The Holden Family: January 2016

We have been busy and I took a break from our blog, but with a new year comes renewed energy and a fresh outlook! I am going to spend the first couple posts catching up. November is a busy month for us. Ellie's birthday is in the first half and Thanksgiving is in the second half of the year.
Our sweet Ellie turned 6! We can hardly believe it! She has grown so much and is making such great growth in school. She is our sweet one that has a sweet heart and with that comes a little more sensitive of a spirit. She tends to keep things to herself. She loves her sisters and loves spending time with us! She is smart and beautiful inside and out. She is inquisitive and a thinker. I can always see her wheels at work. At school she is thriving academically, absolutely adores her teacher, is eager to go every day and is navigating the waters of friendships.
This year we had our celebration as a family as we usually do, with a fun activity too! We celebrated her special day, which here she attended school. They do not take Veteran's Day off, so it was business as usual. Her teacher does a great job of making them feel special on their day! When she came home we did presents, went out to dinner and cake. The weekend before Ben's parents watched Mia while we took Ellie and Quinn to see the Peanuts movie as her special fun activity.
This year also marked her first friend party! I grew up having friend parties and Ben grew up having family parties, so we are making an effort to incorporate both. Ellie has 7 other girls in her class and they are sticking together. They invite each other to their parties and she wanted to have her very own party as well. Ellie decided that she wanted to have a party with a rainbow theme and we decided to have it at our house. We played lots of games and decorated cupcakes and everyone had a great time. We had 10 little girls over here (Quinny and Mia are part of the 10!) and though very exhausting, was very fun! Ellie was so excited and on Monday they share about their favorite part of the weekend and all the girls told the class about Ellie's party, so that made her feel very special.
The later part of the month we celebrated Thanksgiving. We had it in our new home and Ben's parents came over for dinner. We made a little craft and had a relaxing day. We tried to take a family picture, but at this stage, it is more comedy than anything else! It snowed on Thanksgiving, so the girls were excited to get in it as it was the first snow of the season!
That weekend we also went out to cut down our tree. This has been a tradition for Ben and I since before kids and we have continued it here. In North Carolina, tree farms are super abundant and you pick the tree in the field and they cut it and haul it to the car. Here, tree farms are a little more scarce and Ben has to cut it himself and hauling it to the front for them to load. A little different, but we love the experience and are always excited when that day comes! That is our November highlights! It was a busy time and flew by, but we had fun and made great memories!