Happy 4th Birthday!

Reid had his 4th birthday party this year at the Frontiers of Flight Museum.  It was such an adorable place for a party & he loved EVERY minute of it!  I barely got any good pictures of him because he was running around for the entire 2 hours-- minus eating a little cupcake!  He was SO excited to be there and the fact that it was his birthday, was even better!  I love planning birthday parties for our boys, and get so into all the little details... you might be able to tell that from these pics.  ; )  It was a great party & probably one of the most fun for Reid so far!  He had a BALL!

 

LOVE this picture of Reid & Riley in the flight attendant area...

This was where Reid spent most of his time during the party, so we have lots of pics of his little face in this airplane!

LOVE. THIS. BOY!!!

Here comes the cupcakes!

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you... happy birthday dear Reid, Happy birthday to you!

Make a wish....

And all your dreams will come true.  :)

I think he kinda likes being four! 

All of Reid's sweet friends that came to his party. 

Happy birthday sweet Reid!  We can NOT believe you are FOUR years old now!!  Where has the time gone?  You are still such a little guy, but so big in so many other ways.  You are such an independent boy now and can so many things by yourself.  It's crazy to me that 4 years ago, I was changing your diapers and getting up in the middle of the night to feed you multiple times.  Now you feed yourself, put on your own clothes & shoes, go to the bathroom by yourself, and can walk, run & jump.  

You are such an amazing kid and you are so smart & talented.  We love the boy you have become & can't wait to see how you will change & grow this year.  God gave us the most precious blessing when you were born and our heart is just SO full of love for you.... more everyday.  You love snuggles, hugs & kisses and we love giving them to you.  Thank you God for this precious gift.  Happy 4th Birthday Reid!  

WE LOVE YOU! 

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Where did the time go?

Some pre-birthday decorations for our big FOUR year old... Mommy couldn't help herself!

A few little presents to get the birthday started!

Good morning buddy!  Happy 4th birthday to YOU!

A CARS corvette.  This boy is in love with all things related to Cars the movie!

Duck in the Truck..... his all time favorite book!

Reid's 1st trumpet... our musical boy!

LOVE.THIS.FACE

My sweet boys

Riley-Roo is excited to celebrate his big bro's birthday too! 

A birthday wouldn't be complete without a few donuts for breakfast!

And of course we have to take HUGE-MONGO bites when we eat donuts! Must be a BOY thing!

Riley wanted in on the donut action too and grabbed mommy's scone off the table!

Just wanna EAT.HIM.UP!!!!

Happy birthday sweet Reid!  We love you more than you will ever know buddy!  We can't wait to keep the celebration going today at Chuck E. Cheese.  And of course you have a big BIRTHDAY party coming up this weekend!   Four years ago today you came into our lives and blessed us more than we could ever begin to imagine.  We were enamored with how perfectly formed you were and it was truly the most exciting day of our lives seeing you for the very first time.  I loved holding you as a baby, and now you are all big & growing more everyday!  You were a perfect baby and now you are a funny, silly, musical, soccer playing, t-ball practicing, toddler boy.   You love everything musical and we can't wait to see what you'll grow up to be one day....maybe the next symphony conductor at the DSO? Or maybe the next Brad Paisley?  Who knows?  You talk about being a doctor like Daddy, and you're always getting your doctor bag out to try & make us feel better.  Whatever you become we will proud of you! 

You are a great big brother and are learning to share your toys with your brother!  He adores you & wants to do everything you do.  Watch out buddy!  :)  We are so proud of you & the boy you have become so far.  We can't wait to watch you grow & learn even more.  

Yesterday, you were talking about being 7, 8, 9 and even 10.  Oh NO!  Mommy is not ready for that!!!  Can you stay 4 forever??  I just want to bottle up your little, adorable voice and sweet spirit and keep you that way forever.  You have such an innocence about you that is precious.  The world has not tainted you yet.  I never want that to go away, but I know some day it will.  Mommy & Daddy are so thankful for you, Reid!  You light up our lives and make us proud to have you as our son.  

Happy 4th Birthday to you, Buddy!  We LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Almost four years old...

Sometimes I think you would rather go back to being a baby...

You love to be silly and climb in your brother's crib! 

You have the cutest face I have ever seen :)

You are such a sweet big brother to Riley.  You are quite the little protector of him!

And you make me laugh myself silly with all your cuteness!

You are quite the little performer and will still play that guitar any chance you get!  I seriously can NOT believe my baby is about to be FOUR YEARS OLD!!!  Where did the time go, Reid?  I love you more, so much more than I did the day you were born.  My heart is so full... if it were any fuller, it would burst.  I am so thankful for your sweet little life.  I can't wait to celebrate YOU!

9/11 A day to remember

I will forever remember this day like it was yesterday.  I was teaching 4th grade at the time and remember having my tv on in my room while the kids were at music or p.e.  A reporter broke in and there was all this breaking news about an airplane crashing into the twin towers in NYC.  It was just so surreal and I couldn't even believe it was happening.  It completely took my breath away and sucked the life right out of me.  I remember having a hard time teaching that day... I had to hold it together for the children.  I remember having to sit my classroom of 4th graders down at the end of the day that day and tell them what had happened and tell them it was going to be okay.  We were all going to be okay.  How do you go on after something like that?  Today marks the 10 year anniversary of all those that lost their lives that day.  It seems like yesterday.

 

As I watched the coverage on the news this morning of all the names being read of those that perished, I couldn't help but shed tears for those families who are still grieving for the loved ones they lost that horrific day.  I said a prayer for those families before my children ate their breakfast this morning.   I love that President Obama read Psalm 46 as part of his speech.  Thank you that we have a God we can lean on & trust in at all times... especially today. 

Our new little walker

Riley decided to start walking this weekend when he was at his Mimi & Papa's house.  He is SO dang cute walking all over the place and can even stand up on his own without any help from any piece of furniture!  We can hardly believe it!  He took his first steps on August 12 (13 months) and on September 2, (almost 14 months) decided he was ready to be done with crawling!  Oh my.... now the real fun begins!  

LOVE watchin' you walk little buddy!

A little Labor Day Fun

This has truly been a "laboring" holiday weekend in every sense of the word, but we had a little fun in there too! Rodney & I had been planning a weekend sans kiddos this weekend for quite some time.  My sweet parents kept our boys from Friday to Sunday so we could organize, clean out, and just have a little time together to reconnect.  It was a TON of fun, but we sure did miss our boys!!  They had a ball hanging out with their Mimi & Papa and Rodney & I just soaked it up as much as we could for those 2 1/2 days.  Ahhhh.... :) 

I wish I had a picture of our closet BEFORE the clean out!  You should have seen the pile of clothes we had! I just get giddy when I walk into the closet now.  It's so clean and organized!!!   Organizing is one of the things in life that makes me a VERY happy woman!  After bagging up 7 garbage bags FULL of clothes, 2 boxes of shoes, organizing my office, and the mudroom, we felt we deserved a night out on the town!  We got to see a movie on Friday and & have some sushi on Saturday night.  It was glorious!! 

Here are some of the organization "after" pics....

Our closet... Now I need a new wardrobe! ;)

The mudroom with some wonderful new baskets!

My amazingly organized office....and notice the diploma hanging up.  Yes, I graduated from college over 12 years ago and that is JUST NOW getting hung up!

We did a little eating outside tonight... Ahhhh, glorious weather!

The boys got to do some playing OUTSIDE!

Don'tcha just wanna EAT.UP.THAT.FACE??!!

Boys will forever be boys! The higher I can go the better, MOM!

AND Riley-Roo decided he was ready to walk all on his own this weekend! The sad part was, he decided to start it all at my mom & dad's house while we were at home in the midst of organization central!

"Look at me, Mom!  I can do it all by myself now!"

LOVE.THESE.BOYS!  We sure did miss you both! 

I think we tuckered 'em out... Happy Labor Day weekend. Thanks again Mom & Dad.  We can't thank you enough for the gift of TIME!   Hope those boys didn't wear you out too much! 

 WE LOVE YOU!

Mickey Mouse & Oatmeal

Yesterday morning I got Reid to watch something other than Barney!!!!  YAY!!!  AND.... He loved it!

He also ate oatmeal... his normal breakfast is waffles, french toast or pancakes. 

AND, he liked it!!!!

ALL GONE!!!  Whew hoo!!!

YAY Reid!!

Even little Riley took some bites and seemed to like it, but when I tried to feed it to him this morning, his little mouth was clamped SHUT!!  I just had to laugh... Oh well!

So proud of you for trying new things buddy.  I know it's hard!  Mickey Mouse is cool....I promise!  ;) Mommy used to watch that cartoon when she was a little girl.  It was her favorite!  This was a monumental day in our house, so I just HAD to share!  Trying two new things in one day is no easy task!  Great job Reid and Riley too!