The morning of

James was the first one up, although it wasn't at 5 am, it was 6 am. But 6 am is doable. James came downstairs very excited to see everything.

Translation :

ho ho ho = Santa

feffent = presents

In this video, James is telling about all the presents and about how Santa came down the chimney.

The joys

Yes, it was 50 some degrees outside, but Ryan would still not keep his clothes on.

The spiderman slippers were gifts as well as Clip-Clop the rocking magical horse.

Is it insanity?

When I had just one little body to watch over, I was a lot more patient. I was able to handle messes because I could watch and control them. Then came #2 and things just got exponentially messier. More messes and the messes were much, much bigger. So, why should it surprise me that when we put a gingerbread house together that the boys would stick their fingers in the icing and lick all the candy before they put it on the house. I mean, would we really have people over who would expect a perfect and non-child put together Gingerbread house? So, one definition of insanity is "unreasonableness". And Yes, I would say it was insane of me to expect 2 little boys to not get messy, not stick their fingers in the icing and not try to eat all the candy. Maybe it's because I was hoping to have one project completed with minimal interruption. I might have to wait a few years for that one :)

Maybe next year I'll do better..

She's mobile

And yes, she just keeps on moving. I get very amused how she scoots over to the boys and tries to get involved with their activities. James then has to pull her away by her feet. She doesn't seem to mind. She just goes back again.

What a 2 year old sees

What do you get with a two year old, softenening butter and a spice cap? Well, not a clean countertop. As ryan watched me make sandwich cookies, he just couldn't resist making his own with my butter that was softening.

We only made one batch of cookies this year.

It's 8:18 AM on Christmas Eve

And I'm drinking my coffee in my PJ's while the boys watch Curious George, the baby's still sleep and I'm planning my day. I have to make my pumpkin roll, pumpkin pie (from the can), pumpkin bread and maybe oatmeal sandwich cookies, if there's still time and butter left. Christmas Eve dinner tonight will be at my In-Law's and Christmas will be here tomorrow, noonish. All shopping is done, most of my presents are wrapped and I'm excitedly awaiting Christmas morn.

Merry Christmas my dear friends and family. We hope that you enjoy this day with your family!

Mommy's Boo-Boo

What do you get when you try to be sneaky and move things around in the garage? Well, not an ER visit and not even a tetanus shot, but it sure hurts! This is hush hush. I purchased a large item from a sports store but wasn't able to bring it home because the box required an open bed truck or a trailer. So, our good friend James took time out of his saturday and picked up our trailer and drove to get the item and then brought it home. Thank goodness Alex had to work all day so I didn't have to lie and get him out of the house.

I decided to move some things around in the garage and when I moved this jack looking thing, it came crashed down on my thumb and blood started gushing. I'll let you know that as I was moving items I was thinking "I hope I don't hurt myself because then I'd have to have an excuse for Alex". Well, I went upstairs to clean it off and debated going to the dr's office for a tetanus shot. well, it wasn't worth of a doctor's visit, just some neosporin, tylenol and band-aids. When Alex asked what happened, I said I was moving stuff in the garage and then he didn't ask any more. So, the ITEM is still downstairs, hidden and I don't think he suspects anything. So, don't mention anything if you happen to see him, but can ask him after Friday morning.

P.s. I'm okay although it still really hurts

And the Stockings were Hung..

I personally think it would be a lot more fun to hang real stockings i.e. panty hose from the mantle, but I don't think that tradition will take place any time soon. My mom made stockings for me and my siblings many many years ago. I still have mine and love it. It's the perfect size for stuffing lots of goodies in and holds up well too. She has continued this tradition and has made a stocking for all her grandchildren - although I think little Josiah is still awaiting his :O. No pressure mom :) Anyways, ours are hung with care or just push pins in the mantle so the kids can't yank anything on top of their heads and are empty and ready to be filled Christmas Eve.



Stockings might be my favorite part of Christmas. Oh Yes, I definately enjoy me some presents, but a stocking bursting at the seams has its own rewards. I will say that now I know what it's like to be a mom and have the stocking that's the least filled. I always felt bad that my mom's stocking just wasn't as full as ours. I always hoped that there would be a little box from my dad that would make up for it all.


Anyways, there's some tradition to what goes into stockings. Some of these items include socks, toothebrushes, candy, underwear, chocolate and a pair of holiday boxers.

In order of appearance starting with the closest to you, Mine, Ryan, Olivia, James and Alex.
A side note on Alex's: Alex might have given my mom a hard time about making his stocking purple, so she laboriously made him a new cowboy one. However, it was not as big and therefore couldn't hold as much that the purple one made its way to the mantle this year. So thank you mom for all your hard work!!

White Christmas

Yes, I'm dreaming of a white christmas. What are the chances that there will be a foot of snow in Charleston on Christmas Day?? I'm sure stranger things have happened, but I won't hold my breath.

This might be my favorite christmas movie. No wait, It is, for sure. It came on TV the other night so it got recorded. The boys weren't that interested and Alex wasn't either. But that's okay because I could enjoy it all by myself! My favorite part is when the men do the "Sister" song and that always reminds me of my sister. I won't get to watch it with her this year, but maybe in another year to come.

I hope one or some of you will get to enjoy some white this christmas, because all we're getting here is rain.

No Year's Resolutions!

I don't do New Year's Resolutions. I'm not legally opposed to them, but I just don't like to start my year setting myself up for failure or disappointment. That comes naturally :) But during the year, I am constantly trying to change and improve improve things. Items that I'm currently working on: Getting up at 6 am and having a quiet time; Organizing my ever constant unorganized house (we'll have a crawler soon); Spending more quality time with my spouse and improving our communication; watch James improve with his speech and spend more time with friends.

I anticipate a few milestones next year: James entering Pre-K, Ryan entering preschool; Olivia crawling, walking, talking, etc., Cleaning house, getting rid of baby clothes and toys; Improve my couponing skills, moving more kids out of diapers and all in all getting some resolution to this economy!

But who could not smile when they see this adorable photo of my men!

The Holdgate's, Year 2009

Wow! It's hard to imagine another year come and gone. Here are a few highlights from Fiddler island.

We started off the year in our new home and have thoroughly enjoyed it. As we continue to pick away at unfinished projects, we consider ourselves very blessed to be living here.

We had a few visitors that we really enjoyed seeing: The Schultz's and the Wallace's. We really enjoy guests because first, we clean the house, and Second, we get to spend time downtown.

In May, we welcome Olivia Marie Holdgate to our lives weighing in a 7 lbs 11 oz. She has been a joy and a great addition to this crazy family.

Sometime in August, Alex had an office procedure that will make sure that our family stays at 5 and all went well.

We celebrated Thanksgiving here at our house with 18 bodies and had a great time. Alex and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on November 27th and were able to spend the day with family. My brother in law Nick, married Kristy in December and we are very excited to welcome her to the family.

In the summer of 09, we had Operation No Binky, Operation Ryan in the Big Boy Bed, and Operation Potty Training for James. All were successful. More recently, we had Operation Help Olivia Sleep Through the Night which is almost a complete success.

As we embark on 2010, we look forward to a few more milestones and happy times!

Is it Christmas time already?!

Yes, it is. I knew, not by the christmas music station that started around Halloween or the holiday lights that started showing up in mid-November, but when we pulled out our wonderful tree and plugged it in! Growing up, we always had live trees. One year, we bought a tree that we re-planted in our yard. It finally got too big that my brother finally cut it down. Anyways, we invested in a sizable artificial christmas tree last year. The reasons being the cost, the mess and the short amount of time that they can be put up. We've been very happy. So this year, Alex opened up the bag, took the tree out, attached the 3 parts then plugged it in! All in 7 minutes. It even has lights.

tt

This year, the decorating is sort of a hodge-podge of new and old, semi-breakable ornaments. I still have my ornament box that I've had since I was a little girl, minus the few that the kids broke last year. Call me sentimental, but I made Alex put those special church-made ornaments higher up so they can't get them. I guess I won't share EVERYTHING with my kids :) There's also a few mom-made ornaments that I treasure dearly that are illuminating my tree.

I have a goal to buy the boys ornaments, but I'm always thrown off by the cost of them. So, I think I'll buy a bunch after Christmas and save till next year.

Anyways, it's Christmas-time, only a week and a few days away and my shopping is 95% complete!! What would we do without the Internet???

P.S. Alex has been searching high and low for a train set to go around the tree. He finally found it this year and it's been a great treat for the boys. There's even a few presents under the tree already (Thanks Mom!)

James

James is the oldest and therefore, has a lot more interests. He is into movies, spiderman, games, fire trucks, legos and I'd say anything new. He loves presents! .

James is still my quiet child, and I'm thinking that a lot of that is due to his speech difficulty. Speaking of which, he is doing really well, meeting with Miss Katy, once a week. I worry that he doesn't participate socially due to the fact that he can't communicate as effectively as his peers, but I don't think his peers pick on him about it.

He is 4 going on 10 and it's hard to remember sometimes how much he's grown. He wears 4T but sometimes the waists on those are still too big. So, he needs slim style.

And that's my James!

Ryan

Ryan is a typical middle child. He's also been and currently still is, my hardest child. I don't blame him, I think he has a very passionate personality. However, my laid back parenting for James and Olivia does not work with him. Anyways, back to Ryan. He is an attention grabber and loves to do what everybody else is doing. He likes cars, trucks, movies, candy, and pretty much anything that James likes. I don't think there's anything in particular that I've seen so far that is distinctly Ryan. He is a 2 1/2 year old who is happy to receive any kind of gift, especially if James got one too.

Olivia

In no particular order: these posts are inspired by my sister. Every year for chrimas, she writes a post about each child, talking about their likes and their clothes size. It's very helpful for those of us who are purchasing gifts. So, here's what I have to say about Olivia. She is 7 months old. She likes to crawl around and put things in her mouth. She has received 1 girl toy, which is a teapot set that she'll soon be able to play with. Other than that, she plays with cars and trains and books.

She wears 6-12 months clothes and fits into 9 months right now. She's 95% for length and 75% for weight. A little more Boyd in her. She has strawberry hair and big blue eyes. She looks really good in pastels - green. She also looks good in bold crazy colors and designs.

Thanksgiving

This year, we were blessed with a bucket full of family for Thanksgiving! My brother and his family came - Ela, Ana, Emma, Colin and Aunt Nuta. My sister and family came - John, Jack, James, Grace, Kaylinn, Justus, Liberty, Josiah...I think I got them all. And us Holdgates.

Scott and Ela arrive Wednesday, the day before, just in time for dinner. Then John and Jamey arrived the next morning. After the first 20 minutes of the cousins meeting and greeting each other, things settled down, for about 10 minutes. With 13 kids ranging from 11 or 12 down to 6 months, anything could happen. Thank goodness, nothing happened this season. This is the only picture I managed to take due to overwelming cooking demands, but you can see 8 of the cousins, less the 4 who were hopefully napping.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the food, the fellowship, the naps and the beginning of the holiday season. Also, James' birthday is around and sometimes on Thanksgiving and our anniversary is right around there also. So, there's always a lot to be thankful for.

Here are some of my thanks-givings:

1. 4 years ago I gave birth to our little butterball, James

2. 5 years ago. Alex and I were in Annapolis, preparing to start a life together

3. My siblings and in-laws and nieces and nephews

4. Even though we didn't get to see my other brother Jimmy or my parents, We remembered them and missed them terribly

5. I'm thankful for new recipes...some good and some bad

6. I'm thankful for 5 years of adventures with my husband, Alex. Hopefully the next 5 won't be so adventurous :)

All in all, I'm just thankful. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

More Pics

They learn about Carnival Toys

Do you remember going to the school fall festivals and playing games and picking through buckets to find cheap plastic toys?? The goal seemed to be to collect as much as possible. Well, James' preschool / church had a Fall Festival and if you brought 4 non-perishable food items you got a bunch of free ride and game tickets. Free games! We're in. So, we packed up the fam and headed on over. There was a jump castle, mini horse, ball toss, ring toss and many many others. After the first game and the first toy, James was beginning to get the point. But, he held on to that little plastic camera in fear that Ryan would steal it. I managed to convince him to put it in the stroller because there would be much much more. He wasn't totally convinced till we played a few more games.

Anyways, little by little those toys began to break. Those fold out fans aren't above being crushed and those little army men with parachutes get all tangled up. But the boys did enjoy their first round of Cotton Candy, thanks to dad. More pics to be shown here and on Facebook. This particular game in the picture let you look through straw to get a toy. The boys were convinced that something scary would make its way out of there.

Funny Girl

I just love watching the personalities emerge from each child. Here's my memory of the first personality experience for each child. (I find myself reminiscing now that we're through having kids :( )

James - Hard to say when that moment was because he was always so laid back and quiet. But I remember how he would walk around in his walker in our house in Nantucket pulling out all the drawers. He thought that was great.

Ryan - Ryan made an impression early on. I can honestly say that he smiled at me around 2 months. And I'm glad he did, but he also did a TON of screaming. At least I knew he was trying to be happy despite his subtle acid reflux.

Olivia - She loves her brothers. She loves to watch them and have them roll over her and tickle her. Recently, she's been sticking her tongue out, like so, and the laughing. So, this is her first attempt at showing us personality. The picture isn't that great, a little fuzzy, but I'm not a great photographer.

Stomach Bug

This is what the stomach bug looks like at my house. James has a sinus infection so I finally set up a dr appointment to get some drugs but instead, James decided to throw up all morning. So, I still went to the appointment knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep anything down and we'd have to wait this bug out. Nothing's worse than telling your 1 week away from being 4 year old that he can't have orange juice or milk or sweet tea or even gatorade because it'll make him throw up. So, he resorted to falling asleep on the couch.

3 Times this week

I made it to the gym, 3 times this week. Mostly because Alex had to work late all week, I needed to get out of the house, and the gym watches my kids. So, I took Zumba, Body Flow and Zumba again. I started watching myself in the mirror, since I kind am getting used to how the class goes. Latin hip movements do not come naturally to me, as I saw as I watched myself in the mirror. But, I'm not the only one, as I peered around the room.

There are a group of ladies that stand in the front and center and seem to anticipate the instructor's movements and never fall behind. Me?! I was next to a 60 year old and behind a 70 or 80 year old. So, I looked pretty good :) But again, when it came time to cool down, one of the Zumba groupies decided to continue to Zumba while we all stretched. She did manage to encourage another groupie to join her, but it was a bit crazy. But then again, Zumba does make you do things you might not normally do. And what's up with that? Why is it that in a group, women will do almost anything, even if it means hip dancing, bum spanking and shimmying your shoulders in a glass enclosed room? You'd never see men do that. but then again, men would walk around a locker room in nothing but their birthday suit and I don't us women have a tendency to do that? I couldn't bribe Alex enough to take this class. A full hour of embarassment?? Not a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm7DyRjtWRc

Dressing up the Girl

These boys love Olivia or "Baby" as they call her. She is also enthralled with these 2 jumpy energetic boys. No one can get her belly laughing as good as Ryan and sometimes James. So, this is what I found today. Ryan helping her look as good as she can get.

Who's watching?

I am. Truthfully. I recently joined Gold's Gym again, motivated by a 3 time mommy tummy and childcare. As it turns out, I'd do almost anything if it provided childcare. Who can watch my kids from 4-6 while I get dinner going? Not the point....Yes, I joined Gold's Gym. I went for the first time today to Pump and Sculpt, a class that requires you to get there on time so you can grab your step, ball, 2 sets of weights, and yoga mat. After all that, there's not much room to do anything. The class entails a few basic moves on the step while holding weights, other weight exercises and using the ball with the weights for more exercises. Nothing terribly crazy, but could be a good workout. Me, I'm still sick but well enough to try the class. But 10 minutes into it, I realized how out of shape I was with my 2 low weights and frumpy with my baggy pants and t-shirt. Usually, I try to wear something fun and edgy, but those cute shirts don't cover the tummy yet:)

But I'm always reminded of being asked to join some sort of fun exercise class and my friend will say "don't worry, nobody's watching you". Well, let me tell you that I do. Yes, I watch other people in the class. One, to see if my skill level is not at the lowest and two, it's fun. You get to see the person who is working super hard, not hard at all and the one that takes it way to seriously. Yes, this post does have a point. I was standing behind one lady, who looked to be in her late sixties, but feels as though she's back in her thirties. Sometimes, you can just tell something like that just by looking at someone.

So, in my mind, here's what I was thinking. She was dressed in all black and had black gloves. Maybe gloves help with lifting, but she only had 8 pounders. She started doing weight exercises before the class officially started and I can only assume she had taken the prior class and was still excited from that one. I also noticed that when it was time to rest or drink some water, she continued to do her exercises as if she could just not get enough. There was also this air of "This is not big deal for me, I could lift weights all day". Well, the time came for the class to be almost over so we were winding down doing some big ball exercises. And yes, this lady decided do some of her own hip rolls while we were resting because what else should you do while sitting on a big silver bouncy ball?? She was looking quite proud of herself because she kept looking all around the room trying to catch someone's eye and say "Yes, I still got it".

Point of this, people do watch. I watch. I like to be entertained and think about other people. Hopefully I'll see her again and maybe I can do some of my own hip rolls and join the fun.

They don't get it or Do they?!

Some days it feels as though my kids just don't get it. As I'm strongly communicating with them I'm getting the glazed donut from their big blue eyes!! (I'm super excited all my kids have blue eyes). Then out of the blue, they say or do something that lets me know that it's not all sawdust in there. I've been working on a sinus infection and thanks to our friend,the doctor, he called in a Z-pak for me. So, I was with the boys getting ready for bed last night and our routine is to read some books, the bible, whatever and then sing a few songs and go to bed. Well, my voice is really rough and after a full day of communicating with my children, I was worn out. So, after I made it through the Itsy Bitsy Spider, I came down and asked Alex to help me out because I just couldn't talk to them anymore. So, he obligingly took the baby, who was asleep on him, up to her bed and finished the bed task. But before I left the boys, I told them that Mommy hurts so daddy's coming up. James and Ryan were on the bed and James told me to stand up. So, I stood up in front of him. Then he told me to turn around, so I did. Then he patted my back and said "back hurt mommy?". I said 'No, my throat hurts'. So, he rubbed my throat and then gently kissed it on either side. What boo-boo doesn't go away with a tender kiss? Well, my throat still hurt, but my heart was full!

The Cake, The Cupcakes, The Food!

When I get in cooking mode, watch out!! Sometimes I just do too much. But I don't think that happened on Saturday. I was able to knock out some items friday while the boys were at the movie theater. And the rest of the stuff was for the oven, so that didn't take a ton of time either. But, here's a picture of the cake. Boy, was it good! I know you're not supposed to compliment your own cooking, but it wasn't my recipe and I just followed directions and it was YUMMY!! Of course, I thought it wasn't big enough for everybody, so I made some box cupcakes for the kids.

Our Community group was coming over Sunday so I decided to cook some stuff for that. So, there were meatballs, pumpkin bread, cupcakes, cookies and bread bowl artichoke dip. As I was looking at my display, I asked Alex "Did I over-do it?" If I did, nobody said anything and there were hardly any leftovers. So all in all, a good cooking weekend!

Tonight, something from the freezer :)

My man is 33!

Yes, today is Alex's birthday. He turns 33, or 34 if we lived in China. To celebrate, we are going to be cleaning the house for the party tonight and then clean some more because we're hosting our community group here tomorrow. I'll be doing some cooking, although I did a bunch last night. Betsy very graciously took the boys to see Where the Wild Things Are so I was able to bake and frost a very delectable looking chocolate cake (picture to follow) and pumpkin bread. All from scratch, mind you. That's why it took so long. Today I have to make caesar salad, season the pork tenderloin, make spice cake cupcakes (from the box), asparagus and potatos.

As many of you may or may not know, Alex has a certain degree of excitement when it comes to presents. From my perspective, he is not able to let a wrapped present sit in the house for more than 24 hours. When we got back from our honeymoon, we had a room full of unopened presents. So, we had to open every single one of them at midnight, after which he proclaimed "There's nothing for me". Yep, that's what happens when you get married. One spouse ends up getting 'family' presents. Thank goodness, this hasn't happened to me. I have not yet received any bow and arrows or guns or hunting shirts.

This present excitement gene has made its way into our oldest child. James has an eagle eye for presents. He is, however, great at letting the real birthday kid open them. But James gets super excited while screaming "What is it? I don't know?!"

We had 2 boxes in our house, 1 from me and 1 from my brother. So, last night when Alex got home, James dragged both boxes over for the opening. Heaven forbid we wait another 12 hours!!! Alex got a great set of horseshoes and some fun toys from Cabela's.

So, Happy Birthday Baby! May we have another 33! (p.s. Alex doesn't read this)

Apraxia

We recently had a speech therapist come and talk to James. She diagnosed him with apraxia of speech. Wikipedia defines apraxia as "Apraxia of Speech (AOS) is a motor speech disorder (MSD) affecting an individual's ability to translate conscious speech plans into motor plans. Like other apraxias, it only affects volitional movement patterns."

It is treatable, but through a more rigorous and specific speech therapy. So, we will be have Mrs. Hufnagle come to our house once a week and help James out. Hopefully we'll see some improvement within the next few months......

James in Nantucket

Here are a few more pictures from Nantucket. James had a great time. Both boys have a tendency to wander around without clothes on. Not just inside the house, but outside too. It doesn't bother me a whole lot because that's less laundry for me to do. On the other hand, it bothers Alex, probably because it looks like we can't afford to dress our kids. But anyways, this is how James enjoyed Nantucket. Eating PJ&J on the couch with no pants on. And carrying around a bowl with Cheetos and sitting on the porch in the sun. Doesn't get much better than that.

Pop Pop's Baby

It's funny what little ones understand. After having Olivia, the boys have adopted many sayings about babies. For instant, when they see an egg, it's a "baby egg". And they point to my chest and say "baby". Not sure why, but they also do this to other women.

While Ryan was sitting with Pop Pop, he reached over and very gently rubbed his belly saying "baby". I was very proud that Ryan was being gentle, because that's not always the case. Needless to say, Pop Pop was not amused. After this, Ryan had to stuff something under his shirt so he could have a baby too. No picture taken.

Charleston Repeats

This year, I consigned a bunch of stuff at the consignment sale. One of my favorite things about charleston, is the fact that children's consignment is hot!! Also, if you don't want something, you put it at the end of your driveway and someone comes by and takes it home. I've picked up many things, including bikes and swings.

This particular consignment sale goes for 3 days and is crazy!! This is a picture of half of the warehouse and there's just one more day left to shop. This has already been picked through by consignors, volunteers and first time moms. Here's the process to shop: No strollers. They suggest you bring a laundry basket and tie a rope to it and drag it around. I found that to be a little annoying, but big strollers were more annoying. Nothing like tripping over some rope tied to a laundry basket. No, I didn't trip, but I thought about it. I have a small frame stroller that would be perfect for shopping so I sent an email to the owners and specifically asked if I could bring mine. I got a response of "ok". But, it was a lot smaller than a laundry basket.

Anyways, I spent less than 1/2 of what I made selling stuff, so I figure that's not too bad.

His first Accident

James has never had an accident. That's to say, he's never fallen hard enough to really bleed or bruise. He hasn't had stitches or broken anything. Ryan, however, took a chunk out of his forehead at 6 months. Anyways, Nick and his fiance Kristy were over for dinner one night and my boys just adore her. They adore her so much, that James got so excited that he jumped right over the couch on the hardwood floor, face first. So, here's my attempt to get a picture of his Bubba Gump fat lip. He's okay. The blood was a bit scary and now one of his front teeth is turning black!! But other than that, he's doing just fine. And so is mom :)

New Clothes!

Well, Olivia might be the only one getting new clothes these days. Lucky for her, she was born after 2 boys who had a closet full of manly boy clothes. Unlucky for mom, I have no idea what kind of clothes I prefer to dress her in. I finally knew what how to shop for boys and now I am dumbstruck every time I see racks full of pink sweaters, shirts and tights!!! It turns out though, that when you buy girl clothes, you should buy a complete set. For example, those cute little blue pants ended up being spandex-ey and needed a baggy shirt. Well, I didn't have a baggy shirt. And those adorable striped pants....You get the point. Anyways, I think I'm a sucker for little dressed and one piece rompers. This is a celery colored romper from Lands End that I found at the consignment sale. So cute! I tried to get a picture of her in it, and this is the best I got. So far, Olivia's colors seem to be anything pastel.

He couldn't stay awake

James hasn't been taking naps every day. Which is fine because he sleeps a little longer in the morning. But the other day, he just couldn't stay awake so he curled up on the sofa under his quilt and fell asleep. Gertie couldn't help with sleep along with him.

What's been going on?

Not much. This past weekend, it became official. No more kids for the Holdgate's. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

James: Just started preschool 3 days a week at Fort Johnson Baptist Church. It's about 10 minutes from our house. He seems to like it, although he cries when I drop him off. I don't think I'll ever get used to that. His speech is improving and we are able to understand him more. He is into cars, books and drawing and movies.

Ryan: He likes lions and watching Potter - Harry Potter. He is a fiery tempered little man, but he is so sweet and sensitive also. In this picture, he is naked, something that I find all the time, looking for "Gams" (crabs). I hid the bare bottom for fear of the blogger police banning my site.

Olivia: She is quiet and laid back. She likes to be held and looked at. She's into the newly introduced rice cereal, something neither of the boys would eat. She will not take a binky, but has her hands and any other blanket she can find, in her mouth. I guess each child makes us learn how to be different parents.

Our household has been binky free for a few months now, and it's been a relief. No one asks for it anymore. I find old ones around the house that make me nostalgic for those baby days, but I know it's for the better having them gone.

Anyways, the Holdgate's are doing well.

The Ants Came Marching One by One....

Yes, and they marched right over my little girl's face and feet. Down here in Charleston, we have these wonderful creatures called Fire Ants. No, they're not red. They look like normal ants. Except, they bit the dickens out of you! And they leave little pus filled bubbles. Somehow, they found their way into Olivia's bed and she awoke this morning and this is what I saw.

The pictures don't show the full effect, but there's one bit under her eye, one in the corner of her eye and multiple bites all over her toes. Those red spots are the bites. She doesn't seem affected. However, her mother is very distraught that ants were biting her face.

Recipe Blog

Www.triedandtruerecipesbytiff.blogspot.com

Still adding recipes, but an easy way to share some.

Gifts from Above

I feel the need to give credit to God for this one.

Down here in Charleston, if you leave something at the end of your driveway, it's for the taking. It's actually really nice because you never know what you're gonna find. I found a baby swing for outside with hooks and everything one time. And this is what I found the other day. A rust-free bicycle with training wheels! Can't find one for that price at a yard sale.

But, I found it by accident because I was taking a back road to go around the trash truck that I was behind and there it was!! Ready to go home with me. Yes, I did stop and ask the very loud easterne european family if they really meant it to go home with me or did their little boy just leave it there. And yes, I was free to have it!! Thank you Jesus!

Don't Poop on the Deck!

This seems to be a fairly regular occurance these days. And no, I'm not talking about one of the animals going #2 on the deck, I'm talking about Ryan, my #2 Child. No pun intended. I mean, why not just go in the potty and get a present? Maybe it's because every time my boys go outside, they feel the need to strip to their bare necessities. And when you're naked and running around, what else is there to do? Play in it? I leave it there, for you to ponder.