the ferwerda family

Bluey the fish

While in Naperville a few weeks back, our dear friend, Mr. Jon took Paige and Will to the pet store. And he thought it'd be a great idea to purchase a fish for the kids. For those of you who know me, I am not a fish person. I have a small phobia of things that swim. Don't ask me why. I can do dogs...but never dreamed to be a fish parent:) But, the kids were so excited that I sucked up my fears and embraced the excitement. The kids picked out the "prettiest fish in the whole store". There was a conflict on what to name our fish - Paige decided on Elissa and wanted to call her "e-lis" for short. We decided that name sounded like a speech impediment "a lisp" so we ultimately ended on Will's suggestion - Bluey.

Bluely lived for one night at Mormor and Grandpa's house and then left with us to make the long journey back to Grand Rapids. Unfortunately for Bluey, the trip was too much for him to handle. We arrived home to a Bluely hanging out in the bottom of the cup. Of course, we had to have a proper goodbye for our little friend so the following pictures are our send off to our much loved fish of one day:)

Our one and only picture with the fish - who is dead:)

When Ben asked if the kids wanted to say anything before sending Bluey off to sea, Will responded with, "um. Bye!". Truly not too tragic for any of us:)

3 months

Oh sweet boy, stop growing!

Welp, there is no denying it - Isaac is a chunker :) Weighing in at 15 lbs, he is by far our largest 3 month old. I bet his cheeks weigh 3 pounds alone! He is the sweetest, most darling little guy - full of smiles and sweet faces. As for his rolls, there are a solid three rolls on each leg and most likely 3 rolls on each cheek too. For having some weight on him, Isaac still loves to hang out with me in the middle of the night but is a peach all day long, getting hauled all over the place with the other 3.

We just love him to pieces.

Isaac absolutely adores Paige - she is so good with him and loves to lug him around like her little doll. The common phrase spit out around here is, "Put the baby down! He is not a doll!!!" :)

Mr. strong man is holding his own in the exersaucer and is loving being vertical throughout the day.

I "2"!!!

We have officially entered the world of "2" again! Yay ;) Annie has been wanting to be 2 for many months so this is a big deal around here. If asked how old she is, she will respond, "I 2!" She had a fun few days of celebrating.

She was lucky to have a joint gathering with her cousin, Cash, who was celebrating his 6th birthday!

Cute buddies and cousins - Blakely and Annie

We spent Annie's actual birthday up north -

she had fun opening a few gifts at our hotel and taking advantage of the indoor pool.

Our petite, pig tailed princess:)

Happy birthday to our sweet, spunky, feisty, precious little Annie Joy. You are the perfect blend of sugar and spice and you bring our family so much joy. We love you!

A Boating we go!

Ben's favorite show comes to town every February - and the best way to get through the rest of the winter is to look forward to summer! We headed to the boat show with our buddies....the kids loved climbing in and out all of the boats.

and the other "kid" also loved climbing in and out all of the boats:)

Mark keeping the kiddos in line:)

Not sure what Annie's hunting for

winter blues

We got home from Colorado to a few weeks of snow - and sickness - and four kids with sickness. You get the idea. Lots of inside play time for us during the month of February! We cured our winter blues with.....

Some shades

Dress up

and more shades

Our scenery has been breathtaking:)

Cousins

We left the mountains and headed to Colorado Springs for a fun filled overnight with our cousins! Loved this special time we got to spend loving on our family! Seeing the cousins together and how their friendships continue to grow melts my heart.

Best attempt at a cousins picture:)

The 3 amigos

Our cutie pie nephew - Truett

A little pre-bed play time (Will and Paige may be fighting....not sure:)

Colorado

We headed out west to our favorite place in the whole world last month for a fun week full of skiing, snow and fun! We put Paige and Will in ski school and they did awesome. They are officially ski bunnies! We even got Annie out on the bunny hill one day - poor thing just wants to be big like her siblings. She actually rocked it. So thankful for these special memories!