I like to eat...

critter barn

this afternoon we went with grammie to the critter barn to see all the animals and the live nativity. Jonah wasn't quite so sure about holding the baby chicks and ducks himself, but loved to pet them if mommy was holding them. I think Jonah's favorite was the room full of cats. We had a great little tour guide, 11 year old Megan, who did a great job and knew all about the animals! We then had a private showing of the nativity (we were the only ones there) so Megan and the rest of the crew quickly changed into their costumes, and we got to go see baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and of course more animals. While we were listening to the Christmas story, Jonah looks at baby Jesus, and then turns to me confused.. "but Mom, baby Jesus lives in my heart!" How sweet is he???

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. As busy as it is, I love getting together with family and friends for all the parties, we are so blessed to have so many loved ones to share the holidays with. We celebrated with the DeKock family and the Maat family the last two Sundays, then had the Driy party on Wednesday, our own little family party on Thursday morning, and then we went up to Cadillac with my family for the weekend and had our party on Christmas day. We've enjoyed lots of good food, games, laughs, and lots and lots (and lots) of new toys! I hope you all had a blessed holiday as well! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Griffins

Last night we got some free tickets from Innotec for the Griffins hockey game. So we ventured out into the "blizzard" (there really wasn't much snow at the time, but the warning seemed to keep everyone else home.. the place was empty!!)
The highlight of the night was Chris and some of his buddies were asked to be in a tricycle race after the first period. They WON!! WOO HOOO! :) Unfortunatly there was no big prize for their victory, but it did give us a good laugh! Jeff and Keith did get to ride on the Zamboni though!

go, Chris, go!!

snowlump

yeah.. so Jonah has been wanting to make a snowman ever since the first snowflakes fell on Thursday. today we finally attempted to build one. lets just say the snow was no longer in prime condition for snowmen.. our snowman is more of a snowlump :) oh well, looks like we'll have a lot more opportunities later in the week.

Hershey kiss eyes, a carrot nose, and a licorice mouth that wouldn't quite curl into a smile.. :)

train ride to the big city

On Monday (Jonah's birthday!) we took a ride on the train from Michigan City to Chicago. Shedd's Aquarium had special "Community Days" on Mondays and Tuesdays this fall where they had free admission, so we took advantage of that for Jonah's special day! Jonah's favorite things at the aquarium were the seahorses, froggies, and Nemo. We had a fun time at the aquarium, but with an early start to our morning we were done already by noon, so we had some time to kill. We thought "Navy Pier doesn't look so far.. lets walk over there" Ok, so it was a LONG walk, especially since we had opted not to take the stroller along!! We wandered around the mall there for awhile, and had some McDonald's for lunch (birthday boy's choice!), and then had to walk to Michigan Ave to catch a bus back to the aquarium (yeah, we decided we weren't walking all the way back again!) Jonah was very excited to get to ride on a bus, but after about 2 minutes of our ride he was OUT. So we had to RUN back to the train station carrying a sleeping Jonah, and made it with about 2 minutes to spare! It was a fun but exhausting day for all of us!

riding on the train with Daddy

outside the aquarium

the big city!

checking out the fountain at Navy Pier

having a little chat with a statue ;)

Three!

Last Sunday night we had a Pirate birthday party with my side of the family...Grammie and Grampa, Auntie Liz, Uncle Jonny, Great Grampa and Gramma Maat, and Great Gramma DeKock. We enjoyed our time together eating pizza, ice cream cake, and opening LOTS of presents. I have one spoiled little man!

Jonah trying out his new big boy bike


blowing out the candles...
his pirate birthday cake says
"Jonah, you ARRRRR 3!"
Cheesy, I know :)


sweet new motorcycle from Auntie

showing off his pirate cookies he helped make..

(or helped eat the frosting anyway)

Jonah, I can't believe you are 3 already. Where has the time gone? You are growing up so fast! You have been such a blessing to your mommy and daddy over the last three years. Everyday you challenge us, but all of your smiles, big hugs, and laughs you give us make it well worth it! We hope you enjoy your year being three, and that we can celebrate many many more birthdays with you! Love you Jonah!!

Happy Birthday Jonah and Eli!!

Oh, and Todd and Brandi, too!! Last night we celebrated the many November birthdays in the Driy family. Eli turned 5 this week, Jonah will be 3 on "Nobember Firty," and Todd and Brandi are... older than me :) We enjoyed some yummy pizza, and the boys opened lots of presents.. though the Cars balloons were one of the biggest hits of the night! One of Jonah's favorite gifts was his new VeggieTales umbrella.. he is now wishing for rain since we won't let him open it in the house anymore!

Jonah sporting his new "Bob" shirt

the boys each got their own cake to blow out candles on!

Happy Birthday everyone!!

meet Edward...

Yesterday we went with Auntie Liz to Westshore Mall to see the baby tigers. We weren't planning to play with them... but as Auntie said "its a once in a lifetime experience!" Oh wait, we did it last year too, Auntie! :) So we got to spend 8 minutes in 8 week old Edward's cage playing with him, petting him, and we even got to give him his bottle! Suprisingly Jonah warmed right up to him and wasn't afraid at all, dispite being scared at bedtime lately that lions and water buffalo are going to get him. They also had a bigger tiger, a baby kangaroo, and some baby monkeys who were quite funny to watch because they did NOT want to be in their cage!

Thanks Auntie!

Trick or Treat!

Last night we took our cute little pirate out trick or treating. We visited some of our neighborhood friends, and then went to see great-grandpa and grandma Maat and Auntie Liz and Uncle Jonny. Jonah loved trick or treating and wanted to eat everything as soon as it went in his bucket. ;) I think we've got enough candy to last until next Halloween!

Fall

It's hard to believe that in my last post Jonah was wearing shorts and a t-shirt! Fall is definately here now! I love all of the changing colors in the trees, and the fun things fall has to offer. We have taken advantage of the last couple weekends to do some of those fun things.
This morning we drove out to Green Acres Farmers Market out towards Grand Haven so Jonah could pick out a pumpkin. Don't ask me why we go all the way out there for over-priced pumpkins, but we have the last couple of years :) It is fun because they literally have MOUNTAINS of pumpkins to choose from, so Jonah likes to go through searching for the best one. I think maybe next year though we will need to start a new tradition and go to a pumpkin patch. Any suggestions of a good one we should visit?



This is Jonah modeling his sweater that his Great Grandma Driy made for him (she made one for all of the cousins.) Jonah loves it because it is very warm and cozy.

Last weekend we went to Crane's in Fennville to pick apples. Jonah loved to pick every apple he could reach :) We didn't stay long because it was alot chillier there than it was at home, so we just quick picked enough for a few apple crisps (if Jonah doesn't eat them all before I make it!) and then went to enjoy some delicious donuts and hot apple cider. Yumm!!

Daddy's Little Helper

my boys fixin the car together

Labor Day Weekend

We spent a nice relaxing Labor Day weekend up in Cadillac with the family. On Friday we drove up early and spent the afternoon canoeing down the Manistee River. It was beautiful and peaceful... well, for the first half hour or so, until Jonah got sick of sitting and we had to dive across the canoe to keep him from jumping in! Besides being a little restless, he loved it.. he had alot of fun looking for turtles and helping daddy row the boat- I had it pretty easy since Jonah stole my oar for most of the trip. :) Then Jonah had a blast playing in the FREEEEZING cold river with daddy when we were done, and riding in the bus back to our car with no carseat!

We spent most of the rest of the weekend just laying on the beach, taking boat rides, swimming, daddy did some jet-skiing, and playing catch on the hill. What a perfect end to summer, though I am not ready for summer to be over! Hopefully we'll get a few more nice weekends in before the snow flies!

Binder Park Zoo

On Wednesday Jonah and I took a fun trip to Binder Park Zoo with Grammie and Auntie. It was a fun day of seeing lots of animals and we had perfect weather!

Jonah and a monkey
Sharing a drink with Auntie

Riding on the Zebra Tram with Jonah's new giraffe

Jonah, Grammie and the bull -- this one's for you , Grandpa! :)

We got to feed the giraffe some lettuce

Auntie, Jonah and Marty the Zebra :)