It's official! Holtz is walking! He took his first steps on December 8th (only 10 1/2 months old). Since then he's been walking but mostly crawling until last weekend. Now, he prefers walking- watch out world! He also likes anything that makes noise (the noisier the better) and anything with wheels (cars, trains, etc.) He's very ticklish too- you should see him when we change his clothes!
Two adorable kids below- both sweaters made by Mimi (Evan's mom). I took the photos of Grace and Holtz together and the picture of Holtz. I'm so proud of myself when I get good...no great photos of the kids. The picture of Grace is her school picture. It's hard to believe how much times have changed. I remember my school picture being a head shot in front of a blue background- right?
One of Grace's favorite things to do is dress up. She got this blue dress from Unkle Mike and Aunt Angie (from Mexico). Oh, and notice the backpack on Holtz? Yes, she likes to dress him up too!
Grace and I made sugar cookies- yum!
Holtz loves crawling through his tunnel- what fun! He is getting to be such a smart cookie too. When I ask him, he already knows where his eyes, mouth and tongue are. Really neat to watch him learn new things. Baths are the thing Holtz loves best. Evan generally does the baths and he really should wear a smock b/c he's always soaking wet when bathtime is over. Such a riot!
The first snowfall of the year. Grace woke up and just had to go outside. So yes, she is still in her pjs. She put a dress over top and said she was ready to play!
Decorating the Christmas tree. Yes, Grace even got on a ladder to put some ornaments up high! It's Christmas and Grace is already talking about her birthday (April 16th- still a ways away). She said the other day, "On my birthday, when I turn 5, I want to give out these eggs with confetti in them as party poopers." Ha ha, she meant to say party favors but isn't that just priceless! She also was playing with Holtz's sock monkey and said, "Do you know why they call this a sock monkey? Because people like to put socks on them." No kidding...and of couse she was putting some of Holtz's socks on the sock monkey while she was saying this. Clever gal.
Grace and Evan went on two 'hot dates' around Christmas to see the Nutcracker. Yes, they saw it twice (two different productions- one much better than the other).
I took Grace to the roller skating rink here in town. Her friend Megan goes frequently and they invited us to join. What fun! Grace got her skates last Christmas from her Great Grandmother and Grandad Beauchamp and although she's used them frequently in the house and several times outside, this was her first time at a rink. Grandmother and Grandad would be proud!
Grace before her Christmas play. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of her during the play. For some reason, there was a tall girl with a HUGE bow on top of her head right in front of Grace so we didn't really see her. We did order the dvd so we'll see if they were able to 'capture the moment.'
Holtz is now eating solid foods. His favorites are pasta and bread (carb loader). He likes to eat some fruit and veggies too but no meat. My little vegetarian- yikes! He's drinking from a bottle in the morning and night still but the rest of the day he drinks from a sippy. He's also figured out how to drop things from the high chair to see what happens- some would say cute...I say grrrrr.
A different pasta dinner...it's just so funny!
Holtz opening his very first present...ever! It's from our most favorite neighbors Dana, Chris and Savannah. We didn't even make him wait until Christmas! Thanks guys-
Thanksgiving this year was unexpected. We were planning on travelling to Wabash to have Thanksgiving dinner with Evan's entire family and then to head to my Dad's to have Thanksgiving with my family. Unfortunately the kids were sick and since there were two newborn babies in the family we decided to stay home. Evan's folks came down the day after Thanskgiving to see us and then we all headed to my Dad's that weekend. It was so nice to have Thanksgiving at my Dad's with both my family and Evan's parents. I hope Grace will remember how special it was. And, I don't know how, but I didn't get any photos from Thanksgiving.
Christmas this year (and every year since we moved to Lexington) was at our house. Bob and Sharon, my mom and my little brother, Mike, came to visit. Here's an exciting game of Chutes and Ladders- one of Grace's favorites!
Grace got two wonderful pairs of clip on earrings! Check her out...FANCY!
My photos are a little out of order (sorry). The next four photos were taken at The Honeywell Center in Wabash. Since we weren't able to make it home for Thanksgiving, we did make a trip up the beginning of December. We had a nice meal with the family at Bob and Sharon's house and then got to see Parker and Katie (in the first picture) at breakfast at The Honeywell. They actually welcomed their baby boy earlier tonight- Henry was born at 8:36pm and weighed 8.8 lbs! Best birthday present for Holtz- both born on the same day!
OK, back to our house- this is Christmas morning. Poppy took these photos (thanks Photo Bob).
Uncle Mikey, the new airline pilot- woo hoo, with Holtz! It's really wonderful b/c we get to see Mike every couple of weeks now. Now that he's been hired by the airlines (ASA- Atlantic Southeast Airlines- Delta Connection- yes I'm a proud sister) he gets to fly anywhere on any airline for free. Glad he comes here to visit- the kids love it!
Grace has made several accomplishments since the last blog update. Monkey Joe's is a place here in town with an entire room filled with inflatables. Inflatable slides, inflatable bouncers, inflatable things to crawl in, under, on, etc). Grace has never been a fan of Monkey Joe's because it's full of crazy kids and it is loud. Every time she has cried and we have to kind-of force her to play. Not this time, 3rd times a charm. We went by ourselves and she did everything by herself...we didn't even have to nudge. She even made a little friend there! She also has learned to stick up for herself when somebody is mean to her- big change in my little introvert! When she gets upset with me she always says, "I'm yelling because I'm angry with you." Spoken like an adult- ha ha.
Holtz eyeing the candy counter... Holtz still loves peek-a-boo and likes to clap to 'pat a cake pat a cake' and 'if you're happy and you know it clap your hands (really need to get it on camera). He also has started saying thank you (dat doo). He is now interacting with Ralph (laughs every time he sees him- hilarious) and tries to pet him. Thankfully Ralph is great with kids. Poor Ralph!
On December 7th, my friend's Katie and Craig VanTornhout had a baby girl (Chesney Rose). Now, if you remember, they had a baby girl named Callie several weeks before Holtz was born (December 24th, 2009) who 5 weeks later passed away from pertussus (whooping cough). Chesney was a surprise pregnancy and definitely a miracle baby. Believe it or not, her due date was December 25th- one day after Callie was born. Anyways, she is here and is perfect! Evan and I went up to see Katie and meet Miss Chesney and I just couldn't put her down. She is now 6 weeks old!
I enrolled Grace in a pottery class and we've attended two classes so far. The first class we made this snowman sculpture and the second class (below) Grace painted it. Now it's being glazed and fired again and we will be able to bring it home next week.
This is Kate and Grace in their tent watching a movie New Year's Eve. They both stayed up until the ball dropped! Big girls!
Jen, Jeremy, Kate and Ryder came over New Year's morning for breakfast!
Today is Holtz's birthday so I want to wish my little man a very happy 1st birthday! I have to brag a little bit before ending the post. I made a goal for myself (never really thinking that I would achieve it) but am proud to say that I nursed Holtz for an entire year. He's never been given any other supplement- all mommy milk. Now, let's hope the studies are right and that he'll have a bumped up IQ (grin). I'll post birthday pictures after his party this weekend! Don't forget if you want to enlarge any of the pictures, you just have to click on them. Until next time...
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