Cold Days and the Leaf Monster

A week or so ago it suddenly got pretty cold.  We've spent lots of time inside.  There was one outdoor game, the traditional Leaf Monster game they play with Jess the first night there are enough leaves.  Our leaves were still green as could be, but then it got really cold one night and they all fell at once.  Jess came home at lunch, and he and the middle two worked on getting the leaves ready for the game that night.  They even raked some in from the street.

They tried to get him to play it right then, but he made them wait for after work when Paige would be home too.

Reed and I watched from the living room window, and took awful pictures.  They had lots of fun.

Other than that we've mostly stayed inside.

They make up games that I can only watch long enough to get a picture, because I'm scared someone will knock heads together or something.  This one is some sort of bucking monster ride.  They love it and I hate it.

One night Gia was Rudolph, and they had a laundry basket sleigh.  They were so disappointed she couldn't pull them.

She didn't try very hard.

The whole family, except Jess, caught a cold.  Paige was first, and got over it quickly.  Then me and the other kids got it.  None of us felt too bad, (not at first anyway) just slightly sore throats and the kids had coughs.  No fevers or anything.

It was cold and windy out, so I drove around the corner to pick Paige up at the bus stop, instead of walking in the cold each day.  They still wanted to dress warm for it.

All this indoor time means lots of crafts.  Since I had a sick baby who didn't want to be put down, Cason and Neely were coming up with their own crafty projects.  

I liked this one Cason did, "Power Eagles fighting".  One is a fire eagle and the other is a water eagle.  Reminded me of Captain Planet.

One afternoon it was all about snowflakes.  Paige made two and then looked at them and said "They were WRONG.  Two snowflakes CAN look alike."

I was in Reed's room one day and out of the corner of my eye saw a tshirt on the ground.  I went to pick it up, when I realized Cason had made a paper version of himself wearing the shirt.  So funny.  I went and asked him about it.  He said he was going to cut out all the limbs too, but he got tired.  Ha.  Make sure you click on the picture to enlarge it and see how cute the hands and feet are.

When we can, Cason and I have been doing the worksheets from the Kindergarten curriculum I used with Paige last year.  He really likes it.  This was one of my favorites he did, especially how he spelled "knock."  He was so proud to tell me he figured it out all by himself.  Such a good job, and I didn't tell him.  Paige came up and saw it and started to explain.  I blurted out "NOO!" so he could have his moment. 

Speaking of this girl and spelling, she wants to be in a spelling bee one day.  She is well on her way, gets 100% on every spelling test and almost always gets all the bonus words too.  I know I wasn't spelling words like those in 1st grade.  

She still loves to learn, but isn't quite as excited about going to school as last year.  She doesn't beg to stay home or anything, but she isn't leaping out of bed with a grin this year either.  She has "too much homework" this year.  Ha.  It takes her all of 45 seconds to do each day.

Then after complaining about "all" her homework, she's asking to do math lessons and chinese lessons with Jess before bedtime each night.  Cason is doing reading lessons with Jess right after Paige does her math.  Cason is doing really well, he'll be reading his own books soon too.  

Christmas Prep Day

I keep getting ready to blog, but once all the pictures are ready I end up needing to save it and go feed Reed or whatever else.  So now I have all these pictures saved in one post, that really were meant to go in like 5 different posts, from weeks ago. 

So these are already a couple weeks old, but here they are.

The day after Thanksgiving we went out for a Christmas tree.  It was so early, we figured only Home Depot would have them yet, so that's where we went.  

They always set up the gingerbread men so the kids are squinting in the sun.  Ha.

Neely just wanted to say hi to them.

We went home to decorate while watching Rudolph like always.  The kids did most of the decorating this year, other than a few times when I had to talk them into spreading the ornaments out a bit.  :)

The big two argued about who could put the star on top.  Finally Jess held them both up so they could do it, and they took sooooooooooooo long.  He was straining and about to start laughing.  

 I love the look of happiness and relief on his face here, right after they finished.  Haha.

Cason (with a little help from Paige, but she got bored quickly) decorated the mantle by himself.  I just let him have at it, except when we had to tell him to quit moving reindeer stocking holders, hours later, before one fell on someone's head.  He takes his jobs seriously.

Then we had a nice night, with some cuddling..

...peppermint hot cocoa...

 

...and tree lights while having a living room campout and watching It's a Wonderful Life.

2 Months Old

Mr. Reed turned 2 months old a week ago, and had his checkup a day or two later.  He slept through a good chunk of the appointment.

 He weighed in at 11 lbs 11.5 ounces, and was 24 inches long.  Still longer than he is heavy, but he's working on that. 

He's still as sweet as they come.  

 

 He loves for us to hold his hands so he can pull up to stand in our laps.  He's so proud and gets all excited, kind of bouncing and grunting at us all happily.

He doesn't get put down often, but when we do for a little tummy time each day, he's started acting like he'd like to roll over.  He hasn't really gotten close yet, but he sure plans on it happening before long.
 
He spends a lot more time awake, watching us, smiling, and chatting sometimes too.  

If I'm walking around, helping the big kids with something, or just distracted by anything really, I'll glance down and catch him gazing up at me with the sweetest look.  Or sometimes he'll get my attention with a little coo and smile when we make eye contact.  

That butt chin, man....

He's another expressive kid.  I crack up at the faces he makes.

One new one is the about to cry face.  Except he does it randomly, and he's not sad at all.  He just throws it in there between smiles.

 

 He's loving his tummy time lately.  Such hard work.

We love him so much. 

Wedding, Wedding, Giving Thanks

In the last couple of weeks, Reed attended his first wedding...

...had his first dance with a lovely lady...

....and also attended his second wedding.  Ha.

Yes, I did wear the same thing to both.  That dress is easy to nurse in, which keeps babies happy during weddings...the first of which was held outdoors in the rain.

I stood and nursed Reed during the whole ceremony, while Jess and Megan held umbrellas over us.  We moved inside for the reception, as you can see in the first couple pictures up there.

When we got back to the hotel, where Tyra was babysitting the big kids, she took our first ever attempt at a family picture, since becoming a family of 6.  We never took one in the hospital.  :(  

This first one wasn't the biggest success, for a variety of reasons.  Haha. 

That wedding required the little man's first trip to Phoenix.

The way there was much smoother than the way home, but we made it back.  We'd squeezed in a trip to Ikea, so that night Cason helped Jess put together his new dresser.  That called for a flying high five.

The next day we put together a toy storage shelf for the playroom, and Cason and Neely proudly helped with Reed's highchair.  (Not necessary for a while, but we may not be near an Ikea again by the time he needs it)

Reed also enjoyed his first Thanksgiving.  Our phones were dead for a good part of the day so we didn't really take pictures for most of it.  It was a nice one though, and felt relatively stress free too.  Ha.  We did get this picture of Reed loving Aunt Mollie...

 ...this one of him being cute when we came home...

...and Neely and Gia passed out together.

 Now, I'll finish with a picture of Reed napping in the cutest of ways.

...and Neely in her adorable new pajamas, which were also acquired on our Phoenix trip.