Dillard, GA

After a 3 year hiatus, we have resumed our annual Holton family weekend trip to Dillard, Ga. Jeff's family started doing this about 15+ years ago and my first trip was in 1997, the year Jeff and I started dating. We enjoy staying at the Dillard House and eating, family style, at the Dillard House restaurant. Usually, on Saturday after breakfast, we head to nearby Highlands, NC to check out the shops. We rarely buy anything except maybe a Christmas ornament and some chocolate goodies...but it's a tradition nonetheless.

Well, our last trip was in 2006 when Ava was 13 months old. For different reasons (Renee's impending birth, Disney trip, etc) we stopped our tradition, but this year, we decided to start it up again! Of course, we have ALOT more people this go round. Not only did we add Renee and Thomas to our family, but Jeff's sister's fiance and Jeff's cousin and his family joined us! We also changed the weekend, it was always the last weekend in October and we moved it to the first weekend of November. This is a less crowded weekend but it was definitely COLD! The kids had a blast, though, with all their cousins: the petting farm, camping out on the floor of the house, walking around Highlands and just playing. The best part of Dillard is the food and we enjoyed dinner and breakfast at the Dillard House and meals at the nearby Cupboard Cafe, another tradition of ours.

We were all glad to start up this tradition again and look forward to many more years of fun with family in the mountains!

Zach and his new friend he named Scarly

Thomas was smart and stayed at the cabin with Gaga, he didn't want to freeze like the rest of us!

Camping out on the floor with cousins is so much fun!

The boys enjoyed their video games

We love Dillard!!

Eating snow off the bench in Highlands, NC

Renee and cousin Sarah

Piggin' out at the Dillard House Restaurant

What we've been up to...

Ok, so it's been awhile since I updated the blog so here goes...

Another Shutterfly Christmas!!

Ok, time to get serious and attempt to get a good picture of all four kids for our annual Christmas card. What are the odds we can get them all looking at the camera with halfway decent smiles on their faces, or at least no tears? I’m betting we will have to take at least 20 shots before Ava will actually look at the camera...seriously, that girl is on her way to becoming a model with all the posing she does but we have to constantly remind her to LOOK AT THE CAMERA!

For seven years now, we have purchased our Christmas photo cards from Shutterfly.com. They have a HUGE selection of photo cards to send for Christmas (not to mention other holidays and occasions during the year). I spend a lot of time selecting and planning our Christmas card template each year, mainly because Shutterfly has SO many cute ones to choose from. It all started with a photo of Jeff and I with Zach when he was only 5 months old and now, this year we will have four kids in the picture!!

This year, Shutterfly is offering a fabulous deal --50 free Christmas cards to any blogger who writes a post on their blog regarding Shutterfly's products. If you're a blogger and would like to participate, here is the link to Shutterfly's 2010 Holiday Card promotion. Besides their photo Christmas cards, I have also purchased birth announcements, photo books and other goodies from the Shutterfly website. Now that our family is complete, I think it might be time to get some updated items around the house so I may order a mouse pad and a mug with a picture of all four kids. Or maybe I can hint around to SOMEONE about what a great gift it would be for ME :).

Wish me luck on getting a good photo of the kids for this year's card, I am sure I will be exhausted by the time we are through! :)

Hi Everybody!

Just what Mommy needed...

Four kids is quite an adjustment! Which is why my little ol blog has been neglected...I hope to update it soon when I get some time. But, I just had to post these pics of my sweet boy just completely making my day!

Loving our little bro

Ava loves to lay next to Thomas and tell him stories...so sweet!

Two September birthdays...

Not only was our precious Thomas born in September, but three days later, we celebrated Ava's 5th birthday! It always felt like Ava was about 2 forever, but now she is 5 years old!! She has changed so much in the past year, I really think 5 is my favorite age (don't get me wrong, I love all stages but 5 seems to be the easiest).

Ava was actually due on 9/25/05 (same day Thomas was born exactly five years later) but she gave me a glimpse of her determined personality when she refused to budge and caused me to have an induction 3 days later. She came out a healthy 8 lbs, 7 oz and ended up being our biggest baby! You wouldn't know that now, as slim as she is :) Having a girl was very different for us but we quickly got used to it AND the differences in personality of our two little ones!

Our sweet girl has taught us alot about herself over the years, the main thing is, she is in NO hurry and WE need to slow down. She is a "stop and smell the roses" kind of girl and nothing we do can change it. She likes to take her time, whether it be doing school work, hiking up Stone Mountain, picking her clothes, etc, she can not be rushed. We have learned (and are still learning) to slow down a little and let her be. One area where this really paid off for us was with school. I got very frustrated last year trying to do preschool with her and in my mind was always comparing her with Zach, who is a year older. So, I put off trying to teach her to read because she just did not have the attention span for it. Well, this year, she wanted to start reading lessons and she has blown me away with how well and fast she is learning! We are almost half way through our reading lesson book and the girl is reading words, not sounding them out! School has been SO much easier this year with her! She really likes learning and I have found that she is an auditory learner, she can hear something once (like a bible verse, song lyrics, someone's name, etc) and will remember it! She continues to impress me with her knowledge, especially when I think she hasn't been paying attention!

Ava loves arts and crafts, her blankets, American girl dolls, gum, clothes (especially skirts), swinging, giggling, computer games, listening to stories, Vacation Bible School, painted nails, mint chocolate chip ice cream, chocolate milk, peppermints, jewelry, makeup (when she is allowed to play with it), and anything that is beautiful! There really isn't too much she isn't a fan of, except maybe meat...it takes her awhile to chew it (just like me when I was a kid).

We just love our Ava Mae, she is a fun, sweet girl, very kind-hearted and friendly. She has been a good big sister to Renee as well, trying to teach her to obey Mommy and Daddy and always willing to push Nee Nee on the swing when Mommy can't. It's exciting to see how she is growing, maturing and learning each day! She just loves having a new baby brother and is so happy their birthdays are only 3 days apart (hope she feels that way down the road!). Just yesterday, she curled up next to Thomas on the playmat and told him a story so he would be happy while Mommy folded the laundry. It warmed my heart, I just love this girl!

Happy 5th birthday to our sweet, sweet Ava Mae, we love you so much and are so blessed to have you!!

Our first baby girl!

4 months old

2 yrs old

Ava is 3!

Cutest pic ever at 4!

My crazy girl!

Our girl is 5!!!

Meeting baby brother

The kids were SO excited to finally meet their baby brother! You can just tell by the looks on their faces!

Thomas, here is what lies ahead for you! :)

Party of 6!

We are SO blessed!!

My boys!

Thomas Jeffrey Holton is here!

At the very same time Zach was selling his cookies, I started going into labor! I had seen the midwife that morning and I think she got things going for me. My contractions started about noon, the same time Zach was setting up outside. I decided to hang outside with the kids from about 1-2pm and then the contractions started getting worse. Thankfully, my mom was at our house and ready to take over when needed. I called the midwife about 2:30 and she said to come in when the contractions were 5 minutes apart...well, I had already had two in a row that were 5 minutes apart while waiting for her to call me back! So, I told Jeff we should probably get ready to go. Zach was so sweet helping me, he could tell when I was in pain so he held my hand and told me he would help me walk. I almost forgot my purse on the way out and he ran to get it for me...he was so excited that his baby brother was on the way!

About to leave for the hospital!
(Renee was napping and missed the picture)

We got to the hospital about 3:30 and once they evaluated me, they admitted me to a room. By that point, I was in a lot of pain, more than I remembered with the others. Thankfully, I did not have to wait too long for the epidural! During the wait though, Jeff discovered the flash on our camera didn't work!! I was very upset and stressed about that AND dealing with labor pains! Thankfully, we remembered our good friend, Leanne, lived about a mile from the hospital and she graciously met Jeff outside quickly to give him her EXTREMELY nice camera for us to borrow!! She was a lifesaver!!

About 7pm, our good friend Rachel, who is a Labor and Delivery nurse at the hospital, came on to work her shift and she was our nurse! It was great to have her there, as we have always talked about how neat it would be for her to help deliver one of our children, but it had never happened. Well, little Thomas must have known this was our last chance, because he timed it beautifully! I was her only patient too so she hung out with us while we waited for my time to push. My BFF Jen got tired of waiting around at home so she came up to the hospital too...at the exact same time the midwife wanted to check me and discovered it was time to push. So, Jen stayed in the room and got to witness little Thomas being born!

I started pushing at 8:25pm and our little guy was born at 8:37pm on September 25th, four days before his due date. When I held him, I was sure he was our smallest baby of the four, but to my surprise, he ended up being the second biggest! He weighed in at 7 lbs, 8oz and was 20 inches long. To compare, the others were as follows:

Zach 7 lbs, 1 oz, 20 in
Ava 8lbs, 7 oz, 20 1/4 in
Renee 6 lbs, 11oz 19 1/4 in

So he was pretty close to Zach in measurements but we definitely think he looked like Ava right when he was born (we thought the same thing about Renee).

What an absolute joy it was to finally hold the precious baby we had been praying for, for almost two years! He is so perfect and so worth the wait! We just love him and he completes our family perfectly. Thank you Jesus for this special blessing!

Rachel showing off our little boy

"Aunt" Jen getting some baby time

The one and only moment he looked anything like Renee! Thomas is showing off one of Rachel's crocheted creations!

Little entrepreneur

Zach has been saying for a long time that he wanted to sell cookies in the neighborhood. So, finally, we bought some cookie dough, he made some signs, and on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Zach's wish came true!

Daddy helped him set up his stand and get things in order. We were originally going to sell milk with the cookies but decided lemonade would do better in the heat. Also, Zach was determined to sell the cookies and lemonade for $1.00 and I kept telling him I thought that was too much. Well, he surprised me with his business acumen when he proceeded to do very well with his cookie stand! We had many kind neighbors stop by to purchase some treats and it was a good opportunity to meet some new neighbors as well. Zach had a few customers even give him a generous tip!

It was a very good experience for Zach as he was required to use his math skills and practice good manners. After he was finished for the day, Daddy helped him divide up his earnings to give some to the church, set some aside to buy more cookies and then pay his employees (a.k.a. little sisters) and still make a profit. He and Daddy then went to Target so he could buy the Halo toy that he had been eyeing for awhile! It was a fun day (with some excitement thrown in as well...check out my next post!)