OTIS JAVIER LOPEZ HOLLAND

We are muy tarde in celebrating the birthday of our señior Otis Javier Lopez Holland on Cinco de Mayo, 2009! Our poochy turned 1 year old on Cinco de Mayo, which is why he has a latino middle name. When pondering what his middle name should be, we were naturally drawn to the things we love(d), and somehow Karen was drawn to the memory of former Atlanta Brave catcher, Javier (Javy) Lopez. Specifically, she was drawn to his gluteus maximus,

SO, OJLH was born, and we celebrate the birthday of our little latino, our bouncy bambino, our CHUNKY-BUTT dog, Otis. Weighing in at a very svelt 29.4 pounds (yes Mr. and Mrs. Holland, he'll be about 20-22 pounds). Now Nick strains his back just to lift the "little guy".

He does have a tremendous personality, and provides us with unlimited "sugars", hugs, and laughs. Happy Birthday Otis!

Milestones!!

It seems that everyday I am constantly amazed at my children. Over the past couple of weeks I catch myself just looking at them in awe of the little people they are becoming! Today was a crazy day. I had to work, Nick had a gig down town etc, etc. We were totally going to be playing tag! But in all of the craziness it was a day I caught myself smiling a lot---
While we were driving to church this morning Caroline had a copy of a sing along Bible. She decided that she was going to read Bible stories and prayers all the way to church. To be completely honest I wasn't really listening at first. Caroline has been "reading" since she could talk, but after a minute or two I found my mouth hanging open because Caroline was really reading the words as they were printed! She missed a few here and there but Oh! it was such a sweet sound! I love hearing my children read, especially the word of God!! Nick and I have always prayed that our children would LOVE to read. It seems to be happening. Yesterday Nicholas--who is more than 1/2 way through the 4th Harry Potter book (he just started reading them at the end of March) said "mom, I have discovered something new about myself--I love to read!" I could not be more excited because that is one of my most favorite things to do as well.

But in Nicholas' opinion the most important milestone of the day is the fact that he is 4'8" tall. For those of you who don't know why that is so important it is because Nicholas is tall enough that he no longer has to ride in a booster seat! I measured him while at work today and he was over the moon excited!! One day soon I will have to post the fact that he is taller than his mom!!!

8 Things I'm looking foward to...TAGGED!

8 Things I'm looking forward to...subtitled, I've been tagged by my dear friends Heather and Trent in Indiana!

1. HEAVEN...'nuff said

2. Watching my babies grow up

3. Growing old with my lovey

4. College Football...GO 'DAWGS! HOO HOO!

5. Liz's visit

6. Carole Kenney getting married!! (She's not engaged yet...I'm standing in faith!)

7. Going BACK to Disney World

8. Having the summer off from Preschool

8 Things I did yesterday... Did I do 8 things yesterday??

1. Walked Caroline to school

2. Check emails

3. Went to Preschool

4. Watched Dancing with the Stars (that I DVRed)

5. Cooked Dinner

6. Made sure the kids got baths

7. Read some of the "One Perfect Day" book

8. Slept...though not enough!

8 things I wish I could do...(so I can't do everything?)

1. Be independently wealthy

2. Have a clean house everyday

3. travel anywhere I want to go

4. Have a house on the beach

5. Work out and love it!

6. Be more faithful in my Bible and prayer time

7. By a new house (Nick wants the pool too)

8. Not spend so much money at the grocery store!

8 Shows I enjoy...

1. Dancing with the Stars

2. The Biggest Loser

3. ER (bummed that it's over)

4. Law & Order (original, SVU...no Criminal Intent)

5. College Football

6. Ace of Cakes

7. the Today Show (plus my local news)

8. Fox News, especially Neal Cavuto

8 Friends that I passed this on to...(I don't know 8 bloggers, but you're all TAGGED!)

1. Christi Shaw

2. Sarah Hollis

3. Adrienne Rogowski

4. I don't have any more friends...(that blog)

Celebrating my Children today!!!

I just thought I would celebrated Nicholas and Caroline today! All year Nicholas has been striving to get an E (excellent) for his conduct grade and last week he finally achieved his goal. He has always been "good enough" but at our School excellence is expected--and he finally got there! Let's keep hoping for more E's!!

And Caroline has learned to tie her shoes! I was a little more lax with her ( I made Nicholas learn before he started kindergarten) but last night after her bath she walked out of her room with her robe on and said "I did this all by myself" as she held on to the lovely bow on her robe!! Today as we walked to school she said " Now I can tie anything I want" YES indeed!!!!

A gift to me!

Have you ever just needed to know that you have done the right thing? A while ago I did something that was truly one of the hardest things I have ever done. I only did it after MUCH prayer and finally (after putting it off again and again) had to do it to be obedient. Ever since then there have been times I have agonized over what had transpired and I doubted myself. I believed I was obedient to the Lord's prompting but my fleshy self still wondered. But we serve a good and faithful God and over the past month I have been give confirmation after confirmation that I had done the right thing. It has come in the sweetest ways such as talking with other people that have said to me "I am right there with you, keep praying"--people I didn't even know!!! and some that I did! and yesterday sitting in church our pastor confirmed it. He said after praying about something speak the truth in love and back it with scripture! He didn't know of my situation, how my broken heart was slowly starting to mend, but he spoke straight to my heart! As tears filled my eyes, I realized the band aid I needed wasn't that big anymore and I said a great big THANK YOU to our most AMAZING GOD!!! He always knows exactly what we need!!

Hannah Mon-Caroline - updated!

I just updated the video of Caroline performing in her role of Hannah MonCaroline at Forest Hill Community Church. Please check out the post from April 2009!

Happy Birthday to Hallelujah!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HALLELUJAH CHEWBACCA HOLLAND!!

This picture was taken when Halbo was about 4 months old, in Greensboro, NC. He posed his own paw for the camera even!

Here is Halbo, a whopping 12 YEARS LATER! Hal turned 12 today on May 3, 2009; a day I honestly thought we'd never share with this dog. If you haven't met Halbo, he's a very special dog. He's grumpy, grouchy, a nervous-nelly, and incredibly territorial. He's likely bit or nipped at many of you, our precious readers! He said he's sorry!

Last summer, Hal blew out his right hind leg knee, and we thought we were going to have to put him down. His vet advised against having surgery, because he is old and would likely blow the other one any day. We brought him home with a decision to make; let him go play with Mama Jacque (my mom) and Jesus, or keep him with us and let him be a happy tripod. He had actually started working on the annual Christmas letter, just in case he wouldn't be around to finish it for the holidays...

Well, we actually went to bed that night expecting to put him down the next day or so...and then we woke up. He was bouncing around, playing, barking, asking to go on walks, the whole bit. After we dried our faces, we decided a happy tripod was just fine with us! Shar-peis have a normal lifespan of 7-10 years, so he's quite the elder statesman. Here's to you our first "child" - Happy Birthday Hallelujah!