Dutch Love Family: January 2015

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Beckham's Baptism

January 11 ~ Baby Beckham was baptized! It was such a wonderful, memorable day. Most of our nearby family were there to watch the special occasion and we all went out to lunch afterwards. We just love our little guy so very much!!

Long time pals... Jake and Sam

Jackson

At 9 months old, my adorable nephew just can't get any cuter! He's such a joy to have around... we love his belly laughs and constant happiness!

The Birthday Girl

Katie's actual birthday arrived on Tuesday! She had school that day and was super excited to bring in special Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes to share with her classmates... made special by her Auntie Marie! Katie's day also included her traditional birthday smoothie from Dutch Bros, dinner of bbq chicken legs and mashed potatoes and getting to talk to Oma and Grandpa. And, she also had her special donuts and more gifts that morning before heading off to school... phew, that's a lot of partying!!!

Katie's Birthday

After celebrating her birthday on Saturday, Janelie & Katie got to spend the night at Papa & Nana's house! That was a big treat! After church that afternoon, we celebrated with a big lunch of spaghetti and brownies - Katie's choice!

Happy Birthday Katie!

Our sweet Katie Rose turned 9 this year! We celebrated the weekend before her birthday (Jan 3rd) with a "girls day" shopping, ice skating and going out to dinner. It was a fun filled day with myself, Nana and her best friend, Janelie!

Our first stop was lunch and gifts at Chik-fil-A...

Then we did some girly shopping at Claire's, Gordman's and shops at The Village

We finished off the evening with a yummy dinner at Red Robin

The girls had a super fun time ice skating at the rink in The Village, Meridian. It has become one of our favorite, festive places to go!

I love my girly so very much!!!

New Years 2015!! Ollie Bolen

It is a Dutch tradition to celebrate the new year with a day of Ollie Bolen and opening your home to friends & family. Many Dutch people will serve this yummy type of fried donut hole throughout the day and their home is open to friends coming and going. It's so much fun! This year we decided to try this at our house too! The dough can be somewhat finicky so, we decided to just invite a smaller group this year and see how it all went. Then, make it a bigger event next year! Marie came over in the mid-morning and we got our first batch of dough going. Friends began arriving around 1:00 and came and went until about 6 that evening. Total we made 4 batches of Ollie Bolen and served just under 30 people! We had a few batches that could have been better and know how/what we'll do differently next year. All in all, it was a huge success!

Our dear friend, Vera, came for the whole afternoon!

Cousins

It's always a fun time whenever we get to babysit adorable Jackson! He's such a happy little guy and is so easily entertained by his cousins!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Christmas Afternoon

That afternoon we continued Trenton's birthday celebration with a two layered Cookies n Cream chocolate cake :)

And, it was so nice to have Kyle, Marie and Jackson over to hang out and share in our fun day! We're thankful we live close and can see them :) It was also fun to see Jackson celebrate his first Christmas!

We spent the whole day at home... surrounded by family, hanging out, napping, playing with new presents, eating goodies and not getting out of our p.j.'s (the kids) For us, this is the perfect way to spend Christmas! Throughout the season we reflect upon God's unconditional love to us and our family. And, the fact that not only did He send his Son to come to the earth as a babe but, also, to die on the cross for us!

Christmas Morning Part 2

After breakfast we opened gifts!!!

"awwwww, T'enton, thanks for my present!"

Christmas Morning Part 1

Finally, Christmas morning AND Trenton's birthday arrived!!! Katie was SO excited for Christmas that she woke up at 4 a.m.! (we sent her back to bed haha!) At a more decent hour of 7 a.m., the kids all woke up and got to open their stockings right away.... This year I sewed their new Christmas p.j.'s!