"Party of Six" a family blog

Little Mtn views

2011-04-24T19:45:00.003-05:00

red and yellow tulip fields from Little Mtn.

more fields in the distance

Mt. Baker

The Olympic Mts and puget sound

Puget Sound

The way we get to games

2011-02-02T17:35:00.002-06:00

On the ferry to Friday Harbor for the basketball games. It ended up being a gorgeous, sunny day for the trip!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2010-12-29T14:05:00.004-06:00

It began to snow....

Oooh, the joy of presents!

2010-12-29T13:52:00.003-06:00

Thanks G'pa and G'ma Crull!

The sniffing and guessing starts at a VERY young age!

well, this should keep her busy.

finally, Emma has her own music box :)

the fun of name gifts!

and new outfits

stepping on the scale

2010-11-17T14:36:00.003-06:00

Charlie stopped playing and ran over to the weight scale, where I told him to stop and not step on. He looked up at me and said "mommy, can I take my clothes off and play with it?"

Obviously he thinks you have to take your clothes off in order to play with the scale, but then again, he only sees me stepping on it between changing clothes!! What kids must think when they see us doing certain things. He gave me a good laugh :)

Going on a hike

2010-09-22T11:38:00.002-05:00

I found Charlie trying to put Susie Bear in the back of his pj's this morning and I asked him what he was doing. He then told me that he wanted to take Susie Bear up the mountain for a hike, so this is Charlie and Susie Bear going on a hike up Little Mountain. Charlie LOVES going on hikes ~ probably because he is Susie Bear when we are hiking. How much fun would that be, hanging out on someones back!

Donut Day

2010-09-09T12:38:00.003-05:00

"Charlie, you forgot to eat the donut!"

I pretty sure he does not care, by the looks of his face.

Out of Commission

2010-09-03T19:19:00.002-05:00

As a mom, you never want to be out of commission. Especially the first week your kids start school at a new school and your husband starts running a school. It has been a stressful week, needless to say. I have missed the first school day, family fun night, meeting new parents, etc. It is almost as if I do not exist yet. My family talks of this person and that person, as if they are life long friends, and I have yet to meet them all.

My fever started last week Saturday night after our birthday party for DJ. (Thank goodness we celebrated Saturday!). After the kids were in bed, IT began.

It is now Friday at 5:45 pm and I am still medicated for a fever. It will not go away. I went to the doctor on Wednesday, and as usual, he said it was probably a virus. What he does not understand is that I am a mom of 4 children and a wife to an extremely busy, and tired husband right now, so hearing that it is a virus did not make me feel any better.

My house is a mess, laundry is piled to the ceiling (not really, but close), beds are unmade, etc. I have contemplated throwing an adult fit to see if I could actually "fit" it away.

What really saddens me, is that I can never get this week back again.

Blog picture

2010-08-17T22:34:00.002-05:00

Above is our new blog picture ~ we took it while hiking up "Little Mountain", which is about 3 miles from our home. If you look between Jeff and I, you can see the snowcapped peak of Mt. Baker. We hope to hike up this little mountain often, which also overlooks the puget sound. The sights are breath taking!

Where's the potty?

2010-08-12T11:21:00.002-05:00

Potty training is such an exhausting process. Our method requires no pants and the potty going everywhere with the kid. Unfortunately, it also requires a person to constantly be with the kid! There are times where we are either asking (after the kid has been doing the potty dance for a while and is no longer) "where is the potty?" or "where is the potty?" (as in, get the kid there quickly). We are happy to report that our kid (Charlie) is doing pretty well, but he is still not too certain. Right now our family room is covered with a little people land and the potty is centrally located so he can dance his way right over and do his job.

Oh, Happy Day

2010-08-08T20:20:00.002-05:00

Josie turned 9 years old on Friday! Her dessert choice was a chocolate shake, so we had to be creative with blowing out the birthday candle.

All the kids enjoying their shakes.

Josie was surprised with some fun packages in the mail that day. Thanks for the presents!!

It was a happy birthday for Josie ~ beginning with cinnamon rolls and ending with chocolate shakes. Oh yeah, and some fun gifts to open too!

"Eye of the Tiger"

2010-08-02T10:37:00.005-05:00

I am not sure what to feel about the fact that my 2 year old baby, dressed in red puppy pajamas, is running around the house belting out "Eye of the Tiger. Bum.....Bum, Bum, Bum......Bum, Bum, Bum.........Bum, Bum, Buuuuuuuuum." The hard rock edge is not up to par, and the clarity is iffy, but if you listen closely it is there.

emotions

2010-08-01T16:46:00.002-05:00

We had to say good-bye to G'pa and G'ma Crull earlier than what was planned ~ Great G'pa Kelley was not doing well and Great G'ma needed G'pa and G'ma Crull to come home.

I do not think I realized the distance of our move until that moment. When my parents decided to take off after the phone call with my G'ma Kelley, it was discussed whether it would take 2 or 3 days to get back to Iowa. They had taken their time coming to WA, which was a 3 day journey. I felt horrible, as if I was taking time away from my mom and her dad.

The emotions started as they left. The kids were so sad that they had to say good-bye to my parents, which in turn tore my heart to see. I was sad the rest of the day ~ that we had made the decision to take our kids away from both of their G'parents and the relationships that had been beautifully developing for the past 5 years.

I am still sad.

A day away....

2010-07-25T18:22:00.004-05:00

to Larabbee State Park.

Spain 2010

2010-07-22T23:59:00.003-05:00

In Barcelona - a park designed/created by architect Gaudi

Same park - Jeff and I found a cool spot for a pic

The cathedral "Sagrada Familia" also designed by Gaudi - still in process today.

An arch in Barcelona - probably something important......

The beautiful Mediterranean Sea!

Back Up and Running

2010-06-24T09:15:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

Many of our friends and family have been asking how to stay in touch with us during this transition. We have decided that we would begin by updating our blog more often. For those of you who do not know we are moving to NW Washington in a few weeks. I will be the principal and athletic director of Mount Vernon Christian High School. Currently Monica and I are in Madrid, Spain visiting family. We look forward to hearing from many of you soon, and we will make sure to keep everyone updated the best we can.

Later,

Jeff

Welcome to the Family!

2009-02-14T10:21:00.003-06:00

We have a new nephew/cousin! Carter Elias Droog was born on February 12, to Dan and Julie, and we are already anxious to meet him :)

One Year Ago

2009-01-27T08:35:00.002-06:00

One year ago today, Charlie Alan was born. When I think of my baby being 1 year already, it makes me sad. Seriously, where does the time go?

THEN
NOW

Is it possible?

2008-11-10T08:34:00.003-06:00

Josie lost her two front teeth and soon after, Charlie got his first two teeth. I call that true "give and take"!!! :)

Daddy, STOP! (Tickle, Tickle)

2008-10-31T10:48:00.006-05:00

Oh, I am soooooo tired!

Iowa

2008-10-24T21:34:00.002-05:00

There are many things to love about Iowa.
- the green, green grass
- the big expanse of blue sky (even in the winter)
- the corn
- seeing for miles and miles
- the early morning sunrises and beautiful sunsets

There are many things to not like about Iowa.
- the smell of ripe manure being spread on the fields, especially this time of year.
- hog smell
- WIND that makes you wonder why anyone would live here!
- wind and bitter cold in the winter
- um, these little black bugs that never used to live here when I lived here before, but now live here since I have moved back. They come during the harvest, and spit acid on your skin (which totally burns).

I am sure there are pros and cons to every state and country. I thought I would share with all of you the things I like and don't like :)

cousins

2008-10-19T15:38:00.003-05:00

After Hurricane Ike hit Houston, TX, Julie and Eden came to stay. During their time in Iowa, we had a get-together at the Trowbridges where we decided it would be good to get a picture of the Droog kids. From oldest to youngest: Katelyn, Samantha, Jennifer, DJ, Shayla, Josie, Shiloh, Emma, Shalom, Eden, Yishai, Charlie and new baby (Dan and Julie) on the way!!!!!

My Grandpa

2008-10-16T09:16:00.002-05:00

My Grandpa Crull passed away this past Sunday. We have been busy this week packing, traveling to Illinois, seeing family that I never knew I had, attending the visitation, the burial and the memorial service.

I never lived close to my Grandpa and Grandma growing up, but my parents made a big effort every Summer to visit and stay with them for 2-3 weeks while my dad helped with the farming. It was one of my favorite memories of childhood - going to my Grandparents in Illinois. They had a huge farm with an orchard of apple trees, a swimming pool, GREAT food, pedal cars (yes the classics!), cats/kittens, cows, a riding lawn mower, and the list could go on and on. I was always sad to leave when our time was done.

My Grandpa was extremely musical. He LOVED music and sang all the time for weddings, funerals, with a Barbershop Quartet, etc. I remember when I was learning to play the piano, he would love to listen to me and would always encourage me to play with more feeling. (I suppose that is why today I "feel" so much through music). He would literally sit at the piano with me and sing with feeling. It was such a learning experience I never knew was even happening.

The last time I saw my Grandpa was over 2 years ago. I have to say that when my Grandma passed away when I was in 6th grade, our relationship changed. He remarried and we were still living far away, so everything changed. We did not see him as much as we had all the other years.

I think what saddens me is that our ties to our life and memories of Illinois may be gone forever. A part of history/generation is ending. A cousin of mine told me yesterday that he and his wife had visited a few years ago and video taped Grandpa for about 2 hours. They drove around and heard all kinds of stories - where he grew up, things he had built, etc. I have never heard those stories from him, but we now have it documented. History doesn't have to be lost if we stop our busy lives and spend the time talking, sharing stories, etc.

I will forever be grateful to my cousin who took that time to do that for our family. I look forward to hearing and learning more... from my Grandpa - in his own words, his own facial expressions. That will be something to cherish and hang on to for the next generation.

Thank you Brett and Julie!

PEEK-A-BOO

2008-10-10T15:08:00.002-05:00

During Charlie's younger days, he figured out the game peek-a-boo all on his own. He would somehow get the blanket over his head, giggle and kick awhile, then quickly pull the blanket off. I think he is learning quickly how to self-entertain, which is a great thing to learn - I just never thought he would have it down at 4 months old, when he started this new trick!

Bathtime

2008-10-08T19:05:00.003-05:00

The whole family gets involved with Charlie's bathtime! He loves the sink because he fits so perfectly, plus he can just splash away without falling over :) (Notice that poor Charlie is way in the back of everyone. Someday soon he will be fighting for the front.)

1st Tooth!

2008-10-03T17:55:00.004-05:00

Do you see it? There it is FINALLY!! We had a hard time getting this little tiny thing to come through, poor baby.

Birthday Celebrations

2008-10-02T11:35:00.002-05:00

DJ and Josie turned 7 and 9 in August. I am a little late in the game with pictures, but here they are!

Mom's homemade cake for Josie. The kids like to pick their decorations, and Josie wanted squiggles. I can do that!!

All the kids together. This could be a first!
DJ chose a spiderman cake (mom did NOT make this one). We had a combined b-day party. Josie seemed fine having a "boy" cake too. :)

IT'S ABOUT TIME

2008-09-29T08:07:00.002-05:00

I have found that I am terrible with correspondence, and now I have found that it takes me 2 months to post a new blog! I might have to send out another email for people to check it out, because by now they have given up. I truly hope to be better at posting since I have two full-time school kids, and one part-time school kid and a baby who takes wonderful naps. There really should be NO excuses, right? I gotta run because I have pictures to snap!!!!!!!!

Training

2008-07-31T07:09:00.002-05:00

I think training DJ when he was an infant was much easier than it has been training Charlie.

Now that our house has become a 3 bedroom home from previously being a 4 bedroom home, we have 3 kids in one room. Charlie's crib is in with the girls, which causes a big problem when it comes to training him to sleep through the night. (no, he is STILL not sleeping through the night!!)

We have done the method of training where Charlie will start to cry, and we all (yes, all - even DJ downstairs can hear him crying) endure the crying for 10 minutes. Jeff or I will go in and pat him on the back and then let him cry for 15 min., then we go in and pat him on the back and we continue on in this pattern. Well, the first night we were all awake for a good hour or more. Of course, Charlie decided to do this a few times during the night. Needless to say, our whole family was exhausted by the time the sun popped up!

We have now set up a nice comfy "bed" downstairs in DJ's room, on the floor for the girls, until Charlie is sleeping completely through the night. It is amazing how much a little person can change everything that has been established for years!

Maybe if DJ had been number 4, he would have been the same as Charlie.

Summer Time Fun!

2008-07-21T08:11:00.011-05:00

Oops! Got some hair with this one!

Summer rec ball for Josie and DJ.

All ready for our trip to Michigan (Yes, they were all awake at 4:30am!)

On the playground at Lake Michigan in South Haven.

The Pier!
The kids with their good friends, the Batts girls - Madelyn, Audrey and Ellie (except Charlie, who missed out on the whole lake thing because he was hungry.)

We have been busy having fun this Summer. We have done some traveling, some swimming, some laking, some summer rec for the kids and some staying home for "family night". We still have a few more fun things up our sleeve, but we will have to be quick because the days are dwindling fast!

WE ARE GOING PLAID

2008-05-09T08:35:00.004-05:00

If anyone was in Jr high or highschool during the late 80's or early 90's, this would have been a common picture. I have to say that back in highschool, when Jeff would wear his plaid blue and white pants with his blue golf shirt, he looked oh-so-good!!!

I can't believe my kids are now wearing the plaid bottoms. That truly makes me feel old!

Finally!

2008-05-05T10:21:00.003-05:00

We finally have a family picture with ALL of us in it!

Dance, Dance, Dance

2008-04-30T08:50:00.005-05:00

What fun it is to dance with your cousin. Alleke is from Spain and is visiting us for a few weeks. She seems to be adjusting to American culture pretty well. So much so, she feels like dancing!!

Our Little Bear

2008-04-18T09:04:00.003-05:00

The big adventure!

2008-04-14T14:55:00.003-05:00

I don't know how much different my life is to other stay-at-home mom's, but I just have to share my feelings on our big family adventure this past Saturday.

We went to Sioux City for the day to celebrate my birthday!!!! I was so excited!! :)

Baptism

2008-04-02T09:32:00.008-05:00

Baptism was this past Sunday. It was a fun day and it actually went smoothly! Charlie's uncle Newton preached, which was very special to us. DJ, Josie and Emma sang "Jesus Loves Me" for the special music and did great, even though it was different singing in front of everyone versus just practicing in the van (at the top of their lungs!) We had a lunch at Jeff's parents house after the big event. It is amazing how much time and energy went into Baptism morning, when Charlie didn't have a clue what was going on. He slept, except for when the water was put on his head. Then he cried.

Jeff and I thank God daily for our little "miracle", as we call him. Despite our human efforts to plan our life, God decided to plant another little one in our lives and we are so thankful for him and the responsibility we have been given to raise him as a child of God. We continually pray for strength and wisdom every day as we raise our four children.

Here are a few pictures of the day. We realized when it was all said and done that we had forgotten a picture of our family. I guess that is what happens when it comes to the fourth child. We hopefully have it video taped!

Penny Penny Hands Up

2008-03-27T10:04:00.011-05:00

Aunt Julie and Cousin Eden came to visit a few weeks ago from the far away state of Texas, so the Droog family had a get-together. It is quite common for the game "penny penny hands up" to be a part of a Droog get- together evening. It is a game that even the little ones can play, and of course it requires being sneaky which they ALL love. If I have posted these pictures correctly, they should show a few stages of the game. At the end, the other team has to guess which person has the penny under their hand. Some of the Droog's are great fakers!!!!

The BIG sister

2008-03-10T08:46:00.002-05:00

Emma has been the little sister to DJ and Josie for 4 years. She is so excited to finally be a big sister to Charlie and she is doing an amazing job!!

"Party of Two" Continued

2008-03-03T15:18:00.003-06:00

Quite honestly, I look back to our life as two and think it was pretty boring - free, but boring. Don't get me wrong, Jeff and I enjoy eachother's company very much and would love to go on a date once in a while, but I think we all know how that goes when there are 4 kids involved (one being a 5 wk old!!)

Our early married days were spent working A LOT, socializing, exercising, etc. We were both full-time students at a private Christian college, which meant high tuition. Jeff was told at one point from the financial aid guy that he had made more than any other student, ever. That's why we actually ended up paying more for school!! Good incentive to work, huh?! Jeff built hockey rinks and worked for a cleaning company (about 30 hrs a week). I worked at a local grocery store, a group home, and at the college. I ran 3 miles a day, Jeff golfed when he wanted, and together we got together with friends whenever we felt like it. Oooh, the good ole days.

We finished our years of school and moved to Michigan to start our new life. Jeff had a teaching job, so I started looking for work as a social worker. It took about 8 months to get a job in my field, but I got one and we were rolling in the dough! After our first year in Michigan, we bought our first house and started to think about filling it up with more than our two person party. About 7 months later, I was pregnant. Yay!!!

Our 5 years of being a "party of two" was now going to be a "party of three" and we were totally excited.

Party of Two

2008-03-01T10:15:00.002-06:00

As the title of our blog indicates we are using this space to journal the different things that happen in the life of our family of six. So, we generally write about our current experiences or situations. We thought it would also be good to let everyone know how we got to this point. So we are going to include a few blogs about how we got to this point in our life.

“Party of Two”

It is a lot easier to go out and get a table at a restaurant as a party of two. Monica and I met when we were both students at Unity Christian High School. We did not know each other very well and we had different groups of friends most of our high school years. We started to notice each other more when we took “Christian Marriage and Family” as a senior year elective course. Monica and I were paired up as a couple to make a budget. Since that spring of 1992 we have been a couple. We dated for our first two years at Dordt College and then got married in June of 1994. I will let Monica tell you more about our life as a “Party of Two.”

What's Next?

2008-02-28T09:35:00.003-06:00

Charlie has now been at home for 4 weeks. It has proved to add to our busyness and bring us joy. Since his arrival our family has dealt with jaundice (which requires a very inconvenient billi-wrap), the stomach flu and Influenza A. Up until his birth, our family had been healthy all year. Charlie does not seem to notice, he just eats, sleeps and well you know.

SNOW DAY!!

2008-02-25T11:06:00.005-06:00

If you have ever seen the movie Snow Day, or have ever been a kid in a snowy climate, then you know the joy attached with the words SNOW DAY. We had one of those today. I can imagine that certain parents dread these days. Having all the kids at home under one roof, or having to find arrangements for your children if you work, would be a hassle. Fortunately, Monica is a stay at home mom and I am a teacher. As a teacher I celebrate the SNOW DAY even more then I did as a student.

Party of Six?

2008-02-23T08:54:00.001-06:00

So, why "Party of Six"? When Jeff and I were first married and we had just moved to Michigan (yes, we finally had cable!), we watched the show "Party of Five". It became one of our favorites and we looked forward to what would happen each week.

On January 27th, we welcomed home the 6th member of our family, Charlie Alan. We had been a "party of five" family for 4 years and we had planned on keeping it that way, until...well, I probably don't need to explain the rest!

We are now a family that consists of Jeff (the dad), Monica (the mom), DJ (the older brother), Josie (the oldest sister), Emma (the younger sister) and now Charlie (the baby). We are now a "party of six" because let's face it, when there are six members, it's always a party!!!!!