So I walked into Gwen's room last weekend and found a mock photo shoot in progress. I had to let Gwen use a real camara when I saw the effort being put forth from both of the girls. Claire was soo happy to have a good reason to wear her very fav. dress and Gwen loved dictating her every move. Claire loves this dress so much she wore it with jeans and a sweater to a birthday party last weekend.

So my friend Crissy said it was cool to do a top ten or something on tuesdays. So I'll do a top 5 wacky Reed occurances for Wednesday

5) my hubby bought a truck. and 86 toyota 4-runner. It's very beachy because the cab comes off and it's like a truck/Jeep. He's already named it Beach Tar. I'll let me him post pics.

4) I thought we would say bye bye to old blue civic boy when Beach Tar arrived but unbeknown to me, men have a hard time letting go of vehicles they have bonded with. So Blue Civic Boy meet your new brother Beach Tar. However girls like black trucks better than little blue cars so you'll be on the b list with us. We all do appreciate all that Blue Boy has enabled us to do. ( no car - payment allows room for spending in other areas) Crissy I know you can completely relate!

3) I started getting up at 6am again to read bible, pray and make my list for the day and now realize why life has been so wacky for awhile. I really have to do that, to make it sanely through the day.

2) Gwen has made plans and begun work on a book, a jewlery design company and a map of the United States. This girl takes her free time seriously!

1) Tomorrow begins the first of Free Thursdays! Free for me at least. Race is going to a home day care one day a week so I can "find myself" or just take a nap.

Feeling Very Blessed Lately,

My neighbors, Jen and Blue. It's wonderful when God brings people in your life that feel like family from the get go.














Christmas eve with the family. Kirby hanging with his boy. My sister and her husband looking great. And my daughgter shooting an real bow and and arrow. She is really good!
And these are just the pics I had access to. I fell asleep last night thinking about how blessed I am and laughing about how I thought nothing could beat college. God has given me soo much in friends and family that I can barely take it all in. So this week I just decided to soak it all up. I realized while reading the girls to sleep, that in about 10 years they may not even be home at 7pm and moments of them laying on each arm dozing off will be rare and far between. Right now it's a nightly ritual. So soak soak soak that's what 'm doing right now.

Publish Post

Backing up to Christmas eve...

Whit and Jason came down as tradition and we baked our little hearts out. Jason and Whit are expert bakers and the most awesome Aunt and Uncle ever! The girls made snowmen with my sandtart dough (which sadly melted into a huge heap once in the oven) Race cried because we barricaded him from the kitchen and me, well I was jut in it for the coffee.........

Bringing in the New Year with some Sparkly
Kirby brought home sparklers tonight and the kids had a ball with them. I was nervous Claire's beloved feet pajamas were about to catch fire, but Gwen managed to give her some distance. Claire did ask what I thought she would like on fire. What?
I adore these pics of the girls. Gwen said Claire looked so cute in her feet pajamas that she just had to hug her! This after days of being home together and near death experiences due to scratching and strangling( yes our kids do that too!)
Race missed most of the fire action but he was around for a little bit to say " Oh Wow" in that cute 1yr old way.

A Few of My Favorite Things................this Christmas season

Kirby taking the kids to the beach while Gwen and I made cookies. Just the fact that they CAN go to the beach in December is awesome!

The girls in their dresses


Claire actually singing at her program, after telling me for a month that she was going to run off the stage.





Dancing with my sister in the street

Gwen's Dance Recital



And a reason to get fancy!

more to come.................

Kirby, Kirby and more Kirby......

While in Houston Kirby met another Kirby who just about freaked me out with how much like my Kirby he is. Who in the world is similar to Kirby? Well evidently the name carries unique qualities and interest with it. Seriously ,this dude ( friend of my sister's) pulled up in his truck wearing converse and asking me if I wanted to try some weird juice he was drinking! Come On, if you know my Kirby you know that is just uncanny.
Well with all this, on the way to church we see this sign. So my husband just had to come back and take pictures. My Mom ( always the "on the spot photographer") is delighted and Kirby #2 happily obliges. He named the the photo session " Kirby Unplugged". I cannot tell you how hard I was laughing at these two who had only known each other for minutes.

Happy Reunion!!!

What fun it is to see good friends and feel like no time has passed at all. We crammed in the van, and Kirby chauffeured us to Taco Bueno, Starbucks and then the Zoo. The hours went by way to0 fast, but better something than nothin! Mariah and I almost hightailed it out of there when Kirby dropped us off to run in Starbucks and he had all the kids in the van. We decided that would just be wrong,........ in every way!

Here she is with her big 6 yr old self and her much awaited HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL back- pack. She wanted this back-pack so bad when school started but I made her wait until her birthday so it wouldn't loose it's novelty in seconds. Claire gave her some Hannah Montana hair bands which added to her excitement. This is her class after eating chocolate cupcakes to celebrate with Gwen. I absolutely love this age. Gwen loves Kindergarten and has become such a super helper around the house. She really wants to do what is right and I adore that. My favorite quote of late from Gwen was this, " Mom, even if Santa doesn't bring me the stuff I really want, I"ll be okay and rememer that it isn't about the presents it's about Christmas. " How sweet is that!

Over Thanksgiving break we went to the bookstore. Claire has been in a "bag lady" stage for quite some time now and often carries a suitcase wher ever she goes. When I came out of the bathroom I found her doing this. Is she planning on leaving us?

More New Braunfels pics.

My parents long time friends Jeff and Lynn came to visit and they were hilarious playing with us.
Here's Whit enjoying her java and Claire-Bear in her tiger mask. Gwen and my mom were the referres of the races and Gwen could not stop laughing at Mom's hilarious commentary on the racers.

After Thanksgiving me and the kids headed to New Braunfels where my family likes to spend thanksgiving. We stay in these adorable cabins right on the river. This year it was freezing and a bit rainy but we still managaed to have some fun. The pics are not actually in the snow but us playing in the pool that has been drained of water. Meg had the great idea of sliding on trash can lids from the shallow end to the deep and it was soo fun. When we got bored of that she took out some cooking oil and sprayed the bottom of the lids , then it got REAL fun. We made everyone do it. My fav pics are of Whit and my Mom.

Catching up....

This is Thanksgiving Day. We had dinner at Daniel and Alisa's. Several other couples joined us including our neighbors who just moved away. Gwen fell in love with a stray kitty. Kirby played with Race's hair and took the girls for a walk. I stuffed myself with pie ( no pics available for that one) . And the day ended with two very tired little girls.