Effective Discipline 101

Have I mentioned Nathan's stubborn streak? Well he has one and a temper to go with it. Kind of a "My way or the highway" guy. Now that he is old enough to understand the relationship between behavior and consequences, we decided that a form of discipine should be put into action. We chose time outs in the pack and play which is set up at the foot of our bed. As you can tell from the pictures, there is a real negative association with being in the time out crib :) It has become the latest fort. Today the Elmo chairs were added in as well as snack time. Back to the drawing board!

Winter...

Winter has arrived in Iowa! Here are some snapshots of what we have been up to...(sorry they are in reverse order)


Making the first snowman of the season.

Nathan looks thrilled, doesn't he!?

Tessa is thrilled!

Nathan and his "guys." He spends hours putting lego people on a car-type object and taking them off again. If possible, they all need to have a hat on. At one time, one guy was lacking a head but since the hat still worked, he was okay with it.

Bonding time before bed. Just pretend you don't see our almost two year old still drinking out of a bottle.

Fall

I find fall to be such an amazing season! I think that it would rank as my favorite out of the four. I really enjoy the change to cooler weather, the gorgeous colors, the comforting warm food, and the cozy inside feeling when it gets dark earlier.


Here are some of the latest fall photos from the Brouwer family...


Jumping into leaves with the neighbor. He comes over every Thursday since his mom works and Tessa does not have kindergarten that day. It is a highlight of her week to have him over.






Nathan loves Casey...Casey tolerates Nathan. It seems to work for them.

Tessa's birthday is another reason to eagerly anticipate fall. This year she had her first friend party. It was a blast!

We are amazed at how quickly Tessa is picking up on reading! One Saturday morning she woke up early and while Gerrit and I avoided getting out of bed, she did this on her own...wow!

Nathan loves to do whatever his sister does, including hair styles.

Hi, Did I scare you!?

Tessa's first day of kindergarten! She thinks that school is fun and adores her teacher.

Nathan has really gotten into books lately. Mommy loves to see her kids engrossed in a good book. The one he is reading..."No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!" A classic.

Tessa lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago. It was a very exciting time! Mommy is in the background showing her how to smile so that the gap is visible--attractive, isn't it!

What else have we been up to? (I am sure that your lives will not go on unless you know):

~A great trip to Lake Michigan with amazing friends at the end of July.

~A Brouwer family reunion in a gorgeous area of Colorado in August.

~School and all of the other events that start up again in the fall.

~This weekend we are going camping with good friends of ours. There is no school on Friday so the dad's took the day off and we are going to enjoy the amazing Fall weather! Give me a "s", give me a "m" give me an "o" give me a "r" give me an "e" give me a "s" What does that spell SMORES. (Have I ever confessed by strong addiction to chocolate?)

About time for a post, eh!?

Dykstra family reunion on Lake Michigan. Oh Lake Michigan, how I (Michelle) love thee! Tessa spent hours playing in the sand!

The sprinkler ball. I wasn't sure if Nathan would like it so I didn't bother putting his suit on. As you can see from his saturated outfit, he loved it!

Lake Michigan. Nathan wasn't quite sure what to do in the sand until he found his own mini-lake a little up shore. We call this expression his gomer smile.

Tessa's first horse ride! Horse rides were offered uptown as part of the July 4 festivities. She was very tentative at first, but after getting used to it, she loved it! We had to go back in line for a second ride on Bozo the horse. (Notice the shirt she choose for the special occassion).

Our summer has been a fun one! We have been to the zoo, the doctor for kindergarten shots, the dentist, the pool, Vacation Bible School, Wisconsin for a Dykstra family reunion, and visited with our great friends from Michigan. The sprinkler ball has come out a couple of times and they both love it! We have also had some friends come over to play and visited the library.

The kids have spent a lot of time outside. Both Tessa and Nathan can pass many hours in the backyard. If Nathan feels that he has neglected to pass adequate time outside and we are not catching his cues, he brings us his sandals and says "soes."

As of today, the humidity has hit and hit hard. This cool-weather-loving-mom has plans to hibernate for the rest of the summer.

Other than hiding in the basement, we have a couple of trips planned. At the end of July we head to Michigan to spend some time at a cottage on Lake Michigan (swoon!) with Marc & Shelby. In August we drive to Colorado where the Brouwers are converging in one huge cabin/mansion. After 4-5 days there, we return home just in time for kindergarten to begin!

The Van Den Brouwerstras

Note Tessa's expression upon seeing that Nathan pulled off a Tulip Petal!

About to take off!
On the run, without that annoying hat!

These are pictures of the kids in all of their dutchness. Nathan was more interested in running around than posing, but we got a few good ones of him. Tessa loved being dressed up and posed beautifully!

Go Figure

Last weekend we had wonderful friends over for Tulip Time. I thought that I had the house reasonably clean. I don't claim perfection, but it looked pretty good. I must have dusted in poor lighting because today I went in the guest bedroom armed with a feather duster to check for cob webs and wouldn't you know that I found some of the biggest ones in the history of man kind! I am surprised our guests didn't ask for dusting supplies and/or offer to hire us a maid. Sorry Van Burens!