February Recap

We have definitely enjoyed this mild weather lately! Haven't been up to anything too exciting but here's a recap of the past couple of weeks.

The boys were getting sick of holding Jade in the tub and frankly I didn't want to do a separate bath for her (my energy is gone by the end of the day!) so I bought this bath seat from a friend and it works great! As Jade is getting bigger it works better every time.

No, our bath water is not rusty! The boys are obsessed with the tablets that change the water color so they each get to pick one out each night. Makes them get in the tub real quick!

A couple weeks ago we took Carter to a Griffins game. He had a ton of fun and was spoiled with popcorn, cotton candy and pop. He thought it was cool that he got to give the mascot a high five. This is the best pic I could get of our little knuckle head.

For Valentine's Day this year we had a fun themed dinner. Nothing fancy but fun none the less. Here is our place settings with daddy's card and Carter's Sunday School love bug craft with the verses from 1 Corinthians that we read.

Our Valentine sweetheart!

Our red table with my boys. Pink mashed potatoes and heart shaped jello!

This week we started the fun (not!) of rice cereal. I think Jade liked the taste of it but as you can see couldn't quite figure out how to swallow it. Our little peanut will be 5 months tomorrow..she's getting big way too fast!

Brian's Birthday

This past Monday (1/30) was Brian's (32nd!!) birthday. Him and I actually celebrated a few weeks ago when I surprised him and took him to the Brad Paisley concert (with Scott McCreery and The Band Perry). It's quite a funny story of how I surprised him...he had NO clue!! We started off the night by going to 25 Kitchen and Bar across from the Van Andel...it was yummy! Thunder 94.5 was also having a pre-party there so we met all the DJ's from the station. The concert was AWESOME; we had a blast!
This past Sunday we celebrated with our families . Brian has been a NY Giants fan since grade school, I think, so since they are in the Superbowl I went with a football themed party. Have to a have a theme for Carter. :) Here is the cake I made him (it had footballs on the side). I quick took the candles out to take a picture (hence the holes). All the dudes helping him open his presents. Carter, Trey and cousin Kasen. Singing Happy Birthday! On his actual birthday we went to Crazy Horse with all 5 of us...phew...we survived but don't need to try that again for a while. :) Carter thought it was such a treat though since we don't take them to restaurants much anymore.

Jade @ 4 months

Last Friday we had Jade's 4 month appt. She is a little peanut!!! She weighed 11 lbs, 8 oz (b/t 5th and 10th percentile) and was 24.5 inches long (50th percentile). Her head was in the 10th percentile. Our boys weighed more than this at 2 months! I am not complaining though...I could keep her little forever. :)

She is still a very content and happy baby. She sleeps about 11-12 hours per night and takes a good morning and afternoon nap and then a cat nap around dinner time. She loves when the boys entertain her and even likes her jumperoo and exercauser already. We are just loving her to pieces and her giggle is the best!

Pretty pretty princess

I always knew that if I had a little girl that she would have pretty pierced ears. I didn't think Brian would be okay with it and honestly had plans to just do it one day but then it got brought up at Christmas and he was game for it! When I was little I remember my mom taking me at least a couple of times and I would leave crying and not get it done so I knew I didn't want to have to go through that with Jade! So last Friday night we were going to go to Rivertown as a family but the roads were really bad so instead my mom and I went Saturday morning (Brian was glad he got out of it b/c he didn't want to see his little girl in pain).

Here is the before picture. Jade was actually belly laughing at the lady....it was hilarious. The whole store was laughing! She obviously didn't know what was coming!
Ah...neither of us too sure (don't mind the horrible picture of me...I had to shut my eyes). She didn't do them both at once b/c little ones move to much but she did the second one so quick I didn't even know she was done.
Ah...all done and hardly any tears. She probably cried for 30 seconds and was fine. My mom admitted she was glad she was along b/c she can honestly say it wasn't bad at all. The worst part was all the people watching!
A close up of her pretty pink earrings...so far they haven't bugged her a bit and look great. Carter says now she is starting to look like me. :)

Snow Fun

A few pics of some winter fun over here at the Meeuwsen's. On the days it's way too cold to go outside we take the snow inside! The boys LOVE it. We add food coloring to a water bottle and I let them play away. With a towel underneath their stuff it really isn't messy at all. Carter loves to help dad...here he is helping him shovel the driveway on a chilly Saturday morning.
Before the snow all melted on Monday Carter and I went outside to quick build a snowman. Phew...my friend Kath wasn't kidding when she said it's a workout! By noon our snowman was melted but we still had fun doing it.
As you can see Trey is not in the outdoor pictures. He HATES all his snow stuff on...I even made him put it all on the other day and put him outside and he threw a fit. I know it is hard when they are so little so he was content as can be just watching us from the window. When the boys are inside they LOVE to love on their little sis. :)

My Besties

Taking a break from a family post to a friend post. These lovely ladies are truly my best friends, Kathy (left) and Jenni (right).

Jen and I have known each other our entire lives. She was actually born on the day I was baptized. When we were about 3 she moved into my neighborhood and from then on we were inseparable. We didn't go to the same church or school but since we each only had one brother we were basically sisters. And of course fought like sisters at times too! You name it, Jen and I have done it together....we even worked together in high school and she met her husband b/c of me. :) We now live only 4 miles apart and I know we will be best friends for life!

Kathy and I met in high school at Holland Christian. Our freshman year after seeing each other in class after class we soon realized we had 6 classes together and from then on out we became friends. Her friends from HC welcomed a small town girl from Borculo into their group. :) As a family each summer we always vacationed at Hutchins Lake and it was cool to find out Kathy LIVED on that lake! We lived about 45 minutes apart but spent many a weekends together!

With both of these gals we have been through a lot...they both lost small children and through that they were able to support each other and help me know how to help the other one. They truly are girl friends that I know will be friends for life. You ladies have been such a blessing to me and not a week goes by where we don't talk. You have been a shoulder to cry on, an ear for listening and given me advice when needed. You often find things out before Brian :) and I love you girls more than you will ever know! Thank you for being you! I know God hand picked you to be in my life.



And these are the three handsome little dudes that are now best friends! We all had boys within 6 months of each other and Carter adores Liam (left) and Jackson (right). My prayer is that they remain friends growing up as they see the friendship that their mommy's have!

Jade's Baptism

Yesterday we had the honor and privilege of having Jade baptized as we promised to love, encourage and raise her to be a child of God's love as he has already received her as his own. It was a great day for us to be surrounded by family and friends.

It was especially special for me b/c she wore the dress that I was baptized in 30 years ago. Here are some pics of the dress and the accessories she wore with it.
Her headband was made by the fabulous Kait at LOKDesigns. And the locket necklace was mine that I wore.Her initial/birthstone bracelet was made by a church friend of my mom's.
So cute shoes!Me and my girlie ready to go to church.Quick pic with her brothers. Don't their faces show trouble? :) Being baptized by Dr. Stouten along with Kurt Henry.

After church we went to mom and dad Meeuwsen's for lunch. These were the yummy desserts made by Holland Cakery.And I wanted to get a family pic....this picture tells it all! Carter being crazy, Trey just had a major blow out and Jade just hanging out as usual! Jade with Grandpa Cliff and Grandma Karen.Jade with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Mary Ann.We look forward to raising Jade along with her brothers to be a follower of Jesus.