Josh's Birthday

Josh was born on Pearl Harbor Day, so it is pretty easy to remember his birthday. We had a nice lunch after church and I made a pumpkin pie for his birthday "cake". It is fun to see how excited the kids are for birthdays. They love to celebrate.

The kids are counting down the days until Christmas and being with Heidi's family. We are all excited and can't wait.

Gideon Walking

Our digital camera was starting to malfunction so we got a new camera on Black Friday. It takes pretty good movies too, which is how I recorded this clip of Gideon walking. Walking has become his primary method of getting around.

Thanksgiving Break

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. After the long day of painting the weekend before (16 hours on Saturday) and preparing the Thanksgiving meal (Which all turned out great!), I was beat Thursday afternoon after our company left. I revived after a quick nap and we put up the Christmas tree Thursday evening with the kids. They had a great time decorating the tree. We're glad we went with the fake glass balls that are made of plastic. Gideon likes to pull them off the tree along with his brother who should have outgrown that by now! The ornaments bounce very well on our tile floor. We did some Black Friday shopping and Josh planted a couple palm trees in our front yard that afternoon (got to love living in So Cal!). Saturday I finished painting the family room ceiling and Josh hung up the outside Christmas lights. Josh preached at our church Sunday morning and his message was well received. He only had 1 maybe negative comment that he went long (1 hour, 15 minutes), though the person enjoyed the message! Now we are counting down the days to Christmas and seeing family!

Home Improvement Pictures

OK, so it isn't very easy to take a picture of a ceiling!. Hopefully these pictures show some of the improvement we made in removing the popcorn texture (It's tough to see it in a picture). We're really happy with change. I still have to paint the ceiling in the family room. You might notice a white square around the ceiling fan where I at least painted around ceiling fixture in that room so we could get our lights back in place until I can finish the rest of the ceiling. But that room will need to wait until after Thanksgiving. I have to focus my energy on preparing a Thanksgiving meal! We will have 3 single seminarians (in addition to Matthew) over for Thanksgiving this year.

Family Room "before"

Family room "after"

Dining Room "before" (this picture was actually taken while we were in Escrow)

Living room/dining room right after the popcorn was removed

Dining Room "after"

Living room "after"

House Projects

I haven't posted for awhile because I haven't taken any good pictures of the kids lately. Our digital camera was acting up and it might be time for a new camera. It's been plenty busy in our house, though. This past week we had the popcorn accoustic ceiling texture scraped off all the downstairs ceilings, stairway and upstairs hallway. Then we had a contractor spray on knock-down texture. So for the past week our house has been a mess. Both processes (popcorn removal and Knock-down texture) are quite messy. All that's left to do now is the painting, which I will do myself. I scraped the popcorn off of all the ceilings in our last house, but it wasn't much more cost to have the contractor remove the popcorn while he put up new texture (which I didn't feel confident trying). I promise to post some pictures of the before and after once we are finished and the camera is working.

Gideon's First Birthday

Wednesday was Gideon's 1st birthday. We can't believe he's already 1 year old.


He was interested in the candle and singing.



His first introduction to cake. He wasn't very impressed and didn't like how the icing stuck to his fingers.

After Josh gave him a bitee from a fork, he figured out he liked it and attacked it!

A couple movie clips of the celebration.

Here's Caleb's 4 year old picture I finally had taken . . . better late than never! It was a spur of the moment decision while we were checking out from Walmart and I noticed no line in the photo studio.

Gideon Walking and Other Stuff

The kids are all sick with colds, but it has been a good week at the Van Ee home. Gideon is getting more courage to walk. He still likes to hold on to something with 1 hand, but he'll go small distances unassisted. I tried to capture it on video, but the lighting isn't very good. I'l

We got Eliyana's 1st Grade Picture back. Again Josh did very well to get her ready in the morning for the picture. It seems picture day will always be a day I must go to work, so Josh gets the task of getting her ready!

Caleb got a little scratch on his arm yesterday while we were outside working on our yard. Josh and I were so dirty so we let Caleb go inside to get his own bandaid. When Caleb came back out we all had a good laugh. There were at least 8 bandaids stuck to his arm! His other arm is covered in red dots. He thought it would be fun to give himself chicken pox with a red marker. The dots are thankfully starting to fade. We're just glad he didn't do it to his face.

Gideon's First Haircut!

Gideon has needed a haircut for a month or more. I was planning to wait until he turned 1. But this weekend as I was trimming Josh's hair, I decided to go ahead with his haircut. He needed it and he was almost 1 anyway!

Here's the before picture. I set him up with Kix in his high chair. That worked fairly well except when he put some of the cut hair in his mouth!

Here's the after picture. Doesn't he look so handsome?! We think he looks so older and his hair looks more blond now. We thought he had darker hair than Eliyana and Caleb, but now we aren't sure. He definitely doesn't have the blue eyes like they do. His eyes are more brownish/hazel like mine.



This weekend Josh and I went on a date to my co-worker's Halloween Party. We didn't have any costumes, but we found these fun costumes. You had to know they would be something historical! We both really enjoy Roman history. We put the kids to bed and then left. Matthew was home studying so that worked very well. We hope to go out more often this year while Matthew is living with us!

Trouble!

Gideon is a pretty good baby, but every once in awhile he'll get himself in trouble. Today he got into the CD's and had a great time pulling them out!

New Hairstyle for Heidi

I was feeling very bored of my hair for the past few weeks. Finally yesterday I went to get a trim with the thought that maybe I'd try something new. I looked through the book and picked a shorter style with more layers. And the style had highlights and I thought I'd give it a try. Here are the results.

It's a big change, but I think I like it. Josh likes it, so that's what really matters!

Ordination Pictures

Here are some pictures from the ordination service.

The elders, pastors and visiting pastors laying on hands


Josh giving his first benediction at the end of the service.


Afterwards we had cake and refreshments and a time to greet. The kids were pretty tired by the end of the night. Caleb fell asleep during the service and didn't wake up happy (that's why the look on his face).

A Big Weekend

Last weekend both Josh's parents and my parents came to be here for Josh's ordination on Sunday. It was a full house and lots of fun.

Everyone together at dinner.

Friday morning we went golfing with Josh's parents. Caleb really likes to putt on the green. We just have to watch that he doesn't damage the green!

The hot tub was a fun place to hang out and talk. The pool was a little cold, but still felt refreshing after being in the hot tub.

Gideon warmed up pretty quickly to the grandparents.

Here's Opa playing songs on the guitar. Gideon was interested in the music.

We had a dinner/gathering before the Ordination service. Josh's uncle Will and Aunt Ruth came down from Redlands, CA for the service. Aunt Becky and my second cousin Aileen were also here, as well as some good friends (the Keele's, Willis').

The kids getting ready to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. Too bad the fun had to end.

My parents stayed until Tuesday, so we visited a pumpkin patch with the kids.

Picking out the perfect pumpkin!

Opa, Oma, Caleb and Eliyana

One of my parent's favorite things to do when they visit us is to go to the pier by the beach and eat at the restaurant at the end of the pier. Here they are stopping to watch the surfers on the walk to the end.

Ruby's has great milkshakes which are a great way to end your meal! We watched the sun set over the ocean on our walk back. It was a perfect sunset!

All in all it was a fun weekend with family and friends.

Heidi's Birthday!

Well, I guess it would be wrong for me to post on my birthday and not mention it at all. It was a nice birthday. The funny thing about it is I probably wouldn't have cared too much, except for the kids. They are SOOOOO into birthdays. They love to sing "happy birthday to you" also. So we went out for dinner tonight at the Olive Garden (one of my favorite restaurants). We can't remember the last time we went out to dinner with all the kids and it was certainly one of the best times we've had going out to eat as a family. No fights, no spills, no tears! What a great day.

I didn't have 31 candles on my cake. Instead I had a "3" and a single candle next to it!

Sidewalk Slab Project

Here are the pictures from our latest house project. We wanted to put a sidewalk/cement slab along the side of our house for easy access to the backyard. Heidi's dad's cousin, John Walters, has a concrete business and he let us hire his laborers to do this project for us.


Here they are setting the forms.


When the truck came for the pour, Caleb and Gideon were very interested. It was lunch time so they just ate their sandwiches by the front door and watched the excitement.



Here's the final product!

You know you live in the city when . . .

. . . you drive by a dairy and your daughter says, "What's that smell?" Eliyana didn't enjoy what I used to call "the fresh, country air" when I was growing up!

Then just last weekend when Josh was driving with Caleb to get the wine juice, Caleb also reminded us that he lives in the city. The winery is located near some farmer's fields (corn). Caleb noticed the farmer's fields and got very excited because he thought he was going to Grandpa's church! (Grandpa's church is in Northern California in a very rural area next to some fields). I guess he doesn't see too many farmer's fields where we live.

So other news from the Van Ee Home:
Josh will be ordained by our church next Sunday night. His parents and my parents will be here for the occasion. We also have some other family and friends in the area who plan to attend. Some people have asked what being ordained will mean for Josh. Basically it is our church calling him as a minister of the Word, but with the calling to teach at Westminster Seminary. He won't be paid by our church since he already gets his salary from Westminster. It is very common for professors at the seminary to be ordained by their local church as their role is to teach future pastors. He will continue to serve in our church as Sunday school teacher and pulpit supply.

Sorry, no pictures to post this time. Though I will post some soon from our latest house project.

Getting More Juice

This was the weekend the winery was selling their Rose juice. Friday Josh, Gideon, Caleb and Aunt Becky drove up north to pick up the juice. I had to miss out on the fun this weekend as I worked Friday afternoon. I sent the camera along with Josh to take pictures this time. They had an hour long wait to get the juice so there was plenty of time to remember to take pictures.


Here's the line of cars and trucks waiting to get the juice.


As you wait for the juice, you can sample it. Caleb and Aunt Becky are enjoying their samples. Last weekend the juice was red and Caleb and Eliyana got big red mustaches from their tastes!


Here they are filling our containers with hoses.



Here are our barrels of juice in the stand Josh built. The top is the Rose juice and the bottom is the Red juice. It will take about 40 days to finish fermenting. During the fermentation time, the containers can't be sealed because the juice gives off gas. Once the fermentation is complete, we close the containers to seal out the air which can turn the wine to vinegar. We like to bottle the wine soon after it is complete, but it can stay good in the containers as long as we keep the air out and it doesn't get too hot. The containers have spigots to easily remove the wine and the sediment stays on the bottom of the barrels. It is a very easy, natural process to make wine.

Gideon Helping Matthew Unpack and Getting our Wine Juice

Today Matthew unpacked more of his boxes which had been in storage during the summer to get more settled in his room. Gideon loved to visit with Matthew while he was working in his room. Here's a picture of Gideon "helping" Matthew unpack his box. Matthew is very good with the children. It's fun to hear stories of his own children and also of their antics. Children are the same no matter where in the world they were born!

This morning Eliyana, Caleb and I went about an hour north to get our grape juice to make our wine with Becky and John Walters (John is my dad's cousin and Becky is his aunt). Becky and Jimmy have been making their own wine for years and a few years ago we decided to give it a try. It's a very simple process to make wine. The juice naturally ferments. When it is finished after about 40 days, we seal up the barrels until we are ready to bottle it. I brought my camera along to take pictures of the winery where we get our juice and also how they fill our barrels, but I forgot to take a picture. Josh will head up next week to get a Rose juice. This week they had a Red juice. Maybe I can convince him to try to take some pictures!

Meet Matthew

Meet Matthew Chiangi, the newest member of our household!

Matthew is Pastor and a seminary student from Nigeria. He studied at Westminster last year and we got to know him as he also attended our church. We offered to house him this school year when we heard he was struggling to find a place to stay and after hearing of his difficult time living last year. We are glad to have him stay with us this year and hope to provide him good food and fellowship. Matthew has a wife and 4 young children remaining in Nigeria while he is here studying. His youngest son was born while he was in the States last school year and he finally met him this summer when he was home. He enjoys playing with Gideon who is almost the same age as his baby. Matthew hopes to finish his M.A. degree this year to go back to Nigeria and possibly teach Hebrew or Old Testament in their seminary.

Other News

Gideon turned 10 months old last week. He is standing up very well and scooting along furniture. He sometimes lets go and finds himself standing without holding onto anything. He's still getting into everything. Here I caught him in the act of rummaging through the trash can. He loves trash cans. He also loves playing in toilet water. At least this habit is motivating me to keep the trash cans empty and the toilets clean!


Gideon decided he was done nursing this past week. It isn't exactly the way I was hoping he'd be weaned, but so it is. We wonder if that might not be an early indication of his independence. Here he is with big sister helping him with his bottle.

It was Caleb's 4th birthday on Sept 4. We had a small birthday party on Sunday after church. It's great having a pool to entertain the kids. They had a great time. Caleb actually fell asleep in church that night and he's never done that before. Usually he's a ball of energy during church and its all we can do to keep him still.

The evidence of the Spiderman cupcakes! The kids all had red or blue icing all over their hands and mouths!

Today was Caleb's first day of preschool. We decided to do a 2 day/week program at the Christian school since we already need childcare 2 days/week. Caleb does very well with a structured program as we've seen with Sunday school, so we thought it would be good for him. The first day went very well. He came home chattering about his day and proud to be wearing his backpack. We hope he continues to enjoy it.