Haven at One

S'mores at the lake

Hopefully a tradition that will continue each summer.

This Little Piggy

Claire loves playing "this little piggy" with Haven.

The 4th, the Indians, and the Flower

Each year at the Lainesville 4th of July, Claire tends to be the only Veenema who really gets in on the full experience. This year, she was a little out of place from the Ferguson-Sauder native american theme, but she was committed to having a costume nonetheless.

Claire's Ballet Class

Claire took ballet this summer and loved it. This is her participating in the "bravo" that followed each "plie" and "sotay" they did.

The Big H

Road Trip 2009

For our first road trip as a family of four, we decided to rent a mini-van - a Kia Sedona. We went down to New Jersey for Jeff and Liane's east-coast wedding celebration, which included a tour of a local firehouse. Claire loved it, and continued wearing her fire hat around well after we returned home. Here she is on the hook-and-ladder:

Easter Dresses

Will and Kim came and stayed with us over Easter. This was Claire and Sienna on Easter Sunday. After church, we went up to Gloucester for the annual easter egg hunt at the Browns, which was followed by Easter dinner at Meg & Tim's. The only wrinkle was a minor fire in Meg & Tim's oven that smoked everyone out of the house, and brought a fire engine to the door with sirens wailing. An unfortunate end to an otherwise great day.

In like a Lion

The second day of March brought yet another foot of snow. Claire was raring to help shovel.

3 shots of Claire

H-man

More of Haven...

The Mush Man

Just a few pictures of Haven at a super cute stage. We can't stop mushing those cheeks. He'll be 9 months in March.

The Artist as a Young Girl

This easel is easily one of Claire's favorite Christmas presents. So far, whenever we have asked her what she is painting the answer has always been the same: a snake.

Christmas Eve Dress

I missed church on Christmas Eve to pick up Missy, but I was around long enough to see Claire get ready to head off with Kris in this little getup.

Haven

As you can see from this picture, the kid really should get a lot more air time on this blog than he does.

Hiding

Claire is really into hiding on us these days. She actually does have a few decent places (under her covers, in her closet, etc...), but, every now and then, she falls back to the old standby depicted here.

Ollie's Birthday

For her birthday party this year, Ollie chose a leotard/cooking theme. The pinata just topped it all off. Here's claire's shot:

Thanksgiving in VT / Picking out a Tree

We spent Thanksgiving in VT again this year, which has become a tradition that we intend to keep. Another tradition that we might add to the mix for the day after Thanksgiving is going to pick out a tree at the farm that my dad has always relied on... These are a few shots from that trip. Instead of getting a tree that afternoon, however, we picked ours up at a streetside collection of pre-wrapped trees just before the place closed down on a Sunday evening. Not quite the same idyllic scene...

The Princess and the Tiger

Because we were still between homes, we did Halloween up in Lainesville, and went trick or treating with the Sauders and the Browns. Claire was a Princess... More specifically, Princess Presto from SuperWhy (a show on PBS). Haven, the Tiger, tagged along in the Baby Bjorn, while everyone else ran from door to door, tripping over one another and rushing to be the first up the next front walk or set of stairs. There were even sparklers for everyone at the end of the evening. A great time before the big move.

Drinkin' Buddies

This picture is screaming for a lucrative licensing deal with Horizon Organics Chocolate Milk. (And yes, that is a rolling pin slide behind Claire.) Leaning casually next to the slide is Claire's adorable friend Anya.