Getting My "Crafty" On

Anyone who knows me well know that I love to do crafty things. I have always had one craft addiction or another -- often continuing one addiction while happily attempting to start another. This had led to piles upon piles of crafting items in my home and a truly endless supply of "ideas I want to try." I can always tell when I'm stressed because the desire to craft creeps in and takes over the rational side of me which knows my time would be better spent cleaning, cooking, or in some other way caring for my home. I suppose this is my version of therapy. This past weekend I was introduced to a website called Pinterest. For those who are already familiar with this site you know how dangerous it can be! Needless to say, I was inspired. Below are a few fun things (some inspired by Pinterest and some my own ideas) that have kept me busy the past couple of days in my "spare" time:

Some fun homemade cards...


Halloween Treats for the neighbor kids...



A special thank you for Jake's teachers...

Summer Time and the Living is Easy...

Summer is the joyous time of year when I can once again even consider spending time doing something "just for fun" such as updating our family blog. It's been months since either of us last wrote so we probably have lots to catch up on. Still, this evening I find myself reflecting on what a beautiful summer day we had today and wishing that life could always move at this pace.

Our day actually started with the sad realization that Zach is still sick with some type of stomach bug. It's been 3 days now that he's been ill and we were hoping today he would feel better. Mike took the three oldest kids off to church and Zach and I settled in for a mommy & me morning. After 2 retched diapers (poor kid) Zach finally felt well enough to curl up in my arms and fall asleep. There is nothing as sweet as holding your child in your arms while he slumbers with his little head on your chest. I could stare at his beautiful face forever when he sleeps like this. It is so peaceful, so intimate, and leaves you with such a feeling of being needed and loved. This is MY child and I am HIS mom. There is no one I would rather be and no where else I would rather be.

Upon returning home from church Annika announced that she really wanted to go to Grandma Eriks' house and eat baked potatoes and play LIFE. Our plan was to grill a nice family lunch and eat together but she was so set on seeing her grandparents that we relented and let her give them a call. They happily agreed to have her for lunch and said she could hang out there for a while. She felt like a million dollars being allowed her own special time with Grandma and Grandpa. Annika is the type of child who enjoys time to herself and needs some peace and quiet. That's often hard to find here. She thoroughly enjoyed having a whole afternoon to do what she wanted in the peace and quiet of Grandma and Grandpa's house. She came home refreshed and thrilled to see her siblings and play with them once again. A far cry from how she has felt about them for the past several days!

Feeling a bit left out, Abby begged to be allowed to call Aunt Lizzy to see if she could hang out at her house. She figured if Annika could hang out at Grandma and Grandpa's then maybe she could hang out at Uncle Mark and Aunt Lizzy's. She called on her own and politely made her case. Her sweet aunt and uncle graciously agreed to let her come hang out for the afternoon. Now she felt like a million dollars too! While she was there they ate lunch, went for 2 bike rides, went to the park, and played games. Uncle Mark even taught her how to play Risk (I don't even know how to play that game!) If she'd had her way she would have never come home! Here was a middle child finally getting some one-on-one attention and she ate it up! What a blessing this afternoon was to her! She also came home in a great mood and ready to play contentedly with her siblings!

In the meantime, Zach took a short nap at home while Mike snoozed and I made some thank you cards and wrote little notes to some friends. Jake got his half hour of computer time and we all felt refreshed by our half our of personal time spent doing something we had each chosen to do. Once Zach woke up we drove to Grandma and Grandpa Dekker's house. Jake had been begging to go "hang out" at their house since his sisters each had a place to hang out. While we did not intend to "hang out" there we did use their place as a home base for a lovely one hour walk along Plaster Creek which is near their home. Mike had been on this walk before with the kids and knew it was a beautiful setting right here in town. We had a lovely time! Jake fell asleep just a couple blocks from the end of our walk. We let him sleep for 15 minutes or so and then drove the whole family home.

Once we got home Mike set up the kiddy pool where the boys happily played in the frigid water (kids don't feel cold!). I put my tired and sore feet in (I should have worn better shoes on our walk!), Mike brought out ice cream treats and drinks, and we sat and enjoyed the perfect summer Sunday afternoon. Once the girls returned home they threw on their suits and joined our outdoor "party". Pretty soon, Mike started the grill and we had a delicious meal of grilled chicken, grilled veggies, and red potatoes. We were in such a great mood we even went ahead and let everyone have dessert! Talk about making the kids happy! :)

We ended our evening with the three oldest kids running around the front yard throwing water at each other while Zach puttered around throwing balls and hitting them with a plastic golf club. By 8:30 we managed to have the three youngest in bed and now Mike and Annika are playing with trains in the basement.

A day like today makes me realize that there are way too many moments in my life that I have a tendency to rush right past. Having a sick baby who forced us to slow down our pace and kids who reminded us that they benefit from some "down" time away from one another helped us all function better as a family. I am thankful for a beautiful summer day, a family I love, the blessings of home/family/resources that enabled me to enjoy the day in the manner I did today. I am cognizant of the fact that I am abundantly blessed and I see today as a challenge to myself to slow down enough to continue recognizing that fact and to make sure that I thank my Maker each and every day for the never ending abundance in my life.

Family Brackets

It's that time again. I coerced everyone but Zach to fill out a bracket - Lisa helped Jake go through the bracket, but he made his own decisions. Here's the scoops on our Final Fours (champ over loser, then other two Final Four teams):

Mike: Pitt over Duke, Syracuse, Notre Dame

Lisa: Kansas over Ohio State, UConn, BYU

Annika: North Carolina over Notre Dame, Arizona, Florida

Abby: Michigan over Butler, Kentucky, Notre Dame

Jake: Notre Dame over Northern Colorado, North Carolina, Gonzaga

Yes, Jake has a 15-seed in the final. His East bracket was looking sort of reasonable, but then he moved to the West, where every first round game except Temple (7) over Penn State (10) was an upset. Abby had a hard time picking her Final Four games: she went eeny-meeny-miney-mo for Butler over ND, and really had to deliberate in choosing Michigan over Butler. Butler has been a popular choice for a few years now, especially for Abby. In 2009 she picked Butler to win it all, but then they lost the first game that wrapped up on the first Thursday afternoon. Of course, last year she picked them to win it all and they came within a few inches on a last second miracle shot of winning the championship. As a result, she did the best in our family. We'll see what happens this year.

Diary of a Night

This post is dedicated to all parents everywhere --

For those of you hoping to one day be parents, it may serve as a strong dose of birth control.
For those who are currently in the same stage of life that we are -- we commiserate with you.
For those who have moved past this stage may it serve as a reminder of what you once dealt with and are blessed to no longer have to deal with (I'm sure other challenges have taken it's place!).

8:00 Put Abby and Jake down for the night -- process completed by 8:30

9:00 Zach gets fussy - Lisa feeds him and puts him down for the night

9:20 Annika is sent to bed for the night. Zach wakes up and begins to cry - Mike goes up and pats his tummy

9:30 Zach falls asleep (So far, so good -- it's often much harder than this to get all 4 down!)

2:00AM Jake wakes up and wants to sleep with us. Mike gets up and puts him back to bed.

3:00AM Zach wakes up and begins to cry. Mike goes in to pat his tummy.

3:40AM Abby wakes up with diarrhea. Mike comes out from Zach's room -- he's finally asleep. Lisa goes to investigate sounds coming from the bathroom (assuming it's Mike due to the decibel level) and is amazed to find Abby there. Abby is happy as can be and excited about the magnitude of sound and substance coming from her body. Lisa is also quite impressed but also rather turned off by the magnitude of smells coming from Abby's body!

3:45AM Abby still in bathroom. Zach wakes up and begins crying again. Mike goes in to pat his tummy again.

4:00 AM Abby is back in bed. Zach is still crying. Mike gives up and comes back to bed. He's not feeling very happy at this point.

4:10AM Abby is back in the bathroom.

4:30AM Zach is STILL crying...

4:33AM It's getting quieter, maybe he's asleep!

4:35AM Nope! Wailing...

4:37AM Quieting down...

4:44AM He's finally asleep. Now we try to go to sleep. Not easy to do when you keep hearing phantom cries!

6:40AM The alarm goes off for the morning.

7:15AM Go to wake up Annika. She's mad because Abby doesn't have to go to school today. Abby wakes up (so much for her sleeping in). She is concerned because she thinks she peed her pants during the night. Unfortunately, it turns out she did much more than that, poor kid.

7:20 Stick Abby in the tub, strip the bed, begin load of laundry.

7:25 Insist Annika get out of bed and stop feeling sorry for herself.

7:55 Mike is gone to work. Annika is gone to school. The absentee line has been called. Abby and Jake are watching TV and Zach and I are going to have some breakfast. Let the day begin!

Christmas Happenings

Here are a few picture to share a bit of our life here during the past month. We start with a lovely picture showing our beloved Jesse tree. It seems that although we had previously always thought of the Jesse Tree as a special tree used with our Advent devotionals Abby and Jake thought of a new meaning for it this year. Behold our Jessie (& Woody) Tree:


This next set of pictures is an example of what happens when you try to get a great looking picture of your four kids for the holiday card. All thoughts of cute matching outfits have gone out the door and as you can see, we're not even stressing much about hair at this point. We'd just love to have all four kids looking at one time!

Close...

Closer....

Well... at least they're all looking...

Now, if you want to get individual pictures of them, that's another story... Zach is turning into quite the little ham.



And here he is eating his first ever Christmas cookie. I'd say he looks pretty pleased with it! His first introduction to sugar...let the cravings begin!

Some Halloween Pictures

We took the kids trick-or treating tonight by Mark and Lizzy's house since Kentwood was doing Halloween on Saturday night. Here are just a few pictures for you to enjoy!

The cutest little dragon you ever did see... (Zach, 6 months)




Jake (3 1/2) wasn't so sure how he felt about showing off his costume at first. He fell asleep this afternoon and we had to wake him up to get him ready to go out. When I asked him if I could take his picture he grumpily agreed. This is him showing me what he's going to be for Halloween. Luckily, his mood improved and he had a BLAST going from door to door. He took it as a personal mission to keep track of who said thank you and who did not!



Abby (6) wanted every so badly to be Jessie (from Toy Story 3) for Halloween this year. Little did we know what that would eventually involve. We looked into to buying the costume but it cost $54.00 -- way too much! So, I foolishly thought to myself - I can make that for WAY cheaper. And yes, I did indeed make it for much cheaper money wise. Time wise - hard to say! Abby loved it though so it was worth it. A special thanks for Mom Dekker who helped me out some with the sewing which was all done by hand!



Our beautiful Hogwarts witch - Annika (9)!

Just for Fun - Fall Pictures

Growing Up So Fast

It's hard to believe that Zach is already almost 4 months old. We are enjoying watching him learn new things by the week! One of our favorite things to watch is his interactions with his siblings. Below Zach sings along with Annika.



And as if that wasn't cute enough here's a fun picture of him sleeping in Mike's arms last night. It looks like we may have a thumb-sucker on our hands!

4th of July Poem

In honor of our annual 4th of July party at Uncle Andy and Aunt Carin's house, I did the most natural thing to commemorate it: I wrote a 12-verse haiku poem (remember, each verse has the 5-7-5 syllabus pattern). Enjoy!

A Ribbens Party Haiku

by Mike Dekker

The fourth of July
At Andy and Carin’s house
A Ribbens party!

Hovings and Weenums,
Dekkers, Ribbens, Van Denends,
Hofstras and others

Just how did we all
Turn into “mature” adults
With lots of babies?

Outdoor changing room
Pull the knob upwards to flush
Go find some sunscreen

Many strapping men
Made tsunamis in the pool
No kids were capsized

I saw my daughters
Both armed with foam water guns
Squirt Zach in the head

It’s time for eatin’
The fat handled utensils
Are red white and blue

My dad at the grill
Bratwurst, hamburgers, chicken,
And hot dogs, of course

Then Chris and Heidi
Loved my wife’s blueberry pie.
Need the recipe?

Greg, Uncle Andy
Comparing surgery scars
Herniated discs!

With all the swimsuits
Who doesn’t have a tattoo?
Next year I’ll get one

Let’s do it again!
We’ll see you on July 4,
Twenty-eleven

An Unanticipated Slumber Party

Last night at 1:00AM we were awakened to the sound of the tornado siren going off right behind our house. Mike and I went downstairs to check the TV and saw a radar screen unlike any we could remember ever seeing before. The thunder and lightning was intense and we could hear wind whipping through the trees outside. A funnel cloud had been spotted and was heading for GR. We went upstairs and woke the kids up and took them to the basement. Waking them up proved to be quite an adventure. Annika was so sound asleep that I couldn't get her to open her eyes. Even once she sat up in bed she just kept starring at me blankly as I told her she needed to grab her pillow and head for the basement. Abby woke up scared and crying. We had to drag her into the basement at which time she told us she had to go to the bathroom and that it was an emergency. She was terrified to be left alone in the bathroom and Mike and I were trying to hurry to get Jake and Zach downstairs. So, as Abby cried in the bathroom Mike threw sleeping bags down the basement and I got Zach. Mike then went up for Jake who was actually quite excited about the tomato and kept asking to see it. Once we were all in the basement Mike tried to get reception on our TV downstairs with no success. We did get a radio signal to come in. All three kids ended up wide awake and quite hyper as they discussed what a tornado was and what would happen if one actually came into our neighborhood. The girls also had great fun listening to Jake continue to say tomato rather than tornado and they thought it was hilarious that he didn't seem to be able to tell that he was saying it wrong. After 45 minutes the warning was over. We knew the kids wouldn't want to sleep alone in their rooms as there was still plenty of thunder and lightening so Mike set up camp in the family room with the kids while Zach and I returned upstairs to go to bed. When I got up to feed Zach a couple hours later I checked on everyone to see how they were doing. The picture above shows 4 very sleepy people who didn't even stir as I took several flash photographs! The girls think we should sleep like this again tonight. Mike and I are personally looking forward to sleeping in our own bed, hopefully, the whole night through!

Marta, 1997 - 2010

During the summer of 1997, while I was away at Purdue, Lisa brought home a kitten from a broken feline family. Our landlord said she couldn't stay, but we kept her anyway and had some fun hiding her from him. We named her Marta after the tour guide that had shown us around during most of our Eastern European Calvin Band trip in 1996. We got Marta before our first anniversary, and she almost made it to our 14th. Other pets came and went, but she had always been around.

Just recently we noticed that she wasn't around the kitchen as much and spent most of her time in the basement laying on a pillow. After bringing her upstairs and witnessing her total disinterest in food and water we brought her to the vet where they kept her overnight. The next morning she passed away while the vet was examining her. The girls were upset, but managed to cope - Annika typed up Marta's life story (800+ words long) and even got to read it to her class the next day. Abby made a nice picture that is hanging on the fridge. We're not sure that Jake has noticed.

So, life goes busily on, and now Layla can eat out of the food dish with Tate, but no one comes running when you open the freezer in the evening, expecting a dish of ice cream.

Now That's a Little Baby!

A couple days ago Abby came running into the house yelling and laughing because she had just seen a deer chasing a cat across our street. Mike and I were surprised and curious as to why a deer would chase a cat. She then mentioned that there was a baby following the momma deer across the street. The kids ran back outside and Mike and I laughed about it and then resumed cleaning up the kitchen.

A bit later we realized we hadn't seen the 3 kids for a bit so Mike wandered outside to look for them. He eventually found them way down the street chasing after the deer. Mike's parents (who were coming to visit) stopped by the kids to see what all the fuss was about. Mike's mom took the following picture:

I guess now we know why the deer was chasing the cat. That is the smallest fawn I have ever seen!

Annika's Piano Recital

Annika had her piano recital on Wednesday night. She played two pieces -- the first one, By the Seashore, she had music for. The second piece, The Clown she played for memory. You can tell she's nervous because she plays a bit fast a makes a couple mistakes but we were still VERY proud of her and how hard she's worked at piano this year!

Don't Step on the Baby

This is what happens when you're child #4. You fall asleep in Dad's arms and he puts you down for a moment. Since you're sleeping so peacefully he decides to just leave you there. At least he has the courtesy to warn everyone not to step on you!

Zach's Big Brother

I need to go to bed, but here's a quick quartet of pictures of Jake's first real encounter with Zach. While the girls were and still are crazy-excited over the baby, Jake has been more tentative. The first time Jake met Zach was with a lot of people around and he was a bit too tired, but the next morning he came to the hospital with me and Mom and had his first quality moments with Zach. First, he first scrutinized his tiny little brother:

After some encouragement, Jake gently checked out Zach's head.

Not long after, Zach started waking up a little and making faces, and Jake is very much into making funny faces with people. So he started showing some of his funny faces to Zach:

They'll be having light saber battles soon enough. Actually, this big, brand new situation is regularly tiring Jake out, so that he's almost falling asleep at the dinner table and going to bed really early, but that's OK. Overall, things seem to be going as well as they can be when there's a five-day-old in the house. Now, to sleep...

Zachary Michael

Lisa stayed at the hospital with our new baby boy, but I'm home overnight with Annika, Abby and Jake. Here are a couple quick pictures:

Some really happy big sisters!

Here's how the day went, all times AM:

1:30 - Lisa woken up by potent contraction, eventually gets up and showers after talking to Mike

3:30 - Mike gets up, showers and shaves

4:30ish - Lisa's mom arrives, we head to the hospital

4:49 - Time recorded by the nurse when we arrived in the triage room

5:32 - Doc breaks Lisa's water in the delivery room

5:48 - Zachary Michael Dekker's first minute in this world

We've gotten pretty efficient at this birthing thing. Time for bed!

Smiling Food - Posted by Annika Dekker

This is so weird! My roll is actually smiling! During dinner We had peas, rolls, and chicken. I had three rolls. My last one had a smiling face on the bottom! Isn't that weird? I was laughing like crazy. It was so funny and unusual. I've never ever seen a smiling roll in my life until now. I bet it's the same for you. I hope I see you soon.

Waiting Game...

So, it's 2:40AM and here I am wide awake again during the middle of the night. That has seemed to be the trend with this pregnancy. It was particularly bad during the first trimester and it has returned again during these last few weeks. Normally I try to get stay in bed and rest but lately after more than an hour I find it's better to get up for a bit and hope I'll be able to fall back to sleep after a bit.

We seem to be nearing the end of this pregnancy and right now that sounds good! My official due date is May 8 but baby has been showing signs that he will most likely come before then. The frequent contractions have been doing their job and I'm guessing it won't be too much longer now! Today makes 36 weeks so technically we're not yet full term. The doctors have informed us that even if he comes right now he would be fully developed and should be healthy. Our only concern is that he would likely be quite small. Our kids have ranged in the 6lb 4 oz - 6 lb 10oz range (all born at 39 weeks) so they're not real huge to begin with! Being born a month early probably wouldn't help a lot in the size category!

So... now we wait. This time feels quite different than it did with the other kids. Annika was a bit of a surprise (I didn't realize I was actually in labor when I went into the hospital with her). Abby was induced and with Jake it was very clear exactly when real labor began. This child has given me a couple times now where I have seriously questioned if, "this is it!" I guess my body is getting older and reacting more strongly to pre-labor. It's a silly thought, but I don't want to "miss" the actual labor assuming it's just more of the same contractions and have a surprise birth at home! I seriously doubt that would happen, but given my past history of short labors and non-regular contractions, the thought has crossed my mind! Maybe I should have Mike read up on the what to do if your wife gives birth at home chapter in the "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book! I'm sure he'd do a great job! After all, he's seen this before, right? How hard can it be? Women used to give birth alone on a prairie. We should be all set then with the modern comforts of home!

Anyway -- please keep us all in your prayers. We are praying for a healthy baby born at the right time. We are also praying for stamina to get through the final days of waiting, energy to keep getting our lives in order, quality time to spend with Annika, Abby, and Jake (spring break has been a real blessing), and tangible ways to show our family and friends how much all of their support has meant to us in these last few weeks! We are truly blessed!

80 + degrees Outside = One Worn Out Boy!

Although Jake often doesn't nap anymore yesterday he just couldn't help it! After playing outside all day with his sisters and friends he was just too worn out to resist! He came in after playing in the sprinkler, crawled into Daddy's lap and promptly fell asleep. What a little cutie!

Jake's 3rd Birthday

On Tuesday we had the joy of celebrating Jake's 3rd birthday. Since he's quite fascinated with all things boy, which includes cars, trucks, trains, and transportation in general, we threw him a construction-themed family birthday party. Above is his birthday cake.



Jake started off the day on Tuesday refusing to acknowledge that he was three. He just wanted to be two. By the end of the day he had changed his mind. A big part of the change was the fact that there was a 3 on his cake.

Showing off their construction hats which they each decorated. Jake's was a bit big and kept falling off!


Enjoying some of his gifts - a book from Great Grandma and a ND basketball from Grandma and Grandpa Dekker!


Eating cake! He had two pieces and wanted more! No early bed time for him!