It's been a while

It's been a while so I decided to do short sentences so this wasn't to lengthy....

1. Julianne turned 2 October 2
2. Jonathan turned 4 October 6
3. Mommy turned well we will just keep that to me October 28
4. Joshua got glasses, and looks mighty handsome
5. Celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving being thankful for everything that God has given us.
6. Enjoyed a beautiful fall played lots of football and volleyball & lots of bonfires in the backyard
7. Mark is gearing up in the bologna world for Christmas
8. Claire our dog is getting bigger
9. Joshua and Allison have started piano lessons and love them!!!
10. We changed the landscaping in the front of our house.
11. We have our decorations up for Christmas, lights outside and of course nothing was up before Thanksgiving!!
12. Most of the presents are taken care of ?...
13. We are ready to sit and celebrate the true meaning of this season
THE KING... HIMSELF SENT FOR US!!!!
May all of you take time to enjoy this holiday season and remember this saying Joshua & Allison keep saying that I think everyone should say when they think of Christmas.....
CHRIST MADE A SACRIFICE FOR US!!!!!

Where has the summer gone?

Wow, the last half of the summer has zoomed by and now I find myself at home with less children and reflecting on all the fun we had. Since I haven't posted in a while this will have to be a summary for everyone.

Joshua turned 9 and wow did he have a good birthday! he had friends over to play football, got some new legos to build things, and then got to go to a preseason football game!!

Allison played T-Ball it her in the pink shorts on first base all ready for action!

Jonathan and Julianne won 1st place in the kids division in the 4th of July parage in Pella!

We had to take a family picture for Mark's 20th class reunion and Mark and I got to spend a night away in Des Moines for this reunion. It was a good time for everyone the kids had fun at grandparents and we had some adult conversation and good times.

Then we got to celebrate Mark's dad's 80th birthday with the whole Van Gorp family being home for a weekend I will have pictures later of this. It was all 39 of us and loads of fun, laughing and a big water fight! Thanks Gary!

Then it was St. Louis here we come our family vacation for the summer. We packed the kids and took off. We were busy on vacation but everyone had a good time.

Here are the kids in the car.

We went to the arch, Union Station, Zoo, Grant's Farm and Joshua & Daddy did the football game, while the rest went shopping! All in all it was loads of fun.

Then we came home and ended our summer with a few last summer splash's and then it was back to school.


The First Day of School and they are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God has truly blessed us this summer with me being able to spend the time with the kids, the whole family being able to be together alot. It has been great and full of memories. Now to the new chapter of preschool, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and mommy being home a few mornings with only 1... This is the day that he has made let us rejoice in it and be glad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Member

The Van Gorp's newest member:

Claire Velma Van Gorp is our newest member to our family as of Friday. The kids picked out the name well daddy wanted Velma because we all like scooby doo but she is a girl so that didn't work so daddy thought of Velma. But since it is close to Joshua's birthday he gets to pick the name Claire it is. We have been looking for a puppy for a long time and we finally found one!!!

She is a part boxer/shar pei, She is the sweetest thing and cuddled right into Joshua's arms and fell asleep on the van ride home. She matches the color of the boy's hair so seems to fit well into the family. She just turned 8 weeks on Saturday so a puppy yet. But we are excited to watch her grow up with us.
Everyone is enjoying her!

Summer is going by

Today I realized that summer is zooming by and I am not ready for it to end. We have had such a fun summer and the fun is only beginning. We have lots of activities coming up in the next weeks that makes us look forward to each new week.
So here I am officially a blogger now. Don't know why but am going to try it out for a while.
This week we are looking forward to Joshua's 9th birthday party! It should be lots of fun. He is all into football so that is the theme. I should be making a cake or food right now but I am doing this instead. I think the party will be fun with lots of sports games for the kids to play. I can't believe my baby is growing up so much and turning into such a little man. It makes me think about the wonders of birth and the gifts we have been given to be parents to these precious children from our heavenly Lord who has given them to us to enjoy and raise for His honor and glory. What a true blessing.
This is the day may you rejoice and be glad in it!