Pawley's Island 2013

On July 5th, we made the trek to Pawley's for our annual Holman family vacation.  It was awesome to say the least.  David drove down with us on Friday and flew back to DC Tuesday night.  The boys loved having their dad all to themselves.

We built sandcastles.

The boys fished.

My boys

Sometimes even the older boys need a beach nap

Fishing on the dock

Hughes(7), Kate(6), Charlotte(4) and Banks(5)

Collins and his baby blues

Boogie board time

 Kudos to Hughes for the picture.  Proof that I was actually there.

David showing the boys how to skip rocks/shells.

Banks and G-Daddy

 David and the boys with GiGi

The beach was awesome.  We had perfect weather, enjoyed cold drinks, fished, swam, laughed, played, and read lots of books.  A perfect vacation.  Thanks Dawa and G-Daddy!

4th of July

We were in Alexandria this 4th of July.  Our neighborhood has a parade with decorated bikes and costumes.  We geared ourselves up and hit the parade.  Unfortunately, our decorated battery-operated four wheeler decided not to charge so when we hauled it down to the school for the beginning of the parade it was dead.  MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT ensued.  

After handing over a fistful of tickets for the jump castles and games, the big boys had a whole new outlook on the morning.

We ended the night at a neighborhood party with a grand firework show.  The boys had a blast playing and running with friends and the adults had a great time, too.

Like a Man

Hughes had his blood drawn today for some blood work that the geneticist ordered.  This is for the test that we had to have insurance approval for.  Dr. Rosenbaum said it costs around $3000 so I was shocked/pleased that our insurance company agreed to cover it 100%.  

I was a little nervous about how he would react but he did fantastic.  He didn't shout or yell or even whimper.  He took it like a man.

I shielded him from looking at the needle going in and this was his reaction.  I'm not sure how many 7-year olds would have handled it this well.

Of course, every good deed deserves to be rewarded.  Surprise, Surprise.  Hughes chose a new Lego from the Chima series.  Thankfully, he always chooses the cheap ones and not the $50 and up kits.

On the way home I was telling him how proud I was of how he handled the appointment and said "you're a pretty great 7-year old".  He replied with "well, you're a pretty great mom".  Score one for Hughes!  Flattery will get you everywhere.

Go Nats!

Last Friday, David's firm had a Family Night at the Nationals' game.  I loaded the boys up on the metro and took off to the ballpark to meet David.  They had a great time watching the mascots walking around and getting to play a pitching game.

The Bigs with Abe

Cotton Candy time!  I think they were the most excited about this!

Cotton Candy Beards - Thankfully I carry wipes with me :)

Pitching time at the Coca-Cola tent

Heading into the game - Collins is ready

It was a warm night with seats directly in the sun.  Up until about the top of the 5th we were cooking.

We left soon after and got some pics with the displays.  Banks was too cool at this point.

And this is what we did the next day - Dress Up!

Collins has fallen into the exact same footsteps as his big brothers and loves to dress up in costumes.  Today we have a dinosaur which I'm thinking may be his halloween costume this year.  He looks so cute as a blue dinosaur!

And, Banks is still sporting the pterodactyl costume.  This was Hughes costume when he was 4.  Hughes also wore it until it was extremely too small and was most likely causing circulation problems in some important areas.  Banks is continuing the tradition of squeezing into it.  

First Grade Completion!

While you Southeners have been on summer break for over 3 weeks now, us, Virginians, are just getting out of school.  I realize we don't go back until after Labor Day, but, geez louise, June 18th is crazy late.

First Day with Mrs. Wightman

And, last day.

Hughes had a great first grade year.  He definitely showed more interest in science, math and art.  He has a love/hate relationship with writing.  He loves it when he's at home and can write descriptions of his pictures and he hates it when his teacher tells him to do it.  So, we'll be doing some writing and reading this summer :)  His drawings continue to amaze me with the amount of detail he puts into them and the level of concentration he has when building his Lego creations.  

We're all glad summer is here.  Looking forward to hitting the beach with both sides of the family this year and lots of friend time here and in SC.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

The saying really is true:  Time flies when you're having fun!

It seems like yesterday I was standing in the back of the church on Dad's arm ready to walk down the aisle and get this party started.

And now, 10 years later, 3 kids gained, hair lost, and pounds gained, we're still having a great time. 

As an anniversary/father's day gift, I surprised David with a Big Green Egg.  So far, we've done ribs and chicken and he did a spectacular job on both!

Baseball Season is Over - Hallelujar!

Finally, our season has come to a close.  We've put the cleats away, stored the bats and gloves, and now have a clear schedule.  We had a lot of rain the last couple of weeks which meant I got my hopes up numerous times about games being cancelled only to watch the rain go around us and always leave our field dry.  Seriously?

But, we had a great t-ball season.  Banks loved it and I loved watching him.

Here he is super proud of his trophy.

Banks and Charlie

Hughes also had a great machine-pitch season.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died at his party so I ended up with zero pictures of him getting his signed baseball.  His coach said a few words about each of the players and he said something along the lines of - Hughes, I wasn't really sure about you.  You were always so quiet but when you got up to bat, you hit that ball hard.  In fact, you always hit the ball.  Way to go, man.

Way to go, boys!  I'm proud of both of you.

Hair Shot

Just because I don't have girls doesn't mean I don't have my fair share of knots.  This is what the back looks like most mornings when they wake up.

Collins wasn't feeling the photo shoot, Banks is fine, and Hughes has had enough.