Christmas Card

Wishing you and your family the joy that comes from celebrating Jesus this Christmas!
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas Play

The twins had their first Christmas play at school last week.  When I say play what I really mean is they sang two songs to the CD player and rang some jingle bells, but they sure looked cute in their elf hats!  So without further delay, here's their debut...



Aggie Football

Since it is Heisman Saturday, I thought I'd add a few Fightin' Texas Aggie Football pics to the blog!
The Saturday after Thanksgiving we took all three boys to the A&M vs. Mizzou game.  Considering it was a night game, we had traveled ALL over the Houston area that week, and it was cold they did surprisingly well. 
 

Look at that smile!  So excited to be at his first Aggie game.

My favorite Aggie men. 

Levi waiting on the extra point to be kicked, hoping to catch the football.  (We weren't even close)

Luke has his gig 'em down.

My sweet little, brainwashed family.  Hey at least I can admit it!

 

 

We all had a great time at the game.  It sure helps that the Aggies look awesome this year (and in a few hours should have a Heisman winner).  I'll have to say the game left quite the impression on the twins.  The next morning as I was getting ready for church I heard them playing in the living room.  Luke was organizing and told Levi, "I'll be the Aggie football player and you be the band."  After which I immediately heard marching and kazoo playing!  To which I simply reply, WHOOP!! 

Thanks and Gig 'em.  

 

 

Thankful Tree

I was talking with a friend over the weekend about how hard it is to really teach kids about Thanksgiving.  Last year we started hunting for things to help alleviate this problem.  One tradition that has really helped us is the Thankful Tree. 

This month we've been memorizing James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."  I want our kids to be thankful, but more than that I want them to know who receives our thanks.

Each day, we add a new leaf to tree that has something we are thankful God has given us.  Before putting them on the tree, we each take turns praying, telling God thank you and why we are thankful.  I have to say, I've seen such a change from one year to the next.  Last year we listed every toy imaginable as well as some friends and family.  This year, I have seen so many more mentions of family and friends.  Now don't get me wrong, we do have Luke's frog (it's fake), the train table, each kazoo, race cars, Titus' night-night (he only has three leaves because of his very limited vocabulary) and even chocolate (I'm thankful for this one too!), but they've mentioned each of their brothers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends much more often! 

I love this tradition, and plan on keeping it around.  It is such a simple idea, yet gives me a glimpse at all of our hearts and what we are treasuring most of all.

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

Happy Halloween?

I realize this is the week of Thanksgiving, but I'm a little behind.  One day I'll catch up...
This year the twins gave a lot of feed back on what they wanted to dress as for Halloween.  On several donut dates our conversations revolved around countless possibilities.  After much debate they settled on a crew from Jake and the Neverland Pirates (I know but Peter Pan is so old school)!
Levi decided he would be Jake, Luke really loved the idea of the "Tic-Toc Croc," and they decided Titus would need to be Captain Hook.

 

If you notice the above mentioned costumes aren't exactly correct.  You see, once Luke put on the crocodile costume he was less than thrilled.  The benefit of ordering everyone the same size....you can switch them around and the toddler that cannot talk yet gets whatever is left!  It's a win-win for all!  :)

 

That evening we sat in the drive way after we did our own trick-or-treating, and I asked the twins what they thought about Halloween.  Levi's response (with a mouth full of chocolate) was "YUMMY!!" 

Captain Hook

 



Jake the Pirate



 

The Tic-Toc Croc

 

 

Dewberry Farms

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to Dewberry Farms to celebrate Nona J's birthday. How cool is a grandma that wants to celebrate her birthday by taking the boys to a farm!?!?
The kids had a blast riding a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, playing in a mountain of hay, and tackling a very tall slide with dad, plus they got to hang with Nona J and Papaw for the day.
Here a just a few pics from our day.

Donut dates

Last month we started a new tradition and I think it is one of my favorites. Every Friday morning I get to just take ONE (huge treat for me!) of the twins on a donut date for breakfast while the other boys hang at home with dad for "man time." The twins really call it man time so I rarely inquire as to what they really do, although when I get home it always seems relatively harmless.
One on one time with the twins has always been so hard for us to figure out. What I'm discovering though is that just like anything else we have to be intentional and purposeful, all of which takes work and communication. However, even with crazy schedules it can be done. I'm so grateful for these "dates" with my boys.

Preschool Pics

I'm about to head out to pick the twins up from preschool, and I realized I never posted pics of their first day.  They are only going one day a week right now, but love it!  Their teacher is amazing she has quads, so I'm soaking up all the advice on multiples I can get. 
Last week, they worked on the letter "A," and Luke has told me multiple times he is ready to go back to school because he is really good at sitting cris-cross, apple sauce!  :)

 

Oh, the joys of taking pictures of twins!  It took us several tries, but we finally got a good one!

Frio River Fun

Yes we are still here.  I'm honestly not sure where the month of August went.  My goodness!
Towards the end of August we got to take a family trip to the Frio River with my parents & siblings.  We had such a great time playing in the river, roasting marshmallows, feeding deer, and just getting some good family time.  Here are some pics from our trip.

Fred the deer was bottle fed as a baby and loves people.  The twins got to pet and feed him.  He even tried to play with Luke, but was disappointed to find Luke didn't have horns to push back with.  Luke was also disappointed for the same reason!

 

All three of the boys loved the water!  The twins really enjoyed floating down the "rapids."  As you can see from the pictures above, they were pretty intense.  ;)

The big boys left the rapids to the little guys and instead found lots of great diving spots. 

 

 Our mini-crew on the river!

 

The entire Holder clan!  We had so much fun.  We'd love to do it again next year (hint, hint!) 

 

Nothing like ending your summer nights swinging on the front porch!

 

Hope you and your family has had a great summer.  For our clan, this was such a great relaxing way to end our summer. 
Mom & Dad, thanks again for putting all of this together.



I have a one year old!

Last Friday, Titus turned one.  Most days, the first word out of his mouth is "ball," so naturally we celebrated his birthday with a ball themed birthday party. 

Our sweet family found this birthday boy balls in every shape and size.  Needless to say he is in ball heaven right now!

At 1, Titus has walking down and can even kick a ball around the house like a little soccer player.  He says a handful of words like "ball," "bye-bye," "dada," "momma," and when he see food he says "mmmmm!"  He has a tremendous amount of joy and his smile is absolutely contagious.  He is currently almost 31 in tall, and weighs 24 lbs. and 3 oz. and there isn't a single ounce of him that is not fearfully and wonderfully made! 
We love you T and are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for you. 

My Soccer Prodigy

I've been trying to catch Titus dribbling a ball around the house for a month and I finally got it!
No kidding he's been kicking the ball around since 10 months.  Now, when he is helping to win the World Cup for team USA I have the video to prove it.  :)

I think my favorite part is his oh so dramatic exit.  Such a ham!

Beach Days

A couple of weeks ago we went down to Galveston to visit some good friends that had rented a beach house.  This was our first beach trip of the summer, and T's first trip ever. 
Now Titus loves water so I thought he would enjoy the beach, but I really underestimated how much he loved it!  The boy waddled as fast as his chunky little legs would go to the edge of the waves and then let out many squeals of sheer delight.  This routine never got old for him.

The twins are such explorers and hunters these days.  They had a great time hunting for shells and anxiously checking each one in hopes that there would be a crab inside. 

This is my absolute favorite picture from our afternoon.  This is such a perfect picture of this dynamic duo.  They are such inseperable buds.  :)

Hopefully we can get down to the beach a couple more times this summer.  My boys sure love it!

Road Trip (the rest of the story)

I think everyone's favorite part of our trip was the hike.  We searched long and hard for a somewhat kid friendly hike, but we were also hoping they would get to see snow. 
We headed up St. Mary's Glacier with the kids and help!  I'm so glad my sister, brother-in-law, and our friends were there to help.  The extra arms came in very handy during the SNOW!! 

Before

The Hike

The Top

We didn't stay long because a pretty big storm blew in with huge snow flakes, in JUNE!  We Texans were not quite ready for this, and the twins still tell me they did not like that snow falling on them.

This was definitely such a memorable part of our trip.  We loved seeing the creation that so richly declares the beauty and creativity of our God. 

Josh & Jennifer, thanks so much for allowing us to crash your home.  I'm sure you had no idea what you were getting yourselves into.  We are so grateful for your friendship.

Aaron & Randi, so glad you guys allowed us to tag along on your vacation.  The kids LOVE their Aunt Randi & Uncle Scruff and having you along made all the difference in the world.