Critter Barn

Today I accompanied Esther and her class on a field trip to the Critter Barn in Zeeland. God blessed us with a chilly, but dry day after many rainy days, so we were thankful for that!

The kids and adults had a great time learning about various animals, holding them, and helping to feed them. It was a very fun day!

Little Green Thumbs

Esther, Peter and Daddy are going to attempt to grow a small garden this year. Casey built a 4x4 box behind our house, and they started the seeds inside last Friday.


Five days later, the kids are very excited by the progress they are seeing! Hopefully everything will transfer well to the outside garden, and maybe the kids' vegetable intake will increase this summer since they'll have a hand in growing them!

What Is It?

In case you're wondering, this is what a roll of toilet paper looks like after a 3-year-old unrolls the entire thing and his mother makes him roll the entire thing back up by himself.

Last Visit from Corduroy

This week Esther had her last turn of the year for taking Corduroy home. Corduroy was very busy and had a lot of fun at our house. Esther brought the doll high chair up from the basement so that he could eat his meals in there, and he slept in her bed both nights.

On Thursday morning, all 6 of us went to Marge's for donuts. Mommy didn't have to work until later in the day, and Daddy joined us on his way to work. Corduroy wore the Marge's onesie again and all the kids wore their shirts. It was pretty cute!


Friday was a beautiful day, so we ventured to the Meijer Gardens for one last visit to the butterflies and to play outside in the children's garden. My parents went along, which is always wonderful! Miriam spent a lot of time leading Grandpa up and down the paths while Esther and Peter played in the sand area. They were also able to play in the water area for the first time this season and got pretty soaked.

I was able to go to school with Esther on Friday afternoon to be the helper. It's so fun to see what they do and watch her interact with her teachers and friends and to hear about what they learn. Friday was "pigs in the mud" day, so we had pigs in the blanket and gummi worms for a snack. That was a big hit with the kids!

Esther with her amazing teacher Mrs. M and teacher's aide Mrs. D

One of their stations was playing in the "mud" (chocolate pudding)!

Preschool Highlights

Esther's teacher takes hundreds (or maybe thousands!) of pictures of the students every year. I borrowed a couple of the CDs to find pictures of Esther doing various activities. Rather than go back and try to create posts that fit chronologically on the blog, I'll just put them all here. It's hard to believe that in another month, she will be done with preschool! She has had an amazing year of learning and growing and having fun.

October 17: Post Family Farm

October 31: Esther and her 5th grade buddy, Ciara

The class with the suitcase they filled with school supplies for children in the Dominican Republic as a service project.

February 4: Pony Express

February 11: Fire Department Field Trip, partially led by Daddy after the full-timers had to leave for a fire call!

March 18: Class Circus

Esther's 1st Soccer Game

Today was the big day. Esther has been looking forward to her first soccer game for a while, and what a gorgeous day we had for it! While she was getting her uniform on she said, "This is SO exciting!" Then she was washing her hands and looking at herself in the mirror and she commented, "I look cool!" She remarked several times later in the day about how much fun she had at her game.

We were very proud of her for going right onto the field and getting into the action, especially since she didn't know any of her teammates or her coach. That type of situation often makes her nervous, but she did a great job and looked like a natural! She probably should have received a prize for having the biggest fan club, because in additon to the 4 of us, she also had Grandpa and Grandma W. as well as Uncle Jeff, Aunt Renee and Tyler cheering for her. It was a lot of fun, and we are very proud of our little soccer star!

Peter's New Wheels

The other day as we were on a bike ride, I noticed a large bulge in one of Peter's bike tires. Just after we got in the garage it popped (great timing!) Since his bike was a hand-me-down from a friend and it was starting to feel a little small for him, we decided that instead of replacing the tire, we'd just move him up to a bigger bike.

After Esther's soccer game, Daddy and Peter went off to Toys R Us to check out the selection. After trying out a few, Peter settled on this one, which is actually the boy version of Esther's bike. Since it was such a beautiful day, he was able to spend quite a bit of time breaking it in!

Pebbles Kuperus

Apparently Miriam read the blog again, because after keeping her barrettes in all day for several days, she started taking them out again. We decided to try another method of keeping her hair out of her eyes, so this is the hairdo she's been sporting for the last couple days...

Do you see any resemblance?

Happy Easter!

Well, the end of a wonderful spring break has come, but what a blessing to celebrate Easter and our risen Savior today! We got up and the kids found their Easter baskets with a couple small gifts from us.


Then we went to church to celebrate the real meaning of Easter and enjoyed a beautiful service which ended with the singing of "In Christ Alone," one of my favorite songs.

My sister and Casey's parents and brother came to our house for dinner. Grandma has been working on a quilt for Esther's bed, and she brought the finished product today. It looks so pretty and really brightens up her room!

We were also excited that Grandpa and Grandma W. arrived back from Florida late this afternoon. We have missed having them around and are very happy that they are back! Miriam was especially cuddly with them.

Spring Break Day 9

Esther and her friends had a great time at the sleepover with Aunt Karen. They even had initial-shaped pancakes for breakfast!


This morning Casey took Peter on some errands and while they were gone, our neighbor Dore played Easter bunny again for the kids. She put eggs all over our front yard and some gifts on the porch. We timed it so that Casey and Peter would arrive back about the same time as Karen and Esther, and they were very excited to find all the eggs! We were glad that it was warmer and less white than last year when we did this.

In the afternoon we took another bike ride to the park.

Later Esther made a thank-you card for the Easter Bunny. Karen asked her where the Easter Bunny lives and she pointed across the street toward Dore's house. You really can't fool this girl, but at least she plays along with the fun!