June Part A.

Just so I don't get so behind again, I'll post June pics in a couple sections.

Guess what we started in June? It's going OK. Some days are great, some days not.


Danielle still loves sucking her thumb:) Most days I'm very thankful she has a way to self-soothe. Have I mentioned she is a horrid (and slooooow) teether?


I love these kinds of shots. Rachel is so creative! She loves to dress up and has a great imagination. Here she is listening with a stethoscope to make sure Daddy has good bowel health.


She sure is cute:)


Danielle also has an infatuation with plastic spoons, bowls and cups. She is always pretending to eat, and trying to "feed" others. And she can't say spoon, so she says "boons." I love it:) Another word she says backwards is grobag (sleep sack). She calls is a "brogabe." I think that is my favourite thing she says:)


For all the tantrum trouble we have with our son, he still is very sweet. He never denies a request for a hug or kiss, and often will come and snuggle of his own accord.


Playing with Daddy in the backyard.


I love the look on Rachel's face here - it says "no, I'm not going to smile for you, but I can't help smirking just a little..."


Daddy taught each of them how to roll down the hill. I think they liked it.







Looking up to see an airplane go by. I love her lashes.


On June 10th, our brother-in-law Joel graduated with his Masters of Science degree. So we had a celebration at their house that evening with both families. The weather was great, so we sat outside and enjoyed, and the kids had a fantastic time. And it really made me excited for this time next year when we can do the same thing for Kevin, DV!


Joel & Sarah's backyard. They moved to this house in September (I think - or was it October?), and so they didn't know all the gems they would find back there this year by way of perennials. It's quite colourful and looks soooo much better than when they moved in. That's Joel's niece Ava back there.


And here she is again! I love this shot of her.


Licking their chops, waiting for their ice cream cones.


They were a hit! That is our niece Juliana.


And Joel's nephew Lincoln (Ava's brother) on the end.


The man of the hour. Congrats, Jimmy!


Joel's mom, Mrs. van Popta, with our niece Elyse.


Jules and Rachel having some girl talk over ice cream.


Joel's brother Matt.


Joel's sister-in-law Sharon (with new baby Geneva, but I didn't get a shot of her)


Joel's dad, Rev. van Popta. He is now pastor of the Canadian Reformed Church in Ottawa, but he was formerly in Ancaster, so he was our pastor when Micah and Rachel were born. He took good care of us (and so did Mrs. vP!), and he also baptized them. It is nice that we are sort of family now so we still see each other from time to time.


My dad. Three guesses as to who doesn't like having their picture taken?


My brother Mark.


My brother Joel.


My sister Sarah (married to brother-in-law Joel), and my brother Joel. Confused yet?


And that is it for now. Stay tuned for June part B. Coming whenever I get here next:)

New Blog!

I've decided to create a second blog. There are often things about photography and digiscrapping I'd like to share with my readers, but didn't like the idea of cluttering up my family blog with non-family related posts. So I will keep updating this blog with photos and my completed scrapbook pages, and most everything else will be on the new blog. It will be my place to freely post anything to do with my hobbies, whether it be to tutorials I found helpful, photographers whose work I admire, or news about my creative teams.

If you have photography or digiscrapping questions, post in the comments over there and I'll try and answer them in the posts there. Bookmark it if you're into those things, otherwise keeping reading over here!

Scroll down for my HUGE May update:)

80 Pictures?! Sorry...

Um, ya... there are 80 pictures from May that I want to share with you. Sorry to the dial-up users:)

On Mother's Day, this was waiting for me when I got home from church. Kevin made paint out of flour, water and food colouring (or something - got the recipe online), since he didn't think real paint was safe for the kids yet. And they he painted "Happy Mother's Day" and the kids were allowed to make handprints with the paint. He's a pretty spectacular father, isn't he? It was so sweet:)





Rachel loves trying on Daddy's glasses.


There are a couple pairs of sunglasses floating around the house, and Rachel is constantly walking around with them on.


This picture of Micah laying on the laundry pile immediately reminded me of the one below it when he was 3 months old:)



Awwww, look at the tear rolling down her cheek.


Happy again! One of my new favs of my baby girl.


Micah is still struggling with tantrums. Here he was having a time-out on the stairs trying to get himself under control...


We went to visit my parents and the kids wanted to see the big fountain in the pond again. This time they got really lucky and there were some geese, too!


Daddy and Danielle enthralled by the birds.


Micah is usually happy to comply with my little directions about posing for photographs;)


I love tulips:)


My dad and niece Elyse.


My mom and her five grandbabies.


My brother Joel and girlfriend Courtney.


My mom took my sister Sarah and I shopping for some spring dresses for the girls. We found these cute turquoise dresses, and so all four girls (Rachel, Juliana, Danielle and Elyse) have the same one. SO CUTE:) My dad wanted to see them, so I took these pics to e-mail him.


Micah getting cozy.


This one makes me laugh. Rachel is screeching for Micah to get off her and Danielle is saying "awwwwwwww!" and trying to hug Micah. Hilarious!


They got these adorable matching sandals with the dresses. Spoiled, eh?



My sister Catherine. She agreed to let me practice my portraiture skills on her. Isn't she gorgeous?


More fun with daddy. Although, Danielle doesn't seem to think it's fun anymore...


More blurry self-portraits of Rachel and Mommy. She loves doing this with me:) Her favourite part is looking at herself on the LCD screen afterwards.




Who me? Would I steal a toy from my sister?


Oh Rachel, you are cute!


With the gorgeous weather we've been having, we've been spending a ton of time outside. This is one of our after-supper-still-waiting-for-daddy-to-get-home playtimes.


Instead of playing with the water in the watertable, Danielle prefers to drink it.




And Micah prefers to dump it on his sisters.


And thinks he is sooooo hilarious!


Danielle is not amused...


So we go out to the front yard and the neighbours' cat is out! Danielle loves that cat. I can just hear her in this photo: "Mommy! Kittycat! Hi, kittycat! Awwwwwwww. Cute!"


And then daddy comes home:) Always a joyous time of day.


Danielle is running to come tell me daddy is home.


On May 23rd, we hosted Kevin's family for a party celebrating Mom Hoogstad's 60th birthday. It was gorgeous weather, so we mostly hung out in the backyard and at the park and then came inside in the evening for cake before everyone headed home (shortest drive is over 2 hours!). It was a great day and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

My sister-in-law Renée made this pretty cake.


Niece Brenda at the park.


Sister-in-law Season.


Mom and Kevin helping Micah climb up the play centre.


Marc & Renée with daughters Sara & Leah. They are currently in the process of adopting a son from South Africa. We are so excited to meet him sometime within the next year!


Marc & Renée. I took a few photos of them to use on their blog.


Dad Hoogstad.


Rachel was cold, so Grandma gave her her sweater.


Danielle is addicted to the swings this year. As soon as a park is even in sight all we hear is "Wing! Wing! More wing, Mommy?" (BTW, wing = swing when you're 18 months)


Uncle Kevin monkeying around with neices Kelly-Lynn, Alanna and Sara.


Later we had cake inside and gave Mom her cards and gift. Micah read Grandma her card - something about Happy Birthday and now we get cake and see you at camping. Where do they come up with this stuff?!


Blowing out the candles!


We made mom a scrapbook for her birthday. She couldn't even look at it all since she doesn't like to cry in public:) I think that means she liked it!


Summer means watermelon. Mmmmm!



Rachel with sunglasses on again. That's wierd! She never does that!



My precious niece Elyse.



Danielle adores Lyse!


What a monkey... she is really starting to test limits!


Rachel with sunglasses... :)


I have no idea what she was doing, but I caught these photos of Rachel at the park. They make me laugh:)




Micah running away.


Danielle has no fear at the playground. She climbs right up the big slide and goes down on her tummy. She still can't figure out how to step out of the tunnel, so she turns around and climbs out backwards.


Micah showing me he can climb up the ladder now.


I love these photos of Rachel:)



Another day at the park, with some bright sun to warm us!




Riding the purple dinosaur together.


Kevin started a beard... he's trying to look a little more mature:)


Sun flare!


The moon was super bright that afternoon.


More sun flare experimenting.



Daddy and Micah having a heart-to-heart.



And that is it for May! Hope you made it through:)

Clickin' Moms

Edited To Add: I'm keeping this one at the top for awhile, so scroll down for updates!



So, you may have noticed that I added a button for Clickin' Moms in my sidebar a few weeks back. I joined there in February when they had a promotion going, and now they are offering it again.

It is a subscription based forum/gallery loaded with helpful tutorials and discussion threads on all things photography. I'm obviously not pro (nor am I committed to going pro any time in the foreseeable future), but I love to learn about how to use my camera properly, good composition, studio set up, Photoshop, you name it, and this place has a small, close knit community. No question goes unanswered and there are a ton of knowledgeable people there (pro and amateur - lots of business questions are discussed as well). I'm really enjoying it there, and I feel it was worth the money (at least until the van broke down... but then it was too late!) I have also been told about ilovephotography by Chandra, but since I had already joined Clickin' Moms, I haven't delved too deep into that site yet. But since that one is free, I felt it was worth the mention as a photography resource!

Anyways, over at Clickin' Moms right now, there's a 10% off deal if you use the coupon code FRIEND. It's good for any level of membership! (you can even just try it for a month with the coupon to see what it's all about). If you're looking to learn more about anything photography or photography-business related, it really is a great place. My head is swimming with new information every time I go there! Just so you know up front: I do get credit for any new members that join through my links, and if you become a member, you can do the same (look in the affiliate forum). Since it is fee-based, they do try and put some of that money back into the pockets of their members. I want to be honest about that!

You can check it out here. Let me know if you have any questions if you're interested.

April pics coming soon... ;)

April pics in June

Finally getting my April pics up! April was a good month for us. Kevin was blessed to finish up another school year and receive an internship placement close to home. He isn't supposed to start until September, but he needs to get in a lot of face-to-face counselling hours for his placement and AAMFT certification so we decided it would be best to get a head start this summer already. He is there one day a week (which is really all we can afford since it is unpaid). During April and May, he was also doing landscaping Thurs.-Sat., a Sun. night to Mon. morning shift at the group home and doing the Student Emotional Support program at our local Christian highschool one afternoon a week. He is a busy, busy man!

Another important thing to note for April is that Micah had his annual echocardiogram. We were very thankful to hear that his heart is doing well and we do not need to come back until next year to have a check up. There is still some leaking in the pulmonary valve, but that is to be expected since he was born with an abnormal valve and will never function 100% unless it is replaced. At this point, he is doing very well! This was supposed to be a sedated echo, but they couldn't get the IV in (I was not surprised by this at all, but they always insist on trying!). The other option for sedation is giving chloral hydrate orally, but apparently that takes about twice as long to wear off, so we decided to give it a go unsedated. They found a portable DVD player and some Bob the Builder DVDs and he was a very good boy. He was a little wiggly at a few points (it was about 45 minutes), but what can you expect from a 2 year old boy! This was a great triumph for Micah because it means no more sedation for future tests.

The kids are growing and changing so much. There is a lot to write about them individually, so I'll save that for a future post.

Onto the pictures.

We have some alphabet beads and string that we play with to try and improve fine motor skills. Micah likes to find other holes to put the string through. Very creative, eh?


And Mommy's turn to be creative...



Although she never sits still for long, Danielle is becoming more and more interested in reading books to herself. On this day she found a nice sunny spot to sit and read.


Kevin took these pictures of their hands, just to compare. This is Danielle.


Rachel is on the left and Micah on the right. Rachel's hands are much larger! We always joke that she has "man-hands."


Awwwww:)


I've never really captured pictures of the kids sleeping since we are very structured and routined and they only sleep in bed. On this day, the girls kept sleeping and sleeping so I had to go in and wake them up (a very rare occurrence). So I decided to open the curtains and take in my camera! This is Rachel just waking up - she always takes a while to get going.


And Danielle is always bright eyed and bushy tailed within seconds.


On Good Friday, we went to my parents' house after church in the morning. We are usually in Brighton at Kevin's parents' every Easter, but it didn't work out this year, so it was nice to spend the day with my parents this year. Rachel ran to Grandpa and greeted him with a kiss.


And of course, I brought the camera for an outdoor photo shoot!


More head-swapping was necessary to create a picture where all three looked nice.
In this one, Rachel looks cute, but Micah has his hand in front of his face and Danielle is looking up at Daddy.


And Danielle and Micah look cute in this one, but Rachel's eyes are half closed.


So I plopped Rachel's head into the above picture and voila! I've had a few questions about this, and I learned from this tutorial, so check it out if you're interested:)


And it looks cute in black & white, too!


Some more signs of spring were beginning to bloom in the gardens.




And Daddy took the kids to see the fountain (always a huge highlight, especially for Micah).


Practicing their jumping skills.


A shot of my beautiful mother.


Playing on the back deck with riding toys.


My Mom offered to take a pic of my handsome husband and I.


Still one of my favourite pics:)



Back inside again, this time practicing the piano! Boy, am I thankful I don't have one of those in the house yet... it would be LOUD!


And then I don't have anymore pictures worth sharing from the rest of April. Well, the last week of April, Micah was in the hospital, but I've already posted those photos and told you all about it. Here's hoping I can get the May pics up before the end of June!:)

Digiscrapping

Time to update the blog again, so I'll start with my latest layouts (click for credits). I am really loving this creative outlet. For me, I get a lot of enjoyment out of learning new things and growing and improving on my skills, and I am doing this with each layout I make. My work is starting to get noticed a little in the digiscrapping community as well, which makes it extra thrilling and motivating to keep improving!



Officially my new favourite layout:) It also made the Layout of the Day blog.




This one was published in the June 2009 issue of the Artisan Notebook!








I wasn't sure about this one at first, but now I love it!


This one made the gallery standouts blog - my second time! Very exciting;)

Time is MARCH-ing on...

And so, here I am, May 14 and posting my pictures from the month of March. Ah well, we can't be good at everything, can we?

Thanks for your prayers for our continued recovery from rotavirus. Everyone is finally back to 100% (I never did end up getting it!) and Micah saw the family doctor on Monday and yesterday morning we trekked over to Mac to see the pediatrician who looked after him during his hospital. Both doctors are pleased with his health! We also have an appointment set for June to meet with the pediatric surgeon regarding Micah's communicating hydrocele.

Back to March... hmmm, wonder if I can remember everything? Ah yes, here is the first picture:


You might be wondering why Micah and Rachel are sitting in their car seats in the middle of the living room. Well, that's because our van broke down on the side of the highway on the first Sunday afternoon in March. I was taking the kids over to my parents' place for a visit after church in the morning and the van didn't die out, I just lost power and when I pressed the gas it wasn't doing anything. Now, if it had to happen, it was perfect timing. Kevin was driving behind me in his car since he was planning to scoot off to work (at the group home) straight after the afternoon church service at my parents' church, so he pulled over behind me and assessed the situation. The antifreeze was boiling (Kevin could see actual bubbles), and the thermostat light was on. We were overheated. We let it cool down enough that I could make it off the next exit and into a parking lot. Then we called CAA, and my Dad came down to pick the kids and I up while Kevin stayed with the van until the tow truck came. So, the major blessings here were that Kevin was with me and had his own set of wheels, and that my Dad was home (since it was Sunday) and could come rescue us. Couldn't have worked out better (besides it not happening at all)!

Anyways, we found out the next day that the head gasket needed replacing. We had a trusted mechanic from our church do the work, and they were kind enough to lend us a van while ours was there. But it wasn't available until Wednesday and so, the car seats were floating around our house in the meantime. We got our van back on Saturday and paid the whopping $2,600 bill. Yep. Sad, but true. One thing that soothed us a little (lot!) was that we were given a beautiful new Airmiles-redeemed iMac by an "anonymous donor." I'm sure most of you can figure out who that was:) Thank you!!! So we are now Mac users and I've graduated from Photoshop Elements to Photoshop Creative Suite 4 (yay for student pricing!). Yes, it was quite the month of ups and downs on the financial front. Getting a new computer seemed like it was once again going to be years away, and then all of a sudden we were just given one. And as unmaterialistic as I try to be, I have to say I love it:) And I'm never switiching back to PC. Ever.

Even though being without our van for the week was an inconvenience, the kids loved having some fun extra seats to sit in.



There was a bit of fighting when Micah sat down in what Rachel had deemed to be her spot.


And Micah got a nice scratch on the cheek for doing that to her. Ah, good times:)


Danielle wore holes in most of her pairs of pants during her "in between" stage - where she wasn't crawling, but only walking on her knees. Rachel's pants were slowly getting too short on her anyway, so we got new ones for her, and Danielle got Rachel's hand-me-downs.


I love this picture:) Kevin does a pretty mean elephant impression and the kids think it is hilarious.


A couple months ago, Kevin started making chocolate chip pancakes for the kids for breakfast. It has become a favourite and they always eat a ton on those mornings, which is good motivation for us to keep it up:) They are served pancakes for breakfast at least once a week now!



Being that it was still winter back then (seems like such a distant memory now with all the beautiful spring weather we've had lately!), everyone still had to bundle up quite a bit to play outside. I took my wide angle lens (the one that came with my camera) out for some fun, distorted shots.



Danielle didn't last too long this particular day before her cheeks were rosy and her teeth were chattering, but she was happy to watch from inside.


Aunt Sonya - the pink trike you gave us is their favourite toy this year! Micah has laid claim to it, and when we go for walks, he'll run like a mad man once our house comes into sight to make sure he reaches that trike before Rachel does. It is quite hilarious:)


The middle weekend of March, we went to visit Kevin's parents in Brighton from Saturday to Monday. Kevin's Mom is a tax preparer, so that was extra motivation to make the trip down there, seeing as how it is tax time! Here is the famous landmark - the Big Apple in Colborne. The kids always know we are getting close to Grandma and Grandpa's when we see it.


Micah was telling me all about the Big Apple.


Danielle was massaging her sore gums. This girl is still popping molars. Slowest. Teether. Ever!


And Rachel all the way in the back, happy with her soother and pony.


And Kevin, singing along to either Raffi or Jamie Soles, our two road trip must-haves.


Sunday was nice and sunny, so I took some pictures of Mom's winter garden.



With a little tiny sign of spring!


Some cute ones of the kiddies.




Have I mentioned how much I love Photoshop?
Before:

After:


Cuteness.


Grandma kisses:)


There are those luscious baby cheeks again!


Kevin's parents.


On the way home, we visited Kevin's Opa in Toronto. Pretty soon the kids are going to be too big to be piled on his lap for pictures, so we take advantage of it while we can;)


On March 20, Kevin and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. We had redeemed our Airmiles back in Feburary for Deerhurst Resort, and booked a night away from Friday (the 20th) to Saturday. In light of the unexpected van bill, we thought twice about going, but in the end we decided to stick with our original plans since we already had the gift certificates and would only have to pay for the gas to get there and back. The kids stayed at my parents (thanks Mom & Dad!). It was a long drive (3 hours) for just one night, but it was a fun adventure and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Huntsville is a beautiful, quaint town with lots of cool shops and amazing scenery. We pulled over on the side of the highway to take these shots (hey, we didn't have any kids along, so we could do crazy things like that!). I can't remember the last time I saw the Canadian Shield, and it sure is beautiful.



The lakes were still frozen over and it was quite a bit colder up there than at home. I could only hop out of the car for a few minutes at a time to snap pictures, while Kevin chose to stay with the heat:)


Capturing this sun flare was about 90% fluke and 10% knowledge, but I was quite pleased with how this picture turned out!


Another fun thing that happened in March... our 2008 blog book arrived from Blurb! This is now my third book with Blurb (our 2007 book and my in-laws trip to Alaska), and this definitely went the smoothest. It's still a ton of work, but knowing the program and the system makes for a much easier consumer experience. I am really pleased with this book. We went with the 8x10 image wrap cover option.

Front cover:


Title page:


Back cover and spine:


The pictures printed beautifully!


And I included all my digiscrap pages from 2008, so they ended up being about 7x7 in this book.


A diagram of how Micah's heart is functioning:


*gasp* Was that only a year ago? Look how tiny they are!


It was delivered to our door while the kids were napping, and Danielle was the first one up so she got to investigate the book first.


Then Micah joined the party.


It is quite thick (about an inch) and 334 pages.


A couple more random shots:
Danielle having a snuggle with me.


The kids love hats, so we have a couple in the toy bin.



Well, that's about it. Congrats if you made it this far! Now to work on April... :)

Productive

I've been home a lot the past couple of weeks, especially while everyone was sick (except for me, yay!), and so a lot of digiscrapping was done. The kids and Kevin are still on the mend. Their energy levels and eating habits are not 100% yet, but everyday is better.

Here are my latest pages (click for credits):


This is my new favourite layout.



My mom tried to take a family picture of us... it was interesting:) Thankfully Chandra managed to get some great ones for us a week later!







This one made the Gallery Standouts blog, which was thrilling:)