First Day Jitters? No Way!

Ahh, the start of another school year.  Natalya is in first grade and Branson is in his second year of pre-school.  They counted down the days until school began.  Daddy gave them each a father's blessing a few days before - and off they went.    

     

Natalya's favorite part of going to school all day was bringing a lunch. I kindof went overboard on her first lunch.  There was no way she could eat everything I packed for her in the short time they're given to eat.  I guess you could say that I'm learning, too.  From homework, classroom volunteering, carpools, and packing lunches, school is a joint effort!

Natalya picked out her new backpack with matching lunchbox.

 

Dropping her off was a family afair.  Nice face, Branson.

It was a sea of well-wishers.  I think the parents were just as excited as the kids.  I know I was. 

Looking back on her first-day outfit:

Natalya and Branson didn't get new wardrobes for the school year since fall was just around the corner and I had a feeling they would need pants and jackets soon.  But we did let them pick out a new first-day outfit.  So from head to toe, Natalya wore: a peacock feather clip in her hair, a black top with lace, a layered teal patterned skirt (shirt and skirt are both from a new Demi Lavato line from Target - way cute), and black sparkly Twinkle Toe Sketchers.  She wanted to know if she could wear this outfit everyday of her first week of school.  Haha!  I remember when my first day outfit meant a lot to me, too. 

And the after-school group hug.  Irelynn and Branson missed their big sister.

 

We couldn't leave without Natalya showing us her skills on the monkey bars.

Her first day was awesome!  And every day after that, too.  Natalya LOVES the first grade.

 

Branson's First Day of SmartyPants Preschool

Branson couldn't wait to get back to Ms. Kristi's preschool.  Since Natalya got to start school before he did, it was near torture for him until preschool began.  Almost his entire class returned for the new school year, so he just picked up where he left off...

Left to right: Breyden, Isaac, Ashton, Branson, and Zech.  (Andrew came a few minutes late.)  With only six kids in his class, there is plenty of time of individual attention. 

Ms. Kristi is amazing.  I am so glad Branson loves school.  That is so important to me.  I always enjoyed school and learning new things - and it makes me smile to think that our kids are loving school as much or more than I did.

Big News for Our Little Family

Sometimes Life's Greatest Gifts Come in the Smallest Packages

Baby Girl Reeve

Due to arrive February 25th, 2011

Another little Reeve is joining our family and we're so excited!  Although we weren't necessarily thinking "baby" at the time, the Lord had other plans for us.  My sweet husband felt quite inspired that now was the time and without delay she joined our family.  We know for certain that this little one was meant to be a Reeve!

I'm already 17 weeks along and feeling very pregnant.  I had a special blood test done that tells us the Rh factor and gender of our baby.  So very early on we knew that our baby was a girl.

We already love her.  Her life is a gift to each of us.  We're looking forward to February of next year when our little family becomes a big family.  Which means that next year we'll have a 2nd grader, a kindergartner, a pre-schooler, and an infant!  If you think I'm busy now, just wait. 

I am so grateful to be a mother.  I count my blessings constantly.  And I always start with Brian, Natalya, Branson, Irelynn, and our new baby.  I am one lucky girl.

"Irelynn, how old are you?" "I'm TWO!!" she says.

August 18th is a very special date at our house... It's Irelynn's birthday! I can hardly believe that two years have escaped us since Irelynn joined our family. We can't imagine life without her. Irelynn fits right in with her brother and sister. She is happy, feisty, smart, tough, quick to obey, and our family comedian.

Our kids love riding their bikes.  And since our tricycle broke last year, Irelynn hasn't been able to participate with her big brother and big sister.  So she was thrilled when she woke up to a brand new tricycle - with a bucket in back for her baby doll. 

Irelynn enjoyed the crinkle paper atop her present just as much as the gift itself.

She LOVES Hello Kitty.  (Thus, the Hello Kitty-themed birthday.)  So it was a must to find her a Hello Kitty gift.  The purse was perfect.

We saved the best for last.  Irelynn got her very own bouncy ball!  That meant a lot to her because she used to balance on a beach ball while her brother and sister bounced around on their bouncy balls.  That was the best $5 we've every spent on a toy!

For some reason our kids think that their birthday dinner should be Hawaiian Haystacks.  They never tire of it!  It's become our birthday "most requested".   

We planned a very small get-together for Irelynn's birthday.  Grandma and Grandaddy and Irelynn's best friend, Karlee, came over to sing Happy Birthday to her and share some cake.  This particular cake recipe has make it to my top 10 favorite cake recipes list.  It's a dark chocolate, super moist, thick, rich cake that isn't sickening sweet.   

Karlee and Irelynn

GG (short for Great Grandmother), sends our kids one dollar for every year they turn.  It's always special when they get something from GG in the mail! 

Nana sent Irelynn a package full of goodies!  She was beside herself.  There was a little of everything she loved in Nana's package.  Hello Kitty, Little People, a princess doll... She kept saying over and over, "It's my happy birthday!"

 

And it was a very happy birthday.  We love you, sweetheart.  :)

A Surprise for Nana

My mother-in-law, Kathy, lives in South Jordan, Utah. For her July birthday our family and two of Brian's siblings and their families all traveled to Utah for the ultimate birthday surprise. We gathered at a restaurant and waited for Nana to arrive.

With everyone present, there was Lynette (Kathy's BFF), GG (Kathy's mom), Aunt Lois (Kathy's sister), Cousin Stephanie (Kathy's niece) with her husband and five children, Aunt Karen (Kathy's sister), cousins Brett and Makenzie (Kathy's nephew and niece), Uncle Allen (Kathy's brother), and two of Brian's siblings, Angie and her husband and four daughters, and Brett and his wife and daughter.

The trip was so worth the effort. Just the look on Kathy's face when she saw her grandchildren rushing to greet her was priceless. She kept saying, "What are you doing here?! What are you doing here?!!" And when she began crying tears of joy there were a few other wet eyes in the group. It was sweet to see her truly surprised.

Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera into the restaurant so I didn't capture the original surprise, but here are a few pictures of other things that we did during our stay at Nana's house...





Before we were allowed to enter the rec center for open swim, we passed our time by playing a game of family tag.



And my childhood personal favorite, Red Light Green Light.





 South Jordan has the best rec center pool I've ever seen.  Twisty slides, a little lazy river, whirl pool, kiddie area...  Everyone had a great time.



The cousins all enjoyed hopping from car to car just to be with their cousins.  Branson became fast friends with Brynlee.  Natalya picked up where she left off with Toree and Ashlee.  Kaytee is so grown up that she spent most of her time with the adults.  Kylie soaked up the attention she was getting from all her cousins.  And Irelynn was usually content doing her own thing or tagging along with the others.





 Brian, Jared and Brett grilling dinner: burgers and dogs.







 Irelynn, Kylie, Branson and Brynlee.





Kathy had so many birthday treats we honestly couldn't eat them all.  But we did take a minute to sing Happy Birthday.

German chocolate cake and coconut cream frosting.



With 8 grandchildren running around, a bounce warehouse was the perfect place to wear out all the kids - and the parents, too.



Brian and Irelynn













All dressed for the pool (again).  We detoured to the park.





 One of the highlights of the trip was karaoke.  Everyone participated!




The most memorable karaoke moment was when Brian and Brett sang Ghostbusters.  It was comical and awesome at the same time.

 

Sunday dinner was a special treat.  Stephanie invited all of us over to her house for a barbecue.  She had a great backyard that fit our big family perfectly.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed the trampoline, swing set, and getting to know their second cousins after a few long years of not seeing each other.

Branson met his second cousin Conner for the first time on this trip.  They hit it off immediately when they realized that they both liked Disney's Cars.  It's no wonder they gravitated toward each other - they are each the only boys in a family of all sisters, older and younger.  Poor kiddos.  :) 

Leaving was more bitter than sweet.  In fact, Natalya cried from South Jordan all the way to Payson because she realized that she never really spent time with Nana.  Prior to our trip all she talked about were the things she wanted to do with Nana.  But when we arrived, she was so involved with her five girl cousins that she just "forgot" to hang out with her VIP.  We'll just have to find an excuse to visit again. 

Going home...