Buddy...

Buddy the Elf...Let the adventures begin. Sweet little Buddy is super pumped to be living back at our house this year and let me tell you...there is a certain 4.5 year old that is ALL-ABOUT-IT. She loves him. Like LOVES him. She checks on him all the time, says "Good Morning" to him before anyone else, and just stares at him with amazement in her eyes. I love it. I think it is super fun to make these memories for her. So here is what Buddy was into today...Yep...he TP'ed our bathroom. Everywhere. Little stinker...

I {heart} Mominor...

{Katie and Me}

It is that time of year...We walk to honor, respect, support, and remember!

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer walk has ALWAYS been dear to my heart.
This year I honor my sweet Crazy Aunt Jane for being an amazing survivor and remember one very special lady. Scootin' for Sandy was established as our team name last year when a mom to one of my favorite school biffies was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Katie and I have taught at Walton Ferry for 4 years now. I knew the minute I met her, I quite liked her. Same is true about her family...I knew the minute I met them, I quite liked them. They are best described as teacher teaching, people loving, yard sale going, crafty crafties, and overall just GOOD people. Mrs. Sandy Venable, Katie’s mom, taught in Sumner County for basically EVER. She loved to teach. She and her sweet husband, Mike, raised three beautiful daugthers...Carrie, Katie, and Cassie. They all look like their beautiful mother and carry her love for life. Mominor was Mrs. Sandy's nickname given to her by her grandson Jaxson.
{Mrs. Sandy and her beautiful daugther, Katie}

{Mrs. Sandy and her grandson, Jaxson}

, 2010, Sweet Mominor Mrs. Sandy lost her battle with breast cancer. Last year we walked the Komen walk in her memory and will do the same thing this year. We went, we cried, we laughed, and mostly, we missed her and her sweet sweet spirit. She was a wonderful woman that would have been so proud of all the friends and family that came and walked. Our team was a beautiful mess of people...co-workers, friends, family members, Mrs. Sandy's high school friends, Katie and Cassie's sorority sisters, and even friends that had never met Mominor...it was beautiful.

{Komen Walk 2010 in Brentwood, TN}

{Mrs. Sandy's beautiful daugther, Cassie...showing her love for her mom}

This year, we are going to blow the roof off of this fundraiser! Here are the details about the event:

2011 Greater Nashville Race for the Cure
Race Date: Saturday, October 29, 2011
Race Time: Race Village opens at 6am and Race begins at 9am
Race Location: Maryland Farms, Brentwood, TN
Join the largest series of 5k runs/fitness walks in the world.
Best Science. Boldest Community. Biggest Impact.
United in the fight against Breast Cancer.

How to sign up:
Go here...
http://nashville.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/NAS_GreaterNashvilleAffiliate/538796757?pg=team&fr_id=2295&team_id=186349

You are joining Team Scootin' for Sandy under organization it is listed as Walton Ferry Elementary School.

Click JOIN TEAM.

You can sign up using a credit card and be sure to indicate your shirt size and other important information.

I will be sending out emails to the people that have joined our team when t-shirts are available, etc. I will go pick up the shirts and have a local pick-up opportunity once all of that is settled.

The cost to sign-up is $35.00 and that includes a shirt. If you can't actually attend the event, you can sign-up under the "Sleep-In for the Cure" option that is $40.00 and your shirt will be mailed directly to you after the event.

It is a super duper fun day. So fun to be apart of something so moving!

Please join us and invite anyone to join!



Please shoot me an email if you have any questions at all.
alihol@hotmail.com

This Week...

{this is a quirky owl I drew for a shirt I sewed...I quite like it}

...was a grand week. We got a routine SOMEWHAT down with going to school, getting the kiddos to Mrs. Sandi's, arranging pick-ups, etc. It was overall a really nice week. I was super tired most of the nights from just running none stop from Mrs. Sandi's to school to Mrs. Sandi's to home, then dinner, then baths, then goodnights and somewhere in between there a few smiles and coo's from Baden and a dance or two with Maggie.

I am getting to where I actually want to go to work now. Getting there. I spent all day Monday (as I could) cleaning out my office and mopping it and putting stuff back where the stuff belongs. Since I was on maternity leave at the end of April until the beginning of this school year, my office was a WRECK with a capital W. I haven't cared and have just been watching everything stack up, until Monday...I hit the wall. I couldn't take it any longer. It feels good being organized and ready for each work day as soon as I walk into school. My office is about the size of a postage stamp and has to hold 520 kids worth of PE equipment. But, I secretly love this little hole in our old, old school that I lovingly call my office.

This little man decided that it would be a great idea to start rolling over last week. Yes, on Tuesday of last week (August 9th) he rolled over at Mrs. Sandi's house. I had been back at work 2 days and he starts showing off all his tricks. So I missed it. So I cried. A LOT! But then I stopped and realized that...yes, I missed it...but I didn't miss the 3 months I got to spend with him at home all summer long. It is a little hard for me to stop and realize that when we get out of school again for our next summer, Baden will be a year old. WOW! and NO THANK YOU! I just know he is going to grow up super duper fast and I am just not okay with that.

Maggie is learning and LOVING her new schedule of events. She goes to a wonderful lady named Mrs. Sandi, who I am pretty sure is the sweetest and most Godly woman I know, now and Baden goes with her. Mrs. Sandi watches Maggie all week and even takes her to MDO two days a week for me. She loves it. Totally a God thing. She is getting so smart...like sometimes she says things and I just sit and look at her like did that just come out of your mouth? This week we worked on writing her thank you notes for the people that came to her party. I love thank you notes and notes in general. I miss general mail and how imporant it used to be. I hope I can always teach her that sometimes a personalized letter or card has a lot of meaning and weight to it.

On Monday, (payday!!! YIPPEE!!!) I met up with some great friends and we got our toes done. It was so nice to see their beautiful faces and laugh and chat about life. I miss those friends. ALOT.

Discovery Center...How We Loved You!

On Monday, August 1st, we loaded up the car and went for a little road trip to Murfreesboro, TN. We were super excited to go visit a cool new place called the Discovery Center. We were looking for something fun to do on our last official day of summer break with Maggie and she doesn't love the Science Center in Nashville...so we wanted to give this a shot.

Don't get me wrong, Mags had a blast at the Science Center in Nash...she just was too small to do a lot of the activities and there were about 12 field trip groups there so the place was PACKED the one time we went. We like change and finding new places, so we got on the road and headed that way. The Discovery Center was super neat-o! Lots for Maggie to play with and do. She had some unique favorites though I must say.

Since Josh is basically 4 too, they had a blast together. Here they are riding on the awesome fire truck together. Maggie was a bit let down that none of the sirens worked...really Mags? Could you imagine how much of a headache the parents would have if those sirens actually did work!??!

They had these two sit down claw thingies that she was pretty good at. The rocks made a lot of noise, so it was her favorite for sure.


They had a station where you could work on drawings and rubbings. She did really well with this. She wasn't too sure about using the crayon on its' side though. Sometimes teaching change is so hard. Bless her heart, she didn't want to hurt the crayons!

This was probably my personal FAV!
They have a room for making rainbows and shadows. Okay...two of Maggie's loves!

Basically you stood in one spot in front of this super bright light for 10 seconds and then moved and turned the light off and your shadow stuck on the wall. I mean, I was floored. I love cool stuff like this!


Kinda hard to see, but I am on the left...Mags is in the middle...and Josh is on the right.

Maggie was pumped to try it "all by herself!" This was the stance she choose to use and away we went. She stood so still and counted...

And here is the result! She loved it. I won't tell you how many times we went back into that room just to play and make silly hand puppets!!

And where was Baden while we played, you ask? He slept for the majority of the trip and woke up right before we were about to leave to eat and scream a minute, then back to bed he went. He seemed to have a great time!

It was a great day to spend being silly and having fun as a family. Some of Maggie's favorites were the pretend grocery store and cash register, the water expo, and this old green car that was upstairs. You could sit and play with the steering wheel. She did this for atleast 45 minutes. They also had the pretend race car that you could change the oil and tires on. She loved that, but so did several other kids so she let them play and sat in the green car and watched them! :)

Maggie Moo turns 4 = SHOTS!

This sweet girl turned FOUR, yes 4, on July 24th. Where has time gone? I mean I swear she was just eating from a bottle and cuddling Bunny in her crib to fall asleep like yesterday! Well, not so much. Ready or not...she is growing up!

We had a wonderful party at our home on her actual birthday but then we had to go for her annual birthday check-up. Mommy forgot that Dr. Keith is BOOKED like weeks ahead for those kinds of things so we ended up seeing another Dr. that we equally love on August 5th at 3:00 pm.

I truly believe that Maggie wasn't scared or nervous because she plays Dr. at home ALL THE TIME. Trust me, if you sit in the living room very long, you will eventually become "sick" with something and she will get out her sweet little blue and tan dr. kit that JuJu got her and go to work. She even says "take a deep breathe...again...again"...it is quite cute.

She was ready and excited about her hearing test. She aced it last year and so she was comfortable with what she needed to do. I love these pictures. She is so serious and still sometimes...sometimes!

Probably her most favorite thing to do at the dr. is to read ALL the books they have stocked in the rooms. Now, I need to be honest and say that when I have to go to the dr. with the kiddos, I am a SUPER DUPER germ freak! I can't help it. Between Josh and I teaching and bringing home all the germs that we do, I just don't want to introduce anything new. But...she wants to read...all. the. books. How can I say no?


This was the last picture I captured of her before the SHOTS came through the door. O yes, three huge shots in her upper arms. She was not a happy camper. She did great the first two shots in her left arm, then the MMR shot in her left - that was all she could stand. She cried for the next 35 minutes. Alligator tears! Tore me up inside. I wanted to take the shots for her!

She was a sweet birdie while at the dr. and even while I asked to weigh Baden, she held his hand and promised it wouldn't hurt...

I love this sweet child. truly.

Maggie Moo's First Trip to the Dentist...

Maggie Moo recently checked something off her I-am-getting-older-and-trying-new-things list...She visited the Dentist! I had an appointment set up for me on August 5th and since Maggie just turned 3 and needed to start going, they asked me just to bring her in with me and we would "see how it went." Maggie doesn't mind brushing her teeth. She actually is an excellent spitter-outter of the water for rinsing. Was I nervous? Not really. I figured, worse case...it would be a terrible experience and she would cry and hate it and we would say, okay not going to happen.

But, Mags did great! I mean great! She first watched me get my teeth cleaned...which I think helped. When it was her turn, she wanted to know if she got to wear the purple bib with alligator clippies. Mrs. Marty was our amazing teeth-cleaner and she couldn't have been any sweeter to Maggie.

Maggie was such a champ! She let her do the entire appointment, complete with the cleaning and "counting of teeth." I was so proud of Maggie and she officially robbed the place blind because she asked for 2 tooth brushes so she could have one in Mommy's bathroom. So there we left...2 toothbrushes, 2 alligator toppers, 1 package of toothpaste and a purple bib. She loved the experience. I believe that she loved it most because of Mrs. Marty!

well...

...if anyone still reads this blog...I am coming back. I am wanting to get back to this blogging thing before too long! I have a ton to post pictures of and tell you about!

Stay Tuned!

a giveaway you have to enter...

I am hosting a giveaway over on my sewing blog right now.
It is a great one...just in time for Mother's Day...

Check it out by clicking here...

Harris/Freeman/Holland Easter 2010...

...I, again, realize that I am terrible at updating this blog. But, it is what it is.

We had a lovely Easter this year. My mom, JuJu, had some surgery the Monday prior so she was forced to take it easy. We attended church at Long Hollow on the Saturday night service and it was wonderful. We met at Brea's house for a yummy lunch and a great Easter egg hunt on Sunday. Maggie had a ball! We hadn't really worked with her about what to do, so Josh just said...run and play hide and seek with the eggs. The eggs are hiding from you! She was all over that.

Can you believe how much she is growing up?
So here are the pictures from our day of fun...It's a bunch...but hopefully worth it!

Our family growing makes my heart smile. What fun times are ahead for us all.

I have no idea what Isaac is doing with his basket...they were all ready to GO!

Maggie filling up her lamb basket...

We are still struggling with sitting like a lady...can you tell?

...The Freeman Family...
Isaac, 8, Luke, 8, Anna, 11, Mary Elizabeth, 2, and Joshua Tucker, 11 months

...The Harris Family...
Maggie Holland, 2

...The Holland Family...
Poppy Eddie and JuJu
I have to explain these two pictures. We grabbed mom and dad and asked them to take a pic. We never get pics of them anymore with all the kiddos running around. So the first picture was sweet, except that they looked like they were staring off into the destiny...you know like one of those cruise pictures...so we said...seriously! Then they were being goofy and did the next picture! Too funny!

This would have to be my favorite picture from the day.
Love you Mom.

Joshua Tucker...he will be running soon!

I get this face quite often. I have no idea what she is thinking...

Serious conversation happening between Mary Elizabeth and Grandpa Charles...

...Grandma Norma Jean Holland...

...Grandpa Charles Holland Sr...

Sometimes it just kills me how beautiful my mom is...

...this picture is my second favorite...HOW PRECIOUS!!!

...the whole gang...

What a blessed day. Thanks Daddy, Josh, for all of these amazing pictures and memories to share. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter as well!