Change of Heart??

So, I did get a little bit more into Valentine's Day this year.  I mean, I still didn't want flowers or chocolates or anything from Justin but when my mom offered to keep the kids last night so we could go out, I jumped on it.  We seriously haven't been on a date since October I think.  How sad is that?  We just don't have a sitter or at least one that we would want to have to keep up with our crew!  I hope our views change come this summer when Kyle isn't such a threat to his own life!  So, Justin and I had a really nice dinner last night and then ran a couple of errands for our birthday boy!!!

But,  I did a few things around the house to "celebrate".  Sort of.  I found some cheap decorations at Target and did the craft one myself.  I needed a little "happy" one morning when it had been pouring rain for three days straight.  I then, I found these mailboxes and coupons all for a dollar at Target so I made those for the kids.  They thought it was fun when they saw their flag up on their mailbox.  So, you might say I've had a Change of Heart about Valentine's Day, I mean a very slight change but still a change.

 Kyle's "love letters" strewn across the floor.  Or napkins rather...  He loves this shirt, "Pu-ppy".  He says it perfectly and then today he looked at it and said "heart".  He melts me!

 This girl loves this girly girl holiday!

Christmas in February

Since we don't have enough going on February, haha...I thought I would put some of our Christmas pictures up.  This week I will be busy getting ready for Brice's party as well as making sure all the Valentines' are finished up and the house can always be cleaned.

So, Christmas in February it is!  We celebrated with my parents the week before and then headed to Charlotte to celebrate there with Aunt Blaire and Uncle Josh.  We were also able to see my grandparents which I was so so thankful for because they were able to meet Kyle for the first time.  These things mean so much regardless of how much work it was/is!  After that quick visit we headed home to celebrate Christmas Eve and Day with Justin's side of the family.  Also, very thankful that both of his grandmothers were able to join us as, let me just be honest, time is taking it's toll.  It is so hard for me to watch all of these wonderful people age so when I see the joy on their faces when the little ones are around, I would do Christmas everyday for them!

Get comfy, because here comes a photobomb...

Kyle taking Grandad his gifts.

 New clothes for Julie and an Etch-A-Sketch

Anna got some "Coke" Lip Smackers!  Yummy.  And, can't go wrong with giving Kyle any type of ball!

Anna was showing my Grandma her shirt and sleeve.  Love the smile on her face.

We were able to see Kristen, hooray!!  She moves to Seattle next month, boo!! (But happy for her, :))

 Great Grandpa love.

On to Christmas Eve and Morning...

 Kyle and Jack playing trains.  Kyle loved his ice cream!

 Santa brought Anna a "ballerina house", Prince Eric and Barbie.  She loved it!

 We recycled and used cereal boxes for gift boxes. Brice thought this was hilarious. Santa brought Brice the last two Harry Potter movies, Dumbledore's wand, and a quill.

 We gave Anna a Barbie car for her new Barbie.

 After Brice and Anna had opened their gifts, we woke Kyle up to enjoy his.

 He immediately knew what to do and climbed right in.

 Pa and three out of the five grandkids

 This was the night before when I snapped a picture.

 Jack played trains all. morning. long.  He is Mr. Thomas the Train!

And here is Strawberry Shortcake with her Stompeez on.  Crazy slippers that are actually pretty cute and they don't make noise so that's a plus!  It was a very Merry Christmas!  Now, onto the birthdays!

Kyle-18 Months

Our crazy man is 18 months old!  He is all boy, loves to wrestle and play and still is loyal to the balls and cars around the house.  His vocabulary grows everyday.  He had a great check-up today.  He weighs 27 lbs. 8 oz. (70%) and is 34.75 inches tall (96%).  Had to get three shots and handled it very well.  Kyle is exhausting mentally and physically everyday but I know that just means that he is a healthy little boy!!

Kyle still loves to eat, mainly bananas and crackers with a cup of milk.
He has about 25-30 words.
Wears mostly 24 month clothes and size 7 shoe.
Eyes are the exact same color as Justin's!

Here are a couple of Brice, above and below from 18 months.  He weighed exactly the same but was 3/4 an inch taller.

Kyle loves his left middle finger and blankie when he is tired.
Loves to read books and throw things (we are working on this).
His most famous reaction when mad is to spit.  It drives me insane but I am trying to learn to ignore it.
He wants to be outside all the time, unless hungry.

Here is chicken little when she was 18 months...22lbs 11oz and 33.75 inches.

Kyle has all of his teeth as you can see.  The last one has just popped through in the past two weeks.  After he gets his two year old molars, he will be set until he turns six!  I am just praying he can keep all his teeth in his mouth until he starts losing them.  He is rough and tumble most of the time, has pulverized a glass vase, will throw his body into just about anything, loves to spin in circles, and still gives the best hugs ever!

Also, I posted pictures for Anna's birthday if you want to go back and look through them.  It was my favorite party so far.  Click HERE for the post.

Added Pictures

I just was able to add pictures to two posts, Thanksgiving-Just Words and Christmas Ramblings.  So, if you are interested you can go backwards.  I will try to work on the other posts tomorrow!  Hooray for Added Pictures!!

As of Late

So, as you can tell I have not had a lot of time to blog.  I am not even sure what all we have done since the last time we posted.  Well, actually, I can look back at my calendar (for all you moms out there, if you aren't on cozi.com, try it!  They have a calendar and journal and such and it is a great way for relatives to be able to see what is going on and on what day, especially if there are family or friends that help with carpool or keeping up with siblings.  And, yes, there's an app for that.) and tell you soooo... 

We have had basketball games and Justin traveled one week.  We have been working on Brice's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby car.  When I say "we", I mean my dad and Brice!  Brice was hell bent on participating even though I wasn't sure if we would even be able to make it to the race because of baseball evaluations.  Both are tomorrow along with a basketball game.  Sometimes I become frustrated when all of our events fall on the same day or during the same time.  However, this seems to be even more crazy.  All three events falling on the same day but actually feasible for us to get to all of them.  Okay, so as I'm typing this we just found out the Derby has been canceled because the kids didn't have school today (different story altogether) and will be a different weekend.  Craziness, I tell you.  Last weekend, Brice, after going to a spend the night birthday party, made his First Reconciliation and did great.  I was very proud of him and then of course we had a basketball game.  Whew! 

January has also been peppered with some bad colds for Anna and Kyle which have meant doctor's visits and sleepless nights for Justin and me.  Anna ended up with a double ear infection and Kyle a sinus infection that included a horrible cough.  They are on antibiotics and are feeling much better.  Kyle has eaten his weight the past few days making up for when he didn't feel so hot. 

I often think of things or thoughts I would like to blog about and then don't sit down to do it.  Many times, I just want to purge my brain rather than letting the thoughts circulate round and round.  However, if you could see how messy my house is, you would know that I have to do dishes and wash the clothes so that when we leave the house we look presentable!  Also, I promise I am working to get the picture portion of this blog up and running again.  It's bothering me.  Not to mention, I feel like I'm not documenting Kyle very well and that boy deserves full documentation.  He turns 18 months next week and oh, buddy, he is full on an 18 month old! 

So, that is what January has held.  Hope everyone is staying warm and healthy and being patient while spring is taking it's sweet time.

Anna Is...

...39.6 lbs and 41.25 inches tall.  This puts her in the 79% and 78%, respectively.  We are so impressed how she has climbed the growth chart in her weight.  Not that we want her to be overweight or "husky" but when I looked back, at one point she was in the 3%tile!  Crazy.

She checked out healthy for her four year well visit.  I delayed it a little since we were expecting Kelly to deliver and I didn't want to have Anna in the doctor's office and exposed to anything prior to Christmas for all the kids' sakes.  Justin and I have been dreading this appointment because we knew it meant more than one shot.  Brice had to have four shots at his four year check-up and let's just say it was heartbreaking for Justin.  I had Anna in the car with me that day and so this time we switched.  I took Anna in this morning while Justin and Kyle hung out in the car.  Justin wanted to be close by for when it was over so he could hug his little girl.  He and Kyle went to Starbucks and picked up a cake pop for Anna's "reward".  Well, we had a nice surprise because they are now recommending waiting on one of the shots in order to have immunity coverage further into middle school from the pertussis part of the DPT.  Then, because of the way they scheduled immunizations while Anna was an infant, she has already had two others.  So, Anna ended up with only ONE shot, along with a finger prick for a hematocrit check.  She was loud but she handled it very, very well.  With the promise of a sticker, or three, and then a surprise waiting for her in the car, she stopped her tears and walked out a big girl.  Hopefully, she will feel okay over the next day or two but as of right this minute, she is singing and making up songs while dancing around her in her Cinderella dress.  I think she must be feeling okay!

Anna is quite the diva with her demands and wants and every so often must be put in her place that we are not all servants here only to wait on her hand and foot.  She is also such a sweetheart though when she is feed and has slept well.  She loves to follow her big brother around and buys into most stories that he will tell her, especially Harry Potter ones.  She has quite the imagination just as Brice did at this age and can play by herself for over an hour.  She is very motherly to Kyle and can either be sweet and loving to him or try to discipline him with the force of a drill sergeant (yea, I had to google the spelling of that word)!  Anna wakes in the morning absolutely starving between the hours of 6 and 7.  We have finally gotten her to wait in her room until there is a "7" on her clock until she comes and get us.  She is very loud when she talks and walks and we have to remind her of the rule to "be quiet and respectful" during Kyle's naptime.  This is difficult some days and results in me saying 5,000x a day "Shhhhh!".  She loves ballet and school and often asks when she gets to "go again".  She isn't always aware of what day of the week it is but does know which days she goes to what.  Anna knows all her letters big and small and has really shown an interest lately in knowing what words "say".  She can tell you what letter just about any word starts with, exceptions being "phone", "knife".  Brice loves stumping her with these words, a big brother's job, right?!

While Anna is such a delight to look at and is told quite frequently by loved ones and strangers, I want her to always know that it is more important to be a beautiful person from the inside.  We work on this as well as stressing how smart and funny and polite she is as well.  She is quite witty and can do impersonations of characters on TV and movies which cracks us all up.  Some of her expressions are priceless, along with her little voice.

I think all who read this blog know how much we treasure our Anna.  Having her check out healthy today was a true blessing and for that I am so thankful!!!  Hope you are all having a wonderful New Year and I really want to get back on track with pictures and regular posts on this blog. I just have very little time to myself and have come to the conclusion that this might not happen until next fall when I send Kyle to preschool a couple mornings a week.  Life is happenin' here in the Reynolds's home and it is on the fast track!

P.S.  Brice at four years old was 43.6 lbs and 43.5 inches (93%/97%).  The doctor looked at me today and said, "You do know you are going to be the shortest one in your family, right?".  Yes, I know and I am totally okay with that. :)