Brashears-Mallory Reunion

On the day after Christmas 2009, we had a little reunion with the Brashears Family and Mallory Family. The Mallory's lived next door to the Brashears from day one in their house on Rush Court, until the kids were in high school. We used to play and play and then play some more with the Mallory kids. Those are some of my favorite memories as a kid. We decided that since everyone was in town for Christmas we should all get together. We met at Caper Acres and despite the chilly weather, we had a great time!

Holden and daddy going down the slide...I think daddy's

having as much fun as HJ!

Loving the slide

What's up dude?

Grandpa and HJ going through the tunnel on

the way to yet another slide!

The whole bunch of us!

Brashears and Mallory kids...Brad, Erich, Keri, Jordan, Brook and Summer

With the spouses and kids

Mom, Dad, Janet and Paul

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. It was very busy with Holden's birthday the day before but I knew that would be the case. First it was off to Grandpa Gerald's house on Christmas Eve, then Christmas morning at our house with the kids, then to my mom and dad's for Christmas night and then off to Grandma Mary's the day after!!!

On Christmas morning we waited until 11 to get Adi from her mom. In the meantime, it was a beautiful, sunny morning and Holden wanted to head outside to play. Once sissy got here we opened up stockings and then our gifts. Adi got lots of crafts, clothes and nail polish stuff. Holden got balls and tractors!! The gift that was the biggest hit though, was the one from grandma, grandpa, gran, and gramps - a motorized, ride-on jeep!

The Jeep!

Grandma and Grandpa's House

Check out all of those stockings!!!

Zander-man!

Gracie Girl and her new princess umbrella

Holden liked walking on the box and "jumping" off

A scrapbook kit!

Lots of new books!!

Adi dressing up in Gracie's new dress-up clothes!

Gavin dressing up in Gracie's dress-up clothes!!

All of the kids piling into Gav's 'Cars' car tent.

Grandma Mary's House

Hula Hoop fun!!!

Holden's 1st Birthday!

Our baby boy is 1! Has it been a whole year already? What a challenging, fun, hard, exciting, and very special year it has been. Our little baby is a little boy now. It's bittersweet for mommy. I love watching him grow and learn new things every day, but it is going by really fast.

We had a really fun dog party for his 1st birthday and invited all of his (and our) friends. We decided on a dog theme because it seems Holden has liked dogs from day one. He's been around them from the time he was in my tummy - listening to them bark and me yell at them. Lance wanted to do a baseball party but we have lots of time for that. We had puppy dog coloring books for the guests to color in, a dog pinata that even Holden took a couple of whacks at (with mommy's help), stick the paw print on the dog game (like pin the tail on the donkey) and paw print cupcakes that the kids got to eat out of dog bowls! Oh, and Holden loved his first birthday cake -he has our sweet tooth for sure!

The Birthday Boy!

His first birthday cake!

Sharing with mommy!

Lauren (neighbor) and cousin Gavin eating their

cupcakes in the dog bowls.

Jacob (neighbor) and Graysen (neighbor)

Sissy!!

Cousin Evan!

Wow! Mom and dad, check out my cool ride-on tow truck!!!

Auntie Kimberly helping with gifts

Everyone wants a turn on the tow truck

Rilyn and Gracie showing some love...so cute!

11 Months

Once again, I am a good 2 weeks late on updating the blog! Holden hit the 11 month mark on Nov. 24 and wow, I feel like so much has happened in the past month. He started fully walking just after he turned 10 months and he's all over the place. It's hard to take him anywhere, like the store, because he wants to walk all around and grab things and then he throws a temper tantrum when I pick him up and try to carry him or put him in the shopping cart.

Let's see, he is now walking, has 5 teeth, says no no no to all of the things he's not supposed to touch or play with, brings us books to read to him (especially when he's getting tired or just waking up), and sleeps through the night (for the most part). He still loves dogs and kittens, loves his truck and animal picture books, loves tractors and big trucks (really gets a kick out of watching the garbage truck), loves finger foods or whatever we are eating, really LOVES smoothies from Jamba Juice, loves being outside, loves playing with other kids, and still loves to play with all balls...baseball, rubber, bouncy, football, basketball, and soccer. He still hates getting dressed and his diaper changed and gives mommy quite a struggle to do either, and he does not like to go to sleep and gives a good fight to stay awake.

I can't believe he's almost a year old!!!

Loves drinking with a straw...maybe I should put milk in that!

Grandpa pulls him around the house on this car....

And outside

Loving the swing with Grandma

First carousel ride. Hard to see but it's mommy, HJ and Adi

Checking out the "tractor" (fork lift) in the warehouse at work

Trying to climb up the slide...always have to keep an eye on him

Loves to play with (or rip to shreds is more like it) mommy's magazines

Sliding around with the magazines

Loves the laundry room because there are so many fun things...the dog door, washer and dryer doors to slam and the garbage can.

I gave him the cereal container to entertain him for a few minutes and the turkey got it open and dumped it all over the floor! The dogs loved it!