Reading

This was just too cute not to post!! Dylan is reading to all of the kids.

School and Baths

I just started giving the girls baths together last week. It speeds up the whole bathing process! The only downfall, at this time, is they splash together. When it was just one at a time they would splash a little and then get bored with it. Now it is pretty continuous. When one starts the other joins in! By the time we are done, I think I am just as wet if not more than them! I am attempting to add a video of some of their splashing at the end of this post, we'll see if it works. Two weeks ago was the start of school for the kids. Here are David and Dayna on their first day of school. Sorry its such a dark pic, had to take it in the shade because while standing in the sun, David was uncooperative!

Dylan is ready for his first day of 2nd grade! He is excited he has Mrs Vander Molen, who was also his Uncle Jason's teacher at Ontario Christian and his Aunt Laura's teacher here at Ripon Christian. He is also feeling pretty lucky because he doesn't have to ride the bus for awhile in the mornings. Grandma K is subbing for a teacher in the HS for awhile and has generously offerred to take Dylan to school in the mornings! I am thrilled, because it means I don't have to worry whether Dave is going to make it into the house on time to bring him to the bus stop or not and I don't have to load 4 other kids into the car at 715 to bring him to the stop myself! Thanks Mom again!!! He really enjoys his alone time with Grandma!

Knights Ferry

The other day we spent the afternoon in Knights Ferry. A nice close get-away! The kids enjoyed seeing the covered bridge, old buildings (dylan was proud he could read all the naratives), hiking the trails and playing in the very cold river. It was a lot of fun to get out and do something that all of us could be a part of. Dave and I had carriers on in order to carry the girls. They were super good and enjoyed being outside and watching their brothers and sister run and splash around. The kids outside one side of the bridge. Walking through the bridge. It had a few spots that it didn't have wood on the side, kind of like windows, so you could see the view and/or the river below.

The kids peering through the boards to see the river below us. Dave said wouldn't it be fun if there was an earthquake right now. Dylan and David were excited with that thought. They wanted to surf on the boards while fell into the river.
A semi-group picture at one of the stops during our hike. At one point we heard a rattlesnake and that put a look of terror on Dayna's face for the rest of the hike!! We ended up telling her it was just the wind through the weeds :)

The kids stopped splashing and skipping rocks long enough for me to snap a pic of them in the water under the bridge.

Beach

Last week we got a good excuse to leave the heat and go to the beach...Melanie and her kids were here!! Little did we know that the day's high in the valley was only going to be in the 80s and the beach was going to be freezing!! Most of us spent the day in sweatshirts or wrapped in towels, the kids did brave the water for awhile and would come out freezing and with blue lips! Despite the weather we had a good time, even got the four youngest kids there to take naps! Jenny, Dayna and Mom spent a lot of time working on their sandcastle. Dayna is still talking about it!

Dylan and David, well, mainly Dylan, dug a big hole. He got some help from Daddy and Grandpa. It ended up being not only deeper than this, but bigger. It was a fun hole/hideout for most of the kids to jump in and play.

Here are the three little ones enjoying their first experience with sand. Those bumbos sure were a great invention!!!

David got a fat lip last week saturday while we were at a wedding. He decided to be a catcher and walked behind the babysitter who was the batter and got nailed by the backswing! It was a pretty nasty cut inside his mouth, but thankfully no loose teeth! Cant really tell by this pic, but that half of his lip pretty much hung about half an inch lower than the other side! He never complained about it, past the initial hit, but didn't eat. All he want was shakes and something to drink. It is now almost normal again. Its still a little bigger than the otherside, but not as noticeable, at least people arent staring at him anymore!!

pool days

Sorry the computers being a pain, can't move the pics into the order I want or add the one like the one below except it has Tom, Dylan and Dayna.

The boys really had fun doing this, but had to learn to let go of their uncles once they fall into the water. Hard concept for them to grasp because they didn't want to fall and would just end up holding tighter and Tom and Kenny ending up deeper and deeper in the pool!!

Even Kara got into the mix!! She could really push Dylan down!!Krista and Kylie enjoyed playing with cups of water while sitting at the side of the pool.

A game of basketball was also enjoyed. David stayed outside of the pool this way he could actually play/help.

The kids absolutely love swimming. We try to get to Dave's Mom's pool as often as we can, which ends up not being as often as the kids like. But, when you have two infants and about 3-4 bags that need to go along it makes it a big project. I must say though, that the little ones do pretty well there. Better than I ever expected. I didn't think we would get to the pool more than 10 times this summer, but we have beat that already. I wish it was warmer in the mornings because I find that to be the perfect time--getting there at 10 before the major afternoon heat and flies take over! Unfortunately for me, that almost never happens and the kids like the afternoon so it is super warm. Either way though everyone has a lot of fun. Here are a few pics of the kids having fun at the pool a day that their uncles were there also! Apparently, the best swimming is done when you have an adult or two willing to play with you. Thanks Kenny and Tom the kids loved it!!

Blueberries and Father's Day

Last week we went to Jessup Farms with the VGs to pick blueberries. The kids had a ton of fun. What I thought would maybe be a 30-45min outing quickly turned into almost 2hrs!! The kids got to pick berries from the bushes, which they thought was soooo much fun! We didn't lose too many from buckets getting tipped over! They also had a couple of putting greens, bounce house and purple sand to play in. The boys spent much of the time putting or jumping and the girls found this statue to imitate!

Dayna and Emily picking berries. They had the quickest technique for picking them. The boys just grabbed while the girls went for the berries that looked better.

The boys picking theirs, I think they ate as many as they put into their buckets!!

After buying them they enjoyed eating them straight from the bag.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAVE!!!

Random pics!

Just some random pics that have been taken in the last couple of weeks. Dayna has found a new use for the stand/legs of the giraffe limbo game we have. It is now a microphone. A few minutes after this pic was taken Dylan had the other one out as the guitar and soon enough David had the lego box out to use it to play the drums! They have been putting on concerts ever since!! Look at how big they are getting!! We almost having them holding their own bottles!! They are about 4 1/2mo old now and thoroughly enjoy their siblings. The kids can get them to smile whenever they want, its so cute to watch!

Here's Krista sitting up in the bumbo! They both like to be upright and like the different view. Yesterday, while Dave was bbqing and the kids were outside playing I had the girls in the bumbos by the sliding door so they could watch all the excitement. They LOVED it! Every now and then one of the kids would come and knock on the glass to get them to smile and pay attention to them again.

Krista was enjoying a seat on Daddy when the boys saw it and got a little jealous! They quickly joined in.

All the twins having a chat!! David and Dayna just thought this was the funniest thing, of course their giggles brought on giggles from the younger too as well. Life is busy and there are rarely quiet moments, but I wouldn't change it for anything!! The kids are all happy and love eachother so much. I love watching them talk with eachother, whether thats listening to the older ones play imaginary roles, the boys pretending they are the Dodgers playing in the world series, or them all swearing that krista and Kylie just said their first word they all interact mulitple times in different ways throughout the day and I enjoy watching it!!

Knotts Berry Farm

This past weekend we took the kids to Knotts Berry Farm for my Grandma VT's birthday. Everyone but four people were there. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and all the new babies that had been born in the last year or so. The kids had a ton of fun on all the rides and Dylan loved being able to go on the big rides--we've created a monster!! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a WONDERFUL time! Here are the little kids and my parents enjoying their drinks during a break from the rides.

Family picture at the entrance to Camp Snoopy.

At the end of the Log Ride--David and Dayna claimed this to be their favorite ride. Dylan chose one of the "real" rollercoasters as his favorite. The one that goes "from 0 to 80mph in 2 seconds."

Grandpa and Grandma VT with 29 of the 30 great grandkids, another pic was taken later with all 30. It was decided that it looked like the bald baby trait came from the Vander Tuig side!!

Gpa and Gma by their sign, which says "Vander Tuig Family Event," outside of the place where we had our Knotts Berry Farm Chicken--very good!

Three Months old

Krista and Kylie are officially 3 months old. I can't believe how fast it seems to have gone! Krista has turned a huge corner and has lost the "if I am awake I am going to scream" attitude and is now quite happy and fun. They both love to watch their brothers and sister move around the room and pull their heads up and off of you to sit up to see whats going on. They are both almost out of their baby seats which I use to feed them and let them sleep in. I don't know what I am going to do when they don't have those anymore. They will have to be holding a bottle before I let them out!! They are smiling all the time now, although you can almost always get one out of Kylie, Krista is going to make you work for it and if she doesn't want to--it won't matter what you do! Kylie has started razzing or spitting/blowing bubbles with her spit much to the kids' delight! She is also giggling at times. Krista is more into a silent laugh, you can tell she wants to laugh, but no sound comes out at all!! They are sleeping great, or I should say they were until this round of colds that Kylie has right now, they usually are asleep by 8 and get up around 6. No complaints from us because that is the time that the rest are up anyways so it works!!

Kylie doing her spitting thing

Kylie smiling

Krista smiling

Krista and Kylie enjoying their floor mat. Kylie was smiling and having a good ol' time but Krista just kept staring at the sun thing making noise!

Finally some spring weather!

This weekend we have finally seen some weather in the 70s! The kids have been begging to go swimming, so after football and baseball games today we let the kids enjoy the sprinklers. It was fun to watch them run around outside again. Although the heat was nice, they did realize it wasn't warm enough to swim. They were freezing when the sprinklers shut off!! At least they got to play outside before the next storm gets here early next week. Another sign of spring...STRAWBERRIES!! We visit the local stands about once ever 3-4 days. Everyone here loves them, even Dayna got over her aversion to seeds to enjoy them! Here are some pics of the kids dipping them into chocolate. Despite David's face he did say he liked it!

This is a pic of Dayna and Kylie having a nice little chat!

Little League

Dylan started baseball again a few weeks ago. He is loving it!! He is in coach pitch this year which has just been using the pitching machine so far. Dave just said the other day that they are starting the coach pitch part of it in the next couple of weeks or so. Dylan is super excited about that!! I would guess that is mainly because Dave is his coach and he has been hitting his pitches for years! Yes, you did read right Dave is coaching Dylans little league team. Needless to say, they are the Dodgers. Did you really expect anything else?? Here is a picture of "Coach Dave." Dylan in ready stance.

Hey batter batter batter...swing!

Making Easter Eggs

This is the first year we have ever attempted decorating easter eggs! We got a kit a year or two ago from my sister in law and it has just sat in a drawer because I thought the kids were too little to handle it. Well, I was cleaning out the drawer and came across it, because it was such a rainy yucky day we decided to have a go at it. My sister did advise us to lay a blanket on the floor and suggested the garage. It went smoothly with only one spill! Here are the kids showing us the eggs prior to decorating.

Waiting for the eggs to finish drying so we could do the glitter part of the kit, which got some glitter on the eggs and a lot on the floor and the kids!
Here is a pic of them with two of their finished eggs.

Baptism

Today we had Krista and Kylies baptism. We got there quite early because the Sunday school kids were going to sing this morning. It ended up being good that we got there when we did because as soon as we got there both girls were screaming and Krista filled her pants. By the time we had them both quiet it was just about time for the service to begin. They fussed a bit before the actual baptism and a movement of the blankets (made by their great grandma VT) told us that Kylie had a smelly reason to be fussy! The baptism itself went just fine. Dylan even volunteered to protect them if they get picked on in years to come!

Family picture after baptism.
We were very fortunate to be able to have ALL of the kids' great grandparents there to witness this blessing. God is very good!! I hope the kids realize how lucky they are!

Sorry Dads and Moms the computer was acting up and I couldn't get your pics to upload. It took me two times just to get these, and that was valuable time :)