Memorial Weekend

To me memorial weekend is not only a time to remember and reflect upon the men/women, who are no longer with us, who have served this amazing country and protected our freedom but also, the men/women who are still protecting us, putting their life on the line everyday, so that we can live this free, blessed life...I am also thankful for their families, I can't imagine what they go through constantly, but how proud they must feel. So to any person or family member who I just described. THANK YOU!


This weekend we stayed home and enjoyed lots of family time...Deven was home all weekend and the kids LOVED being with daddy, I did too :) Saturday we BBQd with my mother-in-law and my niece (Annie-who we haven't seen since Thanksgiving)...Randi and Annie had so much fun playing together, and they even let Kolby join in the fun a little bit...Sunday, Kolby and Deven, along with Grandpa DeHaan went fishing up at Silver Lake. Apparently Kolby was into in for about 2 minutes and then he just wanted to splash with his rain boots in the water, typical Kolby :) Deven had today off too so we were all able to go see Papa Fuzzy's grave with him. We brought some flowers and the kids said hi...Every time we go to his grave I get sad because not only do I wish I could have met him (the man Deven adores SO much), but I know the kids would have LOVED him and Kolby and him would have been best buds. As I tell Kolby, we'll meet in Heaven someday :)

2 Adorable Videos of Kamryn Laughing :)

I have these 2 videos of Kamryn laughing... the first video was from just a few weeks ago, she is laughing at Randi throwing her bunny...the funny thing is, when I threw the bunny or Kolby threw it, she didn't laugh...only when Randi threw it :)In the 2nd one she is laughing at Kolby when she was probably about 5 months old, he has a little strip of paper that he is snapping in front of her.. LOVE HER Laugh! Before watching...turn off the music to the right :)

Kamryn's Dedication

I am a little behind in my blogging and have wanted to post this for a while...finally I have found a few spare minutes :)
On Mother's Day, Deven & I dedicated Kamryn. At our church, Faith Community, we do dedications for babies, instead of baptism. By dedicating Kamryn, Deven and I have made a commitment before the Lord to submit Kamryn to God's will and to raise her according to God's Word and God's ways. It was a very special day to us and we love our little girl more than words can describe. 8 babies were dedicated that day including my 2 cousins little girls, JD & Emily (Tjoelker)DeVries dedicated little Ava and Levi & Leah (Tjoelker) VanMersbergen dedicated little Kylie. It was fun to share that day with them. We all had a celebration lunch afterwards with the baby girls aunts, uncles and grandparents. The Lord has truly blessed us all!
I have a few photos of my kids on Mother's Day and then my cousin got a great shot of all 3 baby girls together. They are all so adorable in their little dresses(Kylie is in the front and Ava is next to Kamryn(blue and white dress).

(A More Real) Love Story-I LOVE THIS!

This video has been floating around on some fellow blogging friends websites and I just had to share it because I absolutely love it and it's the story of my life! It makes me laugh ever time I watch it (double click on the video and then turn my blog music off or else the music will overlap)...Enjoy!

Kamryn-9 Months

Well my baby girl is definately growing up! She was 9 months old on the 26th...in the last month, she has developed so much, she went from rolling everywhere to army crawling to actual crawling. She is into everything...she is also pulling herself to her knees and occasionally pulls herself up on things. She definately loves her new found freedom :) I am still nursing her 100%. Like her brother, she has began to refuse baby food at times so I have had to get creative to find foods she can feed herself that don't have the texture of baby food. She is on a great schedule (Wakes up around 7am, takes a morning and afternoon nap, and bedtime by 8pm) and is always in such a good mood, her personality continues to be so sweet, loving and just perfect. Recently she has had her moments of being a little crabby, but like I have been saying for a few months, I think it's her teeth...she still has NO teeth ...a little odd, but that's ok, they will come in eventually, I'm not worried.

Kolby and Kamryn are starting to get in little tifs here and there over toys but she holds her own, she has quite the grip! Her language is definately developing more too...she is saying more syllables and gets pretty loud at times...I can tell she wants to say mama, when I ask her to say it, she mouths it, but nothing comes out... We are also teaching her to sign, and she has began signing for milk...it's amazing how fast they can learn to communicate!

I of course had my monthly photo shoot with her, adorable as usual. Enjoy!

Randi Michelle

I always do updates on the little ones because they are changing all the time but I thought it was time do do one on Randi. She had her birthday last month and it's hard to believe but she is 10! Where does the time go? I first met her a month before her 5th birthday...5 years and she has grown up so much! I remember buying her Carebears for her 5th birthday and this year we got her a rifle. It's pink and she totally loves it. It is something her and Deven will be able to do together which is good because as a girl get older, sometimes it's harder to bond and share experiences with her dad, but I know the two of them will enjoy this very much!
Randi is finishing up the 4th grade at Vossbeck in Lynden and is doing great. Her favorite subject is Math but she loves to read too. Randi is also in the guitar club at school and she plays the piano when she is at her moms. She just finished up swimming lessons and she is so good! When I went to watch her, it looked like she was the fastest swimmer out there! She has come a long ways from the little 7 year old girl that didn't want to dunk her head under the water! We are SO proud of her for ALL of her accomplishments! She is an all around good kid, she is smart, caring, goofy and genuinely sweet. Both Kolby & Kamryn adore her and love when she is at our house...Kolby talks about sissy Randi all the time, whenever we drive by a school he asks if sissy Randi is at that school. It's too cute!

Randi is coming into the "pre-teen" years and has matured so much in the past couple years. Her and her friends even have a crush on the newest "heartthrob" Justin Bieber (he is a teen pop singer).When I heard he was going to be at the Comcast Center in Everett in July, I knew I HAD to get tickets! Randi's mom and I are taking Randi, her friend and her step-sister. I am so excited...I had crushes when I was younger but never did I get to see them in concert!

It's Spring Break this week and we have Randi half the week...I thought I would take some photos of her while the babies took their naps...to see ALL the photos of her, visit my website at www.hollemanphotography.smugmug.com under the children's gallery.

My Latest Photo Sessions

One of my passions in life is photography. I LOVE taking photos especially of sweet little babies! This weekend I had the opportunity to photograph 2 babies, one was my friend Marissa's baby Austin (9 days old), I was reminded how small and precious newborns are and how fast they grow! The other was my cousin Emily's little girl Ava (6 months old), now this little girl made the cutest little sounds and faces, I had so much fun watching her!
I have converted our spare bedroom into a small studio area which has made my photography much better because I know the lighting and am very comfortable taking pictures here...I wanted to share a few of my favorite photos from this weekend. I hope you all like them!
To view the full galleries, just visit my website at www.hollemanphotography.smugmug.com.