MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Before Christmas Eve service. Miao and Dan, thanks for spending the evening with us!

Your help was appreciated!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Christmas Eve, was spent with Dan and Miao. Church was wonderful as usual, and off to Landry's for our 2nd year tradition dinner. The weather was COLD, look at Miao in the pictures, two winter jackets on in the house lol! It was super windy and cold...24 degrees with windchill, brought back memories of being in North Dakota, burrrrrrrrrrr! Today we are hanging in our jammies playing playstation 3, watching movies, and eating gumbo. Hope everyone has safe travels and enjoys the holiday season :) See more holiday pics. below!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Santa scored BIG!

Jayden with his itouch.

Remote control Chevy Camaro!

Hello December!

2009 Christmas card picture!

Knox vs. Washington Jr. High, free throws!
Another free throw

Buddy loves the Christmas tree too!

Hello December! My favorite month, I love this holiday season, the music, cool weather, and all of the beautiful lights and decorations! Basketball season is in full swing the Knights are 2-1. Jayden is averaging about 10 points and rebounds/game. It has been a fun season, looking forward to more ball after Christmas. The Woodlands had a snowfall on December 4. It was beautiful but there was no accumulation on the ground to play in. It was during the school day and we took the kids out for recess and they caught huge snowflakes on their tongue, I'm sure it'll be the best recess/school memory for most of the kids. Patch therapy on Casen's eye is getting better. The first couple of times were horrible... nausea, dizziness, and headache. After the first time I gave Motrin an hour before the patch, now it is better and I don't have to give meds. don't know if the eye is strengthening or if he is used to it now. We go back to the Dr. at the end of the month for another check-up. One more week of school to go and we are on Christmas vacation, we can all hardly wait!

Basketball and Patch

Inbounds play! The BIG match-up inside!

J shooting free throws 2/4 tonight.

My 6'1" center son, wins the tip!

Long time no blog, sorry for that! Jayden's baseball team, Legends won their first tourney together. No pictures because Casen and I left before the game was over...was a school night, already 8:00, and we were behind 10 runs. Pretty safe to leave, well we come back to win! Basketball has started!! I love it! Jayden's first game was Monday night they won 45-48, came down to the wire. Jayden had 7 points and 9 rebounds. One dollar each, we are out 16 bucks, well worth it, dad pay up! I love how he played tonight, very aggresive, a little fire in his belly, and 5 fouls! Casen had his post glasses eye check-up. The left eye is a little stronger but not enough to change the prescription. Patch therapy begins in the evening for two hours per night and another exam in one month. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, we will miss you :)

Zombie & Glasses

Casen in his glasses! Clint is typing in McDonalds Monopoly codes trying to win $$$

Happy Halloween!

Here are some drastically different shots of Casen, less than 24 hours apart! Earlier this week Casen went to the eye Dr. and was diagnosed with lazy eye. The right eye works really well, too well actually. The left eye is NOT working so good. So step one is to wear glasses for a month. Step two is go back for another eye exam in one month to see if the left eye has improved and begin patch therapy. The patch therapy will take place at home...he will wear a patch on the good eye in hopes of strengthening the bad eye. This vision issue can be corrected, lets just pray that it is :) The scary zombie pictures are of Casen as well! Halloween is one of his favorite times of the year, mine too! We had a good time walking the neighborhood with Casen's good friend Tanner, and his mom, Shannon. Jayden went to an Aggie football game with a bunch of boys, then to a Halloween party! Jayden has his last Jr. High football game on Tuesday, at College Park High School. We are looking forward to an exciting game. Next up basketball tryouts, can hardly wait!

Sunday Holden Family Get Together

Sunday afternoon get together!

Tommy and Buddy hanging out on the blanket fort! Tommy is in the hammock!

Casen way too chilled out in the dugout!

Grandma and Grandpa Holden are here for a visit. Dan, his dog Dolly, and his new friend Maio came to visit and have a Sunday lunch . While grandma and grandpa have been here we have been to two football games, and Jayden's football team has won them both. Jayden had one touchdown catch in the first game! YEAH!! Casen has also had two baseball games and they have tied them both. So pretty good, no loses yet while they have been here :)

Fall Baseball

The boys heading out to watch College Park take on The Woodlands! Jayden's championship sign hanging at Orwall! What a great season that was!

Casen at 1st base #5!

Fall baseball season is here and the weather is wacky as ever. The first few baseball games were SO hot, record breaking temperatures! Last night College Park played The Woodlands in high school football and we were in layers. Actually felt like football weather! Casen decided he wanted a mohawk for the football game. We went out to eat before the game and people were staring at him which he did not like. Dude, what do you think is gonna happen when you look like that. He got over it quick and enjoyed the football game.

Casen's Birthday!

Blowing out 9 candles!

More of the state capital building in Austin!

I know that these are late in posting but better late than never! For Casen's birthday we went out to eat Casen's choice "Red Robin", movie, and a boat ride on the waterway. I do have more pictures on my camera phone, forgot the regular camera ugh, and unsure how to get them off of my phone! We did have one "cool day" here this week (70 degrees) was the high, now we are back into typical hot and humid days :( Looking forward to cooler weather. Casen had his first baseball game on Saturday, he is an Astro this fall season. The Astros won 7-1, a very good outing for the teams first game!

Quick Trip to Austin

Boys in front of state capital building Austin, Texas!

Looking down at offices in front of the capital building cool!
In front of underground offices in the above picture!

Boys in front of UT bookstore, famous UT clock tower behind them!

Beautiful shot of the state capital!

We had a quick trip to Austin, Texas this weekend! UT vs. Texas Tech football tickets were offered to us, and we didn't hesitate. There were only 2 tickets so Clint and Jayden went to the football game along with 101,000 other fans! Casen and I hung out at the hotel pool and watched the game on TV! We woke up on Sunday and went to the UT bookstore on 6th Street, capital building, and toured Austin a bit. Beautiful city, love the hills, was surprised it is a small city compared to Houston anyways. I even drove there, dropped the guys off at the football game and drove Casen and myself back to the hotel! Huge feat for me LOL!!! Next post to come is Casen's birthday pics!

First Week of School Under Our Belt

First day of school 2009! Jayden 14 Casen 8

The first week of school and all the back to school anticipation is over, and the weekend is finally here! Casen LOVES his teacher. Mrs. Garrett is the perfect teacher for him! Caring, nurturing, and most of all loves her job. She is the teacher that every child should get to have, I am just so thankful that Casen has her! It is promising to be a good school year for Casen. Well some of you may know or not know but we are having Jayden repeat 8th grade. No, not because he did poorly (he got all A's) or failed the TAKS test (actually commended on every one!) But because he just turned 14 this summer, very young to be going to high school. He is not any of the same courses, he is advanced or pre-ap in EVERY class, he is actually taking 3 high school credit courses, ones he would actually be taking in high school if he were there. The only bummer about all of this is that he has to sit out the first 6 weeks of football, due to UIL rules. He had A LOT of friends going into 8th grade so that wasn't an issue, thank god! We are just hoping and praying that we made the right decision thus far no regrets.

Excited for Golf!

The boys are getting to do one of their favorite things today, GOLF! Clint and a college buddy found via facebook, that lives in The Woodlands took their kids golfing today. What a great way to reconnect. The boys were up bright and early ready to go, Casen could hardly wait. Hopefully the bright and early regimen continues because they only have one more week off, but mom and dad do not. It is finally here, the start of the school year. Jayden has orientation Tuesday and Casen has meet the teacher on Friday, which make it "officially" the beginning of new school years. On the up-side of fall near our favorite TV shows will soon be on again :)

One More Week of Summer Vacation

Before the Orwall Family Dinner!
Jayden chillen in the baby pool, where the water is cooler!

Casen's karate chops!!

Summer is winding down, last week off for mom, kids have two weeks left to enjoy! Went to Galveston for a quick vacation yesterday. Forgot to bring the camera but a great time was had by all. Great weather, nice waves, and not very many tourists. Still kicking myself for forgetting the camera, ugh!!! The agenda for this week is to hit the pools hard! Happy Birthday to grandma on Monday, hope that you have a great one, we'll be thinking of you :)

Boys at Houston Texans Training Camp

Kris Brown, kicker, giving autographs. Casen waiting patiently! Casen and Tyler with Toro!

Eric Winston, off. line, signing Jaydens ball.

Jayden standing in front of retired Houston Oilers, Ken Burrough, Zeke Moore.

Jayden and Casen before getting into the fields.

Clint brought a car full of boys to the Texans training camp. They left at 6AM to watch this years Texans team get a morning practice in! They got a lot of autographs and got to see the Texan cheerleaders really close! More pictures to come...

Jayden has football camp this week, then we have 2 more weeks of swimming then back to school we go. We are winding down :(

Vacation 2009

Hanging out at the pool Casen (swim shirt), Jayden (goggles), and friend Isaiah. Casen, doesn't the water look refreshing?

Jayden going off the board Casen in line!

Lazy river at L'Auberge Casino! Don't ask what's going on!

Here are some shots of our summer thus far! Not much else happening besides pool activities :) We usually go to the pools meet friends and play, have snacks, then come home and make dinner. July is winding down though and the stores are filling up with back-to-school stuff, I don't like that time of year or being reminded that work is right around the corner! But it is inevitably going to happen sooner or later. So the remainder of the summer we will be hitting the pools hard. I'll try to do a better job blogging and taking pictures!