Vala's Pumpkin Patch

Saturday afternoon was beautiful! Bright, sunny and in the 70's! We headed out to Vala's with Meme & Grandpa! We hit the hayrack ride, slides, pig races & found all kinds of yummy treats. Fall is officially here & we are thrilled :)

Holden: 3 months

such a sweet smile, we see it more and more everyday!

Holden rocked the Bumbo this weekend for the first time!

Having fun with his big sister!

doesn't he just look thrilled ?! :)

Well, in the past month, Holden has definitely "turned into" a kawa in the looks department, so handsome- just like his daddy! He proved he was a great traveller as we made our first weekend trip to Minnesota last weekend - good spirits for the most part in the car! He still loves to be held & cuddled and now is starting to enjoy our musical numbers as well - pat-a-cake is his first favorite :) He just loves looking at his sister, she always brings a smile to his face. We are so lucky to have such a sweetie, happy 3 months baby boy!

Where in the world have we been?

getting ready for our saturday morning walk down to the park

holden is all ready to go too!

such a big girl, going down all the slides by herself these days!

still loves her time in a swing, any swing!

liza & holden playing

we got to visit granpa ray on saturday afternoon - mom, grandpa & grandma

he even got to meet his first great grandson (and see his sweet great granddaughter, too!)

grandma dody came over to the stougaards to visit & stayed for dinner, including happy hour with our favorite lakeside view

sunday morning - harper decided to take full advantage of her "single mom" while dad was out golfing, she ran upstairs to explore in her diaper. in the past few weeks, a game of chase is taken up every time an article of clothing is removed! she can really run, too!

So, where were we anyway?

This past weekend we were in Fairmont, Minnesota for the annual Interlaken Golf Invitational...

Lots of golf for the boys! Beautiful weather for walks, playing at parks & exploring for the kiddos.

It certainly was an adventure to travel out of town for the weekend with two children! Especially as our air conditioner went out on the car before our drive home! Overall, a fun time & always wonderful to see our family up north :)

I promise to become better at updates! Wow, 2 kids is super crazy on an hourly basis, throw in going back to work full time & I really don't know where time goes. Just have to find the battery to our old camera so I can upload all of our pictures from the summer...goal will be to get that done in the next few weeks (hope that is a reachable goal!). One of these days, I'll get it all together :) maybe by the time holden is 2 or so...

Hospital & Home

We had several visitors come see us at the hospital after Holden was born, somehow I only ended up taking pictures of Harper (of course!) and the Browns...thanks to all who came to see us! It was a quiet & special time to bond with our new baby before heading home, I must say, the nursing staff at Methodist Women's Hospital was absolutely amazing, they were all so very kind and helpful...
Harper is her "big sister" tee!







We have a busy few days ahead of us, Grandpa & meme are coming over with dinner tonight (yea!), Auntie Jill & Uncle Tim are in town for Cousin Jaxson's baptism on Sunday and then Auntie Pollyanna arrives in Omaha on Monday for a nice, long summer visit (Yea! again!)

More to come soon, off to hold Holden!

Holden Michael Kawa

Holden Michael Kawa arrived on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 4:54 pm.

Weighing 8 lbs, 5 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

He is a beautiful & healthy boy!

We are so blessed to welcome him to the world.

Last days as an only child

Mike & I took as much one on one time with Harper leading up to the days before Holden's arrival... We had so much fun sharing quiet (and loud!) moments with our first born...




This was the picture I took right before we hopped into the car & dropped off Harper on our way to the hospital, those last moments of saying good bye to her were tough! Knowing her life would never be the same (or ours, for that matter). But still, confidant that our lives would all become better as we grew into a family of four.