Girlie Feet...A Potty Story

So after having grown up with my dad and three brothers; then marrying wayne and having two sons, Ava is making up for lost time of girliness!  So lately she has been patting her diaper and saying "stinky" when she has messed it up.  So I thought it might be time to introduce the potty. However, she was scared of the toilet (we have a little seat that sits on top of the actual toilet seat).  Everytime I put her on there she would just cling to me and cry. Then one day I took out finger nail polish and she was all at attention. So I decided we would try something new.  I set her on the training seat and gave her a pedicure.  I clipped her toenails, filed them, and painted them a shimmering baby pink.  She sat perfectly still and watched me the whole time.  Then when I was done she kept pointing for me to do more. So I did her fingernails as well (but only with a clear coat).  Of course she did not potty, but at least we are making progress and she will sit for a while.  Now everytime she sits on the potty she points to the drawer with the nail polish.  She is so cute, and I love how girlie she is!  And hopefully she will continue to progress on potty training.

Not pregnant anymore

Um, so wayne was looking at my blog and I noticed my last post was my belly shots and i was like wow, i am not pregnant anymore(although you can't tell), maybe i should update my blog! so here it is;

• I had a beautiful baby girl, Ava Lynn Holloman on march 22 (which carla would probably like to me mention that was her birthday as well).
• Her nickname has been baby bird since before she was born, and i think it has stuck
• When carson and landen where coming to the hospital to meet their sister for the first time carson turned to landen and said "landen, let's go see if she's really a bird" (hope he wasn't too disappointed)
• Landen and Carson are great big brothers and the only time they get in trouble over the baby is when they won't stay out of her face because they always want to be with her.
• um, this maybe strange, and carson will be quite mad when he is older, but carson went up to wayne, lifted up his shirt and said "my boobs have drinks in them...you want some!" we almost died. and then he tried to nurse ava once when he was holding her! this coming from the same child that when i first got pregnant pointed to my chest and said "i like those!" YIKES!!! i think it is just because there was nothing there before, so i was probably thinking, yeah me too! oh well all good things must come to an end. (this post is getting weird)

So in closing

• Ava was blessed on May 1st and it was a beautiful blessing. She was blessed to be a virtuous young woman, to have an education and gain knowledge, and have a close and special relationship with her mother. (unfortunately that is about all i remember, but i know there was more)

Well this is my update, and hopefully it won't be so long before the next one.

belly shots with my boys

Okay so normally I avoid the camera when I am prego. However, my boys are so excited about their little sister that I thought I might regret if I didn't take pictures. Still I wish I would have taken then about a month ago before i doubled in size! My friend tricia took these for me, and she actually took more that i posted on facebook, but these were my favorites. Thanks Tricia!

New Family Game

I guess these are the kind of games that you come up with to play with boys after you have grown up with 3 brothers! don't worry my kids like it, they didn't feel abused!

Kids' Sports

I think kids sports are so funny! for the most part the kids just chase the ball and it becomes a form of organized chaos! But it is good exercise and they learn about the game, and as long as they have fun that is the most important thing. This is Landen and Carson's first time playing basketball and Wayne is the coach of Landen's team (which ironically enough is Duke) and the assistant coach of Carson's team (the green gators).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's that time of year again, Christmas party time!!! I have already been to 2, and plenty other ones to come! Each of my pregnancies have been over the holidays and even though that means i won't be able to stay within the 25 pounds the drs suggest, at least i can blame it on the baby vs. me just being a pig ;)

Also it snowed this week, which seemed early but definitely brought in a Christmas feel! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

Awards Ceremony

Today was the awards ceremony at Landen's school and we received a note that he was receiving an award! I was so excited I invited wayne's parents and aunt and they all came. It was a short ceremony and I am proud to announce that Landen received the Math award. I rubbed it in Wayne's face that he gets that from me. Because Wayne is always telling me how Landen is just like him, but there is no debating that he gets his math skills from me!! However we are working more on his reading and writing now, so maybe he can win that next time!!!

And the Winner Is....

CARLA!!!! I literally assigned everyone a number according to when they left a comment, and then I rolled a die (dice? unsure of singular from) and it landed on the number 1! So congrats and I hope you enjoy your elf on the shelf (even if he is just decorating your house for right now!:)

Introducing Baby Ava Lynn Holloman!

If I am completely being honest I was really nervous about the ultrasound this morning. I love my boys, but I really really wanted a girl this time! So when the ultrasound started I was looking like crazy, and the second she landed on the bottom, i was like is that...is she...it's a girl?! The boys and I both cheered and wayne was stunned. He was like how sure are you? and the lady was like um 99%, so she kept checking and when she printed out the pictures there were 3 different shots that said it's a girl!

I was so excited, i have only been able to think girl ever since i got pregnant. I had my name picked out Ava Lynn(my mother's name), and all my decor. I am going to use a bird theme that i thought was really cute, and it was fun because ava means bird.

Everything at the ultrasound checked out good, but they said the baby was bigger than they expected and since size is due to age right now, and not growth they changed my due date from April 23rd to April 2nd. But I know that I recorded it right, so I am not getting my hopes up. Seriously how bad would that stink to be expecting a baby around April 2nd (note my other two came early) and then ended up waiting until the 23rd!!!! So the doctors can count me as 22 weeks all they want. i am sticking with 19!! :)

100th Post Giveaway!

Okay so I am probably going to get in trouble for saying elf on the shelf, because really this is nothing more than my cheap remake of the product! But all the same I love it! So for any of you that are unfamiliar with the "Elf on the Shelf", it is a book that comes with a doll elf (that I personally do not find very cute), however the book and the concept are extremely cute. The book tells the story of Santa revealing the secret of how he knows who's been naughty or nice. He sends an elf to your home to keep an eye on you and report back each night. Then each morning he pops back to a different location in your home, and the kids have to find him. Then on Christmas Eve he goes back for good to help Santa with the toys that your children told the elf to tell Santa they wanted.

So keeping with this same general idea, and keeping my $30! I found this cute little wine bottle holder (which i didn't even know that is what it was until i read it on the tag), and decided it was a much cuter, and cheaper elf. So I got it and hid it until the friday after thanksgiving when the doorbell rang, and landen and carson went to answer the door to see this cute little elf staring up at them. It carried a note that said from the north pole, look inside. Inside there was a letter from santa explaining how the elf worked (only thing i really changed was that each day they were good the elf would report and bring back a treat from santa's workshop) which when they found the elf each morning they also get to look inside and find their treat, or...as was the case this morning a note saying they need to work harder on not fighting. i proudly announce that we have had a wonderful day of getting along and playing together nicely!!! i love this elf! They also got a certficate to name the elf, which they picked the name jingle bell.

So since i am so very much in love with this elf, and since this is my 100th post, I have decided to giveaway one of these elves complete with personalized letter from santa and naming certificate. if you are interested then make sure you are a follower of this blog, tell your friends, and leave me a comment to be entered for the random drawing. I realized some of you don't have children or that maybe they are too young or old for this, but it can also make a great gift as the elf; or you could put a bottle of sparkling cider inside and give it away. Whatever you would like, but to win you got to say so! Contest closes on the last day of November, so no more entries accepted after Tuesday at 11:59pm.

Blogworthy

So I don't really seem to blog much anymore, and I guess I just don't have very many things that seem blogworthy. But this definitely is!!!
Landen's First Day of Kindergarten!!!!!!!
He just picked out his backpack and lunch box yesterday because he really wanted a carolina hurricanes (hockey team) backpack and lunch box but I couldn't find any.

All dressed up and ready to go!

No I didn't cry...I'm just not a morning person, yikes!

This was definitely a family affair, we all took Landen in for his first day.

Landen doesn't look all that excited here, and so I asked him why he wouldn't smile so I could get a good picture, and he said because he was ready for all the parents to leave so his class could get started...lol, so I was like 'BYE'!

Finally able to get to work!

Carson couldn't stay for school with Landen, this is what he thought about that!

I am so proud of Landen, he is such a smart boy and I know he is going to excel! Most of all I am glad that he loves to learn, it made it much easier leaving him today. My little boy is all grown up (or at least is getting there faster than I would like.)

Little Graduate

This post is dedicated to Landen Holloman...

My little graduate!!!

3! what!?!

So my baby just turned 3, and that seems crazy!! I can't believe that it has been that long! He is my little sweetheart, and such a momma's boy!! For his birthday we just did a low key dinosaur party where I read them some dino books, dug in sandboxes for dinosaurs, colored pictures, played a matching game and used a parachute for a dino cave. Then we ate some dino shaped chicken nuggets and snacks, cake and ice cream and the end! but i think i enjoyed this one more because i didn't try to do as much. I was also really excited that my sister in law and nieces came up for a few days, I loved watching the boys play with their cousins. And it is so cute because they already miss them. A huge thanks for Carla and Jacob taking pictures, it is nice to not have to worry about it while I am trying to entertain and serve food. Anyways happy birthday to my little boy!

in need of suggestions...

So for Mother's day I want to make wayne's mom a video that will play pictures of back when wayne was younger, but I need a good mother-son song. I can't think of any songs that the lyrics would go well. it doesn't have to be specific mother-son, basically just sentimental, something like remember when by alan jackson, but not, because i already used that when i made joan one for christmas.
also i need to know how to use my lightscribe, or whatever the thing is called to print a picture onto the top of the cd, so if anyone knows how to do that, i could use some help!

Thanks!

Oh my it's that time again

This one came out sooner than the others. And sadly I am not sure that this trailer looks all that exciting. but let me know what you think.

Buy 1 get 1 free photobook

Hey for anyone who is interested snapfish is doing a buy one get one free one their classic photobooks. the promo code at the end is SPRINGBOOK and it ends on March 9th, so hurry if you want one. also the promo code for free shipping is 30FREESHIP, but you have to spend at

least $30 and I don't know if I am going to do that or not. But I thought I would pass on the info!

One Lucky Girl

One day, years (and years) from now one lucky girl will get to marry this boy. I am sure that is what all moms think but this one really is extra special! I have been pretty sick the past couple of days, some bug is going around here, wayne's mom and dad have had it too. so today i was getting to know our toilet up close and personal and carson came in and sat on the floor next to me and said "mommy you sick?" I nodded my head "yeah" then he laid his head on my lap and said "i make you feel better"! It was really sweet. Then he got up and sang popcorn popping to make me feel even more better! This is one of the sweetest little boys I have ever met, so I guess his future wife is going to have a hard time taking him from me. it's days like these i wish they could stay small forever. :(

I'm Back...for now

So I am not the most consistent person, it is a yellow personality trait to start lots of new things but never stick with any of them. And honestly i don't have much of a life anyways so i didn't have anything to blog about. Until now, i have two things to tell about. First...

Landen Turned 5!!! We had his birthday party at the putt putt place since he has been talking about it since june. However it was a saturday nite and it was packed, and it ended up being even more packed than i thought it was going to be! Landen really enjoyed it, but it was too much chaos for me, when we first got there it was so packed we literally couldn't get to the party room, the workers had to come and ask people to clear the walk way. and since there were so many people it was hard to find my people to tell them when i wanted to eat and do cake and stuff. so it was just crazy. it also didn't help that within the first couple of minutes of me being there i accidentally bumped into someone and she got mad and said she was going to smack me. so i lost my temper and told her to try it, and i meant it. but she didn't do anything else so i went outside and got my stuff. and tried to cool down and came back in and told her that i was sorry that i bumped into her but that it was an accident but that i didn't appreciate her saying she was going to smack me. then she was like you could have said excuse me. and i was like ma'am i did, and then walked away, while she kept yapping and cussing me out (ps i didn't hear her or there would have been a fight!jk.) But anyways, i am so proud of my little boy, he is growing up so fast and i love him so much! This picture is really funny though, the sun was bright and he can't really see!

Second...

I went to see the black eyed peas in concert!!!! It was by far the best concert I have ever been too!!! (and cindy, it was inside so i didn't get rained on or stuck in the mud!) my pictures are terrible because I only have my phone camera, so sorry. The stage was really amazing though, and they did more than sing, they really put on a show which really drew in the crowd. and we only had to pay $20 a piece. otherwise the cheapest tickets were $50 each!

picky palate giveaway

okay so anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with toys that teach!! being a teacher i guess that is no big surprise, but here is a delightful surprise. There is a giveaway over at picky palate for a $50 gift card to a fun online store called out of the toybox. So head over there and check it out!

Octoberfest!!

What a busy and fun month! here are some of the exciting things we did...


Hockey Season has started and it is Landen's favorite! It is so fun to watch the boys get into the game, even if we are terrible this year! We also went with some friends to the hurricane street party and my favorite part was watching the kids play street hockey, landen is actually good!! another funny part was when landen and carson went sledding down a manmade snow hill, it was awesome, but carson cried:(



A fun thing about fall is going to the pumpkin patch! but vollmer is like the mother of all pumpkin patches! it was the best I can't wait until next year to go back, I am afraid that the picture doesn't even capture all the fun things there are to do, and I couldn't get my videos to upload. After we left I was sad to find out that there were even more things to do there that I missed!!!


We also went to the state fair this year, but it was different from the other years we've gone, usually we spend a lot of money on food and just a little on some rides, but this year carson was big enough to ride too and so we spend a lot of money on rides and a little on food!! the kids had a great time, but i am not going to lie, i missed my food!


Halloween was so great this year, i love the age my kids are at, it is so much fun!! This year they were batman and robin, in case any of you were wondering, no seriously... no one knew who carson was, some people just called him superman and others were like what does the R mean!?!? are you kidding me?! who doesn't know who robin is!!(that's it, next year landen gets to be the forgotten side kick and carson gets to be the hero!) this year has been ridiculous for me I keep getting reminded that I am getting old! But all the same we had a great time we went to several parties and trick or treating, I love Halloween!!!