Holden's Birthday

As I said in an earlier post, I can't believe my sweet baby is 2! We started the day with a candle in a donut hole( do hos as Holden called them) and singing Happy Birthday. I was too busy filming that to take pictures. Here is Holden when I went in to get him up that morning.

"NO photos this early mom....a fella needs his morning milk first!!"
.

We had Holden's birthday party at The Play Place in Ridgeland. It was sooooooo much fun! I was not stressed one bit and the kids really enjoyed themselves! Holden LOVES the Backyardigans so we went with that as a theme. Jenny Holloway did Holden's invitation(she did his last year!) and birthday banner and Emily Witcher did some thank you notes and treat bag stickers for me. They both have fabulous custom invitation, etc. businesses. I made the character cupcakes, cake, and cookies for the favors. Poor Holden's cake wasn't my best but by the time I had done the cupcakes and 50 cookies, I was running out of steam. He seemed to love them though! In keeping with the backyard adventure theme, the treat bags were filled with bubbles, play doh, stickers, sidewalk chalk, balls(4 boys) or paddle ball sets(4 girls), sunglasses-all of which are perfect for backyard adventures and a cookie and juice box for snack because at the end of every episode, the characters have some kind of snack. The stickers on the bags said "Some backyard activities just for to say thanks for celebrating Holden turning 2." Can you tell I got a little carried away?!?!? It is just so much fun celebrating your child's birthday!! I put together some photo collages to condense the number of pictures I took and wanted to share.(Double click to enlarge)

The precious invitation and banner! Thanks Jenny!!

Guests enjoying the play place

Yummy!!

Birthday cake time!! Notice how happy H was when he blew out the candle.

Present time after nap....H passed out on the way home from the party.

Hanging out with family and Sara Chesley that afternoon!

Holden loved the juice boxes! We probably could have given him a case of juice boxes instead of anything else and he would have been happy!! I usually water down his juice so he was very happy to be getting "straight" juice. He had about 6 or 7 throughout the day. Let's just say he had a big surprise for me before bedtime! I love the pic of him staring at the juice box while sitting on the slide. That was his last one and I guess he was trying to enjoy it!

Disclaimer....I shared a lot of detail because we have lots of family that could not attend and I wanted them to be well informed!

Happy Sixth Anniversary Jack!!

Tomorrow is our 6th anniversary so I decided to give my hubby some love since this is our "family" blog! It is hard to believe that 6 years have passed! I tell everyone that I knew that I would marry Jack before we even went on our first date..we had talked for about 3 weeks before our first date, and we talked about everything. He was the first person I felt like I could be myself with! I didn't have to be perfect all the time and he made me laugh.....both of which are still true today(he is good about making me laugh when I am upset with him about something....a trait he has passed along to Holden)! Jack is my best friend and I feel very blessed to have him in my life! A lot has happened in 6 years-completed med school, had our first child, moved three times, & started a residency program! I am soooo proud of Jack and it's neat to see his dreams become reality. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us! So, Happy Anniversary to my handsome, sweet, loving, smart, funny, & amazing husband!(great daddy too!) I loved you 6 years ago, but that love doesn't hold a candle to how I feel about you today! I love you!!

Honeymoon in Jamaica-2004

2nd Anniversary Trip to San Francisco-2006

Our life now-2010

MY BABY IS 2!!!!

Holden turned two on May 8, and it is still hard to believe that my baby is already 2! The past two years have been the most memorable, awesome, hard, special, blessed, humbling, and exciting years for Jack and me! We are just in awe of God's creation and how He chose us to be this precious little boy's parents. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a mommy. So when May 8, 2008 finally rolled around, I was the happiest mommy in the world. You always hear that the Lord has a plan and His way and timing is perfect, and when I look at Holden, I know without a doubt that is true.

May 8, 2008



May 9, 2009



May 8, 2010

I know he is mine, but he is just so precious!

I have a lot I want to blog about but not a lot of time right now. So, I will just share a few pictures of my little sidekick. He turned 22 months on March 8! How can it be possible that my baby will be 2 in just two months?!?!?!? I promise I think my heart triples in size every day for him. We are so thankful for him! Hope all is well in your world!! :)

Holden LOVES cars, trucks, and tractors. Jack's old matchbox
cars are his favorite right now.

My little fishy! He LOVES his baths! We plan to start swim class
soon. I have a feeling we will be swimming a lot this summer!

Enjoying some ro-tel dip

Multitasking- doing a little farming, eating,
and television watching all at once!

Holden's new camera face.....every time I take out the camera, he makes this face and says,"Chess" which means cheese of course!

Let it snow!!(February 12)

Friday was quite eventful around our house! Holden saw the snow first thing that morning through our backdoor and started sayng,"wow!!" I have to admit, I was thinking wow myself! Snow covered everything and was steadily coming down. It had been a long time since I had seen that much snow. So, once I had him wrapped up like a mummy in layers of clothes and his brand new rain boots on, we headed out. The snow continued to fall the whole time we were out there. Holden loved it! He ran around talking up a storm(not sure what all he was saying) and enjoyed throwing snowballs. I tried to build a snowman but my little helper kept knocking it over. I managed to build a tiny, pitiful looking snowman and snapped a picture of it before Holden knocked it over. Holden was NOT a fan of sitting in the snow. The snow was up to the top of his boots so that tripped him up a few times. We stayed outside a while and when I couldn't feel my hands any longer and the snow started falling harder, we went inside. Holden WAS NOT happy about that! He would stay outside all day, every day no matter what the temperature or conditions were if I would let him. I am really gad he loves being outside, but I didn't want my baby to turn into a popsicle! He stopped crying when I opened his Valentine cookie(yes, it was a bribe). He and I sat on the kitchen floor, watched the snow fall, and enjoyed the yummy cookie! I love watching him experience things each day, and I am very grateful I get to!!

Smiling a big smile(although you can't see it)

Snow was a boot deep! :)

Not a fan of being in the snow

Poor snowman

And poor Holden!

Cookie made it all better!

Holden is 20 months old!

Our sweet boy is 20 months! He is growing and learning so much each day, and it seems like time speeding by! In four short months, we will be celebrating the big 2nd birthday which really blows my mind!!! Time flies when you are having fun!! Here are a few things about him:

*Weighs 26lbs. 8 oz. and is between 32.5 and 33 inches
**He is becoming more and more verbal each day. New sayings:
-where is it?(with his hands up like he is asking)
-ummm, that's good
-Love you
-thank you
-i do it
-night, night
-cold
-march(while marching)
-many other things that I haven't been able to figure out yet :)
***Loves his new farm and all of his animals....he talks to them and plays with them for the longest time!
****Cars, trucks, and anything he can make go are still his favs...we love to hear him make the sounds
*****He is very observant and mimics things after seeing them once or twice
*****Still loves the Backyardigans and Imagination Movers...He also likes Curious George
*****Loves his books and has started "reading" to himself(which makes me smile)
*****LOVES to help with the dishwasher, laundry, sweeping, closing the fridge, fixing his juice, etc. and loves brushing his teeth
****Loves to throw the ball and play catch
***Carries on conversations on his play phone
****puts the shapes in the right space on his shape sorter
*****LOVES music and breaks it down when he hears it...at home, at the store, in the car, etc.
****Gets sooooooooo excited when he hears the garage door on the evening and starts screaming "dada" as soon as he hears it
*****Gives the best hugs and sugar ever and melts my heart over and over again!
As always, I bet I am forgetting many things! I hope to post Christmas stuff before Valentine's Day rolls around! :)

BLESSINGS to you in 2010!

Happy 2010!! It's hard to believe that another year quickly passed and a new year is upon us!! We had a busy Christmas season and I look forward to sharing some of that on here. While watching Holden play yesterday(we chilled all day in our pjs) I was overcome with happiness....more so than I have ever felt. I quickly realized that it wasn't just happiness I was feeling....it was the wonderful feeling of God having his hand on me and making me realize just how blessed I am! He has given me a loving husband and best friend in Jack who loves me unconditionally and who works hard each day to provide for our family, I have my precious son Holden, who I prayed for for most of my life, a nice home, wonderful family, the GREATEST friends a person could have, and good health! What more could I ask for!?! Thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow! My prayer is to really focus on the joys(blessings) in life and not let negativity, from the world around me or myself , get in the way of enjoying and counting the blessings in my life! Happy 2010 to you and your family!!!


My Sweet Boys!!!