Happy New Year!

Hollis and Joelene on a bridge at Finley Wildlife Preserve.

A second Christmas with Georgie!

It has been a while since I last posted!  My how time flies when your busy working, busy being a momma and trying to find to sleep on top of that!  Anyway, Hollis is such a delight!  We had such a great year together in 2012, and 2013 is off to great start.  Every Sunday we go hiking with Joelene.  It is tough to get out into nature because it isn't directly accessible and it has been so cold.  Somehow the sock gloves are no longer keeping Hollis's hands as warm as he would like.  He is pretty good at keeping busy on these hikes.  Often he likes to hike on his own for the first bit, before he asks Jo to carry him. 

We had a second Christmas with Georgie when he got back from Arizona.  We saved most of the presents for his return.  Hollis enjoyed opening gifts with his big brother.  Georgie was especially happy to find gummy worms in his Santa Stocking.  We are still enjoying the many gifts that the family sent.  Just last week Georgie and I made some slime.  And we almost cracked open a new puzzle last night.

Hollis with his Baby Co-op buds, Ayla and Annika. 

 Hollis's Baby Co-op started up again early in the New Year and he was so happy to be reunited with his best buds.  He spends Monday, Tuesday and Thursday with these girls each week.  He also started a Fit Kids Toddler class at the Benton Center.  He loves all the activity with his 12 or so other classmates, many returning from his fall toddler class.  Each Thursday we sing songs, play in the gymnasium, eat snack and read books with his classmates. 

Hollis and Momma at Oak Creek

He just turned 17 months 3 days ago.  He is very verbal.  His favorite words are guy, car, ball, cheese and cracker.  Cheese refers to any snack.  He loves reading, his favorite books are all about balls "My Yellow Ball", "Balls", and many more.  Thanks to our public library I can keep this kid entertained for hours with ball books.  Speaking of balls, the kid amazes me with his ball talent.  He kicks, knee kicks and even head butts balls.  We are saving some Christmas cash to put him into little kickers.  And tonight we are going to Eli and Corbin's basketball practice. 

Hollis and Jo at Bezell

Outside of our family of four, Joelene is easily his favorite person.  He often cries when we leave the farm or when Jo leaves the house.  Jo explains "It is a lot of pressure to keep up her awesomeness."  She lies.  It all comes so natural to her.   She always does fun things that I would never think of doing, like finding crawdads, hiding in the bushes when Hollis isn't looking, she turned the box I sent to her house filled with Hollis's train set into a tunnel.  She put velcro strips on her kitchen island and put velcro on the toys.  She is always coming up with new ways to blow Hollis toddler mind. 

Hollis and Daddy love to wrestle.  I haven't quite got so comfortable with rough housing and Hollis can tell, he usually ignores my invites to roll around on the floor, but never passes up a ride on Momma's back.  Hollis loves to pretend he is a cat and crawls and meows around the house.  And still he looks forward to bathtime especially if his brother joins him.  I am so blessed with a great family and friends.  Happy New Year.