The Wiedersteins

One year ago (April 2)God added the another wonderful blessing to our lives. It's amazing how fast the last year has gone and how quickly our precious baby girl is growing up. She started walking a lot more today. Such a little go-getter...when she wants to be.

We went to Village Park (the one by the Altoona house I grew up in) and played on the new equipment. Emma loved the swing, especially when we'd try tickling her as she came toward us. The squeals were music to our ears...for a short time anyway. (Check out the teeth!)

This is just some of the new equipment, and even though it's intended for ages 5-12, John absolutely loves it. And yes, we're carefully guarding him on most of it, so don't scold me. =)

John came flying down the tall slide. At least he was feet first this time!

Then Scott quickly followed, much to John's delight.
I've also started a blog for our family. You can check it out at http://wiederstein.blogspot.com. Enjoy! And I can't figure out why my fonts are all messed up on this blog, but I've spent enough time messing with it. I still need to finish gathering things for tomorrow's Sunday School lesson during first service. At least the kids are only 3 and 4!

Does Anyone Read This?

Hello Vander Hart Family! Looking forward to Family vacation! I got sick of checking this to see if anyone has posted and I still see Drew. I figured you can get enough of Drew on my site. =0) Thought I would change the subject. Just checking in and seeing if anyone needs me to re-send the instructions around. Hope Everyone is having a great day and can't wait to see everyone SOON!

Do you like the new background? I made it! Woot! Thought if I put up flowers instead of snow it might warm up!

~Alyssa

Drew's 1st Birthday Dec 24, 2008

Sesame Street was the theme- Alyssa made Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes- aren't they so cute! I am sure she will be updating her blog with more pictures soon- but they are at the lake house tonight to celebrate Christmas eve with the Gaskill side. (Check out the Veenstra Blog for a video of Drew walking behind his car & more pictures)

Drew enjoying his 1st b-day cupcake- he ate "Cookie Monster"

Drew figured out real quick how to walk behind this Mickey Mouse car he got from Kyle & Sasha.

Drew went to Grandpa- he was tired and ready for a nap... He loves his Grandpa!

He walks!

And now, life is NON-STOP. The world of AJ has just opened up a million more miles with his new skill. The walk may be a bit wobbly yet, but you know the wheels are turning in that small head!

Drew- Punk Rocker!

We had a great time with all the kids when they came- of course Drew as a punk rocker steals the attention- Bentley makes sure he gets in the action as well- but has learned to move quickly when Drew lunges for him!

Thought I would just post a few pics of Great G-pa & G-ma with Drew on Sept 21, as well as a few pics of the Vander Hart Reunion in Knoxville on Sept 6.

Happy Fall!

Playing hoops with Keaton!

Never wake a sleeping baby, right? He cracks us up. He loves blankets around his head.

Playing together so nicely...I'm sure there will be lots of these days in the next 18 years.

Luke's first day of school!

Go MSU!!!! Luke's first Big 10 football game and it rained the WHOLE ENTIRE day. He made it through though - good job buddy! He loves Sparty. Steve & Caiden Felkey are good friends from church.

A duet! =)

It was very cool to have Uncle Ken & Keaton visit. Good luck with the college decision-making, Keaton!

Hi there everyone,

Hope you all are doing well! We are doing fine here. It's been busy but what is new?! We had a very nice summer. Luke started preschool last month and seems to be loving it! He also started swimming lessons and after 3 sessions of almost constant crying and not wanting to get in the pool, he finally "had fun" in lessons this past week, and even swam comfortably (with a float belt) around the pool in open swim last night. I think Papa's (Al's), Uncle Wess's, and Grandpa-great's encouragement in August helped. =)

Adam, a.k.a. SPT ('screaming pteradactyl') is doing great too. He loves to play cars with Luke, and is pulling himself up on everything. He now crawls up the entire set of steps all by himself (with me close behind). He still doesn't feel like walking by himself yet, which we're not complaining about, but he does get heavy...25#!

I am going to attempt to post some pictures on here tonight. Wish me luck =) Long-time blog reader, first-time 'blogger.' (Ok, I posted the pictures now, and they appear above the text...can't figure out how to make the alignment of pictures & texts work yet...bear with me).

love to you all!

s, j, l & a