"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Ditto for me.

Mom, airplanes DON'T fly at night

This was my conversation with Bailey the other night in the car when she saw an airplane and got very concerned. (she loves airplanes)

Bailey: Mommy, planes aren't supposed to fwy at night.
Me: Sure they are.
Bailey: No, they only fwy during the day .
Me: Sometimes they fly at night too.
Bailey: No they don't.
Me: Yes they do.
Bailey: No they Don't!
Me: They fly at during the day and at night honey.
Bailey: Mommy come here, I have to tell you a secret...
Me: What?
Bailey: (whispering) no they don't!!

Maybe you had to be there but she cracks me up!

They love to dress up

So I absolutely hate picking up clothes all over the house. One would suggest we just put them away when we take them off so I wouldn't have to. While it may be different for certain others in my family, I ALWAYS PUT MINE AWAY!!! However, my girls are always taking my clothes to dress up in and strut around the house but then they just leave them on the floor!! Make me crazy....but they sure do look cute!!

Note Maddi's hand on her hip for the pose

they kept hugging each other, it was so cute!
This one cracks me up because Bailey looks like she's saying a bad word and Maddi looks like she has a gigantic gap in her front teeth!
So stinkin cute. They wear our clothes better than we do.

SnOw!!!

It snowed last night!!! So there all you people who think it only snows where you live!!! It didn't snow at our house, although it very well could have. We picked up Ethan early this morning and headed out to Madera Canyon (only about 20-30 minutes ish from our house). There was so much snow! We couldn't go very far up the mountain cause they wouldn't let you without chains or 4 wheel drive so we stopped at the first rec area and played in the snow that was there-which was plenty. It was really fun because the girls hadn't ever seen snow before and Ethan, Stephen and I hadn't seen it in a very long time. We had a snowball fight and the girls fell on their butts a bunch of times. So fun!!

It was so pretty!
Stephen wasn't sure what the cold white stuff was

Her first snowball!

Ethan and Dad were having a serious snowball fight

she made her own teeny tiny snowball

I was ready to get Stephen with this one.

Happy 2nd Birthday Maddison!

Happy Birthday Maddison!! We love her so much and are so happy to celebrate her 2nd birthday today. We actually did most of the celebrating yesterday at Peter Piper with family. She had a lot of fun and got lots of great gifts. Aunt Shelley and Mom and Dad both ended up getting her play tents but when we got home and tried to set them up they were both broken! I was so mad! It looked like they had both been returned and the bodaggits at Target just put them back on the shelf. So I took them both back only to find they had none that hadn't been broken. So I got a generic Target brand monster tent and it turned out to be way better than either of the others! The girls have pratically been living in it ever since. I made her, of course, a rainbow chip cake. (It's a van der Werf family staple at birthday parties) And everyone loved it, including Shelley's boyfriend, Cleve, whose birthday it also was! Happy birthday Cleve! So all in all it was a great weekend and we had tons of fun celebrating our 2nd full year with our sweet girl Maddison Jeannette. We are so blessed to have her in our life.

Nice new pics of the fam

These were on Christmas Eve

Steve's dad and Pam

Stephen's dad, Stephen, and his wife, Pam, came out to visit from Michigan. They have stayed with us for about a month and enjoyed a warm Christmas as opposed to the below zero they would have endured back home. Our kids have really enjoyed getting to know them and have even learned how to say "Grandpa" and "Papa" which was really cool because they've never had one around to say that to. They leave this Saturday and will surely be missed.