Disneyland!


Mom and Dad and all the VandenHeuvel's travelled down to Orange County Tuesday night for our exciting Thanksgiving weekend. We were so excited because we were all going to Disneyland together on Wednesday! It wasn't the entire Bakker clan since Karen and Alan and the kids couldn't be there - we sure missed them! The rest of us were together, though, and we had a wonderful day together. Everything was decorated for Christmas!
Pictured here are the VH's on the left side, then Kristina's brother, Dan (in red) and Crystal, with two of their three boys, Ethan (hugging Jack) and Andrew (Owen, the baby, stayed with Crystal's mom for the day). Kristina's youngest brother, Jordan, is proudly emphasizing Erin's round tummy - anticipating parenthood with baby Morgan (due in January). Then, Mom and Dad.




The VH's with Mickey!














Dan and Crystal, Ethan and Andrew























Auntie Kristina and Ethan on the huge ferris wheel at California Adventure. I can't tell who's protecting who here...I got a little green on that!















Of course, our adventure wouldn't have been complete without going on "It's a Small World".

Jack's Thanksgiving Feast

Jack and his classmates at Redwood Forest Preschool celebrated Thanksgiving together. They decorated the table with handprint turkeys and things they were thankful for. The moms all brought in parts of the turkey dinner.



Jack wasn't too excited about the stuffing and the corn. No one else seemed to mind! I did manage to get him to take at least one bite of everything.











Jack's buddies from school: Darius and Langston.

Busted!

Mariana is turning out to be quite the little speller! She never misses a word on her weekly spelling tests, and the other night, she proved that she's in a different level of child now.

We were having dinner as a family, and Christiaan and I were talking. As we talked, I ended up spelling the word, "b-l-a-c-k", and continued to talk on. About a minute later, as we had moved on in the conversation, and the kids were eating, Mariana chimed in, "Oh, I know what you were spelling -- BLACK!" She had been quietly figuring it out for that whole time. Christiaan and I looked at each other, so surprised, and he said, "I guess we won't be able to spell words anymore if we don't want the kids to know what we're talking about!!"

Candy Zone

This is one of the kids' favorite events of the year! They get to dress up, go to church for major carnival-type games and jumpy-houses, and, of course...CANDY!

Mariana was an angel -- so consistent with how she is all the time! Jack was Peter Pan.








Jack really got into the games -- golf and throwing the
ball through the holes were his favorites