Holden Family

Catching up...a little

2009-04-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know I have been slacking but in my defense Jason was home for 10 days which was awesome. I can't wait for the day he is home for good and I can ask him when his next trip is =). While he was home we went to upstate New York for a surprise 25th anniversary party for his parents which turned out great. The best part was Jason's mom's face when she saw all of us kids pull into the driveway. She was expecting to see my sister-in-laws, but not us or my brother-in-law. It's too bad that we didn't get her face on camera because it was classic. While there New York apparently didn't get the memo that it's April which means springtime because it snowed the entire time. Don't get me wrong I love the snow, but only if I can be on my snowboard. Overall, the trip was nice especially since Jason and his whole family haven't been together in about 2 years. Usually at all family gatherings there is a person missing and that person is usually Jason.
Here's a picture of the snow the first day:

I thought this picture was too cute of her all bundled up and ready to play in the snow. She absolutely loved being out there. Makenzie would constantly say all day that she wanted to go outside.

My nephew and Makenzie are watching grandpa Sheldon plow the driveway. They wanted to go out there so bad. =) Oh and by the way Makenzie is wearing Jason's shoes so her feet would stay warm and dry...to cute!

Should be working

2009-04-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update while I should be working =)

Jason will be home tomorrow for ten days which is SUPER exciting and Makenzie is very happy to see her daddy. Yes, everything is hers...regardless of whether it is really hers or not. The terrible two's are in full swing, she decided last night that me telling her something was not okay and it was better for her to lay on the ground crying...fun times.

Makenzie is doing a great job with the potty training and has only one accident a day. I still put her in a nighttime pull up at bed, because she sleeps so hard at night that I don't think she will ever wake up. I am just working on getting her to use the potty all day with no accidents and than we will try big girl underwear at night. Her favorite thing after the shower is to tell me which pair she would like to wear...Elmo, princess, doggies, tinker bell, etc. She has a wide variety to choose from. The pictures below are of Makenzie with her Potty Board, my friend Carrie and I put this together for her. The basic concept is everytime she uses the potty like a big girl we put a pair of underwear on the monkey, once all the monkey's have underwear on she gets a small present. Now, that she fully understands the concept she LOVES it.

Dana Duncan Photography

2009-03-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

As promised here are a few of my favorite pictures from our family photo session with Dana back in February when Jason came home. He has a love hate relationship with the pictures. He loves them on one hand and on the the other hand he thinks he looks old, but I LOVE that we finally have family pictures. I think it has been over a year since the last time we had family pictures taken and we both HATED those completely. I keep telling him we are old, it's not like we are 19 anymore it has been almost 9 years together. Thank goodness for a friend who is a FABULOUS photographer! I hope you enjoy them.

Tricycle Fun

2009-03-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

So, I love daylight savings time. Okay, well I don't LOVE it the first couple of days after but I LOVE it now and so does Makenzie. With the extra time it allows the two of us to explore outside and play. For instance to day after getting home we went outside to finally try out the new tricycle she got for Christmas from g-pa and g-ma. She is still getting use to the whole pedal and steer process, but she had a blast. I love watching how she gets things for the first time and how much she enjoys being outside. It will be so nice when the weather is finally nice enough all the time to do things outside. Here are some pictures from her first offical time on the tricycle.

Makenzie up by the house getting ready to try it out

She's got her game face on...

Always have to check behind you to make sure that there aren't any cars coming...

All smiles after a successful first ride outside!

One last bit of information is that we will get to spend a week and a half with Jason. I couldn't be more excited to see him and for him to get some quality time with Makenzie...I will post again sometime in the next few weeks with the update from Jason's trip.

Fun in the Sun

2009-03-18T18:51:00.001-07:00

So, the weekend before last we had a gorgeous weekend and Makenzie took full advantage of it. On Saturday we played in the backyard which she was SO excited about. It's amazing how often she will ask to go outside to play and I have to tell her no, because it's to cold, it's raining or it's to dark. Now all that has changed and Makenzie absolutely loves it. While enjoying the fabulous weather she got to play in her house from grandma and grandpa, use her mini slide set and play ball with Ty. After all the playing it still took everything I had to get her back in the house for lunch and a nap.
She loves her house and was SO happy to finally get to use it outside. I had it set up in the house for awhile so she could play with it and I can say that she ate dinner in there several d
Yes, she is just in crocs, underwear and a tank top. She refused to put pants on and just wanted to play outside, don't we all have those moments? At least she was in the backyard and not the front.

Makenzie's 2nd Year Pictures from Nov.

2009-03-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

So, as many of you know my friend Dana is a photographer and I have been lucky enough to have her take several different sessions for us. The pictures below from a session in November that I had done for Christmas/Makenzie's 2nd birthday. I know that was several months ago but its better late than never.

For those of you who know Makenzie know that she is a total ham and loves to be in front of the camera. The pictures only help to show those of you who haven't seen her in awhile. Enjoy and if you need a photographer check out: www.danaduncanphotography.com or her blog at: www.danaduncan.blogspot.com

Way behind

2009-03-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, for some reason I have forgotten to blog. Well, not necessarily forgotten but just not kept up. I promise to become better at keeping everyone informed about what is going on in the Holden household. Well, since the last blog Jason has made it back to the United States and is currently stationed in Mississippi. We have gotten the opportunity to spend sometime together over the past few months. It's strange to think that we have basically mapped out the next year of visits already. I can't wait until he is home for good.

Coming soon I promise to post the family pictures that my friend Dana did for us last month when Jason came home to visit. She is phenomenal and I look forward to many more sessions with her and our family. Once I have received the disk I will go ahead and post some of our favorites for your enjoyment.

Makenzie is doing great and getting SO big. She never ceases to amaze me with what she has learned that day in school and how observant she has become. Makenzie happens to be in the repeat stage, so now more than ever I have to watch what I say around her, and for those of you who know me I have some small tendencies to curse like a sailor.

Alright, I will post again soon, I promise. I need to get back to work.

The Offical Time

2008-12-18T17:50:00.001-08:00

Myspace Countdowns, Love Countdowns at WishAFriend.com

The countdown has begun

2008-12-14T17:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend was amazing and the only thing that could have made it more perfect would have been having Jason home. Speaking of Jason coming home, the countdown has begun he will be home in approximately 33 days. I am ecstatic because he is due to come home the night before my birthday! The last few weekends have been a little rough, because Makenzie has been sick. Last weekend Makenzie had the flu and this week she has been coughing and it got so bad that Saturday morning I took her to the doctor just to find out that she has and ear infection. Fun times...

Oh, how much i love the terrible two's. She now outright tells me no and doesn't do what I ask her and to make things worse she throws herself on the ground. Oh, and the best part of this lovely terrible two stage she throws things and shoves them out of the way when she doesn't want to do what she has been asked. She unfortunately has had a lot of time outs and time spent in our room lately. If any one has any ideas of how to deal with this PLEASE help.

Well, that's all for now I will post a couple cute pictures of Makenzie in a few days.

Thanksgiving and 2nd Birthday

2008-12-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

(Couldn't resist)

Okay, so I know that I am super behind and have a ton to talk about. First off last month I finished my second Bachelors degree in Paralegal studies and am now studying for my LSATs which I take in Feb. Never seems to be a dull moment in my life, but everyone who lknows me knows that i love to be super busy.

Second, thing is that Jason will be home in just ofver a month and I am super excited about that. Well, technically he won't be home in Virginia but at least in the states which is exciting. I know that he is as ready to be home as we are ready for him to com home. The next year and half is still going to be hard with being stationed in Mississippi and than being deployed for another six months after that he will be back in Virginia hopefully. If he doesn't make it back here we will go where ever he is stationed, because I can't do another separationa dn it's completely unfair to Jason and Makenzie. So, just a little bit longer.

Thridly, Makenzie just celebrated her 2nd birthday on November 30th. We where lucky enough to be able to spend it in Charlotte with Jason's brother and sister. The group of us took the kids to Monkey Joes a bouncy world for a little fun and entertainment. I have never been, but it was fabulous fun for not just the kids but the adults as well. After Monkey Joes we went back to my sister in-laws house for dinner, cake and presents. Makenzie had a princess theme to the party and just about everyone gave her something with a princess on it. I have put some pictures of her cake in this blog just to show you how fabulous the cake was. Thanks Stacey for finding it, it was perfect and Makenzie loved it too.

Lastly, Makenzie had her 2 year check today and she is perfectly healthy and progressing nicely. The doctor was impressed with her usage of words and the vast amount of words that she used and put together. Makenzie weighs 31.1 pounds and is 35 inches which is in the 90th percentile. I think height wise she is probably in the 80th. They had some technical difficulty getting her height and I don't think either one of the numbers are right, but what are you going to do about it. I guess when we take her in again in a year she will be a half inch shorter than what she is supposed to be :)

That's a quick update of everything that has been going on and hopefully I haven't forgotten anything.

Pictures by Dana

2008-11-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday i had the opportunity to have one of my sorority sisters and friends take Makenzie's second year pictures. It's amazing to see how much Makenzie has changed over the past four months from the last photo shoot Dana did. I love how she is such a ham in front of the camera. Dana has placed a sneak peek of our session from yesterday on her blog page: www.danaduncan.blogspot.com. If you need pictures done I highly recommend her if you are in the area or don't mind flying her to where you are located =). Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

School Halloween Party

2008-11-01T07:17:00.001-07:00

Mmm..Snacks

Her table

This is Jack, he asked to have his picture taken...too cute!

A few of Makenzie's classmates all dressed up

Ms. Fairy herself

Yesterday, I was able to make it to Makenzie's Fall Festival which proved to be a lot of fun. Her entire class was dressed up and ready to party. I have a few pictures of that I will put up of her and the others. It started around snack time and they all wanted to eat the treats that had been brought. It was so much fun to see her and her classmates interact.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-01T06:53:00.001-07:00

Smiling So Big that her eyes were closed

This one Please =)

Tired after a fun filled day

So, I am a little behind in blogging . Last weekend Makenzie and I went to the pumpkin patch to pick out one to take home. After we got home from the pumpkin patch we deceided to carve it and unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from evolution since she didn't want to stick her hands in it. Makenzie is the biggest girlie girl there is. So, here are a few pictures from last weekend and her fun with the pumpkins.

Beerfest

2008-10-27T03:08:00.003-07:00

So trying to find some sort of normality in Asia, I made my way to Beerfest! I left Singapore and travelled across the border to Jahor Baharu, Malaysia. Sounds simple but here's how the trip went. I caught a train for 15 min to a train station near the border, but the bus was broke down. I got back on the train for another 10 min to catch another bus. It was meant to hold about 40 people but you know these crazy asians... we fit at least 70 on there. Finally we made it to the border, as i tried to leave Singapore I was detained by Customs agents. Apparently i have been living in Singapore on an expired Visa. Whoops, now i know how it feels to live in southern Cali. Hahaha. Eventually i was released by the Singaporean authorities, where we then stood in a 2 hour line in the dead heat of the afternoon to be stamped in to Malaysia. All i can say about that is WOW!!! Once we crossed into Malaysia... Hot, sweaty, tired, and in dire need of refreshment we could almost smell beerfest. Somehow our guide talked us into walking a mile to save money on a cab ride. So instead of spending 11 ringot it only cost about 6 ringot. So you know that is only about 1.40 US. We live; we learn right? We finally arrived at the hotel. Washed up, got changed into our drinking clothes and proceeded to beerfest. We sang, we danced, and we competed. I haven't drank that much beer since well.... I don't think i have ever drank that much. That says alot. It was a good time, and the border crossing was worth it.

Wonderful World of Potty Training

2008-10-16T06:07:00.001-07:00

Lat weekend Makenzie and I were working on potty training and she was in big girl underware which she loved. I would give her the option of a diaper or big girl underware and more times than not the big girl underware won out. So, Makenzie is slowly getting into the process of potty training and last night seemed to be monumental. She actually used the potty, she said "poop" and starting throwing a fit so I immediately took her to the bathroom and she did her business. It was pretty cute how proud of herself she was. Unfortunately, even if she is just wet she says poop but we are completing the stage of her telling us that she is wet. I am curious to see how long it takes to get her fully potty trained.

P.S.
I wasn't aware of how frustrating it was going to be to potty train...but it is still one of those moments that makes being a mom so rewarding when they finally get the hang of it. :)

So True

2008-10-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of my sorority sisters had this in their profiles and it couldn't be more true. My husband is in the Navy and I think this how most of our bad nights went. =)

Mommy's little helper

2008-10-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Well, Makenzie is growing up so fast and LOVES to help me. It seems that whenever we go grocery shopping I need to have a bag that is light enough for her to carry otherwise she gets upset. This weekend is no exception when she helped mom make halloween cookies. From the pictures above you can see her enthusiasm.

Pictures of Makenzie 10/08

2008-10-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

She is actually saying cheese!
Pretending the banana is a telephone! Such a cutie...

So, I couldn't resist putting this picture up! I know that she will hate me later in life for this, but she didn't want to put any pants on!

It's been a rough week

2008-10-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

So, starting last weekend Makenzie was sick and than i thought okay no biggie. Well, than Tuesday my mom called to tell me that my step-dad had heart complications and was sent to the hospital by ambulance. I was hoping for better news than I got, but by Friday we had finally gotten better news. My step-dad next Thursday will go in for an angioplasty which is easier than the open heart we thought was going to happen. So, need less to say this week has been a little difficult and that would be part of the lack of blogging.

Makenzie is feeling better and had calamari last night at dinner and absolutely loved it. I am so excited with the fact that she will try anything, may not like everything but will at least try it. She also had fish sticks and tasted my shrimp, I think she doesn't mind eating those things because they have a crispy outside. Guess, I will have to try shrimp without the breading and see how that goes...one step at a time.

Keep your fingers crossed that she doesn't have an ear infection, she was pulling on her ear a little bit not a lot, but enough to make me wonder. I figure that if she says it still hurts on Tuesday I will make an appointment for her at the doctors. It's so hard to tell when she is sick because she tends to be the happiest sick kid EVER...even last weekend she was in a good mood with a stomach bug. Well, that's all for now...I will put up some more pictures later today or tomorrow off to the park we go.

Not paying attention

2008-09-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

Well, I figure I will write a quick blurb since I am not paying attention to class. Apparently, Ms. Makenzie is back on strike. Now, not only does she not want to each veggies, she doesn't want to eat chicken. Her reaction to the chicken was eww, no. I am not going to give her fruit, bread and cheese for dinner. The first thing out of her mouth in the morning is eat eat, snack-cheese. I honestly think that if she could eat cheese everyday all day she would. I guess I may need to just breakdown and give her cooked carrots, which I completely can't stand. I was in shock when she even turned her nose up at pasta, she usually will eat it. Well, class is almost over I guess I can pay attention for the last ten minutes.

Terrible two tantrums

2008-09-24T16:36:00.001-07:00

Well, our house is full of temper tantrums and the life of the terrible two's has begun. My patients are definitely being tested due to Makenzie having teething issues and terrible two outbursts. It's hard to pick my battles when it seems that everyday is a battle, so if any of you out there have any ideas on dealing with the terrible two's I am all ears. We had another successful night last night with vegetables thank goodness for green beans. =) Tonight we didn't try a vegetable I figured we wouldn't try to push our luck. Tomorrow should be lots of fun with broccoli.

Some pictures of Makenzie

2008-09-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

So, I thought I would put some pictures up of Ms. Makenzie from this past weekend. It's hard to believe how much she has grown. I am truly amazed at how smart she is, she shows me something new everyday. Finally, last night she decided that vegetable were not so bad after all. Peas seem to have made the cut once again. Tonight we are going to try green beans and see how that goes.

Mommy and Me

2008-09-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

So, Makenzie and I went to our first Mommy and me class tonight. It was an interesting experience to see how she did in a class type atmosphere. Watching her was fabulously entertaining, and made me realize how much she has grown. We sang songs, played with shapes, learned about automobiles. I did this class as a free try and I have totally feel in love with the idea and being able to spend that time on just Makenzie. She got so excited when she did what Ms. Virginia the teacher said that she just about knocked me over running back to me. I love my little monkey.

10 Years

2008-09-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

So, I received a phone call from Jason this morning reminding me that he has been in the Navy for 10 years today. Wow, hard to believe that it's been that long and thank goodness that we are half done. We can't wait until he can be home with his girls, love him!

I am hoping to get some pictures up later today.

Hurricane

2008-09-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well, Hanna made our Saturday not quite what we had in mind, but we made the best of it. Initially I had planned on putting together Makenzie's new play house, but with the rain and winds that didn't exactly happen. So, we had a nice day in playing with her baby dolls, running up and down the hallway and doing puzzles. So, to all of our family and friends there is nothing to worry about we are fine and so is the house. I will put some new pictures up in the next few days of Makenzie's new haircut, she got bangs the other day which proved to be an interesting experience.

Pictures 7/12/2008

2008-08-27T17:37:00.001-07:00

Here are a few of the pictures that my friend Dana took of Makenzie. I will post some more tomorrow just a few quick shots. Enjoy.

First Blog

2008-08-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I figured maybe it would be an easier way to keep everyone up to date with our lives. For those of you that I haven't talked to in awhile Makenzie, Jason and I are all doing great. Jason is currently over in Singapore with the Navy and we hope to have him back state side at the beginning of next year. Makenzie is about to turn 21 months and growing like a weed, she is forever keeping me on my toes.

I am truly thankful for all the love she has brought into my life. Her smile just illuminates the room and the giggle is classic. Everyday she shows me something new and surprises me with something she has learned through her interactions with the world. Kids are truly amazing.

As for me, I am almost finished with my second bachelor's degree and when that is done I will be preparing to take my LSAT's in February. I doubt that I will ever be satisfied with where I am with school and will strive to better myself if I have the chance. Well, that's all for now check back again in a week or so and see what's new.