Proud of James

We got a note in the mail this week that warmed our hearts. It was from the new principal at the kids' school (she started in July).

Dear Mr. and Mrs. VanAntwerp,

Your son is amazing! I have had opportunities to welcome him mornings or say hi now and then, but today I had the chance to talk briefly one-on-one with him ... what a delight! He is so articulate, reflective, sweet, sincere, and is being such a great friend to a classmante. I know you must be proud of him, but wanted to let you know that I am, too! He's doing great!

Sincerely,...

Yes, James, we are very proud of you. Keep up the good work, of working to become the person God has in mind for you to be.

Photo Shoot

Took the kids to Sears Photos today for portraits.  (View the online album from Sears)  It has been a while. I have, perhaps not surprisingly, been less diligent with each successive child about the "milestone" photos. The last studio shot I have of John is his 2-year birthday, and now he is 4 months past his 3rd birthday. It seemed like time.

I also decided to forgo the school photos this fall for James and Maggie, since I decided I could get as good a price with my coupon at Sears but then pick my favorites shots. While this was all true, I unfortunately did not give enough weight to my emotional weakness in buying photos.

In the past, I have begged Jeremy to attend at least the end of the photo shoots, when you have to sit at the studio computer and pick out the shots to buy. He has no trouble saying, "This one. Not that one. This one. This size, this many, no more, let's go." I, on the other hand, agonize over the shots. I almost always like at least two poses of each kid. Now, I don't need two poses. I only have one frame on the wall for each of them. But I hate the idea that I might get home and change my mind and wish that I had picked a different shot. So today, I got sucked into buying about $40 and 10 portrait sheets more than I really needed. Oh well. I have blown $40 on sillier things in my life. And they are beautiful kids, if I do say so myself. :)

John's first birthday party invitation

John got an invite to a friend's birthday party for this afternoon. It was his first such outing, and he was quite excited. He really had no idea what a party was before he went, but he knew that he wanted to go, if only because his older brother and sister made such a big deal out of the event on his behalf. "John, it will be really fun!" "You'll get to play and eat cake!"

It was the 5th birthday of his closest age-mate among our family friends who have so far obligingly had a boy-girl-boy at approximately the right ages to provide a playdate all in one family.  John was certainly the youngest kid at the party, but apparently didn't mind too much.

He came home proudly clutching his treat bag. He marched straight up to me and announced, "Mom, look what I got!" His chubby paw dove into the bag and emerged with ... a plastic soccer ball on a key chain! From the way his face beamed, I thought it might be pure gold. Or a working motorcycle. :)   He then spent the next 20 minutes engrossed in one of those hand-held plastic pinball toys, also from his bag. You know, the freebie kind that show up around the house as plentiful as hangers, but that no one every plays with. Well, apparently, I had just never found the target audience before.