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

A Visit to Al & Ginny's in Michigan

Brad and I went to Grand Rapids to visit his sister this past weekend. Since we were going up that direction anyway we offered to give Grandpa and Grandma VanderHart a ride up there to see some family. We had a nice ride up and they behaved themselves in the back seat. =0)

It is also nice that we can also spend a little time with some family as well. We had a great lunch at Al & Ginnys house. Drew was being a little shy but he let a few people hold him. He started off seeing Sarah, but Adam would not let Sarah hold Drew without holding him. She had her hands full!

They will have fun at the next family reunion!!

It was also Sarah's Birthday so we had some cake. Adam started us out.....

then he got his own piece. I think it is safe to say he LOVES CAKE.

Luke liked the cake too.

and Grandma likes cake too.....she did leave some for the rest of us.

Mike showed up and brought his girlfriend Sandy. Grace was camping with her mom so we didn't get to see her this time. I'm sure Mike with give her a big hug and kiss from me. So family who have not had the privilege of meeting Mike's girlfriend yet....here she is. =0) Maybe we will see her at the next reunion......

(do not be fooled by the small piece of cake...she fits right in, this is her second piece) (sorry Sandy your secret is out!)......awww doesn't Mike look happy.

There was another sighting that day on the deck. Brad was there...seems like his kind is becoming extinct for sightings these days are rare and far between. =0) He seems to get lost in the work jungle a lot. It was nice he found his way out for awhile. For those of you who haven't seen him for awhile, the photos will have to do....maybe someday you to will get lucky. =0) (love you babe)

Drew got some love and cuddles from other people as well.
He fell asleep with Aunt Ginny and played with Uncle Doug.
How lucky he is to have such great family.

Luke spent the majority of the afternoon blowing bubbles.

He is very good at them.

Again we had a great time and always enjoy spending time with family. Hope to see more of you soon! If you want to see more pictures you will have to check it out on my website. Love you all! The Gaskill Family.

Shaving Cream Fun

Hello VanderHart family from the Wiedersteins!

We had an enjoyable summer with a lot of relaxing and camping, which is relaxing once we get there but packing and unpacking is not so relaxing. =) Anyway, Scott is back to school. This is his first full week with kids. I didn't return to teaching this year. I'm staying home with the kiddos and working parttime for our church as the Children's Ministry Director. It's hard to believe John will be 3 already on Saturday - and Emma's almost 5 months old. I've included some recent pictures of the kids below.

This is John yesterday playing with shaving cream on the kitchen table. It was a great way for him to clean his sticky mess from a fruit cup and have fun playing with "Red" at the same time - not that you can even tell he's playing with the firetruck from Cars.



After playing in the shaving cream, he got to give "Red" a bath.



Emma's been working on sitting up. She's doing really well, but I put the boppy behind her when I can't be right by her. I think she's trying to keep up with John.