Welcome to the Family Luke Ryan Koopmans!

Luke Ryan arrived on June 6 at 1131 pm. He weighed 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches long. He came fast once he decieded it was time. I have been contracting on and off for weeks and nothing was different on that Wednesday. Around supper time the contractions were timeable but not that strong. We went out for icecream and went about the usual night routine with putting the kids to bed. Around 9 pm I took a shower and thought that this might be it. The contractions were closer together and stronger but still not that unbearable to me . I thought I would lay down around 10 pm but Ryan encouraged me to call my mom and the doctor and we headed into the hospital. On the way to the hospital the contractions were strong and seemed to be on top of each other. Ryan dropped me off in ER and my water broke while waiting to go up stairs. They wheeled me into a room and checked me I was 7 cm dilated at 1124..next thing I knew I could feel him coming and he came fast with one push. Good thing we left our house when we did because 39 min later Luke was here.A beautiful baby boy with tons of dark hair. Levi and Maci are loving and fighting over Luke daily. They love to hold him, feed him, get his outfits ready, get the bottles for him, anything to help with baby brother. Luke seems to be quite tolerant of all the pulling and "loving".

Levi Theodore Turns 4 Years Old...

Checking out his new tool belt.

 The Cousins

Wave your Flags! Happy Memorial Day!

 Happy Birthday Levi! We love You!

We celebrated Levi's fourth birthday with Alexa over Memorial Day weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Roedema's house. We had breakfast, played a fishing game and opened way too many presents. Levi got a real tool belt and tools from Dadda, new clothes, a Lighting McQueen bathing suit, books, stencils and Hotwheels block set. All the cousins were there and got jewelry and a treat bag to go home with that they got from "fishing". What a party!

On Sunday we went to the Rundhaug's pool for swimming, cake and to celebrate Levi's birthday with the Koopmans. It was a good day to swim because it was 90 degrees out. Levi always has fun playing with his cousin, Collin. Maci took a spill on the cement going down the drive way so she did not seem  quite herself. But she loves playing Mommy to Evan and Emily.

Project Pictures...Paint!

We are getting almost finshed with our entry way. The painting was completed this week. Here are some pictures... now just the finshing touches to be done, like the hooks in the locker and baskets. We are really happy how it turned out.

Joy of Day to Day Routine...

Here are some favorite pictures of this week. Levi loves playing in the water outside with the hose, getting wet, playing fireman, making mud. He could do this for hours...ahh the simple joys. Maci loves watering the plants with her small watering can. It keeps her busy for 45 minutes, filling up the can and sprinkling the ground and the plants. " I do" she says over and over. Usually on Thursdays we go to garage sales and today we found a Lions hat, that is way to small for Maci but she insists on wearing it along with all her "pretties".

Maci's First Hair Cut

Well, I finally did it. This morning I took Levi and Maci out to breakfast at Mc Donalds and then we went to get Maci's hair cut..more like a trim since I could not let all her curl out. She can probably see better now that the hair is out of her eyes. Maci did not want to sit on the chair so I held her in my lap and she did fine. I did keep a piece of her curl as a momento. She thought the candy afterward was the best. What a pretty girl. She kept saying "cut" all day and touching her hair.

Mother's Day 2012

We are getting ready to meet Baby Koopmans and welcome the little one to our family. Levi talks about when "will the baby come" everyday and says my "tummy is getting bigger".  Today he told me that the baby will come out without clothes on.  He really thinks a lot about it. Levi also likes when he leans against my tummy and the baby moves or kicks him. Levi just laughs and laughs. Maci is always playing babies and loves babies. Hopefully, she loves her sister or brother just as much.

Spring Project

Before: Entry Way

Before: Kitchen Wall

Drywall dust was and still is everywhere. Drywalling outside in garage

We had a hole in the entry way for a few days while Ryan extended this out for the lockers to be built in.

Levi and Maci wore "mufflers"alot of days while Daddy worked.

Starting to come together, with boot bench underneath kiddos.

Board and Batten in Kitchen...will look so different when painted.

Little Levi working hard!

Ryan and I were brainstorming about some updates and a way to create more space in our entry way. Ryan came up with a locker system plan and I found some ideas on Pinterest for board and batten projects. So far we are thinking this opens up our entry way and makes it feels so much bigger. We are about 90 percent done with our project. We need just the finshing paint and touches for this do it yourself project to come together. Ryan did most of the work over Spring Break and had Levi and Maci as his helpers most days. He was very patient with them as they were most times under feet. Levi learned alot about building and Maci loved getting dirty in the sawdust. Here are some pictures and hopefully soon I can post pictures of the finshed work.