Nov 27, 2010 Kale Dinner Fundraiser

Our youth put on their yearly kale dinner/auction/talent night as a fundraiser.
Great food and entertainment for everyone. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. They all worked very hard.

Nathan VanEgmond & Sonya DeWal making sure the bucket gets full.

Excellent dinner. Kale with sausages, buns & bacon bits. What could be better than that for all us dutchies?

Long lineup for the dinner. Lucky for us, our table was among the first to get the dinner, but the last for the dessert.

It was packed full of people. Great support for our youth.

Sara Kennedy, Jake Kuipers & Kaitlin Wikkerink.

The auction table goodies. I was fortunate enough to get the huge poinsettia. Looks awesome in my living room.

Brenda with her weekend baby. Parenting class.

Kelly-Lynn snuggling with her grandpa.

Delicious apple crisp and ice cream for dessert.
After dinner, the auction and talent show started. The MCs for the evening were Laura & Luke Snyder. The whole evening was a great hit. They raised $3000. Well done everyone, and a big thank you for all your hard work.

Maurice VanEgmond giving Erin a hug.

James & Arden Kroesbergen singing a beautiful song dedicated to lost friends and family.

Arden wrote the song.

More people participated in the talent show but the pictures did not turn out well. Awesome entertainment.

Had to sneak in this content squirrel. It takes the squirrels most of the winter to eat all the seeds off these two maples.

Nov. 24 2010 Babysitting my "great-nieces"

Babysat 3 great-nieces for the day while their moms had a shopping day.
Two year old Jelayna, and her cousins one year old Kristen two year old Autumn.
Only took 158 pictures. Hard to stop when they are soooo cute.

It didn't take them long to feel at home. Cheerios in all the dishes.

I had such fun with them. They played great, ate well and pooped all day.

Autumn, Kristen & Jelayna.

My brother Herman popped in and we took the kids downstairs while we had our coffee.

Autumn on the horse I picked up at a silent auction.

Kristen is not sure how to put on this hat.

Almost got it!

Got it.

Oh oh, can someone help me?

That was such fun.

Autumn looking pretty cute with another hat on. She wouldn't stay still long enough for more kodak moments.

Jelayna's turn.

Is she angelic or what?

Jelayna almost fell over with all the weight around her neck. Too bad she wasn't wearing the hat anymore.

Time for lunch. Who else has 3 or more highchairs in their home? So surprised that they all came willingly upstairs to eat. They gobbled up whatever we fed them. They loved the fruit. I love giving little people fruit. Just ask my kids. Then send them home, and the parents suffer the consequences:)

After her (short) nap, more snacks. The kids ate half a box of Gold Fish crackers. But we won't tell their parents. They loved using all the dishes. Fishies were everywhere. lol

One needs to stretch after such a big meal followed by a bottle. (I think her shoes are on the wrong feet :)

Some quiet time while Kristen is still sleeping. This tape recorder with mic was a big success.

They all figured out how to use it. Autumn loved the music.

And so did Jelayna. Probably a toy neither homes have.

All wrapped up in her blanky. We kept tying it up. She loved it.

Love the scrunchy face Jelayna makes.

Not difficult to get a smile from Kristen. All you do is point the camera at her and she gives you an adorable smile. Such a ham.

Autumn was doing circles around the dining room/kitchen. Each time I took pictures of her when she came flying around the corner. Captured a few cute ones.

This one is my favorite. Love Jelayna in the corner watching the action.

Karaoke?

And how does this work??

I see. Just blow/spit in it.

Got it.

The big red spot under her eye is from dropping a toy while laying on her back.

Posing for a last picture before going home. When Marianne came to pick up her two, I said to Autumn that I would miss her. She said. "I will come back" What a sweetie. Loved spending the day with these little ones. They were so adorable. Got a gorgeous poinsettia from Arlene & Marianne. Thank you so much. I love it.

Nov 12-15, 2010 Hamilton-Chatham-Sarnia

We spent the weekend visiting all our far away children and grandchildren. We left at 4:30 am on Friday morning to get through Toronto traffic before rush hour. We arrived in Hamilton at 7:15. Marcel and Kevin were going to help Michael replace the soffits, eaves and fascia on the house. Kevin left the night before to pick up Michael from Chatham. Michael is a pro at this.

We had to wait for Michael and Kevin to return from Chatham before the work could begin.

Meanwhile, Amy went through the Xmas ornaments Herman sent along for them.

Michael setting the tone for the labor

Marcel was on the two step ladder, and it slipped off the edge of the step when he was getting down. By the look on his face, he's in pain.

Rachel giving me her cute smile.

Micah fell off his little bike. I think the handlebar hit his forehead.

Micah & Danielle

Amy and I took the kids shopping. But first picked up some Robaxin and a heat pad for Marcel's back. He stayed on the couch for a few hours eating Robaxin. Kevin had a few appointments at work, so Michael was left all alone to work on the house. Some helpers.
By the time Kevin came back, Marcel was ""feeling good"". And the work continued.

The kids were pretty happy with this train from their uncle Herman.

Micah also wanted a pigtail like his sisters.

The many faces of Danielle.

Definitely up to something!

The best giggler.

A super cute shot of the three monkeys.

Some places are hard to get at.

All the men working again. Marcel was doing the cutting and Michael and Kevin the screwing.

They worked till dusk. Even with lights, but decided to finish on Saturday.