Vander Leest Voyage

Memories

2009-06-15T19:23:00Z

It is special when a family gets to do something and it turns out to be a great time. On Saturday it turned out to be a really nice day. So while Landon was napping he took Mykala fishing. I decided that I would pack a lunch and meet them down by the river and play at the park. Landon woke up and we got in the car to meet up with Mykala and Dave. We ate our picnic lunch and played at the park. But after that we took a stroll down the pier by the Missouri River. We were all talking and laughing and really enjoying ourselves as a family. It was a great time and we really needed to get out of the house. It is those special times that you really get to look at your family and really enjoy each person for who they are and what they bring to the table as a person. We are all different but we are a family unit and we have to love and laugh in life. It is so fun to see the kids personalities come out and watch them be who God created them to be. I love each member of my family so much. And the privilege to be a mother and wife to them is incredible. God has blessed me so much! I guess I am having a moment, hang with me!! Many of you have families as well, and you know what I am talking about, or you are working on building your family. What a treasure to see children grow up! I am so happy and blessed to be a part of it! I pray that I am doing the best that I can do with the children around me, not only my owe, but all that I come in contact with on a daily bases!

Swimming Lessons

2009-06-11T20:58:00Z

Finally I got around to calling on Swimming lessons for Mykala!! I know a little behind! I called a place called Siouxland Aquatics, where the swimming lessons are inside. a couple of years ago Mykala took swimming lessons, the ones where Mommy swims with the child, and they were outside ones and it was FREEZING!! So we were going to do things right this year! Even Mykala said to me, "mom I would like to be inside where it is warm." When I called they also told me about a 2 year old program that they have which Landon could do. I ask them if I could have a trial run at it with him. They agreed and we had the first lesson on Wednesday. I went well until Landon figured out that if he would cry a little bit the lady would let him crawl out of the pool and sit by me. Keep in mind the kid has a swimmer on, and he want to sit on my lap. Everytime he sat on me I had a gush of water crawl down my leg. But at the same time I had to comfort my son, so I let it happen!! I do not think Landon is ready for his swimming lessons yet. He loves the water but wants the comfort of being with Mommy or Daddy. Mykala on the other hand was a pro. She was kicking and learning the strokes with such ease. SHe even jumped off the block all by herself!!!!

From 2009-06-10

I SEE A FUTURE SWIMMER!!!!

Dave's BIG 3-0!!

2009-06-11T20:44:00Z

We celebrated Dave's BIG 3-0! in style this year!! Every day when he came home we had a present waiting for him to open the week before his birthday. By the end or maybe middle of the week he would walk in the house saying, where's my birthday gift!! He loved it! His mom even got to be a prat of the celebration this year. What a treat for him as well as the whole family! We also took him out to Texas Roadhouse for supper and had Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake!! We had a great time celebrating with Dave. I was thinking today that I, Kelly has known him for 8 of the 30 years. Pretty good thinking we met in college!

During the week we went to an Sioux City Explorers game. They lost but it was fun. We had free tickets from a local radio station in town and they gave us 20 of them so we invitied some friends to join us.
One of the days Mom was here we headed to Orange City, IA. There is a cute little Dutch store there, The old Mill, that she likes to go to and there is also a great park. So lanae and her kids met us there for play and food!
We also had to pick Dave up from work and go for a picnic with him. It was nice weather, but a little on the cool side when she was here. But the sun always seem to warm things up so we could got outside and run some energy off!!
From 2009-06-06

From 2009-06-06

From 2009-06-09

This picture should have had Dad and Donna in it but my dad became very ill before they left and come to find out he had Vertigo. He is doing better now, but it was not good for about 24 hours.

From 2009-06-09

Tulip Time

2009-05-19T02:32:00Z

This past weekend we headed to Orange City, IA for Tulip Festival! Actually Dave took the day off on Friday so we could go on a day which was less busy than on the weekend. We met Lanae, Damian, and Desirae there. We got there and had packed a picnic lunch. We spread out our blanket on the courthouse lawn and had a nice picnic lunch together!

From 2009-05-17

Lanae and Desirae enjoying the picnic!

After lunch we walked around to see all of the tulips, they were in full bloom and so full of color this year. It was fun to see them all. We went to a house that sells them the tulip bulbs straight from Holland. We walked through the garden and picked out the ones that we thought would look good in our garden and bought some bulbs!

From 2009-05-17

These are the ones we picked. We thought we better have a couple of tulips since we are Dutch! Mykala liked the pink and white!

After our walk we made our way to the parade route! we had to get front row seats to the parade! First they have all the people from town sweep and clean the streets so they are clean for the royal court to come down and then the parade starts!

From 2009-05-17

Even the little ones help with the street cleaning!

From 2009-05-17

the kids loved the parade! We had to get out our umbrellas a couple of times because it started to sprinkle a little bit, but we did not get wet until we were heading to our cars, which is a good time for it to rain!

Here are a couple of pictures for you to enjoy of the kids by the tulips!

From 2009-05-17

Notice how they are holding hands. Landon LOVES his cousin Rae-Rae!!

From 2009-05-17

The kids found a dog to pet at the gardens where we bought our tulips. He did not care one bit that they wanted to pet him, he loved the people!

After the festival we went over to Lanae's house and had pizza with the whole fam. I took some cute pictures of Desirae, I thought I would share!! She is too cute not too!

From 2009-05-17

Mykala's Preschool Program!

2009-05-06T19:34:00Z

Mykala's preschool class had there winter program in March. It was so cute. They sang a couple of songs, recited "Going On A Bear Hunt" and a couple other rythms! I was a proud mother! She looked so grown up for her big debut! Grandma and Grandpa Mulder got to come down and see the big show. After we went to Dairy Queen to celebrate the big performance!

From 2009-03-07

Julie

2009-02-24T18:46:00Z

Julie has been here and gone and I have not even wrote about our time together. Sorry Julie. She came in early Feb. We loved every minute with her and hated to see her go. But while she was here we had a bleast and did a lot of different things!
The first day she was here it was about 34 degrees. We still had snow on the ground. So Dave decided to take her and Mykala sledding. The week was supposed to be warmer and we did not know how long the snow would be on the ground!

From 2009-02-14

By the time they got home the were pretty wet and ready for some hot cocoa!

We went to Mykala's preschool Valentine's party. They did an opstacle course and made a necklace. It was great that Aunt Julie could come and see her school. Living in Ca she does not get to do that a whole lot, so it was a good treat!

From 2009-02-14

In town they have a center that they open up to the kids during the day, so we took the kids there to run off some energy. We played all sorts of things with the kids. I think Julie and I came home more tired than the kids. Oh well, it was worth it.

From 2009-02-14

One night Dave and I got to go on a date while Julie watched the kids, oh, what a treat. We went to Texas Road house and to Gran Torino! (Very good, lots of swearing though!)

From 2009-02-14

Dave, Julie and Mykala went to a local hockey game on Friday night. It was Julie's and Mykala's first and they both seemed to like it. There were a lot of fights. We had a great time with her and hated to see her go. Come again anytime Julie!

"PLAY ALL DAY"

2009-02-03T20:27:00Z

There is a new play area in Sioux City for kids to go and have fun for the day. It was free for kids to try it out on Monday, so I took the kids and they loved it!! Lanae brought Damian and Desirae down to join in the morning fun. There are a lot of things to do with the kids, bouncy play area, arts and crafts, kitchen area, and many other things for the little ones. Here is the link if you want more info. (http://playsiouxland.com/) I guess this is a little advertisement for them. But the kids tested it out and they loved it!!

From 2009-02-03

Big Boy Bed

2009-02-03T20:11:00Z

Landon has officially graduated to a big boy bed!!

From 2008-02-13

He is doing good, but it has been hard for him to just fall asleep. I have been sitting by his bed to comfort him. I have been leaving earlier in the process each night. He is getting close to falling asleep with out me in there. HE has been a trooper and we are very proud of him.

From 2009-02-03

Check out the sheets!! THey are smurf. We got them from a friend! We have to get him a comforter set, but in the meantime, he will be using the Smurf sheets!!

Indoor Fort Picnic

2009-01-30T20:01:00Z

I got an e-mail for Donna yesterday, and she suggested that I have a pizza picnic with the kids. I thought that would be a good idea since Dad is out of town and we are running out of creative ideas. So I made some pizza for us and while it was in the oven, we built a fort to eat it in. We moved all the furniture out of the living room, and started getting out the biggest blankets we have. We have a very big one form our bed, a CA King to be exact! We got it built and the kids put a towel on the floor in case of any spills, while I cut the pizza and got it ready for the fort. We had pizza, bananas and a homemade Chocolate chip cookie! It was good and a lot of fun!

From 2009-01-30

We had a great time and are hoping Daddy wants to do it with us next time, I am sure his FORT will be bigger and better!!

Sioux Center

2009-01-30T19:43:00Z

Dave has been out of town this week, so the kids and I decided to head up to Sioux Center and spend the night at my sister's and brother-in-law's. We got their and had tacos with them and then we got ready to go swimming at the Rec Center in Sioux Center. It was a cold night, but it was hot in there!! The kids loved it! It was something that we have not done for a long time now and they want to go back!! We even got to take Desirae in the water and she loved it as well, but she did not like getting her belly wet!

From 2009-01-28

Uncle Don was a trooper and let them all ride at once. I think he was starting to go under the water with all the weight on his back, but the kids loved getting the kids!! After that we all headed home and the kids got a quick bath and to bed.

We put the kids down for bed and The kids and I were upstairs in the attic bedroom. This works out great for us. But this time was interesting!! Landon was sleeping in a pack-n-play. Let me back up and tell you how you have to get to the attic. There are VERY steep stairs that you have to climb. They make me nervous to go up and down but you have to take your time and you can make it safely! So I put Landon down and pretty soon I hear the door to the attic open, I thought it was Lanae checking on something. I got out of my chair and saw Landon walking towards me. He looks at me and said hi, and walks towards the toy room!! HE crawled out of the pack-n-play and made it down the stairs!! So I took him up there and try again, same results. I ended up rocking him until he was so tired he would not try to get out! We made it through the night and we all got a good night sleep. The next day we let the kids play and went to Wal-mart and got lunch, no big deal! Well we headed home after lunch, I thought the kids would fall asleep and I could put Landon down when we got home. Neither of them slept on the way home and when we did get home, I tried to put Landon in the crib for his nap and he climbed out! UGH!! I mean I tried to put him in the crib about 12 times; he got out all of them! But he has not done it since, so I am grateful for that! We had church that night so by the time we got home, he was so tired from not having a nap after lunch he went right to sleep for me!

From 2009-01-28

Best Friends

2009-01-30T19:32:00Z

On Tuesday, Mykala had her best friends over from preschool. She told me about 2 weeks ago that she wanted to have her BEST FRIENDS over to play. For 2 weeks that is all I heard about. She was so desperate she would get the preschool directory out of the drawer and put it in my lap and say call their mom and ask if they (there twins) can come over and play with me. One day as I was picking her up from school i saw the mother of the best friends and walked over to her and told her that I am getting scolded from my 4 year old for not calling her and asking her if her girls can come and play with Mykala. She said she was hearing the same thing at her house about Mykala. Did the girls have a plan or what? On Tuesday the first big best friends play date took place!! They played house, dress up, school, decorated a magic wand and watch Cinderella!!

From 2009-01-28

As you can see Landon was always about 6 feet behind them. They all had fun and now I am hearing about having the girls stay over for a night. I did not remember doing that until I was in 4th or 5th grade. I guess I need to face the facts; my little baby girl is growing up fast!!

Visitor

2009-01-26T21:16:00Z

It has been a year ago that we got rid of our dog. But this weekend he came to visit us while the family who adopted him were put of town. We love to have him, but at the same time it confirms to us that we made the right move in getting rid of him. He is a lot of extra work, that we do not need to worry about! He did still howl at the kids if they started to cry! That got old, but otherwise we liked having him visit! Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

From 2009-01-26

Landon giving him a kiss!

From 2009-01-26

Landon wanted him to sit on his lap, not Mykala's!!

Arianna's Baptism

2009-01-16T19:25:00Z

Last weekend we headed to the Minneapolis area for my cousin's daughter's baptism. It was Friday afternoon and Dave got off work at about 12:30, so we could hit the road. When he got home, it started to sleet outside. SO Dave said, "We either hit the road right now, or we wait until tomorrow." And I quickly replied, let's hit the road!!! So we did. I had everything in the car ready to go except for the kids, so we buckled them in and hit the road! We had ok roads until about Worthington, MN. Then we took interstate 90 to 35! Smooth sailing from there. We were spending the first night with my Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom in Hammond, WI. We had supper with them and got to catch up on life. After we put the kids to bed we broke out the Wii and played it until 12:45am. We do not see that time of night anymore, but we had a great time!

From 2009-01-16

Aunt Barb bowling, she probably got a strike! She was good!

From 2009-01-16

Uncle Tom bowling also! He had a wicked curve ball that would hit a strike a lot!!

From 2009-01-16

Dave trying a curve ball, I don't think he did as well!!

From 2009-01-16

This is me probably not knowign what I am doing. I had a good first game and then it was all downhill from there!!

In the morning we had breakfast with Tom and Barb and then we headed to the MAll of America for some fun and rides. We took Mykala to the "american Girl" store and then hit the rides.

From 2009-01-16

We rode the bus. Don't ask what bus, I don't really know, but the kids loved it!

From 2009-01-16

This ride had a whip to it. I did not like this ride! Landon loved it and Mykala said it went so fast. But I had to go on it because Dave thought he would not fit in the cars, Next time Dave it is all you!!

From 2009-01-16

So Dave took Landon on the train!

From 2009-01-16

And Mykala had to go on her favorite ride of all, the merry go round!!

That night we stayed at a hotel. We headed back after the mall of America to go swimming. The water was freezing. The kids sat in the hot tub to warm up. Landon was so cold he was shivering! So we did not stay in their very long! We took the kids back to the room and took a very warm bath. That evening for supper Chanda and Marc, (my cousin and her husband) brought us pizza! We got to see Arianna and hold her. She is a doll and we loved every minute we got to be with her.

From 2009-01-16

Landon wanted to kiss her so we had to distract him by showing him her piggies!!

From 2009-01-16

Mommy and Ari!!

On Sunday we went to Arianna's baptism. It was a special day for her! we were so happy that we could be there to help celebrate this special occasion.

From 2009-01-16

That is Marc's dad doing the baptism, how neat!!
After church we were invited over to Chanda and Marc's home for lunch. It was a great time and we even got to meet my cousin, Sarah's new baby, Sophia! She is a doll and getting so big!

From 2009-01-16

she was such a well behaved little girl. She was very tired at the lunch. She would nod off and then when she heard a noise she would wake up. She did not want to miss a moment!
We had a great time and wish we lived closer to everyone. Thank you again for a great weekend!

Mulder Christmas

2008-12-30T21:17:00Z

On Christmas Day, we traveled to Willmar to spent some qualtiy time with my family. We had a busy time with the family, but at the same time a great time. When we got there we had Turkey and all the fixings with dad, Donna and Abe. It was very good and nice to be there and out of the car! Then that evening we went to my great aunt's apartment and had supper with her and the extended family. We do this every year, it is a tradition. We got to see some of my cousin's there and play some games with everyone. This is a picture of the kids watching Arthur.

From 2008-12-28 Christmas 2008

On Friday, my dad's side of the family was coming over to celebrate Christmas with us. It is awasy a good time adn it is great to catch up with all the cousins.

From 2008-12-28 Christmas 2008

This is all the great grandchildren with the Great Grandparents.

From 2008-12-28 Christmas 2008

This is the my family.

Then on Saturday morning we got to open our gifts from eachother!! This picture is of the kids waiting to open there gifts.

From 2008-12-28 Christmas 2008

It was a great time we ate and ate and ate some more. I think that we came back and had to use our gift cards to buy new pants. Merry Christmas everyone.

Our Family Christmas

2008-12-30T20:59:00Z

We had our family Christmas on Christmas Eve this year. We opened presents in the morning because of nap times and we also had a candle light service that evening. We got up and had a big breakfast, then we started with reading the Christmas story! We talked about the disciples bringing Jesus gifts and the whole story. Dave passed them out as we watched as we opened the presents.

From 2008-12-24 Christmas

this is our tree before we started to open the presents.

From 2008-12-24 Christmas

In this picture Landon was VERY tempted to start before everyone was ready. He looked it over real good.

We opened the ones from Dave's family first. Thank you for all the fun gifts. We are enjoying them all!

From 2008-12-24 Christmas

Mykala with her new shirt and her baking set. She loves to bake cookies with Mommy and Grandma so that was the perfect gift!

From 2008-12-24 Christmas

And of course Mykala needs a grrom to go with her bride.

From 2008-12-24 Christmas

This picture is taken before we went to church. The kids looked so nice in there Christmas outfits! And after church we got to come home and have Birthday cake!!

From 2008-12-24 Christmas

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!

Desirae's baptism

2008-12-16T20:31:00Z

On SUnday we got to travel to Sioux Center and celebrate Desirae Grace's baptism. The weather was not nice. Actually, the Mulder Grandparent's got snowed in, in Minnesota. They were not happy about that!When we woke up that morning it was very windy and we did not know if we would be able to make it. We made it though. The baptism was very nice and Desirae did so good. Not a tear was shed. She is such a beautiful little girl. After the service we had a luncheon at the church. Then shortly after that we headed home, it was starting to snow and blow. we made it home in our normal time and had a great time with Don, Lanae, Damian, and Desirae, and Don's family from Dominica got to be there for the special occasion.

From 2008-12-15

The WHOLE Prosper family!

Time to get ready for Christmas.

2008-12-16T20:28:00Z

After our trip our feet hit the ground running to get things ready for the Christmas season. We went to the T&S Christmas tree farm to get our tree. THis year it was to cold to go out into the fields and cut down our tree so we headed to the precut tree area. We picked out the one that we thought fit our family the best, and I think we got a pretty good one.

From 2008-12-09

Thanksgiving!

2008-12-16T19:59:00Z

Happy Thanksgiving! I know it is a little late but, we can be thankful anytime of the year, right?! This year we planned a trip to Northern Cali, you ask why Northern Cali, well, Dave's cousin was getting married so we planned a trip around that. We got to see a lot of family we have not seen for a long time. It was a great trip. The weather was great and everything! We flew out there on Thanksgiving day. we were staying at Dave's cousin's trailer right outside there house. It was a great sleeping arrangment for us all. ANd the kids thought we were camping, when we were not really!! We met Dave's family and any extended family that was able to meet us for Thanksgiving meal at Marie Calendar's. We had a great time!
On Friday we headed to San Francisco with Dave's family and Jennell, dave's cousin. It was a great day to go there. We got to enjoy Pier 39 or Fisherman's wharf.

From 2008-12-03

On Saturday was the wedding. TI was a great celebration of love.

From 2008-12-03

Tiffany and Derek Sybesma!

From 2008-12-03

This was us at the reception, Landon was at the babysitters!

From 2008-12-03

we are all together!

From 2008-12-03

On Sunday we got to hang out with all the family that did not head home. We had lunch together and spent some quality time together!

On Monday it was time to say good-bye to Grandma, Laura, Julie Amber, Meggan and Daniel. It was time for them to head home and we were heading to the Sacramento area to do sight seeing of our own.

From 2008-12-03

On our sight seeing adventures we went to Columbia, CA, it is an old gold mining town. We expolred the town and ate in what used to be the local saloon!!

From 2008-12-03

then we were off to Big Trees State Park. We got to enjoy the enourmous Sequia trees. It was a great time.

From 2008-12-03

All in all it was a great trip. We got to catch up with family and see some sights along the way.

Interesting Technique

2008-11-12T20:13:00Z

Mykala and Dave made and decorate our bird feeder hanging in front of our living room window. It has been hanging there for about 6 months and we are getting an unwelcomed visitor trying to steal the bird’s food. As we sit in the living room a squirrel will try to get to the birdfeeder in very interesting ways. And let me tell you he DOES NOT give up!! I finally had my camera and took some pictures of his madness to get to the birdfeeder. It must be getting cold and he must be getting desperate for some food.

From 2008-11-12

This is the distance from the window to the birdfeeder.

From 2008-11-12

So he thinks if he can get to the birdfeeder by walking out on the ledge of the window and climbing the screen he can reach the birdfeeder.

From 2008-11-12

This is him trying to climb the screen to the next level!!

From 2008-11-12

This is about how far he gets before his body starts to barrel to the deck below. But he ALWAYS comes back to try again. It hink that we see him attempt it about 4 times a day. He has not succeeded yet, but he is a determined little guy, so who knows!!

DES MOINES

2008-11-09T22:02:00Z

Dave found out that he had a meeting in Des Moines and that he would be spending the night. I think to myself no big deal, he does this about once a month or so. Well, this time was different. He asked us to join him in Des Moines at the hotel for food and swimming. Of course, a stay-at-home mother is going to JUMP on the opportunity to get out of the house!! Especially, when I did not have to flip the bill!! He headed there on Tuesday morning at about 6am, while Mykala had preschool and we left Sioux City at about 1pm. It is about a 3 hour drive to get there, and the kids, both of the slept the whole way!! We got there in time to pick Dave up from work at about 4:30pm. We went and checked into the hotel and ordered pizza. We wanted to allow enough time to go swimming and have some quality family time. The pool area was huge. The kids loved every minute of it. We had a great time and enjoyed the family time we got!! The next morning we had to take Dave to work at about 9:30am. I wanted to do some shopping before we hit the road to go home. But when we woke up the kids were a little on edge. Landon does not sleep to well in a bed that is not his own. So he was up a couple times during the night, which means we are all up a coupole times during the night!! So to say the least the kids were on edge when we got up. THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD TAKE THEM SHOPPING. So Dave and I talked about plan B, which was driving to Omaha (2 hours) and going to the zoo. This is the plan of action that we took. The kids slept all the way to Omaha as well. When we got there we did not see the whole zoo but we did see the animlas that the kids love to see! After the zoo we went out for pizza at Old Chicago, one of my favorite pizza places and then headed home. We had a great time and a quick trip!!

From 2008-11-06