Ferguson Family Reunion

Last Sunday we had a Ferguson family reunion (Mark's mom's side). The weather was perfect and the food was great. Here are a few pictures of our afternoon.

A group shot of Grandpa Genes family.

Our family.

Kids doing a corn husking contest with over ripe sweet corn.

Ethan walking on cans during a game.

Mark's New Toy

I think Mark needs a lesson in patience. It had been a month since we burned down the hog sheds and we were still waiting on the excavator guy to come pull out the concrete pit. We both were ready to have the project done when Mark started looking online at excavators. I knew he would buy one, but he kept telling me I'm just looking for fun. Well I was right, after a couple weeks of looking and a trip to MN. Mark is now the proud new owner of a CAT 315L excavator.

Loading up at the CAT dealership in Des Moines.

Another picture at the dealership.

Ethan immediately climbed into the cab to check things out.

Mark working on our yard. The project that Mark is using to justify his new machine. :)

Dekalb Supper

It's hard to believe that harvest time is just around the corner! Our summers seem to go faster and faster as our family keeps growing! For me Tulip Time is a passing into spring and the Dekalb supper is a passing into fall. This supper is something we have to show our appreciation to customers just before harvest starts.

Marks mom always makes a great meal of home grown food. As you can see from this picture we had a full house, everyone loves Jan's cooking!

A shot of the kids watching the band play. I think this was the only time the entire night they stood still.

The cousins posing in their free seed shirts.

Grandpa talking a little and the kids all in a row.

1st Day of Kindergarden

Ethan was so excited to start kindergarden at Oskaloosa Christian! He asked daily "how many more days until school starts" since we bought his school supplies.

Ethan the first day of school. With his Diego back pack.

The kids got to pick their own desk, I was happy to see that Ethan picked one in the front row. This is a picture of Mrs. Harris helping Ethan put his school supplies away.

Ethan greeting his cousin Cody the first day of school.

Opening chapel. Ethan is way of front with the rest of the kindergardeners.

Summer Recap

The summer flew by and school has started. We stayed close to home this summer with Elijah being born and the family adjusting to another baby. Here are a few random shots taken through out the summer.

Our road flooded several times this year, this was taken in June. I suppose you could say this is how the floods of '08 affected our family.

We didn't use our pool quite as much this summer. The weather was on the cooler side most of the summer. But when we did have it filled Ethan and Amelia had a great time!

This is a picture of me and the kids digging potatoes from the weed patch of a garden I had this year. I'm happy to say my garden is looking much better now, thanks to a little round-up and the lawn mower. :)

Elijah wasn't the only baby born in the Van Den Broek family this summer. My cousin Teresa also had a little boy Joshua the end of June. This picture was taken at her baby shower last week.

Proud Grandma's holding Joshua and Elijah at the baby shower.

2 Months Old

It's hard to believe that Elijah is already 2 months old! He's growing so fast and weighs around 13 pounds - I'm guessing. He sleeps well at night, sleeping for 6 hour stretch most nights. Naps aren't always his thing. He sometimes struggles going to sleep or staying asleep with all the noise from the rest of the family. He enjoys his swing, bath and trying to suck his thumb. Overall he is a happy, smiley little guy!

Checking out bear.

Enjoying sucking on his hand.

Posing with Ethan.

Elijah's Baptism

We had Elijah baptized on August 10 at our church - 1st Christian Reformed. Elijah did very well and didn't even cry. Below is a picture of Pastor Visser baptizing him.

Mark's sister Becky, his brother Karl and brother Kurt all sang with him for special music.

Grandma Boender and Grandma Van Den Broek posing with Elijah and his cake.

A family shot at Grandma's house.

Bible School

The kids went to Bible School again this year at Bethel. It was Ethan's third year attending and Amelia's first. Both kids loved it and were excited to go back every evening! The theme this year was Friendship Trek - a camping theme. They loved it!

A shot of the kids program.

Ethan holding one of his crafts, a stepping stone.

Amelia is in the front of the wagon next to our friend Jaren.

Sweet Corn

We had a late year for sweet corn this year and finally got around to freezing some on August 4! They kids went with Grandma Van Den Broek and Aunt Ang to Grandma Boender's sweetcorn patch to pick lots of corn for mom!

Below is Ethan, cousin Ezra and Amelia.

Ethan is happy to be helping!Grandma Van Den Broek carrying Amelia out of mud.

De-ja' vu

Below is a picture of Elijah and Ethan at seven weeks. You can definitely tell these two are brothers!

Elijah

Ethan

Beware of Bees

Poor Amelia got attacked by bees on Saturday night. I was mowing the lawn and mowed over a bunch of weeds near the chicken shed. Amelia thought it fun to ride her big wheel in the freshly mowed area and ended up riding over a nest of bees in the ground. Fortunately I was close and heard her scream. I quickly grabbed her and ran to the house. The bees followed all the way to the house! They stung her 3 times, twice in the forehead on once on the finger. They also got Mark on the neck when he came to help us. Here is a picture of her all swelled up the next morning. Poor Kid!

Family Fun

Last week we had a family gathering in honor of Matt leaving for college in Texas and the Trumble family being here from Colorado. We had a great time swimming and eating fresh corn on the cob!

Grandma B. and Aunt Beth swimming with a few of the many kids we had running around that night. Boenders have lots of kids!

Here is a picture of Ethan with Gideon and his Uncle Kurt. I now know who to blame part of Ethan's daring activities - Kurt! Kurt likes to encourge back flips, front flips and jumping of the "high dive" into the pond. Oh well that's what Uncles are for.

Amelia has become brave enough to swim around on her own. She was so proud of herself, saying over and over how she can swim by herself - with her noodle!

Ethan and his cousin Cody having supper after swimming.