fun picts...

AT THE ZOO...

AT HOME...
making faces during dinner

reading a Bible story

hugs for Ernie and Bert

talking on the telephone

AT MEIJER GARDENS...

playing with the boats in the children's garden

Rachel Grace

introducing our new niece, Rachel Grace
born this morning at 1:37 A.M.
Minneapolis, MN
21.5" long, 8 lbs 6 oz
HOORAY!!!!!!

at the hospital...

My brother and his wife are at the hospital.... waiting to hear news about our new niece!!!

new babies!!!

New life is such a blessing! In the last months since we came home with Meili many of our friends have also been blessed with additions to their families. We are so thankful for all of these blessings from God!
- Cameron Asher - born in March
- Nathan Miller - adopted in March
- Sarah Jean - born in May
- Marika Julia - born in May
- Jaeden Isaac - born in May
- Katherine Rose - born in May
- Ava Grace - waiting to come home from China!!!
- Levi James - born on Friday!!! (see picture below)


We should hear from my brother and his wife any day now - their third daughter was due to show up last Friday. =)

two fun days

Wow! Summer vacation brings opportunities for all kinds of fun adventures. Saturday we spent a few hours at the Multicultural Festival at Bethany. There were all kinds of fun things for kids to do. The best spot was the critter area. Meili got to hold, pet and give kisses to all kinds of cute and fuzzy animals.

(notice where Meili puts her hand)

Initially, Meili was a little nervous about the cute duckling...

but it got a kiss too.

totally wiped out after lunch...

Today we had another fun adventure. It was a first for both of us - picking strawberries. Once Meili figured out that strawberries tasted good, she picked a few of her own to eat. She also ate a leaf or two and tried eating a few pieces of straw. Her shirt, arms and legs were covered with juice from the berries. Tonight we had delicious jam on crackers and a piece of strawberry pie! YUM!

socks...

Meili loves socks - our socks. It seems like it's on some of the hottest days that she manages to find them and asks one of us (with motions) to help her put them on. Then she walks around in them. Meanwhile, it's just so hot and she has sweat covering her head. What a funny kid!

vintage toys rock

It sure is fun to watch Meili enjoy toys that we had when we were kids! This barn was 5 cents at a thrift store. Meili loves the mooing sound and also likes sticking all of the cows and pigs into the hay loft!

a few more bath pictures

bath foam

Meili loves taking baths - especially when we pull out the can of bath foam from Grandma. The only gross thing about it is that it makes the water all yellow. (At least I think it's from the bath foam!)


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fun with Grandma & Grandpa

It's so fun when we have family visitors! This weekend Meili got to spend lots of time with Grandma & Grandpa who were visiting from Ontario. Grandma got to babysit on Friday and she took Meili for a visit to the park and the library. She also introduced Meili to the idea of putting her hands in her pockets. (Bakka will get a kick out of that!) Meili was SO proud of herself when she got her hands in her pockets but had a hard time keeping her balance when she tried to walk!


Meili loves giving kisses... this time she shared them with Grandpa!

sitting pictures

Well, Menga and Bakka have spoiled Meili again. (Thank you!) Here she sits on one of her new little chairs - she just loves them. She hasn't quite figured out how to get down from the chair by herself but she's getting close. She usually has her afternoon snack in this chair and likes sitting at the table with some of her toys. Today she did some coloring at the table. She has a really funny grip on the crayons.



The high chair is another place Meili spends a lot of sitting time. She's been eating solid/regular food for about a month how and she's starting to get really good at chewing! Two favorites of hers are Kraft Dinner (that's Macaroni & Cheese in American) and pancakes. Of course her pancakes are covered in REAL, Canadian maple syrup. Only the best for this little girl!!!


Meili isn't saying a whole lot of words yet - at least not words that we can understand! She tries to copy what we say but it often sounds quite different. She knows about 20 sign language signs and uses those all the time to communicate with us. Here is the sign for "drink."

Fun in Chicago

What a fun weekend! We hung out with my parents, had beautiful weather, ate TONS of delicious food, solved crossword puzzles together, and loved having an extra day off! Here are some shots from the WhiteSox game. Enjoy!






We walked to the park this afternoon. Meili especially loved the slides - the curvy one was her favorite. After the slide, she played in a sandbox for the first time. It was hilarious to see her trying to figure out what sand was - especially when she put a few handfuls of sand in her mouth.

5 tired kids

Is it possible to put five tired kids together and get them all to smile at the same time? Not today... Our nephew Benoit was baptized today (he's on the right.) It was so great to have all of the nieces and nephews together. Here are Grandpa and Grandma Kingma with all their grandkids.


Meili is really interested in trying things by herself. Here she's trying to figure out how to put her sandals on. She also knows how to hold her cup now and spends a lot of her dinner time taking tons of tiny drinks - just because she can!


An up-close look at the camera!

Better go.... Meili is supposed to be sleeping but she just woke up screaming!

tulip time

We went. We ate TONS of greasy, sugary food. We saw LOTS of tulips. It was a really fun day!

twinkle, twinkle

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