Catching up...a little

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.