grateful

what i'm grateful for...

 

 a quiet thanksgiving with my family with lots of time to play

watching my little superman pick out a "super great awesome!' christmas tree 

 a husband who loves and prioritizes his children and a

daughter whose sweet smile lights up my day

 the blessing to be a stay at home mom

the fun of decorating our home for christmas

a tiny baby who always wants to be right by his mama

discovery

i loved loved loved to read as a child.  i still do, although it's harder to find large spaces of time in which to do it these days!  but what fun it is to watch my kindergarten girl discovering the joy of being able to read on her own. 

he smiles.

school days

we really love veritas christian academy,

where eden and carter go to school. 

they love it too.

www.veritasca.org

 morning pledges

fall party with prek3

 e's friends checking out arie (looks like a proud sister)

 after school milkshakes

hiding

arie is still not sure he likes life outside the womb.  who can blame him,
it's bright and kind of crazy sometimes.

 

happy halloween

apparently our new neighborhood is very trick or treat friendly. 
we ran out of candy by 8PM.

team will!

we bundled up this past saturday to do the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes with our sweet friends the mclelland family.  to learn more check out http://www.jdrf.org/

 go team will!

will is truly a little superhero!

visitors

dan's parents came to visit and meet little man arie. 

we love when our family comes to see us!

 sunday morning

 a special lunch with grandma at american girl store

family.

family of five

settling in to life as a family of five.

garden practice

we are attempting our first garden. 

maybe this will convince carter to eat vegetables.

taco droog

just kidding.  but it can be his nickname.

we joyfully introduce arie daniel droog, born on monday, september 17th, at 3:24PM, 7.5lbs, and19.5 inches.  we are in love again. 



the third

truly, i am spoiled by the sweetest friends. you'd think by the time you have a 3rd kid the baby shower thing is over. but they had one anyway. and it was lovely, of course.

 the best hostesses!

 the only fairly acceptable picture of me

 my entire pregnancy

now this is what a shower for a third baby should look like...

off we go

so, i've pinned probably 200 pins on pinterest and can count on one hand how many 'projects' i've actually started/completed.  but i did see these cute '1st day' signs that i printed for eden and carter's first day of school. so lucky for y'all, here are my little eager students.  they both did great!

oh, and fyi, i printed the signs out to go up until 12th grade.  think they'll go for this for the next 12 years?

remind to never move again

or at least not in houston in august while eight months pregnant with a fractured rib.
yes, i think we need to stay put for a while this time.
many many millions of thanks to my parents who helped us (again!).
whether it was my dad installing curtain rods, or building legos with eden, or my mom unpacking the china or playing 12 games daily of uno attack with the kids, it was a huge blessing.  and then there is dan, who worked nonstop to get all our stuff into the house so when the children, my parents, and i arrived from iowa there would be beds to sleep in and cold waters in the fridge, and donuts in the morning to get us motivated.  everyone did their part and that is what makes it become a home.

 my mom, aka 'the task master'

 pop pop and eden builiding legos

carter cleaning the front door

more cousin time

after time with droog cousins in iowa, we took a quick trip to michigan to hang with the cousins there.  eden brought along her bible school song cd to give to anna and sylvie so the rest of the family was treated to a neverending backyard concert (with water effects) performance.  see the invite below:

those are some blond kids.



at the lake

for the first time in two years, all of dan's siblings were together this summer at beautiful lake okoboji.  we had such a good time!  the cousins played every game in the game cabinet, went for ice cream at the famous nutty bar stand, caught lighting bugs in the twilight hours and played 'kick the can' with grandma.  we ate good food, and just enjoyed the fellowship.  and of course had lots of boating and tubing and swimming time! and let me just say, having older cousins is the best!  kate, sam, and jen--you are rock stars to eden and carter (and to me too!  thanks for all your love and help!)

 (carter is missing as he was slightly uncooperative)