Veldhuisen Family

Jeannette told me that other than at her children’s weddings they hadn’t really had pictures of the two of them done since their own wedding! Challenge accepted! 🙂 Nico and Jeannette, I think we got a great one! 🙂

We had the perfect day to get the whole family together! I’m having a hard time not sounding cliche here but …. all because two people fell in love. 🙂 I love pulling together the parents, kids and grandkids and seeing how the family has grown through the years. What a blessing it is to have family by your side.

 

Hudson {5 Year’s Old!}

Wow, I have a 5 year old!  This Fall I started homeschooling Hudson for SK.  Really we aren’t doing that much this year, but he is eager to learn and I am enjoying it most days. He is learning how to read and practicing writing.  When he wants to he can be very focused and get hard things done. But he has to want to…He has really been enjoying learning words though!

This year we have seen Hudson come out of his shell a lot. He is still a cautious and, at times, shy kid, but he has opened up to visiting his Auntie’s Kindergarten classroom when we are in Emo visiting family. He will play with kids he doesn’t know and engage in activities that previously caused a lot of social anxiety.  I enjoy seeing him interact with others of different ages and try new things.

This past year you have had many exciting and different things happen. In no particular order you…. were a handsome cowboy for Halloween. You build snowmen and climbed trees. You moved into a new bedroom downstairs with your sister. Then upstairs with your sister. And then into your own room next to your sister! You got a NEW sister and two new cousins! You watched, and learned and helped with all kinds of house reno projects (mostly watched) 😉  You truly discovered how sweet snuggling a little baby is. You had all of your cousins sleep over at your house at different times. You practiced on your bike and rode on four wheelers and tractors. You drove 40 hours with your family to visit family and friends. You met some new friends and said goodbye to many good friends this year. You are braver, stronger and taller. You rode a pony, jumped for hours and hours on the trampoline and swam in many different lakes.  You went to many birthday parties, rode on your first ferris wheel and roller coaster and went wall climbing. Our family went camping with Auntie Steph and slept in a tent by the lake. You acquired MUCH Lego!

You are smart, energetic and enthusiastic. You notice and figure things out that often surprise me. Your mind works like your Daddy’s in that way. Right now you say you want to be an Engineer when you grow up. You used to say you would work at Daddy’s office but now your dream is to live in Waterloo with your buddy Logan.  You love Lego, Minecraft and learning. Two of your favourite things are to have somebody play Lego with you or to play “friend’s on the mining game” (co-op minecraft with Daddy). You love playing at the park, jumping on the trampoline and making up games in the yard with Emmy. You adore Arie. You can be incredibly sweet. You are super excited about learning.  If Mom would let you, you would eat toast with honey every single meal!  You have a fantastic smile and I love seeing the handsome, caring boy you are growing into.  We love watching you grow and learn and develop your dreams!

We’re proud of you! Keep that passion to learn alive, son.

 

Here’s the H-Man through the last five years! 🙂 d’awww

Arwen {8 Months!}

Little Arie is 8 months old! How time flies by. I love love LOVE this kid!
I think this month it doesn’t seem like that much is new, but she’s just that much more confident in all that she’s doing.  She moves around – climbing, walking along furniture, pulling up on everything, getting down from things – with much more ease.  She does seem finally like she can sit really well. Before she had no interest in sitting so when I would put her in that position she didn’t sit all that well and immediately went into crawling. But now she can sit comfortably if she wants to.  She’d still rather be moving though. 🙂 We took to the great outdoors for our photos this week. We really should be out enjoying more of this beautiful Fall weather!

Arwen {7 Months!}

Miss Arie is 7 months old! I love this age. She doesn’t sleep all that well and there’s always teething but I just find so much joy in this age. She is constantly learning new things and exploring. And she just has so much joy. She has a few different smiles that she frequents and they are so special!  Still no teeth so its the adorable gummy smiles!

She crawls anywhere and everywhere…although hard tile floors aren’t her favourite. 🙂 She has been pulling up on furniture for a while now but has now also learned how to get down. So much better now!! I don’t have to keep rescuing her from funny places as often. She can also climb stairs! Yikes! She’s definitely not ready for that! I think she’s learning how to wave. It seems intentional anyways.  And she’s trying new flavours of foods. Mostly meats, veggies and fruits.  She enjoys feeding herself a chunk of whatever we are eating. She LOVES Hudson and Emmy so much and felt so lost for a week when they were away staying with Grandparents. Its cool seeing how their relationships with each other is changing as she grows.

We are all really enjoying getting to know this little personality!

Emmy – 3 Years Old

Our little rockstar princess is 3 years old! Emmy, we love your passion and sweetness. When you fully open up and share about something that has rocked your world it is the most adorable thing to see! You love all things pink and sparkly and wear dresses most every day. But you’re also not afraid to get dirty. While you and your brother can fight like cats and dogs, you are also best friends and it’s the sweetest to watch you two loving being together.

This past year you have had many fun adventures and new things happening. In no particular order…. You moved downstairs to the basement with all of us as we renovated the upstairs of our house!  You have had two new bedrooms (one downstairs and now one upstairs). You watched and learned all kinds of things about building and renovating. You painted your face, arms and shirt with door and trim paint.  You helped with sanding and all kinds of general mayhem.  You were the most adorable little chicken for Halloween. You got a new baby sister and became a big sister for the first time!  You got two new cousins. You went on many trips to Emo. You flew in Grandpa’s airplane for the first time. You rode a horse for the first time. You helped mama bake. You spent hours outside with Hudson. You fell in love with the trampoline. You built snowmen and snow forts. You planted a garden. You had tea parties. You developed your own sense of style with dresses, skirts and all things sparkly and pink. You drove 40 hours with your family to visit family and friends. You met knew friends and said goodbye to many friends as well. You grew 2 inches. You have learned many letters and numbers.

You are fearless, ambitious and are often climbing, tumbling or bouncing. You love stories and playing make belief. You love Princesses, Barbies, babies, LEGO, Duplo, playing outside and reading books. We sure love watching your passions, dreams and skills grow and develop.

Keep dreaming big little peanut!

Emmy at 3 years old:

A few of Emmy through the years:

Arwen – 6 Months

You are 6 months old! This past month you…

This month you were a guest at Alanna and Jordan’s wedding. You did your first official up-on-all-fours-crawl! After that you have been experimenting with crawling on all fours but you still usually drag on your belly. You are now big enough to sit up in the shopping cart. Towards the end of this month you pulled up on a step at Grandma and Grandpa’s house! You walked along the step ….and then fell down. You have no concept yet of what happens when you let go. Its amazing to see how you are progressing at movement stuff! You climb, crawl, roll, walk along furniture slowly and carefully and you seem to be just observing and planning your next big skill! You did have your first bites of food this past month before you turned 6 months. We were strawberry picking and you were adamant that I give you a lush, fresh strawberry! Who would blame you and how could I resist, they were amazing! We are still waiting for full giggles from you. You smile all.the.time!!! But you rarely giggle. I’m thankful that you are so free with your light-up-the-whole-face smiles because they make everyone around you smile too. It has also been really fun watching you and Hudson and Emmy interact. They absolutely adore you! And by the way you watch them I’m pretty sure you’re a big fan of them too! Hudson does a great job holding you and keeping you safe (there’s a lot of lego in this house! … and a big sister who isn’t always as careful) Emmy loves to make sure you have something to play with. She loves playing with you as well, but its not always something you enjoy. 🙂 As much as you love attention, you also like a bit of space. When you aren’t focused on a toy or something to munch on your attention is fixed on Hudson and Emmy. Watching and learning constantly.

Arwen – 5 Months

You are 5 months old! These past few weeks you …..

Now you really move! You mostly drag along on your belly but its so cool to see! Wow. You had your first time in a swing at the park. You seemed to really enjoy that! Mostly you are just so curious about what your brother and sister are up to! You have discovered your adorable high falsetto voice. So cute. You suck on everything in sight and now that you are moving, that’s everything in the house that’s down on your level! You have had no issue crawling on the grass. Hudson hated the feeling of the grass! By the end of the month you were tucking your knees up under yourself and rocking back and fourth on all fours. You don’t sit all that well, but you can if you have a distraction to keep you still long enough to practice. Your other favourite thing is planking!

 

Arwen – 4 Months

You are 4 months old! These past few weeks you …..

You went on your first major road trip! We drove 1,500 km to Southern Ontario to visit family and friends and for Daddy to go to a conference. What a trip! Lots of crying and stops on the way down. Haha. But we all survived! We spent many days visiting with family and friends and meeting new babies! Such a fantastic time. The drive home was really your concentrated dose of sleep training because really….we had to just keep driving sometimes! You learned how to fall asleep on your own after that trip back. We also had our first real family photos done while we were in Southern Ontario! So nice to have these! You are also starting to MOVE! WHAT?! Mostly just in circles but every so slowly you move forwards when you want to!

Arwen – 3 Month

You are 3 months old! These past few weeks you …..

You tried out the jolly jumper for the first time and did great! You have been working SO hard at rolling over from your back to your front. You have done it successfully a few times. But you’ve also had so many times where you were trying so hard and frustrated that you couldn’t do it! Two words to describe you: Determined and persistent!

Arwen – 2 Months

You are 2 months old! These past few weeks you …..

At 5 weeks old you gave me your first real “its great to see you” smile. Wow. With every new kid, these sweet milestones are still just as special! This month you tagged along with mama for a wedding she was photographing. You did fantastic!

Some new things in your world this past month have been chatting with anyone (or thing) that will look at you. If it has a face and is in front of you, you will have a conversation. I say conversation because you stop speaking and allow time for others to speak also. You light up when we sing to you or when you hear music. You smile more and more now and I love it!