Whoo's ONE?

We ended up celebrating Baby A's 1st birthday a week early, due to school starting next week.  

Here is a picture of the birthday girl!  SO grown up! My niece, Addi came and stayed with me a couple weeks ago and we had a blast putting her party together!  Addi made the skirt, I made the headband and shirt, and Auntie Christine made the shoes.  Isn't she the best dressed birthday girl you have ever seen?

Here are some pictures of the decorations and party favors. These are little owl pillows. 

Addi and I had so much fun playing with fondant.  

Might just be our new favorite hobby!  

It is hard to see but the bottom pictures are Baby A's month pictures from 1 month to 11, with the last one in her party outfit.  I will have to take her 12 month picture next week!

 Time to eat!

 Here is the before pictures, digging into her cake.

And the after picture.  She didn't get into it as much as we thought she would.  :-)  I actually had to cut the cake open to see if she would like that better. . . NOPE!  A finger poke and a lick here and there was all we got!

Without a doubt the other kids got more frosting on themselves than Baby A did!

Then it was time to play!

Opening presents.  

 

While we were playing outside Daddy found a bunny in Mommy's flowers.  That might just have been the highlight of the party!  LOL!

One last picture of Baby A's summer sandals!  Aren't baby feet the sweetest things ever?!?!  :-) 

Thanks again to everyone who came to celebrate Baby A's birthday with us.  We had so much fun!!!  XOXO

Little E's Tomatoes

Behind our shed Little E and Daddy have been working hard at getting their two tomato plants to grow.  It's not as tall as Grandpa's but Little E's first tomato was bigger then Grandpa's and he couldn't wait to show and tell him all about it!  We should have a good crop "IF" we can keep the hornworms away.  You can see the second plant behind Little E had the top eaten off before we noticed it.  

Summerfest

What a day!!!  We started the Summerfest activities out in the morning at 7:30 for the kids fun run.  

Love this picture!  Looks like they are getting their racing strategies all worked out before the race!  ;-)

And they OFF!

Here they are coming in for the home stretch.

At the finish line.

Baby A did her first fun run too. . . however she was pushed in the stroller by Grandma and Grandpa.

Here she is checking out her ribbon!

Then it was Daddy's turn for his 5K.

After the race we headed to the parade.  Before the parade started we attempted to break a new world record for the most people doing the Twist at the same time.  Check out the link!  http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/368999/

Baby A doing the twist!

After the twist it was time for the kiddie parade that Teacher Vicki puts on as part of her music camp.  

Then it was time to fill our bags full of candy!!!

After lunch and a quick nap we headed back up town to do a tractor pull.  What does Grandpa think of those green tractors?  Little E sure liked them since they were HIS favorite color!  :-)

After supper we headed to the peanut drop.  They think this is the highlight of the Summerfest activities!!!  They get to chase a golf cart around while it throws peanuts out of the back of it, all while running and trying to pick up as many as they can.  Then they get to cash their bag of peanuts in for a goodie bag.  

Yes, we will ALL sleep well tonight, that's for sure!  

Little Miss Summerfest Pageant

The time had FINALLY come for Miss E to be in the Little Miss Summerfest Pageant!

She could have been in it last year since it is for children four, five, and six years old and when I asked her (last year when she was four) if she wanted to be in it she said "YES," but I never entered her because I didn't think she would actually do it. . . anyway after her asking weekly if the pageant was here yet, it finally was. . . only a year later!  She said many times, "Boy this pageant is taking FOREVER to get here!"  I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't enter her last year!  But this year I made sure I entered her and she did GREAT!  We were very proud of her!!!  She wore her Easter dress that she refers to as her pageant dress.  She would look at it hanging in her closet for the last half a year as a reminder of the pageant coming up.  (I was tempted to hide it several times, just so she would stop asking when the pageant was, but I never did!)

Here she is ready to leave the house.  Our little sweetheart! ;-)

She was a little shy when we got to the school, but as soon as she got on the stage, she didn't want to get off!  :-)

They had interviews by themselves with three judges before the pageant and then they headed to the stage for another interview question in front of the audience and the final judging.  Here she is walking into the pageant as it is about to start.

A quick video of her saying her name, age, and answering the interview question.

A picture of all the beautiful contestants.  

Although she didn't win, she had a blast and informed me before bedtime that she wants the bigger crown next year!  Might have to see if I can find her one on ebay! ;-)

Love you sweet baby girl!  You certainly have grown up in a blink of an eye and we couldn't be more proud of you!  XOXO

Thank you also to everyone who came to cheer her on!  :-)

11 Months

 Our sweet baby girl is 11 months old today!  She is our little honey, that's for sure!  She still loves to eat, more table food now then baby food and drinks great from a sippy cup.  She loves to give high fives and to wave.  She is happy all the time (as long as she gets her way!)  Lord helps us!  ;-) Check out the video below to see what else she learned this week!  Pretty exciting times in the Holland household!!!

Here is a close up of her Twinkle Toes that Nana and Papa gave her for Christmas. 
Can you say spoiled?!?!  ;-) 
Aren't they so CUTE?!?!  They fit her just in time too, to do some serious walking!

Alan

For an early celebration of Nana's birthday we went to the Alan Jackson concert.  It was a GOOD TIME!  :-) 

Trip to the Cities

We spent a couple days in the cities; hitting the water slides, shopping, and going to the zoo.  It was a fun mini vacation! I just brought my little camera so I didn't get lots of pictures, but here are a couple.

Red, White, and Blue

Happy Fourth of July Everyone!

Miss E 5 Years

Little E 3 Years

Baby A 10 Months