New Boots!

I think I picked THE WORST time of year to go shopping for new snow boots. Seriously - I went to like 10 different places before I found a pair today. My boss got me a Visa giftcard for $75.00 and I decided to put it to practical use. I have a pair of boots, but my feet are ALWAYS cold in them. And there is NOTHING worse that trying to go sledding with cold feet...

So, I did some research today. Some brands that kept popping up were Sorel, Kamik and Columbia. I searched for Sorels and Kamiks today - not a lot of luck, so I ended up going with these: http://www.columbia.com/Product/5/Footwear/520/Womens/9351/Sierra-Summette.aspx

They were only $65.00 at Dick's Sporting Goods (on sale!). I also ended up spending $25.00 on gloves that I HOPE will finally keep my hands warm!

I'll let you know how it all works out :)

The Holidays are Winding Down

Merry Belated Christmas, everyone!! Hope your day was beautiful.

Here at the Holman household, things have been CRAZY! We started the Christmas celebrations last week Sunday when we saw my dad and my extended family on that side. My dad and step-mom always head to Wisconsin for Christmas, so that works out very well for us. I had to work Monday, Tuesday, and until noon on Wednesday, but then Wednesday afternoon, we headed over to my mom's house for our Christmas celebration with her, my step-dad, my brothers and Katelynn. It was loud - always is - but there was limited drama, and for that, I am thankful :)

Yesterday I was SO proud of my boys. Because Rick's and my parents are both divorced, we have 4 Christmases with our parents, and then Christmas with the Lohmans t00 - the Lohmans are our "Other Family". That makes 5, yep - count 'em, 5 - Christmases for our household. We had plans to go to brunch at the Lohmans at 10am yesterday, so I knew the boys weren't going to be able to open their presents at home first thing in the morning. The compromise was that they could play with what Santa brought them - which he wisely didn't wrap - and open up their stockings. Everything else would have to wait until the evening after we got home. Joshua and Logan were AWESOME. I can't imagine it was easy to leave all those presents under the tree - but they didn't fight it at all.

So, Santa and stockings at home, then off to the Lohmans for brunch (prime rib and eggs - YUM!!) and presents there. We stayed for a few hours, then drove up to Rothbury to see Rick's mom and his step-dad. That was really nice - it was just Patti, Dave, my BIL Jamie, and our family. The boys, of course, got loaded up with presents, and loved every minute of it. We stayed there for dinner - swiss steak, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, pumpkin pie - and it was delish! We headed back to Coopersville about 5:45pm and then spent some time with the boys opening our presents to each other. Tomorrow, we'll drive up to Whitehall to see Rick's dad and the Holman Family, and then down to Toledo in January for my extended family on my mom's side. As crazy as the juggling is, I understand how lucky I am to have such a huge family, and I promise, I'm very thankful.

I had to work last night from home, and I'm at work again today, so my house is CHAOS right now. It's a lot stressful, but I'm hoping to get things back in order tonight and tomorrow morning. I'll feel a lot better after that. We were so very blessed with so many great gifts this year that I'm not quite sure where we're going to stick them all :)

Have a blessed weekend!!

A Little Bit Sad Today...

Somehow - and I'm not quite sure how this happened - my little baby is turning 3 today! It's a little bit tough, I'll admit that. Seems harder than when Joshua turned 3. Probably because when Joshua turned 3, I was getting close to the home stretch of my pregnancy with Logan and I knew I'd have a new baby in a few months. But, here we are. Logan is 3 now, and I can assure you I'm not in the home stretch of another pregnancy.... that means no new baby in a few months. I'm not even sure if Rick and I will have another baby. I swore that Logan was "it" after all the problems I had with that pregnancy, but it's funny how time has a way of making you forget some of those "I never want to do this again" thoughts.

Regardless, my baby is turning 3. In the last month, I can't believe how much Logan has transitioned from toddler to little kid - right before my very eyes. It seems like the last WEEK has been huge in that regard!! I'm not sure I'm ready for that!

Tonight we'll have family over. I'm going to make pizza (thank you, frozen DiGiorno) and buy a cake (it was a crazy weekend and I didn't get a chance to make a cake). It will be very low key - especially if the weather doesn't let up. We've had 2 MASSIVE snow events in the last 4 days, and we're due for another significant one tomorrow (possibly another 4-10" I heard!!), so I'm not sure how conditions will be tonight. But, we'll squeeze everyone in the house and just enjoy watching Logan be the star of the night. He is the Birthday Boy, after all!

Oh, and Joshua informed me this morning that since it's Logan's birthday today, Logan doesn't have to listen to me if he doesn't want to, LOL! I wonder where THAT came from :)

Have a beautiful and blessed Christmas. I'm not sure I'll be posting again until after Christmas. I still have SO much to do yet and there's only 3 days left!

But, I will post pics of my big 3 year old after his party tonight :)

So there I was...

So there I was, sitting at work, listening to the radio. Starting yesterday, Star 105.7 (which has been playing Christmas Music all season long), has been doing a radiothon to raise money for the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. If you haven't been around since the beginning, my 6 year old, Joshua, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in April of 2004, when he was 20 months old. We spent the better part of the next year at DeVos for treatment. They saved my son's life.

Rick and I are SUPER passionate about DeVos. We know how truly blessed we are that we were able to have such incredible treatment so close to home. Yesterday morning, I dropped Tommy and Brooke an email thanking them for what they're doing, and kind of giving them a snapshot of Joshua's story so they would understand where I was coming from.

I'm sitting here at work this morning, and they read my email on the air! I had to leave my office halfway through because I started to cry. You would think that 4 1/2 years of being cancer free, I'd be a little better at handling stuff like that. Not true. It still has an effect on me, even now.

Which is why places like DeVos are so very important. If you are looking for a charity to donate to this holiday season, I can give you a massive list of reasons why DeVos is one you might want to consider. You can donate online at www.star1057online.com or call them at 877-953-KIDS or 616-391-2999.

So, that's what happened to me today. I'm still a little choked up, but especially because yesterday alone, the radiothon raised over $20,000.00 for DeVos and that is incredible.

Christmas tree pics!

I'm such a slacker - sorry! Getting my boys to cooperate and take a "nice" picture in front of the Christmas tree was not happening until today - when I bribed them for their cooperation :)

Whatever it takes, right!!

Anyhow - here are a few Christmas photos from the Holman Household!



Our Christmas tree. Right in the middle of our living room. I need a bigger house, LOL!



Finally got them to sit nice!



We do not have a fireplace... so "The stockings were hung on the wall with care" :)



My favorite Christmas memory from when I was a kid - the "Mousey Calendar", as we all called it. I had to beg my siblings to let me take this from my mom's house!!!

There ya go - better late than never!!

Broken Heart...

Have I mentioned how much I HATE brain tumors? Please lift the Fox Family up in your prayers as Hadley Bug earned her Angel Wings at about 3:30am this morning. She has been battling this beast for WAY too long. And yet my heart is broken for her family. Angela was one of my first friends on the "my kid has a brain tumor" journey. This just sucks.

Oh Christmas Tree!!

We got our tree up and decorated tonight! We had our fair share of "National Lampoon Moments" - mostly regarding the lights.... But, it's done now and it looks great! I took a couple of pictures tonight - I'm hoping to get them uploaded tomorrow. Right now I'm off to bake 5 dozen sugar cookies. And clean my bathrooms. We have a friend from church coming over tomorrow with her kiddos to decorate cookies.

Have a beautiful week.

Snow, snow, and more snow.

It's certainly winter in Michigan! We have been getting just MASSIVE amounts of snow lately (Lake Effect and regular systems). We're under a Winter Storm Watch for tonight, actually, and we're supposed to get hammered this afternoon and ALL DAY TOMORROW. Who knows how much snow we'll have at the end of this! On Saturday, I shoveled at least 6 inches off my back steps so the dog could go outside! And then I was shovelling the driveway (Rick was out plowing), and by the time I was done with half of it, everything I had just done was covered in 1/2 an inch of snow again!! We got a break yesterday (thank you, Lord!), but it's supposed to get pretty crazy here for the next couple of days. Snow, rain, freezing rain... the whole nine yards!!

Hopefully Rick's truck will get fixed today so he doesn't miss out on what could be a lucrative couple of days of snow plowing! We have repair bills to pay for on his truck....

Anyhow, if you're in my neck of the woods, take it easy for the next couple of day. Hope everyone stays warm and safe!!

Tis the Season

For Christmas Specials!! We all (yup - Rick too!) watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tonight after dinner. Joshua was SO CUTE - he was singing all the songs from the movie, even though he didn't know them very well. Logan was REALLY fidgety during it, but he's not feeling very well, so I wasn't surprised.

Logan has a touch of a stomach bug - not bad - but inconvenient enough that he hasn't eaten hardly anything all week long... I'm sure it's just what Joshua was fighting last week, but I'd love for it to GO AWAY!

Ahh, the joys of cold and flu season... Hope everyone in your neck of the woods is staying healthy!