Forget Crawling. She Wants to Walk!!

Irelynn started army-crawling and scooting at 6 months. Once she turned 7 months old, she started really crawling. Though she won't be 8 months old until next week, she is already so dissatisfied with crawling - she wants to walk!! She could be walking before our other two kids even started to crawl!

She pulls herself up onto everything! Here she is at the Leapfrog table. (I LOVE those thighs.)

Yes, the baby gate is up already! I caught her crawling up the stairs.

And she still manages to find a stair to crawl upon.

If not the stairs, she'll pull herself up on a table...


...the ottoman...

...a chair...


...the excersaucer, the armoire, the couch, the drawers, or whatever crosses her path. And all that was just today-

Twice now (for only a second or two) she stood standing alone without holding on to anything. Yes, nothing is safe in the Reeve house with Irelynn on the loose - but she's so stinkin' cute, who could get upset with her. And I love that every time she climbs onto something, she gives me a big, open-mouthed, proud grin!

A Very Easter-ish Birthday!

Every few years, my birthday lands on Easter! So this year I happened to have a very Easter-ish birthday. It was a lot of fun - especially with little kids. The night before Easter, our kids had a lot of fun coloring eggs - though admittedly, I got a little psycho when it came to food coloring spilling all over the place. Everyone's favorite part was putting the little silly faces on their eggs.

We had q-tip paints so the kids could paint their eggs as if using a marker. Then after they dried, we dipped them in the egg dye.


Our bunch of silly eggs.


We loved looking at them through the egg carton - they were peeking at us!


Easter morning. The kids found their baskets where the Easter bunny hid them. Instant excitement filled our home! It was like Christmas morning all over again. :)

After finding all 31 eggs, we stopped for breakfast. Brian had cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. Then it was a mad dash to get to church on time! With church at 9:00am, we had to be out of the house by 8:45.



I wanted to take pictures of the kids before we left for church (you know, while their hair is still in place) but didn't get a chance to. Here are our 3 little sweeties with their hair still slightly in tact.


They love their baby sister.


Irelynn was exhausted after all the commotion - she ended up falling asleep while Daddy was feeding her a veggie puff on the couch!



Once my birthday rolls around (usually after Easter - and Branson and Brian's birthdays, of course) instead of baking another cake, we just pick up my favorite cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory! So I get their banana cream cheesecake every year as my birthday cake. And I try to savor it - eating one slice every night for as long as I can draw it out.

What a fantastic day!

Happy birthday to me - and Happy Easter to everyone else!!!

The Girlies

I thought I'd test Irelynn on the lawn - and she likes it! As babies, my other two would raise their legs when I'd try sitting them down on the grass. They didn't like how prickly it felt. Irelynn on the other hand loves how prickly it is! She crawls around and pinches and grabs at it with her little chubby hands.



I love it when she smiles so big that she wrinkles her nose.

Sweet sisters!

Outdoor Excursions

Before Vegas heats up and it feels like we're living in a hair dryer, we thought we'd take advantage of outdoor time!

Red Rock Canyon is beautiful. The kids love hiking there. This time we tried the Lost Creek trail with some friends. Along the trail you could see ancient Indian hieroglyphs, "fire pits" where Indians once cooked their food, a small stream that we followed all the way to a seasonal waterfall, and a large wash that still fills up when the desert floods.

And this is why it's called "Red Rock." :)


Up ahead - Willow Springs where the Lost Creek trail head is.


This is the easy part. Just moments ago, we were climbing over boulders and up steep stairs that park officials made from rocks.


Irelynn napped half of the hike.


Branson and Natalya with their little friends: Zech, Payne, and Jacob. Thank you, DeHart Family! We had a great time.

LAS VEGAS ZOO
Yesterday, we went to the Las Vegas Zoo with several friends. Though we had heard that it was a sad little zoo, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. We saw flamingos, an alligator, apes, ostriches, lions, huge snakes, a cougar, kangaroos and more. Aside from the caged animals, there were chickens, roosters, and peacocks running around everywhere! The kids had a fantastic time - we brought a sack lunch and spent nearly three hours there.

These tortoises weren't slow at all! The we were all shocked at how fast they moved.


A zoo official brought us a baby kangaroo and allowed the kids to pet him. They are thinking of naming the little joey, "Ozzie."

Branson and his friend Luke climbing on an elephant statue.


We got to watch the lions get their lunch. When they stretched out, they looked about 8 feet tall!

Branson acting like a monkey. It was easy for him - he has lots of practice acting like a little monkey every day!

Brian's Birthday

When Brian and I were little it was always disappointing when your birthday was on Sunday - because that was the Lord's day of rest. Well, now that we're older, we realize that Sunday is a fantastic day for birthdays! We SO enjoy having a day of rest - especially on conference weekend. Brian's birthday was both relaxing and uplifting. :)

Happy birthday, Handsome!

We started his birthday morning with blueberry muffins after sleeping in. Well, "sleeping in" at our house is anything past 7am. Natalya helped me pick a rose from our backyard for him. The kids also helped set the table and screamed, "SURPRISE!!!" when he walked downstairs.

After the first session of conference, we opened up presents. He needed a few new shirts and ties.

Then we enjoyed our gorgeous weather and took lunch outside for a picnic.

I love a scavenger hunt! Well at least it makes a present more fun to get. My clever clues led him to...


...the freezer! Where I was hiding nearly 6 dozen of his favorite cookies - peanutbutter Reeses Pieces cookies. I baked his peanutbutter cookies, and Branson's cake all day on Friday. Then I ran around the house, opening every window, and spraying air freshener everywhere just before Brian got home - so he couldn't smell the wonderful aroma of peanutbutter that had filled the whole house.

We topped off his birthday with his very favorite cake that he requests every year: double chocolate chip cake. I forgot to buy extra candles, so we improvised by using every odd candle we had! Some were sparkly, some were shaped like cars, some were letters of the alphabet - but yes, I was able to round up all 31 candles!

Brian is such a wonderful man. I am so blessed to have him as my husband! He is my very best friend. He makes me laugh. There's no one in the world I would rather spend my time with than my husband. Brian is also a terrific father. He teaches, loves, protects and provides for our sweet children. He is just perfect for me and I love him more than anything.

Happy Birthday, Branson

I can't believe I had Branson 3 years ago today. He seems like such a big kid! It's crazy how fast time flies. Branson is such a pleasure to have in our home. He is bright, funny (sometimes even sarcastic), sweet and incredibly loving. Branson allows his baby sister to pull his hair, grab at his face, and tackle him without a complaint. In fact, he thinks it's cute! He loves his family so much - and he lives to make his sisters laugh.

Branson's birthday was a success! Here's the play-by-play:

Branson's birthday began at dawn (notice the sun rising in our family room window) thanks to our littlest early-riser, Irelynn. So Brian and I picked up the house, dispersed the balloons, and assembled his Spiderman scooter all before he woke up. When he came down the stairs, the expression on his face was priceless.

And he was so excited that couldn't stop making funny faces for the camera.

Ever since we got him his first GeoTrax train set for Christmas, Branson has a new love for trains. So I made his cake into a train for his birthday this year. It took me all morning to frost and decorate it. And yes, I made everyone wait to eat it until almost the end of his party - just so that I could enjoy it a little while longer. :)

In this picture you can see that I added the cotton ball stretched into smoke coming out of the smokestack.

Branson picked out a baseball pinata. I didn't bother blindfolding him - I knew the pinata would last quite a while without it. :)

Brian held the string from the second story.

My cousin Merrill and his sweet family came over - they have 4 kids. This is Levi taking a swing; he's Natalya's age. We were planning on just a family birthday party because some of Brian's familiy thought about visiting us this weekend - but it didn't work out. Instead, we invited our nextdoor neighbor and an around-the-corner neighbor at the last minute. We were happy that they could come - we have fantastic neighbors. His little party turned out great!

When the pinata broke, it rained candy. (Well, mostly because Brian shook out the rest of the candy from upstairs.)

I was so glad my parents could come. And if you ask them, they wouldn't miss it for anything. Here is my dad cheering for the kids as they swung at the pinata.

Here's my beautiful mom. Her hip is hurting her and she's waiting for a hip-replacement surgery. But she still volunteers to watch our kids when we need her. She lives to serve.

These are our neighbors from around the corner. They have a 3 year old boy, Boston, who we love to play with. We often share dinner at one another's homes. Our other neighbor, Yara, was taking this picture. We're so blessed to have Jon and Yara as next-door neighbors - they're wonderful.

Naturally, Branson loved opening his presents. But he's not your average kid - Branson would be satisfied with just birthday balloons. He played balloon volleyball more than he played with his new toys. I love how easy-to-please he is. And he didn't expect anything - so when someone gave him a new toy, he was super excited and expressed his gratitude immediately.

Happy birthday, Toughy!