March

March was a fairly chill month.  I didn't mind!!  

Rebecah decided a few months ago that she wanted to take up golf.  She bought some clubs and tried out for the school team.  She made the team and is very excited!!  This is one of the only sports she can participate in because of the permanent effects from her concussions so we were both really excited that she made the team.  Rebecah bought used clubs, but hated how ugly the golf bag was so she bought a new bag.  The new bag is not pictured.

 

Eden's class was learning about persuasive writing in school.  She wrote me a persuasive letter trying to persuade me to take her to McDonald's for French fries and a milk shake.  She was very excited when her letter arrived in the mail and even more excited to go to McDonald's.

I celebrate St. Patrick's Day less and less each year.  I didn't do any fun or festive food this year.  No one seemed to care as long as the leprechaun still left "gold" (Rolo's candy) on the counter.  

The snow is all gone.  We had a lot of really warm days at the beginning of the month in the 50s, 60s and even one day in the 70s.  Now that we are back to more seasonal temperatures, everyone feels colder.

Joseph and I celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary.  We decided to keep it simple this year and we just had a nice dinner and dessert at home with the kids.  

Kimball is doing well.  He moved to his last host family the last week in March.  He really enjoyed living with the Wartenas but is looking forward to his last host family.  It's starting to sink in that he only has three months left.  Here are a few pictures from his month:

Kasteel de Haar

Pantropica--a hot house "zoo" with birds, fish and foliage.

Speed skating museum.  Speed skating is HUGE in Friesland.

Rotary weekend in Apeldoorn

 Kimball went with the Wartena family to this fun pancake house on a boat for a final family outing. 

Kimball and Sjoerd. 

Kimball has signed up for some bike races.  He had his first race--77 km--at the end of March.  He finished second and was very excited!

February

 Welcome to Winter aka February!  

Rebecah had a band concert this month.  The bands sounded really good and I enjoyed all of the songs.

We've had a lot of snow fall this year.  The last few years have been very mild winters with only a third of our usual snowfall.  This year we are meeting our snowfall averages.

We woke up on Valentine's day to two feet of snow.  It was a complete surprise.  The night before 1-3 inches of snow was in the forecast.  Joseph worked overnight at the hospital and he called me because he had gotten stuck in the snow at the entrance of our neighborhood.  Lincoln and I walked to meet him with some shovels.  A nice man leaving our neighborhood stopped and helped us push the car after we removed some of the snow.  Joseph spent most of the morning clearing the driveway with the snowblower.  Two feet of snow is a lot at one time, even for Syracuse. 

Lincoln playing on the deck in the deep snow.  

Kimball wanted pictures of the snow since it's our snowiest winter in a few years so Annika and the garbage can are for height references.  The snow mounds were ridiculous.

The kids and I worked one morning to dig out our mailbox so our mail would be delivered.  I was grateful for their help.

What a difference a week makes!  After temperatures were above freezing for almost a week the snow was melting faster than I thought it might.  Even more snow has melted since we took this picture. Our deck at one point had probably 3 feet of snow and now we are down to roughly 6 inches of snow on the deck.

The kids had a week off school for Winter Break the third week in February.  It was a fairly low key week, but the kids did have friends over to play and we went ice skating!

We were some of the first out on the ice after it opened and it was really nice to skate before it got crowded.

Eden really improved from last month!  She was able to skate most of the time without the skate helper and she got faster and faster the longer we were there.  She was all smiles!

Taking a break to warm up!

Kimball Highlights:

Kimball's host family took him to Belgium for four days.  Kimball really wanted to visit the Flanders region of Belgium and go cycling there, so Jen made that dream come true for Kimball.

Kimball with Jen's family in Bruge:

[Left to Right:  Jen, Piete, Sjoerd, Quinte and Kimball]

On the way to Belgium they stopped in Kinderdijk (which is a Unesco World Heritage site) to see the windmills.

Kimball also went to a Teddy Swims concert with Chris and Stefan his previous host father and brother.  It was Kimball's first concert and he enjoyed it.

Kimball is doing really well.  He has boring days just like he would have here in New York, but he's also having 'once in a lifetime' experiences.  I can't believe he comes home in four months!

January

 Our January was fairly calm, which is always nice. We have gotten some snow, but not an abundance.

Happily playing Legos on a Sunday afternoon.

Celebrating Rebecah's birthday!  She's fifteen!!  She is a good help and a good student.  She loves shopping and earning money.  

As part of Kimball's exchange he stays with three different host families.  He will really miss living with the Smits; they gave him such a warm welcome when he first arrived.  He is now living with Jen and Yvonne's family.  Their youngest son, Sjoerd, is a year older than Kimball and they get along well.  It was a big transition to get used to a new family's way of doing things, but Kimball has settled in and is enjoying living with Jen and Yvonne.  Kimball also finalized his flight home this month.  He flies home on July 2, and will fly straight to St. Louis where we will be having a Coffey family reunion.  It's exciting to have a return date!

Annika had a chorus concert...

with a speaking part.

We have had some great sunrises this month.

The kids had a few days off from school this month for snow, Martin Luther King, Jr. day, and for the first time for the Lunar New Year.  They always enjoy their days off, but they don't mind going to school, either.

Ice skating on Lunar New Year

I forgot to take a picture until we were leaving!  (Lincoln was busy watching the Zamboni, so he's not pictured.)

We went to the varsity basketball game.  During half time there was an elementary school shoot out where the different elementary schools in our district shot baskets and the school with the highest number of baskets won.  Lincoln was on the team so we went to cheer him on.  He made some great shots and he had fun.  We all had more fun than excepted, so we stayed for the whole game.

December

 December is one of my favorite months!  It's full of beautiful decorations and the Spirit of Christmas!

Our first snow fall of the season.  We had about 4 inches of snow.  It's hard to keep Lincoln out of the snow.

To connect with Kimball and his festive season we celebrated Sinterklaas on December 6.  I gave the kids small presents.  The three youngest wanted pajama pants so Lincoln and Eden are posing in their new pants.

Our annual nativity for our church Christmas dinner.

We attended Rebecah's Christmas band concert. As first chair clarinet she gets the privilege to tune the band.

Lincoln and Annika both practicing their instruments.

I went to Eden's class twice this month to help with Christmas activities.  One day I helped the kids make gingerbread houses.  There were three of us helping and it was a little chaotic.  The kids had fun though.

The second day I went to help with the Christmas breakfast for the parents.  There were elfie selfies, breakfast, a craft and judging the gingerbread houses.  It was a lot of fun.

Eden, Annika and I went to Joseph's community orchestra concert.

We went as a family to see Wicked.  I had no idea until the movie started that this was only part 1.  I was so disappointed not to see the entire thing. I guess I will exercise patience and wait until part 2 comes out in November.  The kids really enjoyed the movie because I have the soundtrack and they have listened to the music for years.

Christmas Eve gingerbread houses.

We did our usual Christmas Eve traditions.  We attended the Lutheran church service where Joseph played his violin.  The service was about an hour and it was very nice. 

Reading 'Twas the Night before Christmas on Christmas Eve.

All is calm, all is bright.

Rebecah was Santa's helper.  The two of us stayed up late putting this cube shelf together for Lincoln.

Christmas Morning!

Eden LOVES chameleons.  My mom gave her a stuffed chameleon when she was born.  You've probably seen "Meme" over the years.  A few years ago we got Meme's twin—Mimi—so Eden has two that look alike.  Well, things have started to expand.  A year ago she got a "squishy" chameleon.  This year from Santa she REALLY wanted a "mommy chameleon with four babies."  She saw it on Amazon and she said it was what she wanted most for Christmas. Here is Eden with Meme and her new chameleon family.

All of Eden's chameleons.  Who would have thought 8 1/2 years ago a cute little stuffed chameleon would lead to an entire family?!

I just love how colorful our Christmas dinner was!  

We got together with friends at Get Air.  It was fun for the kids and it was fun for me to visit with friends... a double win!

We said goodbye to 2024 with fun food and reading Harry Potter #4.

Kimball had a great month.  He told me that December has been his most fun month since arriving in the Netherlands and also his most expensive month.  He spent more money on transportation meeting up with friends in Amsterdam and Groningen.  He attended Rotary activities in Enschede and went with his host family to Madurodam in The Hague.