Summer is ALMOST here!

Nicolle needed a new bike. Her's was broken. Jason's?... well, it was just too small. His knees were in his face. :D So last Saturday, we splurged and bought them new bikes. We're calling them 'graduating presents' for passing Grade 2 and Grade 7.
Can't have summer without bicycles!

Also, can't have summer without PEI beaches! We were lucky and had SOME warm weather already (although it's disappeared this week). We took a walk on the Rustico beach and got some nice pictures of the kids last Sunday.
Our pool is ready for the summer. We're turning on the heater tonight so we expect to surprise the kids with a swim this weekend. :D

Nicolle and Jason are registered for Canoe Cove Christian Camp again. What would summer be without our Camp!
I'm busy directing the church's VBS again this year. Crocodile Dock is the theme.
We're taking my Mom to Halifax to visit with her sister in July.
We're really looking forward to our "Nieuwhof Reunion" week at the cottages: http://www.villagegedaique.com .
Marten (and the boys) finished planting on Tuesday. Now ... hilling, spraying, roguing...
The kids only have 10 more school days! Yippee -- no more homework, no more making lunches!
I'm looking forward to the summer! How about you?

Plans change!

On Easter Good Friday, we went to church. On the way there, our Blazer was making all sorts of clunky, weird noises. Oh oh! On the way home... yikes. We were wondering if we'd make it. Apparently, we had some antifreeze leak into our engine. Not a good thing. Marten decided that we weren't going to put any more money into it. We had owned it for 8 years and it was time for a new vehicle, not a new engine. I must admit... I was a little sad. I loved the Blazer. Nicolle was going to learn to drive on that car and we'd buy a new one then for us. That was the plan.

Plans change. We started looking right away. The blazer had a lot of bells and whistles and it was going to be hard to replace it. I knew I wanted a 4WD and leather heated seats for the winter. Marten wanted a Bose 6 CD music center. We wanted something 2005 or older and under 100,000 km. Then we decided that it would be awesome to have a 7 seater vehicle. The week before, Nicolle wanted to take 2 friends to youth group and we couldn't fit everyone it. We had to tell Heather she couldn't come. :( Marten did NOT want a van, so the search was on. We narrowed it down pretty quickly because Marten also wanted a GMC or Chev. We decided on an Envoy XL SLT. Of course, there were none in the Maritimes to buy. Sigh. Hillsides found one a week later for us in Ontario. Pretty scary buying a vehicle sight unseen. The pictures looked nice, though. And it didn't hurt that it was a 2006 Denali with 76,000 km with all options.

It arrived on PEI on Monday and we scooted to town to test drive it. Wow! Nice car. We were thrilled and bought it. They kept it til Wednesday to check it all out and make it an 'Optimum Vehicle' (something about a 150 point check list and GMC warranty... blah, blah). Then I had to drive it home in the rain. Sigh -- dirty already. Doesn't take long on PEI. Here are some pictures:





and the inside:






Nice, eh? Yup... we're spoiled. God is good to us! And the best news... Heather got to come to youth group yesterday!

We're back from Disney!

OK, we're out of money so we had to come home. :D I can't possibly tell you how much this family vacation meant to us. What a lot of fun! (and sore feet! hee,hee) Can you stand to watch a 'few' pictures of our fun times? It'll take a bit of time but pictures speak louder than words and you'll get a clearer idea of how much we did. I had to narrow it down from 1604 pictures. Unbelievable! Lots of memories!
You'll also notice that we weren't wearing shorts and ts all the time. Yes, for you jealous folks out there... we did have some chilly weather. So sad. The day we set out to go to the beach, it was 77 degrees. By the time we drove for 1 1/4 hours, it was only 67. Not exactly beach weather.... no one went swimming. :( But it was still fun playing in the white sand, collecting shells, and getting chased by seagulls! The last two days, God was preparing us for the weather adjustment back home. It was only 52 so we wore pants, sweaters and coats. That's OK... we still had lots of fun! Marten and Nicolle are happy to report that they accomplished their goal of riding all the rollercoasters (some even twice!). Actually, there were two they didn't get to ride in the Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain, because they were broken. That wasn't their fault so goal accomplished! Jason and I weren't so brave! We all really liked the 3D simulator rides and the stunt shows... and the night shows...and we really liked SeaWorld... and Gatorland... and the Dinner Theatre... and the river rafts were our favorite (we did the Popeye Barge 5 times)... and the parades were fun to see... and we really liked Islands of Adventure... and we loved being warm!

So...Enjoy the show! "That's all folks!"

My girl is 12 now!

It's been forever since I've posted. Well... a month, anyway.

In that time, we've celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary, Marten's birthday, Caleb's birthday, Mary's birthday, Rebecca's birthday, (we didn't forget Joey) and Nicolle's birthday. January is anything but boring!

Nicolle had her first boy/girl party at our house. Yikes. I'm ok. Ahhhhh! No, really! :D

Her two best buddies stayed for a sleepover, but the 'boyfriends' came from 7-10 last Friday night. Marten and I were banished to the computer room (we're so embarrassing) and they opened presents, goofed around, watched a movie, ate snacks and took pictures. We gave Nicolle a Sony camera. She's very happy about that.

Logan Gibbs and Nicolle, Lucas Pineau and Amanda Rogers, Heather VanVeen and Nathan Axworthy

It's now 12 days away from our Disney trip and I can't tell you how exciting that is for us. We are SOOOOO looking forward to it. I'm going to be warm. Most days you'll find me in turtle necks, fleece and cuddled in a blanket. Give me summer!

That reminds me of Andy Rayner. As we speak, he and his son are on a mission's trip in Africa. You can read all about their amazing work in his blog, which is listed in my list, off to the side, over there, --> --> Check it out. They are doing some amazing things for the Lord.

I'll finish this post with a Valentine's card for you (Marten's getting the actual one!). I hope you enjoy the day with your loved ones and feel down right special. You are! Love you, Karen

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

New year blew in with a LOT of wind and snow this year but we managed to party with our friends, David and Paula and kids, before the severe weather started. It was a slow drive home though, and I had to pry my fingers off the stearing wheel once I pulled into the garage. Yikes. I was glad that was over. I don't enjoy driving in the best of times.
We had a wonderful time at David's. We arrived at 7pm and thought we'd leave around 10ish because we had the kids with us. We were still eating fondue at 10 and it was so much fun we just stayed. The snow started around 11:30 but we thought we'd survive 30 more minutes. Paula had New Year poppers, presents for everyone and fancy glasses of pop to toast the New Year in. It was a lot of fun.

To go backwards in time... we had a great Christmas too. Lots of goodies, food, and company. I've posted the Pakje Day pictures on my facebook page if you'd like to see them. It was a GREAT day!
Here's some pics of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day:

At Kathy's Apartment, 1 present on Christmas Eve, twins

Mom and kids, Santa boxes, our beautiful tree.

We hope you had a great Christmas too. From our house to yours, we wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's Christmas Time!

And you know what that means? Concerts, concerts, concerts. Shopping, shopping, shopping. Birthday parties, parties, and baking, and cleaning, and decorating. And the list goes on. It's been a very busy month and I haven't had time to blog. But it's been a happy time.
Nicolle and Jason did excellently on their reports cards this term. Nicolle has an 89% average. We're very proud of her. Jason is "meeting expectations" and has lots of "Exceeding expectations". Amazingly smart kids!!! says the proud mommy! Here are their grade 7 and grade 2 pictures:


Jason had his birthday party last Friday. We invited 7 boys, 5 came. It was a wild, loud time. Boys are a handful! This year, Jason didn't want a theme! What???? I was lost. I hardly knew what to do for a 'normal' party. We just played games, ate and opened presents. Jason had a great time.

And here's the millenium boys at the family birthday party:

We had our church sunday school concert this past weekend, too. Nicolle was Mary and Jason was a shepherd. Aaron and Cassie were in it too, of course!

Nicolle played in her school band concert. She's really improving in her flute. I love to hear her practice. The band is 'one of the best the school's had' according to Mrs. Andrews and they're going to go to Halifax in April.
Jason's school concert was tonight. He was an elf. So cute! Here's a picture of him and his class:


We're eagerly awaiting Saturday. That's Pakie Day! Nieuwhof Christmas will be held at our house this year. We're looking forward to seeing Amanda and Matt. We'll really miss Dianna and Mary and their families this year. And of course, we always miss Tetcy and hers. We send our love and please know that we are thinking of you!

As usual, my mother and sister will join us on Christmas Eve and be with us for Christmas. My uncle Floyd will join us for the big meal and then later in the afternoon, my aunt and cousins will come! Can't have Christmas without them! It's tradition!

So that's a quick update on our lives. I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!