Holland's First Birthday Pictures!

I always like taking some cute photos of the kiddos on their first birthday! I rarely hire a professional photographer unless it's newborn photos or family photos, so we just had some fun in front of the cute backdrop I made for her party!

And if you'd like a walk down memory lane, here we go...


Newborn Photo

1 Month

2 Month

3 Month

4 Month

5 Month

6 Month

7 Month

8 Month

9 Month

10 Month

11 Month

12 Month

OINK Baa MOO Neigh! It's Holland's 1st Birthday!

We had SO.MUCH.FUN celebrating our little girl! I absolutely love kid birthday parties! I love the planning and the decorating process, I love having friends and family over and I love just about any reason to celebrate!

We decided to go the "Girlie Farm Theme" route, which is pretty standard for our house! Haha!

The food part of the party was a lot of fun to come up with. And I'm thankful for Chick-Fil-A's reheatable tray as well! Haha! Since the party was on a Sunday we had to get a platter from them on Saturday. Those things were a hit! And you'll have to check out Holland Rose Ranch!

I made Trevor and Holland a cake to share (because I just knew Trevor wanted pink polka-dots on his cake haha)! And my Aunt's famous dirt dessert! I think I tricked everyone and no one knew it was actually dessert and not just a flower pot!

A friend of mine recently started the cutest business so I knew I wanted to rent some fun stuff from her for the party! Check out her adorable website here: https://www.buzybeezpartyrentals.com/ and be sure to follow her on instagram!!

PRESENT TIME!!! This girl now has all the girlie toys you could need! Haha! A couple days after her party I was cracking up because Brooks and Rhett had her new pink purse and little bag and I looked over at Holland and she was holding a screw driver! So, I'd say all the kiddos are enjoying the new toys!

Funny fact...this is the first, first birthday that we've remembered to sing happy birthday! Haha! For some reason, we got so wrapped up in getting the boys their cake and so excited about their reaction we totally forgot to sing happy birthday to either of them for their first birthdays! But we remembered with Holland! Remember I said that half the cake was for Trevor...well I had all intentions of including him in the happy bithday song, but somehow got distracted in the middle of the song that I completely forgot! Don't worry, I made sure he felt super special for his birthday too, just not during the happy birthday song! lol!

I think this little girl had the BEST party!! It was so fun getting to celebrate her first year and we are so grateful and thankful for everyone who came out and made her feel so special!! We love you all so much!

2021 Word of the Year

CONNECTED

Every year I choose a word that is my focus for the year. It's a way to set my intensity and energy for the year and to press into God and see where he is calling me. I went through most of December not feeling called to anything and honestly thinking 2021 would be my first year without a word. But God delivered just in time! Not sure why I ever doubt that. I was praying as I was getting ready for bed one night and really talking to God about how I wanted this word to be all encompassing in every part of my life. I threw around some ideas with him and nothing really landed...until it did! Connected came to mind and I knew instantly that was it.
This word kind of has a back story. I didn't realize it at the time, but after landing on that word I realized how perfect it was and how I knew this was where God was calling me. Trevor and I lead a young marrieds lifegroup and twice during the past year this word had been super prevalent in my mind. We had a worship night and through one song in particular I just heard God saying over and over in my mind, "stay connected to the vine." I didn't really know why I kept hearing that, but I kept it in the forefront of my mind often. Another time we met with this lifegroup we did a really interesting exercise where we were writing a note or word to someone else in the group. We didn't know who we were writing to, we were just supposed to write what God was telling us. We then had a way to choose a letter from the pile and you guessed it...I got my own letter which was all about staying connected and clinging to the vine through the good and the bad.

Both of those things happened mid way through 2020, so it had been awhile! So when connected came to mind to be my word of the year, I knew that's where God was leading me.
My ultimate goal with this word is to DAILY have a connection with God, to have daily connection with Trevor, to connect with my kids on a new level, to be present and connect with my friends and family members and be really intentional with that time, to connect through my business with my team, hostesses and customers in a deeper way. It was truly all encompassing!

I usually write about my word in January but I'm kind of glad life has been a little hectic and I'm just now getting to put my thoughts down because I can also share how prevalent this word has been in my life just in the first 4 months. It's always a little scary when God picks a word for you because it means that there will be growning pains and that you will be challenged through this word...and I certainly have already!


Here are some areas that I have already been challenged!

My Connection with HIM
In January and then again in March I was experiencing some really intense anxiety over a couple things. I don't really stuggle with anxiety, so this was something new to me. I had a few things going on that seemed to be triggering it, but I would say the root cause of it was not being truly connected to the vine and understanding what that meant. So, I tried my hardest to embrace it and cling to him while feeling this way. I know that God cares even about the small things and I knew this period of anxiety was giving me the opportunity to press in, dig deep and get to know God even more! I wanted to cling to him during this time and make sure I stayed more connected than ever before! I knew that if I was intentional about staying in the word, really praying through these emotions and feelings, this time wouldn't be wasted. And it certainly wasn't! I feel more connected Him than I have in a long time, I know that there will probably be more anxiety or other undesireable things happen in live and even this year, but I also know where my trust is and I know where to turn when it does happen. I'm thankful for that daily connection with him! I don't want this to sound like it happened overnight. It didn't. I had a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of really early mornings fighting these feelings and I also took some advice from some trusted people and set up a plan to combat this!

My Connection with Trevor
Trevor and I used to have weekly date nights and the last couple years they have been a little more scattered. It was really important to me to make sure that I'm connecting with Trevor daily and to make sure that our date nights and quality time are often! We've definitely had a few fun date nights this year but we've also implememted a new thing called, let's meet at the bar. Haha! We just head to our bar/counter and just like we would if we were at a bar or restaurant, we sit and talk! No distractions, just talk! It's one of my favorite things that we do now! Instead of heading to the couch to watch a tv show or pick up our phones, we head to the bar and connect.

My Connection with my kids
Toward the beginning of the year I really felt like Brooks and I had been butting heads a lot. I ran across a book recommendation for Mothers and Sons, the Respect Effect and it has seriously changed mine and Brooks' relationship! No it's not perfect and we certainly have our days that we still butt heads, but the overall communication between us is 100x better and I think we understand each other a little better. I love that my connection with him has deepened!

I'm now going to have to figure out Rhett! Year 3 is hard in our house. We never really experienced the terrible twos, but we definitely have experienced the THREE-nager! Rhett is 3 right now and definitely testing my patience a lot! Haha! He is my next one to be super intentional with on connecting in a different way!

My Connection with Friends and Family
I recently finished a really good book called How to Break Up With Your Phone. I didn't really think I needed it, but I thought it would be helpful for me to really seperate business from personal since most of my work is done through my phone. WOW! It was insightful! It has really sparked in me the need for true connection with people without any disruptions! It's definitely brought awareness to this issue and I'm really amazed at how often we are all distracted by the ding of our phone or the vibration of our watches. How someone (including myself) will be mid story or mid sentence and with the ding of a phone, we've lost all concentration. It's making our attention spans shorter and robbing us of true connection and communication! It's something that I have really been working on changing because it could affect every area of my life.

My Connection with my Team/Hostesses/Clients/all things business
I was CRAZY BUSY last year! It was so exciting, it was the perfect year for it to be that way, but wowzers! I couldn't keep going the way I was. I really prayed about this area and what was revealed to me was that I need to slow it down just a little and focus more time on the relationships weather it's with my team or the ladies I get to work with for parties and things like that. I love getting to know so many ladies through my business, but when you are scrambling and overly busy, it's hard to enjoy the true connection that can come from that! So this is also very included in my word this year!

It's already been a year that I have seen God show up in so many ways! I'm so thankful for that even though it's been challenging at times too!


Here are some verses I'm clinging to:
John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Holland is 10 Months...actually 11 months!

We'll just do a little combo post here! Haha! Sorry girl...we're too busy building legos and enjoying the weather to blog these days!

10 Month Photo

11 Month Photo

We have had a fun filled couple months!

Holland is still a crawling machine, however if there is something that she can hold on to and walk around, she usually chooses to walk while holding on.
She still likes to crawl and knock over the boys' creations with legos or magnetic tiles, which of course makes them super happy! Ha!
She loves every food she's tried! So I'm thankful for that!
She's very sensitive and cries when we tell her no.
She LOVES her dad right now! If he is in the room that is the person she wants to be held by.
She doesn't love being checked into her class at church or my bible study class...she cried everytime, but I think she calms down pretty quickly.
She still has no teeth!
She is the happiest and smiliest baby!
She says dada and a few other sounds.


Here is our life in pictures!!

CUTIE!

SCHOOL STUFF!! Rhett always joins in on the things he can do!

FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT!

We have some really neat rocks and hiding spots behind our house that we've been working on clearing so the boys can play back there. They are loving it!

Girlie loves books!

And so do my boys!!

On one of our daily walks! Love this happy kiddo!

Brooks has been writing me notes! I LOVE it!!! He is such a sweetheart and I love seeing his spelling!

I love when Brooks reads to her!

UBAM for the win!! We love activity books of any kind!!

Sometimes you need some extra snuggles!

I love these pictures! 3 peas in a pod! Haha!

We had so much fun with this Valentine's Day Activity! Thank you Busytoddler on Instagram!!

This picture cracks me up! She was hanging out with my in-laws playing and then all of a sudden she just lays down and passes out! I have never had a kid just fall asleep like this!

Trevor got this princess tent for miss Holland for Valentine's Day! She's definitely a fan!
We had some BLAZING COLD DAYS in February! Like, 2 weeks of single digit or lower temps! So we were pulling out all the stops on activities! Painting the snow with food coloring was probably one of my favorites and then we ate it all!

One of her favorites spots!

Her first pigtails!!! I'm obsessed!!!

There was pretty much only one day that was decent enough to go outside and enjoy the snow...so we did!!

We also discovered that our newest cat is actually a boy! HAHA! We named it Penny since we thought she was a girl...we have recently changed his name to Pendelton!

She is obsessed with her Lambie!

I have been meaning to try this dress on Holland. This was a dress that I wore as a baby that my mom had saved. I think it's safe to say she doesn't resemble me at all right now! HAHA! The other cutie in the photos is my niece!

The boys wanted to take their diggers and things to this big pile a little ways from our house. Somehow Brooks came up with this idea so he wouldn't have to carry it! I have to say, I'm impressed!

Cutie in the bath!

These two are obsessed with tractors so they were thrilled to go to the Tractor Farm Show at the Expo!

I love when she wants to snuggle! She is probably my snuggliest kid and I really don't mind when she needs a little extra help falling asleep!

For my birthday this year I took the kids to the zoo. I just wanted a fun day with them so we invited some friends and headed to the zoo!

Cutie! Watching her brother's first t-ball practice!
We didn't get to attend one of our good friend's birthday parties, but she was kind enough to send the craft home with us! Check out how cute these dinos are! Plus, we got to talk about shadows!

We had a fun play date at the Gathering Place. This was my first time braving the Gathering Place with all 3 kiddos by myself. They actually all did really well!! I did tell Brooks that he couldn't do some of the bigger things that he normally likes to do since I couldn't do it with him and Rhett, and was super understanding. Now I need to find a time to take just the boys again so I can do those fun things with them and not have to worry about Holland.

We had lots of fun rainbow activities this month as we prepared for Spring!

I love our family walks!

Life in pictures....

This girl LOVES the dishwasher! Haha! Hopefully she's a big help when she gets older! Haha!

Her little hair flip is so cute!! This is the day she took off on her walker and then the next day she was taking steps!! So crazy!

Holland Rose, you are SO loved my little girl!! You're the first kid that I forgot to blog about in the first year, but that's okay! We're just having too much fun! I love you sweet girl and I can't wait for your first birthday!!