Holden's 2nd Birthday Party

Yesterday was a very fun-filled day!  Holden had an awesome time!  Took a 3 hour nap and still went to bed by 10!  Wore him out.

The theme for Holden's birthday this year was "Mickey's Clubhouse."  Of course, I did way too much in terms of decorations.  Which will just make it harder each year on me since I've set the bar kinda high for my self, but I love it. So much fun!

Here are a few pics of the decor:

 

 

 

 

There was also a banner across the dining room with Mickey ears, Mickey ears hanging from the chandelier and Mickey Ears on straws that stood out of the homemade centerpieces that were on either side of the cupcakes, but I don't guess I got picture of those masterpieces.

 

Mickey's Clubhouse is not complete without the actual "clubhouse."  Thankfully the weather wasn't too cold for us.

 

Mickey's Clubhouse after saying the magic words.

Mommy got in

And of course Daddy bounced

I think this was his favorite part, the sliding out.

B-Rod, Damon, Sydney and Jacie

Jacie, Brayden and Ramsey

 
 

Getting a little help from Grammy

And we topped it off with "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dogs," burgers and of course cupcakes!

 

First hot dog!

More grapes please

Ramsey at the big girl table

 

Not really sure about everyone singing to him



Yummy!

B-Rod picked the black icing......

Damon and Ian

Jacie and Cheyenne

 

Although Holden was very excited and thankful for all his gifts, we're gonna have to work on the little attitude he has developed recently.  The "mine" attitude definitely came out yesterday!

 

 

I love the look on Holden's face when he finally gets the gift unwrapped and gets to really see what it is.  His little face is just so full of excitement and wonder.  Priceless!  Thank you everyone for making Holden's 2nd Birthday so memorable. 

 

Baby Hayes

Just wanted to provide a quick update on Baby Hayes!  He is doing really well.  He moves around a ton!  Very active, which makes Mommy very happy.  I love feeling him, let's me know that everything is OK. 

We're slowly starting to get things ready for Hayes.  We've started cleaning out the guest bedroom, my baby shower is scheduled and we've ordered his baby bedding.  Now we just need to finish clearing out his room, order Holden his new big boy bed so that we can transition all the baby furniture into Hayes' room.  Lot's to get done over the next few months.

I had the opportunity to go and have a 3D sonogram earlier this week.  What a cool experience that was.  I didn't go one with Holden, but Sandy let me know about a clinic that needs volunteers to training technicians on sonogram equipment, so I figured why not, its free.  So glad I did it.  Gave me another opportunity to see my sweet baby boy.

Here are a few pics from the experience:

Sweet baby was yawning in this one.

Showing off his flexibility

He is as cute as big brother.  I think they kinda look alike.  Button nose and sweet cheeks.

And an update on Mommy.  I'm feeling great.  The nausea stopped after my first trimester and has been going well since then.  I'm still able to sleep well and haven't gotten to the point where I have to get up 100 times during the night to pee.  Praying that all continues to go well.

Happy 2nd Birthday Holden

At 11:37 AM, 2 years ago, God blessed us with the most amazing gift.  I will never forgot the look on Chuck's face or how I felt when we saw our baby boy for the very first time.  He is such an amazing little man.  He has the sweetest heart and loves his mommy and daddy just as much as we love him.  I love seeing the world though his eyes and look forward to waking up and seeing him each and every day.  Each new day brings new obstacles and lessons learned, but we wouldn't trade any of it for the world.  We cannot wait to see how he grows and develops in this next year and to see how his love grows as he becomes a big brother.

Holden, mommy and daddy love you to the moon and back.  You are the center of our world and we would do anything for you.  We are very proud of the little guy that you are becoming.  You're our little tooters.  Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Here are a few things that you are up to these days:

• You are very independent these days.  "Uh Uh" and "No" are your favorite words it seems
• You have been wearing big boy underwear for 3 weeks no, with very few accidents.  But you are doing so well.  We are very proud of you!
• "Ready.....Go" is something you say constantly.  When we get in the car, when you're playing with your cars and when you get on your four-wheeler or Harley.
• You love to laugh, you and Daddy play tickle Mommy a lot and I think you laugh more than I do.
• You've started to develop a little bit of an attitude, you roll your eyes and glare out of one side when you don't like something or are approached by a cute girl.  Its funny and cute sometimes, but not always.  Little stinker.
• You still eat everything and aren't picky when it comes to meal time.  Keep it up!
• You're favorite food right now is "cheese" and "jelly" not together of course.  But grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly are your favorite.
• We're still working on you telling everyone that you are 2, but we'll get there.
• And the cutest thing is, you love baby brother.  Anyone can ask you where baby brother is, and you'll look at Mommy, lift up my sift, pat and love on Mommy's tummy.  You like to snuggle too, the other day you fell asleep laying on baby brother.

3 days old

1 Year Old

2 Years old

White Christmas

Normally we don't see snow in Texas for Christmas, but what a nice surprise.  Fortunately both Chuck and I were off during the holiday's so we didn't have to worry with getting out and driving around in the unsafe conditions, but we enjoyed some playtime!

Holiday's 2012

 

HeLLo 2013!  I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by.  Seems like only yesterday it was January 2012.  In just a few weeks we'll be celebrating Holden's 2nd birthday and then in a few months after that we'll welcome baby Hayes into the world. 

We were very fortunate this holiday season to spend time with all of our family and friends.  We even hosted Christmas Eve at our house for the first time EVER.  We loved it.  Hopefully we can make it a new tradition.

Our festivities started off with our "friend" Christmas party, co-hosted by us and the newlywed Lindamood's.  It was such a fun night and the kids had the best time making Christmas decorations, getting a special visit from Santa and of course the adults had a little fun too!  Holden was great, right up to the point where the jolly man in a red suit showed up!  Holden was NOT having anything to do with that man.  He looked for anyone or anything that would save him from the man in the red suit.  Guess it was good that we learned of Holden's fear BEFORE we stood in line and paid for Santa pics this year.  Fortunately, we were able to capture the "someone please get me away from this man" face and a nice family pic with Santa for memories sake.


Then, Holden, Grammy and I went on our first annual Polar Express adventure!  Holden LOVED it.  This will definitely be one that we continue for year's to come.  Hopefully next year Daddy will be able to come with us.



Let's see, what's next.  Christmas Eve!  We had all of my family over (The Hunt's, James', Crouch's and Branum's).  The adults did a Chinese gift card exchange while the little ones exchanged gifts from each other.  Funny how much our small little family has expanded and will continue to expand as Uncle Bo and Uncle John John "grow-up" and get married and have babies!  Let's hope that's a few years down the road though.





After dinner and gifts we played left, right, center.  Of course Chuck won!  Not me, but that's OK cause I came back to win it all on New Year's Day!

And finally, Christmas morning.  I don't think I will ever be able to forget the look and joy on Holden's face when he realizes that Santa has come.  Not that he really fully understands Christmas, its true meaning and that Santa comes once a year, but he'll get there.  Just seeing him light up, laugh and bounce from one thing to the next cause he cant figure out what to play will be memories that I cherish forever.







Christmas is a time of remembering all the many blessings that our Lord and Savior have blessed us with throughout the year and for those to come.  We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends to share these times with and look forward to what God has in store for us in 2013.

**Sorry for such large pictures, for some reason I can't get the upload button in blogger to work, so I had to copy and paste.