Oma of 5!

Five grandchildren. Five little girl grandchildren. Wow! What a blessing it is to be an Oma of 5!
Nicole Grace was born yesterday afternoon in Halifax, NS. Although she arrived a month early, her birth weight of almost 7 lbs is not that of a preemie! Praise God for this note of joy this last week of December! Congratulations Martin and Emily and Maria!

Jello!

On Saturday, we braved the freezing rain conditions and went to John's sister's home just outside Ottawa, for the Geertsema get-together. While thinking about what kind of dessert to bring for the potluck lunch/dinner, I spoke with Martin who wanted to make broken glass cheesecake for their Christmas dinner with friends. Aha! I thought - the kids love jello, and cream cheese - let's see if this will go over with them. It did! Naomi's comment to Opa:"Oma sure makes good jello!"

Merry Christmas!

We visited Upper Canada Village's 'Alight in the Night' last night - it was beautiful! Here's a picture of our Ontario family - we really missed the ones who live in NS and AB!

Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us! We hope you have a blessed season and a very blessed new year when it comes!!

Fun and Games

We had lots of fun together last weekend. Michael flew in from Lake Louise via a short vacation in Hawaii; Martin, Emily and Maria in from Dartmouth. We shared our gifts on Saturday morning, and started what we hope will be an annual sjoelbak tournament. As you can see, John and Stevin have done a very fine job in constructing the sjoelbak boards! (They made more than one!)Sjoelbak tournament underway!

Martin took the trophy home - a shuffleboard puck crafted into the top of a piece of wood, and trophy winners will have their names engraved onto sections around the sides.

On Saturday afternoon, we spent time in the community indoor pool (family bath? the water was warm!).

On the first Sunday of Advent, we sang several Christmas carols during the church service, which was all decked out for the season.

And for fresh air that afternoon, we went for a walk in the park. We put David's camera on the tripod and we have a new family photo or two (check David and Stephanie's blog), and then took the kids over to the playground. We suddenly had more than 4 little girls as kids; the grownup boys had fun too!

Opa enjoyed watching the antics of all ---

Maria discovered a new way to have fun ---

We ate well, but we certainly didn't go overboard with snacks this year. And Stephanie made jello for Naomi and Petra - always a hit with them!

Pretty in Pink

I made pajamas again for the girls. This time they're pink with lots of sparkles! But even though the girls were measured, and compared to the right pattern size, Maria's size 1 is way too big for her!! She'll grow into them, yes, but it does mean I'm back to the sewing machine for this year's pair! Rachel got a bunting bag - she looks very pleased here! But then she is a happy baby!Here's Maria showing off her "pink"!