Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Prayers



Every night we say our prayers. The boys are so cute when they clasp their hands together and bow their heads. Hughes leads us and thanks God for every person in the family by name, then he moves on to the animals, then he thanks God for "evybody". Last night he through me for a loop, he added to his prayer.

What you may ask did he thank God for? Well, obviously the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree - he thanked God for doughnuts!


My boys love doughnuts and so does their mama!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Dinosaurs Please!


We visited the SC State Museum on Saturday in Columbia to see their Dinosaur exhibit. It was so cool! Hughes was in heaven, Banks was a little terrified and David and I were impressed. Most of the dinosaurs are animotronic (sp?) and so they move and to a two-year old they look real! Hughes was running from one dinosaur to the next - he could barely contain his excitement. Banks, on the other hand, immediately said, "up peaz" and viewed the dinosaurs from the safety of his mother's/father's hip. The exhibit is there through February. I would highly recommend going! Besides, the museum is awesome on it's own - throw in a dinosaur exhibit and it becomes fabulous!

Hughes pretending to feed the baby stegosaurus.

Hughes, Banks and David in front of the baby t-rex.

This exhibit was a tad gruesome - notice the bloody head of another dinosaur in the t-rex's mouth. I know this exhibit was for facts but, geez, did we have to see that!

Hughes saying, "dinosaur" instead of cheese. He was in hog heaven!

Banks giving the dinosaur the "stink eye".

Proof that I was there.

My Little Paleontologists

After we made our way through the dinosaurs, our other favorite exhibit was the space/astronaut. It had an entire "game room" that dealt with gravity, velocity, prizms, etc. The boys had a fantastsic time and had to be pulled from the room. Hughes showed a special interest in the movie about the space rover and learning about the moon.

It was a great family day and we topped it off by swinging through Krispy Kreme for some hot doughnuts on our way back to Charleston.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Rock 'n Roll


Boom Boom Pow - Hughes' Favorite Song!




Snoozing


This is what happens when you wake up at 2:30am and then get up for good at 5:30am.


Oh yeah and only take a 1 hour nap - he was snoring at 4:45pm.



Cars, Mailboxes & New Words


Well folks, yesterday was not a good day for the cars of the Holman family. Yesterday morning, David rear-ended a truck with a huge hitch. Luckily, the hitch broke his Clemson tag and that was it. No need for the cops, no need for the insurance companies to get involved, nothing. Whew - that was a close one!

Not to be outdone, I hit our mailbox with the suburban or should I say the mailbox reached out and hit me! However, it was not my fault! I was getting the mail and shut the mailbox door. As I was driving away, the mailbox door fell back open and, well, I now have about an 18 inch scratch in my car. Being the wonderful mother that I am, I yelled "f*&(", opened the car door to access the damage, slammed the car door, muttered another bunch of explicatives and then got back in the car. I'm steaming. And then Hughes asks me, "mama, why you say fa?" over and over again. So, now, I'm completely embarrrassed because I've just taught my 4-year old his first curse word and it's by far one of the worst ones!

I have a scratch repair man coming to the house right now to hopefully repair the scratch and wipe away my memory of the mailbox. I'll never forget Hughes asking, "mama, why you say fa?". Oh, and just for the record this would be the 3rd mailbox that I've hit in our neighborhood.
  1. Virginia's mailbox - I backed into and knocked it loose. It gave my brand-new car some nice scratches. And when I say "brand new", I mean I had had the car for about 3 hours. I think I had a nervous breakdown about telling David about that one. Their mailbox was fine.
  2. (Not totally my fault) I had driven David's Explorer home from the beach because he had been drinking. So, I was the DD. Well, I guess I didn't push the emergency brake down all the way and while we were napping, it rolled out of our driveway and Anna's mailbox stopped it for us. Again, I was the DD so that's got to come with some forgiveness on this matter. Their mailbox was fine.
  3. And, now, the mailbox that hit me yesterday!
What's worse - me hitting 3 mailboxes in our neighborhood or me teaching Hughes a new word? I think the best thing that happened to me yesterday was that David also had a minor wreck so that left him in no position to lecture me or make me feel bad! Thanks David!


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Be A Tourist - 2010


We've been a little slack on our Be A Tourist adventures this year. I refused to anything outdoors at the beginning of the month simply because it was so cold. Now, with beautiful weather I plan to attack with my pass in hand. Below are the places we have ventured to thus far.

The boys jumping off the firetruck bumper. There is no way they were about to smile and look at the camera. I take what I can get.

This is at Magnolia Plantation. Banks had Lester the Ladybug for the wkend. Lester is the class pet so he got to go on our adventures with us.

Hughes took a date to Magnolia Gardens. Okay, it wasn't a date but it was definitely a girlfriend - Lucy! Apparently, Hughes was being really funny and wooing her.

Checking out the geese.

Our Crew - Hughes, Lucy, Banks, Lester the Ladybug, Charles and Frances

After looking at the geese for awhile, we braved the Petting Zoo. It was a little scary at first for Banks. Large animals coming at you looking like they were going to peck your face off - that's scary. So, I had to pick him up and carry him most of the way.

This turkey wanted to be our friend. He didn't care if we didn't have food. He just wanted to hang with us. That wasn't so bad. It was when his brothers and sisters started following us did it get to be a little weird.

I had to sneak this picture. Banks would have freaked had he seen the pig this close to him.

WOW!

Our next adventure was to Birds of Prey in Awendaw. We toured the grounds but then the flight demonstration got cancelled because it started raining - boo! It was still fun and we decided to go back in the spring when it's not raining so that we can see the birds fly. Hughes said everything was a bald eagle.

Conley and Hughes - our tour guides

Family Shot - Lester the Ladybug made the shot, too.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Baby, It's Cold Outside


Here's what's going on in the Holman household:

  • Banks is learning to ride the tricycle.
  • His legs are about an inch too short for the full pedal rotation.
  • We've thought of tying some styrofoam blocks to the pedal to help his little legs.
  • Hughes has been forced to ride either his scooter or bike.
  • We haven't been outside to play in about two weeks.
  • I finally broke down today and went outside for a quick bike ride.
  • Law school starts back tonight for David.
  • The one thing I love about this time of year are the oyster roasts - YUM!
  • I'm dreaming of warmer weather and beach vacations.
  • Hughes and I have been working on the alphabet during his quiet time.
  • Hughes drew a picture about volcanoes and hot lava today at school.
  • Banks used the potty today on his own accord - I was totally surprised!
  • I'm sweating everybody out of our house with our logs on.
  • Charlie is going to have a rude awakening when this weather warms up and he's back outside all day. (FYI Charlie is our dog)
  • I'm ordering Charlie a bark collar tonight - one that will bring him to his knees!
  • We missed church pictures for the directory because I totally forgot about it. Not because we haven't been there.
  • I made beef stew using bloody mary mix again and it is so delicious.
  • David will have it for lunch tomorrow.
  • I must have messed up the salt because it's a little (a lot) too salty. Oh well.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy New Year!


Happy New Year from the Holman Crew!

We rang in 2010 in Edisto with some great friends. We had a house full with 4 families (8 adults, 7 children), a tremendous amout of food, and a fully stocked bar! It was a great way to welcome to the new year.


Right before the boys were put down for the night. Hughes and Banks really liked blowing the horns. So much so, that Hughes was still blowing his yesterday. It has since been confiscated!

Sporting a New Year's hat

Conley, Chandler, Madeline, Banks, Braedon, and Hughes - Elliott is either missing or behind Madeline - The younger kids were not a fan of being plopped on the couch for the photo shoot.

Still blowing the horn.

Kids down - it's time to PARTY! Laura, me and Suzie with James peeking behind.

Steaming oysters. What a great New Year's Eve dinner! They were fabulous!

The Ladies of the House - me, Suzie, Laura and Kelly

YUM, oysters! I think David and I need to get a cooker and steam pot. Thanks Steeds!

What party at Edisto would be complete without a visit from the PoPo? Well, apparently, our music was too loud during our oyster feast. Hey, no one was arrested and we had a photo op!

Happy New Year!


New Year's Day was all about the Auburn game, Pillow Mountain, and the Wii. Conley, Hughes and Banks gathered 3/4 of the pillows inside the beach house, piled them on top of each other in the den, and proceeded to jump on top of pillow mountain. It was cold outside so this was their exercise.

Hughes didn't want to wear his football jersey so we let Conley wear it. Go Bo!

Banks mid-jump in his Bo Jackson jersey.

Hughes doing a cannon ball.

Beaufort Stew for dinner - thanks Deprills!

After dinner and the kids went down, the adults had a Wii bowling competition. It was intense for some of us.

Kelly - our runner up. I think she may have a 2nd career of professional bowler if the law stuff doesn't work out!

Mike - unfortunately Mike didn't quite have the feel of the Wii and bowled mostly gutter balls - too much spin!

In between clogging demonstrations, Laura bowled pretty well.

Ed, by far, had the funkiest bowling stance. I didn't capture it here but, trust me, it was funky.

James concentrating on the pins. He also gave us a little salute to the Summeral Guards with a marching demonstration using a mop.

Suzie showing us how it's done. This was between her concert she and Laura held that night. Girl has got some pipes!

David - our champion. He rolled 4 strikes in a row - I always knew I married a winner!

Me in my pajama pants. Hey, it was night and I was comfy.

Hughes freezing in the backyard playing jungle quest (aka walking through the brush in the backyard).

David was the monster in jungle quest.

The fort made from palm fronds. Very Cool!

Elliott hanging out in the fort.

The trip was awesome. We only had a 45 minute drive back to Johns Island. I'm looking forward to what 2010 will bring us.

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