middle of may

May 11: We went to the Kenny Chesney concert and to our surprise we sat in the 11th row from the stage! The best part was seeing Kurt sooooo excited. Kenny put on an AWESOME concert. It brought me back to "the good old days" attending concerts with my best friend in high school, Michelle (Hi!). I think Michelle and I went to every concert we could. That was cool.

May 15: Connor had his last day of Preschool at Bounceland. What a blast! The kids (parents and Mrs. Modderman, pictured here with Connor) had a great time. It was a little sad. Connor loves preschool and we sure are going to miss the kids and especially Connor's teachers. This past year Connor sure has come out of his shell. He's really opened up and is just the sweetest little kid.

May 16: We had Isaac for the morning. He's such a joy to be around (at least during the day... when he's having a good day, right Sara?) He was full of giggles. We broke out the scale to see how much they all weighed: Kaden-28 pounds, Connor-31 pounds, Isaac-33 pounds (he was just over 15 pounds back in November). I laughed!!!

May 23: We had the absolute joy of watching Reagen (Ben and Laurie's daughter). She lights up the room. The boys kept her laughing. She couldn't get enough of them.. and I couldn't get enough of her. She is so precious like all our children are. We played and she giggled so hard watching Connor play with a balloon. She's such a snuggle bunny! I love it.

May 24- 29: My Mom visited us from Florida. What a great trip. I always treasure the times we spend together. The boys loved having their Grammy here and she SPOILED them soooo much. I love it. We went to the zoo and South Haven. We went out for ice cream and played outside. The boys even go new bikes for their birthdays. Thank you Mom for all that you do for our family and forever keeping us in your prayers.

May 27: Congratulations Mark and Jamie Klimp. They have a beautiful baby girl, Taylor! Everyone is doing great!

May 30: Isaac spent the morning with us. We joined Amy and Joel downtown for "Once Upon A Time", a story hour hosted by Kalamazoo Library. He had a wonderful time. The boys loved all the story book characters. Isaac return home in less than 2 weeks. Please keep everyone who has been involved in Isaac's care in your prayers. The next several weeks will not be easy.

kaden's 2nd birthday

It's so hard for us to believe that our baby is 2! Where has the time gone? Kaden brings so much laughter into our lives. He absolutely cracks us up all the time. He's a little man! The morning of his birthday, I went out and got him balloons and we could all sang "happy birthday" to him when we got him out of bed. He thought that was wonderful. Connor asked him ALL day if he could have a balloon and in a nice tone Kaden said "My birthday, My balloons." He loved all the attention. I took him to his 2 year appointment that day (what a nice mom I am... hey, he didn't get any shots) and he weights 28 pounds and is 35 inches tall (Connor was 35 1/2 at 3 years old). He's in the 75% for both weight and height. That night we joined some friends at the park. On Saturday we had a small family birthday party. We celebrated Kaden's birthday (May 3), had orange and blue plates and silverware for my brother's birthday (May 5), and also celebrated my dad's birthday (May 6), Needless to say, we had a lot of cake! Kaden loved opening presents and wanted ZERO help in doing so. "Mom, I can do it!". We got him a John Deere riding Gator. (For those of you who don't know the story... we got Connor one for his 3rd birthday and we had to return it to Daddy's store because he would not have anything to do with it. He stepped off our cousin Wyatt's Gator while in motion and got a bloody nose.) We knew if Kaden drove the Gator, Connor would. And that's basically what happened.

The boys are enjoying the great weather and our backyard. They love planting and helping Kurt and I move dirt. They are so cute. The fish are finally starting to come around and we're feeding them twice a day. The boys really like that. I just told Kurt last night that everyday feels like Saturday in our new backyard.

Tomorrow is Connor last day of preschool for the year. We sure are going to miss Mrs. Modderman over the summer. She's been a gift to Connor. He will be attending her 4's preschool in the fall.

baby shower in florida

I had a wonderful trip to Florida. I flew down on Wednesday and went fishing with my mom on Thursday. We caught a number of fish. I felt bad for Kurt because every time we get to Florida and he has the opportunity to fish, he never gets anything! I stayed out in the sun way too long and am currently "shedding". On Friday morning, mom and I went shopping (as usual). It was awesome to spend some quality time with her. I loved having her all to myself even though it was weird to be in Florida without the boys. We met up with Kim for lunch on Friday and I had to hold back the tears. She is absolutely adorable pregnant. We are soooo happy for Kim and James. This has been a long journey and we are so grateful to see God answers prayers.

Kim and I went shopping Friday afternoon and hit the outlets (Coach - thank you Kurt). That evening we met up with some friends (Amber is on the left in the picture). And Saturday was the baby shower. It was breathtaking seeing all the support that Kim and James have. They had so many travel a long way just to come to the shower. She received SOOO much stuff!

Today, the boys and I have to wonderful privilege in watching Isaac (our not-so-little boy from Africa). He's doing great. I took them to the John Deere store so Isaac could ride on a tractor. He got to see the store via wagon! I just laid them all down about an hour ago. During our nap routine, Connor prayed and asked if Isaac could pray. Isaac folding his hands and repeated after me. It brought tears to my eyes and reminded me of the amazing and faithful Lord that we have. Ever child is a gift from God and we are blessed to be entrusted with them.

And we have 3 new additions to the Steensma Family.

On Monday, we added fish to our pond:

Daisy, Lily, and Minnie

I will update the website in a few days and let you know how Kaden's 2nd birthday went (tomorrow).