Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Lucy and Ellory's 3rd birthday family celebration!

We had a fun family day celebrating Lucy and Ellory's 3rd birthday! Our tradition for just our family of five celebration is that we let them pick an activity and where to eat. After showing them a few activity options in the "big city," we ended up at the Washington Pavilion. It was a super fun afternoon! I showed them some pictures of the different displays they had and a couple video clips, and they were excited to go!

They had a guitar/amp display right away, which Kley was very happy about! What a good quality picture we got by it. ;)


Being a train conductor.


Space room- the girls loved trying on the space suit!




Practicing pilot skills.


Room to Grow area with slide, games, toys, water table, etc.




They had a large Dinosaur Discovery area.


A favorite area was digging for dinosaur fossils!


Ellory was trying so hard to wear the helmet, brush, and dig, but her hat kept falling off.


They were entertained here for a long time. It was like little pieces of rubber, so very fun to play in, and nice that they didn't get dirty.


Foam building.


The ambulance was another favorite area in the health/doctor room.


The forest play area was very fun too!


Norah saw that the doctor area had crutches in the promotional video, so she was very excited to try them!


Lucy and Ellory checking each other- so sweet!


All in all, we loved it! It was a really fun outing. We said it's not something we would regularly pay for, but was special for a birthday outing.


We went to the Phillips Avenue Diner for supper and it was great! Everyone had a good time, the girls behaved really well, and we got special milkshakes for their birthday! It was fun to go to a unique restaurant that we don't have around where we live. 


Happy happy birthday, Lucy and Ellory! These last three years have been a beautifully wild ride. You both bring so much light and joy to our family and we love you so much!

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Celebrating our nephew/cousin Will's first birthday!

We had so much fun celebrating our nephew/cousin Will's first birthday! He had a puppy party because he loves dogs. So cute! Will is our only cousin on the De Jong side, so far anyways. (Kley has one sister, Elizabeth, so however many De Jong/Guthmiller cousins we have is up to her and Brett! :)

If only you could see the 6 adults in the background trying to get everyone to smile!



Love family photos, my favorite!



What a cutie! We love you so much Will! Happy happy first birthday!


Playing "Pin the nose on the puppy."


What a fun little smash cake!


Attempting a girls photo. 


He wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but then he enjoyed the cake!


Thursday, February 6, 2020

Schut Christmas 2019.

Merry late Christmas! We were finally able to celebrate Christmas with my side at the end of January. So, technically, it was 2020, but I have to write 2019 so it's not confusing. We celebrated late this year because we had a new nephew born, people were traveling/celebrating with their other sides/sickness, but glad we could get it in! It was a wonderful weekend because we got to meet Murphy, our new nephew/cousin, and the whole family was together! Thankful for His birth!






Monday, February 3, 2020

Meeting Murphy, our sweet new nephew/cousin!

We were so excited to meet our new nephew/cousin! This is my brother's second. Introducing Murphy Wade Schut, born December 20, 2019 at 6:50 pm, 6 lbs 2 oz, 19 in. December 20 is also my birthday, so we are birthday buddies! We actually came to Des Moines (where they and my parents live) a couple weeks ago, but Norah got sick when we were here, so we left early and didn't get to meet him. Thankful we were finally able to meet him! He is one month, so it wasn't that long really, but it felt long. (Poor Kley had a cold, so he showed great willpower and didn't hold him.)

So fun to see the family grow! We love you, Jorie and Murphy!



What a sweetie!



My new favorite photo. :)


The girls were all so sweet with him!








Can't wait to keep loving on you and getting to know you, Murphy! Welcome to the family!