Garbage Truck Day!

Epic day - Peter was up this morning in time to see all the garbage trucks come by!  He loves trucks of all different kinds, and is always excited that it is "Garbage Truck Day", but almost every week, he's still fast asleep in bed when they come by.  Not today!  He spent a glorious half-hour standing by the window in our bedroom, watching all the trucks coming and going.  Makes for a very happy little boy! 

What else is new here... it's turned into March, and it seems the sun has returned.  We've had some beautiful days, and it's nice to have the sunshine in the house.  Peter woke up sick in the middle of the night on Sunday, but that cleared up pretty quickly, leaving a slightly diminished appetite but a fairly happy kid.  On Monday morning, I informed Peter that while he was having a bath, Mr. Fox was going to have to have a "bath" in the laundry since he had been puked on.... but Peter understood this as being able to take his stuffed animal into the bath with him.  He found that quite hilarious, and it was fun to watch.  
Aaron continues on in his unfortunate sleeping habits, waking up sometime between 3 and 4:30, demanding a bottle, and then refusing to go back to sleep.  Aren't little kids supposed to need more sleep than that?  He doesn't nap very long during the day, and Peter gets way more sleep then he does so I kind of expect the same thing from Aaron.  Every kid is different, I suppose, but this 3:00 wide-awake thing needs to stop soon! Poor Mom and Dad are getting tired! 
Aaron is pulling himself up on things all over the house, and is generally enjoying catching up with his big brother.  Soon enough, he'll be beating him up I think.  The two of them usually have tons of fun together, although I hear enough "mine", "stop it Aaron!", "don't touch, Aaron, not a toy", "no like it, Aaron!" and "share Peter".  Yes, "share Peter"... it might be nice that Peter has learned the word "share", but I look forward to him understanding what it means.  "Share Peter" currently means "give Peter that item now and don't even think about touching it again".  Sigh. 
I have no pictures to load up for you this morning...seeing as our house hasn't sold yet, the desktop is still sequestered in the basement, and that is where the pictures are stored.  There also won't be any new ones taken in the next little while since our camera died on the weekend and I haven't had any luck with camera CPR. 

Plum for Danielle

Danielle, you can have this plum since you're so smart!

With Lauren in Mind

Here you go, Lauren.  Regarding a previous conversation, this lime is for you:

Streetview Has Arrived in St Kitts!!

Finally the day has arrived!  I've been waiting for quite some time to hear the announcement that Google Streetview has expanded its coverage in Canada since they had their first release at the end of last year, since I hadn't been able to find any release information online.  Ever since we saw the Google vehicle with its eye-catching camera contraptions mounted up top while out on the road last August, I've been eager to find our van online and also to see our home on Streetview.  I am thankful to report that they did NOT catch any of us in the driveway, staring perplexedly at the camera like my poor mother was.  Unfortunately, however, they did decide to do their picture-taking while our driveway was full of bathroom renovation debris.  At least the van was parked in the driveway so it wasn't quite so obvious.   

We are waiting in our blue van in the left-turn lane

A Streetview of our home - note the unfortunate garbage

My poor mother, looking a little perplexed

Chop chop chop

After being avoided, delayed, pushed off, and otherwise excused for far too long, I finally buckled down and gave Peter a haircut this morning.  I can't keep trying to convince myself that longer hair is better for him in the winter due to its insulating effect, or that long thick curly hair is entirely appropriate for a boy.  So, out came the scissors, on went Bob the Builder, and the daunting task was accomplished.  It may not be perfect, but the little guy is looking a little more "groomed" now.  I do have to say it was a little sad to cut off all those beautiful curls, but I'm sure they'll have ample opportunity to grow back again before the next hair cut!

Before

After

First of February

Well, I do realize it's been a while since I've posted but there's a reasonably good excuse for that.  The desktop is currently set up in the basement, and I don't spend much time down there.  It's cold, and it isn't a particularly inviting place for Aaron, although Peter is in his glory playing hockey down there.  Anyways, the pictures are all organized on that computer, not on the laptop that I have right now, and I might as well be honest about my lack of ideas for posts that don't involve pictures.  It used to be better - evidenced by a quick flip through my new BLOG BOOK that arrived this morning!  I was impressed by how quickly it arrived, ordered through BookSmart about 10 days ago.  It covers my blog from it's beginning in October 2005 until the end of December 2009, and it looks fantastic!  I will definitely be making more, either annually (that might make for a tiny book) or every two or three years.  It makes for a great "yearbook" of our family, a little different than a photo album and a little easier for me than the daunting task of scrapbooking, which I have not attempted.  

We are doing well, here on this first day of February 2010.  Aaron went from his tummy to sitting by himself for the first time today and he was SOOOO happy with himself - I missed him actually doing it, but I knew i hadn't left him sitting.  He was just full of huge smiles and clapping away, so cute.  Both boys have been healthy and happy the last little while, which is just a pleasure here at home.  Aaron finally figured out the crawling about two weeks ago and he is incredibly happy with that - again, the first day he was crawling he would keep stopping to clap out of sheer joy.  He loves to follow Peter around, and Peter loves playing with his newly mobile brother!  They chase each other around and generally have a hoot together, it is such a blessing to see.  I need to figure out how to reset our alarm clock though - it's a model AARON-2009 and it still seems to be set at 5:30 or so.  He's so awake, so early, and wants nothing to do with going back to sleep, much to his poor mother's chagrin.  Peter at this age would wake up at almost exactly 7:15 every morning - now there's a schedule I can deal with!  Ah well, Aaron is generally a very happy and cheerful little guy and we can be very thankful for that!  Peter has been doing well lately too, very happy with his little brother growing up a bit, and full of fun games.  He still loves his "garbage truck" game, and hauls his little step stool around all over the place.  He likes to "help" with dishes (also known as "splash water all over the counter, floor, cupboards, and windows in the kitchen") and he loves to serve people imaginary "coffee" or "juice".  He's learning (sort of ) how to play hide-and-seek although he isn't exactly very good at hiding or keeping quiet, haha.  His favourite book is currently "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch, which is ok with me, it's a sweet little story.  He also is enjoying singing more and more, and will often sing on his own.  It's fun to listen to his songs morph from one to another. 

In other news, we have listed our house!  This is the reason the desktop is in the basement.  We've done a lot of decluttering and rearranging, and now it's a matter of keeping everything clean and quickly tidy-able for prospective buyers.  Although we have LOVED living here, and have seriously contemplated adding an addition or finishing the basement, it just isn't going to work and we will have to say good-bye to our first house.  Summer time is the best time for a teacher to move, and we're kind of stuck here with the two bedrooms, so now is the best time for us to sell.  We're really hoping the process goes quickly and smoothly (stress-free even perhaps?)(well who wouldn't I suppose), and that we can quickly find a new place perfect for our family.  

Anyways.  I took a few photos in the last little while that are still on the camera, so I'll load up a few of those. Enjoy!  And come visit for a cup of tea to peruse my blog book, it's so much nicer to read a book copy than looking online!  :D

What a sweetie-pie!

Aunt "Dell" came for a fun visit last week

 

 Somebody's happy to be crawling!!

Pardon the red-eye, Photoshop is on the desktop..

Hard at work, playing

 

  This little guy just keeps growing up so fast!  

Heavy Heart for Haiti

Over the past day and a half, like so many others out there I am sure, I have had little on my mind other than Haiti and the devastation that has occured there.  The earthquake on Tuesday claimed the lives of thousands and thousands, and robbed so many more of what little they owned.  Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere, and they lack the political stability and economic infrastructure required to provide prompt relief of the situation.  The Haitian people already have so little, and now many have had those meagre possessions brought to nothing.  This quake not only shook the country of Haiti but also obliterated its capital city, Port-au-Prince, reducing to rubble the Presidential Palace, Parliament, the headquarters of the United Nations as well as several aid centers from Doctors Without Borders.  How can such a country begin to recover from such a blow?  There is so much to be done.
We are extremely thankful to hear of the safety of those directly affiliated with CDIA (Coram Deo International Aid) working in Haiti at the Adoration Christian School.  Although shaken, and having experienced what is no doubt the most terrifying ordeal of their lives, the Lodders, Kim, John and Jim managed to escape without harm.  Besides this, despite a basketball tournament going on at the Adoration School, the school building was destroyed by the quake - and no one was inside.  Through the dust and rubble, we can see the hand of our Almighty God at work in the lives of His children.  In His providential timing, the shaky carport over the yard at the school was removed just two weeks before the quake, perhaps preventing even more serious events from taking place there.
Now that the dust is beginning to settle, though, we can be sure that the situation in Haiti has only just begun.  Heads have been counted, and we are so thankful for the lives that have been spared - however the bodies are piling up and there are so many more lives in jeopardy, hidden under rubble and badly injured.  One of the Adoration teachers is confirmed to be dead, and many more people connected to the school are unaccounted for as of this time.  It is a country filled with despair and great need, and many around the world share their sorrow and grief.  What can we do?  We sit here with heavy hearts, feeling helpless in the face of such devastation, but we are armed with the mighty weapon of PRAYER and we may NOT underestimate it.  Our God is strong, and mighty to save, and He will hear the requests we lay before His throne.  Please pray that He will continue to protect His workers in the field, that they might be a beacon of His light to those in such dire need of it.  Pray especially for the safety of Randy Lodder as he remains in Haiti at the school to protect what assets are left and to gather information about the situation of the teachers and other people involved with the school.  Pray that He will guide the rescue workers in their tasks, giving them strength and courage to do what they need to.  Pray that He will comfort the many who have lost loved ones, and that He will provide relief to those in all types of pain.  Pray that He will work mightily in the government of Haiti, providing as much peace and stability as possible in a time such as this.  Finally, please pray that His Word may go out with renewed force into this impoverished nation through the work of relief workers in His army, and that even through such devastation that many may be turned to the comfort and peace found in Him. 

Photos from the Lodders' blog:  http://randyandkarenlodder.blogspot.com

The basketball court a few weeks ago

Photo from under the recently removed carport

Photos from the CDIA website:  www.cdiacanada.com

[Please visit this site for updates from the team in Haiti]

Destruction at the Adoration School

Maybe I'll Post Once A Month....

All right, all right.  I've searched through the photo archives and I've selected a few to upload... I guess I need to sit down now and write something about the last few weeks!  It's been a busy few weeks (it would kind of be a shock if it wasn't busy I suppose!  I say that every time!).  The Christmas vacation was a blur of get-togethers and Christmas celebrations, and it was good to see family again.

Exciting news over the holidays:  dum de dummmmmmmmm Lauren and Tom got ENGAGED!  Wahoo!  Congratulations you two, and we wish you all the best as you plan your day!  Unfortunately I seem to have a lack of good pictures of the two of you on my computer, so I will have to use this one...

[EDIT:  As I look back over this post for mistakes to fix, I can't help but notice the weird similarity between this picture of Tom and Lauren and the one of Mike and I on the sidebar.... nah, we can't be sisters can we?]

Back to our regular programming...

The kids did fairly well being way out of routine, and generally slept all right despite being in several different places and in several different beds.  They even let us sleep in a few times!  It was a bit of an adjustment coming back home again, especially when Mike went back to school.  Peter is pretty fond of his Daddy and sometimes, Mommy is just NOT good enough.  This, as you can imagine, is not fun for anybody.  He has also become extremely opposed to the nursery over the last month or so... we took him into church with us once in Strathroy to see how that would go.  He made it until just before the sermon started, without being too much of a disturbance.  Besides a few little eruptions of "Praise the Lord!" and "Amen!", he was pretty quiet.  Since then, as bad as it may sound, he hasn't been in church.  Either he or Aaron has been sick since then, so we haven't had to deal with the issue again yet as Mike and I have been taking turns staying home with them.  Aaron has had a cough since just before the holidays started, and it is finally starting to break up a bit.  For a while, he would hardly take a bottle and seemed to throw up everything he ate if he gagged just a tiny bit or if he had a coughing fit.  Not fun!  Then last Monday he woke up with a puffy, boogery eye and when it didn't clear up, I took him in to the doctor.  Drops for Pink Eye seem to have cleared that up, but the poor little guy also got an ear infection.  That seems to be getting better with medication now as well, and I hope everything will go back to normal again soon - normal involving not only a cheerful little 9 month old, but also sleeping through the night. 

Ahhh, I miss that... Aaron's been waking up at 5, 5:30, it was 4:30 this morning, and he's just WIDE awake and not too keen on going back to bed like his Mom is... I might have an easier time with it if I wasn't already up with him four or five times during the night.  Enough complaining!

I decided today that Aaron is no longer in the "not crawling" phase, but has graduated to the "very-beginning-first-stages-of-crawling" phase.  He can haltingly move forward, moving one hand and knee at a time and although it is not too fluid yet and he doesn't get very far, I still think it qualifies as crawling.  Way to go Aaron!  He is getting louder as well, mixing in some shrieks here and there with his "Ba ba ba's" and "Ma ma ma's".  He LOVES his exersaucer, and rocks it so hard that I am afraid he is going to flip it over one of these days.  Perhaps it is nearing the time to put it away - all the better anyways since we are preparing our house for putting on the market.  Yes, for moving!  Although we love our house, we love our yard, and we love our location, a two bedroom house is just not going to last us forever and ever, and we would really love some more room for visitors and for the kids to run around.  Hopefully the whole selling process will go very quickly, as I have to admit I am (more than) a little nervous about keeping the house in tip-top shape for home-viewings.  It's a hard thing to do with two little kids to think about!  We look forward to what the next few months have to bring for us.  Anyways.  On to what you have all been waiting for.  Pictures!

A table shot of the Dekker family Christmas dinner.

That's a lot of people at one looooong table!

Opa and Oma Vander Deen with their 11 great-grandchildren

Dad VD with his two youngest grandchildren

Dad VD and his piggies... I like this picture!

Auntie Lauren being goofy with Peter

Peter Potter that is! Hahaha

Cutie pie...looking a little sick here with his pink eye

But he still loves to cuddle! I'm sure he was smiling just

before this photo was taken :)

Peter just loves to play in the snow... not.  He screams

the whole time he's out there, and if he touches the snow, it's

the end of the world.  Silly kid...

  This is part of his new game:  Garbage Truck.  He brings his little

stool over to the edge of the stove, steps up on it and hangs onto

the rail on the stove door.  Then he gets off and on, being very

careful of the wheels, wherever they may be, calling it his "garbage truck".
Where do kids come up with these ideas anyways?  I think it's hilarious. 

No Worries....

Yes:  Still alive and well
Yes:  Feeling guilty for not posting
No: Ideas on what to post
No: Time to think about it right now

Better Get an Update in Before Christmas!

Today, I made 128 chocolate peanut-butter balls. 127 of them made it into the freezer - not bad! It's the first day of the lifting of my self-imposed NO BAKING rule, in order to prepare for the many Christmas get-togethers over the holidays for which I need to bring baked goods along, among other things. I guess it wasn't actually baking that I did today since the oven wasn't on, but we'll disregard that since a heat source was indeed used. Besides, the caloric content of a chocolate peanut-butter ball most likely falls into the range of "too high but it tastes so good" and therefore by default, such an item is a baked good. Hopefully 127 chocolate peanut-butter balls will make their way into someone else's digestive system somewhere along the way but I have my doubts about that. Next on the list: cookies, speculaas, and perhaps if I feel particularly laden with spare time and enthusiasm, butter tarts. Oh, and maybe also some homemade arrowroot cookies since Aaron will probably appreciate some sort of snack.
Hmmm, thinking back on last week, I suppose you could accuse me of breaking the NO BAKING rule earlier already when I made a gingerbread house "with" Peter last Friday (actually a graham-cracker house). Caloric content most definitely falls into the range of "too high but it tastes so good" but since a heat source wasn't used, and since the house probably won't be entirely eaten anyways (graham crackers don't taste too good after a while out in the open), I think I will forgive myself for breaking the rules.

My graham-cracker house, which may or

may not be structurally unsound

That being said, perhaps an update on the household would be in order since it's been a while since I've posted. What's new.... Mike has one week left of school, although since today is basically done and Friday is a half-day, it's actually only 3.5 days left for him. Yay! He's been busy at school with various projects, and enjoyed taking his class to the ROM on a field trip last week. We went earlier with some friends of ours to check out the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit which is there for a limited time. Quite something to see these 2000 year-old writings and artifacts in person, coming from such an important time in history. We enjoyed our trip and I would recommend going to see the scrolls if you have the opportunity, although the exhibit closes January 3 2010 so you'd better hurry up.

Out in front of the ROM - quite the interesting addition they put onApparently I'm really bad at taking pictures in low-light
situations, so I thought I'd reduce the pictures way down

so they didn't look so bad for ya. The dinosaurs, always a favourite. RUN!

Both the boys are doing very well. I know I probably keep saying this, but Peter is learning more and more all the time. I guess that's just the nature of a child, they have so much to learn especially in their first years that it is hard not to comment on their exponential learning curves. Anyways, he knows every letter of the alphabet and most of their sounds, and generally enjoys being quizzed and playing games about letters. I took the boys grocery shopping the other day, and was listening to Peter count to 20 by himself in the cart. Wow! Well, he might have skipped 13 and said 18 a few times, but I am still very impressed. He's learning his colours (favourite one is currently yellow) and is really starting to LOVE singing, which is a ton of fun! He asks for songs often, however I must sing the one HE wants to sing or else he won't participate. His imagination is really taking off and if the mood hits him, he can sit by himself and play for a long time with his trucks, blocks, trains, whatever. He's got this thing going right now where he thinks he's a "digger". He'll sit at the table, eating with one hand and having the other arm parked like a digger on his tray, or he'll be moving it around all digger-like, dumping imaginary "dirt" on the ground. Where do they come up with these things anyways? When given a box of dinky cars, he'll leave behind all the cars and pick out all the garbage trucks, dump trucks, diggers, fire trucks, transports, etc. I just have to laugh because it's such a boy thing to do. I hope we have girls some day so that we can see how much of a difference there is between the genders.

Aaron is closing in on the 8 month mark and continues to be a cheerful, content little guy. His smiles melt your heart and when he and Peter laugh at each other it's hard not to laugh yourself! He's a solid little guy, probably around 25 lbs now and he feels like a chunk of concrete when you pick him up. He doesn't look particularly chubby but I think his bones must be filled with lead or something. He watches Peter run around, and he is eager to gain his own mobility. He sits on his hands and knees and rocks all the time (even in the middle of the night) and I'm wondering when he'll figure out the key to moving forward instead of pushing himself backwards all the time. Until then, he'll get himself stuck under chairs or other furniture... the other day he ended up way under Peter's bed. My guess is that he'll be crawling before the new year, but as I recall with Peter, the transition to crawling can take longer than you think. I guess there's a lot of new muscles to be built up and coordination to figure out before then. I hope for his sake it doesn't take long, since he'll really enjoy his newfound freedom when it arrives!
Aaron loves to eat, although he's still not a pro at chunky things. This is kind of frustrating, since the immersion blender I have seems to be giving up, and the smoothie-blender we got for our wedding doesn't seem to do the trick getting rid of lumps in our suppers. I've been doing some research on a new blender, but without spending hundreds of dollars, it seems hard to find one that will do what I need it to do, and last longer than a year or two. I like the all-metal drive systems of the Oster blenders but it seems that half the reviews are very positive, and the other half are VERY negative. I'm thinking the Oster Beehive blender might be the one, even though one review claimed it was so noisy that it's "like having a helicopter and a vacuum cleaner running at the same time in your face". I think I laughed out loud at that one. The noise might scare the kids a little, and maybe even the neighbours but I guess most blenders aren't really quiet anyways.
Well, my both-kids-asleep-at-the-same-time time is running out, so I should load up some pictures for a minute while I still have a chance. Until next time, take care!

Someone's being a stinker at the park...Little bitta sunflareGotta love those runny noses...Brothers and best buds... Aaron got stuck under the
chair so Peter decided to join himDuring Peter's nap the other day, Aaron and I had a photo shoot.
Pictures like these make me REALLY want a camera with a
few more pixels!! Not that I'm a pro photographer or anything,
but a clearer picture would be really nice sometimes. Mr. Handsome admiring himself in the mirrorPeter LOVES my swiffer and will gladly "help"
me clean the house with it