Just another day

Ellie is a big girl now eating cereal! Yummy, yummy!



Hannah is so proud of her little sister! (and was jealous that she wasn't in the pictures I was taking of Ellie)



I'm sure you've all heard the phrase, "While the cat is away, the mouse will play." Yep, that's Hannah! I was in the shower and thought H was playing make believe with her little animals in the small amount of water that I put in the sink. Instead, she "washed" them with the hand soap and turned the faucet on to rinse them off! Luckily, I got out just before we had a major overflow! :o) She got a little wet...



After a quick change into a dry shirt, we painted Hannah's nails...one of her favorite activities. Here she is, sitting still (sort of!) to let the paint try. I think those are the longest 3 minutes of her life!



Our growing girl! 5 months old now!!!

Almost there

Last night I took a few shots of Ellie almost rolling over...she's so close! I just know she's going to do it any day now and I can't wait. It's kind of the first sign that she's really growing and that crawling is coming soon too. I know, I know, I shouldn't wish for her to grow up so fast, but I just love to watch all of the fun things babies learn at this age.

I also included a shot of Hannah, Brian and Gabby playing their new favorite game..."Wrestle Elmo." Gabby is obsessed with this Elmo puppet we have, so it has now become her favorite play thing. And, of course Hannah loves to play with her!

I love being Dutch

I just emailed this to a few of you, but I thought I'd post it here too. This just cracks me up b/c it's so true!


YOU MIGHT BE DUTCH IF...

~ You reused plastic margarine containers long before
anyone had heard of the environmental movement.

~ You have a two volume address book, Volume I: A-U &
Volume II: V-Z.

~ You have never skipped church to watch the Super
Bowl.

~ Your range of restaurants is restricted by the
contents of a "Buy one meal, get one free" coupon book
that you purchased to support missionaries in Sierra Leone.

~ Your mother's hairdo is the same at your wedding as
it was at hers.

~ Your closet is divided into work clothes and Sunday
clothes.

~ Your church attendance record is not disrupted by
childbirth.

~ Your Sunday routine resembles: church, coffee, roast
beef, jello salad, snooze, and church.

~ You have a living room but never sit in it.

~ All your cookies taste like almonds.

~ You make the bed in your hotel room.

~ You can sing "eere zij God" even though you can't
speak Dutch.

~ You think that being progressive means discarding
the church hymnbook in favor of Keith Green songs on
the overhead.

~ You are still trying to justify owning a dishwasher.

~ You have attended worship services at a campground
amphitheater.

~ You know what an afghan is.

~ You have lace on your windows but not on your
underwear.

~ Your two permanent Saturday jobs are to wash the car
and make sure you have enough single bills for the
offerings.

~ All of your recipes are adapted to fit a 9 x 13 pan.

~ The usher never needs to ask you where you want to
sit in church.

School Already?

I can't believe that it's already time to think about preschool for Hannah! She already seems grown-up to me, but school!? Yikes! She's is growing too fast. I'm going to an "Preschool Open House" tonight (Brian is out of town tonight) at a nearby library (Batavia) to check out area schools for Hannah. Apparently this is the time to start signing up for the fall. I already have a few schools in mind, but am excited to go and see what is available in the area. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for watching the girls while I go!

Kisses for Ellie


Kisses for Mommy


Peek-a-Boo


Ooooo, I'm cute


A little blurry, but I'm cute too

Pure Joy

The Girls

Happy New Year!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I guess there really hasn't been too much going on and I haven't been taking too many new pictures since Christmas. I finally downloaded a few new ones that I'll add here.

Here's one cute Hannah story I wanted to share.

Brian was helping her count with her fingers and after 1-2-3-4-5, he said 6 and she looked at her hand and said, "I don't have that many." She seemed a little concerned about it, so we explained that you use your other hand to continue counting. Unfortunately, I don't think she got much comfort out of that. :O)

We hope that the New Year is going well for everyone and that you all stay healthy and happy in 2007. (NO MORE STOMACH FLU!!) ;o)

More Christmas Pics

Christams Morning: Notice the new blue wall and a little girl w/ a temp of 99.9...poor thing!


Hannah's new love..."Mater" :o)


Sisters on Christmas morning


The Giere/Johanik Clan

Christmas

Once again, we were able to celebrate Christmas with my family in Michigan, along with Brian's here in IL. In fact, Hannah, Ellie and I spent the whole week before Christmas in MI visiting with friends and family. Brian joined us on the 21st to spend the rest of the weekend with us all. It was great!

We returned on Christmas Eve and had a nice, relaxing drive home. Unfortunately we weren't able to stop and see Marceline and Dan's new baby, Jackson. Sickness had once again fallen on the Nederveld household and we were afraid that if we were infected, we would spread it. Hannah did start a low-grade fever on Christmas morning, but with a little Tylenol and Ibuprofen, she made it through the day and had fun doing it!

Now, we're enjoying the week with Brian home taking a vacation. What a treat!

Papa and Hannah...tickle fest!


Hannah and Taylor sportin' their new Dora backpacks (that came with their new Dora scooters) :O)


Our Beautiful Gift


Santa Hannah


Hannah, Luke and Ellie...Taylor was wiped out and fell asleep at dinner at 6:30 that night, so she couldn't make it for the picture.

Lynn

This is Hannah and our good friend Lynn who came to visit and meet Ellie for the first time. We had so much fun catching up and laughing at Hannah as she did her best to show Lynn a good time. :O)

On that note, we decided to shop at a few places at the outlet mall that is literally 5 minutes from our house. As soon as we got out of the car in the parking lot, Hannah exclaimed, "Look Mommy, there's the "outwet" mall!" Lynn took that to mean that we go there all the time...which of course isn't true. :O)

Birthday Girl

Hannah turned 3 years old last Saturday, December 9th. We had a big weekend planned...Saturday was going to be her first "kid" birthday party and Sunday afternoon, we were going to celebrate w/ Brian's family. Things didn't quite go as planned. Hannah started a fever Friday night and it spiked at 102.6 on Saturday. Needless to say, we had to cancel her party Saturday and I even took her to the doctor. She was put on an antibiotic and was feeling better by Saturday night. We had a little celebration with just Brian, Ellie and I and she seemed ok with that. Sunday she was feeling much better, so we were still able to get together w/ Brian's family. Running around with Jake, Derek and Peter made up for missing out on fun with her friends on Saturday. In fact, she would love to run around with them every day of the week!

We rescheduled her "kid" party for this past Wed. and had a really nice time. The kids decorated Christmas cookies and played. I know that Hannah felt special and that's what it was all about. We're so thankful for her friends and cousins that she gets to spend time with here in IL! (and we miss her cousins in MI!) :O)

Snowmen Cupcakes that I spent about 4 hours "perfecting"



Sick little birthday girl



She could still put a smile on her face



Silly Cousins!



Party Time!



Peter and his masterpiece!



Hannah and Madelyn

Comparing 3 month olds

This afternoon I was thinking about the differences in Hannah at 3 months old and Ellie. So, I thought I'd provide a picture a picture of Hannah at 3 months (from our trip to CA) to show you. Both adorable little girls, but proving very different! It will be so fun to see how their personalities compare as Ellie grows up. I think she's already a little more laid back than oh-so-active Hannah! :o)

Christmas Cookies

Our friends Marlina, Madelyn and Tobias came over yesterday to make Christmas Cookies. The girls had a ball "punching out" the cookie dough and decorating their cookies. Of course, they loved eating them much more!







All tuckered out after playing and cookie making!

Bumbo

I couldn't resist showing Ellie using her new Christmas present (she asked if she could open it a little early :O).

SNOW!!!

Hannah was thrilled the other day to wake up and see the ground covered in snow. She even asked, at 7:15am, if she could go outside and play in it. Ahhh, to be a child again! We did go out and play...but at a more "sane" hour. :o)






We got our tree Saturday morning and I explained to Hannah that we would wrap our presents and put them under the tree until Christmas. She decided that she would practice being the present. "I'm the present."