2009.. what a year

Happy New Year everybody!

We had a fun New Year's Eve with just the 5 of us. Sure it was a bit explosive as well... several gasoline bombs went off right outside our door, shaking the very foundations of our home. Also a group of incredibly drunk youngsters right outside played Techno music that was louder than the fireworks and installed a bar on the sidewalk. Oh they also built a bonfire using Christmas trees, any wood they could find, furniture, shopping karts and a moped. It was interesting! But the new view we had from the new upstairs was absolutely phenomenal. We watched the city of Den Haag EXPLODE at midnight. It was gorgeous. We ate ourselves into a frenzy (I tried a new recipe for chicken Quesadillas and fruit dip, and both were yummmmy) and watched some fun movies.

So I thought I would do a little review of 2009. I thought I was really happy to see it go because it's been a very rocky year for me... but then I was compiling all these 2009 picture collages and I realised there was a lot more good than bad in the past year.

 Allow me to share with you some of the 'old' (click on the collages to see them in more detail):

There were a lot of Birthdays! In chronological order: Max turned 1 on June 19th, I turned 28 on June 25th, Julia turned 4 on July 28th,  Sander turned 30 on October 28th and finally Lara turned 6 on December 17th.

We went on a LOT of fun outings and holidays! We visited Belgium, England and France and went to several amusement parks, petting zoo's, family get-togethers and petting zoo's.

I went from losing the plot to relative sanity.

A perk that came from me losing the plot: I went into crochet-madness-mode and created a bunch of fun things I'm actually quite proud of!

I've been missing my family a LOT!!! Two beautiful new babies were born: Jace Blom and Ella May, Marissa graduated from BYU, Mike made it through another year of Iraq safely, and it looks like a lot of fun was had (without me! boohoo).

A lot of fun was had at school and church. Julia made the big transition from the nursery to primary, and into first grade at school.

And last but not least.... 2009 was full of SILLINESS!

All in all a beautiful year even though it was rocky. But I think the tough times are the most special times because they allow for the most growth and personal accomplishment.

The Koot family are ready for Twenty-Ten which will bring more birthdays, a new baby, a visit from my mother, a bigger house and hopefully many new friends. I love you guys, make the New Year a good one!