End of November

It's been a busy month at the Holden House!  Here is a recap and some pictures from the end of November.

Parker (12 months)
Parker is moving into toddler-hood full steam ahead!  He is developing opinions and loves pointing to indicate what he wants.  He is also becoming more verbal.  He has a handful of words and sounds like mama, dada, woof, banana and all done.  He is becoming more adventurous and loves to climb on things.  And in really big development news... Parker took his first steps!  He still isn't so sure he wants to walk but he will take steps between mom and dad and from a stable place to one of us.  His balance is also getting really good but he seems to get scared as soon as you let him go.  He can stand forever if he doesn't realize he is doing it but once he realizes it, he will sit down.

We put up our Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving.  Parker has had a blast playing with all the ornaments.  Here are some pictures of P and the tree.

Carter (2 years, 6 months)
Carter is caught somewhere between a little man and a little kid.  His vocabulary and understanding of language amaze me everyday.  Here are a few of my favorite recent comments:
- Dad asks "Carter does your mouth ever get tired [from talking so much]?"  Carter's response "No but it does get hungry".
- "I can make my pee pee blue if I shake my body a lot"
- "I love school.  I want to go every, every, every day"  (need a record of this for the future!).

And sometimes it makes he forget he is only two!  But he has typical toddler temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way and he can go from smiling to melt down at the drop of a hat!  He is incredibly curious and he went into overdrive when the Christmas decorations went up.

Checking out the lights from inside the tree with dad.  

As the fall winds down, Carter had a great time enjoying the piles of leaves all over our yard...

Turkey Day!

Parker and Carter woke early Thanksgiving morning ready for fun, we started off with some Macy's Parade watching, but that soon lost Carter's attention.  Luckily we had another play date with the family down the road and we headed to their house.  Their son, Finn, had a number of trains and Carter had a blast playing all morning.  He also showed off his pipes a few times and now Carter likes to scream through the house as well.  We didn't take many photos on Thanksgiving as we were too busy playing and conversing with the family, but we did have time to get a good shot of Carter playing with his cousin JR and uncle Rick.

Grandma took JR and Carter out back when it was dark to go on a star hunt.  Here is little man JR with his lantern

The star hunt quickly was ended by an impromptu game of chase the dog.  This was much more entertaining.

Friday we woke to cold temps and snow... obviously it was time to go.  Carter and Parker watched the planes and trucks at the airport.  Then it was time to board.

Carter put on his hat and took his seat ready to fly.

 Parker on the other hand was a bit more difficult

Finally we arrived in Atlanta and the whole family was exhausted from a great week.  Parker passed out asleep before we even were able to drive off the airport boundaries.

Day three in Wisconsin

Our third full day was again a fun one.  We started the morning out with an early trip into town.  We were headed to the Zoo and got there a bit early, so we took a small car tour of the large arboretum that the University of Wisconsin has.  While driving through, we ran into a literal flock of wild turkeys, probably 20-30 walking right in the road.  Needless to say, Carter loved them (but was very concerned for the ones in the road and wanted to make sure we "don't crash").  Soon we were off to the Zoo.  Here are our two crazy polar bears.

A big highlight of our zoo trip was to see aunt Patty.  Unfortunately, Patty could not be with us come Thanksgiving, but hanging out at the Zoo with her was a great memory for us and the boys.

Carter and Parker really seemed to enjoy the zoo as they were able to see many new animals that are not at Atlanta's zoo and others that are displayed in different ways that encourage more interaction.  One of the highlights was watching the two large bison.  Carter made sure to give them a friendly "moo" when he went to their overlook.  I am not sure if Parker's feet ever touched the ground for more than a minute at a time, but he had a blast as well.

While grandpa showed Parker some of the monkey's Carter was learning about what they ate and where they lived with Grandma

We also made sure to have time for some horsing around.,  Here are the boys playing in the tractor by the petting zoo.

Our time at the zoo was a lot of fun, but again it was off to the house for a quick lunch and nap.  When Carter woke, he was determined to go to a playground.  Luckily there is a nice one just down the road from Grandma and Grandpa's house, so we again were off to have more fun.  We can tell Parker is growing up as playgrounds seem to be more and more fun to him and he is interested in more equipment all the time.  Still, his favorite will always be the swings.

 But he quickly found some new fun activities with help and encouragement from mom.

Carter kept Grandma and Grandpa on their toes, but even he eventually started to tire and decided to take a nap in the tunnel.

Turns out he was only kidding and both little men continued their adventure (including Parker's first attempt at going up a slide backwards).  Carter came behind to lend a helping hand.

By days end, all were very tired.  Grandma and Grandpa were kind and gave Mom and Dad an evening off and we headed to a local wine bar for a relaxing dinner.

It again was a great day and we all went to bed early to get ready for the Turkey day to come

The fun continues up north

No, Parker and Dad are not in a crazy looking jail.  The family headed to the Madison Children's museum and had a great day exploring all the areas,

Parker really enjoyed the freedom to move about and found lots of nooks and crannies to get around on

No different than home, he was quick to find one of his favorite things... fish!

Soon we were on to more constructive endeavors.  Parker worked on creating a toddler size fort...

... while Carter worked on his city planning skills (working on the bus routes to start).

We also worked to expand Parker's knowledge base.  Starting with this odd thing that appears to be a game.

While Carter worked on more artistic practices with his window painting.

As we continued through the museum, Carter made a new friend and they both worked diligently to make one of the deepest deep dish pizzas seen anywhere but Chicago.

Once the toppings were all placed with care, it was off to the belt driven oven to cook them to perfection.  I think Carter probably cooked, then changed ingredients, then cooked again about 10 times.

Last, we made our way to the rooftop gardens and club house.  It was a cold morning for the boys, to keep warm, they donned some traditional parkas and the exploring started.

The roof top is home to a number of chickens, quail chicks, and a number of other native animals (snakes and frogs in the clubhouse) as well as a large rooftop garden.  Carter and Parker both really enjoyed watching the animals (Parker kept barking at the chickens).

But also made sure to watch the cars go by

Carter made his way to the crow's nest to get a better view of the lake north of the Madison isthmus.  Unfortunately it was too cold for any boats to be on the water.

Soon we were back on our way home to take a nap and get ready for a fun play date with a family that lives next to Grandma and Grandpa who had two little ones very close to Carter and Parker's age.  It was another great day in Wisconsin!

Trip to the land of Cheese and Beer

For this Thanksgiving, we packed up the boys and headed to Madtown (Madison, Wisconsin).  We talked up the trip with both Carter and Parker and on Sunday, as we got ready to go Carter really got excited.  He wore his pilot's hat and walked the entire airport to our gate where he picked out a prime viewing window.  Parker was a bit parched after the walk to our gate in Concourse C.

But soon was capping his bottle to watch the planes and have Carter explain to him what he thought each of the trucks and vehicles were doing.

Our first day in Wisconsin was primarily taken up by a trip to the local Cross Plains library.  It is a great library for such a small town and the children's area was excellent.  Carter had Grandma checkout almost 20 books!  The boy loves to have stories read to him and got a great selection for our holiday.  Then it was time to burn off some energy prior to nap time.  So we went to PlayN Wisconsin.  It is a playground dealer that uses its show room as a play room.  For $5 everyone was able to play in a large room with all their large equipment setup on a padded floor.  Carter and Parker has a blast.  Parker loves the swings.

 He found the surprise interruptions from behind to be very funny

 Then it was off to the trampoline with Grandma.

Carter had been playing basketball with Mom as Dad finished filling out the waiver, but once he saw all the fun Parker was having, it was time for all the Holden boys to be harassed by Grandma.

The slides on each of the equipment were alot of fun, and boy were they fast.  After about three runs down where Carter literally slid 3-4 feet off the slide before landing, he came to us and said "catch me!  I don't want to hurt my bottom!"

 Grandpa was more than happy to oblige the request

 Carter has a blast and showed off some great climbing skills.

 He even convinced Grandma to follow up and ride the big slide.

Then it was back to the basketball court where Carter showed off his skills.  I really think we have a budding Air Jordan II on our hands.  After every dunk he held the rim to show off.

Even Parker got a few good shots in!

It was a great day that included a lunch trip to Culver's and then a very long nap and lazy evening at home as we prepared for another fun day on Tuesday