Thank goodness for spring! Cause this is what happens when it's too cold to play outside...

Leah puts Spiderman underwear on her head...


Luke - well, does this...


Leah blogs her boredom...


They both take up shaving...



And Daddy is a human jungle gym!

Blessings

Yes, I am an intermittent blogger. Sorry it's been so long, but life gets busy and blogging takes a hit. The fall season brought both joyous days and sad ones. Each year I dread the coming of snow, but as I stare out the window at the new blanket of brilliant white, I am reminded that each new day brings new blessings. Our little family is so blessed! We have a home, a church, jobs, schools, clothes, vehicles, food. But more importantly to me, we have eachother. Circumstances lately have reminded me that family is so important. We have opportunities every day to be blessings to eachother as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and children. Yet, at times we let those opportunities pass by. Busyness and personalities get in the way, our ugly sides come out, and we hurt those most precious to us. But, like snow cleanses the earth, God's grace cleans away our ugly's. I'm so thankful for that, and I'm thankful to be a part of the four under this roof.

KINDERGARTEN - bring it on!!!

First day off to Kindergarten at Legacy Christian!




"Ok mom, just hurry up and take the picture!" Yes he really said this.





I only cried for a minute...then hauled to get the keys and chase the bus all the way to school! Don't all moms do this?

Summer overview '08

The VanderMeulen summer has been both relaxing as well as crazy. In summer the time seems to simultaneously fly by and float along. This year the pleasant temperatures came with not-so-pleasant news for our family. Dad (Grandpa Lukester) was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Very shocking and overwhelming for Dad, Mom, and all us kids. While we all struggled with how to handle this news, it was Dad who seemed to be the most at peace. The few weeks following diagnosis brought a steady decline in his condition. He became very weak, lost weight, and felt miserable. Waiting for all the necessary tests and appointments seemed to take forever, but God remained faithful. Dad is now just over half way done with chemo, and all the way bald. He looks great and is feeling much better. After seeing Grandpa Luke said "Dad, can you cut my hair to look almost like grandpa, but not that shiny."

Summer for our family means going to Daddy's softball games at the CRC Rec Center. It's usually more about getting candy and playing mini-golf than anything else. Mark enjoys playing softball for K-ville, but was put on the disability list due to an unfortunate ligament strain while batting early in the season. The injury was significant and required Mark to have an MRI and several weeks of therapy. We continued going to the games to cheer on the team, and Mark made himself useful by coaching 3rd base.



On June 9, we celebrated Leah's 1st birthday. Oh how that year flew by! Leah is learning new things everyday. Her list of words and sounds continues to grow: "daddy","mumma","ball", "baba" (bottle), "car", "baby", "cracker", "nana" (no no, thought she doesn't seem to grasp the meaning of that one yet), "ya ya" (Elmo), "hi doggy", "eyes", "cookie", "water", "all done". Yes, we have a smart one! The words that describe Leah are curious, persistent, giggle, babble, big hair, mischievious, cuddly, smiley, cute, cute, cute...! Leah's biggest loves are stuffed animals, puppies, sweets, Luke, and Daddy. Her crowning feature is her adorable and voluminous hair! We love our baby girl!!





Luke is "basking" in the fun of summer. His favorite days are "mommy" days when he can just be at home playing with his buddies. Some of Luke's summer highlights are making some headway in the pool (a slow process), his first visit to the urgent care after his forehead met a brick retaining wall (much blood but no stitches required), riding the tag along bike with dad (easier than fighting the no training wheels battle), learing how to pump while swinging (aah, no more pushing), parades, playgrounds, popsicles, putt-putt, (so simple, so fun!). It's fun watching him grow!! School starts soon (yea!) (ugh)




Our vacation highlight this summer was going to Family Camp in Green Lake, Wisconsin. The whole Bolt family was able to go this year, including Dad Bolt. Yeah! It was such a blessing that right in the middle of chemo treatments he was healthy enough to go. We had a great week of family togetherness, spiritual growth, and lots of play. Luke had an especially great week. He loved his class with teacher "cool Bob". He loved hanging out with his CCA Taylor. He loved the freedom of roaming around the camp with his cousin George just doing boy stuff. He loved it all. The last morning there he woke up and said "I hate family camp because time goes too fast here". We all feel the same way. We just love it and never want to leave. Can't wait for next year!!
This year we are especially thankful that God spared Brian, Joni, and the kids from harm when they rolled their van on the way home from family camp. A scary way to end a great vacation, but it could've been a lot worse. Praise God!

Saturday parade

On Saturday we went to the Byron Days parade. If you've seen one small town parade you've seen them all. Yet we seem to never get sick of racing in the street for flying candy, cheesy clown bands, miniature dogs in costume, the clip-clop of horses hooves carrying veterans, (and the plop-plop of you-know-what hitting the pavement right in front of your carefully selected spot), and what seems like one too many shiny red fire engines sounding those wonderfully awful horns one too many times. WE LOVE IT!!

Luke, cousin Sam, and Leah

CROCS-the shoe of

choice. Works with

socks or without!

Being 5 in summertime...

Eating Popsicles
Getting ready to run the Junior Jog

Hanging out with friends

Frog catching with cousins

Learning to ride bike without the training wheels

(sniff sniff) Our baby girl is 1