Geertsema Week 2009

Geertsema Week is the first of many family reunion weeks in years to come, I hope! In the past, we've camped out on a weekend. This year we chose to make it a week for those who could do so. It was decided that the campout would be in our yard - the boys figured that their dad needed a little help with a few things. While the men worked on the siding of the house, as well as constructing a new dock, we women took care of little girls and meals and snacks and laundry and .... ;) and in between we spent some time at the lake.
Here are a few pictures of my favourite people; I will post another blog or two about the house and dock renovations another day.

Petra just loves her Opa, and loves to sit on his lap. She has fallen asleep there on several occasions!

Emily and Petra and Maria posing before going on a boat ride --- this is an activity that Petra enjoys very much!

Martin spent 3 precious days with us - precious because Emily and Maria had been in Ontario for most of the month without him!

Stephanie loves to watch the antics of her nieces ---

Reading is a favourite past-time: Naomi, Petra and Shannon (our niece) listen to a chapter from Charlotte's Web.

Did I say reading is a favourite past-time? Maria's caught on to this activity quite well!

We won't be able to help Michael celebrate his birthday later this week, so we had a cake for him while he was home.

We attempted to have a "beach" day on Thursday but got rained out in the morning. We did go back to the water later when the sun came through again.
Naomi often makes up and sings her own songs, and here she is at it again as we ride our chariot down the lane to the lake, while Petra just relaxes.

Baby Rachel slept a lot, but here she has her peepers wide open!

And what is Sunday morning at a grandparent's house without a picture in your Sunday best. Maria has a sunny smile!

projects, messes, and me

As many of you know, there are many boxes upstairs and that makes it difficult to move around, and find things sometimes! I have been an organized person in the past, and often wonder where that person disappeared to! I remember the times when I would clean up just to start a new project of some kind. I seem to think better when it's tidy around me.
So in tackling the space problem we may have next week when the yard and house fill up with our camping kids, I've been sorting through some of the stuff.
Clothes that I haven't worn in a couple of years is bagged and ready to go to a good-will drop-off.
Some of the framed pictures have made it on to walls.
Photo albums/Scrapbooking projects have been more or less organized into their own project boxes.
Books have been fingered once again - my library has dwindled due to the comments of a certain someone stating there are too many books!
Old magazines are ready for the dump library. (our local dump actually has a library!)
But the projects involving fabric are still there, calling me to pay attention to them.
And after some 20 years, the cedar doors have finally been stained! They're dark, but complement the paint and floor and furniture very nicely!
Space? - coming
Clean? - sort of
Feeling like I'm finding me? - still an eventuality, but it's starting....

only in the country...

Yesterday, at the end of a lovely SUMMER day, all the stuff and grown-ups and kids and vehicles had to pack up and either head back up to the house or head home. I took Stevin's pickup (while he took Mark's boat back to the boat ramp) with Naomi and Emily and Maria.
But this was no ordinary ride back up the lane!
Naomi sat on my lap and 'drove'. And Maria sat on Emily's lap, just chillin' as she rested her hand on the window that was rolled up only a couple of inches.
Petra relaxed in the back seat of my car while Opa drove it, and Rachel was in Katrina's arms.
It's the kind of thing that happens in the country ... on a farm ... on the back 40....

Three Sisters!

Here she is! Sweet baby Rachel!

This evening, I went to Stevin and Katrina's to make supper - it was also an excuse to see and cuddle Rachel!

But first, we had to get supper underway. The girls helped me make 'Salisbury Steaks', and we discovered that Petra is a good patter, and Naomi make some pretty good fluffy steaks too! (hamburger patties don't like a lot of handling, and we did well!) And orange jello with oranges in it for dessert!!

After supper, it was time to start getting ready for bed, and of course, what's getting ready without a bedtime story? And after story time, 1 of which was for Rachel's benefit, I tried to get a couple of pictures. Easier said than done! I really like the last one! It'll be fun with Maria in the group, too, in August!

Our 12th Child!

Praise God! Rachel Jean was born at 03:31 on July 21, 2009. This sweet baby girl has captured my heart already. But of course! she's my 4th granddaughter!

Picnics

It's summer weather today, but then we've had a fair amount of summer weather - just not in consecutive days!
A couple of weeks ago, Stevin and Katrina and the girls picked us up for a picnic, and we went to the public beach at Charleston Lake. It is a lovely park with a sand beach that we enjoyed very much. But it was windy that day, so we didn't really have much inclination to go into the water! The girls tried, but the waves did too much splashing!Picnics are great fun, and this past weekend we took Mom T. out for her birthday. Her home is located across the road from Andrew Haydn Park on the Ottawa River, so that's where we went. The day had started out sunny and warm, but while Mom and I walked around one of the little lakes, the clouds started rolling in, and then it started to rain. So we waited it out in the car, and waited for the sunshine to return. Because the trees were still dripping, we found a table at the top of a hill, and that's where we had our little picnic. A simple meal of potato salad and chicken salad sandwiches, with juice or chocolate milk to drink, and angel cake with strawberries and whipping cream for dessert. M-m good! In the picture, you see John and Mom enjoying their top of the hill experience!
I'm looking forward to more picnics - especially when all of our kids come home in August!!!

Needing eagle's wings...

It's VBS week here at Bethel Church, and I volunteered for the music again.
And although I was not enthusiastic about the songs at all, I'm surprised at how well the children are doing with them.
The songs are by 'God Rocks" - an excellent group. But most of the songs don't seem to be written for children's voices to sing along with. The parts of the songs that are led by the male voices are too low for the children (and me), and when I move into the higher range, I find it too high for comfort. Well, we've adapted.We all know the words now, and we sing low with next to no volume, but you should hear the children when we go into the parts that are led be the female vocalists!!
Rather than learn all the songs, I've concentrated on 3, repeated a song from 2 years ago, and tomorrow we need to sing only 2. Relief. I thought I'd rather learn a couple really well, and that might get sung again in Sunday School, than learn difficult melodies with no chance of repetition. It's worked. The kids are doing us proud.
The theme this year is a galactic one: 'Starlight Rescue'. It ties in directly with the KidsFest being held across the nation this summer by the Billy Graham Association. Brockville is one of the cities chosen for a Fest to be held on August 15.
Starlight Rescue involves the station leader to be dressed up in 'space suits'. Outer space is a very cold place, but we're finding it to be a rather warm experience!
And we're all busy people away from VBS, so today we saw many tired faces.
Tomorrow, we'll be ending the morning with a short presentation for the parents, followed by hot dogs and a 'carnival' outside. Let's hope it'll be sunny but not too hot!
On another note - I've put my phone on vibe in my pocket when I'm away from home. I can't hear the ring sometimes, and I'm eager to hear of whom we will be welcoming into the family this week!

Let's make that a baker's dozen . . .

If you've read Martin and Emily's blog, you know now that we will have our baker's dozen in January!

We have our dozen!!

A lot of thinking occurs as one drives along the highways - today was no exception. John announced that with the birth of Stevin and Katrina's baby, we'll have arrived at our 12th child!!
I guess I better explain: many years ago, when we discussed how many children we should have, we kidded each other and stated that we would love to have about a dozen. (As you know, we didn't get that far, my body gave up after five.)
So - 5 of our own plus 3 daughters-in-law plus 3 grand-kids plus the next yet-to-born-due-very-soon equals 12!!

Riches

Emily asked me where the picture of "the sleepover bed" was - well here it is! I got a photo of it before I folded everything away. Now, to my eyes, it isn't anything too special. But for 2 little girls having a sleepover together at Opa and Oma's, and sleeping in the same room as Opa and Oma, it was very special!
I love this picture of Maria - but then all of her pictures are cute. This was taken when we stopped in when John delivered a couple of trailers in Dartmouth. The time spent was short - but very sweet!

And I couldn't resist taking a picture of Opa's riches. I found this bowl, with the change in it, in our bedroom the other day. The girls had found it and included it in their playing while they were here on Saturday. Said Naomi: "Opa's really, really rich! Look at all the money!"

Oh, Naomi, to your young eyes all that change looks like a lot, but Opa's real riches are his precious children and grandchildren!