It's a Pirate Party!

Mom, Katie and I wanted to throw Kate a Baby Shower- we needed a theme and as I was talking to Kate on the phone trying to decide what to do Mike yells "Make it a Pirate Party."  


Of course, Katie and I thought that would be the greatest thing in the world, and Kate, bless her heart, cheerfully went along with it. 


Though it was not exactly the most orthodox of Baby Showers it was, nonetheless, very fun. 

   

Even Claire got into it.  She dressed up in the cutest little Pirate Costume that Mary, Kate's Mom, had made.  With Pirate Ale, Gold Doubloon Cake, and lot's of laugh's (and babies) it was a Pirate's Dream!

Check out more pictures:

Dylan's Pirate Shower

Not that different after all...

   

It's so much fun being married to someone from another country.  I love the unique things we bring to our marriage -different world views, cute accents, amazing food...

However, it can make communication a bit tricky.  We both speak English, but there are so many times where one of us will say something and the other has no idea what they are talking about - whinge? chook? 

When it comes to the most important thing in life, our relationship with our Heavenly Father, there is no doubt that we are on the same page.  Last night we spent an extended time reading the Bible and praying together.  What a blessing it was!  Even when it feels like we're coming from different planets, let along different countries, it is so encouraging to know that we can open God's word, or come before Him, and speak the same language to our Saviour. 

Praise the Lord for the body of Christ!

Kuypers Family Pet (sort of)

Chase Bank had an online coupon a few weeks ago for a free Betta Fish.  I went and got him during my lunch hour.  He is the "Kuypers Classroom Pet" but during vacations he will be the "Kuypers Family Pet"  and live with us in Long Beach.  Tony's actually never met him. Hope they like each other...


I asked the children to suggest names; Shadow, Blue Lightning, Bubbles and Chimichanga (?) were the class favorites, but I like people names for pets.  So, in a burst of creativity, I named him after the coupon that got him, Chase.

Autumn is Here

Happy Autumn!


The weather has cooled (a bit) and the days are getting shorter.  I made chicken soup and muffins for dinner last night and two miniature pumpkins are snuggled together under the leaves of the orchid on our coffee table.   Fall is officially here.


Tony still finds it strange that Autumn is this time of year.  In New Zealand the seasons are opposite, so the time leading up to Christmas has always been Spring for him.  It must be strange to have things done backwards from how you grew up. I try to imagine Autumn leading into a cold rainy Winter without Christmas to brighten the season... I would think that Winter would seem very long.


We've been eating from our garden almost daily.

The beans are really crisp and the lettuce makes the best salad.  Our peppers should be done soon.   It's hard to wait!   Tony cultivated some tomatoes from seed and they are growing out of control.  Since we traveled so much this summer we had to start our garden really late, and we were a bit worried that things wouldn't grow well.  However, it's California.  The weather is always nice and things seem to grow crazy all year round.  Yeah!