Happy Hearts

Colorado 2009

We spent the week after Christmas in CO at my parent's mountain home.  Every year we make more memories and enjoy the beauty of God's handiwork.  

 

Trent spent way too much time playing his new Wii game... Monster Jam, of course.

 

Yet, he thoroughly enjoyed sledding...

 

  

While he was a little timid with skiing at first...

 

 

  

... he LOVED it after awhile...

 

...and was doing it all by himself at the end!

 

We are now saving our pennies because this ski bum...

 

...is ready for ski school!  We were so proud to see the progress he made this year. 

 

Maggie was definitely NOT interested in skiing or sledding. 

While she gave both a try...

 

... she was much more interested in playing with the snow and on the playground!

 

 

We were thrilled that she was able to stay out in the cold with us without turning blue.  This was a definite first for her and was wonderful to see.

Ryan and my Dad enjoyed 2 days on the slopes, while I enjoyed reading a book by the fire and spending time with my favorite people.

 

 

  

 

  

 

Fall Catch Up

I've gotten a tad bit behind in my blogging.  Amidst the dr. appointments, we've done a lot this fall and have enjoyed lots of fun family time together.  Trent and Maggie play together more and more and with that comes more and more fighting/arguing.  Maggie misses her bubby when he is at school and always wants to know when he is coming home.  Trent is doing very well in school (after a little extra discipline at home).  He can write his whole alphabet and is sounding out and spelling lots of words.  He has a lot of maturing to do before he starts Kg so I am very glad that he has an extra year before starting.  Maggie is quite the little "helper" and is as always full of life.  She is enjoying being able to eat lots of yummy food again!  This week we are working on getting her re-potty trained.  You may remember that my sweet girl potty trained herself the week before she turned 2.  However, this last surgery and the lasix and diuretics she's been on have really shot that one out of the water.  We have rearranged her med. schedule with hopes of being able to get her back in panties again.  Today has been a success so far and for that I am sooooo thankful! 

So, take a look at what we have been up to in the last couple months:

Trying their best to keep Ryan from going on his business trip

Maggie's first big time owie (other than surgery).  While Ryan was out of town, she fell off of the bar stool and her ear hit the other bar stool wrung as she came down.  Ouch!!!  She was mighty tough.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.  It looked even worse.  Poor Baby!  It's all healed up now, though.
 

Enjoying some spaghetti!  This girl can eat!

Ryan is so good at coming up with fun things for them to do! He's an amazing Dad.

Carving pumpkins on Halloween.  Trent wasn't very interested.

Maggie wanted a princess pumpkin so Ryan carved a crown.

Princess Cinderella

Trent, the famous golfer

My sweet nephew, Seth Robert, the Rodeo Clown

 

 

A Day for Us

Saturday, was a fun day for our family.  It was really Trent's b-day outing, but it was also just a day for us... a day together. 
We had some free tickets to the Omnimax at the Science Center so we started the day by taking the kids to see The Wild Ocean.  They were both completely enamored by the size of the screen and all of the sea life swimming all around them.  The documentary part was a little too P.C. for me but thankfully the kids didn't get it.  They just sat back and enjoyed the show.  After the show, we took a little time to explore the Science Center but it was pretty much all over their heads.  I've always found that place to be boring, but I'm pretty sure that Trent and his daddy will be spending some days there when he gets older:

Trent loved the giant ball maze/sculpture.  Maggie's hospital has a small ball sculpture and it's their favorite thing and now Trent has a marble track at home that he spends hours with.  Never before had he seen one quite this huge!  He was in complete awe!

Maggie Jane... She just did her thing... 

After the Science Center, we headed to the City Garden which is a new found treasure for us.  The City Garden is a water fountain and sculpture park right in downtown St. Louis.  It is amazing.  There are hundreds of fountains for the kids to play in and 3 different "pools" for them to wade in.  It is absolutely beautiful and the kids had a blast!  (It definitely puts the splashground mentioned in the previous post to shame.)



















Trent was definitely NOT happy to be going home

Summer Fun

I realized this weekend that it had been forever since I posted pictures.  This album has pictures from the whole summer.  We have had lots of fun.  Enjoy!  http://republicansoccermom.typepad.com/photos/summe-fun/

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Colorado or Bust

Well, we (the four of us and my Mom and Dad) left home Friday morning at 4:00 a.m. and several movies later we arrived in Denver, CO at 5:00 p.m.  The kids did great in the car.  Trent was perfectly happy watching movies.  Maggie was a little harder to entertain, but overall she did great.  Every time we come to CO we have to stay in Denver so that Maggie can acclimate to the altitude a little bit.  We setteled in to our hotel (which we love) and went to dinner.  The kids were pretty crabby/tired during dinner.  We found an amazing outdoor mall (I'm considering moving here just for the mall).  We walked around and got some icecream.  After a little wind and melted ice cream incident, we went back to the hotel and went to bed.  The kids slept great and we did too.  We ate breakfast, loaded the van, and headed up the mountain.  I was nervous going up the mountain as we climb 4000 feet during the 1 1/2 drive.  However, Maggie did great, once again.  I am so amazed at how well she does with her Oxygen sats.  It was so nice to get to the house.  I love this place.  Mom and Dad's house is beautiful and so relaxing.  You can see mountains from all sides.  We settled in and got the kids down for a nap.  When they woke up we headed to a local rodeo.  *See next post.

Last night

So, you all know what the plans were for yesterday.  Of course, they didn't go exactly like that.  Trent started getting sick on Wednesday night but he didn't seem too bad so I went ahead and took him to Mom's Day Out yesterday morning.  When I picked him up, he was coughing and didn't stop.  He coughed all the way through his nap. So, we got a late start on our evening.  We got to the mall at about 6:30 and we went to Build a Bear first.  Even though Trent felt horrible (by this point he has a fever), he helped us make sissy's bear.  We picked out a very cute teddy bear with a heart stitched on the front.  Trent helped them stuff her and he picked out a heart to put inside (bandaid and all).  By this point, all he wanted to do was be held so I finished the bear.  Maggie's bear has a cute valentine's t-shirt and her name is Sally (Sally is our favorite nurse at SLCH).  After this, we went to California Pizza Kitchen which is usually one of Trent's favorite restaurants.  He didn't eat a single bite, but Maggie ate some of his pizza.  She loved it!  After dinner we headed home with a very crabby, sick little boy.  By the way, there were no potty accidents the whole time we were at the mall!  Trent rocks!

Even though, it didn't go as planned, we still had a good night together.  I just wish Trent had felt better.

Can't believe it!

Tomorrow, my Mom and Dad are putting a contract on a home outside of Winter Park, Colorado.  No, they aren't moving there.  I would be freaking out if they were.  They are buying a vacation home.   They went there this week to house hunt and they found a brand new house.  I am so excited.  I think we are going to spend Christmas there this year.

A day of Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  This is such a great Holiday.  It not only marks the day of great triumph for the pilgrims, but it also is a day that allows us a specific time to give thanks for all that God has done for us.  What am I thankful for?  There are so many things:

1. My gracious Lord and Savior who gave His life as the ultimate sacrifice for my sins. 
2. The one true God who is all-knowing, all powerful, ever present, creative, loving, just, gracious, giver of peace, healing, patient...
3. A country where I can worship the one true God openly and freely.
4. Christian parents who are devoted to God and each other (this is a rare thing these days)
5. 2 brothers who are Christians and are raising their families in the love of the Lord with their Christian wives.
6. My husband's Christian family.
7. My wonderful, Christian husband who is an awesome father
8. My husband's job which allows me to have the best job ever! 
9. I live 15 minutes away from my brothers, parents, nieces, and nephews.
10. I have 4 nieces and 4 nephews who are all healthy, sweet, and adorable! 
11. I have 1 niece in India whose adoption process will hopefully be finalized soon.  We can't wait to meet Senthamarai. 
12. My health
13. My sweet baby boy who is healthy, sweet, smart, and adorable. 
14. My baby girl, who I can't wait to meet. 
15. My home and all of the other things that God has provided for me.

Wow, as I am writing this list I am blown away by the blessings God has given me.  It is very rare to be able to say that every adult member in your immediate family and spouse's family claims Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.  This is something that I take for granted.  I am truely blessed.  What are you thankful for?

Holestine Family

We all got together a couple of weeks ago and got our family picture taken.  W did it at my Mom's studio, but her friend snapped the pictures for us.   The pictures turned out pretty darn good considering how many little kids we were working with.  It was a little tricky trying to get 5 kids (5 and under) to cooperate at the same time. 

On a side note, I am so proud of my Mom.  She opened her photography studio last year and is doing so well.  She only wants to take one shoot a week, but is often too busy to limit it to that.  You can check out her website at:  www.janeholestinephotography.com 

Gidget

The other night my Dad called me while I was up at church for a teen MOPS meeting.  He wanted to know if Trent and I could stop by their house after the meeting because he had a surprise for Trent.  Even though I knew that it would be way past Trent's bed time, I told him that we would stop by.  He had bought the grand kids a new pony.  She is a miniature horse and she is the cutest thing I have ever seen.  Her name is Gidget.  All of the kids love her, especially Claire.  Claire was really surprised when she saw her for the first time.  They have all gotten to ride her, even Trent.  Trent doesn't really find it necessary to hold on which makes it a little difficult.  Oh well, he'll learn.  Needless to say, my Dad spoils his grand kids!  Hey, what else are Papa's for?