Nugget the Pooh

OK, so here's the thing with our Winnie the Pooh Halloween costume: We got it for Jack in 2004. Halloween was a week after he turned six months old. It fit him very well. Four years later it was Max's turn — he was nearly eight months old. But it still fit just fine. Three years after that, Charlie was due for a turn, a little before he hit nine months. Still, no sizing problems.

Isaac, however, was born in early October. There was no way he could wear the Pooh outfit his first Halloween (setting aside his little hospital stint that week), and we just assumed by the time his second Halloween rolled around, a few weeks past his first birthday, the Pooh gear would be too small. But we held onto it just in case and — wouldn't you know it? — the Nugget is such a runt it fit him very well, all things considered.

Gurnee's trick-or-treat hours are always a Sunday afternoon. The weather this year was absolutely ideal. Actual Halloween was a cold, wet Friday, so when we made our traditional trek to Pops & K's house to hand out candy, there weren't many visitors. We did, however, recreate a photo of K and Pooh from Max's first Halloween. And I threw in a couple of other Pooh photos for good measure. And a video of Nugget trying to walk in the darn costume, which was never intended for children at that level of mobility.

K and Pooh, 2008. From Pops and K's

K and Pooh, 2014. From Pops and K's

Jack as Pooh, 2004. From Jack's First Seven Months

Charlie as Pooh, 2011. From Hollands at Home 2011

Post by Scott T. Holland.

Birthday dinner

With Kim and Micah in San Francisco and Matt juggling his summer research/work schedule in Champaign, 2014 was not going to feature the traditional mid-August Holland child birthday dinner. Still, we did have a chance to get to Pops & K's house on a weekend afternoon while Matt was there for a few hours. We played baseball, ate grilled food and blew out birthday candles. After Matt left we took boys two through four to the neighborhood park to burn off a little steam.

Ready for baseball. From Pops and K's

A swing and a drive... From Pops and K's

Nugget hitches a ride with Pops. From Pops and K's

And actually doesn't hate it (momentarily). From Pops and K's

Two fudge cakes and lots of helpers. From Pops and K's

Time for a smile. From Pops and K's

Working on balance. From Pops and K's

Digging the swinging. From Pops and K's

Push me, mom! From Pops and K's

Kim Time!

After the rocket launch we headed down to Pops & K's to spend some time with Aunt Kim, who was visiting from California. Apparently I didn't do a good job of taking pictures during this visit since I have only these to share, but I promise we loved spending some time together!

Chubby cheeks. From Pops and K's

Working the phone. From Pops and K's

Mastering the crawl. From Pops and K's

Driveway tennis. From Pops and K's

On Maggie's level. From Pops and K's

Independence Day

Two quick snapshots from our Independence Day trip Pops & K's house. With pretty much everyone in our small group otherwise occupied for the holiday this year, we kept it to just family. And just these two worthy photos, apparently.

What a crock. From Pops and K's

Dad and Nugget. From Pops and K's

Father's Day at Pops & K's

The video of the marbles from the previous post came from our Father's Day visit to Pops & K's house. We also had a nice dinner and, more importantly for the big boys, a trip to the park to play "tennis." The weather was perfect even if the tennis skills left a little to be desired...

Father's Day smiles. From Pops and K's

Still smiling at the park. From Pops and K's

Keeping his eye on the ball. From Pops and K's

Our best tennis player. From Pops and K's

Charlie gets the wooden racket. From Pops and K's

Jack in action. From Pops and K's

What goes up... From Pops and K's

A Nugget and his mother. From Pops and K's

VBS and around the house

This year I helped in Jack's fourth- and fifth-grade classroom at Vacation Bible School (the first week of summer break), which qualified Charlie to join the 2- and 3-year-old class for children of adult volunteers. Jack has been doing VBS since we moved here in 2009, making this his sixth year. Max was on his second time through. Another way I helped was trying to take a ton of photos of all the kids for the church to use, but for the purposes of the blog I just shared a few of our kids (which I think excludes Jack, who already prefers to be behind the camera). Peppered into this post are a few around the house photos as well. All of these pictures come from June 11-June 13.

Thinking about joining the song. From Hollands at Home 2014

Working on a craft project. From Hollands at Home 2014

Charlie was here. From Hollands at Home 2014

Here too. From Hollands at Home 2014

Nugget hangs out at VBS. From Hollands at Home 2014

Center of attention. From Hollands at Home 2014

Good times in the living room. From Hollands at Home 2014

The face of trouble. From Hollands at Home 2014

Eight months old! From Hollands at Home 2014

Feed My Starving Children (Again)

In February I posted about January's Cub Scout Den meeting at Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville. Now it's the middle of August and I'm posting about when we had a full Cub Scout Pack meeting there in mid-May. This time Max tagged along and, since he hadn't started Scouts on his own yet, got to hang with Jack in the Webelos group. Based on our experience there earlier in the year, Den 1 was very proficient at filling bags and boxes. Both boys really loved this activity, and Max was a little curious about the idea of people in the world being hungry (I explained some people don't have houses, and he said "So, do they live in hotels?") so we got to do a little learning, too. They're both itching to return.

He was in charge of counting bags. From Scouts

Jack manned the digital scale. From Scouts

Den 1 hard at work. From Scouts

50 bags to the box. From Scouts

Sampling the food we prepared. From Scouts

Den 1: Thunderstick winners. From Scouts

Sizing up FMSC's global reach. From Scouts

Duplo skills

I forget why the kids were left at Pops & K's house this particular night, but I do remember this is what we saw when we got back...

"It reached the ceiling!" From Pops and K's

Morning distraction

Post by Scott T. Holland.

Kim Time

Aunt Kim came for a mid-February visit, and the first order of business was a Sunday dinner at Pops & K's house, followed by a sleepover for the three big boys. Also included, in completely predictable fashion, was the boys fixing their fingers to any touch-screen device they could find.

Quality time with Aunt Kim. From Pops and K's

iPad. From Pops and K's

iPhone. From Pops and K's

I smile. From Pops and K's

Isaac's Baptism

Now in video form:

Post by Scott T. Holland.

Feed My Starving Children

About a month ago Jack and I had a Scout-heavy Saturday. For two hours in the morning — a fairly cold morning with a good deal of snow on the ground — we joined with other boys from the Pack for an indoor/outdoor event called WinterQuest. The Minecraft theme played out over about seven activity stations, and I might have gotten some decent photos had I grabbed my camera before we hurried out the door. That night I was able to bring my camera down to Libertyville for a Den activity — a packing night at Feed My Starving Children.

FMSC is a charity that aims to deliver essential nourishment to impoverished people around the world (click the above link for more detailed info) and just happens to have a packing facility nearby. Our task, along with several other groups that night, was to team up at our packing station and follow precises to fill bags and bags with food powder. We were to maximize speed and minimize waste. The packing itself lasted a solid 90 minutes, punctuated with music, cheering and a generally good time. Even Jack enjoyed himself, despite his stated desire to stay home and watch something on Nickelodeon.

The Den had such a good time we're setting up a time for the entire Pack to, well, pack, and I can only imagine how boisterous that outing might become. Maybe Kristie will volunteer to accompany Jack for that outing. Anyhow, here's a few photos:

This is his excited face. From Scouts

The pregame pep talk. From Scouts

Den 1 on the floor. From Scouts

Filling the bags. From Scouts

The staging area. From Scouts

Scooping ingredients. From Scouts

Measuring just so. From Scouts

The drop. From Scouts

Jack's idea of posing with me. From Scouts

The sum of our efforts. From Scouts

After a no-Scout day Sunday, we had a Pack meeting Monday night and a Den meeting Tuesday night. It was quite a bit of activity in such a tiny window, but given the awful weather all winter it was certainly nice to get out of the house for a while.