Congratulations Dillon!

We are proud once again, of Dillon, for being on the honor roll at school. He ended the year with excellent grades. We are so proud of you Dillon... Great job!

The Waiting Is Over!

I know several of you have asked why I have not posted in a while, and honestly, the only answer I have for you is that life has been incredibly, crazy, busy lately! Last week we ran from place to place, event to event, with no time to spare. Even at night, which is when I usually blog, I was just too tired and chose to go to bed instead. I have several new things to post, but figure I will just work on getting one up at a time. So, for now... enjoy reading about Samantha's birthday and there will be more to come soon! Love, Steph

Happy 4th Birthday Samantha!

On August 6th Samantha had her 4th Birthday. I can't believe my little, baby girl is 4 years old already! The time has flown by so fast! I actually had a little bit of a hard time with this birthday, because I realized how much of a little girl she is, and not a baby. I wanted to make this birthday special for her because it seems like her birthdays have been a bit over looked in the past. Her 1st birthday was on the same day as her cousins blessing, on her 2nd birthday we were moving to Vegas, and last year we didn't do anything exciting... so this year, I decided was party year! Samantha chose completely on her own to have a Teddy Bear party. I have no idea where that came from, but that is what she wanted, and that is what I did.
I decided to do a Teddy Bear Picnic at the park. The kids each had a sack lunch that contained a peanut butter and honey sandwich shaped like a Teddy Bear face, Teddy Bear crackers, and grapes. I made labels for the water bottles that had bears on them and a space for the kids to write their names so that they could keep track of their own. I had a macaroni salad and chips for the moms.


After everyone was finished eating, I gave each of the kids a bear mask that I had made. They had fun coloring them with markers and wearing them everywhere. Next, we played Stick the Heart on the Bear. I drew a bear on a poster board, and had heart cut-outs for each of them. There ended up being 4 winners, and they each received a Teddy Bear coloring book.















After the game, I had the kids put their masks on and follow me on a "bear hunt". They hunted for a basket with a bear on it. There were little treat bags for each of them in it. The treat bags contained gummy bears, and bear shaped rice crispy treats that I had made.

















We then went back to the tables where everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and Samantha blew out her #4 candle. It was so cute to watch Samantha while everyone was singing, she was acting so shy and embarrassed, I think it was all a bit overwhelming to her.
*Just a little bit about the cake.... I attempted for the first time, to make a cake that wasn't just in a 9x13 pan. I made a little sitting up Teddy Bear. A friend of mine loaned me the pan and all of the decorating tips. I stayed up until 2:00 AM doing it, but I think it ended up being worth it. It turned out pretty cute for my first try. And just a funny sidenote: My friend Tara and I started a cake decorating on Thursday, the day after the party. Man, that class sure would have come in handy when I was making that cake!
















Samantha's shyness passed quickly as she realized that it was PRESENT time! I wanted to do something a little different with the gift giving thing. I always feel like that part of birthday parties is so chaotic and rushed. So, I set up two chairs, one for Samantha, and one for the child giving the gift. The child giving the gift got to sit on the chair next to Samantha and hand her the gift and watch her open it. This gave Samantha the chance to acknowledge and thank the child giving her the gift. It worked very well and all of the kids were excited to get to sit in the gift giving chair.


I was really happy with how the party turned out, and I think that everyone had a lot of fun. I have to thank my friends Tara Reynolds, and Taren Morris for helping me pull it off. Thank heavens I have friends here that are always so willing to help me.

Happy Birthday my little Samantha, I hope you enjoyed your day...!

Happy Birthday Tara!

Yesterday was our good friend Tara's Birthday. Shawna (another friend of ours), all the kids, and I were able to take her out to lunch to one of her favorite places, Don Antonio's. We picked up a dragonfly balloon, some flowers, and a cake for her before. I snuck them in and had the waitress bring them out after we were done eating. The waitress was so nice and patient, especially with as many kids as we had. Surprisingly though, they were all pretty well-behaved, until the end when their "15 minute window" ran out. Hee, hee, that is what Dustin calls it. It is the little window of time that you have when your kids are actually good, when that window is up, it is time to go. We did have a lot of fun, and we hope that Tara did too. Happy Birthday Tara!

This is the canvas collage that I made Tara for her Birthday.

Toxic Audio

On Saturday my good friend Tara invited me to go to the show Toxic Audio with her. Toxic Audio is a group that does everything completely acapella. They are absolutely incredible. They sing, and do all the background music, and sound effects only with their voices. It was awesome, I was so happy to go. It was a really nice break for me. I appreciate Dustin watching the kids while we went. I was able to purchase a CD and have them all sign it. All of the members of the group were so fun and friendly. Going to that show makes me want to go to more! I loved it! Hopefully I will get to take advantage of a few more while I still live here.

Swimming Fun!

Last week we went swimming at the Yellowstone pool with our friends Tara Reynolds, Aimee Cooper, and Kollen Marchant, and all their kids. It is always so nice to be able to cool down at the pool. Thank heavens Tara lives in the Yellowstone community and let's us use her pool key! Thanks Tara!

Forecast: Sunny, Hot, and Tornado?

Headline:

Tornado Strikes Las Vegas Girls Bedroom

A rare phenomenon occurred today as a tornado struck a house in Las Vegas, causing damage to only one room. The room belongs to little, almost four year old, Samantha Veenendaal. Authorities are adamant that this occurrence is rare, but worry that it could happen again. They believe that there is a mysterious force present in the room that invites disasters to occur, such as the tornado that struck today. The family is, of course, concerned about the problem, and would welcome any advice on how to prevent such traumatic events from happening again. One suggestion: Blow up the room and everything in it.