The Holmes Family

 Ok, so after spending waaaay to much time trying to get this blog to work, I decided to move to a new blog site.   Yes, after nearly 4 years of using this blog I am leaving [sigh]. However, blogging on the new site is so easy that I might post something small daily. 

This site will remain up until blogsome decides to delete it so you can always check back here, but new content will now only be posted at our new site holmesfamilysix.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Faithful Blog Readers,

Please accept my sincere apologies for not blogging more in 2010. I could give you a list of reasons why I didn’t blog, but instead, I will merely vow to do better in 2011.  Thanks to all of you who are reading this because it means that you are still checking in with the Holmes blog now and then.

 Best wishes from the Holmes family for a happy and healthy 2011.

Sincerely,

Blog momma Erika 

P.S. John D. and I gave each other a new computer for Christmas and this is my first time to use it for blogging purposes. I’m having a hard time getting it to work so if you can’t see the pictures, send me a note so I can try to fix it. Thanks! 

 

 

 

Henry is now 9 months old and is growing up so fast!

He has 5 teeth and eats all sorts of foods, the other day he ate split pea soup! He is

also working diligently on trying to walk; he pulls up on anything he can find.  I find it hard to believe that in just 3 months he will be a year old.

 

 

 

 Precious sleeping baby

 

I let Barrett and Evie make and decorate their very own cake. They had fun baking but way more fun eating it. 

 

Barrett at our new favorite play-spot, the Hoppin’ House, which is one of those inflatable worlds. Here he is in the foam-pit which happens to be the best part.  

 

Barrett and Walker with their new hair cuts.

 

 

  

GaGa and Gramma came for a week over Christmas. It was great to have them here for the holidays and helped made Christmas extra special this year.  

Also over the holidays, Evie developed a love for tutus. As you can see, we where them everywhere with every outfit these days. 

 

 A couple of handsome men on Christmas Eve   

 

 Aunt Dena with Evie and Boo on Christmas Eve

 

 

Present time.  This is one excited boy! 

 

 

 

Evie’s turn! 

 

 

Chris gave Dena and me matching (and super snuggly) robes for Christmas.  

 

 

 

Henry on Christmas Morning 

 

 

A very cool Captain America decal for the boys’ room 

 

Evie wanted me to take a picture of her like this so I did. She is such a curious little thing.  

They boys 

The last night of Gaga and Gramma’s visit we all went bowling, which was so much fun.  

 

With the help of this bowling ball slide, Evie had the highest score on our lane!  

Can you tell Barrett’s favorite team is the Bears?

October and November are two really big months for the Holmes/Leerberg families, which is packed full of a series of birthdays and anniversaries and holidays.
It all starts with (in order) my brother-in-law, Erik’s birthday, followed by Erik and Katy’s anniversary, my sister-in-laws Katy and Amanda’s birthday (separate days), my sister, Dena’s birthday, my birthday, Halloween, Walker’s birthday, my nephew, John Foster’s birthday, topped off with John D. and my (5^th) anniversary. Needless to say, it’s a lot of fun celebrating but keeps us super busy. So that’s basically sums up  what we’ve been up to since my last post.  

Ok, so my guilt about not blogging has finally caught up with me. Needless to say, we’ve been busy around here - never a dull moment for sure. Here are a few highlights since my last post (6 weeks ago!)

 

Henry turned 6 months old on September 35th. He is now crawling - army crawling, but crawling none-the-less. He is finally eating solid  foods, his current favorite is rice cereal mixed with sweet potatoes (yum,yum!) However, and very sad for me, he is not any where near sleeping through the night. At his 6 month check-up he weighted 19.6 pounds (90%) and was 27 1/4" long (75%).  All that being said, he is the sweetest, cutest little/big guy ever!

 

Evie turned 2 on August 26th. A couple weeks ago, we decided to nix the binkie. After over 2 years of it being her everything, it was surprisingly easy for her to give up. Now we just need to work on potty training…

Here are a few of Evie’s favorite things at 2:

Favorite TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba and Backyardigans

 

Favorite color: Pink

 

Favorite princess: tie between Ariel and Sleeping Beauty

 

Favorite book: Madeline

 

Best friend: Carter Kuczaj

 

Favorite accessory: shoes

 

Favorite toy: Her Gee-Gees (tiny stuffed rabbits)

 

Favorite Foods: Gogurt tubes, mini-pancakes, mandarin oranges and turkey and cheese sandwiches

 

Drink: Water

 

outdoor activity: swinging

 

Now on to Barrett. He started soccer in early September. John D. is the team’s head coach ( and a wonderful one, at that). So far, Barrett LOVES to play soccer.  He started pre-k in September which is at the same little school he’s gone to since he was 1. He goes 4 days a week (same as last year) and does a special reading class on Mondays.

 

Walker is in 4th grade now and in less than one month he will be 10, which is crazy. I feel like it wasn’t long ago he was Barrett’s age. Anyway, Walker is in flag football this fall, which he loves and is quite good at. He’s still doing karate once a week and took up guitar lessons instead of the violin, which he worked on last year.

Now on to some pictures —

 

Man,oh man do I have some pictures to share! Since it’s been way too long since I posted pictures - a month? longer? I’ll start from the oldest pictures and work from there. Last Thursday was Evie’s 2nd birthday and I have tons of pictures from celebrating her big day but I haven’t downloaded them yet so they are to come, hopefully sooner than later.

I can’t believe that the summer is coming to a close already. Walker starts school in less than three weeks!
Speaking of Walker; Last Saturday, Barrett, John D. and Oma took off bright and early (6a.m.) to go pick up Walker from Camp Longhorn. Walker had such a great time at camp. He made many new friends and was able to do lots of cool, fun stuff. A huge thanks to everyone who sent Walker letters while he was away.  He brought back a big stack of mail from friends and family which was great because it helped make him feel very special and loved while he was gone.
Today was a big day for Henry. He had his 4 month well-check today. He is doing great - he weighed almost 17 pounds (90%), and is 25 1/2 inches (75%). However he had a couple of shots today and so he isn’t feeling that great right now. Poor little thing.
In other news, we finally made the "big switch" over the past couple of weeks, moving all the kids into different rooms. Barrett and Walker now share a room. Right now, they are sleeping on mattresses on the floor until their new bunk bed comes. Evie now has Barrett’s old room and is sleeping in a big-girl-bed. That transition has been less than seamless. We have to put her back into bed each night about 10 times and some nights we even find her roaming the halls in the middle of the night. I will be very relieved when she acclimates to her new room and bed. And Henry is finally out of our room and into his own room. I think even Henry is happy about that as he had literally outgrown the bassinette.
Next week, Mom, Dad and Grandma Mavis come down to Austin for Henry’s baptism. They get in on Tuesday and will be here for almost a week.  We are all getting excited for their arrival.
I think that’s about all for now. Sadly, I haven’t taken any pictures lately but I’m sure I will take plenty next week during my family’s visit and the baptism so stay tunedJ

A few highlights since my last post:
Walker is off at Camp Longhorn, which is a sleep-away camp about an hour from Austin. He will be gone for three weeks - he left last Sunday, so he has two more weeks to go. After some initial but very common homesickness, he seems to be having a great time. We are glad he’s off having fun but we all miss him and can’t wait for his return.
Barrett and Evie had swim lessons the past two weeks. At the beginning both were terrified of the water, and now Barrett can swim - sort of - but more importantly he’s more confident in the water. He even went off the diving board, which I never thought would happen.  And although Evie is not swimming, she now loves the water and is trying to swim. Knowing Evie, she’ll be swimming by the end of the summer.
Henry will be 4 months old next week and I really can’t believe he’s already that old.  
John D. and I are looking forward to next weekend, when we get to have a night away. We are going to a spa in San Antonio for the night while my sister-in-law, Katy, and Oma and Pops take care of our kids (Thank you Holmes family!!).
I think that’s about all for now. Here are some pics from the past month.

 

Instead of updating you on the mundane details of our week, I decided to something a little different and "interview" both Barrett and Walker, asking them several questions about their current favorite (or least favorite) things so you can get a glimpse of their little personalities. For those of you who are thinking, "how creative and fun of her" - I have to admit that I’m stealing this idea from my friend Stephanie’s blog who did this same thing with her 3-year-old and I thought it was just so darn cute that I had to do it too.
Walker’s Favorites - Age 9 1/2
Book: Leven Thumps
Movie: Alex Ryder Operation Storm Breaker
Outdoor activity: basketball
indoor activity: reading
Favorite Food: Fried okra and the white blanco roll at Ichiban
Drink: orange juice or Coke Cherry
Color: Black
Type of music: Alternative
Song: Brian Eno by MGMT
Band: MGMT and The Hold Steady
Best Friend: Gus Albach
Animal: cat
Least favorite animal: copperhead snake
Restaurant: Ichiban (sushi) and Fino
planet: Mars
Barrett’s Favorites - Age 4
Book: My First Insect Book
TV show: Yo Gabba Gabba
Color: blue, white and green
Animal: horse
Least favorite animal: bears
Favorite insect: Rhinoceros Beetle
Drink: chocolate milk and "bubble juice" a.k.a. sparkling water
Favorite Food: Chicken
Snack: Pirate Booty and animal crackers
Superhero: Spiderman and Batman
Inside activity: playing with my sword
Outside activity: playing in my tree house
Best Friend: Cooper Kuczaj
Scared of: T-Rex
Toy: Stuffed doggie

 Just a quick picture post to catch up. Some of these pictures are over a month old, but I thought I’d post them anyway.

Henry is now seven weeks old and things at our house seem to be calming down a bit as we settle into our new routine.  It’s been a month since I’ve posted an entry to the blog and plenty has happened in that time, but most of it is just being busy with daily life. However, there have been a few big things to speak of. Our nanny, Cari, decided that nannying wasn’t the job for her so she left the last week in April. It was the best for everyone involved and now we have a fabulous new (part-time) nanny, Linsdey, who the kids (and I) adore. 

In other big news, I am excited to say that Aunt Dena graduated from Southwestern University last weekend. We are very proud of all the hard work and sacrifices Dena made to get her degree in biology. She [hopefully] will be applying that degree doing a year of research in the renowned MD Anderson Cancer center before heading into more schooling to get her PhD, I think in cancer research.

Otherwise, things are getting back to our “new normal” which is crazy and wonderful all  at the same time.  I’m sure I’m leaving out some very important details from the last month but in effort to get this posted, I will move on to the pictures.