Honey

Meet Honey, Molly’s new friend.
She’s a 5-year-old beagle, who’s as sweet as can be. : )

 

 

We rescued her from the Humane Society.
Just couldn’t resist those big, brown eyes ; )

 

The kids think she’s just Ryan’s size!

 

 

Awww… best friends already : )

Christmas Program 2013

Here are a few videos from this year’s Christmas Program at Heritage PRC.
Many of you have already seen this, as our kids were blessed to have both sets of grandparents at the program, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Since we enjoyed the live-streaming of our nieces’ and nephews’ program so much, we decided to share these videos anyway for those who were not able to be there.
We hope you enjoy the program as much as we did! : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Greetings 2013

 

‘Tis the season for the annual Christmas update...

  All is well here in South Dakota. The highlight of 2013 was moving into our new home. When we sent out last year's letter, we included our new address in anticipation of moving in the spring. After months of planning, building, and remodeling, we finally moved over Labor Day weekend. We are especially enjoying the fact that we now have plenty of room for our family and friends. If you are ever in the area be sure to let us know. We'd love to have you come and take a spin down the slide or try out the sledding hill! : )

  When he's not working on getting the sledding hill ready, Paul keeps busy with his work as a family physician for Sanford Health. He enjoyed pitching for our church softball team again this summer, and has gotten to be a pro at replacing ballasts at church. He ran his first 5K this spring, and tries to make sure Molly gets plenty of exercise and the opportunity to chase up a few pheasants.

  Erin completed her first ever Pinterest-inspired craft project this year, a wall of multi-colored photo frames used to display the kids' art projects. It went surprisingly well, in spite of the fact that Ryan got a hold of one of the frames immediately after it had been spray-painted. She is enjoying helping out as a Room Mom for Evan & Luke's classroom this year, which has included field trips to an apple orchard and corn maze, as well of lots of good food and fun times.

Jenna entered 5th grade this fall, which has opened up a whole new world of experiences including track meets, soccer games vs. the parents and other schools, combined choir songs, and the annual campout at Lake Pahoja. She's becoming quite a pianist, and is trying to decide if she should learn to play the clarinet or violin for band next year.

   Evan is our newest musician, as he has also started taking piano lessons. Between playing the piano, learning his catechism, and doing his daily vision therapy exercises, he is a busy 2nd grader. He spends his spare time playing all kinds of sports, and especially enjoys beating his Dad in Backyard Baseball on the computer.

  Luke started Kindergarten this fall, and loves it! He can often be heard singing at the top of his lungs as he gets ready for school in the morning. Keeping him busy on his days at home is a bit of a challenge, although he does enjoy playing trains with Ryan and helping Mom out in the kitchen.

  Kara is 4 years old and will be ready to start school next year. She enjoys her monthly classes at the Outdoor Campus about the animals of South Dakota. She talks most of the time and has only one volume - very loud. She really likes princesses, dressing up, and playing dolls or Barbies. She's also been known to sneak the iPhone into her bed to play it after the lights go out.

  Ryan celebrated his 1st birthday in May, and started walking at about 15 months. Since then he's given up walking altogether, and runs everywhere he goes. He's a busy boy, and leaves quite a trail behind him. He's been caught playing in the toilet more times than the rest of our children combined. His favorite words are "NoNoNo" and "MamaMama", and on our recent road trip to visit the Mowerys in Colorado for Thanksgiving, he used both of those words many, many times.

This year's photo was taken at Wisconsin Dells in July. We made some great family memories swimming at the Polynesian hotel, watching the Tommy Bartlett waterski show, riding the Ducks, eating at Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty and Moosejaw Pizza, and losing most of our golf balls in the water at Pirates Cove Mini Golf. From there we headed to Lake Webster, Indiana, for some great times with the De Jong clan. We were able to get together with all the Van Egdoms as well, at Joey & Sherry's wedding in June. We also tried something new and healthy this year by joining a CSA. Some of us were more excited than others to see which vegetables our share included each week. : )

For more on our adventures in 2013, be sure to check out the previous posts on this blog. Here you'll find more about sledding, tractor rides, Valentine’s Day, Paul's birthday at the Ramada, the devastating spring ice storm which left us without electricity for almost 4 days, visiting the Laura Ingalls homestead in De Smet, SD, chapel programs, Mothers’ Tea, taking family classes in paddling, fishing, and geocaching at the Outdoor Campus, a Canaries baseball game, and camping at Paullina, IA and Newton Hills, SD.

We eagerly anticipate spending time with many of you during this holiday season, and look forward to hearing from many of you who we won’t be able to see. May the true joy of the gift of God’s Son fill your hearts this Christmas and throughout the coming year.

With Love,

Paul & Erin De Jong
Jenna, Evan, Luke, Kara & Ryan

Colorado Thanksgiving

Last week we made a quick road trip to Colorado to visit Sarah & B.J and family.
While our stay was short, it was also very sweet. The kids had a wonderful time playing with their cousins, and we adults thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship as well.

 

Cousins who love to read!

 

Heading to the model train museum in Greeley. Beautiful!

 

The kids were very excited to find the items on the scavenger hunt.
(Actually, the adults really enjoyed it, too! : )

 

Time to make some tasty turkeys!

 

Leah & Jenna with their turkeys

 

Pretty sure Kara had her mouth full on this one ; )

 

The boys were very busy…

They had quite a flock by the time they were done!

I wish I had more pictures to share, but my camera was giving me a little trouble and we were having so much fun, there just wasn’t time to be taking pictures.

The kids will definitely remember the good times they spent playing together,
including jumping on the trampoline and camping in the tent downstairs : )

What a blessing to be able to spend Thanksgiving with those we love.
We have so much to be thankful for!

The Cake Boss Live

This post is actually not about the kids(!) Rather shocking, isn’t it? ; )

Last night, Paul & I saw the one & only Buddy Valastro live,
right here in Sioux Falls. For those of you who don’t know,
I’m a huge Cake Boss fan, and was super excited for the show. : )

We were not disappointed.
It.was.awesome!

We learned some cake decorating tips…

laughed a LOT, and had a great time!

And since my hubby spoils me rotten, I came home with a Carlo’s Bakery T-shirt.

Talk about a really fun date night.

Ryan Plays Peek-A-Boo

Been a little quiet on the blog lately, which simply means it’s been anything but quiet at home. We’ve been busy with the day-to-day, and not much that seems blog-worthy.

Just had to share this clip with you though. Talk about a typical youngest child…
this boy loves being the center of attention! Enjoy : )

Thanksgiving Chapel

Today was chapel day! We always look forward to chapel,
and enjoy visiting the kids at school afterward.
Here are their special numbers. Enjoy! : )

 

Fall Fun

 

Fireman Ryan

 

Luke just being Luke : )

 

Dressing up at the Visual Arts Center – what fun!

 

Playing in the leaves

 

Pumpkin Painting!

  

  

Counting our blessings

One of my favorite old hymns has the following chorus:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

We are counting our blessings today, especially in the children God has graciously given us to raise. Thanks to Jenny M Photography for these new photos!

 

Jenna Grace ~ 10 years

 

Evan James ~ 8 years

 

Luke William ~ 6 years

 

Kara Brielle ~ 4 years

 

Ryan Perry ~ 17 months

 

A snapshot taken outside the children’s museum in Brookings

Autumn Splendor

 

We went for a walk this morning and admired the gorgeous fall colors…

You can just see our house peeking through these trees. Beautiful!

 

Kara’s favorite : )

 

 
A couple more favorites

 

A patch of sumac just down the hill

 

“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
And he changeth the times and the seasons…”
Daniel 2:20&21

Happy Birthday, Evan!

This weekend was a whirlwind of birthday festivities,
as we celebrated Evan’s 8th birthday!

 

He invited his 6 second-grade classmates over,
and they had a LOT of fun! : )

 

 

Since Leah’s birthday is the day before Evan’s, we skyped our Colorado cousins while opening presents from Grandpa & Grandma VE.

 

His baseball birthday cake was a hit! : )

~

Evan’s birthday always brings back a flood of memories…

I’ll never forget lying on the ultrasound table at 34 weeks pregnant, seeing the black hole that should have been his tiny bladder, and finding out that something was terribly wrong with his kidneys.

He was diagnosed with posterior urethral valve disorder, which meant the outlet from his bladder was blocked. The amniotic fluid that should have been around his body was building up inside him instead. He was breech and there was not enough fluid for him to turn, so he was born a week later by C-section, exactly one month before his due date.

I’ll never forget lying on the table in the OR being prepped for the C-section, or being wheeled into the NICU to see him struggling to breathe for a few brief seconds.
That was all I saw of him for the first 24 hours.

He spent the next 10 days at the University of IL hospital. I’ll never forget the car ride home without him, or the ambulance ride through Chicago city traffic to the hospital where he would have his first surgery.

When he was 13 days old the valve was removed, and we went home the next day. We made many trips back for doctor’s appointments, and he was always on 3-4 medications. He never spit up, which was a blessing, because we always knew he got
the medicine he needed.

Evan’s kidneys had developed under a tremendous amount of pressure, and as a result one of them never functioned at all. When he was 13 months old, we decided to have that kidney removed at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, in order to avoid possible infection. I’ll never forget the doctor telling us he would bounce back in a day or two… and after 3-4 days he was still in so much pain we couldn’t hold him and he still wouldn’t eat at all.

Evan recovered fully after that surgery. He no longer needed to be on antibiotics, and his remaining kidney grew and compensated for the one that was gone.
Today he doesn’t take any medicine, and you’d never know he was missing a kidney except for the scar on his right side.

All these memories always bring me back to the same conclusion…
God is good.
In all of this, He graciously provided for all of our needs,
and blessed us with an abundance of support from our family & friends.
We have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Birthday, Evan James!
We love you so much!