July

Here are some detail on July happenings at the Holden House.

Baby Girl (36 weeks) - Baby Girl is still hanging on there which has given us time to get things ready.  We've never been pregnant this long so this is all new territory to us!  Mom had a baby shower at work that helped us round all all the pink/girly items we need!

Baby continues to measure right on track and while we are glad she is staying put a while longer, the whole family is definitely ready to meet our newest member!

Parker (2 years 8 months) - Parker continues to show more independence and adoration for his brother.  He loves to do whatever Carter does and thinks everything Carter does is amazing.  He also has lots of opinions which he enjoys sharing accompanied by phrases like "I don't like that."

Testing out Baby's stuff

Parker LOVES anything water related

Showing off his back float at swim lessons

Swimming au Natural at a friend's house

Dinner out with dad - Parker's pick

He was so proud of himself for putting Blue Bear in the cart

Carter (4 years, 2 months) - Carter has been incredibly sweet and affectionate towards his sister recently.  He gives her daily hugs/kisses and likes to tell everyone that he has a baby sister coming soon.  He picked up a crazy Southern accent for a few weeks were all his long A's were really loooong A's - thaaaaat, baaaath, etc.

Giving mommy a hug while saying "I love you so much, don't ever leave me"

Enjoying playing with some buddies

Brothers  - the boys play together most of the time and prefer to do whatever the other one is doing.  They make for some pretty cute pictures and crazy adventures.

The wanted to dress alike

Getting rid of their old shoes to make room for sister's clothes

Showing off the 4 green beans they grew in their garden

Having dad paint their big toes

Showing off their toes - purple for Carter and red for Parker

The boys had a puppet show at school and immediately came home and built a puppet theater out of an old box complete with a rotating background.

Parker and the audience for the puppet show

Enjoying a HOT day in the sprinklers

The boys had a slumber party in Parker's room - started off with more laughing than slumbering but eventually they dosed off

First Trip to the Movies

It was a rainy morning so we decided it was a great opportunity to take the boys to their first movie.  The Cars franchise has been a big hit, so they were very excited about Planes - Fire & Rescue.  We went to an early showing so it was all kids in the theater and not too crowded.  The boys got some popcorn to share and settled into their seats.

Parker got a little antsy halfway through and enjoyed walking around in front of his seat.  He stayed within our seated area and still paid attention to the movie.  Carter sat the whole time and kept commenting on how the screen was bigger than our house.  

The boys loved the movie (Parker's favorite part was the helicopter, Carter's was the fire).  It was a fun treat that we're sure to do again!

Summer Baseball

Carter's summer baseball league wrapped up this week.  Overall it was a fun time and he enjoyed the season.  Mid-week games were a bit of a struggle due to such a long day but he ended the last game with two hits off coach (NoTee!) and got the game ball!  Parker was definitely ready to join the team by the end of the season.  We're switching to soccer for the fall but I'm sure we'll be back on the diamond sometime in 2015.

Happy boys before the last game

Parker getting ready for the game (or playing with Mimi in the outfield)

Team banner

Pretty while it lasted

With best buddy Andre

Getting the game ball

Excited about his game ball

Parker taking batting practice during a game - he is pretty good at hitting off mom's throws

End of Season Party

Excited about Andre's trophy

Pumped to get his own trophy

Sibling Class

In order to get the boys ready for their sister arriving, we signed them up for Sibling Class at the hospital where we hope to deliver.  The first part of the class involved a nurse teaching the kids about how to help out with their sister and what to expect a baby to do.  The kids learned about how to feed, hold, entertain and diaper baby.  She asked lots of questions and Carter had lots of answers and questions in return.  His favorite part was getting to hold the baby.

Parker preferred to spend this time in mom/dad's laps safely away from the baby talk.  After the "class", the boys made bracelets to wear when they come meet sister and got big brother bags with helpful reminders on hospital rules and a big brother coloring book.

Then we all headed down to the postpartum floor for a tour.  We met the nurses and learned about what they do to help mom/baby.  We stopped by the nursery to see a new baby and learn what goes on when baby goes to the nursery.  And our final stop was to a room where the kids learned how to behave and what to expect when they come meet their baby.  Mom was chosen to help act out for the kids.  

Carter was very sweet and asked if he could come sit in the bed with mom.  Parker burst into tears.  The others kids also thought hanging with mom in the bed was pretty fun ;)

Overall it was a good experience.  Carter seems more excited about baby sister coming (if that is possible) and hopefully Parker won't be as scared seeing everything the second time around.

Fourth of July

For the fourth this year, we had a busy day enjoying family time and appreciating all the opportunities our expanding family is blessed with.  The kids have been incredibly excited about America's birthday for several weeks so they woke up in a fabulous mood ready to get the day started with the golf cart parade.

There are around 120 golf carts that participate in the parade.  The parade starts at the local fire department and goes to the fish fry shack where they have watermelon, ice cream, birthday cake, lemonade and mimosas.  The fire department also has been known to turn on a hose or two at the kiddos.

Everyone decorates their cart and we went with a traditional Americana theme.

 There are a wide range of carts.  Here are pictures of some of our favorites.

God Bless the USA Saves

S.S. Smitty

Carter liked the mermaid on the front cart and Parker loved Nemo on the back - part of a Sea to Shining Sea cart duet

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness - playing Happy through the whole parade

A Shark

Animals with hats are always a hit with the boys (Parker thought this was the funniest cart)

All the carts lined up

We play around a bit before the parade started and checked out the carts and the fire trucks.

The driver apparel is as important as the cart decorations (or so Dad thinks)

Before long, and after a short speech by the mayor and a young gril singing the National Anthem, we jumped in the cart and headed down the parade route.  Parker loved waving his flag at everyone while Carter preferred to shout "Happy Birthday America".  Once at the end, the boys took full advantage of the snack offering.

And Parker got a firecracker tattoo

Soon we headed home for some pool time, lunch and naps.  Dad wasn't up for a nap today so he took a ride to the beach to check out the Salute from the Shore.  The event has several historic airplanes which fly from North Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head to commemorate the holiday.

After naps, the boys voted for mini-golf as their afternoon activity.  Carter was pretty into it.

While Parker developed an original game that was a strange combination of golf-soccer-baseball-basketball.  At the first hole he hit the ball and then threw his club and ran around the hole.  Other holes involved a combination of throwing the ball followed up by kicks and swings.  But he made it in the hole every time and yelled "I DID IT" at the end of each while wearing a huge smile.

After golf, we ate dinner at home and then headed out for more festivities.  The boys requested to stop by a few favorite island spots first so we checked out the marsh and the island boat launch.

Carter found a flag cape

We then headed to the island 4th of July Party.  The boys loved dancing to the live band,  we had one last trip for ice cream and some playtime at the park before it was time for the fireworks.

Parker was a dancing machine

He even roped in some younger college girls for a dance

The island does a pretty nice firework show and the boys enjoyed it.  Carter kept commenting that he "wasn't scared this year because he was four."  Parker won the commentary award with constant comments such as "wow", "this is neat", "that was a cool one", "my favorite color yellow", "all my favorite colors purple, yellow, green, pink", "that firework is broken.  I'll fix it (waves a stick he found).  All better."  

It is a really neat small-town type of event and day on the island.  Happy Birthday America!  What a great day!