As Promised...

We recently took a family vacation to the Dominican Republic with Marty's side of the family to celebrate his parents 30th wedding anniversary (which actually took place this past Sept. 1st) . I promised my dear friend Rebecca that I would post pictures of said trip on my blog site, not just facebook as she has not yet succumbed to the addiction. So, here it is - our trip in all its rainy glory :). That's right folks, it literally rained (or looked like it might rain any minute) 6.5 out of 7 days of our trip. We all came back ALMOST as white as we left and Joshua, despite all my hopes of getting lovely pictures of him and I swimming together for the first time, barely touched the water all week (he DID get a photo with his feet in the very murky looking ocean). Nevertheless, the trip was a LOT of fun and it was still nice to be able to walk around in shorts and tee-shirts all week instead of our heavy winter coats and sweaters! Joshua very much enjoyed being in less "stuff" all week and he did AMAZING on the air plane! I think he cried for only about 2 minutes the entire time we flew... such a load of my back!! I was SO worried about how he would do!

So as I said, here are a few photos to capture the fun that was had:

Joshua on his first plane ride - he did WONDERFULLY!

Me and my little man - ready for some sun! (or so we thought :))

Aly & Esther - best of cousins! :)

Joshua enjoying the lovely towel art by the maid...

My smiley little guy

I think I'm supposed to eat this.... no?

Cutie pie

Cousins

Staring contest with Daddy

Lounging in the sun...

hello!

Our tour guide - he loved Joshua (he had a son about the same age) and sang a song about him being a "porker"

Vacationing is tough work...

All too common a site...


Grandma keeping her grand-daughter dry!

Some mommy time at dinner

Precious moments :)

Testing out the ocean waters!


Sunshine!! (on our last day!!)

Aly & Grandma!

A quick recap....

Wow - it's been awhile. Life has definitely changed much in the last year and half - from being single to married, unemployed to teaching, child-less to being blessed with one of the greatest gifts I could have ever been given... Life is good! AND busy! Life with an 8 week old has proved to be a definite adjustment. Joshua Peter is doing well, but has had is share of colds & flus already in his short time here so far. I am currently mommy to a "snorter" as he is unable to breathe properly through his nose because it is stuffed up. I have tried (quite unsuccessfully) to aspirate his nose and clear it out some for him, but that seems to annoy him more than help him - so we've opted to leave it as much as possible and let nature run its course. Hopefully thing will clear up soon!


For those who did not hear about Joshua's birth, I apologize, but as I said - life is busy, so I've let the "word of mouth" take over and hope that those who need to know do indeed find out some how! But for those of you who did still some how miss it, Joshua Peter was welcomed into the world on October 22nd at 3:52 am weighing in at 7lbs and 90z. The delivery itself went well, though labour was slow and difficult to begin with. But we praise God that in the end we were given a healthy baby boy! It's hard to believe he was so little already though - his last weigh in at the mall yesterday shows he is somewhere around the 11.5 lb mark! (not sure exactly the weight b/c he was weighed after a feed...).

Besides the addition of Joshua, I was also blessed most recently with a new nephew! Nathan Ezekiel Ennema, born only 2 days after Joshua at 28 weeks gestation weighing in at 3lbs 3oz. So tiny! but so perfect! Nathan is doing well and will hopefully be home before Christmas. For details and updates go to my sisters blog at: ennemafamily.com. It is awesome that Joshua will have a cousin so close in age to him! What fun! Joshua & Nathan are grandkids 3 & 4 for my parents - all boys so far! Family gatherings will be LOUD in the future! :)

Well that will be my update for now. I hear a little boy awaking, so I should heed his cries. But first I prepared a list (not in anyway exhaustive) of things of note that have happened in the last year or so:

- Taught gr.7 for a year at DCCS - lots of fun, LOTS of work! My class was a wonderful class and they loved to discuss things. I had so much fun getting to know each of them better and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked teaching this age group. The things they taught me during that year of teaching is invaluable! At the same time, it was a tonne of work and could be very stressful at times. Dealing with discipline issues can be a tiring process and probably my least favourite aspect of the job. Over all though, it was an awesome opportunity!

- Recieved a new neice - Samarah VanRooyen - born October 25th, 2007

- Recieved a new nephew - Jacob DeJong - born Febuary 27th, 2008

- Found out we were pregnant along with a NUMBER of my friends & family including: The Snoeks (parents to Gidoen Isaiah), The Westras (parents to Reuben), The Ennemas (Nathan Ezekiel), The Wilms (due in April), the VanderDeens (due in April), the VanDoorens (due in February), the Martins (due in end of Feb or April?) & the VanderHeides (due in February), and the Methams (due in February). SO many babies! So far it's been all boys - it will be interesting to see who will be first to break the trend!

-Attended my father-in-laws 50th birthday party and Marty's Oma & Opa's 60th wedding anniversary!

- celebrated Mom & Dad Speelman's 30th wedding anniversary (more celebrations to come in February when we go on a trip to the Dominican together!)

- moved to a new house (much more spacious and LOTS more closet space!)


- had A baby!! (Isn't he beautiful? :))



Note: This blog is already 2 weeks overdue... proving the extent of my busyness these last days - just no time to blog!

A New Addition

Well for those of you who used to track this blog more regularly, you'll know that I haven't really blogged much in the past year. Married life, school (work), and the busyness of life haven't really allowed me the time too. Moreover, I admit to having fallen in love with Facebook - a much easier way to share albums with friends and co-workers, giving me a bit more control over who can peruse the "details" of my life.

To catch up some of you though, it has been a very good year. Marty and I are only a week and a bit away from our first anniversary - hard to believe! It seems like just yesterday that we were preparing to become husband and wife! God has indeed blessed us richly in this past year though, and we are still very much enjoying married life and our work.

Speaking of work, of course, some of you will already know that I will no longer be working next year. Marty and I are thrilled to announce that instead we will be adding another member to our small little family in October of this year :). The little one is currently not much bigger than a grapefruit in length but has already changed our lives dramatically (in a good way!) :). We feel incredibly blessed to be carrying this little miracle and look forward to seeing it "on the outside" in the fall. :) So far in this pregnancy our highlights have included telling certain friends and family members (some very funny reactions at times! :)), and hearing the heartbeat at our 12-week midwife appointment - I admit I had tears in my eyes - what a beautiful sound!

I am off now to get some lesson plans finished for this week, but I leave you with a picture of what our little baby bump should look like at this point on the inside...

Aunt Eveline... this ones for you! :)

I was asked to update my blog, to provide some more pictures perhaps and let those not currently addicted to facebook (like myself!) know what's going on in my world! So here it is!

The Wedding, May 12th, 2007:

The wedding was absolutely wonderful. The weather, though threatening to rain early on in the week, smiled on us the day of. Though slightly chilly for the girls in their bridesmaid dresses, it was the perfect temperature for the tuxedoed groomsmen & groom and there was enough of a breeze to sufficiently cool me down under all those layers of my dress! The ceremony too was perfect - the church looked AMAZING thanks to Mom S!, and the worship sounded fabulous thanks to our AWESOME worship team made up of a variety of fantastic musicians & singers (& friends!) including Matt McKenna (from Garner), Sam Martin, Nathan Martin, Laura Stewart, and Andrea VanPelt. I felt truly blessed! The reception too was lots of fun. It was held at Copetown Community Center and looked nothing like it does every other day thanks to our wonderful decorator! It was amazing looking out into the crowd of friends & family and thinking that all those people came for you!! All in all it was an awesome day though it went WAY too fast for my liking! If it weren't for the pictures themselves I might not believe we actually GOT married! :)


The Honeymoon, May 14th-21st, 2007:

The Honeymoon too was absouletly fabulous. Marty & I travelled to the Bahia Principe Akumal in the Mayan Riviera (Mexico). The resort was GORGEOUS and the food amazing! Despite some (major!) turbulence on the way home, the plane rides there and back were uneventful for the most part. Once there we made sure to take the opportunity to relax a lot, sight see a bit (we went on two snorkelling tours - along the reefs, in cenotes (underground caves), and in a few lagoons (we saw massive sea turtles, a baracuda & a sting-ray!)), and eat TOO much! It was great fun and it was really nice to be together & enjoy the warm (hot!) sun for a week!

The stuff postcards are made of!

The swim up pool bar!

Our feet & the waves...

A la carte dinner

And another... (check out the view!)

Beach bar! It had swings! (I know... I'm such a kid!)

The rest of the story, May 21st - present:

Life has been good! Marty has begun his new job with Maple Reinders Construction (project management), and is learning a lot and enjoying it greatly. I too have been working some (at Christian Horizons) and preparing for my new job come the fall at DCCS (I have been there twice now to observe and gather curriculum/resources). We are settling in to our new home & slowly but surely making each room livable :) (the last room is still in the works!). Marty & I have even begun to landscape by weeding our gardens, planting some annuals (and a few perrenials), and putting together a few hanging baskets and flower pots. Despite some issues with aphids early on (affected a few of our zinnias), the flowers are coming along nicely! We are incredibly blessed to have the place we do and to have such wonderful family & friends to come and visit us regularly!

Well.... that's all for now :). Hopefully it won't take me so long the next time for an update... (pictures of house & garden to come at a later date).

A perfect day....