What is that???

I have often heard with little boys you never know what they will pick up and put in their pockets. I have found this to be true lately! I ALWAYS check Holden's pockets before I wash and usually there is a surprise for me. I have found leaves, rocks, little army guys, gum, and sometimes items that I just can not figure out what they are. Well, today at drop off Ms. Jan said "Oh, I have something of your husband's." Not knowing what to expect she handed over this.....

I was a little puzzled because I did not know what it was. Ms. Jan said Holden had it in his jacket pocket on Tuesday. I asked Holden where did you get this? His response, "It's Daddy's, he uses it all the time" Still it did not look familiar, but then again I don't do the yard work. So, I took it with me and called Kevin in the car to see if he was missing any tools. Yes, a blade sharpener! That is what this green tool is-a blade sharpener. Kevin trimmed the crape myrtles on Sunday and I guess Holden just put it in his pocket. I know what you are thinking...we will NOT be getting the Parent of the Year Award anytime soon! But then again, I am sure his teachers are thinking, these poor parents they do not have a clue, we must pray for them!

Never a dull moment here!

Winter Boredom

With the weather ever so changing, we have tried to make the most of cabin fever with some messy and fun activities...

Made Yucky Slime!

Edible Play dough-Yummy!

Cheerio Necklaces

Anything to keep Holden from being bored and getting into trouble:)

Imitation?

It's been said that "imitation is the greatest form of flattery." However, I do not know what to think of this?

Circus

How do we celebrate President's Day? Of course doing something All American. What is more American than the Barnum and Bailey Circus? Thanks to Ms. Jan, the class had wonderful seats! Holden was thrilled that our seats just happened to be beside Hannah (his princess whom he had to save). I have not be to the circus since my niece and nephews were young, so I was just as excited as Holden was to go! I made the mistake of telling Holden that the circus would be like the one in the movie Dumbo, which he watched on the way to Philips Arena. Needless to say, I was completely wrong! The only animals were a couple of dogs, horses, tigers and elephants. However, plenty of acrobats. I just thought I remembered more animals. Holden asked where the monkeys and Timothy the mouse were but other than that he seemed to have a great time. Especially, after having cotton candy and a snow cone. He was sugared up enough to enjoy anything!

Sharing Cotton Candy with Hannah

I asked Holden on the car ride home what was his favorite part of the circus-the Good Knight!

What song?

My niece, Allie, burned us a bunch of cd's so that we would be "hip." I never thought I would hear that I was not "hip" but that day has come...I am now getting lessons on being cool from a 16 year old. Allie put everything from the Fray to Taylor Swift on the cd's. On the way to school this morning I asked Holden to pick a song that he want to listen to? His response, "All the Single Ladies." Yes, by Beyonce! I saw my life fast forward 15 years. Boy I am in TROUBLE!!!

Strolling

While Holden was at school this week, Rylan and I took advantage of the great weather! He rode in his stroller sitting up for the first time and loved it. I could not resist sharing the cute pictures from our outing!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day! On the other hand, Kevin does not! I just like the idea of letting the ones you love know that you love and care about them. Especially when you have little ones. Surprises are so much fun. However, when I went to cut out red hearts to hang from the light, I realized I used all the red construction paper for the "Jars of Joy" for the teachers that week. So I had to make do with white (Holden did not notice) - he just wanted to us to read what each one said. Both boys enjoyed little treats from us and we all had a great Valentine's Day together! Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Treats

Trying to come up with cute Valentine treats for preschoolers is not hard, except when you have children in the class who have sever food allergies. One is allergic to peanuts and/or any traces of nuts, and another is allergic to chocolate. Seriously, chocolate? When I think of Valentine's Day, I always think of chocolates kisses or candy hearts. What were we going to do? So when I saw an idea in a magazine for treat bags with gummy bears and teddy grahams, I was thrilled! They are both on our list of things that the two can have! Wednesday, Holden and I filled Valentine cups with gummy bears and teddy grahams with a note attached "Bear Hugs from Holden". Holden loves gummy bears so he seemed to sample a little from each cup! And of course Valentine's Day would not be complete without cards. He choose SpiderMan cards with a marker attached for his friends. Thursday, he was so excited to pass out treats to his friends at the Valentine's Party-or as Holden said Cupid's Birthday.

A little LOVE before school Thursday

Strike!!

Making sure he has the perfect orange bowling ball

Holden was invited to his friend Matthew's birthday party on Saturday. It was a bowling party and we have not taken Holden bowling. I was interested to see how it was going to turn out. Holden was either going to have a great time or he was going to look for something else to do! I just was not sure how 3 & 4 year olds were going to like bowling, however, there is a first time for everything.

I had a class on Saturday so Kevin volunteered, or at least I volunteered him, to take Holden to the party. I made sure he had the camera so I could have something to put in the scrapbook of his first time bowling! After finding an orange bowling ball, he was ready to try to bowl. Well, he figured out what to do so well, that he even got his first STRIKE. Kevin said that everyone was cheering and he did not know what to do, so he decided to dance!! Always the entertainer! However, on his next turn he went past the line and slipped and fell not once but twice and hit his head. After that he was ready for a break!

Pretty good for his first time bowling to get a strike! Yeah Holden!!

Dancing!!

Nature Fun

Daddy "accidentally" threw away Holden's bird house that we made last summer. Holden the observant one that he is noticed it they day after! Let's just say he was NOT happy! So on Friday to keep his mind off of it we made Birdseed biscuits. I got the idea from an article in Family Fun and thought we would try them out. Holden decided to make them in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day. Surprisingly, they turned out super cute! Best of all, it kept my little one's mind off of the bird house that magically disappeared. That Daddy-he loves to clean-up and throw-out!!

The Prince/Peter Pan (not sure who he was this morning) mixing the birdseed

Is It Spring Yet?

I feel like we have been cooped up for the last couple of weeks, so when the weather is slightly warmer we take advantage of it. We had fun playing baseball and then my country boy decided he wanted to ride his tractor and "plow the yard". It looks more like he is trying to race or crash instead of plowing to me! I keep wondering if Spring will ever get here!

More Apples, Please

Rylan is really enjoying his fruits and vegetables. I tried to catch a picture of him grabbing the spoon but it is hard trying to feed and take the picture at the same time. But you can see his little hand on the right side grabbing the spoon to get in his mouth! Just so cute!

"More apples, please"

Mystery Reader

Kevin was the Mystery Reader at Holden's school today. Kevin said that Holden was beyond thrilled when he opened his eyes to see it was Daddy! He ran over and gave him a big hug. Kevin selected to read "If You Give A Pig A Pancake", "A Silly Snow Day", and "The Kiss That Missed" one of Holden's favorites! Today was especially special because it was also pajama and pancake day. What a life-I wish I was three again!

When Holden opened his eyes to see it was Daddy!

Big Brother

Holden is turning out to be a great big brother! He loves reading to Rylan even though he makes up half of the story. He also has been a great help giving Rylan something to play with and trying to play with him. The past couple of days I've caught some sweet moments of Holden and Rylan together.

Talking to Rylan as he is playing and rolling over

Reading Miss Spider's Tea Party

Rocky-Part III

It seems like Holden always has some type of injury every 6 to 8 months. And that injury usually happens to one of his eyes. When he was 18 months old, he bumped the corner of a playground structure and somehow split open his left eyelid. We probably needed stitches, but we didn't know at the time. As you can see, we have some great pictures of the accident. About 6 months later, we were putting up the Christmas tree and he fell headfirst into the table, resulting in a split, right eyelid. This injury required stitches. So now, we have matching scars. I thought perhaps we were done....no such luck! Last night, he was walking (I am sure he was running) to get books and walked into the wall and hit his right eye. Thankfully, no blood, just the early stages of a black eye. And if that were not enough, he was walking into gymnastics and the door hit him in the head so hard it knocked him to the ground. We should probably give him a helmet. These "accidents" usually happen in threes and if that is the case, I am waiting on the next one to occur any day now!

18 month accident "Rocky Part I"

2 years old Christmas Accident "Rocky Part II"

The Latest Accident "Rocky Part III"

But Momma I HAD to break the spell

Let me start out by saying, Holden has a great imagination. After school yesterday, I asked the typical questions, how was your day, what did you do, what did you learn, and who did you play with? Everyday this changes, but a lot of the time he will say he played with Princess Hannah especially if some of the other boys are out sick. Monday, the class celebrated Hannah's "Half-Birthday". This is a celebration for all of the children that have birthday's in the summer. They have a day to have a birthday celebration at school so they do not feel left out. Holden told me that she brought muffin cookies and she dressed up as Snow White. Holden loves Snow White, so I knew there had to be a story coming! He told me that he was the Prince and that Princess Snow White Hannah ate the poisonous apple and fell asleep. Playing along with the story, I said "Oh no, poor Snow White" Holden said, "Do not worry Momma, I fought the evil Queen and kissed Snow White and broke the spell." I was surprised and asked, did you KISS Hannah? "Yes, I HAD too, I HAD to break the spell!" Between my laughs, I tried to explain that we should not kiss at school, we do not want to spread germs. But the Prince's response was "I HAD too!"

To see if this story was true, I asked Ms. Jan this morning at drop off. Ms. Jan was laughing and said she did not see them kiss but they were pretending to eat the poisonous apple and ride off to the castle...so I am sure the story is true. Ms. Jan and Ms. Julie both agreed that he has a great imagination and he is a great actor! So move over Brad Pitt, "Prince" Holden Port is going for the Oscar!

Girls Night Out

One of my 2009 New Years Resolutions was to make more time for my girl friends and have fun.! So, I decided to see if some of them wanted to get together each month for a night out. I knew if we went ahead and made a schedule for the year it would be easier for all of us to plan to get together. We decided that the 3rd Saturday of each month would be our monthly "Girls Night Out". Our first outing was to Milton's for dinner. Milton's is 150 year-old farmhouse & 1930's cottage that was restored and is now a restaurant. Great for getting the girls together for dinner and drinks! We all had a great time and shared many laughs! Looking forward to February's Girls Night at All Fired Up.

The view from my window....

Weather here has been so crazy! We have had so many storms and wind advisories that you never know what to expect. While Kevin was grilling out the other night he looked up to see a result of one of the many storms. He came inside to tell me to look out the window-and what did I see???

Well, the tree is not on our property but when it falls it will be! So like any good neighbor, Kevin went to let the neighbor know about the tree. (our house backs up to another neighborhood, so it is their property and tree) And what did they say, "that is not our tree!" What to do next? So we called the insurance company and they said that they can not do anything until the tree falls and does damage but suggested calling the City of Alpharetta. Next step, call the city. And their answer was, it is private property and that they can not do anything. So where do we stand??? Waiting on a tree to fall-Hopefully we will not be here when it does!

Finally A Day Out!!

Sunday the weather was a little warmer, so we made the most of it after church. Holden rode his bike and Rylan enjoyed some fresh air. However, the weather only lasted a day-the next morning we had snow flurries and it was 28 degrees! Hopefully spring will be here soon, but then again you never know with this weather.

A Day In History!

Holden did not get to see the actual Presidential Inauguration because he had preschool. However, I taped it for him and we watched it together. I thought it would be neat to share a piece of history with him. I know he will probably not remember this in years to come but then again you never know. At least he knows who our new President is now, Barack Obama, and where he lives- A funny story, Holden asked "Where is George W. Bush going to live? I told him he was moving to Texas. He kept telling me no that is not right-So I asked him where is he going to live? He said under Ms. Jan's chair and she was going to take him to her house." (Ms. Jan had pictures of the President and President elect and I guess she changed them out and she put the old picture under her chair when she was explaining that we have a new one. But Holden took it very literally!)

I think his favorite part was watching the parades of soldiers-here is a picture of him imitating how they walk with their guns!

"Yes, I am a soldier"

Watching the Inauguration and Festivities