Christmas 2010

We have had a very happy and busy Christmas. We started lots of family traditions this year and are excited to have started them and can't wait to do them year after year as a family. We started our traditions by decorating Christmas cookies on the 23rd. Our church had 8 Christmas Eve services, so Ben was very busy, but we joined him for the last one on Christmas Eve and Ellie got to go in the big service with us and loved it. We came home and Ben read the Christmas story to Ellie and I. Then Ellie and I left out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. We started a new tradition of having take out Chinese and had a relaxing evening. Christmas Day Ellie had a great time. We first checked to see if Santa and the reindeer enjoyed their treats and then we started with stockings, had Monkey Bread and opened presents. Ellie loves to take off the bows and loved to rip the paper. She got lots of new toys and clothes from all her family. She is very independent, so opening presents was fun, but ended up being a mommy and daddy job towards the end since she wanted to play on her own with her toys. Then we had a big Christmas meal and had a birthday cupcake for Jesus' birthday after dinner. (I kind of think she thought the cupcake was for her, since her birthday was about a month ago, but we want her to know why we really celebrate Christmas and this is a great way for her to understand it is for Jesus' birthday as she grows.) We had a great day! It was very nice to wake up in our own bed and wear our pajamas to open presents. Ellie was even in her jammies all day! That night it also started snowing and we woke up to a Winter Wonderland. We took Ellie out in the snow and she wasn't too sure about it this year, but we know next year there will be no stopping her :) Ben's parents then came for a couple days on the 27th to have Christmas with them and Ellie had a good time playing and opening her gifts from them. Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas and feel extremely blessed to have had this time together and to have started traditions with Ellie to remind her why we really celebrate Christmas.

Christmas Parade

We took Ellie to the Davidson Christmas Parade. They have a cute little downtown that the parade goes down and it was fun. It started snowing and sleeting right when the parade started and we stayed as long as we could, but we did not dress for snow, so an hour is as long as we could make it. We are excited to make this a family tradition and hope to be able to stay long enough to see Santa next year :)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we went on our traditional Christmas tree hunt with our good friends Andy and Katie, or as Ellie calls them Uncle Andy and Aunt Katie. This was our 3rd year going to the mountains to cut down our tree and we loved it. We got our 9 foot tree for only $25 and have found a great tree farm to go to every year. We found our tree pretty fast for the Holden house as they had a great selection. Ellie came just in time last year for us to go, but this year she was able to enjoy it a little more. It was very cold, but still nice. After loading up our trees, we finished the night with dinner at the Daniel Boone Inn (yummy!).

Thanksgiving 2010

I have been a little behind in my blogging updates, but we had a great Thanksgiving. Ellie is much older this year and was able to enjoy all the visitors. We had a full house with both sets of parents here. We had a busy time as we also had a little birthday party for Ellie with all the grandparents, ate lots of good food and even did some shopping on the morning of Black Friday (Ellie's second time, but last time she was too young to fully experience the early morning shopping).

Watch Out World, Here Comes Ellie!!!

Ellie has been doing this for at least a week, but gets a little more daring and confident each day!

Happy 1st Birthday Ellie!!!

We celebrated Ellie's first birthday and we can hardly believe it has been a year. She has accomplished so much in a year and grown so much. I made a special banner for her to have for her birthday each year as she grows. I don't have a sewing machine, so I found a great no sew one and it turned out great. It has inspired me to do a little more crafting. I also made some huge tissue paper flowers to hang as well. We had a family party on her birthday and will save our decorations for our extended family birthday in a week and a half. Ellie was mesmerized when she saw her decorations for the first time and just stared and stared.

Ellie started her day with Grandma's waffles. My mom makes great waffles, so that was what I made Ellie for her birthday breakfast that she enjoyed on her birthday plate. She gobbled them up. We then took her to the park for swinging time (her favorite) and a walk. She had peanut butter and jelly for lunch, which she is still unsure about and then took a great nap. For dinner, I made cheesy chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese from scratch with a great recipe from Allrecipes. Ellie got to open her presents from us and her Great GrannyFranny. She quickly learned to take the bows off first. After presents, she then got to dive into her cupcake. She was not shy at all. She dove right in and once she tasted that frosting there was no stopping her! She is definitely a dessert eater like her mom and dad. Ben then read her a bedtime story, "Happy Birthday to you!", which his dad read to him as a child.

Ellie had a wonderful birthday and because it is Veteran's day as well, Ben was off. She was a little sick, but it did not affect her mood on her special day. It was a great family day filled with many memories and we can't wait for what her next year has in store.



Birthday Waffles:


Walking:


Happy Birthday:


Cupcake Time:

Our Little Artist

Ellie and I ventured to story hour this week. This is our 2nd week meeting up with our friends Caroline and Ethan to enjoy story time, songs and dancing at the local library in Harrisburg. Ellie does a good job listening and loves to watch the other kids dance around. This week she got to color her first picture. I showed her how to do it and she went right to work. It was short lived before she was off to explore something else, but here is her masterpiece:



Can you see her light colors of red and purple? :)