The De Jong Family: 2009

Monday, August 17, 2009

First Day of School, 2009

Last week (August 10, 2009) the girls started back to school. Laney is now in the 5th grade & Lexi is now in the 1st grade! I don't know where the time has gone. It doesn't seem like my 'babies' should be this old already. The girls are not at the same school that they were at last year and at first I was very upset about it. But, after going to Open House & talking to Lexi's teacher I feel much, much better about this year. I can't wait to see what this year is going to bring. Here are some pictures of my girls from the first day.

Laney & Lexi getting ready to go in. This is the only picture of Laney smiling.

Laney, Mommy & Lexi. Yes, Mommy is more excited than the girls.

Laney, Daddy & Lexi. Notice Laney is looking less & less happy with each picture.

Laney before going into her classroom. Don't let the face fool you, she was really this upset. I am not sure if it was because she was starting school or because Mommy wouldn't stop taking pictures. I am going with the first one, although it was probably more about the pictures.

Lexi at her desk. She was so excited about starting school.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Fishing Village in Gulf Shores

The first weekend in January the girls and I joined my parents in Gulf Shores for the weekend. They go down & spend 2 months there every year, so we try to go down whenever possible. Last year while mom & daddy were there they found a fishing village so we went to check it out. Since it was a weekend nobody was working, but it was still a really neat place. There is a boat that was displaced during Hurricane Ivan and is still on the land. There is another that sank and is still there. The village was just an interesting place and the girls & I loved it.

The girls posing with tons of oyster shells in the village

This is just one pile of shells, there are lots more.

Boat that was displaced during Hurricane Ivan. If you look closely it looks like the only thing that stopped this boat is the ladder it's leaning against.

Fishing boat.

Christmas 2008

This past Christmas was our year to be in Indiana for the holiday. We left at 4:30 in the morning to get up there on December 23rd. All was great until we were about an hour from my parents house and got into an ice storm. What should have taken us 40 minutes took over 3 hours to drive. I was so happy to see my parents house when we finally arrived, safely! Christmas was a blast! Everyone had a great day. The highlight of my day was watching the girls open thier gifts. I love to see the excitement on their faces when they open things. Lexi was so funny. She got so excited about everything before she even opened the box. At one point I asked what it was and she said "A box!" I asked what was in it and her response was "I don't know and I don't care, I got a box!" It was great because both girls were so appreciative of everything that they received.