Papa's Hawaiian birthday party!

My dad turned 57 on Wednesday. He absolutely detests winter and everything about it (why he lives in IL none of us, including him, quite know!) so Mom went with a tropical Hawaiian theme. We ate dinner at his favorite Mexican place, Fiesta Ranchera. Then we went to their house for cake, ice cream, and presents.

Here is his cake; obviously Mom was very kind with his age...seeing as I am 30, that would kinda be a problem! Ha!

When I say we went back to their house for presents, I don't just mean for my dad. He decided to get Holden a present, too. He went to the Gingerbread House and picked out a little figure eight Thomas set for him to play with when he comes to their house. It has a neat water pump with it. No wonder the kid likes birthdays so much; he seems to make out pretty well from them, too! I think Papa and Daddy enjoyed playing with it as much as Holden did.

My parents and me. Eric couldn't make it home due to work but he sent a nice card and present and called Dad to wish him happy birthday. We missed him! Love how Mom even put up a fake sun on one of the balloons.

Jay found creative things to do with his lei...

Holden was a big helper with the candles...

...and with eating the cake! At least the frosting part. At one point, Mom refilled his plate with nothing but frosting. Thanks so much, Grammy! We'll call you at bedtime...! ;)

I thought this was a funny shot of him playing with my old dollhouse in the hallway, much to Jay's dismay.

Holden picked out balloons for Papa and was very excited to bring them into the restaurant with us before taking them back to their house. Not every 57 year old gets to celebrate Nemo and Curious George-style!

Group shot! Glad you had a good birthday, Dad/Papa!

Finally, a little video clip of Holden helping Papa with his cake and singing. Please ignore my tone-deaf singing in the background! :)

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Dear Papa,

I hope you have a very happy birthday! I can't wait to celebrate with you tonight. I promise to help eat the frosting off your cake.
Love Your Best Buddy,
Holden
(Mommy and Daddy say happy birthday, too.)

Daddy's helper

This past week, Daddy was busy painting the nursery for Hunter. I finally got what used to be our computer/junk room all cleaned out, and it is officially "Hunter's room" now. We are going with another sports theme (Holden's room is Cardinals) and doing the Bears. Even though they currently stink! :) There is a Bears border going around the middle, with navy blue paint below and orange above. It looks really neat and I'll have to post pictures just as soon as I get the rest of the room done. Jay let Holden be his big helper when he started doing the blue paint. Brave, brave Daddy! I was a little skeptical at first about how this would go, but Holden was SO excited to be a helper and was a great listener. We stripped him to his diaper and he proudly put the very first blue paint on the walls. :)

Two video clips of my boys painting the nursery. They did a great job! Thanks for being Daddy's helper, Holden! You are getting to be such a big boy!

Our "Staycation"

I had Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday off last Monday, and since Jay also has Mondays off, we decided to embark on a "stay-cation" at a hotel in town. Holden's Aunt Allie and cousin Chelsey were also off, so we had a sleepover at the hotel Sunday night! It was a lot of fun just to get out of the house and go someplace different, even if we were still in town. The hotel had the cutest little adjoining rooms that you could get, very kid-friendly with bunk beds, a TV, and a small table and chairs. The kids swam in the pool and hot tub, played hide and seek, watched movies and played a Playstation that the room offered, ate lots of sugary treats, and kept us busy! :) Holden had looked forward to it for a week. He calls hotels, "Ho-towns," which cracks us up every time he says it because it sounds like we are going to a brothel or something. So innocent on his part!

Holden and Chelsey wasted no time in checking out the bunk beds.

Pool and hot tub fun at the hotel. Memaw joined us for awhile in the evening and helped me pick up carry out from the restaurant next door, Buffalo Wild Wings.

Fun in the hotel room. The picture of Holden under the sink is during hide and seek. Apparently he thought nobody could see him?! He makes me laugh.

Bright and early in the morning, we were back at the pool.

Holden talked nonstop about sleeping with the girls, but when it came down to it, he just wanted his "nigh night" (blankie) and his daddy. Here they are snuggling and watching a DVD.

New Year's Eve at the Cunninghams

This post should have come earlier, but better late than never! After enjoying our "Noon Year's Eve" festivities at the museum and a nice nap once we got home, we headed over to the Cunninghams for New Year's Eve. It was nice and laid-back. We enjoyed lots of yummy food, the daddies watched football downstairs while the mommies chatted in the kitchen, and the kids had a blast just running crazy around the house. (Sorry about the aftermath, Annie! I think they got out every single toy you owned!)

We went a little early to finally exchange our Christmas gifts with Colin and Cade. Here are the three of them opening their gifts.

The Cunninghams got Holden a really neat stool with his name carved in puzzle letters. He loves using it at home, and playing with the letters! We are currently on a hunt to find the letter "L;" last I saw it he was trying to teach our cat, Tiggy, what letter it was. I know it is around here somewhere! :)

Here are the kiddos on the couch: Lauren, Ava, Colin, Cade, and Holden. I never did get all of them looking at the camera at the same time! I was pretty impressed we got them to STAY on the couch for several shots!

Ava has acquired an early taste for beer. :)

Dainty little Lauren in her cute outfit.

Love Ava's expression here and her big bow!

Holden is very infatuated with "Baby Ava." I don't really think the feeling is mutual at this point! Ha! She is staring at him like, "What are you DOING? Personal space, please!"

Go ahead, Cade, get your groove on.

Brothers in action!

Holden loves watching Colin and Cade. They crack him up! I can't wait to see his own brother dynamics with Hunter soon.

I like to call this picture, "TV Coma."

Fighting cabin fever!

Illinois winters can be beautiful. They can also be freezing cold, icy, and windy, which is the lovely weather that we have been gifted with as of late. We have had several days of "black ice," which occurs after a fog settles and then freezes. The ice is clear so you don't see it until you hit it. Very scary, especially when you are pregnant! I've been wearing my boots nonstop and shuffling like a penguin everywhere I go. Needless to say, when we don't have to be out, we are inside. This can make for some long, dark evenings, and as much as I love a good snow, I am ready for spring. Holden has been a real trooper, and is making the most of his new toys from Christmas, as well as rediscovering some old favorites. It's neat to see him at an age where he is finally able to play independently and use his imagination. Some of the conversations he has with his stuffed animals, construction worker figures, Little People, etc. are hilarious! Here are a few pictures of him at play.

Daddy and Holden enjoy watching movies together on Daddy's laptop. I love seeing them snuggled up together, engrossed in whatever they are watching. This night is was "Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs."

Holden loves to play hide and seek! It cracks us up because half the time, he goes in a corner and covers his eyes with his hands. He thinks if he can't see us, we can't see him. :) Or we'll say, "Hmm...I wonder where Holden is..." and he'll yell, "I'm over here behind the door!" Another favorite spot is under the kitchen table. Here he is popping out.

There's always the fun of shooting Nerf gun toys at the cat!

Or you can open your Mommy's umbrella, put your coat on, and pretend it's spring!

Winter, more than any other season, seems to bring on Holden's asthmatic symptoms. While he is not a fan of his nebulizer, he does finally understand that it helps him. When he starts coughing now, he'll often ask for his "nebbie." I think he makes a pretty cute dinosaur. :)

And finally, while the rest of the world is in hibernation, some of us would appear to be blooming, to put it nicely. :) Here are some pictures of Hunter and me at 29 weeks. I feel like I can't stretch much farther, but I know I will! Things looked great at our sonogram this week. He is already weighing around 3 lbs, 12 oz, which is the 95th percentile. My Dr. said if he doesn't come early like Holden, they will be keeping an eye on his size. Yikes! But I am glad he is healthy. He is my little gymnast, and is constantly in motion. You'd think he had to be running out of space in there, but man, can he move. Sometimes my entire stomach jumps and moves, and Holden has told him on more than one occasion, "Hunter, it's not nice to kick!" My pregnancy has been very easy for the most part. The heartburn has gotten pretty bad, and I'm picturing another newborn with lots of hair. But if that's the worst I can complain about, I consider myself very blessed. Looking forward to meeting our new little guy in a few months!

It's been fun being pregnant at the same time as my good friend and co-worker, Annie. She is 6 weeks behind me and also having a little boy-her 3rd! She is just starting to get a notable bump and looks so cute! On more than one occasion we have worn very similar outfits to school which has definitely not been planned. On this day, we both had turquoise shirts, khaki pants, and our boots. Annie will probably kill me for posting these but I think they are hilarious!

Snow Day!!!

"Know why we are so smiley in these pictures? 'Cuz Mommy got the day off school on account of all the snow we got overnight! I was so excited when I woke up!"

These are some pictures Mommy took of our front and backyard. Our grill looks like a big cupcake! We got between 6-8 inches.

It was fun to sleep in and watch my favorite cartoon, "Max and Ruby," in my pj's. I kept asking to peek out the front door to see all the snow.

I watched our neighbors shoveling and using their snow blowers. Some of them waved at me.

Mommy kept taking pictures with the new camera Daddy got her. That lady is crazy with her camera, I tell ya! I thought it was funny to run away and laugh at her.

After breakfast, we finally got to go outside! It is really cold here in Illinois. The high for the day was 17, and Mommy said something about a wind chill factor. Whatever that is, it made it in the negatives. So we bundled up like Eskimos. I kept complaining that I was HOT while we were inside because Hunter is getting big in Mommy's tummy and she is a slowpoke getting her stuff on!

I love to explore and play in the snow! Our yard had snow so deep it swallowed me up.

I decided to be helpful and clean Daddy's Honda off. He took our van today since Mommy and I had nowhere we had to be. As you can see, it would have taken him a LONG time to scrape it!

Here's our house.

We walked down to my buddy, Brady's house. Mommy loves how we match in our red coats.

We are such big boys that we took turns pulling each other on my sled in Brady's driveway. Then when we got tired Mommy pulled both of us.

Mommy says she doesn't think two boys could get any cuter. We sure have fun together!

Brady's Daddy has been piling snow up on the side of the driveway when he shovels. With today's accumulation, we had a huge mountain to play on! Brady led the way and we dug a big tunnel over the top. I had a hard time with my short little legs, but I followed him. Brady is not afraid of the snow and loves to eat it, so he dove in it like a swimming pool. I'm more cautious; I laughed at him and took my time.

When our cheeks were bright red and I started screaming because my mittens fell off and my hands were cold, Brady's Mommy, Kam, had us come in for playtime and a snack. Kylie was waiting for us. She's too little to go out in the cold much yet, so she practiced her TV viewing skills.

I wish every day could be a snow day! Mommy says sometimes she does, too.