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

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Catapults!

It's been so long I forget which Webelos badge this activity fulfilled, but I still remember the laughter:

From Scouts

Pack 627, Den 1. From Scouts

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Ice "Skating"

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Dinner Time

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Video update

I'm apparently not so good at cross-posting phone videos I upload to Facebook over to the blog. So here's a chance to play a bit of catch up there, too:

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A Day at the Farm

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A visit to Lake Michigan

Aug. 21, it seems, was the perfect day for Kristie to drive the boys to Illinois Beach State Park. Warm enough to wear shorts and get a little wet, but cool and breezy enough to keep the beach more or less free of swimmers — giving our brood much more room to work with as it relates to digging, damming, crawling and rock throwing. It was Isaac's first real trip to the lake, but he got the hang of things quickly enough.

Working hard. From Lake Michigan

Not a bad place for a nap. From Lake Michigan

Nap over. From Lake Michigan

Honing his engineering skills. From Lake Michigan

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Making faces. From Lake Michigan

The beach is a workout. From Lake Michigan

Just a little dirty. From Lake Michigan

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How's House

As noted, Kristie and the boys left Aug. 10 for How's House. It wasn't the best scheduling, but a variety of complicating factors left this our only choice to get them (close to) a week in Fulton. Kristie took a bunch of great shots while they were there, here's a few to start off:

Career training. From How's House

What does THIS taste like? From How's House

That's better: fingers! From How's House

Ready for his closeup. From How's House

Golf clubs are yummy. From How's House

Isaac and Cousin Briggs. From How's House

A family affair. From How's House

Waterfall

Post by Scott T. Holland.

In early August, when the sun was hot and maternal patience short, Kristie came up with a great way to let the kids burn off some energy in the best possible place: not in the house. With some aluminum foil, our front steps, a hose, leaves and, most importantly, gravity, Max (with some help from Charlie and Isaac) set about constructing a handmade waterfall. Max especially was proud of his engineering skill, and the runoff more or less went straight into the yard, which at that point was in no danger of being oversaturated.

Charlie places a leaf. From Hollands at Home 2014

Tending to the details. From Hollands at Home 2014

Teamwork. From Hollands at Home 2014

He really likes the water table. From Hollands at Home 2014

Rounding out July

And now, in the further interest of expedience, I finish catching up with July by dumping a bunch of pictures from home, Six Flags and our neighborhood park. There's a video in there, too.

Green is his favorite flavor. From Hollands at Home 2014

Only one hand! From Hollands at Home 2014

Preparing the corn. From Hollands at Home 2014

Isaac loves swimming. From Great America

One of our little fishies. From Great America

Hey guys! From Hollands at Home 2014

A sincere smile. From Hollands at Home 2014

Enjoying the lazy river. From Great America

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He knows when he's funny. From Hollands at Home 2014

Put me in, coach! From Hollands at Home 2014

High-stakes baseball. From Hollands at Home 2014

Back in his "I love baths" phase. From Hollands at Home 2014

June at home

In the continued interests of getting caught up on my massive photo backlog before Isaac's first birthday (now less than a month away), here now are photos from the remainder of June at our house and the neighborhood park. I didn't get as many good photos as usual at the annual ice cream social because Jack and Max basically tore off through the masses to play with their friends on the playground. I'm always glad to see them have fun, but still pretty happy we have some smaller guys who still like to stay close.

A brief housekeeping item: I don't always remember to mention the dates of the pictures in my posts (my goal for 2015 is to never let photos languish for more than a week so the blog accurately reflects what the kids are up to), but if you click on any picture it opens in our photo sharing site, which gives a slightly larger view as well as the date of the original file. You also can scroll through the entire album that way (as far as I know) in case there's a strong desire to just see more and more snapshots.

Working on balance. From Hollands at Home 2014

Can I get out now? From Hollands at Home 2014

Our little monkey. From Hollands at Home 2014

Big air. From Hollands at Home 2014

Hey guys! From Hollands at Home 2014

He sure does love his slides. From Hollands at Home 2014

Love that hair. From Hollands at Home 2014

I'm told they did this on their own. From Hollands at Home 2014

They had some help with this one. From Hollands at Home 2014

Bad lighting, but you can still see rib cages. From Hollands at Home 2014

One and four. From Hollands at Home 2014

We never miss the ice cream social. From Hollands at Home 2014

The first time he liked "solid food." From Hollands at Home 2014

More, please. From Hollands at Home 2014

Saturday in the park with How. From Hollands at Home 2014

Who are you calling a baby? From Hollands at Home 2014

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One of them knows he's posing. From Hollands at Home 2014

Ladies... From Hollands at Home 2014

Turning on the sweet. From Hollands at Home 2014

Turning on the sweet. From Hollands at Home 2014

An over-the-shoulder smile. From Hollands at Home 2014