The Holden Family: March 2016

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Home Sweet Home-Ellie's Room

We are slowly tackling spaces around here little by little and we want to share our progress as we complete them. It is great to see the spaces come to completion and I love to check things off my list! Ellie's room was the first space to get completed. It just kind of happened that way as she had most of her items already and so with just a few details it came together. The only thing we would want for her room is a little side table next to her bed and some blinds (she has the only room without blinds and has flower shades instead), but other than that I would say her room is complete. I have been waiting to take pictures of the completed room for it to be clean, but that is not exactly reality. ;) Ellie loves to watch house shows with me and then will decorate her room with "rugs"(otherwise known as blankets) and pillows and chairs become couches and room dividers. She is very creative and her room is always evolving to showcase that.

Before:

This was Ellie's room right after we closed on the house. The whole house was painted grey with an underlying tone of purple, with the exception of the basement, two bathrooms and the master and master closet.

In Between:

This is how her room was for about 6 months or more. She got paint and then pretty much used what she had from her last room. Ben decided to repaint her bed a softer white color and so it was being worked on.

After:

Her bed is complete! It is so nice to have it back. Ben did a couple repairs and sanded it down and repainted it, which was more work than he thought it would be. She got new curtains and art, as well as a change in closet hardware. She had a brass knob and she chose a more updated one. I made the tissue paper flowers for her rainbow birthday party and after her party we hung them over her bed. Her room has turned out great and is one of my favorite rooms of the house! She has her own opinions and so she had just as much say in art and curtain choices as we did. I would give her options and then she would make the decision. It is her space and it was important for her to like her space!

With the bed and dresser next to each other you can see the change in color. We love the new color much more. Ben is planning on repainting the dresser in the future.

So our first room pretty much complete! Fun and girly, which represents Ellie perfectly!

Monday, March 7, 2016

January 2016

We have started a new year and I could not be happier to close the 2015 book! 2015 was one of the hardest years of my life for many reasons, one huge one being the loss of my grandparents, which still hits me at various moments. It was a year that has challenged me and our family in ways we never expected and has given us experiences that were both great and harder than we desired. I went into 2015 with great expectation and excitement never dreaming what it would actually bring. As we begin 2016 I am looking at it with no expectation as 2015 taught me that anything can and will happen and you have to hang on and trust God, knowing He is in control even when you can not fathom to understand all that is happening around you. This year I am going to enjoy every moment I can with my girls and Ben and find contentment in those moments. We closed out 2015 with sickness and continued with sickness until around the end of February. Someone here told me Minnesota germs were no joke and they were not kidding! By the end of the 2 months every one of us had been sick and in some cases multiple times. We battled flu, pink eye, more than once and with multiple kids, our first ear infections, multiple kids, flu again and strep throat. It was rough, but we are seeing some warmer temps now in mid-March (60, which is warm here) and hoping to get rid of the germs once and for all! Because of all our sickness my picture taking was not that present, so we have just a few pictures from our month.

Discovered a new place to play!

Trying to create polar bears at home while we were sick and missing school!

Drawing polar bears!

We went to the zoo to see the polar bears. We braved the elements and our sick bodies. I promised Ellie when she missed polar bear day I would take her to the zoo to see them. We did it, but the polar bears were no where to be found! Last time Quinn, Mia and I went they were swimming and playing, so it was a little bit of a bummer, but we visited the other animals and got to see some of them playing in the snow.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Life Lately...Part 2

We enjoyed snow cream! Have to make use of all the snow!

We played...

cuddled up next to sissy...

and got good use out of our coat!

Ellie got sick at the end of her winter break and missed her first day of school. :( It was polar bear day at school, so we made sure to do activities at home with that theme and her teacher let me know what they were doing at school, so we did those things at home too!

We squeezed in a game of Chutes and Ladders...

and homework!

This is the only way to keep her ears warm, she will not keep on a hat! Having had two ear infections this year, keeping her ears covered is a must! Minnesota cold germs are no joke!

Ellie is a party animal! She went to many girl parties from her class and is now hitting up the boy parties too! The social calendar is full with only one in school, wait until all 3 are!

This little lady is a snuggle monster and pretty much sneaks in our bed each night to snuggle!

It snowed!

I have been trying to do little things around the house and styling the bookcases was on my list!

The girls made Maggie a habitat!

It snowed again! Ellie actually got out early for this storm, but life was back to normal the next morning.

This little lady got tested for Kindergarten Readiness(which they do around 3 1/2 here). She passed with flying colors! She needed only 16 points and she got 25! We celebrated with Mommy time!