Our Last 1st Birthday Party

I'm full of emotions as I write this post. Excited for Holly Moon to enter the world of being a toddler & sad that we will no longer have a baby in our house. We celebrated our baby girl's 1st birthday party with a princess castle, a pretty pink & purple cake, pink balloons, good food & lots of friends. Holly had a wonderful day. She wandered around the party all day in her little princess tutu smiling at all her new friends & guests. She was such a big girl. She never cried & enjoyed all the attention. Once everyone ate lunch it was time for birthday cake. After the birthday song Holly just stared at her cake. She timidly touched  the cake at first but after that first bite we couldn't stop her. She loved the cake! She just kept shoving it into her mouth. Her brothers were there to help her out too & Johnnie even showed her that she could just use her mouth instead of her hands. Our baby girl was covered in cake & only stopped eating because she got cake in her eyes. And the last photo of her cake explains why they call it a smash cake.

After a wardrobe change to get her out of her cake covered dress it was time for a few more photos & the passing out of favors which included this princess wand that Holly wouldn't let go of.  Our friends were so generous. I don't think we will have to buy clothes for our baby girl for the entire year & she loved her little pink purse, phone, new owl jammies, her books & her ride on toy. And so did Jimmy.

Thank you friends for making our girl's day so special!

Beach Day

It has been really hot here lately. Perfect summer weather. So we took the kids to the beach this past weekend.It was a wonderful day for us, the kids & our friends. Johnnie immediately loved the water & stayed in it all day except the moments he was digging for sand crabs with Kelsea.

 

Joey took some coaxing but after a few hours we couldn't get him out of the water. Jimmy barely ventured off the beach towels but he did have a good time playing with trucks & making sand castles with Lorelei.

Rick spent the day being tackled by children & ocean waves. And baby Holly visited the beach for the first time. At first she stayed under the umbrella with her bestie Whitney. But then she ventured down to the beach with Auntie Kim. And when she found the water she loved it so much that we had to take turns trying to keep her from throwing herself in it. It was a great day & hopefully there are lots more left because I love seeing the kids so happy!

Connecticut

The Olympics has taken a toll on my blogging. I find myself staring at the television for hours on end while my computer sits buzzing on my lap. But tonight I'm back to share photos from our trip back East. For 2 weeks in July we traveled with all our children to visit gramma & grandpa Joe in Connecticut. It was the first time we took all the children on the airplane & surprisingly enough they did wonderful. And once we arrived the children had 10 days to build wonderful memories with their East coast family. Johnnie had so much fun spending one on one time with gramma. Drawing, playing outside with airplanes, going on walks to the pond alone with gramma & with his brothers. 

 

It was so warm our entire visit which allowed for lots of hours spent outside enjoying a mini pool (a first for Holly) & the slip & slide which was a first for the boys. Johnnie also had the chance to play Badminton & he LOVED it.

We also made time for cuddles, naps, first steps, first meetings with papa, a family bbq, time with cousin Isobel & a best man job in a wedding which is the main reason we ventured back East in the first place.

Our last day was bittersweet. We had a wonderful visit. The kids loved all their special moments with their grandparents & right before we got in the car to drive away we made sure to take some last photos & then poor Jimmy asked gramma to go on one last walk to the pond but she had to say no because it was time to go. Our little guy fell apart & cried as we drove away while the other boys just sat silent in their seats. And that's how we knew the boys had as much fun as we did. We can't wait for our next visit. But I imagine even though we have been gone for 3 weeks they finally just recovered from the visit because these kids may be cute but they are loud & a handful including the 6'4" kid.

 

Too Cute Not to Share

It was a really warm weekend so we wanted to spend as much time as we could outside. But it was a rough weekend because Holly was teething really badly. By far the worst case yet. So each time she was happy we tried to take advantage & have some fun. One moment of her happiness came this afternoon so we let her play in the little pool & in the water table while her brothers ran in the sprinklers. 

 I also took the time to capture her 49 Week Photos. She has started clapping whenever we clap or say YAY!   

She is also very smiley (when she's not teething) & now whenever she can she stands up & starts walking until she gets too tired that is. Shocking that we are only 3 weeks away from her 1st birthday so I'm just trying to enjoy each moment every day.

Our Big Boy

During our vacation last week Johnnie asked Rick if he could get a pair of shoes like daddy's. The kind with laces instead of velcro. So today I bought him his 1st pair of big boy shoes. Right away he started trying to learn & within an hour he figured it out. And when he did it he was so proud of himself exclaiming YES when he was done. I'm always proud of him but especially when he picks a goal, sets his mind to it & does it.

 

School Days

Today was another first in the Bolander house. Joey won't be starting Kindergarten until next year so we decided it was time for him to be in a full time preschool program for the next year so he would be better prepared to spend all day in school. Since we have been on vacation for 2 weeks we decided that it was a good time to start a new school. He was so excited. He spent the last few days telling everyone that he was going to a new school. And then today came. He happily put on his backpack, grabbed his lunch & bravely walked up to the door of Rainbow River. The door opened & we walked in with him at which point he nervously put his finger in his mouth & started whimpering. After a little while in his new classroom it became evident that Joey was not going to stop crying so Miss Vicky & Adriana told us that we should just go. We sadly left him but we knew he would be fine. Well at the end of the day when we arrived to pick him up he was sitting around the table with the other children for story time. He spent the day playing with dinosaurs, reading books, playing with new kids, napping, playing outside & just enjoying himself. We are so proud of him & hope he remembers how much fun he had when we drop him off tomorrow!