Award Night

Every year the military base where Rick & I have worked for the last 17-18 years honors military & government civilian employees with annual awards. It's a chance for supervisors, coworkers & family members to honor the nominees. Rick was nominated for the Senior Supervisor of the Year.  Rick is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen & finally he was being recognized for all that work. After a nice dinner & what seemed like hours of speeches & protocol it was finally time. And it was worth the wait. Rick won the award. It was such an honor & I was such a proud of wife. I admire his hard work & his dedication & I'm so happy others were finally able to celebrate him too. And besides his medal, he received this cool trophy too. I'm so proud of you babe.

Daddy's Girl

I have always loved being the mama to boys but when I found out that I was pregnant with a baby girl I was more excited for Rick than myself. Our boys love him & give him snuggles but there is something so special about a daddy & his girl. Holly loves her mama & will more often than not choose to be held by her mama but when she is with her daddy she just wants to snuggle up to him. She lays her head on his shoulder, gives kisses &  makes her daddy so happy. It melts my heart to see them together & look forward to many years of cuddles. Love these two!

He's Getting So Big

Happy Birthday!!! Jimmy is 4 years old.
  Hard to believe but if you could hear him speak you would know it's true. He has always been a highly intelligent little boy but now that he is getting ready to start fulltime preschool his intelligence is even more obvious. He works nonstop at a task until he either perfects it or figures out how to do whatever it is he's trying to do. This includes everything in his life. School work, tee ball, playing Memory, climbing trees & just playing with his toys. He's a perfectionist! He's a goofball.  
He loves to play, read books & snuggle. He loves to have fun & giggle, which is why we decided to celebrate his birthday at the Pirate's Dinner Adventure. We all went including his brothers & sister, both his aunties & both of their significant others.  
There were pictures, giggles, yelling & parts in the show dressed as a pirate.

We are so happy to watch our little guy grow up but just like I do with all my kids I wish time would slow down. We love you Jimmy James (the way he refers to himself).

Play Ball

It's that time of the year again. Baseball season. And it's a first in our house. All of our boys are playing this spring season. Johnnie is a rookie this year! A Rookie Red. Coach pitch, actual outs & 4 innings. He's ready. He has been practicing hitting, catching & sliding. It should be an awesome season.  

Joey & Jimmy will be playing tee-ball on the same team. Giants. They are both really excited. And ready. Especially Jimmy. I think Joey just plays for now because his brothers do but Jimmy actually has been practicing & I'm sure he will be all business when he takes the field. Stay tuned because it's time for the Bolander boys to play ball.

18 Months

Our time with a baby in the house is soon coming to an end. Holly Moon will always be our baby girl but 6 months from now she will be 2 years old. An official toddler. She is such a happy girl. Always smiling & giggling.  
And sometimes she shows us her unhappy, confused face.  
She is constantly communicating with us.  
With some words we understand, with gestures & the occasional grunt. Her words may not always be recognizable to others but we always understand her. She still loves to eat especially, pasta & yogurt. She has 12 teeth & 4 new ones are trying to break through. She remains tiny & weighs 21lbs 4oz (5%) & is 31.5" (25%). She absolutely loves to play outside (side as she says), rough housing with her brothers but somehow she is still very gentle with everyone else.  
She loves dolls 
  
& can't get enough of books, constantly bringing books over to us & saying book book. She is a mama's girl & a daddy's girl.I have always wished I could slow time down for my children but now that she is our last baby it breaks my heart that she is growing so fast. We love you so much baby girl!

Happy Birthday Kim

This blog usually only features the kids but today it's about some adult fun. For Kim's birthday this year she wanted to celebrate at the Pirate's Dinner Adventure in Buena Park. I admittedly thought it was an odd choice but if that's what the birthday girl wants that's what she gets. Our birthday girl & everyone who came was decked out in Pirate gear  made by Kim's great friend Lindsey.

 It's a dinner show that is ridiculously fun. Lots of yelling, hoorahing, laughing, eating & drinking. Even all the guys that were there got into it.
 
I hope Kimberly enjoyed her night because I sure did & after the show the Cadou sisters decided they needed a photo with our section's pirate. Only after the picture was taken & I was looking through the photos did I notice we all decided we should yell for the photo. We are sisters who are pretty similar, right? Happy Birthday little sis!

And she swims

Holly has been going to watch her brothers swim every week at the pool since she was born but today it was her day to get in the water. At first she calmly sat in her bathing suit waiting for her turn but then it was her turn. Miss Grace eased her into the water & then she just tried to get her used to the water all the while trying to get her to stop crying. After about 12 minutes into her 15 minute lesson she finally stopped. Long enough to enjoy the toys for her last few minutes. We have been through this with all the other kids so we know in time she will LOVE the water. We gave Holly lots of love & hugs & then waited for her brothers to be done.
They end each lesson with a fun throw in the air & I was lucky enough to catch it this time.

Funny Faces

It was a short visit this time around with gramma but Johnnie still managed to have a great time with her. They spent lots of time coloring, drawing, reading & his favorite times were taking cute & funny photos with her.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Turning 40 is a HUGE milestone. Something to be celebrated. But with our busy lives, some unforeseen house repairs, surprise guests & the holidays having just passed Rick's birthday was celebrated in quiet fashion. As soon as Rick came home from work I told him we should have cake first so the kids didn't get too tired. On cue Rick's mom & stepdad came walking around the corner carrying the cake & singing happy birthday. They flew here from back East that afternoon to surprise Rick on his big day. So there was no big party, no group of friends & not too many gifts but there was a homemade cake, a hug from mom & lots of happy children ready to give hugs to their most favorite man in the world. I think that's a lovely way to spend your birthday. I love you babe!