January 2015

January 2015

Happy New Year! (I can't tell you how happy I am to finally be journaling in the same year as my posts!  I'm finally catching up, haha!) 

We started this year with visits from Auntie Sharon (my sister) and the cousins.  My kids adore having cousins over.  When the Scott's come over, my kids are spoiled with attention.  Branson always has someone to play catch with, Annika has someone to dress her up,  Irelynn gets the one-on-one attention she seeks, and Natalya loves being a part of the grown-ups. 

Grandaddy and Natalya both got glasses.

Annika with cousin Kendall.  They crack me up!!

Can you tell they're cousins?  Kendall even trained Annika to say, "Annika and Kendall, best friends forever!"

With the construction of our new house underway, we didn't set up a baby room for this little one.  Instead, we chose to wait until we move to put our time and energy into her room.  So until then we put a table in our bedroom and organized all that she'll need for the first few months.  It turned out just fine!   

January 11, 2015

I liked this picture because you can just see my turquoise tank top protruding beyond my jacket.  Ha!

My baby is a basketball :)

I found the kids playing an old Spider Man game in Branson's room and couldn't resist a picture.

Annika is a little stinker hiding among the clothing racks while we were out shopping.  

Doesn't every kid do this??  I did too when I was little.

Annika practiced writing her name and brought this to me.  Pretty good for a 3 year old.

And that was January in a nutshell!  February was a little more exciting...

Merry Christmas 2014

December 24, 2014

Christmas Eve

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  I love Christmas.  I think it's the very best season and we try to make the most of it at our house.  The anticipation of Christmas is almost as intense for me as it is for my kids!  I love staying up late at night while watching Hallmark Christmas movies and wrapping presents.  I genuinely don't need gifts to make me happy on Christmas, but nothing makes me smile more than finding the perfect gift for someone else.  I also love the ambiance around Christmastime.  The sights and smells and sounds bring me back to my childhood.  Christmas can be a very reminiscent time all while forging new memories and traditions with my own children.  I didn't take very many photos this year because I was too busy enjoying my family, but here's a peek at what we enjoyed...

Everyone's favorite... steak fondue.

Sibling gifts this year were books!  Our family loves books so each child chose a book for one another. I'd say it was a complete success!

Grandma read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  It was the book my Grammarian gave to me when I was a little girl. (Grammarian is my father's mother.  Her name was Marian and we called her Grammarian because she was our Grandmother Marian.  I loved her very much.)

December 25, 2014

Christmas Day

Good Morning!!  We woke up and had our traditional Jingle Bells parade around the house, banging on pots and pans, then ended up at the Christmas tree to open up stockings.  

Then we had a delicious breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit.  Of course we had to have chocolate milk and two bottles of orange juice, one with lots of pulp and one pulp free.  Annika, Natalya, and I LOVE pulp.  Brian, Branson, and Irelynn do NOT.  (Everyone loves chocolate milk.  Ha!)

Then the fun began!

Amongst other things, Branson loved his pogo stick, Annika loved her washer/dryer, Irelynn loved her disk chair, and Natalya loved her robe and slippers.  

And Granddaddy loved Annika's unicorn pogo, haha!

Our "family gift" this year was the Indo Board.  It's a balance board.  Our kids thought they were just having fun learning to balance and do tricks, but they were also exercising!  Greatest gift - everyone loves it!

John Michael Freebairn and Ardith Landers Freebairn

my daddy and mommy

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

December to Remember, 2014

December 2014

I'm obviously trying to update this family journal rather quickly seeing that I'm a year behind, so I've resorted to monthly snapshots of our lives.  Here's the Reeve Family in December.  (I'll make sure I dedicate a separate post to just Christmas!)  Enjoy.

This brace-face got rubber bands!  I seriously feel like I'm in junior high all over again, ugh.  At least they're clear braces this time.  After my appointment, my sweet hubby told me to take a selfie and send it to him so he could see my new smile.  Haha!  

Yeah, I don't take selfies very often.  Ha!

After reserving a lot in November, I got to go to the studio to start choosing the design of the interior.  It was a lot of fun, but also difficult to do on a budget.  I'm sure I could have spent a pretty penny on upgrades, but we prioritized to our list of must-haves and I think we did pretty well.  Here are pictures of some of our initial ideas, but we didn't end up with all that's here.  

Eventually we found a gorgeous 24"x24" grey tile, grey carpet, dark espresso cabinets (seen above),  rectangular knobs, New Caldonia granite in the kitchen, a white Caesarstone (quartz) in all the bathrooms, and a white post banister.  Yay!

Annika thought it would be funny to walk in mommy's boots.  Oh dear.

Branson did a report in the classroom on Walt Disney and had to dress up like him.  Handsome boy.  100% on his project. 

It is time to say good bye to the GeoTrax train set.  We sold it to a family of 3 little boys for their Christmas.  Our kids have loved this train set, but we chose sell it in effort to pare down before we make the move to Henderson.  

Christmas time means another puzzle!  My kids like to have it out so they can put a piece in here or there, then over time we finish it together.  

December means winter concerts!  This is Irelynn's concert.  She has her hands on her hips and her mask on. :)

Branson's performance, love that smile!

Natalya's performance led by Sister Steed.  You can see Natalya wearing black with a white scarf, almost under Sister Steed's fingertips.  Haha!  It's like Where's Waldo.

Proud Granddaddy 

This picture is blurry, but at least you can see the love.

Our ward Christmas activity concluded with snow brought down from Mt. Charleston, just 20 minutes away.  The kids went wild!

Annika just likes to walk around in her snow gear.

The best part of the season?  Andes Mint cookies.  I usually quadruple the batch and freeze them so I can enjoy them year round.

Irelynn ended up in Branson's bed again.  She sleep walks there in the middle of the night and we find them like this in the morning.

We went to church and discovered we were matchers.  Love her.

I found a quote that made me laugh.  Pinterest is the best. 

We went to drive through the lights with the cousins (they're in front of us) and the kids had a blast.

That was most of December in a nutshell! It's the most wonderful time of the year...

More Testing for Natalya, 2014

November 19, 2014

Natalya needed further testing after her diagnosis was confirmed so we found ourselves in another waiting room again.  This time she did a blood draw, MRI and MRE on an IV with contrast.  Crohn's Disease likes to attack the small intestine, but an endoscopy and colonoscopy can't reach the small intestine, so they needed an MRI to determine the scope of damage instead.  Natalya did well and acted like the perfect patient, but was scared during the procedure.  The second the nurse left the room when she was done, she broke into tears.  

November 24, 2014

Crohn's Disease can be a little tricky when it comes to children.  The malabsorption of vital nutrients can cause stunted growth, delayed puberty, and brittle bones.  We already knew Natalya was experiencing malabsorption and recently went under doctor's orders to start supplements (like 650mg of iron and 2000mg of calcium per day!) so it was necessary to undergo a bone density scan.  The DEXA bone density scan can diagnose osteoporosis.  Crohn's patients are at higher risk of developing osteoporosis.  By getting tested, they were able to establish a base line for her, then we can repeat the test later to see if her bones have weakened.

Another waiting room.  :)  This might not be very fun, but it's necessary.  She was a champ.  She finished the bone density scan and said, "Was that it?  Easy!"

We are incredibly grateful for modern medicine!  And the power of prayer.  Next on her journey will be a treatment plan.