Questions by Reed

Reed is constantly asking questions. "Does Tater Tot start with 2 t's?" Pointing at the ceiling in our living room, "Is that part of the upstairs floor?"

After grilling me about smoke stacks on trains and listening to me try to answer him to the best of my abilities, he said, "Ahhh. I don't know everything about some stuff do I mommy?"

Conversation among siblings

Cate: "Reed, you're stinky."
Reed: "No I'm not. I don't wear a diaper anymore."
Cate: "Well, you're still stinky."

It was a very Merry Christmas

Cate was the first one up. At 6:20am she came in our room. We got Reed and went downstairs to see if there were any gifts under the tree.



Reed was so excited to get some Star Wars toys. They loved all of the toys. We were having a great time.



Then Cate noticed there was wrapping paper on the back door. I wonder why that's there.







It was such a nice day we decided to go on a treasure hunt at Stones River Battlefield.



There are a couple of wild monkeys in this tree.

The true meaning of Christmas

Charlie Brown, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Linus, "Sure Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about."

Lake Guntersville at Christmastime

We had a wonderful weekend at Lake Guntersville State Park in Alabama with my mom and brother Clay and girlfriend Janna. Cate & Reed had never been there.



Wes and I got married 14 years ago and spent our honeymoon here.



We took lots of funny pictures.



Gran and Cate got tattoos.



The kids found shells on the beach to put in their treasure boxes that Gran made them.



It all ended too soon. Thank you Gran for a wonderful Christmas in Guntersville.

Our little shepherd boy...

Reed was a shepherd in his school play. They were adorable.



Reed is the one behind the green balloon.



Santa and Mrs. Claus dropped by after the play to see what the kids wanted for Christmas.

MOM, Reed's using his imagination again!

Reed was "reading" a Mushroom identification book and here's how the story went:

Once "tapon" a time there was a mushroom, then people went on a treasure hunt and there was some chipmunks. Then there was a man that "sitted & pitted & titted" and "sat & pat & tat" and settled down in the mud and then they saw "sumpin", a wild bear and settled down. Ha, ha, ha. And they stayed in the mud all day. Then the mommy gave them a bath. Then they fell in the mud again. Then chapter 2 is on fire. That's all the story. Was that a long story mommy? Was it funny?

It's never quiet around here.

Cate's singing Jingle Bells. You may not understand what Reed is saying. That's because he said he was singing like Chewbacca. Star Wars gets mixed up in everything these days.

Cate's First Snow Day

We slept in a little because I knew school had been canceled. When I got up the kids were looking out the window at the snow. I said, "Let's go sledding before it melts." Cate said, "What about school?" Then I realized I had not told her that when it snows they cancel school. She was so excited.





Reed chasing Cate's sled.


Cate climbs the hill while Reed zooms by.

Can we go outside? Please, please, please, please....

Buzz & Woody

I have a friend who has two little boys that love Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. You probably know that I'm a little obsessed with clothes pin dolls right now. So the two thoughts collided in my brain and ...

....voila...

Run Wes Run

I'm so proud of you. Here's a link for the race report.

Is The Empire Strikes Back a Christmas movie?

I asked the kids what their favorite Christmas movie is and Wes told me about a conversation he had with Cate. Apparently Cate thinks The Empire Strikes Back is a Christmas movie.

Why?

Because it has snow in it.

Fishing Fun

We made a quick trip to Mississippi for Thanksgiving. My sister and brother-in-law gave the kids their Christmas presents early. Fishing poles! They love them.

They tried to catch something in the bayou at Papaw's...



...and in Papaw's pond...



...and Gran's swimming pool?...



No fish. Hmmm... is there a hook on this line?

Sweet new nephew

I finally got my hands on my new nephew Cannon. Sorry if anyone else wanted to hold him that day. He's so sweet and cuddly.

Happy Thanksgiving

Funny things kids say...

Yesterday was a rough day. I was tired and didn't feel great and kind of down. I told Wes I just didn't want to cook dinner. We decided to get Sonic (the closest thing to our house). The kids immediately started jumping up and down saying "I want to ride with you, I want to go, Can I ride..."

Wes: "Kids mommy needs some alone time."
Cate: "I promise I won't say anything."
Reed: "I won't talk either. I promise."

I just laughed. (and left them at home with Wes.) They are so precious but Wes is right, sometimes mommy needs alone time. Maybe even something more than riding to Sonic by myself.

One of these things is not like the other...

We've been busy making Star Wars clothes pin dolls. I've added C3P0, R2D2, Storm Troopers, Darth Maul and, um, who's that with the red hair...?...Ariel! What's she doing there?



We're having fun. Oh, and did you notice what's on the t.v. in the background. The final 2008 Nascar race. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for winning his 3rd straight championship.

Craft Time Fun

Last year we made some clothes pins dolls. We got the idea at a friend's birthday party. We made princesses, toy soldiers and a nativity. Even gave "kits" as birthday gifts so others could make dolls. Cate had the idea to make some more today. As usual, mom (me) went a little overboard.


Chewbacca, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Princess Leia


Luke fights with Darth Vader with Lightsabers
(or as the kids call him, Dark Vader and his Life Saver.)

I ran out of clothes pins before I could make R2D2, C3P0, and some storm troopers. Wish I had time to run to the craft store.

Deep Thinker or Dark Side?

Reed has recently gone over the deep in for Star Wars. He loves it. Everything is a lightsaber in his eyes ...guns, swords, pencils... sometimes he just makes the saber sounds. This morning he asked the question, "Mom, do the bad guys think that the good guys are bad guys?" My first thought was that he's really a deep thinker. Later I started wondering if he was just trying to justify liking Darth Vader so much.


Is Reed being pulled to the Dark Side?

A Fun Night at Home

We usually have a visit from Nanna and Grandpa on Friday nights but they are on an adventure right now so we're winging it for a while. Tonight we decided to have movie night. After tacos for dinner, we made a "bed" on the floor of the playroom complete with special pillows (Cate's has Dora and Reed's has tractors on it), nickies (their special silk blankies that Gran made them), and lots of stuffed animals. We snuggled in with popcorn that daddy made on the stove top. (Yum!) The movie was Madagascar. We hadn't seen the first one. For some reason I just didn't think it would be good. But it was really entertaining. We all laughed out loud through the movie. This is a picture of the kids about 5 minutes after we finished the movie and watched the "I Like To Move It" video.

Kindergarten School Pictures

Cate's First Field Trip

Cate had her first field trip to the zoo. Reed and I got to go, too. We had fun. I was really impressed with how easy it was to handle the kids. They had it organized so well that it hardly seemed like a whole kindergarten was there. Here are some pics.


Cate's walking on the ropes.



Checking out the giraffes.


This goat got the royal treatment.


The end.

My Pumpkins

We found an idea in Family Fun magazine for a different way to decorate our pumpkin this year. Our pumpkin was so big that instead of looking for faces in magazines we found them on Google Images so that we could make them as large as we wanted. It turned out great and we can still use the pumpkin to decorate for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure it was as fun for the kids because there was really no mess.

RSC Fall Festival

The kids got to wear their costumes a little early for the Fall Festival at church.



Aren't they adorable?

On Your Mark, Get Set...

GO!!!





Wes ran in his first official race today. The kids and I cheered him on at Long Hunter State Park as over 200 people ran a 5 mile trail run. Some of them were dressed in Halloween costumes. We saw a couple of friends of ours that run a lot. Wes did great. We were so proud of him.

Hair Gone Wild

Last week I blogged about the hair cut I had given Reed and his "Hairy Head" he was growing in a pot. Both heads are growing some wild hair.

Out with the old, in with the ....

...used but new to us.
Our Windstar got sick. The prognosis was not good. Rather than spend more than it was worth for the repairs we decided to get another van. Our last trip with the old van was a nice weekend at Montgomery Bell State Park. We prayed the van would get us there and back again without any problems. That prayer sounded something like this, "Lord please protect us from our stupidity." He did.



We bought a Honda Odyssey. Wes put a hitch on it and we will now be towing our Thompson Turtle with the Honda. Can't wait.

A good reason to go camping...

... getting to see God's creation up close.