A Night at the Holkos

Seems like time is flying by lately. We are just 10 days away from Christmas! Hard to believe, isn't it?

Tonight, we had nothing in particular to do. It was great.

We had dinner together, which was pretty tasty. Mom made us lasagna.

We followed that up with a show. It started with Mom reading a Christmas story and somehow turned into Dad acting out silly things with the hand puppet.

You can tell he's really into it.

That Dad of ours...

We spent some time hanging out and playing with our dogs. And sitting on them. Gotta love Golden Retrievers.

We cuddled Daddy.

We even kissed him!

Then it was time to brush our teeth. Jake helps me do it since he's so big now.  We even keep most of the toothpaste in the sink.

Thank, a quick show before bed. Three Holko boys on the couch.

(Anyone else notice the grip dad has on the remote?)

Life is good around here.

Love,
R

Little Drummer Boy

Our teacher asked us to practice our song at home. We will be having our Christmas show at school on Monday night.

I've really been practicing a lot.

I've even put my own spin on the song. Enjoy.




Love,
J

Hot Cocoa

It was a hot cocoa kind of morning in our house today.

It was actually pretty cold here last night. Like low 40s cold. We're sissies.

AND it's a good excuse to have hot cocoa for breakfast.



The countdown begins: 3 weeks til we are in Buffalo! (Where it is actually cold. We'll be needing lots of hot cocoa.)

Love,
R

Stomping Good Fun

Oh Aunt Becky, you sent a great present out here for Ryan!

When he first opened up the box, he was super excited about the big bubble wrap and immediately began stomping on that.

Just imagine how excited he was once we set up the actual present.

I even let him play with it for a little while.



We love it! I mean...Ryan loves it. Thank you so much for thinking of little Ryan. We can't wait to come back to Buffalo and give you, and everyone else, big huge hugs!

Love,
J

(Disclaimer: It had been a long day when this video was recorded and Dad had been out of town for a few days. You may have detected it in Mom's voice.)

Santa Claus Is Coming...

And apparently he's already watching me.

How does that guy know all of this stuff??

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guXL9JkRAjiKGFOHZUxuN4g

I'm on the nice list. At least for now.

Love,
J

Ryan Time

Oh, I love it when Jake goes to school and I get Mommy all to myself!

Cake pops and apple juice...couldn't ask for anything better.

Week in Review

Remember back when we used to post stuff every day? How in the world did we ever have the time to do it?

Here are some pictures from the last week.


Here's me with my birthday present from Jacob. See Nemo in there? He's my favorite.

My Elmo cake! Mommy and Gramma Jojo made it for me. It sure was tasty!

Judging by this picture, there must be a video of my birthday party somewhere...maybe Mom will find that camera.

Jake was really excited to be a part of my party. I can tell he was happy to watch me open my presents.

We went to the park with Gramma Jojo and I talked her into pushing me on the swing.

Jake mostly played with his friend on this spinny thing. They sure seemed to be having a good time.

One day, we went on a trolley ride with Jojo. Here we are waiting to get on and take a ride to Old Town. FYI, they have a CANDY STORE in Old Town. You know the expression "like a kid in a candy store?" Well, I'm the kid they are talking about.

We went to the Zoo with Jojo, too. How many animals can yousee in this picture?

 Thanksgiving morning started out with the first annual San Diego Turkey Trot. It was a success and we will be continuing the tradition.

We followed that up with a delicious dinner of turkey and mashed potatoes, which are pretty much our favorite foods. Except for pie...which we got to have, too! After dinner, we had a big puppet show. What a great holiday Thanksgiving is!

And then, the next day, a horrible thing happened. We had to take Jojo to the airport. I cried when she got out of the car. I just don't get why I couldn't go with her. I cried all the way home. Mom and Jake seemed pretty sad, too. Dad looked upset, but it might have been from all of the crying in the car :/

We had to find something fun to do to make us feel a little better about things, so Saturday night we went to SeaWorld for the Shamu Christmas Show. We had a fun time. No pictures, it being a nighttime show and all.

Then Sunday morning, since it was such a perfect San Diego day, we went for a hike. Jake was setting "traps" the whole time. See his trap right there on the ground? He was trying to catch a cheetah.

Three hikers. No cheetahs yet.

One monkey in a tree.

And another monkey in a tree. 

We even found a path that led down to the river. And you know what we like to do when we find a river...

 

Throw rocks!

Jake and Daddy look like they are having a serious planning discussion here.

And now it's back to reality. No more Gramma Jojo. Back to school. Back to work.

Last week was pretty awesome. I like this whole birthday/Gramma Jojo/Thanksgiving thing.

Love, 

(the two year old) R

Birthday Week

Oh, it has been a good week for me! First, Gramma Jojo came. Now, this is awesome for so many reasons, but one reason that I really like it when Jojo is here is that she lets us help her make cookies.

Here were are, examining the ingredients.

Jake took over when it came to adding the eggs.

We even got to roll the cookies in sugar. (That was my favorite part!)

Just imagine how nicely these turned out after we placed them so neatly on the baking sheet.

I also had a BIRTHDAY. I don't really remember my last one so I wasn't prepared for all of th good stuff that comes along with having a birthday.

I got up in the morning and saw my present from Mom, Dad and Jacob. I got NEMO!

I've spent lots of time just watching my fishies swimming around.

Then, the next awesome thing: frosting. Mom confirmed that this is, in fact, one of the best parts about having a birthday.

What? Do I have something on my face?

Check out my cake!

I had the candles blown out way before the birthday song ended. 

Happy birthday to ME!

Gramma Jojo served up some cake to everyone at the party.

And then, as is my day wasn't perfect already, I got presents! 

My favorite thing so far is my new motorcycle. 

 
Everyone seemed to have a great time at my party and was really happy to celebrate my special day with me.

Yesterday, we went to the Zoo. We didn't take a lot of pictures, but we sure had a nice day checking out animals with Gramma Jojo. Here we are, just riding a gorilla...

Today: trolley ride to Old Town.

Love,
R

Cookie Monster

Sometime, when Mom's not paying attention to me, I get ideas.

Ideas like pushing a stool over to the counter, sneaking cookie, and then eating it.

The best part of my idea? Hiding out while I eat the cookie so Mom doesn't see me.

This is usually a good spot. Today she caught me.

So, I just smiled at her and pretended like I had NO IDEA that I was doing something I shouldn't.

Totally worked.

Love, R

New Toys

Mom cleaned out her desk drawers yesterday. We came upon something that provided hours of entertainment.

A package of clothespins!

Mom said we could play with them, as long as we didn't pinch each other. (Why would she think that she had to tell us that, I wonder?)

I made up a game. Here's what you need:

2 little boys
1 bag of clothespins
20 - 30 socks
1 basket

We spent at least an hour picking up the "garbage" with the pins.

Ryan got pretty good at it, too.

Once that game finally got old, I figured out a new use for those clothespins.

Better with a scary face, right?

Rawr.

By the end of the day, everyone in the house had experienced the magic of a bunch of wooden clothespins.

Love,
J

P.S. - Mom suggested that since I was so smart and could make toys out of anything that I probably didn't need any Christmas presents this year. SHE IS INCORRECT. Just wanted to throw that out there...