Holt Christmas Party

Last weekend we had the annual Holt Family Christmas Party. We had lots of food, talking, playing games, and of course opening presents! Thanks everyone for the great time!

Grandpa getting everyone ready (and calmed down to open presents)! Singing Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, and Randolph the Bull-legged Cowboy;)

Braden waiting to open his present from Tyler.

Opening the present! This is his new WHOA! face! He also can say Santa and with the same pucker face, out of the corner of his mouth he will say, Ho, Ho, Ho! Too cute!

It's a Leap Frog magnetic animal farm with sounds. He loves this! Thanks Tyler!

Next, we opened presents from Grandpa and Grandma Holt, he got cute fishing bear pajamas and of course Mickey slippers! He likes playing with them more than wearing them!

After that, my mom and dad gave each married couple a "Reason for the Season" picture. Very nice and sweet and one of the favorites. Thanks mom and dad!

Disneyland!

We were able to go back to Disneyland again this year with Kyle's company. This trip was so much fun, now that Braden kind of has an idea of what is going on! We left Friday night and were a little worried, cause Braden had been sick earlier in the week. As luck would have it, right when Kyle was on his way to get me from work, Braden threw up everywhere, something he hadn't done until then. We were debating what to do, because that same thing had happened the day we were leaving to go to Hawaii. Braden looked okay and was still smiling and jibbering away, so we decided to risk it. The only problem came when we were on the descent down, and he threw up just a little, probably from the turbulence. It was about 8:00 so we decided just to hang out at the hotel and let Braden rest. Luckily the hotel had a laundry, so we took advantage of that and ordered pizza and relaxed.
Saturday morning Braden was back to normal so we ventured out. The first ride we went on was the new Little Mermaid, and it was really cute. Braden loved it because of all the music and bright colors. We then headed over to Studio 17 where Kyle's company was having a luncheon. While eating, Mickey and Minnie arrived. I was a little nervous about Braden's reaction, but as soon as he saw them, he wanted down and was very impatient about waiting in line! He wanted to see them and he wanted to see them right then! When our turn finally arrived, he just crawled up to Minnie and just plopped himself right in her lap, all smiles. He absolutely loved her and would have stayed there all day if he could. The same thing happened with Mickey. He would go up and give hugs and plop down in his lap just smiling and laughing. It was so cute!

After the luncheon we decided to do some of the things that we hadn't done or seen last year. We went on Monsters Inc., and then just walked around. After a nap, we came back out at night, grabbed some dinner, went on Pirates of the Caribbean. It was super busy out so we just basically walked around.


On Sunday, we got up early to do the Magic Morning and hit up Fantasyland before all the crowds arrived. We went on Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinocchio, (he did not like these rides very much, probably cause they were too dark) and Dumbo. Braden and I watched Kyle go on the Matterhorn twice and then we went on It's a Small World. I think that was Braden's favorite ride because he was rocking back and forth to the music and singing with it. He was entranced the whole time. We hurried over to Nemo (which was okay) and then did Buzz Lightyear. After that, we had a character breakfast at the Plaza Inn. We met a few new characters, like Susie from Cinderella, Chip and Dale, Captain Hook (the only character he cried at, just because he saw our food and was hungry), and of course Minnie again.

I love the little head tilt in towards Chip!

After breakfast, we took a nap and then waited for the Christmas parade. The parade was really cute and fun.






When the parade was over, we went to California Adventure and Kyle went on Soarin' Over California and Tower of Terror. We went to dinner at Tortilla Joe's and then went back to the hotel and hung out. On Monday, our plane didn't leave until late afternoon, so we headed over to Bug's Land and Kyle and Braden went on the caterpillar ride. We came upon Pluto, and had to wait in a small line. Braden was freaking out in line, impatiently waiting to get to Pluto. It was so funny! He actually walked up to him and was instantly in love. The crowd behind kept laughing and saying how cute he was with Pluto.

We walked around and gathered souvenirs and headed back to the hotel, where we visited Santa and then headed out. It was such a fun trip!

Family Pictures

Braden just loves to keep his cute smiles and giggles a secret only to be seen by mom and dad or grandpa and grandma. Very rarely can we get pictures of this kid smiling.

His 6 month pictures all we could get was a blank stare with his mouth open.

His 10 month pictures all we could get were tongue tricks.

We had family pictures taken recently. Don't ask me what this face is! He was pulling this scrunch face throughout the whole photo shoot, and the sun wasn't in his eyes or anything. Our little man sure does have quite the personality, especially when trying to capture a smile on camera.

6 Months

Braden had his 6 month pictures taken, and I must say it was quite the experience for him and the photographer! Let's just say that the photographer tried every trick in the book to get him to smile, from tickling, playing peek-a-boo, stuffed animals, feathers, bells, and having another girl come to help! Braden wouldn't even crack a smile! He just sat and watched them wondering what in the world was going on. After several breaks, and Braden eating we were able to get a few of his current expressions that we have seen and are really enjoying recently. These are just a few of the 75 pictures we had taken. I am really happy with the way they turned out, and even though Braden didn't smile very much, it definitely shows off his personality!
Some facts about Braden at this age:
He responds to his name.
He recognizes mom and dad.
He loves eating rice cereal and baby food.
He would rather stare at everything and everyone than play with toys.
He likes to watch cartoons.
He is small for his age.
He makes funny noises from growling and tensing up with his mouth wide open to screaming and singing while gurgling.
Every time we put him on his tummy, he instantly flips over.
He smiles and laughs when he is alone with mom and dad or grandma or grandpa.
He is a morning person and refuses to sleep during the day from fear of missing something.







Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We all got spoiled, but Braden most of all! It was more fun to shop for him and we just couldn't resist all the fun and cute things. He didn't even know what was going on, but he loved it. Christmas Eve we made soup and watched Christmas movies, then hurriedly went to sleep to see what Santa brought us. Braden had a rough night because he was starting to get sick so he was up quite a bit. We finally woke up at 9:00 and went to see what we got. Kyle got lots of video games, movies, books and toys. I got a lot of clothes, accessories, a video game, books, and movies. Braden had clothes, toys, books, a pillow pet, movies, and games. The day was mostly spent playing with our games and then we went and had Christmas dinner with my sister and brother. When we got home we continued to play games! It was a nice relaxing day.

Braden loves his Panda Pillow Pet. The other cousins would try and give him their pillow pets, but he would only get excited and play with his Panda. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!