Our Family

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Reed's 2nd Birthday Party

Reed is 2!!!! WOW, the past two years have gone by so quickly. Reed is such a joy to have and we are so blessed to call him our son. He LOVES his brothers and love to do everything that they do. It is so fun to watch him try to keep up with Eli and Chase. He does a pretty good job! : )

Reed had a hard time deciding the theme of his party....he went back and forth between Choo-Choos and Elmo. He finally settled on Choo-Choos. Reed LOVES choo-choo trains!

The Cake

Eli & Reed

Happy Birthday, Reed!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

It's Been A While!!

I can't believe it's been two months since I updated this blog!! I love going back and looking at the posts and I keep telling myself that I MUST keep up with it!! : ) This is an attempt to catch up and hopefully continue posting on a regular basis.

We had a SUPER FUN summer!! At the beginning of the summer, it didn't seem like we had too much planned, but we were non-stop the whole summer. We LOVED every minute of it!!! I don't have a ton of pictures from our summer fun, but it included visiting family in Alaska, visiting family in Arkansas (three times), Vacation Bible School for Eli, Reed's 2nd birthday, gymnastics camp for Eli, visit from family from Arkansas, visit from Alaska family, trips to the zoo, many trips to the pool and many trips to the farm. So fun!!!!

What is summer without watermelon?!?!? These boys LOVE watermelon!!

We spent LOTS of time in the pool! Eli is an awesome swimmer!! He learned to do a front flip into the pool, a front flip while in the pool, and a back flip in the pool. He's working on diving too. : )

Chase is becoming a great swimmer too. He had a little accident in the pool....jumped in and hit his face on the step. He was a bloody mess, but bounced back quickly. He was back in the water and swimming within 20 minutes of the crash. : ) Chase is one tough kid!

Eli diving

We visited family in Arkansas in May and twice in August....we celebrated Madison's 5th birthday and Parker & Paisley's 2nd birthday. I can't believe they are already 2! I remember when I got a text that said "it's twins!" : ) Wish I had more pictures from our visits, but I guess we were having too much fun....or we were too busy trying to manage 6 kids in the house! : )

We had tons of fun in Alaska. Hunter went with us for part of the trip this year.

Eli and Jack found a mud hole to play in : )

And we can't go to Alaska without making a fire in the back yard and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

And we definitely can't go to Alaska without playing hockey....even if it's not snowing. Sometimes hockey on the back porch if more fun than real hockey.

We were there to celebrate Justin's 23rd birthday

Reed learned to hold his breath under water and is starting to swim too.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Professional Pictures

I get the kids picture taken on a pretty regular basis. I have WAY more pictures than I know what to do with, but I enjoy keeping up with them at various ages. The last ones were taken about 6 week before Reed turned 2. I had a $50 voucher that expired that day. I didn't want to loose the $50 so we took pictures....I'm now considering them his 2 year pictures since we are currently 2 weeks past his 2 year birthday and I haven't had any new ones taken. Of all the pictures I've had taken, I think these are the best! I just LOVE them!!!

I attempted an outfit change (which I do every time and it NEVER works!). I just thought it would be cute to have a couple of pictures taken wearing their matching swim shorts. We couldn't get all three to look at the same time...oh well. : )

Reading

Eli is so excited that he can read. I found him in the chair reading a chapter book. It was a little advanced for him, but he still likes to pretend to read. I hope he develops a love for reading.

Take A Closer Look

When Reed finds something interesting, especially a bug, he likes to take a closer look.....

.....a MUCH closer look!

Love This!!

Ga-Ga's 65th!!

My Dad...aka Ga-Ga...turned 65 in May! We had a little celebration at our house after going out to eat. The kids and I made a german chocolate cake...one of his favorites (mine too!!!). Happy Birthday, Ga-Ga!!! We love you and appreciate everything you do for us. Thank you for loving us and the kids so much!

After YEARS of trying, Eli finally learned how to start the lighter. He is now the official birthday candle lighter. The other kids are NOT happy about this! ; )

Sparks

I am WAY behind on blogging, but better late than never! : ) Eli finished another year of AWANA clubs and loved it again. This year he went to Sparks at Meadows Baptist Church....his great friend from school goes there and it is right near our house. Eli finished his book, the review, and the extra credit book....and there was still about 5 weeks left. Eli loves to learn Bible verses and I am AMAZED at how he keeps them in his memory. We review, but it doesn't seem necessary because he has a great memory!