to ride the barbie Jeep! It is getting me super excited for camping!!!! Ellie woke up this morning telling that she dreamed about camping all night!! So cute!