Preschool Visitation

We had a visitation to Carter's new classroom today so he could meet his teachers and get comfortable with his new room.  Carter saw new toys and wasted no time jumping in!  He spend a long time at the kitchen, making lunch and cleaning dishes.

The room is decorated really cute with lots of personalized decorations like this height chart.

Carter had fun checking everything out including the bathroom (love the little potty!).

There was even a reading nook with lots of books.  

Carter had a great time, he blew his teachers kisses when we left so hopefully he'll have no problem on his first day next week!

Weekly Recap

Parker (9 months)
Little Parker had a great week.  He is chowing down on food these days and working on moving.  He hates to sit still and loves attention!  His little personality comes out more each week.  No longer will he let you do what you want with him...

He likes to be in charge of his head gear and eating!

He is very amenable to anything that involves Carter though!

Overall Parker had a great week.  We did have one first though.  We went out for lunch Saturday afternoon and Parker passed on mom's shoulder and stayed that way while he was transferred to dad's lap/

Parker had never sleep in a noisy area or while we are out so this was a huge first.  It's pretty funny that it happened at 9 months!  Unfortunately I don't think it will happen again soon!

Carter (2 years, 3 months)
Carter had a fabulous week and it wasn't just because the firetruck came to visit him at school.  Though he did get a cool hat and badge and talk about the fireman for several days!

Carter's memory is hilarious sometimes.  He insisted on recreating his Olympic photo shoot from a few weeks back (Carter was still the winner).

But he was kind enough to teach mom how to be the winner as well.

Needless to say Carter has a lot of energy so we have to constantly come up with ways to wear him out.

It hasn't been to hot outside so we have been spending lots of time playing sports outside.  Carter has gotten pretty good at baseball...

And was fortunate enough to have Pops and Mimi stop by so he could show off his skills!

Sunday at the Zoo

It was a nice day out and the boys were up early so we decided to pack the car and head to the zoo.  As frequently happens, we had a Holden boy sandwich for a while!

The boys had a great time checking out the animals.  Carter even set up a "store" at the playground where we sold milk, cookies and lettuce to the other kids.  Dad was his best customer  [side note: a toddler's imagine is hilarious!].  I think we had the most fun at the petting zoo where Carter insisted on brushing every animal.

I wasn't kidding when I said EVERY animal.

He did take a break to watch the train go by.

And then it was back to brushing.

Parker and dad had some fun brushing too!

We did check out the rest of the animals.  Carter insisted on having his picture taken as a lion...

And both boys were memorized by the giraffes.

We also made a stop at Carter's favorite part of the zoo, the gorilla statues.  Where he gave the baby gorilla several hugs and kisses before climbing on the daddy gorilla and jumping off the tree stump several times.

Carter's other favorite activity was going up to the vending machines and getting "tickets" out of them.  He then gave mom/dad/Parker the tickets for various activities and put some in his pocket for safe keeping.  He is on a bit of a ticket kick lately and likes to give out and collect tickets.  Silly kid!

A Musical Family

Carter has been back into music lately so we have been pulling out all the instruments and getting Parker involved.  Carter's latest favorite is dad's guitar!

He has using the pick and showing Parker how it works.

It's pretty cute because Carter is about the same height as the guitar!

Most of the time dad handles the big guitar and the boys jam out...

Dad has faith this is going somewhere and thinks we can give Hanson a run for the money.  We'll see how that turns out ;)

A New School and Schedule

Parker was a little confused about all this talk of a new school...

But when we gave him all the details he was super excited!

After lots of discussion and number crunching, we decided that starting in September mom is going to start working part-time.  I'll go into the office twice a week and be home with the boys the other three days.  This means that we had to develop a new childcare plan to accommodate our new schedule.  Fortunately we found a local church with preschool and a Parents Morning Out programs the boys will be able to go to twice a week.  Then Memaw will watch them in the afternoons while mom goes to work.

We are excited because a lot of kids in our neighborhood are in the program and several teachers from the boy's current daycare now teach there as well.  Parker's PMO (parent's morning out) program started this week so today we took him for the first time.  We wanted to make sure he was excited so we let him take a ride on the plasma car to warm him up!

We took a quick mom/baby picture...

And Carter gave his brother a hug...

and kiss for luck!

Then we were off.  Parker had no problems with the drop off so the rest of the family headed to a local park where we had a meet and great with the kids in Carter's program and his teachers.  They had a bubble cart so Carter was in heaven!

The boys spent the afternoon back at their regular daycare so we had to wait until after work to get the scoop on their day.  Parker had a great time and was all smiles!

Mom/Dad are very exited about our new schedule and so far it looks like the boys are too!!!

Weekly Recap

It was a hat week for the boys at the Holden House.  We had a Sombrero for the boys...

And a ladybug for dad!

Parker (9 months)
When not wearing his hat, Parker was on the move this week.  He has perfected his army crawl and it into everything.

He loves chewing on things probably because he has more teeth on the horizon.

And he has become a regular participant in the Holden House band, Park can play a mean guitar!

Parker definitely likes to be where the action is so when we go out these days, baby wearing is definitely preferable to the stroller.

Carter (2 years, 3 months)
While Parker is on the move, Carter is all over the place!  He loves to rough house.

We have made good use of Carter's energy and taught him how to give excellent back massages.

Unfortunately he is wise to our ways and prefers to use mom's back as a diving board!

We went to Piedmont Park at the end of the week and spent some time on the playground.  It always makes mom happy when we go because she has memories of sliding on the same slide as a child.  And it's a double bonus watching the boys have a blast on it now!