Boxes of Toys

Our good friends, Sheldon and Marcy, and their little boy, Nathan, came for dinner on Thursday night. I used to work with Marcy at Mercy Hospital on the oncology floor. They are such great friends. Sometimes I forget what it's like to have friends over and it's just comfortable. Marcy helped set the table and didn't need to be asked. The boys played really well (Nathan is a month younger than Asher) and Sheldon and Jonathan can talk to each other without any awkward pauses.

After dinner the adults visited in the kitchen and we let the boys play in the living room. About an hour later we checked things out and boy did they have a mess!! It was really cute. They had put every toy we own in a big cardboard box we had been using as a fort. It was funny! We had a great night and we look forward to another get-together.

The box LOADED with toys

All the toys we own poured out on the floor.

All I Want for Christmas...

Van Maanen Wish List 2008

Jonathan:
* Balderdash
* Zits Comic Books:
Big Honkin' Zits
Zits Supersized
Crack of Noon
Humongous Zits

Jessica:
* Legacy Prayer Journals: Template Kit for Families
* Anne of Green Gables DVD
* Anne of Avonlea DVD
* small crock pot (for dips, etc)
* meat thermometer (indoor)

Asher:
* Matchbox cars
* Hotwheel cars
* Crayola Magic Markers (they only color on the book that's in the package)

Phineas:
* 12 month onsies (not red because he's allergic)
* Applebee's gift card

Jeremy:
Amazon Wish List

Beth:
Amazon Wish List

Levi:
Amazon Wish List

Philip:
* Carcassone
* Guillotine
* Nalgene bottle
* cool stickers for Nalgene bottle
* allen keys/hex wrenches
* Stanley sharpening kit model 16-050
(no rubber mallets or hammers, "I already have like five hammers.")

Elizabeth:
* fun socks - maybe a Christmas pair
* Book "Emily's Quest" by L.M. Montgomery
* "Mozart's Requiem" CD (I haven't found the best recording yet. I've only read a few reviews, so if you read good reviews on a certain recording that will be fine. Make sure the Dies Irae is very powerful.)

Korrie:
* PBS mini series "Bleak House" DVD
* PBS mini series "North & South" DVD (2005)
* Ligonier Ministries book "After Darkness, Light" hardcover
* Ligonier Ministries book "Almighty Over All"
* North Texas Wind Symphony "Music of Percy Aldridge Grainger" CD

Sarita:
* PBS mini series "Cranford" DVD
* PBS mini series "Wives & Daughters" DVD (2002)
Amazon Wish List (it's under Korrie's name, but it's really Sarita's list)

Micah:
Amazon Wish List

Kristin:
Glass bowls and lids (the size for leftovers)
Scrapbooking items (12x12 papers for Adriana & Isaiah's books)
A box to hold my 12x12 paper in
Cool punchers or whatever
Scrapbooking albums (Westrim Crafts is the brand I use; I get them from Michael's Craft store.)
Scrapbooking filling papers & plastic covers (Westrim Craft brand)
Brown/tan/bluish turquoise decor for our bedroom

Back from Texas

Jonathan and I had a really nice time in Texas. We spent two days in Houston and visited the NASA Space Center. It was fun to act like a bunch of kids and try all the experiments and the gadgets that they had. It was really neat-o. We ate at some great restaurants and enjoyed some wonderful Mexican food. Yumm-o!! We had a nice time in Galveston at the conference as well. The worship and speaker were really great and it made skipping out on the sessions really hard. It was also really encouraging to hang out with youth pastors and their wives from all over the country. The guys really have a lot in common and so do us wives. It's nice to relate to women so easily as they are in the same boat as me...just in a different location. We had a really great time. We also got to see a lot of devastation in Galveston from Hurricane Ike. It was pretty amazing to see water and wind do so much damage. Our God is a powerful God.

If you want to see more pictures from our trip, you can click on the album in the right-hand column. Enjoy!

Blog on Hold

Hi Everyone ~

I wanted to let you know that our blog will be on hold for an indefinite amount of time. Our computer crashed so I'm using Jonathan's work laptop to post today. Hopefully our computer will be working soon so I can get some more pictures and stories posted. The boys have been really fun and cute lately so I'll have to keep a journal so I don't forget anything.

Thanks for your patience!

~ The Van's Down By the River