We are the champions, my friend....

So I wouldn't be a true Gator if I didn't mention that 2009 also started out with yet ANOTHER Gator Championship. The Florida Gators are the College Football National Champions....AGAIN!

It was the best game...along with the spanking they handed to UGA in Nov and the stomping they gave to Alabama in the SEC Championship game in Dec.
That is all I will say...because that is all that NEEDS to be said.
Well that and...
GO GATORS!!

Celebrate good times C'mon!

In January we celebrated Ian's 3rd birthday. I can NOT believe my baby is 3 already! He is such a big boy. Grandma Liz made a firetruck cake for him that he loved! He is so into firetrucks...although getting too close to one scares him...



We didn't have an official party for him, but we celebrated his and my mom's birthday at my aunt and uncle's house on the same day. My mom made his cake and I made her cake...an ice cream cake! My first one ever and it came out quite yummy I must say!

We also invited Ian's BFF Lauren to go to Imagine It! The Children's Museum in downtown Atlanta. It really isn't a museum, not in the sense that you normally think of a museum. It is more of an exploration museum...lots of stuff to climb on and play with. Take a look at the PHOTOS and you will see what I mean.

Lauren & Ian posing for a picture!










In addition to celebrating at home we also had a celebration at "school"! His friend Kaitlyn shares the same birthday so we had a joint party with his class at TSG Daycare (Turner Second Generation). We had ice cream and rice krispy treats....mmmmm....





















So happy 3rd birthday my sweet little boy! I hope you have many, many more very happy days just like this one. You are my heart. I love you more than you will ever know!

Slackety slack!

OK so I have been slacking on the blogging. I knew this would happen....I can't even remember my own address (that is another posting don't worry) let alone to update a blog!
So here I am about to update the last 3 months of 2008.
Ready....................................
Set....................................
Goooo..................................

October 2008:
Maggie was Tinker belle, Ian was a fireman for Halloween.
(Thanks to Aunt Lisa who found the costume I wanted with all the gadgets! YAY AUNT LISA!)


We went to Turner for Trick or Treat on Turner Street, our yearly event that is actually before Halloween. It is usually a mad house, but this year was quite tame due to the restriction on guests. It's fun, but geared more for older kids in my opinion. We ate a bag lunch, hung out for about an hour and then headed home as Maggie proceeded to have her 6pm meltdown. Good times.
On Halloween we took them trick or treating. Ian was all gung ho at first, but then once he realized he had to go ask strangers for candy (gasp!) he said NO THANKS! I don't need candy THAT bad. He did end up braving one house to ask "Trick or Treat", but other than that if home owners were nice enough, they walked down to the stroller and he asked them from the safety of his transportation. He ended up with about 7 pieces of candy I think.



For more October photos click HERE.

November was fun!
We went down to Florida for Thanksgiving and did all kinds of awesome stuff. I mean what could be more awesome than visiting family...
We went swimming in the Kendrick's new pool (YES in November!), we went to Lion Country Safari (AND fed a giraffe! SO COOL!), and we went to Patrick's book signing and then out to party...sans kids! THAT was the coolest!
We all had a fantastic time...just check out the PHOTOS for proof.

December went super fast!
We stayed home for Christmas and celebrated with my mom, aunt and uncle and cousins. It was nice to be able to just relax a little bit for once! The Saturday after Christmas we drove (yes- drove!) to Michigan to see Jeff's family. It was a really long drive (about 13 hours), but the kids were actually pretty good…up until the last 2 hours or so. Then they started to get REALLY antsy. Especially Maggie! She doesn’t really get too distracted by the DVD player unfortunately. We stayed there for about 5 days and then headed to Ohio to visit our friends the Millers. We had SO much fun with them. Ian ran around with Maryn the whole 2 days we were there. We were even supposed to only stay one night, but we were having such a good time we decided to stay an extra night. TOTALLY worth it! That trip actually started our 2009 off to the perfect start- even though I DID lock the keys in the car while we were at the park and Maggie fell down your stairs…still…we all had a blast.

Thanks, Miller family, for showing us a great time!

And thus ends 2008 for the VanderRoest's! It was a pretty good year as Jeff finally found a new job in May, not his dream job, but it is better than unemployment and I got another raise/promotion in October which is helping us out tremendously!

We hope 2009 treats us well and that you have a wonderful year as well!

Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus....RUN!!!

Well today was the obligatory visit to see Santa. While I know deep in my heart that this is not going to go well, I still plan it. I search for the right outfits, new shoes, I get Ian a haircut, baths the night before...all that fun stuff. All the while knowing how this is truly going go. I talk to Ian the whole time telling him who we are going to see and what we are going to do and he says over and over "Yeah! Yeah!"

Me: Are you going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?
Ian: Yes!
Me: really?
Ian Yes!

2min before sitting on Santa's lap

ME: Are you ready? You want to sit on Santa's lap?
Ian: NOOOO! NO MOMMY NO!!!

And the outcome:



Oh right...like you expected anything less???

Orange & Blue

Orange and blue, orange and blue
GO GATORS GO!

The FL-GA game was this weekend and man did it ROCK! I was feeling a little nervous before the game, but after seeing the Gators roll over the Dawgs in the first quarter, I started feeling pretty good! Seeing as we watched the game with some GA alumni, we didn't do any smack talking...not that we make a practice of doing that normally.
I was looking forward to a good game and the Gators certainly showed up for one. They not only won, but completely shut down the Dawgs with a 49-10 score. The only touchdown UGA scored was in the last quarter...it was beautiful.
Here are a couple of photos from our afternoon at the Montembeau's.
And as always...GOOOOOO GATORS!

The art of smiling

Ian has realized he can "fake smile" to appease mommy when she has the camera out and he is trying to watch Dora or Diego. I don't find it very amusing.
Apparently he does....he keeps doing it.
August....

September....

October....


He also seems to know how to make my heart melt...he can keep doing that...I LOVE it!

Diamonds are a girls best friend...

And apparently so are plastic toy links (a.k.a. bracelets)! Maggie has this new fascination with bracelets. If it has a hole in the middle of it and fits over her hand it instantly becomes a bracelet. It is really cute, but she becomes sort of obsessed with them. Last weekend she had 9-10 of these "bracelets" on her arm. They took up her entire forearm! And she holds her hand in the air so they don't fall off too. It is quite amusing. She wears them from the minute she wakes up, during mealtimes and naps and even in the bath. She gets quite upset when I take them off at bedtime. Diva at 1. What happens when they get older and find REAL jewelery??
I'm scared.

Showing off her bangles!







Putting on the last bracelet and clapping at herself for doing such a great job!