ABC's of Thanks

The other night at supper, the kid's and & decided to make a list of things we are thankful for using every letter of the alphabet. I just thought I'd share it with you.

A: Alligators, Ants, Apples, Air conditioning
B: Bethany, Bees, Babies, Books, Bedtime
C: Colors, Cars, Clothes, Calendars, Cousins
D: Daddy, Dogs, Dolls, Dishwasher
E: Erica, Elephatns, Eyes & Ears, Eternal Life
F: Flowers, Fires (camp), Family, Farmers
G: Grandpas, Grandmas, God
H: Horses, House, Harvest, Heaven
I: Ice Cream
J: Jennifer, Jaren, Jason, Jumping
K: Kites, Kristin, Kurtis
L: Luke, Lions, Lemonade
M: Monkeys, Mrs. DeBruin, mommy, mini van, meals together
N: Nose, NIcholas, Naptime
O: Oreo Cookies, Ostrich, October
P: Pink, Paint, Papa, Pictures
Q: Quail, Quilts
R: Reagan, Racing, Restaurants
S: Silliness, Snakes, Sports, Sippy Cup, Sunny Days
T: Teeth, TV, Telephone
U: Unicorns, Umbrellas
V: Van, Violin Music
W: Water bottle, whales, winter nights
X: X-rays
Y: Yo-yo, yellow
Z: Zebra, zippers

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

We have so much to be thankful for.

Picture perfect...well almost

I just wanted to quickly post a picture of the cousins on my side of the family. This is the best we can expect out of 7 little kids 5 and under. :) There are 2 more on the way in a couple of months, which means the chaos will only increase, which also means all the more fun!

Bethany, Jaren holding Drew, Erica, Lucas holding Lauren and Reagan

Know, Grow, Go...make disciples of all nations

The theme for this year at school is "Go make disciples of all nations." Jaren had a concert last night that reflected on the theme. The kids and teachers did a wonderful job. Jaren was so excited for his first concert...we'll take the excitement because in a few years the excitement won't be there anymore. :) I have added a couple of short videos of the kids singing.

This is the school theme song this year written by Mrs. Groenenboom. The kids are all wearing their theme shirts...it was very colorful. The shirt colors let the kids know what chapel group they are in. Jaren is in the navy group.

This was one of Jaren's favorite songs. It talks about hiding God's promises deep in your heart so you'll never forget.

Jaren - Future Farmer of America

Jaren has been waiting for his chance to help unload the baby pigs off the semi. He was especially excited to get to use the green shaker...his favorite color. He had a great time getting them in the pens and then feeding them.

Jaren is becoming more and more like daddy every day. He loves to go work on the farm and learn how to do new things. His attention span isn't where daddy would like it to be yet, but it'll get there. This is a huge blessing since this summer he wouldn't leave my side (mommy) for anything or anyone. It made for a long summer, but we have come a long ways and Jaren is becoming much, much more independent all the time.

The kids were getting pretty restless the other day, so I pulled out these fun Christmas ornaments that Town Grandma gave them to do for their tree this year. It's amazing how much these three ornery kids can calm down and concentrate on something when it's different and from a grandma. They did a wonderful job and they will really add to the memories of our Christmas tree.

Daddy's Little Helpers

The kids and I decided to head out to the hog shed the other day after it had been cleaned & disinfected to help carry the heat lamps in to get ready for the baby pigs that were coming. After the work was done, they had fun running around in the pens and on the chute acting like pigs.

Harvest is coming to a close...yeah!

Well, it's been a busy fall with the harvest. I'm happy to say that all the crops should be out of the field by tonight if nothing breaks down. The semi is currently not working so they can't haul the corn with it, but the tractors and wagons can step-up and take it's place. Don't think this means the guys will be in the house by 5 every night with their feet kicked up relaxing...I could only hope. There is still plenty of other fall field work that needs to be finished up along with a new batch of baby pigs. We are so thankful that after a wet week last week this week has been sunny and dry.

Carter & Alexis came out last Monday to ride in the combine. The boys were wonderful gentlemen and let the girls ride first and then they got to help finish off the field.

Fall Gathering

Each year we have our annual DK Fall gathering before my aunt and uncle head down to the nice warm state of Arizona. We have the traditional Thanksgiving foods...turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie. We had a full, busy house with plenty of noise. The guys enjoyed watching the Hawkeyes win their game, the kids were here, there and everywhere and the women enjoyed the usual chit-chat.

The kids all waiting for their washcloths

The washcloths all floating in the water

Erica eating her apple bread...with a fork - she's such a neat eater :)

The boy table...Jaren was very proud that he was at the "Boy" Table

Bethany enjoying her time at the girl table.

Look closely!

Okay, so many of you didn't notice anything different with Bethany. You have to look very closely at her ears and you'll notice a slight glimmer. :) She is very proud of her new look and loves to show people how she has to clean them.

Supergirl...accessorized

Happy Birthday, Town Grandpa!

Wow how time flies!

Birthday Bonfire

Last night we enjoyed the beautiful weather at our annual DeBruin Birthday Bonfire. This tradition started many, many years ago for Grandpa DeBruin. Since he has passed away we have kept the tradition alive with a smaller group celebrating Tim, Kurtis, Jason & Mark's birthdays. Of course the fire has to be huge otherwise it will get made fun of until the attempt is made again the following year. We give Tim a 9 for the fire this year...pretty good coming from Kurtis who cut him some slack due to being half asleep when building the fire. :)

The boy cousins doing some bonding

Bethany & Uncle Jason being silly

Joshua sleeping so peacefully...Tim & Lonita said that he hasn't been sleeping well for them the past few days, but we didn't see any evidence of this.


Our rated 9 fire after it had burned for a few hours.

Madelyn enjoying stretching

The kid's enjoying their food...okay I think they really only had juice boxes as most of their food was still left on their plates.

Lots of good food to choose from

Erica racing around on the big wheels. Yes, she is wearing her bumble bee hat.


Jaren tackling Uncle Mark in their football game