Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Don’t worry, your
eyes are not going bad, this picture of us on Christmas Day by our tree is fuzzy (kind of like my self-timer
camera skills)! It is kind of fitting
though as that is how we felt at the end of the year with all that was going on
(life with a newborn fog, all the holiday hoopla, and sadness of losing Steve’s
dear Grandpa Aukeman with Steve flying out for the funeral and my dad coming to
help me take care of our 4 littles). Writing
a Christmas letter seemed like too daunting of a task this year, but we so
enjoyed getting letters from many of you that it was a project I still wanted
to do, even if it is a little late. So
to help me focus a little I started looking through photos of the past year (as
I usually do to help me write our yearly letter), and thought that would be a
good way to share with you all that has happened in our family in 2011.
In February, we
happily added another member to my extended family when my brother Lucas got
married to Jessica. We had a wonderful
time celebrating with them at their wedding in Edgerton. It was as beautiful and fun as the happy
couple themselves. One of the best
things about weddings is all the family that is there. And along with a great time with my siblings
and parents, we had fun visiting with a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins we
don’t see often.
In March there was another addition to the Roskamp
family. Our neice Evelyn Joanna was born
on March 18 to my brother Marcus and his wife Amy. We were privileged to be able to go and visit
sweet Evelyn (and her mom and dad) over Grace’s spring break when Evie was only
2 weeks old! This kids love Evelyn and
are very good with her. We were also
excited to share with everyone around this time that our family would be
growing as well as we were expecting a new little one in November!!
In
June we celebrated Steve’s parents’ 40th anniversary (Alnora
surprised us all by bringing and wearing her wedding dress!).
We also had fun
attending the first Kole Family Reunion, held at Inspiration Hills Bible camp
in northwestern Iowa.
One
of our biggest projects of the year was a remodel in our kitchen and
entryway. We have been saving for quite
a while and have had this project in the back of our minds for quite some time
and finally everything lined up to get it done this past summer. With a great contractor we found through
friends at church, we were able to extend our entryway out 6 feet, and redo our
kitchen (floor, cupboards, appliances, even the layout!). We were very happy with how things turned
out. The project took most of July and
August to complete and the kids were troopers through the whole
thing with lots of fun construction stuff to watch (cement truck day was the
favorite!).
With
the chaos of the remodel, we were not able to travel long distance for a vacation.
But we were still able to do some fun things together without driving
very far at all. We did a “staycation”
and spent a couple days on the south side of the cities taking in the science museum, sculpture gardens,
zoo, and a Twins game. Although if you
ask the kids their favorite part they will all tell you “staying at a hotel and
swimming!!!!”
We were also able
to go camping with Steve’s folks at Sibley State Park near Willmar, MN.
We had great weather for mid-August and really enjoyed our time
outdoors!
But by far the most exciting event of the past year was the
birth of our son, Henry Kole Bruin, on 11-02-2011.
We are overjoyed to welcome this little one to our family and we couldn’t
love him more, but do tease him that he is trying to make a statement as the
fourth child with all the issues I had during pregnancy, a long labor, and
difficulties in nursing after he was born that we have not experienced before. Grace, Willem, and Carsten adore him and the
adjustment for them has been very easy at home.
They are always asking if they can hold him or talk to him. He will definitely be doted on as he grows
and we are happy about that! Steve again
received 5 weeks paternity leave from Costco which was a huge blessing in
getting adjusted to life at home with 4 small children. We had a lot of fun introducing Henry to his
extended family with visits from all the Bruin’s shortly after his birth and
all the Roskamp’s at Thanksgiving.
I can’t end this
Christmas letter without talking about our kiddos though. Our life revolves a lot around them and it
has been a wonderful year seeing each of them grow so much. Grace is six and a big 1st
grader! She loves school and is doing
very well. Her favorite activities are
art and music and it has been so fun to watch her sing in school programs. She sings with such enthusiasm and joy! Grace is also a very big help at home,
especially when she wants to be, and we have loved seeing her mature this year
and be able to do more things independently.
Willem is 4 ½ and a pre-schooler.
He, I think, has made some of the biggest emotional changes this year,
going from being very attached to mom and dad and clinging to us wherever we
went, to being able to happily go to a pre-school class at our local nature
center once a week. He is still our
tender-hearted boy that can always make us laugh. He has also learned to read this year, all on
his own, and is can always be found with a book if not playing ball or trucks. Carsten just turned 3! Hard to believe our little guy is already
that old. Especially when we think back
to the beginning of last year when he just learned how to jump and sentences
were still new to him. Now he runs all
over the place and talks very well. He
loves to do anything and everything that his older brother and sister are
doing, but is starting to show an independent side as well. And little Henry! He is 2 months old and is a sweet baby. He loves being held, is smiling at all of us
now, coos and squiggles, and is loved on by all of us daily. The 3 big kids love to play togther inside
and outside and are looking forward to when Henry can join in. Steve and I are so thankful that the Lord has
blessed us with these children. And when
things are fuzzy all we really need to do is look at them to remember to focus
on our family and what God has in store for us in 2012. We hope that He brings you blessings and
focus as well!
Much love,
Steve,
Cary, Grace, Willem, Carsten & Henry
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