Introducing....

The Avison TRIPLETS!!!

Curtis, Tiffany and Charley welcomed their newest family members this afternoon. Two princesses and a little prince were born to them, in Holland Hospital, via c-section. This is the first set of triplets that Holland Hospital has delivered, thankfully things went well.

Hadley Drew 7lbs, 4oz

 Berkeley Reece, 4lbs 7oz

Jaxton Barnes, 4lbs 2oz

As of now, the babes are all breathing on their own, they are just hooked up to monitors to keep an eye on their vitals. Tiffany is recovering great as well. I am waiting for Brandon to get home so I can go get some newborn loving..even though I am not sure I can even hold them yet. I will keep posting and updating and we get more information, and of course, pictures. I apologize about the quality of these, they were what Tiff's sister texted me, but they are better than nothing! :)

Please pray for continued health and strength for the babes, and for patience and rest for Curtis and Tiffany as they grow from a family of 3, to a family of 6. As one could imagine, I am sure it will be quite the transition!

Our first week

This week is the first week of my new job - full time stay at home mommy and wife!!! We have been managing to keep very busy, not sure doing what, to be honest, but I am having no trouble watching the days fly past. We have run some errands, gotten groceries successfully (until now, I never took Bentley to the grocery store with me because I always went at night when Brandon could stay home to watch him), and even squeezed in a nap together!!

Its been fun yet challenging trying to find a good routine. Since I havent spent days with Bentley since he was a baby, I am expirementing with naptimes and feeding times and activities to keep him busy. Not to mention, him and Brandon have come down with a pretty yucky cold, so we don't have much of a routine right now other than not sleeping at night. :S

A few things have jumped out at me though...some big differences...some things i LOVE!

Our hamper is empty more than it is full. For those of you that dont know, I really enjoy doing laundry, and not having the time before, really bothered me. Wierd, I know, but I am so happy to get up everyday and do laundry! :)

This, honestly, drives me nuts. But I would get nothing done if I spent all day chasing my toy-toting tot. I did like how clean my living room was, when no one was home all day, but I will trade the mess just to be able to be home, any day!

I have also learned that my sweet boy would prefer a salad over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I am not sure why, but this shocked me! I am so thankful, because he could be asking for worse things to eat for lunch!! :)

We are hoping to be able to get some playdates in with some other stay at home mommy friends in the near future...we need to kick these colds first. Until then, we will enjoy each others company hanging out at home together, because honestly, I have been waiting for these days since I found out we were pregnant with this little monkey.

On that note, I have the best husband ever for making this dream come true for me. I can't wait to see the changes it has on our family, and our relationship!

Meal Train for the Avisons

For those of you that are not on Facebook, we have started a meal train for the Avison family in anticipation of the arrival of their triplets in a few weeks. If you would like more information or would like to help, please follow this link: http://www.mealtrain.com/?id=mvq1lu3d79et

Thanks in advance, they will really appreciate it. And yes, I will be sure to post ASAP on the news of the arrival. :)

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

We woke up bright and early Christmas Eve morning and enjoyed a little festive breakfast together. Getting to eat breakfast as a family doesnt happen very often, considering Daddy works 6 days a week, and isn't a big breakfast eater anyway. I made green milk and waffles for breakfast (kinda yucky looking) but Bentley thought it was pretty neat. Then we got busy painting some Christmas cards for our upcoming parties.

Needless to say, it didn't last long, and as you can tell, Bentley ended up more colorful than most of the cards we attempted. Oh well, you can't be a happy boy, and cards made with love!

After a big afternoon nap, we headed to my parents for some dinner and presents. Bentley wasn't as into opening things as we had hoped, but he had fun anyway.
Great Grandma got him a new winter coat, just like Daddy's work coat! Pretty big stuff!!!

He also got a new BIG teddy bear. He loves it!

Santa brought him a pickup truck, like daddys, with a trailer that had a skid steer on it. He is all about his trucks and trailers these days!!!

We got home about 930 and put cookies out for Santa and then put Bentley to bed

We woke up early in the morning (like 645!) to find the stockings had been filled...

...and the presents were under the tree. (wink wink)

 Again, in our effort to help maintain the real meaning of Christmas, Bentley only had three presents under the tree (from us, that is), and one was the unwrapped one that Santa left. The other two came from Mom & Dad. We decided on three, because that is how many gifts baby Jesus recieved from the wisemen who came to visit him in the stable. We are hoping this will limit the amount of "wants" and greed as the kids grow up but also to remind us that we are blessed all year long, not just on Christmas morning.

So excited to find a tractor under the tree!

We had breakfast and a nap and then headed to Brandon's parents for lunch and more presents!

Bentley got more trucks and tractors, he was in his glory!

His very own John Deere Tractor!

tractors tractors tractors.

these two are intense about their tractors, let me tell ya!

He also got a bike, with no pedals. Its meant to help with balancing so when they are big enough and strong enough to pedal, they don't have to try and learn their balance too! We can't wait to get outside in the spring and give it a try!!

We had a great weekend celebrating with our families and were reminded of just how blessed we are. We are so thankful that the Lord continues to bless us and show us his love and mercy through these blessings and our families, not just on Christmas, but all year long!!!

eighteen weeks

Friday was the eighteen week mark for our pregnancy, its hard to believe we are almost half way done! I hate to even think that way, just because I love being pregnant and always feel good. We went to the doctor last week and the heartbeat was good and strong again..nothing else seems to be new. We scheduled our ultrasound for January 11...two days after Daddy's Birthday. We are going to find out the gender, we have decided. I'm anxious to see if Daddy will be getting another mini me or a little princess for his birthday!!

18 weeks with baby

18 weeks with Bentley.

Again, I feel a bit smaller this time but my "symptoms" early on were all the same. I still dont have a gender feeling either way, and all my "symptoms" of pregnancy have been the exact same, but the fact of being smaller makes me think maybe its a petite little princess! ;) I guess time will tell!!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you are all enjoying the blessings of another year and looking forward to the blessings of many more to come. We feel very blessed, this year and always, and are thankful for all the things the Lord has provided us with, including wonderful loving families.

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Thank YOU for what you did to bless us and make us who we are today.

The Spirit of [[GIVING]]

In our effort to keep Christmas in perspective, Brandon and I have decided to give this year...more than just gifts to family members. Just as God so selflessly gave his Son for our sins, we feel it is our duty as believers to give to those in need as well.

We decided that every year, we would take Bentley shopping and have him pick out a toy or two for a child who wouldn't normally get one on Christmas. This year we chose to donate what Bentley picked out to Toys for Tots. We know that it probably didn't register to him what he was actually doing, but we are hoping in the upcoming years he will have a better understanding and recieve much joy and excitement from giving, and sharing with those who aren't as fortunate as we are. There is no better feeling than giving, with a right heart, and knowing that you have made a difference and put a smile on someone else's face that maybe wouldn't have smiled this Christmas.

We know Christmas isn't all about the gifts, but until he is old enough to donate time or efforts to other organizations, we decided to do it this way.

We also, as a family, made a small donation to a local family that has come on some hardships and was in great need due to an illness. An old neighbor had sent out a message on Facebook asking for popcans so that they could help her parents out with some medical bills and other financial burdens they have this year. This was the note she sent out:

Hey everyone! I am writing this to see if you all would be willing to give me all your pop/beer cans!! My mom and dad have had a really hard year..my mom was diagnosed with transverse myelitis back in May. She has been unable to work, and has felt so run down to make it short. My dad works in Detroit right now and has not been able to be with her through this tough time. She is now not only feeling the physical part, but also the emotional part with it. She has become quite depressed and if you know my mom, you would know that this is not in her nature. She is typically a strong, faithful women. Well, I am so grateful that the emergency department I work at at holland hospital is going to help them out this year as well, but I thought, why not pour out the blessings on them this year!! If any 2 people deserve it,they do!! So my idea was to see if I could get a ton of pop cans and be able to give them the cash for it to make their lives a little easier and to just bless them as they have soo blessed my life in many ways!! If you would be willing, I could come pick them up, or you could drop them off to me, or whatever would work easiest!! Maybe this is silly, but I would love to show my parents this year how many people care for them, even if you don't know them, they would be soo blessed by you!!

For some reason, this really touched me, and I decided to donate the small amount of cans we had in the garage. I dropped them off and sent her a message saying they were there and thanked her for allowing us to be able to help, even though it wasn't much.

Earlier this month, the family traveled to Montana to be with their other children and celebrate Christmas. While they were there, Heidi posted this status:

Many tears of joy tonight in MT!! Took a video but can't upload it until we get home.. Thank u everyone who had a part in blessing my mom and dad this Christmas!! Altogether they were blessed with $1930!! Thank u EVERYONE!!

 I couldn't help but cry! How amazing for this family, and even though we were only a very small part, I felt so much joy knowing that we had helped make a difference for someone this year.

Last night, she posted this status from her Dad, on behalf of the both he and her mom:

To our families, friends, and even people we’ve never met...Vickie & I want to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts for the recent outpouring of love, prayers, meals, 10,000 pop cans, gift cards, soft cozy blanket, and the money that was contributed.
We were amazed and humbled at the loving gifts we were given. We were presented this gift while celebrating Christmas... with our family in Montana last week.
The past 6 months have been a struggle as Transverse Myelitis, a neurological auto immune disease continues to takes its toll on Vickie's nerve endings and energy levels. We continue to see God's amazing love and faithfulness in so many ways. This Christmas we experienced His love and care through all of you. We continue to expect healing, and trust God for whatever lies ahead. Again we thank and love all of you so much!
God bless you and your families as you celebrate Christmas this year.

We had no idea that such a small gesture could make such a big difference for someone else. We are so thankful that we were able to be a part of this awesome event and we are so thankful that the Lord put it on our hearts to help those in need. It sure has helped make our Christmas season this year more meaningful as well. I am hoping Heidi is able to get the video posted, and if she does, I will post it here as well.

"To the world, you may be just one person, but to one person, you may be the world."

 

....::::pajama pizza party::::....

Tonight we spent the evening over at one of my closest friend's house with the boys. Sarah and I are alot the same in the way we parent, the things we find important, and our views on Christmas. There isn't much we don't agree on or discuss together. She has been such a blessing to our family this year, I am so thankful to have found such a true friend in her!

Last Christmas we got together quick between naps on Christmas Eve morning to exchange gifts with the boys. Since Bentley and Preston were so small, it was short lived, but Hunter had fun! This year was a much different story, and much more fun; for all of us. We enjoyed pizza and salad for dinner and then let the boys open their gifts.

We both feel that the real meaning of Christmas often gets overlooked and passed bye, so we decided to do only small gifts and instead, have the boys celebrate Baby Jesus' Birthday! So I brought a cake, and we lit some candles and sang Happy Birthday, and then the boys ate cake. It was very fun, even though Bentley && Preston sure dont understand what was going on, its a great tradition we feel that we have started and someday they will understand and appreciate it.

The boy's jammie picture from last year

(hence the jammies again this year, also a new tradition)

the best jammie picture we could get this year.

they are much harder to get to cooperate this year, big shock, right? ;)

...until next year! :)

[[party::party]]

Wednesday night kicked off 5 nights/days of Christmas celebrations. We got together with the Posma family, which is always good times, and fun to have all the kids together.

Santa stopped and brought his sack full of gift bags for all the little ones. This was Bentleys first encounter ever with Santa, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Not much scares him, but a while back he was held by Brandon's Great Uncle Tom, who has a white beard, and hair, and also has glasses, and he screamed. So...I wasn't quite too sure how this was going to go.

As you can tell, he was not afraid, but he didn't quite smile either!

Thursday night we celebrated with the VandenBrink side. This is always fun as well since we don't hardly ever get together; its always great to catch up!

Brandon, Grandpa VDB and Bentley - 4 Generations

Opening presents with Papa

Chuck the Tonka Truck - of course he couldn't have been happier!!!

So much changes from year to year with our extended families and this time of year is always fun to get together and look back on the past and all the memories we have made and share together. As our family grows, we are enjoying this more and more. Next Christmas will be a whole new world, having TWO babes to enjoy all these special times with! We just can't wait <3

Advent Calendar Activity #2

Monday night our advent calendar activity was to make reindeer cookies, which of course was another Pinterest inspired idea! :)

Bentley wasn't much of help, but he did enjoy "mixing" the batter.

He wanted so so badly to help me roll the dough into balls, so we let him do the last one.

Needless to say, it didnt survive.

Checkin on his cookies!

They were super yummy - we sent some to daycare, I took some to work and we brought some to Nana and Papa! All containers came back empty, so they must have been a big hit!

..::true[[love]]::..

Another successful Pinterest craft is in the books...

I am so happy with how this one turned out!

After next week, when I am home full time, I forsee a lot of crafting in our future! :)

Gingerbread Train

Yesterday Bentley & I completed our first advent calendar activity.

Earlier this month I had bought a kit to make a gingerbread train. I fondly remember making gingerbread houses as a kid, but was reminded by my mom how hard it was to get the frosting to just the right consistency so that it would act as a glue and actually hold the pieces together. So when I was at Meijer, I thought I would grab this kit and give it a try rather than try to mess with making the frosting myself.

Bentley immediately helped himself to a candy cane...in fact he at more candy than what we actually ended up putting on the train because that was way more fun, apparently.

The frosting in this kit was amazing and was almost like cement, but it tasted good! :) I would highly recommend using a kit!!!

The finished product.

It was probably more "fun" for me, but Bentley enjoyed eating the candy and frosting. Next year he will have way more fun with it, I am sure.

15 months

Bentley Ivan -

It is so hard to believe how fast the time has gone and that you are 15 months old already! You are changing almost by the minute and you are developing quite the little personality.

You are all things boy. I know I say that every month, but the older you get, the more evident it becomes. You constantly say "truck" and "tractor" and that is all you play with all day long. You are also starting to become very interested in "building" and stacking things, especially your legos and blocks. You also enjoy playing outside, and chasing the dogs around the house. You are walking everywhere, and sometimes even running. You are starting to test us to see what you can and cannot get away with and how many times you have to hear NO before you get a spanking.

You are in 18-24 month clothes and size 4 diapers. You are eating like a big boy still, 3 meals a day with multiple snacks in between. No one can eat anything when you are around without sharing with you. You have been using a fork for a while and feeding yourself but in the last week or so you have made significant improvement in this area and are starting to do pretty well feeding yourself.

You are still sleeping about 11 hours at night, and napping during the day for about 2 hours. Somedays you are taking two naps, but neither of them are very long.

You also now say "da-ee" which we have translated to doggie. You dont actually say the word no, but when we say it to you, you shake your head in a no fashion. By the way, you hate the word no, and it is often responded too by some fake crocodile tears and some loud crying. :) You are a stinker!

We are so proud of the little boy that you are growing up to be, we can't wait to see how you continue to change and grow and turn into a little man.

We love you to the moon and back, sweet boy. xoxo

'Tis the Season

We had a fun filled week of Christmas parties and events. It was the first of two very busy weeks for us, and all went well. I was a bit nervous about how Bentley would handle all the food, games, presents and fun, but he has done remarkably well.

Wednesday night we went to Great Grandma's for a party with the cousins. We are all so busy so it was fun to get to sit together and chat with Gramma and each other about what we have all been up to!

My cousin, Mandi & Rick have three boys, 4 and under, so all the kids were close in age. We tried our best at a picture of them all, but we had many failed attempts...and this was the best we could get. Maybe next year they will sit more still for us.

Finally smiles when its all done...

Friday morning we got a very early start and headed to Brandon's shop for a Christmas Breakfast they put on every year for their vendors and people they work with througout the year. Bentley had a great time walking around and "chatting" with everyone, and playing on the super dirty shop floor (not something I let him do very often.)

Friday night we headed over to celebrate with the Slagh family. This is always a fun night for us as there is lots of other kids that are Bentleys age and they always all play so well together.

Checking out his gift from Grandpa && Grandma

immediately serious about getting something built.

concentrating.

Chet came over to help

Bentley had the best seat in the house to watch games. He has the craziest fascination with Grandpa's hair!

We ran out this morning to get the last of our gifts and I got everything wrapped this afternoon while Bentley napped. I also filled his advent calendar with an activity for each night this week to welcome Christmas! I am looking forward to doing some fun things as a family and making some memories and traditions for our little guy!