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.

Happy "Noon Year's!"

My parents and I took Holden to the local Children's Museum for some fun activities on New Year's Eve day. They have a "noon year" celebration with a countdown at noon and also at 3pm. They also had a lot of "extras" such as face painting, a crown making station, and snacks.

We have a lady in town called "The Zoo Lady" that is a phenomenal face painter. Not only is she good, she is quick; it literally takes her a minute or less to paint. She has tons of animals to choose from. Holden has had his face painted by her numerous times, and always chooses the tiger. It must tickle; he always giggles as it is done! :) This time, she gave him a cool little tiger striped sweatband to wear, too.

My little tiger!

Next we made crowns to wear. Holden was really into this and used lots of dots!

The four of us with our New Year's crowns. :)

Holden loves visiting the museum and exploring all of his favorite areas. He looked so cute with his little tiger paint on! I love how he sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating on something.

Dad wore his crown all day and was quite the king of the museum.

My parents had some fun "play time" of their own, apparently! Can you see why Holden loves them?

Holden's buddies, Colin and Cade Cunningham, were also at the museum. Colin had the same tiger paint as Holden. :) The three of them always have fun together; and I actually got ONE shot with all three of them in it! Never an easy task.

Holden spent some time in the baby section honing his diapering and bottle feeding skills. He would pull a diaper off and announce, "This STINKS, Mommy! Let's change the baby." I think he is going to be a good little helper this spring.

Apparently Papa also decided he could use some practice! Ha! (Actually, Holden bossed him to "Change dat baby's diaper, Papa!" and we all know Papa will do pretty much anything Holden asks him to.) :)

Shortly before noon, party blowers were passed out. This was Holden's first experience with one, and he was so proud that he could do it himself. He wouldn't take it out of his mouth, even playing a little giant chess with it still blowing in and out.

At exactly noon, all three levels of the museum had "confetti cannons" that shot off! We counted down from 10 and then they blasted open. Holden jumped about a mile, but as soon as he saw all of the streamers and confetti he was positively gleeful! What a fun event!

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year! I hope 2010 brings you joy, health, and love. We are very excited to add to our family this year!

Winter Break!

One of the big perks of teaching is having two weeks off for winter break! I love my job, but I also love having the time with family and friends. It is hard to leave Holden during the school year, so the breaks really help! Plus I come back so refreshed and re-energized. We had a big snow that started on Christmas Day, picked back up the day after, and snowed all through the night and well into the next day! It was such a pretty view out of our window. Apparently, Tiggy thought so, too. :)

Here is our backyard, so you can get an idea of how much we got. Meant to put the patio cushions away for the winter months...oops! They look like cupcakes now. :)

It has been really cold here (typical Illinois winter) so the snow has stayed put. Holden, for one, is thrilled by this factor! He has enjoyed a lot of outdoor play with Daddy, and a little with me when Daddy is at work. I enjoy it, but I already waddle as it is these days; putting on all the layers and moving around out there is a little harder for me this year! :) Jay took him to Menards and let him pick out a child-size shovel so he can be just like Daddy. They have fun shoveling together!

Since it is so cold out, Holden and I have enjoyed fun days of just playing inside all day, and also some "Mommy/Holden dates" to the mall, Discovery Museum, or even just the grocery store. It's good to get out for a little while! Holden loves to wear his boots and clomp through the snow and slush at each destination. We have started a habit of stopping at the Starbucks located in the grocery store. Holden will pass it and say, "Mommy, wanna stop for a little snack and watch the mixers??" He has a juice box and I have my caramel frapaccino, which he loves to watch being made. I snapped some pictures the other day of my handsome little date. At one point, he got into my purse and found some shades from this summer, which of course he then modeled. He wore them out into the snowy, gloomy day afterwards, which elicited a lot of chuckles from other shoppers. He's so cute!

I was putting makeup on in the bathroom attached to my bedroom the other morning. Holden was really quiet, which I always know is a reason to investigate! I found him in the other bathroom, just like this:

Standing in the empty tub, sans pajama pants but still in the top, coloring with his tub markers. At least he was coloring where he was supposed to! He makes me laugh each and every day, generally minute to minute.

Holden's cousin, Chelsey, came by to play the other day. Holden idolizes her, and she is so good with him. Very patient even when he bosses her around. :) They built a fort for one of my classroom guinea pigs (they are home for the holidays) to play in.

Break is just flying by! I can't believe I only have the weekend left. :( I really made sure to enjoy the extra time with Holden since it is probably my last break with just him. Hunter is due right around spring break. I am so looking forward to meeting him! I know it will be a challenge to juggle two little boys, but a very rewarding one. I just want to make sure that Holden doesn't feel left out, and knows how much he is loved. We went to see "The Princess and the Frog," and "Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakual," (Holden enjoyed them both!) had play dates with friends and relatives, ventured out in the snow, had fun at his buddy Brady's 3rd bday party at Chuck E. Cheese, read lots of books, and played hard with old and new toys. Holden, I have loved my time off with you! You are one special boy and Mommy loves you the mostest!

Christmas with Great Granny

Holden, my mom, and I visited my Granny (Mom's mom) at her place in Eureka, IL on Wed. We had already sent each other's gifts so that we had them to open on Christmas, but Granny saved her gift for Holden so that she could watch him open it. She got him the cutest little wooden boy named "Joey." He is the boy version of paper dolls; you can put magnetic boots/shoes, pants, tops, and hats on to transform him into a policeman, construction worker, firefighter, pirate, etc. Holden doesn't have anything like it and he loves him! He'll say, "Let's change Joey, Mommy!" She also got him some fun little trucks that you can pull back and release across the floor.

An annual tradition when we visit Granny for Christmas time is to light the candles on her tree. I know I have pictures of this on the blog from last year. When she was growing up, this was common practice. We always have a pan of water on hand and snuff them out very quickly after they're lit. :)

Holden just couldn't believe we were doing this! He didn't remember it from last year. This year he was very aware of what fire is and was fascinated but kept his distance.

He also insisted we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus when we lit the tree. To him, all candles are associated with birthdays. He knew whose we were celebrating! :)

Holden thought he was hot stuff when he got to help Great Granny snuff the candles out! Love the concentrated look with the tongue. :)

Some pictures of Mom, Granny, and me. Granny got us the prettiest necklaces that are made locally. Mine was pink/Mom's purple. They hang from ribbon and are glass with a flower inside. Mine got cut off in these pictures but I just love it!

We enjoyed a yummy lunch and Granny's homemade cupcakes with vanilla, orange, or coconut frosting for dessert. Holden was in heaven because she makes sure to load the frosting on top! I wish I would have taken a picture of him eating his, but I was too busy making sure he didn't demolish her pretty tablecloth! :) Thanks for a fun day, Granny! We loved visiting!

Elfster girls!

This past week, I got together with my Oakdale friends. Since Bridget and Kara teach there, they have introduced me to a wonderful group of teachers and made me an honorary Oakdale member. :) We do a gift exchange each year. Kara sets it up on a really neat website called Elfster. It randomly selects names for everyone and emails them to you secretly. You can create wishlists and ask questions anonymously. It's a lot of fun! We were sad Bridget couldn't make it because little Natalie was not feeling well. Kara brought baby Corinne (9 mos.) and Tracy brought baby McKenna (3 mos.) The majority of my pictures are of them because well...look at them! Soooo adorable!!! (Look very closely at the picture of McKenna drinking her bottle! Do you think she was trying to tell me she was tired of pictures? Ha!)

From left: Lisa, Kara and Corinne, Tracy and McKenna, me, and Heather, who was the hostess. We enjoyed Avanti's lunch and yummy desserts made by Heather and Kara. Lisa and Tracy have been bit by the Twilight bug and were positively giddy over the New Moon game Lisa bought Tracy!! Lisa of course had to hold it in the picture. :)

Christmas Day 09

Holden had a full Christmas Eve day with no nap...and then we woke him up a little after 5am on Christmas morning so that Jay could see him open his presents before going to work. (Cops don't get Christmas off.) :) Poor buddy was sooo tired! He had been so excited about Santa, but it took him a little while to wake up. Here he is at the top of the stairs; not exactly the thrilled, grinning child you picture on Christmas morning! But he warmed up quickly once he realized Santa had come.

Holden must have been a pretty good boy this year, because Santa was very good to him! All he had asked for were "trucks and diggers" so if you are in need of ANY type of vehicle, we have it here! Santa also thought of some fun other toys that Holden would have fun with. The hard part was that he'd open one gift, then want to play with it right away and have us take it out of the package. It took a lot of convincing to get him to move on and open them all before playing. :) Daddy was nice and took apart all of the obnoxious wires, twisties, tape, etc. from each toy before leaving for work so that we could play all day.

How comical is this face?! Santa put Gummy Savers in his stocking. The picture on the back had a Christmas tree with white, stringy decorations on it. Holden looked at it and said, "Why did Santa bring me PASKETTI?" (spaghetti; which he doesn't like). Ha!

It was so nice not to have any big agenda for the rest of the day. While waiting for Daddy to come home (he got off at 3:00) we stayed in our pj's which is a tradition I started when he was born, and played, played, played. He loves his leaf blower, spin art, Diego tree house, and of course all his vehicles. He is at a fun age this year where he has a good imagination and enjoys creative play.

One of the things Santa brought in his stocking are those little capsules that go in the bathtub, and open up to reveal animals, dinosaurs, etc. Holden LOVES them! After playing awhile, he insisted on taking a bath and using every last one of them. I was trying to convince him to save some, but he likes to do it big or not at all. :) Here's my smiley little bather.

We enjoyed lunch at our neighbors' house across the street (still in pj's; Holden put on new clean ones after the bath!) :) and then after nap and Daddy coming home, we headed down the street to Jay's parents' house to have dinner and exchange gifts. Here is Holden helping Aunt Allie open her presents. They are so cute together! He just adores his aunt.

Opening presents with Memaw and Pepaw! I love his expression in the top left picture. That was when he opened his "dancing truck." It talks and does tricks, too. He also got some neat games and bathtub paints and markers. He loved everything!

Aunt Toni sent us a package with matching hats for Jay and me! :) Holden put on Pepaw's Illini hat so he could try to match us.

Of course after opening the bath paints...you guessed it...my little fish had to take another bath, this time in Memaw's tub! As you can see, he did not use them sparingly.

All tuckered out at the end of a long, fun Christmas day. "Sleep in heavenly peace..."