Flower Girl Wedding Bliss

Yesterday we got to celebrate the wedding of my cousin Peter and Christine. It was a beautiful day! Peter asked Abby to be the flower girl in the wedding and she was thrilled. We went to rehearsal on Friday night and everyone seemed nervous. Abby talked with me later on the car ride home and said that she was scared that everyone would be looking at her and that she would mess up. We prayed together before she went to bed and she felt better. The next morning she climbed into bed with me and told me that she was feeling ready for the wedding because Jesus told her that she would do great. And Jesus was right! Abby and Papa are sharing a giggle during rehearsal on Friday night. My dad was the pastor for the ceremony so it was fun to watch her walk down the aisle smiling at her papa.

Here's my precious daughter!

Here's the beautiful couple!

I had Abby practice walking down the aisle so that I could get some pictures of her because I waited at the back with her until right before she headed down the aisle so I didn't get to see her. My family all said she looked great and smiled nicely. Yeah!

Here we are after the wedding. I wanted to grab a quick picture of the us together before we needed to go blow bubbles. I was so proud of Abby! She did a fantastic job.

Here's Abby with all her cousins. Girls just love all things beautiful, especially weddings!

My siblings are awesome!

My mom and my grandma. Two beautiful women!

Abby and Sophie started blowing bubbles right away. They thought it was a fun idea.

After the wedding we took all the kids home and left them with our awesome friend Hannah and headed to the reception. We had a great time. My sister and her husband, my brother and his wife, my cousin Andy, and the wedding photographers were all at my table. We laughed and laughed and laughed and I even drank mint coffee! Hehe!

My Girls are Mermaids in the water

The drywallers have started downstairs, Grace is down for her morning nap (because she woke up at 5:15 am), Abby is munching on Fruit Loops while she watches PBS and I am sipping coffee. Since I've been reprimanded lately for not updating, I thought I would sit and give a quick one.
Yesterday after Abby's swimming lessons we headed over to the Holland Aquatic Center to meet Misha and her niece Lily for some splashing, swimming and giggling. We had such a great time. The water was so nice and warm and all 3 girls love the water. I told Abby that I thought she might turn into a fish because she was in the water so much, but she quickly corrected me and said that she'd turn into a mermaid not a fish. :) Don't you love this pose? Abby and Lily were adorable in the water. Lily adored Abby and Abby was so gentle and helpful with her. Grace just kept herself busy sticking her face in the bubbling fountains.

This picture makes me smile every time I see it. What an adorable girl! She loves getting water poured over her head. She even does it to herself! I also love this picture because it shows how long her hair is getting. She's never had a haircut and it usually looks so short, but when it's wet, it looks so long. She looks like a completely different person.

The pool had these little buckets and Grace loved them! She filled them up and poured them out and filled them up and poured them out (often right on her head). Silly girl!

Abby and Lily on the tire swing. Cuties!

Abby loved practicing keeping her head under water and was able to do it for 10 counts. Yeah!!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and DANCE!

I just love it when my girls dance. Especially when they dance together. God is good to me.

VBS Memory Verse

Last week was VBS at our church. Abby loves going and singing new songs. We always buy the CD because the songs are sooo cute. I have lots of adorable video on the kids singing, but I won't bore you with them because their loooong. They did learn a memory verse from John 3:16. I love it that she's learning memory verses and I hope that they become a part of her. It is my constant prayer that these verses she's learning will impact her heart, her language and her love for God and others.

Random Pictures

Okay, I need to tell you right away that none of these pictures were taken by me. I totally hacked them from my friends on facebook. But they were so adorable that I just had too! I got together with our scam friends last week and the kids played outside in the water table and the pool. Grace of course, just ate the bubbles all night.

This picture is from our visit to Hoffmaster but I wanted to put it on the blog because it's beautiful! What a honey!

This one is also from our Hoffmaster visit. I love that Grace is looking right at the camera and that you can easily read her HOPE sweatshirt.

Here's a portion of our scam group. I love these ladies!

Vacation Pics

I've finally gotten around to updating some pictures to the blog from our vacation time. We've been "vacationing" for the last three weeks and it's been busy. I took the girls to CranHill for the first week and we were there alone in the trailer. The weather started out rainy, but ended up warm and sunny. We stayed at CranHill for the second week too and were joined by Papa and Nana and the Zomermaand family. Ahhhh...the best week ever!! The third week my parents were camping here in Holland and we were in and out of the campground all week. I didn't have time to upload all of the pictures, but here's a snapshot of our time. Abby got to make a butterfly net at craft hour at CranHill. While she made the craft Grace played on the ipad. Too funny!

Here's Grace driving the big red tractor at CHR. This tractor is legendary and has been there forever! I'm so glad that my girls now get a chance to ride on it.

Grandma Barb invited Abby to a nail-painting party. It was too cute!! Abby had her fingers painted blue with orange dots and her toes were yellow with red dots. She was so ecstatic and showed them off to everyone. You rock Grandma Barb!!

Hannah and Steven took Abby fishing. Even though they went in the middle of the day everyone caught a fish, even Abby!

These two snuggled every morning.

We camped right across from a playground and it was perfect. Both girls played there all day long. Grace's smile never left her face. :)

Abby loved the swings and learned how to pump herself! This was a huge accomplishment for her and outside of the occasional underdog from me, she did great!!

One of the things we love about CHR are the pony rides. Abby got to ride "Mocha" twice while we were there. She loves horses!!

One afternoon they put up some inflatable for the kids to run though. This was a perfect way to get rid of energy and have fun. Abby went through the obstacle course over and over again.

We ventured to the lake often because it was so hot! Grace likes to call the water "wa-dee". They splashed and floated and created sand castles.

Every 4th of July CHR hosts a parade and invites all the kids to come and decorate their bikes. Abby was thrilled to be able to ride her bike in the parade. I'm not sure who did more decorating on her bike, me or her. Regardless, the bike turned out great! There was also a petting zoo and Abby loved holding onto the bunnies. It was a great vacation!!!