SURPRISE!

Julie is a very special friend to me and my kids love her two little kiddos. Last year Jillian and Ava were preschool friends and we saw each other on most weeks Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday (and sometimes Wednesday too for MOPS).  But now Jillian is going to a different preschool than Ava, so Julie and I have tried to find other ways for our kids to have play-time.  While the weather was still pleasant we began meeting at a little park on Fridays. Our plan was to meet at Redland Park the day after Jillian's birthday, but Buddy had some trouble with his breathing the night before and needed to go to the doctor for a last minute appointment, so (understandably) we had to cancel.  BUT then that afternoon, Julie called me and asked if she could come over that night to drop "something" off.

SURPRISE!!! (She had been planning on having our surprise at the park but moved the celebration to our house instead!)

Julie got the three birthday girls a cookie cake (she even wrote the message herself) to share & three balloons and some more goodies.

One of our kids favorite movies is My Little Pony's Princess Promenade (its super adorable!). So Ava and Buddy picked out the girls some new My Little Pony coloring books with crayons too. 

I love how interested and excited they are for Jillian to open her present. 

Julie crocheted me a beautiful new scarf and I am trying it on; it's perfect!   She made one for each of the girls too but waited until their party to give it to them.  :-)

Yummy Cake!

The kids enjoying their cake with some milk.

Anna and Daddy hanging out on the floor with Faith's and my balloons!

Miss Julie waiting for a hug from appreciative Faith.  I think Julie's expression is so cute! I would definitely give her a hug. :-)

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Kid Picture # 1

I love all the kids funny expressions in this one. I think Brad had them say something silly!

The End! 

Once a Week

I made it my goal a couple of months ago to have at least one new post a week on the blog and I have been doing pretty well until the "BUG" hit our house.

Faith still believes the way you get sick is by having a bug in your mouth. She'll tell me, "Mommy, I not sick, no bug in my mouth."

Well I have had several bugs in my mouth and have been feeling pretty run down but there hasn't been much time to slow down because of all of the fun in our house. I hope to post about some of the new happenings in the Holmes household over the last couple of weeks in the next week or two:

Company from England & Texas;

The Beginning of Cubbies, Ballet, MOPS, and Preschool;

Three birthdays in 10 days and lots of celebrations (including family photos)!!!

And last but not least, Brad has completed his thesis!!! His work has been formally submitted to the University of Cambridge and Brad will be traveling over to the UK the evening of Thanksgiving (November 25th- this is a new date) to defend. We continue to be thankful that God gave Brad this opportunity to earn his PhD but are also excited about the new chapter in our lives. :-)

Please be keeping Brad, Jillian, Anna and myself in your prayers as we are all currently sick. Also be praying that Faith doesn't get a bug in her mouth too!

A funny out-take of Anna! :-)

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Our family is very blessed to have God-parents for each of our children. Jen and Mike are Jillian's God-parents and are not only prayer warriors for our daughter (and family) but they like to spoil her too! At least once a month they send Jillian a post-card or note in the mail and they are always finding creative ways to show Jillian that they love her! For Jillian's birthday they sent her 2 kites, one for flying and the other a home-made kite with photos! (They thoughtfully remembered Faith and me for our birthdays too; I can't wait to use my gift card to buy something I'll enjoy!). :-)

Jillian holding her presents!

Faith asking, "What is it?"

"That looks interesting!"

I love how Faith is looking over Jillian's shoulder to see!

Jen wrote in the sand "Happy Birthday Jillian"

A cool kite card with photos!

Faith showing me the colorful kite!

Anna was excited too and even stood up on her own!

The next day was the perfect day to try out Jillian's new kite.

The girls were excited for their first real kite-experience.

Brad was absolutely determined to keep the kite up! I am thankful that I have a husband who is teaching our daughters not to quit! :-)

Jillian persevered with Brad and here she is running I don't know where...I think she is trying to get head start on Brad!

I am not sure Jillian was even paying attention to where the kite is in the end, she was just having lots of fun running with her Dad!

Thanks Jen and Mike for the KITE, we look forward to making lots more memories with it. :-)

The Birthday Girl- Jillian

Jillian's birthday was a rainy day but that didn't stop us from enjoying it! :-)

Jillian was born at 6:20 in the morning and our friends the Elliott's (click here to read about our recent visit with them) brought us Krispy Kreme donuts to the hospital the day that she was born. As a fun tradition, every year we have donuts the morning of Jillian's birthday.

Faith ready in her rain gear to go get donuts!

Anna was really tired but always loves being with her family

Brad with the girls with our donut treats

Jillian and Mommy

Grammie and Grandad got Jillian a new watch! She loves it and feels so proud to let me see her watch when I need the time.

But what is even more exciting than the gift of the watch is Grammie and Grandad have invited all of our family to come to TEXAS for a visit. They have bought us airlines tickets to visit in December. The girls are so excited to have "sleepovers" at Grammie and Grandad's. Brad and I are especially excited about our Sonic dates while the grandparents babysit! ;-) '

Thanks Grammie and Grandad! We can't wait to see you in a couple of months.

Jillian was super excited about the craft kit that Grammie and Grandad got her to make her own head-bands! SHE LOVES HEAD-BANDS (hence what she is wearing on her head in the pictures).

Mimi and PawPaw let me choose one of their gifts for Jillian, because I have the "inside-scoop" on what Jillian likes. Here she is about to open her present.

Jillian's excited face when she sees what's inside the gift bag!

"Oh WOW!"

Jillian carefully studied each book at Krispy Kreme and then when we got home she immediately laid down on the couch and spent over an hour looking at her new faith-based Berenstein Bears books! Of course, since then we have spent several MORE hours reading them. They are Jillian's absolute favorites! Thanks Mimi and PawPaw.

Jillian asked for these head-bands from the dollar store several months ago. I told her at the time that we didn't need any more head bands (we already have quite a few, but I will admit they aren't as fluorescent/ colorful as these ones).

But Jillian asked me, "Mommy may I please have them for my birthday?"

I am pretty sure that was the first time she ever asked me that question. She has asked on more than one occasion, "mommy may I have this?" (but I don't allow too much of this, because we always talk about having thankful hearts for what we already have), but I thought this was special because of Jillian's willingness to wait until her birthday to have them.

Jillian was very appreciative of her gift when she opened the head-bands (and she remembered them too). :-)

My sweet pea!

Jillian's new shirt from Mommy and Daddy for her upcoming Strawberry Shortcake PARTY!

Faith and I went out on a mini-date to Toys R' Us to find Jillian a birthday gift. She helped me pick out this Fancy Nancy book and she gave the cashier the book and the money to pay for it. Faith loves her big sister so much and was happy to spend "her own money" to buy something for Jillian!

Jillian had the PERFECT response! She was very thankful to her little sister for the gift.

We let both of the girls open their gifts that Mimi and PawPaw sent in the mail at the same time. They love their little Strawberry Shortcake purses and their matching pajamas are adorable.

Also, we took the girls checks from Mimi and PawPaw, Great Grandma and Papa, and Great Mimi and Grandad and contributed it to their college savings account. :-)

Brad told Jillian to make a silly face! I thought she did a good job. :-)

After breakfast at Krispy Kreme, Brad went back to work on his thesis and a little later we met our friends Naomi, Madeline, and Oliver at Red Robin at the mall for some kids corn dogs, mandarin oranges, fries, and for me a BBQ burger. The staff was extremely friendly at the restaurant and sang Jillian "Happy Birthday" with an ice cream sundae and gave each of the kids a balloon too. Jillian was a little embarrassed by all the attention she received (which shocked me)! Where do my kids get this shyness/ reserved nature!!?!?

We love these PEOPLE! :-) Naomi is an amazing mom and loves her kids so much! But what is even more special (maybe not MORE special, but REALLY special...LOL) is she LOVES my kids BUNCHES too. We were so blessed to get to celebrate with them on Jillian's B-day!

Happy 5th Birthday my sweet Jillian! It was a fun day!