May

May was a great month! Weather is warmer, tulip time, camping begins, school ends, its just a super kick off to summer!! Ellie graduated from preschool which was bittersweet. It was such a fun year, all of it so new for us. We were so proud of her and all she has learned and how she has grown. Shes excited for a break and looking forward to young 5s next fall!! Our first camping trip was fabulous! Well, croup invaded camping so it got cut short for a few of us but other than that it was a super week!!! Today we celebrated our freedom by playing in the mud at the Meistes!!! Take a look at these pictures...the kids love playing there!!! Oh, and we went to Binder zoo on mothers day which was just a perfect day with my girls, dan and my dad! I will just post all the pics.... ((apparently my computer is giving me issues so you will have to stay tuned for the pics, sometimes technology just drives me crazy!))

waiting patiently!

new friends

reading to her animals

Uncle jeffy reading

So, I frequently have been asked how the house is coming and whats happening so I thought I would post whats going on. Unfortunetly I have nothing to share with you. Dan continues to burn wood and cut it but thats it. We would love to get going but the title company says to wait 30 days. From what I understand, title companies have always had this rule but until recently havent enforced it. So, everything is set with the bank, with who we plan on using for all of the different things being done, (I think, thats kind of dans department), colors are picked for the outside. (thanks gdk ladies for helping out with that one!!) So, were ready to roll just abiding by all the rules first!

Living with the VDKs has been going great. We are all used to schedules and what we do and when. I think the kids think they have two sets of parents. Just this morning Aubrey woke up about 6am and came up to uncle jeff who was getting ready for work. She was all distraught saying that Ellie was going to drive her away...dreaming. So uncle jeffy calmed her down and brought her back to bed and tucked her back in. Dan and I slept through it, we had no idea until he came home from work and told us. I just think its sweet that she went to him and he totally took care of it! I am pumped up to get outside and hopefully put in some landscaping with them soon. The kids are making friends with kids in the neighborhood. One in particular named Kennedy! They wake up asking if today they can play with her! Its so cute! So, thats us lately. Hopefully I can post pictures of some kind of progress with the house soon!!!

We are in Drenthe!!

Sooo, heres the update on us! We have moved out of the hotel this past weekend and are now at Jeff and Angies. The basement they finished for us is so nice. I love the smell of new carpet and paint. The girls are adjusting wonderfully. They love having more room to run and this weather has been perfect for bike rides and just running around outside. Praise the Lord for warmer weather!!! I have enjoyed being back in the kitchen and being able to clean again, and do laundry without using quarters and taking the elevator to do it!! (although I do miss all of the sweet people we got to hang out with all day there!!) Weird how I missed all of that housework but I so did. Its my calling in life right now I guess?!

I am so excited to have spring finally around the corner!! I cant wait to help outside with landscaping stuff,grilling, mowing and just sitting out there soaking up some vitamin D. The girls ask almost everyday when we are going camping, that is definitely a high lite of our summer!!! I cant wait either!!!!

Oh, I was so excited talking summer I forgot that we are still in the house building process. Right now I can honestly say its not going like I thought. I really thought we would have started by now but were not. Drawings just aren't coming together like I thought they would. We keep looking and tweaking it but something isn't flowing just right yet and that's so frustrating and its not something you can just say "oh, good enough"...its a house for goodness sakes!! So, I just keep praying that God will make it clear to us what should be happening with the drawing plans and hopefully soon we will know!! Patience right!!?

The Suite Life of Dan and Val...

...is still doing great! The kids, Dan, and I are still having a great time. We are often in the pool at night. We hang out in the lobby during the day chatting with the workers, and drawing them beautiful pictures! I know the housekeepers schedule, what meals are good and which are not! I think when we move out of here (probably in 3 weeks) we will miss all the people around all the time!

Last week was a big craft day at mops and these are the crafts my craft buddy Katie and I came up with. We took these clear glass stone things cut out paper circles, and glued them all together to magnets and this is what we came up with...

The next thing we made where coasters. We got ahold of some tiles that were donated and bought a whole lot of rub ons from hobby lobby. Once the rub ons were applied we applied a sealer and felt pads to the bottom and there ya have it! Cute huh!?

HOME...for now.

The house is officially sold and we are out!! I thought it was going to be super hard but I was so sick of packing that I just wanted out so bad!! Living here isnt bad at all. I have played a lot with the kids and am thankful for all the time I get to just play!!! All I have to do is my laundry...everything else is done!!! The above picture is what our living area is suppost to look like, later I will have to take a picture of what it looks like when the Nyhofs invade!!!

Here is where we eat breakfast and supper and its always really good! Last night was taco and nacho night! Yummy!! The pool isnt up and running yet but hopefully in the next few days. It is being repainted and cleaned! The girls and I have also taken some toys to play here just for a change of scenery.

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!!!!