Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!!

Yesterday, Dad Van Dam turned the BIG 6-0!!!! Mom took Dad to Gill's Fish House in the B.O.B. downtown Grand Rapids. Jim & Marilyn Zinger & Carl & Donna Heetderks were Dad's guest at dinner. The surprise of the evening, was when us kids showed up after dinner singing, Happy Birthday. We were able to bring in cheesecake and fresh strawberries for dessert. Everyone had a great evening and I think Dad enjoyed his 60th Birthday! The Old Man

Dad & Mom Van Dam...............and silly Holly

Carl & Donna Heetderks

Jim & Marilyn Zinger

Heidi & Eric Gruppen

Brad & Holly Balder
Scot and I
Blowing out the candles.....we were nice and did not make Dad blow out 60 candles!!
The Van Dam Family
Holly & I

Happy 31st Birthday Scot!!!

Today is Scot's 31st birthday. Scot celebrated his birthday with a fish lunch prepared by his mom. We had red snapper & cobia, which we caught when we were in Florida. Our nephews had hot dogs and I had steak. Not everyone likes fish. After lunch the men watched the beginning of the Nascar race and the girls and the boys played the game, Clue. Brandon was the best detective and won the game. After our suspenseful game of Clue we had cake and ice cream.

Scot received very nice cards from his nephews and a sleeping bag from his parents. The rest of Scot's birthday was spent at church. He had consistory pray at 5:00, church at 6:00 where he had to collect & do slides, and then at 7:00 he had his SOS men's group.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!!!

May you be blessed with many more!!!

Birthday Party for Scot

Tonight we had a birthday celebration for Scot at my parents home. It was a nice evening with my whole family, including both of my grandparents. Our nephew, Eli, had Scot read Bob the Builder book to him three times. Eli is great entertainment for all of us.

Cadence, me, and Amber

Grandma De Vree & Grandma Hoekstra

Eli sitting next to his great-grandfathers.

Amber & David Neale

Sarah & Chris Rillema

Night with Friends

John & Beth Wedeven had a few couples over on Saturday night for pizza. It was great to see everyone & be able to catch up with one another. We had an excellent time. We were able to congratulate, Mat & Karen Wedeven who are expecting their first child in October.

Beth & I

Holly Kellum & Karen Wedeven
Erin & her daughter, Ava

Shane Kellum & Scot

Kid's Hope

This afternoon we had our spring Kid's Hope party at The Edge in Holland. The Edge is an ice skating rink. I have never ice skated before and it wasn't easy. Thankfully, I never fell. Some of you may be asking, what is Kid's Hope. Kid's Hope is a program to help kids at area schools. My student this year is Peter. Peter is in the 5th grade. I meet with Peter every Thursday for an hour during my lunch. We play games and work on his homework. Today, Peter had a lot of fun at the ice rink & is 110% better on ice skates than I will ever be.

Crop - Crop - Crop

Last night and the majority of today, I spent scrapbooking at my mother-in-love's house. I haven't worked on my scrapbook for years. Yes, years. I worked on my pictures for 2009 and my goal is to keep current for 2009. It was great to get back into it, I forgot how much I really enjoy doing it. Mom finished her book for 2007 and was cruising though her pictures for 2008 until she ran out of ink for her photo printer.....bummer.

Holly wasn't in the scrapbooking mood so she worked on organizing her pictures, sticker, and paper.

Heidi worked on her pictures for 2008 and I think she finished the most pages!

Can you believe all the stuff we have to scrapbook???

We did take a break late in the afternoon to enjoy the sunny, spring day. Heidi and I took Trigger for a walk while Mom took care of her horses. I can not believe how fast the day went by. I was reminded that time flies when you are having fun.

Thanks Mom for hosting a wonderful day! Lunch and dinner were spectacular!

Friday Lunch at McDonald's

This past Friday, Dad, Sarah, Lee, Eli and myself all had lunch at McDonald's. McDonald's was my sister's idea. She was babysitting Eli and she was hoping that if he played in the toy area he would take a good nap.
Eli loved the toy area and watching all the other kids. Eli was a little young for the play area and only made it a few feet into the plastic tubes. The question was, who was going to go after him if he couldn't figure how to get back out???



Eli really kept Grandpa busy! Eli LOVES Grandpa.