The Birthday Boy

Just a few pictures of the birthday boy . . .





*His preschool birthday party is on Monday, and his friends/family birthday party is next Saturday.

The ABC's of Holden

The ABC's of Holden
A: art - you love to sit at the kitchen table and do "art" (especially Play Doh)
B: Batman - the theme of your 3rd birthday party
C: car - you love to ride in and drive Daddy's car
D: dance - you have some great rhythm and love to dance
E: everyday - we are thankful for you every minute of every day
F: fish - your pet fish is still alive (Q's fish - not so much!)
G: gift - you are truly a gift from God . . . our little miracle baby
H: Hulk - you prefer to call the big green man "Er, Smash"
I: Iron Man - your favorite superhero
J: jokes - you like to tell knock-knock jokes (even if you don't quite "get them")
K: kisses - you love hugs and kisses (and, we love getting them!)
L: leftie - we have a feeling that you are going to be left-handed
M: meat-eater - you're a true carnivore (including steak, pork chops, and hamburgers)
N: never - you never pass on a sucker/lollipop (you love them!)
O: opinionated - you know what you like and want and are not easily swayed by others (including us!)
P: preschool - you are doing so well in Mrs. Colleen's class
Q: Quinn - your best buddy
R: read - you love to snuggle and read books
S: stubborn - it sometimes drives us a little crazy, but we also admire the way that you "stick to your guns"
T: tractor - your 3rd birthday present is a kid's John Deere Gator tractor
U: unique - you are certainly one of a kind
V: very - you are a very special little guy
W: Word World - one of your favorite PBS Kids shows
X: xylophone - you love to make music on your tiger xylophone during room time
Y: you - you are so loved
Z: zero - things that we would change about you (we think that you're pretty great!)

We love you sweet Holden! Happy 3rd Birthday!

A Puzzle and an Exersaucer

I often find parenthood to be a humbling experience . . . especially when putting puzzles together with Q. I am not going to tell you how long it took the two of us to finish this one! Can you still blame baby brain when your baby is 4 months old? Ha!



*Yes, he was wearing his Wolverine costume while putting together the Spiderman puzzle. What a combo!


And, this afternoon, I pulled out the trusty old exersaucer for baby #3 . . .



It was a big hit, yet again! :-)

Christmas Cards

I LOVE checking the mail during the holidays. It's always a delight and a surprise to get sweet Christmas cards from friends and family. How nice to have something other than bills and junk mail!

I am a "taker-downer". I usually take down all of the Christmas decorations the very next day. However, I think that I'll leave these up for a little bit longer. They make me smile!

Another Snow Day

We spent another morning lounging in our pajamas and playing outside in the snow. Brant stayed home until lunch and then headed into the office for a few hours. The roads appear to be pretty clear. I'm hoping to get out of the house for a playdate tomorrow morning. I'm getting a little cabin fever!














*Our neighbor measured 9 inches of snow in his backyard!

SNOW DAY!!!

It started snowing late last night (making it a white Christmas, technically!) and snowed all morning. We haven't measured it, but we're thinking that it's somewhere between 7 to 10 inches. The boys and I have had lots of fun eating snowman pancakes, playing outside in the snow and inside with their new toys, and watching movies. I have a feeling that this snow is here to stay for a few days. Thank goodness for all of the new Christmas gifts! Perfect timing!

Christmas in Pictures

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

May your Christmas be full of joy and love!

Brant, Heather, Quinn (4), Holden (2) & Fletcher (3 months)

Bumbo

Guess who's using his Bumbo seat now?

Doesn't he look delighted? ;-)

Annual Playgroup Christmas Party

When Quinn was a baby, I started a little playgroup with some friends. The four of us (Jaclyn, Erin, Laura and me) all had babies born within a month of each other. Those babies were Elizabeth, Aidan, Landon and Quinn (back in 2006) . . .



We used to get together every month to play, rotating houses. As our babies have grown, our schedules have gotten busier and busier. There are now siblings (Connor, Holden and Fletcher), and all of the big kids are in preschool or day care. We are just not able to see each other as often as we would like.

However, we do have an annual Christmas party. The Charlands (Dave and Jaclyn) are super brave and generous to host our get-together each year. It's always great to see everyone and share some Christmas cheer. Pictures from this year's festivities . . .