Cole's Baptism

On April 11, Cole was baptized at our church. Baptism is such a special occasion and as Cole's parents, Kraig and I were very happy to make commitments to raise Cole in God's way and to teach him to love the Lord. This is the first spiritual milestone in Cole's life and we look forward to celebrating many more with him.

Birdies

Last week at my parents house, Avery got to help Grandma feed the birdies. These pictures bring back memories of when I used to feed the birds with my Grandpa Dykstra at his house. I love watching my kids form bonds and make memories with the grandparents as I have so many wonderful ones with mine.

Cole & Papa

Cole is the first boy on the VanZandbergen side of the family, and will soon be joined by another boy cousin in September. I am so excited to watch Cole and his cousin form bonds with their Papa since he has waited SO long for boys!

Happy Easter

Avery & Caleb checking out their Easter baskets

Avery & Cole before church

Avery opening their shared Easter basket from Mommy & Daddy

Easter treats at Grandma & Papa's house

We had a wonderful Easter this year. We celebrated on Easter day with the Kuipers family. My mom and dad were in Georgia for spring break so we celebrated with them a couple days earlier. We are so thankful for our families. After my mom's scare in the hospital, we again are reminded how fragile life can be and are so thankful that we can celebrate together. I was extra thankful for God's gift of his sacrifice of his Son this year as well, knowing the because He lives, we can face tomorrow and that someday we will all celebrate in Heaven together.

Sweet Boy

These are just a few random pics of Cole's first few weeks. He is such a honey and we love him so much. He fits so well into our family. I was worried about loving another little one enough and still loving Avery but I think God just puts more love in your heart because it has been so easy.

Siblings

I love these pictures because they show how much Avery loves Cole. She is always very into what he's doing and always has to know where he is. One day, we were getting ready to go away and as we were about to walk out the door, Avery says, "Mommy! Don't forget Cole." Love that girl. I'm sure as soon as Cole gets bigger, I will be breaking up fights and remembering these simpler days but I know that they will always love each other.

Our new normal

It's a beautiful life! The week after Cole was born was amazing. Kraig took the week off of work to be home with us, the weather was beautiful, we were enjoying our babes and we also got a call that Kraig got a new position at work which will allow him to get home every day now. It was a week filled with blessings and we are on our knees in thanksgiving to God. We look forward to what else he has in store for us. Thank you all for your love and support after the birth of Cole as well- you are all blessings to us.

Welcome to the Family

We welcome with Love,

Cole Alan Kuipers

Born March 12, 2010

at 10:36am

9 lbs. 2 oz. 20 inches

We are so blessed to annouce the birth of our son. We are beyond thrilled at what God has blessed us with. Our new life as a family of four could not being going better. Avery loves her little brother very much and has handled the change very well. We are so proud of her. Cole is a good baby so far and we hope that will continue. :) We give thanks to the Lord for he is good!

Moose #2

I am 39 weeks pregnant and had my routine OB appt today. Everything with the baby looks good but no progress yet. I did have an ultrasound to check the size of the baby since Avery was big and ultrasound predicts that he is currently approx 8lbs 6 oz. This doesn't mean anything yet except that we will probably have another "moose" on our hands. I am okay with that, just as long as he is healthy! Please pray that everything goes well. I am much more nervous about going into labor this time with Kraig being away from home for work. We know though, that God has a plan and will work everything out the way it is supposed to be. We can't wait to meet our little man and hold him in our arms. I have been talking to Avery alot lately about becoming a big sister. She still has no idea what is coming but once she gets used to it- she is going to be the BEST big sister. I know she will make us proud. Thank you for your prayers.

Avery Lynne

Firstborn

Sweet

Funny

Giver of Hugs

Lover of Snuggles

Sassy

Beautiful

Precious

Talkative

Deliverer of Smiles

Contagious Joy

Unconditional Lover

Silly

Maker of Many Faces

Piggyback Rider

Mommy's Girl & Daddy's "Pooker Jane"

Amazing Daughter,

Precious Child of God

(Written for Avery by Mommy on 2/13/2010. As we anticipate the birth of our son in only about 4 more weeks, I find my self feeling a little sad that Avery will no longer be my only child. I know that I will have enough love for 2 and once Baby Boy is here I won't be able to imagine life without him. I just know that we have been so blessed with such an amazing daughter and I feel absolutely lucky to have her. The past 2 1/2 years of her life have been the best 2 1/2 of mine and I thank God every day for each moment I have with her. We are praying for health and a safe delivery of Baby Boy and can't wait to meet him and kiss his sweet head and cry tears of joy for the goodness that God has filled our life with. Thank you to all of our family and friends who pray for us and support us, we love you all very much. And for the next 4 weeks, I will be getting in as much quality time and extra kisses with my beautiful firstborn!

Splash Universe

Very excited, headed to the pool for the 1st time.

The slide was a favorite- love her smile!

Playing with cousins

SPLASH!!!( a huge smile followed this splash every time)

Last weekend, we spent the weekend at Splash Universe in Indiana with the Kuipers family. This was the second year that we went to an indoor waterpark/hotel with the whole family. Kraig and I decided to take our family an extra night so we were there from Fri-Sun. We all had so much fun. Avery could do so much more this year and wasn't afraid at all. She was a fish, and was very brave. She loved jumping from the side and swimming all by herself. On Friday, it was less busy and I think she went down the kiddie slide about 100 times that day. The smile never left her face all weekend except for at 6am Saturday morning when we told her that we could not go to the pool yet because it wasn't open. :) Thanks Mom & Dad K for the fun weekend away!

Christmas Day

Miss BedHead opening presents

A KITCHEN SET!!!

Riding her pony.

We celebrated with my family on Christmas Day. We started with just the 3 of us at our house in the morning and then headed to my mom & dads a little later. "Santa" brought Avery a new kitchen set, which she loves. ( Kraig and I wish we had taken credit ) Avery was spoiled and loves playing with all of her new toys. This Christmas could not have been better. We had 2 days filled with so much fun, laughter, love and rejoicing over Christ's birth. Merry Christmas, we hope yours was as wonderful as ours.

Christmas Eve

The "big" kids

Uncle Kraig & Naomi

We started off all the Christmas fun with the Kuipers' family. We had such a fun night together as a family watching all the kids play together and get so excited about presents. We are blessed to have such wonderful family to spend the holidays with.

Avery's First Haircut

Ready and waiting

Here we go...

This is fun!

Baking Night

My mom, my sister and I try to get together every year before Christmas to bake a bunch of goodies. This year Avery got to help us. It is a fun tradition and it's very helpful to get all our baking done in one night.

Our baby boy

The picture didn't turn out great but I still wanted to share a recent ultrasound pic of our little guy. I am 27 weeks pregnant right now and things are going well. Early in my pregnancy I had mild placenta previa but a recent ultrasound shows that it has been resolved. Praise God! He is healthy and growing and so am I. I have not felt good this pregnancy and continue to struggle with that but am thankful for a healthy baby. We cannot wait to meet him. Right now, March still feels like a long way away but it will come fast after the holidays. We are getting his nursery ready and preparing for a new baby in the house. We are so blessed.

Big Girl Room

Such a proud big girl all ready for bed in her big girl bed.

Wall art above her bed.

I really cannot believe that I am posting about Avery's big girl bed. I just can't believe that she is old enough already. I remember working on her nursery, Kraig assembling the crib and anticipating when I could lay her in it and now she is sleeping in a big bed. I have loved putting together her big girl room and I am so proud of her but it is bittersweet. I wish that I could freeze time so that she will stay little for longer. There is a children's book that talks about celebrating your child's lasts. We always focus on their firsts, first smile, first word, first step, etc but this book talks about loving every moment because you never know when it will be your last time rocking them, feeding them a bottle, reading a book while they snuggle on your lap. The days go by so quickly and we feel so blessed to have such a sweet girl for our daughter.

Snow Time

All bundled up and ready to go.

Helping mommy shovel.

Snow angel...one of many.

Look, Mommy!

Avery was so excited when we got the first snow of the season. It actually rubbed off on me! She could not wait to go outside and play in it. She had her boots on as soon as she saw it. She kept yelling all morning, "SNOW TIME MOMMY!" As soon as we got outside she ran around, jumped in the snow and made a bunch of snow angels. It was so fun to see her reaction to the snow this year after not seeing it for so long.