Eva turns 3!

July 17th marked Eva's third year of life. She celebrated this important day with a family birthday party at our home. Unfortunately, none of her young cousins were able to join her, but she had a nice time with the special adults in her life.

She was awed by the spinning cake stand that plays "Happy Birthday."

Enjoing her new sand and water table, a gift from Mom and Dad.

Donning her Iowa Hawkeye cheerleading outfit with her relatives from Iowa.

Smiling with her Wisconsin relatives. (I recruited Jenny to join us as she is a very recent resident of Iowa.) Unfortunately, we are the outnumbered group.

4 P's!

This summer found us enjoying parks, pools, picnics, and parades!

We joined Angie and her three young men for a day of swimming at the pool. (Grandmas not pictured)

We attended the annual Curry 4th of July picnic.

There was a large turnout of the old neighborhood clan plus spouses and children.

This summer brought the Vietnam Moving Wall to town. After a BBQ with our friends from card club, we loaded up the kiddos and walked downtown to the parade route.

Will's Baptism

Will was baptized May 3, 2009 at Saint Mary's Catholic Church. Godparents were Victor Magnus and Jenny Weier. We hosted a small family get together at our home following the Mass.

Will pictured with parents and grandparents

Eva joins us at the front of the church

As we gathered on the alter to complete the baptism rituals, Eva made a last minute decision to join us up front. From my place at the front of the church, I watched as she left her seat near my parents, walked up the aisle, and climbed the steps to join us. After months of physical therapy, she was able to climb steps without holding a rail or a supporting hand. This small moment, unrecognized by many in attendance, caused my heart to swell and tears to fill my eyes.

Father Charles baptizes Will as Mom, Dad, Vic, and Jenny look on.


(6 months since my last blog update! I plan to share some highlights as I take a break from the planning and grading I am doing for work.)

Lunch with the Easter Bunny!

My mom and I took the kids to this local event today. The luncheon was held at the armory and there were a variety of activities available for the children. The highlight was seeing the Easter Bunny! After talking about it all morning, Eva was a little shy when it came to seeing the Bunny face to face. She posed for a picture but only with mom and Grandma at her side. Will on the other hand, loved seeing the bunny and was all smiles.

11 weeks old

Our group photo with Easter Bunny

Life as a Family of 4

The past seven weeks have been great ones at our house. We have quickly adjusted to being the parents of two and like our little family of four.

Our new "little man" couldn't be a sweeter baby. Will was quick to smile and shows us his grins and funny faces often. (I did my best to capture them on camera...see below). He is a very happy, content baby. He is a strong little guy and surprised us by rolling from front to back at 2 1/2 weeks. His continued growth has put this on hold recently. He weighed 12 pounds 12 ounces today at just a little over seven weeks! His favorite activities include eating, looking out the window, and "playing" with us.


Eva continues to blossom and is becoming a such a little socialite. We've noticed a big change in her recently. She is beginning to develop friendships with children and gives us detailed updates about her days at school. She likes being a big sister and is a great helper to me during my days at home with the two of them. Eva has a great imagination and can play independently for a long time with her dolls and farm animals. She is learning about peoples jobs and likes to play doctor and lifeguard. She's enjoyed the snow and winter, but like us all, is ready for warm weather. We recently took her to a waterpark for a day of swimming. It was nice to play in suits for a day.

Eva and "Frosty"

Making me "Chicken Nugget Soup"

William Allen Hollingsworth

William Allen Hollingsworth was born on January 9, 2009 at 1:04 pm. He weighed a healthy 9 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. We are all doing great. Baby Will

Now I'll need to come up with a new title for the blog...

2009 Projects

So...I haven't been faithful to keeping up the blog lately. It seems that the past eight weeks have passed in a blur. We have been keeping busy with all the fun that surrounds the holiday season. This winter has brought us snow without freezing cold temperatures and we've enjoyed playing outside with Eva in the snow. Never ones to sit idle, we have three new "projects" on the burner for the upcoming year.

Project #1 is expected to arrive this Friday with the birth of our second child, assuming all goes according to plan. I think we are ready! The baby gear has come up from the basement, been cleaned up, and is waiting in the baby's room. We've made multiple last minute trips to stores to buy all of those last minute items that we are sure we'll need in those first few days/weeks.

Project #2 involves a recent decision to finish our basement. We can think of many uses for the space and with the low interest rates, now seems as good of a time as any. We're currently having plans drawn up and hope to have a family room/rec room, guest bedroom, bath, and office when the project is completed.

Our final project is continuing to work with Eva’s large motor skill development. Her current PT program will be wrapping up this summer and she’ll be transitioning to the school district’s PT program. Also, at a recent visit to the pediatrician’s, the doctor recommended that Eva see a neurologist for a few tests since her muscular development still isn’t where it should be. Eva’s other developmental areas have really been doing well so lacking in the large motor area is worth additional fact-finding.

Disasters Avoided

There are many joys of being a parent of a two-year-old. This week, I also got to experience two heart dropping moments.

The first one occured on Wednesday. About a month ago we moved Eva out of the nursery and into the "big girl room," complete with a twin bed, new dresser, and her many cherished things. The transition went so well! (Sometime when the room is cleaned up, I'll post pictures). Anyway, after her nap, she called to me as she usually does. When I went to open the door, I found it locked. Before I panicked too much, I asked her to turn the knob. She did and it unlocked easily. Luckily, I didn't have to move forward with the "how to get trapped daughter out of her locked bedroom" plan.

Then there was yesterday... Our whole family was dressed and ready to get out the door when I decided to run downstairs to get a water bottle out of our basement fridge. As I was opening the door, I heard a little voice say, "I come too." Immediately after that, I heard the sickening sound of a toddler falling down the stairs (augmented by the sound of her frantic father dashing down behind her in hopes of helping). Needless to say it was a very unpleasant experience for all three of us. Eva, although scared, managed the fall with ease and had no signs of injury. She even calmed down surpisingly fast. As one of my coworkers quotes "her guardian angel was watching over her." (Common lingo at the Catholic college where I work.)

Reflecting on the week, I feel very blessed that both incidents were minor. And, for the sake of my poor heart, we'll hope we can breeze through the next few weeks without any more potential "disasters."

Happy Halloween!

Our family really got into the spirit of the holiday this year! We have been very busy with recent Halloween activities. Tonight was beautiful, perfect for treking round the neighborhood and making a few stops at friends' houses. Eva poses on our front porch with our pumpkins. This is the first Halloween that we have lived in the country. Although I left a big bowl of candy and a "help yourself" sign, it doesn't appear that very many people visited our house. We did have one neighborhood family visit before we took off for our evening.
On Thursday night, Grandma and Grandpa came over for some pumpkin carving fun. Grandpa and Dad proved to be very artistic...and efficient. They had these carved in no time while Grandma and I played with Eva, who was wearing out from the week's activities. (The Hollingsworth pumpkin pictured at the bottom is a ceramic one made for us by my aunt.)

Eva and Les pose with our big pumpkin, purchased from the Amish at Farmer's Market. Eva was hesitant to reach her hand into the pumpkins, but loved to yell "gooey" as we cleaned them out.

On Wednesday, the Children's Center hosted a "Spooky Supper." After the potluck, we visited Dobson Hall where the college students put on a bash and trick-or-treating for the little ones. Eva is pictured here with her friend Emelia.