June - First Half Pictures and Updates

The first half of June was very busy for the Holden family... the boys changed daycare back to Oxford (place they were at until September last year), dad got a promotion at work (Congrats!!!) and mom has been super busy at work with new responsibilities and lots of changes going on at her job.

Carter (3 years, 1 month)
With daycare hopefully set for a while, we decided to push Carter on potty training.  He has been doing an excellent job!  We have been using rewards (time with his LeapPad) and staying close to the house a bit more than usual to help out.  And Parker has been helping provide encouragement.

I'm not sure Carter appreciates all the attention but we are all very proud of him!

Carter has been going pantless at home to help with the training.  It is very cute and makes for a fun event when the neighbors come over to invite Carter out to play.

Carter continues to have an active imagination.  He likes to make up words and play make believe.  Here is a picture of the Waffle House Carter built.  It was a very popular spot (check out the cars in the bottom right).  All the patrons enjoyed a big meal of bear waffles cooked in the oven Carter built.

Carter and dad took a fun trip to the NCAA Golf Championship where GT was playing (Tech hosted the event).

Carter took a little while to get the hang of not talking when people were hitting.  But he eventually settled in and even got a new GT golf hat.

Lastly, Carter went to a birthday party for his friend Wade.  Carter and dad had fun playing Star Wars with everyone.  Thankfully the light saber was inflatable!

Parker (1 year, 7 months)
Parker has had a few rough nights sleeping as his canines are breaking through.  Thankfully, they haven't bothered him too much when he is awake.  He is continuing to expand his vocabulary and his current favorite words are snack, plane, moon and Carter.

Speaking of snacks, Parker is a poor eater except when it comes to snacks.  He loves anything he can eat while on the go.  He will often carry around his favorite snack container so it is always close by.

Parker has been taking full advantage of the warm weather by utilizing the water table.  He typically lets the table perform several duties as a play toy, water fountain...

and shower.

We have been enjoying the warm weather by taking regular post-dinner walks around the neighborhood.  Parker has grown up enough to be responsible for walking Brie.  In reality Brie, tends to walk Parker and they frequently end up in our neighbor's yards.

His love of planes has let to frequent "flights" in the plane rocking chair.

And in the last big Parker news, we just turned his car set around.  It was earlier than we intended but he was starting to get very frustrated with not being able to see everyone and he only wanted to sit in Carter's car seat.  Thankfully, he LOVES his new view.  

Brothers

The boys play more and more together each week.  We are definitely getting to the stage where having two so close together is a blessing.  The boys marked a few "firsts" together over the past few weeks.  Dad pulled out the Wi and the boys played golf, tennis and Mario Kart (their favorite).

They also found the glasses for Cranium (on Carter).  Parker wants to do whatever his brother does so he insisted on wearing a pair as well (Carter's Lightning McQueen).  

We had a kid from the neighborhood wash our windows.  The boys grabbed stools and moved around the house to watch his every move.

We hit up Coldstone after dinner and the boys shared a shake...

and ice cream.

And for their last new activity, the boys played peek-a-boo in a giant Amazon box on the front porch forever.  Their legs got tired so they decided to use a diaper box as a seat.

Last but not least... here is an adorable picture of our first children.  They have developed an unlikely friendship over their common goal of not letting the boys pull their tails and they frequently share techniques for maximizing the amount of food the boys drop on the ground.