Birthday Blessings

We had several days of celebrating Opa's birthday this weekend. Martin and Emily arrived with the girls on Wednesday afternoon, and on his birthday morning (Friday), we had waffles with berry sauce and whipped cream - and a candle. David and Stephanie and Anneke arrived Friday afternoon and we had the first barbecue of the year.
On Saturday, we spent the day at Stevin and Katrina's, had cupcakes with the big 6 and 0 candles;

and opened presents. One gift was a shirt that had travelled across the country to include everyone's handprint and signature on it:

and another gift was a shirt with the big 60 on it:

Naomi and Petra gave their hand-made cards; Naomi's was addressed to the "best Opa ever".

And the BIG and LONG gift was from all of us:

a hammock to relax in!

In the afternoon, we spent an hour at a nearby private pool where the girls had a splashingly good time. They even dared to jump from the diving board!

On Sunday, we continued the celebrating when Opa's brothers and sisters came for lunch. And we had more cake - this time it had all 60 candles on it! There was no problem in getting them blown out with the help of several little people!

No sooner were the candles blown out when they all had to be removed so that we could all have a piece served with ice-cream.

But not before Maria did a taste-test!

It was a busy weekend, but it was very enjoyable - and of course, much too short as far as enjoying the children and grandchildren are concerned. What a blessing they all are!

Laura's Smile

Just want to share where I'm at right now:
I've been immersed in Laura for the last couple of weeks. An album was quickly put together the year after she passed away, for a memory evening with friends and family. I wanted to add to it and journal more, but promised that it would get done "someday". Well, that "day" is here, 27 years later.
There are many other things to do, but now that I've started, I want to finish. At the same time, photos and negatives and albums are being somewhat more organized - at least now I know where I can find most things!
But immersion is what's needed to get the story told; there are so many things to remember to make it more complete! And I suppose I really ought to be scanning and editing all of the photos to make them look "better", and I ought to go digital so that others can have copies, but then the project would have to go on hold some more while I go on another learning curve....
At any rate, I am quite pleased with this layout and I'd like to share it with you.
The journaling defines "in the pink" as someone who is in good health, strong, blooming (- hence the flower page.)
"Laura took her time in developing various physical skills; her illness and surgery earlier in the year were a real set-back. but just as the sun grows stronger, making things grow, Laura grew stronger, and by mid-summer was able to sit alone! Hurray! Another reason to laugh!" The photos show how she needed support to sit - you see the cushions in the high chair? Her laughing face in the centre circle looks quite proud with her new accomplishment! These pictures were taken the summer after she turned one year. She had lengthened but had not gained much weight: at 5 months she was 14lbs3oz, at 15 months she was 15 lbs.
And as I read through several of the memories of Laura in the sympathy cards, it's her smile that people remembered the most!

Behind the Times

We skyped Martin the other day to wish him a happy birthday. While telling him that as I calculated his age, I was feeling old. But we're both older than I thought: seems I left my brain in 2010, and forgot that it's 2011!! I guess I've started to dig in my heels as I approach my milestone birthday - mind you, that's not until next year. I think....

Is there life without the internet?

We were without internet since Wednesday afternoon; not so great when you're expecting email messages and you want to communicate via email.
But I discovered there IS life without the computer and I actually got a little bit more accomplished without having to check the 'puter every now and then! Don't ask me what I did though - seems I can't remember....

Information from the past...

I just read a book, "The Occupied Garden" by Kristen Den Hartog and her sister Tracy Kasaboski. It's a collection of memoirs, gathered from several sources, about their grandparents during WWII, which they realised they needed to collect before the information dies away with that generation. Besides being a reserved couple, their Opa and Oma simply did not talk about that time: it was just too horrible.
It helps me realise why my parents didn't talk much about their experiences either. That last winter, especially, was horrific, with mass starvation, no electricity, no heat. And I understand better why my Dad went underground.
I highly recommend the reading of this book, as well as reading the stories of others on their website: www.TheOccupiedGarden.com.
I also hope to get more information from my Mom, and in-laws, so that the next generation can understand, too. But it's a task we ALL need to undertake - we all know that war is awful, but it's something that happens elsewhere and doesn't impact us greatly, but our grand-/parents actually lived through it, and several went on to face the atrocities of Japanese-trained guerillas in Indonesia.
But how to ask the questions? I'll have to start with the photo album and a "tell me about - ". For instance, last week I found out that my Opa gave up a desired career in the army because he met Oma. And that their romance started when she left the house without her umbrella on a rainy day and he took it to her!

"A Mother Wonders"

I read through a little booklet of poems that we had received when our Laura was born, and this poem came to mind as I enjoyed the photos of our grandgirls on Katrina's blog:

Precious Babe, so small in size,
My one great dream within you lies.
For long before I saw your face
I dreamed and wished as I sewed lace
On your tiny garments.
Now I hold you in my arms,
Bewitched and breathless by your charms -
In truth you are a miracle,
You are so wonderful -
I hope God makes my wish come true,
To make me worthy, Child, of you.
by Grace Mathew Walker

May I truly be worthy of the blessing of my grandgirls, as well as of my children both natural and in law.

and joining the family via Skype....

Celebrations just aren't the same when family members are missing- - -

- - - so glad we can "skype"! In this photo, Martin and Emily and the girls have joined the Geertsema Family via the skype program - and we saw Nicole's attempts at her first steps!!

Christmas Day

Before I take the tree down today, I thought I'd enjoy the memories of Christmas day:

Sjoelbak!

We had our first weekend of Christmas family celebrations this past weekend while Martin and Emily were in Ontario with Maria and Nicole, and it was also the beginning of our Second Annual Sjoelbak Tournament. Last year's Ultimate Sjoelbak Grand Champion was "The Honourable Sir Martin".
We played between preparing meals and kids' naps and Michael's availability in Banff (where he is now living, and doing the commute to L. Louise). Not sure what the standings are, but the games will continue when Michael arrives Christmas weekend. We could even start another round, since we can watch each other on Skype, and Martin and Emily are back in Dartmouth!
The little girls wanted to have a go at the board as well, and they scored well too. Naomi is quite proud of her expertise!
And Rachel of course wanted to try her hand at it,

giving us instructions in how to play: climb on board and shove the pucks in! Perfect score!!

Winter has arrived, and Christmas is coming!

It's been snowing off and on since Saturday night, so that we now have a few centimetres on the ground. Winter has officially arrived, and the lights on other homes look like the Christmas season has arrived.
Martin and Emily and their girls are coming on the weekend, for their Christmas with their Ontario families. Michael isn't coming until Christmas Day.
So this mom likes doing all kinds of stuff for family celebrations, but guess what! She's wa-a-ay behind!
There's been this and that and other things - all contributing to her time factor. But on Friday, I started to clean upstairs, and discovered something drastic. There's a moisture problem in the ceiling and walls, and it's become visible in a not very healthy way.
John and Stevin took care of it today, but we have a big project for early spring! Sigh. If it isn't one thing, it's another.
The plus side is that a sort of Clean Sweep is occurring, and will continue through the winter! The minus side is that Christmas projects will not be completed for the weekend. There will also be only a little bit of baking done.
But it's family together time that matters! We will have a good time, regardless!! Who's up for Scrabble? :) And later, there are always the pleasures of packages in the mail......