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!