Valentine's Day (aka Family Fun Day) 2012

This year's Valentine's day was completely internet-inspired (thank goodness for Facebook and Pinterest, right?!). One of my favorite recipe and craft blogs (Our Best Bites) posted this idea for little Valentine love notes and I thought it was the perfect way to start off "Love Month" (February 1st, for us) and get us in the loving mood. So (as suggested), I bought a few mini mailboxes from Target as well as some treats and stickers (to make it extra fun), then Travis and I printed off and filled out the love notes for each other and the girls, and "Voila!" our Valentine's were complete! 

The girls, Grace especially, really enjoyed waking up every morning to see what was in her mailbox. She loved hearing what our favorite things about her or memories of her were, and hearing what Travis and I loved about everyone else too (and of course, eating m'n'm's--her favorite treat--wasn't bad either ;) ). It was such a tender experience to sit and think about what I really love about each of my family members and the good times we have shared. And as a bonus, I unintentionally got Travis to write a love note to me daily (score!). 

Another website I follow (called The Power of Moms) shared another great idea called We Love to Be a Family Day (and some other fun ideas too). The author suggested picking 7 activities that your family loves to do, writing them on a schedule, and then doing them for Valentine's day (or any family day), and taking pictures to record all of the fun. Again, I thought it was a great idea, and loved the concept of making Valentine's day a family day, not just a romantic date for Travis and I. So, I brainstormed and came up with a list of some of our favorite things to do right now and then made up this schedule:

I'm currently on a cooking and baking craze (and think every holiday is more fun when special food is involved), so this activity was one of my picks. :) Cinnamon rolls are currently our favorite breakfast so we had those, and made it Valentine's-y by adding some bacon and heart shaped strawberries (thanks Facebook and Pinterest!)

 Up next on the schedule was the library. (In case you didn't know ;)) it is snowy and cold here in Cleveland in the winter, and so we're sometimes hard pressed to find fun things to do out of the house when we get cabin fever. I stumbled upon this open playroom at the library this Winter and it has been a Godsend! The girls love to go there, and we often do several days a week.

Bethany loves to try to put things together:

And Grace has been really in to building with blocks lately:

Here she is happily knocking down my tower ;) :

Bethany is in to these bead toys right now. If you could hear the audio in this picture, you would hear Bethany going "ahhh" as a sound effect for the beads falling down. Too cute!

 Then we were off to the park (for a quick trip, since it was freezing!)

These girls love to swing! Travis was pushing Grace by her feet and she thought it was hilarious!

We came home and had some lunch (mac n cheese, the girl's current favorite), and then had a tea party with the girl's Pooh stuffed animals (Grace loves to have tea parties these days, and Bethany loves to destroy them ;) ).

After lunch, we had naps/rest time, and played for a little bit before we headed off to Danny Boy's for our Valentine's dinner. I had heard great things about this restaurant and had been wanting to go there for awhile, so when we found a coupon for it the other day, we decided to make a family Valentine's dinner date out of it.
It did not dissapoint! The girl's devoured their cheese pizza, and Travis and I savored every bite (which wasn't even half--leftovers baby!) of our classic club croissant with yummy cajun fries and BBQ chicken pizza. Some of the best pizza, sandwhiches, and fries we've ever had for sure!

Grace with a happy full tummy :)

Being silly with mom:

And since it's a Holloway tradition to watch movies and eat popcorn, we did just that next.

Bethany really got in to eating popcorn for the first time and we all enjoyed watching a new Veggie Tales movie.

Bethany loves to share (and pretend share) her food with others, and had fun feeding Travis and I some popcorn. It was so sweet!

Like I mentioned before, holidays are even better when special treats are involved, and this time that special treat was this chocolate sour cream bundt cake (from a new favorite recipe blog I follow), made Valentine's-y with heart sprinkles and m'n'm's. Super moist, rich, and chocolatey, this cake was a definite winner (and quite possibly the best homemade chocolate cake we've ever had)!

Grace LOVED this cake, and immediately asked for seconds:

Then to work off some of that cheesy and chocolatey goodness we had consumed, we did a little Ring around the Rosie...

Surfed on the ironing board...

and went on airplane rides (one of Bethany's favorite things to do). 

We made the activites extra fun by "checking them off" with a sticker when we completed each one. (We never got to the draw a picture activity, but that's ok. Like the article said, it's not about getting them all done, it's just about having fun!) 

Then we tucked the kiddos in bed and Travis and I had a little slow dance and reminisced about our first Valentine's day and other fun times we had when we were dating. 

We had such a great time on our Family Fun Day! Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day too!

Christmas Letter 2012

 

The Holloway's 12 Months of 2012

 

This has truly been a whirlwind year for us! We've traveled well over 10,000 miles, visited 7 states and driven through many more. And I thought the best way to give you a feel for what we've been up to this year is to give you a monthly play by play!

January--We were blessed with a visit from Travis' parents. This was their first time meeting Bethany, and we loved having them here for their short, but sweet, trip.

Making a cardboard box car with dad




At the Nature Center with grammy

February--We enjoyed lots of time playing inside as well as time playing in the snow! 

Helping dad shovel



Reading with dad





March--Our birthday season began, with Travis turning 27. I successfully made my first creme brulee and Grace helped make her first rice crispies. :) Grace was also potty trained! The weather turned warm early and we were excited to go outside and play.


Playing in the sun

Travis eating his birthday creme brulee



Making rice crispies

April--Was a month of firsts! We embarked on Travis' first externship to Evansville, Indiana, Bethany had her first Easter, and we bought our first van! I also celebrated my 27th birthday.

First Easter



Going on one of our many walks in Indiana

May--Grace turned 3. Travis ran his second 50K race (50s for Yo Momma). I celebrated my first mother's day as a mother of 2. And we moved to our new house across town and then busily prepared for our second externship.

Our Big 3 year old


Mother's Day

New house and new ride

June--We went on Travis' second externship to Tucson, where we were blessed to stay with my parents. We loved playing with Grammy and Poppy, swimming, going to the zoo, visiting with Grandma Bern, Uncle Jim, and Cousin Dorothy, and getting in some date nights. While we were there, we also made a weekend trip to San Diego to see some more of my family (my Grandparents Roger and Helen, Aunt Angie and Uncle Dixon, and Cousin Jill and her family), all of whom Bethany was meeting for the first time (and it was our first time meeting Jill's daughter Starlee). And, last but not least, Travis' parents came down for a quick weekend trip, and we had fun swimming and seeing the sights of Tucson with them.

On the beach in San Diego

Visiting my grandparents in San Diego



Visit from Dave and Anita

Date night

July--Travis traveled up to Colorado for his third externship, while the girls and I stayed in Tucson with my parents. It was hard to be apart, but SO much better than it could have been with my parents around for support (thanks again!). And for the last week, we were lucky and got to go up to Colorado to be with Travis!

Skyping with dad



Some dad time in Colorado

August--We drove straight from Colorado to Idaho, where the girls and I spent two weeks with Travis' family to visit and help prepare for his brother Tyler's wedding (Travis had to be in Cleveland for a clinic rotation, but joined us in Idaho a few days before the wedding). Before Travis left for home, we celebrated our 5th Anniversary (in July); it's been 5 great years! Also, while we were there, the girls and I got to go to my family's mini reunion in Albion, where we enjoyed visiting with family I hadn't seen in several years (or ever met, and who hadn't met the girls). We loved being with ALL of the Holloway clan (many of whom were meeting Bethany for the first time as well) for a little reunion and of course the wedding. We left right after the wedding, and spent the last two weeks of August at home, enjoying home and preparing for the next externship.

Anniversary date





Grace and my cousin Audrey's daughter Abby

The Holloway clan

















At the pre-wedding dinner

September--We stole away to Oklahoma for Travis' fourth externship. We were blessed to have our good friends Bart and Shantyl Stears there, as well as friends and fellow students, the Miskins (and their family), there too. We had a great time going to the parks, library, zoo, and having dinner with all of them. Bethany also learned how to crawl!

On the carousel at the zoo with the Stears

At the park with the Miskins

Crawling to dad

October--was Travis' final externship (in Temple, Texas) and some more family reunions. Travis' brothers Jason and Brandon both live in Texas, and it was wonderful to get to spend time with their families again. And if that wasn't awesome enough, both of our parents came down to visit too! We spent the week before Halloween with my parents, seeing the sights of Temple and visiting friends and family in Brenham and Austin. Then Travis' parents came down the weekend before Halloween (Bethany's 1st!) for some Halloween festivities and to see Travis and Jason run their (2nd and 1st respectively) 50 mile race in the Texas hill country. They ran a great race, and Travis even got a PR!

At a Harvest fest with Rachel and Brandon's family

With some of my dad's friends in Austin

At Travis and Jason's Cactus Rose race

Trick or treating with the cousins

November--we finally traded in our travelling shoes and (for once) stayed home! Our sweet Bethany turned 1 (time flies!). And we celebrated our first Thanksgiving away from family, yet with good food and good friends.


Cupcake smash

Playing at our neighborhood park









Playing in the leaves in our backyeard

December--we have spent celebrating Christmas as much as possible with: Christmas lights watching, seeing the Nativity Display in Kirtland, visiting Santa, watching Christmas movies, making gingerbread houses, reading Christmas stories, bringing goodies to friends, and really trying to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.


The much anticipated trip to see Santa



Visiting the Nativity display in Kirtland

And since a newsletter wouldn't be a newsletter without a little rundown on what each of us is up to now...
This year, Travis began his 4th and final year of Podiatry school here in Cleveland (can we get a "Huzzah?!"). In March, he was released from his calling as Young Men's President, and was on a hiatus (due to travelling) until November when he and Jenny were called to be primary teachers. Travis continues to love to run and always wishes there was more time for training and racing. If you'd like to read more about his running adventures, you can go to his and his brother's blog at www.hollowayrunning.blogspot.com.



Jenny (I) has spent the year honing her packing, co-pilot, and kid-tending-in-the-car skills.:) But seriously, 2012 has been a year of growth for me, learning (slowly) how to become a better homemaker, mother, wife, and person. This will be the first time Travis and I have had a calling together at Church, and I'm really excited for the opportunity to work with him! In November, I took my love for dance and new-found interest in fitness, put the two together, and got licensed to become a Zumba instructor. I'm looking forward to preparing myself to teach at a fitness center next year, and hope that this will be a great way to not only make a little extra money, but also feel fulfilled in doing something that I love.

Grace is our resident sweetheart. She's a little mother already, making sure everyone is taken care of. A recent favorite memory of her was from last month, when I layed down on her floor for a little nap and she brought me a pillow and some animals and then tucked me in for a rest. :) She loves to be silly, laugh, sing, paint, color, read (and is beginning to recognize a lot of words!), play with her Little People and Pooh animals, dress up, watch as many movies as we'll let her, go to the library and zoo, and spend time with her family.



Bethany is our curly haired cutie. She loves to dance, clap, make elephant noises, stand (which she just started to do), be chased, play with Grace, look at books, play with: socks, shoes, bracelets, colored pencils, and Little People, and snuggle with mom and dad.

This has been a busy year, but better than we ever could have imagined! We're looking forward to our next big adventure in 2013!

With warmest wishes to you and yours!

Love,
Travis, Jenny, Grace, and Bethany