Happy Birthday Holden

It's hard for me to believe that Holden is one!! This past year really has flown by. We have been so blessed to have Little Bit added to our family. To celebrate his birthday we had a Splish, Splash rubber ducky blast.

I've always admired the banners I see on etsy so I decided to try and make one. I won't show you the one I was modeling this one after (since it didn't quite turn out like I had originally planned) but over all I was happy with the final product.


I found a duck ice cube tray and had to have it! I made ice for three days so that we could enjoy blue ducks in our drinks.

Isn't that just adorable?

It's a tradition at our house to get a candle as a party treat for first birthday's.

Look at that precious face!

What would a rubber duck party be with out blue punch and floating duckies?

Brotherly love.

For the Splish, Splash portion of the party we enjoyed the water table (a birthday gift from Gram and Pops) and a few water toys outside.





Aaron showed Holden a great way to enjoy the water table- sitting in it is much better than standing up around it. After a few family photos . . .




. . . we opened gifts. Holden was much more involved in this process than any of my other kids were at their 1st parties. He loved opening the gifts and then actually played with the toys and not just the boxes or paper that they came in.
I love the expression on his face as he explored the first toy.



Then it was time for cake. This was suppose to be a giant cupcake, but I kinda messed up and iced the whole thing so you can't even tell what it's suppose to be. O-well, I'll know better next time.
Holden was so cute while we were singing happy birthday to him. He grinned the whole time but got real shy and put his head down on the high chair.


Everyone helped blow out the candles.
I have always wanted my kids to dig into their cakes- but not one of them ever has. We even undressed Holden so he could get messy and he wouldn't touch the cake. Even after having some icing put in his mouth he still wouldn't try it.


Can you tell what part of the cupcake Elic likes?
Holden was much happier with the duck sugar cookies.

Aunt Kim brought this great parachute for us to play with. Look at the joy on Holden's face as balloons bounced all around him and the parachute flapped up and down.



We certainly wore him out. He took a 3+ hour nap after all our guests left. Here are a few fun facts about Holden:

- He drinks milk now and only wanted it from a sippy cup so we are formula and bottle free!
- He eats as much as the other two boys- we are definitely going to have to increase our grocery budget. I've already had to start buying the family size of certain items and we never have leftovers from meals. Some of his favorite foods include green beans, Mrs. Stephanie's broccoli, grapes, bananas, mac-n-cheese, and any flavor of yogurt.
- He is just starting to venture out and take a few steps on his own. He prefers to hold your fingers, but every day he seems to be trying more on his own.
- Holden would play in the dog's water all day if you let him. If he's ever quiet I know that he has made it into the laundry room and is splashing away in their bowl.
- He's still a great sleeper. I've kinda forced him down to one nap a day, because I needed all three to be on the same schedule so I can have a little time to myself in the afternoons. Bedtime is so easy with him, just sing a few songs and lay him down and he's good until around 7am.
- He loves to play with his brothers. Especially with the super hero figures. Anytime he's holding one he'll make a noise (which sounds a lot like static) but to him it's just like the noises his brothers make when they fight bad guys.
- Holden has a lovie animal blanket that he chews the tail of. I like to watch him feel all over the blanket until he finally gets the tail, and then he pops it into his mouth.
- I've never had a child mimic as much as Holden. Words, noises, motions with hands- he tries them all. The boys love to try and get him to copy them.
- He gives the best hugs and kisses. Once he starts giving those fun open mouthed kisses, he just can't stop.

We feel so fortunate that the Lord has lent us Holden. Our family wouldn't be complete without him. We can only imagine what the future holds for him. Happy 1st Birthday Little Bit! We love you.

Schlitterbahn

Here is another catch-up blog. We made our annual trip to Schlitterbahn a few weeks ago. This year we traveled with 8- yes 8- in our car! I tried to get pictures of how packed the car was, but they just don't do it justice. Most of our bags were under Preston and Elic's feet. You forget how much stuff you need when traveling with a baby- stroller, pack-n-play, bottles, formula (although we had our last formula bottle last week!), and baby food. We had all this in the car plus my cousins and niece and they're luggage, too. Let's just say I think they were extra glad when we finally arrived. Darren's best friend, Steve, and his daughter Natalie made the drive from Midland to come join in the craziness, I mean fun.
We stopped in Round Rock for dinner at good ol' Chili's.

You might be asking, "Where is Elic?"

Here he is, sporting his "I'm two" pout.
We stayed inside the "original" park and had a condo that consisted of two bedrooms, one bath (and yes 10 people in all shared that one bathroom) a living room and a kitchen. The first thing all the kids did was make sure the beds were in good working condition and they tested this out by jumping on them. Don't the colors and decorations just scream "I'm from the 70s"?
We spent our first full day at the original park. Sarah, Stacy, and Samantha were a big help with all the kids.

This might be Holden's favorite activity of all- chilling in the tube. If you haven't been to Schlitterbahn, they have special tubes for kids that have bottoms on them so they can actually sit down inside them and float all around. Holden's not walking, so he got tired of sittin' and splashin' real quick. This tube helped him enjoy more of the park rides. I wasn't able to get many pictures of the big rides, but I will say that Elic has no fear. And while his daddy might think this is cool, it scares his mommy. Elic was too little to try any rides last year, but this time he did rides that Preston wouldn't do and Preston has been here three years in a row. Darren said there was one ride where all three of them could race each other side-by-side and they were all ready to go when Preston jumped up and said he didn't want to do it. While Darren was talking to Preston, Elic just flew down the slide all by himself! He went on all the big tube rides like the Dragon Blaster and the Master Blaster. These rides use the new technology that sends you up the slides and then you wind your way back down. He loved everything and never seemed scared. Boy, I'm nervous about my teenage years with that one! I was able to get a few pics around the kiddy area:





It's become a tradition with us to eat one night in Gruene at the Gristmill- my favorite part of the whole trip! My dad and Carolyn joined us since the drive from San Antonio isn't too far.


The second day we visited the new park, which is split into two areas. This park has a great kids area and everyone's favorite, the lazy river. Holden would have stayed in the tube floating all day if we had let him. He even fell asleep in the tube because it was so relaxing.


We really had a great time being in the sun, eating good food, and making memories. I'm so glad that the girls joined us. Sarah is going to A&M (whoop!) in the fall and this is Samantha's senior year in high school (makes me cry) so we know they will be quite busy this year. The boys were in heaven to have the girls all to themselves for a full weekend!
Elic thought he was big man on campus getting to hang out with the older girls. Once again, another reason I think I'll have my hands full with him in his teenage years.
If anyone wants to join us the next time we go, let us know. Our motto has become "the more the merrier" - plus we need extra hands to help with our three-boy circus :)