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

f@mily photos!

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

enjoy!

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!