Sunday, June 29, 2008

Who do our kids look like?

Thanks to a an idea from my friend Beth's site, I thought I'd see who our kids look like - I used older pics, so it would be fun to try it again with more current pictures!!! I'm feeling pretty good about myself, especially because of all of those strong BOERSMA genes!!!!

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family photos - Family history

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Welcome Home Nate!

Our good friends, the Barton's, got to welcome their husband and daddy home on Monday! We were privileged to be a part of it as we attended his "Fly-In". Nate's squadron (VAQ-135 - GO Black Ravens!) returned home after a 4-month deployment on the Aircraft Carrier USS Nimitz(which followed a 7 month deployment and only being home a few months in between). We all gathered in the Hangar on the Navy base, waiting with other family and friends to welcome them home. The energy and excitement in the hangar was crazy, along with the yellow pom-poms, American flag backdrop and lots of excited wives and children! I loved hearing Connor Barton (Levi's best friend) say over and over "My daddy's coming home, my daddy's coming home"! I think he really understood what was happening this time.
Usually they do a fly-over first, but due to either lots of air traffic or lots of clouds, they didn't do that and instead landed one at a time. The EA-6B Prowler is a jet that flies off of the aircraft carriers and is a radar-jamming plane. They go in before the F-18s in war situations and jam radars (sorry Nate, hope I got that right). They are LOUD, old and are about to be replaced by the "Growlers".
Anyway, the excitement built as the 4 planes from the squadron landed and slowly made their way off of the runway and towards the hangar. The BEST part is when they each park in a horse-shoe shape around the hangar doors and turn the engines off. This is the part where I start to get teary. I can only imagine what my friend Janelle and the other wives were feeling at that point. Then, the tops open and out climb the husbands/daddys, etc. Wow, what a moment when they run and reunite for the first time in a long time. I LOVE IT!
Thank you Barton's for including us in this amazing and special time - we were honored to be a part of it. And to my dear friend Janelle, you deserve an award for the Best Mom/Dad, Friend, Cook, Landscaper, Housekeeper, Social Coordinator, Chauffeur, House Decorator-of-the-year. You had to fill so many shoes over the last year when Nate was gone twice. I admire you - you did a better job than I would have if I were in your shoes. And you did it all with a happy heart and positive attitude (at least most of the time - never anything a little chocolate chip cookie or two couldn't fix!). You are amazing! I'm blessed to call you my friend.
Welcome Home Nate!!! We look forward to some fun times with our families this summer - maybe some camping and Saturday night's with Bryan's homemade pizza???
Maybe this video will help you get what I'm talking about...


Sunday, June 1, 2008


  Levi's 4th Birthday Party

Levi is 4!!!!

I can't believe Levi William is 4 years old! He turned 4 on Thursday, May 29th. The day before he kept asking me "Am I 4 yet?". I told him he'd be 4 when he woke up the next morning. SO, Thursday morning the first question was "Am I 4 now?!" "YES!" we replied. It was like being 4 gave him permission to enter the "big boy world".

He enjoyed taking a poster with pictures of him to his preschool that morning, along with bringing a special birthday treat! Daddy took him out to Levi's favorite place for lunch - Applebee's! That afternoon, the next question was "Am I STILL 4?" I told him he got to be 4 for a WHOLE year! He seemed pretty excited about that. The other all-consuming topic for the afternoon was "when would his friends arrive for his birthday party"? We were brave - inviting not only a couple of his "church" friends (Lydia Brown, Ella West and Connor & Cooper Barton), but we told him he could pick 3 friends from school - without hesitation he said "I want Brodie, Jake and Darius".

SO, at 5pm, the arrival of the rowdy boys and 2 quiet girls began. For the next 2 hours, we enjoyed meeting some new people and feasted on hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and watermelon - with ice cream cones and sundaes for dessert. It was great fun and quite loud with 6 boys between the ages of 2-4 running around the house since it was a bit chilly outside.

Some of the gifts Levi received were: a big dumptruck, a soccer ball, a Spiderman on a motorcycle, batman, a clock, and a Batman COSTUME (which was worn the rest of that night, to bed and all day the next day - WAY TO GO CONNOR & COOPER! Great gift!)

All in all, Levi says he enjoys being 4. We think he's growing up fast!!! It seems like yesterday when we welcomed little 8lb 13oz Levi William. Now, he's growing into a young boy who enjoys sports, friends, watching movies, spending time with daddy, and being a very sensitive and caring big brother to Julia (most of the time!).

Happy 4th Birthday Levi!!!

       Levi's 4th Birthday