Happy Birthday Holden!

We're back from Africa!  I'm still sorting through the photos and will post all about our amazing trip soon.  We returned from Rwanda in time to help Holden celebrate his 2nd birthday.  Really?  How is he already 2?! 

 

His brothers picked out his favorite gifts- a super soft stuffed animal and an magnadoodle.

 He wouldn't put the doggie down.  He just kept giving it big hugs.

 Holden needed a little help getting his gift from Darren and I opened.

 Nana made sure we had cake for the celebration.  After 10 days of not eating, I was thrilled with the cookie cake!  I love how shy he got when we started to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

 He LOVED blowing out the candles so much that he requested to do it again.

 Look at that cutie!  He seemed so grown up to me after not being with him for almost 2 weeks.

 My Papaw had heart surgery two days before we left for Africa.  He's still recovering, but we are so thankful that his heart is getting the help it needs from the pacemaker.

So what do you get a kid who is the 3rd boy in the family when it seems you already have ALL the toys you could want?  We decided he needed a Kiddie Car-Wash.  Darren put it together in the 105 heat and everyone loved it.  Well, everyone except the birthday boy.

I think he just needs a little more time to warm up to the idea that it's fun to get sprayed by water.

 The boys rode every kind of bike, scooter and car through the car-wash.  And sometimes they just ran through by themselves.  I was very pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

Here are a few of the things I'd like to remember about our sweet Holden:
- He talks A LOT.  He's definitely the most verbal of all my children.
- He thinks he is as big as his brothers.  He's no longer in a high chair for meals and really likes to try and potty on the toilet as much as I'll let him.
- He's a great sleeper.  I have no intentions of moving him to a big boy bed anytime in the next year (or more).  He loves to nap and sleeps all night and why would anyone want to mess with that?
- He loves to eat!  Most meals he out eats both his brothers.  Some of his favorite foods include beef (hamburgers, spaghetti, taco skillet dinner), all kinds of fruit, pancakes without syrup, green beans, rice, hotdogs and bacon.  String cheese is the only item he seems to really not like.
- He has a love for books.  He enjoys going in his room and "reading" which includes getting all the books down from his bookcase and scattering them all over his floor.
- My favorite Holden saying is "I hold you" when he wants you to pick him up.  I also like that when he's crying he's almost always saying "Elic did it"! 
- He has no fear when it comes to swimming.  He will jump in and go completely under over and over again.  He actually holds his breath really well, but it still scares me!
- He loves to sing, especially songs from Bible class.

We are so blessed to have Holden in our family.  We have enjoyed watching his little personality change and grow over the past year and can't wait to see what adventures he'll have this next year.  Happy 2nd birthday, little bit!