February

In January, a little cowgirl was added to the VD clan.  Congratulations Dave and Bethany! Don't count the boots too closely though, I think we put an extra pair in there somewhere, whoops

We were impressed by the amount of snow that we got, especially when it piled up in the pool area.  It was level with the sunroom floor!  Anyone want to go for a swim? 

Beautiful drifting with a blue sky

The sunroom was absolutely lovely on a sunny winter afternoon

Appropriately written on a piece of "LOVE" stationary, I found this note on Aaron's bed.... "I feel sick because Peter punched me"

One sweet mess

We were treated to a VIP guest suite at the Ontario Men's Curling Championships.  We were wined and dined and enjoyed some fellowship with friends.  What a treat!

Rub a dub dub, FOUR boys in the tub! 

Oma made the boys some "Stephenie's Ponytail" pancakes

Funny kid!

Storytime with Opa

These boys were ecstatically surprised by their introduction to Valentine's Day at their new school.  This day was not marked at Heritage, so this was totally new for them.

Aaron has come so far in his reading abilities this year in Kindergarten!  So nice to see

One snow day (we had enough of those this winter!), the boys made good use of a large roll of paper from Oma and coloured intricate pictures at the table all morning.

Scribbling himself to sleep.... I also laugh at the Stephen-height hand smudges on the fridge in the background.  Yes, little kids live here!

We enjoyed a visit from the Schotsmans

Dad and I have played many a game of Battleship (usually on graph paper though).  I enjoyed watching Nate and Opa play together

Books never get old!

This would be our best attempt at a home-made family portrait with many young kids

Beautiful designs on the window

One of my projects over the winter was to make a quilt for the downstairs bedroom.  I used a pile of old shirts from Mike and Dad VD, and it slowly came together over a number of weeks.  Once it was all pieced, Mom VD helped me with the backing and did all the quilting for me in one crazy day.  It still needs a label, but other than that it is all done.  I'm happy with how it turned out!