The First Day of School

Today was a big day for Eliyana as she started 1st grade. Now she will be in school 5 full days and one the best parts of that change for her is NO MORE NAPS (except on the weekends)!


Here she is . . . so excited and proud, by her new classroom door. Her teacher is Miss M. I met her this morning and she is very energetic and friendly. We've heard a lot of positive things about her as a teacher.


Eliyana's desk with her name tag. Miss M had the room all decorated and ready to make the kids feel welcome.


Here's a picture from 6 years ago, when Eliyana was born. Where have the years gone?

Playtime with the kids

It was hotter this past week. Too hot to go to the playground. And the kids enjoy getting out of the house. So we tried an indoor play place in town. The kids had a great time, even Gideon. Here are a few pictures:

Summer Ending and Lemonade!

Sorry it's been so long since I've last blogged. It's been busy in the Van Ee home, as usually. Last week we re-finished 2 of our bathrooms by painting, replacing the mirrors and light fixtures. They look so much better now. The previous owners had already replaced the cabinets and put in granite and tile. But the color and light fixtures was blahhh! This weekend we also finally unpacked the last of the boxes from our move by hanging the last of the pictures upstairs. It's really feeling like home now.

On Friday Eliyana and her 2 neighborhood friends decided they wanted to make and sell lemonade. Eliyana had asked me earlier in the summer and I kept putting it off. Who was going to buy the lemondade if they made it? We live on a quiet street at the end of the cul-de-sac. I didn't want them to get disappointed. But I decided it could be fun. The girls picked the lemons from our neighbor's tree. Then they all took turns juicing them with our juicer. I found a good recipe online and we made a big batch of fresh squeezed lemonade. Saturday morning they started out early and set up their stand. Their first customers were all their parents and siblings. A few random people were kind enough to stop and buy their lemonade. Another neighbor was having a garage sale nearby, which helped bring more people to the street. The girls kept going to the garage sale and spending their earnings. So when we packed up their stand, they had $3 and some change left.

Eliyana is 6 Years Old!

Eliyana turned 6 years old yesterday. She's been looking forward to her birthday all summer. We had a swim party for her yesterday. It was a fun morning and everything went very well. It was our first party we held at our new home.




Josh was the designated life guard. His good friend, Zach, kept him company.


Instead of a cake, we did cupcakes. They were pink with Disney Princess rings. Eliyana had it all figured out . . . the boys wouldn't need a Princess ring so she could get theirs too!


Opening presents was fun. It was hard to get a good picture because the kids were piled all around her to watch and decide which present she got next.



This is after the party, swimming, and no nap. Caleb was just zoned out on the patio chair. The kids went to bed early last night . . . and so did we!

Gideon is 9 Months Old!

Where has the time gone? Gideon is 9 months old this past week. What joy he brings to our family!