The New Van Heukelom Residence

It's final; we have a new place to live in Grand Rapids! We are so excited about our new house and upcoming move. We thought we had found the perfect place, but we were disappointed to find out it probably wouldn't be available the entire 3 years we live there. However, God opened a window and I believe we found an even better place. It is listed as a 3 bedroom house, but has an additional bedroom in the basement. It has 2.5 bathrooms, and big kitchen, tons of space for the kids, a fenced in yard, AND this amazing tree house! I was sold when I say this. Our landlord has been great to work with so far. Can't wait to have you all over. We'll finally have room to host a party!! No, we will not be sleeping outdoors at night, but it is probably one of the best highlights of the house.
If you know me, you know I love the kitchen. It's my favorite place in the house. This one is nice and big.

The outside. You can see more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/20789478@N04/page2/

Ready to Make the Move

This past week we took a road trip to explore our new home in Grand Rapids, MI. The kids did great in the car, and we were able to make it with only 3 stops. We thought we had found a house, but we were disappointed to find out the house probably wouldn't be available the entire 3 years. However, we found another great house, and it looks like we will be signing a lease this week! We are very excited. Once it's finalized, I'll post the pictures. Here's Everett getting a bath at Grandpa Greg's house. He likes his baths.
Everett and Aunt Ahna. While we were visiting, Ahna found out she got accepted to nursing school in Alabama!! We are so excited for her, but we sure will miss her. Luckily, she'll be sticking around til mid-June, so we have a few weeks to enjoy together.

Great-grandma Ruth and Everett.

At Greg's, we enjoyed the beautiful weather by playing some outdoor games. We were so sore the next day. I hadn't run in ages.

While we played, Maverick zoomed around in his Barbie car. He even off-roaded a few times, and we had to pull him out of the dirt.

At Carola's we had a Easter Egg hunt, and Maverick thoroughly enjoyed looking at and eating his candy.

The family after the hunt.

Oma Carola and Everett.

Everett and I enjoying bath time.

Best of buds! I love these kids!

Spring Has Sprung

That means Easter, baby calves and birds, and sheds. What a shed is I did not know until just this past weekend. My dad was telling Jesse about how buck deer shed their antlers (or do reindeer just have those, and I need to use another term?) each spring and you can walk through the tree strips to find them. This caught Jesse's attention because he's always looking for things to do outside at the farm. So, Jesse headed out to look and at first came up empty handed. Then, my dad went out too, and they not only found one but FOUR sheds! They were both very excited. There are pictures, but first, Maverick and his Easter basket. The Easter Bunny brought him lots of goodies and lots of tic tacs!
Not kidding when we say Maverick gets very close to the cows. Some are so tame, they eat right out of your hand. Maverick even got to see some new baby calves and pet them. He was pretty excited.
My buck.

Jesse, dad, and their collection of sheds. Jesse wants to use his sheds to make a cane or a walker. We had disagreeing ideas about where the horns would go. I thought they should be used at the top as handlebars; Jesse was thinking they'd go on the bottom more like claws. One of his patients apparently had a stellar cane with a bone handle, and Jesse just thought it was the coolest. For now, the sheds are being safely stored at the farm.

And, our baby hawk. If only it were a few years later, Jesse and I would have saved this baby bird. However, we don't think he would have thrived very well in the city. Many of you know, Jesse and I would like to take up falconry which is the raising of a big bird like a hawk. To raise the bird, you must be an apprentice to someone who already has a bird. Unfortunately, we couldn't save this little guy, and we were very sad. Our children are safe another day.