12.31.2010

more than just a sled


This year we received a very sentimental surprise gift from my parents. They had my dad's old wooden sled that I used to ride on as a kid, restored for Ethan. It was such a special gift and it was even more meaningful having them take Ethan out for a ride on it. You can see below how beautiful the sled turned out with the wood re-stained and the metal painted red. They even added "Holloway" down the front. Best gift ever.


*A very big THANK YOU again Grandma and Papa!

Christmas Break!

 This year for Christmas, Anthony and I purchased a new camera. We love learning more about using it and look forward to taking some classes in photography! This is one of the first pictures we took with it- love him:)
 With all of the snow we have gotten this December, we decided to get out of the house! We went to Nickelodeon Universe and Ethan went on some"big boy" rides and loved them!
 Here is Ethan and Anthony riding the Diego Safari Bus


Christmas: 2010
 Ethan was so excited to open presents this year- it was fun to watch. Here he is opening his horses and trailer from Grandma and Papa- see how he is peeking inside? 
 Ethan in his Christmas pajamas opening his gift from Grandma Delene- Elf on the Shelf!
 With all the snow, you couldn't even keep the big kids from going out to play in it!

Ethan and papa in deep conversation :) 
Future hockey player in action

12.06.2010

f@mily photos!

We recently had our family pictures taken by the very talented Lisa Barron in Springfield, MN. Here are our favorites-
enjoy!












12.04.2010

The Pigeon wants a Party!

For those of you who don't already know, I am a "little" fan of the children's book author, Mo Willems. Well since Ethan has been hearing these books for some time now, we decided to throw him a pigeon-themed 2nd birthday! It was so much fun putting it together and Ethan really understood this year that it was a special occasion. We had a great turn out for the party and everyone seemed to enjoy awesome cupcakes Anthony made. I was very proud of his design! 




We rounded out Ethan's Birthday week with a trip to Charlotte to visit Anthony's family for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to get to celebrate Ethan's Birthday with them as well. We had a very nice week in NC, really enjoying the warm weather and perfect break from the frigid start to MN winter! Anthony and I were able to have a lunch date with Amber and Alyssa at their school one day and I got to read to Alyssa's Kindergarten class. (Mo Willems books of course!) We were also very fortunate to get to celebrate Anthony's sister Ashly's 30th Birthday while were there. We went to see the movie "Due Date" and then to a dueling piano bar called, "Howl at the Moon." What an awesome night! We prepared a great Thanksgiving dinner for the family on Thursday. We were joined by Anthony's dad, Vernon, his Aunt Dwyla and Uncle David, Ashly's good friend Ashley, and of course Ashly, Tony, Amber, Alyssa and Anthony's mom DeLene. 
What a great week!

11.16.2010

halloween catch up...

Ethan & his favorite treat: a lollipop
Ethan was a dragon this year for Halloween and he really enjoyed trick or treating. 

We are preparing for a busy week this week! We have Ethan's birthday tomorrow. I cannot believe that he will be 2 already! We have his birthday party on Saturday and then we leave for North Carolina on Sunday- whew! I have so much to do!

10.10.2010

fall is here!

 We enjoyed having my parents and grandma Karen up to visit us last weekend. We took a nice walk at a local park and then enjoyed the Shrine Circus later that afternoon.
 Ethan and Papa on the pony ride at intermission. Ethan loved the Circus and was so good the entire show! (3 hours)
 This weekend on Saturday, we enjoyed our annual apple orchard trip with our neighbors, Brent, Camie and Caleb. This year we went to Aamodt's Apple Farm in Stillwater. It was a great time, although I do have to say that it wasn't the typical weather for this event. In fact, I looked at pictures from last year at this time and we were in hats and mittens! We had temps in the mid 80s and it really felt like summer.
 Ethan really enjoyed eating his honeycrisp apple all by himself, juice dripping down the chin and all! 
Ethan and his buddy Caleb walking at the orchard hand in hand :)
Family picture at the orchard
 After the orchard, we headed to downtown Stillwater for some lunch. We ate at the Freight House and then browsed the shops along Main St. We also just so happened to be there for Stillwater's Harvest Fest, which included a giant pumpkin weigh-off.
Camie and I posing with the huge pumpkin 

On Sunday we went to the Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Corn Maze. It was too nice not to be outside. This place was a lot of fun, with many things for Ethan to do. As you can see we found more pony rides!
 Ethan was a little hesitant at first, but eventually we had to "bribe" him out of the corn pit. (it was a LOT of fun)
 Mommy & Ethan in the corn pit
What a wonderful start to our fall- my favorite season. We are looking forward to Halloween, Ethan's 2nd birthday next month and visiting family in Charlotte! 

9.08.2010

LaBoR dAy WeEkEnD @ The C@BiN


This year for Labor Day weekend, the Krebs/Holloway family decided to "head to the cabin" for the weekend. We had not done a family vacation together in over 10 years, so it was about time. We rented a little cabin on Lake Hubert, near Brainerd and Nisswa, MN. Although we arrived with some very cool Fall air, we were able to do some boating, fishing and campfires. We ate very well all weekend long. We had an appetizer night, a BBQ night with ribs and chicken and ended with a fresh fish cookout thanks to our lucky fishing boys! Ethan made sure to wear everyone out playing baseball whenever he got the chance and thoroughly enjoyed the late nights and TREATS! We found a great little coffee shop in Nisswa called, StoneHouse Coffee, that I made a couple visits to in the short trip. All in all I think everyone had a great time and we were sad to see the weekend end. Thanks for an awesome end-of-summer vacation! 
checking out uncle bryant's big fish

ethan driving the boat with "papa"

krebs/holloway family pic

the big one

sunset on the lake
the holloways



8.31.2010

pool time

Ethan LOVES the water!

Wow...I cannot believe that August is now over! With the hot summer we've had, we tried to get to the pool as much as possible. Ethan just love swimming like a little fish. He has even become really good at letting us splash him and putting his head in the water. 

I am back in the classroom this week getting everything ready for the new school year. We are also getting ready to transition Ethan to a new school. There is a new center opening very near our house and after looking into it we loved the program. (the distance was the one drawback to his current center). Anthony has now been at his new job for a month and he is really enjoying it. He has already done a lot of traveling, even if it was only to Oklahoma!

We will be officially giving summer its proper send off by having a long weekend at a cabin in Brainerd over Labor Day. My parents and brothers will be joining us as we have not had a vacation together since I was still living at home! It should be a great time...3 more day!



8.01.2010

DeLene Visits!



snuggle time
@ underwater adventure
on lake minnetonka


Anthony's mom, DeLene, stayed with us this past week. We had so much fun doing things around the metro area and just hanging out at home. We planned an awesome menu for the week, showcasing some of Anthony's and mine own culinary skills. We also surprised his mom with a boat cruise on lake Minnetonka. We enjoyed some margaritas and fajitas and even had a little storm to keep an eye on while we were on the boat. It was over quickly though and the double rainbow at the end was spectacular. We also checked out Mall of America and toured Underwater Adventure. We spent one day in Stillwater along the St. Croix River, looking in all the shops. We tried coffee, ice cream and even dinner out at Smalley's Caribbean Barbeque. We were sad to say goodbye on Saturday but what a great week!