The Holden Family

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Snippets of Our Daily Life

Another Day In Our Winter Wonderland!

The beauty of the snow does not get old!

The girls decided to have a sleep over one night on the floor. I found this sweet site when I came to check on them one night.

Christmas decorating has begun! Just needs a little greenery! It makes my heart so full to see our full mantle with our completed family stockings!

Space is limited around here so at nap time Quinny sleeps in our bed. Maggie decided she would be wonderful to snuggle up to!

One day while working I turned around to this sweet site! Quinn decided to give Mia a little story time and Mia ate up every second!

Someone is growing and exploring some new toys!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we had our sweet tiny Mia dedicated. All three of our girls have been dedicated and all three had different ceremonies with different people involved and different family members there. At Mia's dedication Ben's parents came to town for Thanksgiving kind of as a last minute decision and Mia was able to have some family there. Though we only arrived here a short time ago, we are immensely blessed to have such a loving church family that has embraced our family and loved on us from the very beginning. At Mia's dedication we chose sponsors to walk with us as we raise Mia and Terry and Christa have jumped into that role of not only loving on Mia but loving on our family during this transition. God's blessing on our lives and our children's lives is clearly shown everywhere we turn here and being able to stand in front of our new church family and dedicating our last little girl and committing to raising her in way that honors God and leads her to a life walking with Him was one of true joy.

Sweet Sisters

Family Photos

Terry and Christa standing with us. Christa was behind me in the other pictures we got.

We had to choose a verse to read as our prayer for Mia. We chose Philippians 1:9-11:

^"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

First Snowfall

On November 10th we got our first snowfall. It was a little icy but our girls couldn't wait to get out in it. We even did a little sledding down a little slope on the side of our house. We had bought all the snow gear needed the weekend before and couldn't wait to play. Quinny did pretty good, much better than refusing to walk in it last year. Ellie LOVED it! She would have stayed out there all day and at the second snowfall, which was more powdery, she played and played while Quinn enjoyed the warmth inside. Here are a few pictures from the first snow!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

3 Months

Mia hit the 3 month mark the day before Ellie turned 5. Time is flying by! She is the sweetest little baby. She is constantly smiling and has been "talking" more and more each day. She is continually enthralled with her sisters and they adore her. They always want to help with her and hold her. She seems to be growing well and is a great sleeper and eater. Tummy time is not her favorite but her swing is a must. She is sleeping through the night pretty much and only fusses when she is tired, hungry or wants her Momma. We are so thankful to have this healthy little girl as part of our family! Her smile is one that brightens a room any day of the week and when she giggles the day becomes so much better. We love her so much and are excited to watch her grow in the next month!

Gotta love that peacock hair growing in! :) Our girls can grow some interesting hairstyles!

What a smile!

Monday, November 24, 2014

My Favorite Space

Sweet Mia got her first room once we moved. Even though she never stayed in the nursery Ben created for our girls, this is one of my favorite places in our new home. I am looking forward to when we can create a space all her own, but for now this space works great. It has complimentary colors and art that go with her monkey theme and is the one room that has the most items that are our own. With a combination of items already here and items that we brought with us this space is the one space that is most like us. It is a space that I know Mia enjoys and I enjoy spending time with her in.

Sweet Mees asleep in her swing!

Sunday, November 23, 2014

A Whole Hand

Someone special turned a whole hand in our house on November 11th! Sweet Ellie is growing fast and we can't believe it! We tell her all the time to stop growing but she lets us know that she can not do that. We are so honored to be her parents. She is a super sweet sister to Quinn and Mia. They both adore her and Quinn desires to do whatever Ellie does. She is helpful and smart. She is beautiful and each day desires to be more and more independent. She has a style all her own and a memory like a steel trap. She is curious and imaginative. She is immensely excited about starting school next year and is learning to read so she will be well prepared. She blesses and challenges us daily as parents and as people and we would have it no other way.

This year Ellie requested a Little Mermaid party, which is extremely ironic since it snowed the day before her birthday. She started the day with breakfast with Daddy, we then had a special mermaid lunch that I made her and then we went for pizza for dinner (her favorite, besides noodles) and ended the evening with presents and cake. We always do something fun for their birthdays and so to go with her theme we went to the SeaLife Aquarium , which they had in Charlotte and we have season passes to. We were so excited when we found out they have one here too and it is the largest underground aquarium in the US, maybe even the world, as it is at the Mall of America. The following week we also took her ice skating as for her birthday we got her ice skates since we live in a cold weather climate we wanted to get her something she could enjoy now as opposed to when it warms up. When I agreed to the idea of ice skates I did not realize that Ben would not be doing any skating. I have not skated in probably 11 years, but it was like riding a bike and it came back to me quick. Ellie did awesome! She did not fall once and had a great attitude while trying something new. Ben said he was very proud of us! :) We are going to get him out there one day to give it a whirl! ;)

Unfortunately a few bins and boxes did not make it to the townhome and are in storage, the birthday bin was one of them! :( I bought Ellie a banner for her theme instead of being able to hang her traditional one up that I made her. It will make it's appearance again next year.