The rest of Jan

This is another completely random post of all thats going on! 

THIS GIRL! Oh how I have longed for this day! She is OFFICIALLY potty trained. I may have posted a while back that she was but then had a small relapse. She took THE longest to train ever. Its been a long SEVEN months but she is finally there! I am SO SO SO relieved to have finally arrived.

 We get lots of snuggle time these snowy days where we dont want to go anywhere. And that THUMB! She's turned into a big thumb sucker which at first was cute, but now its pushing her teeth back so I'm trying to help her cut it out!

 Brielle discovered earings and wants to wear them all the time. Glad we could inherit some of Grandma D's treasures to make my girls beautiful!

 Oh Ry. Her favorite place to be at step class :)

 She again, loves to take pictures and we got matching hats so of course we needed a selfie!

 The hard life....she just discovered the corner when she gets into trouble. It was heartbreaking to watch (and kinda funny) as she sat in the corner and cried until I told her she could come out.
And her love for shoes is REAL! She tromps around in everyones shoes all day long. Loved this one of her in my chucks.

 A fun little project I started and I love how they turned out. They brightened my kitchen right up!

 We're so glad when daddy comes home! Seriously a fun picture. These kids are so lucky. They don't even know.

 For super bowl we were invited to a friends house and we had a good time. It made my heart happy to find these secret photos. I'm glad we have made good enough friends here that will steal my phone and take selfies with my kids and love them like their own. Jokes on you Nannette! Now they are on the internet!

 Carter is thriving in scouts and loving every second of it. He started a fund the other day to pay for day camp, I loved that idea! Here he is getting his Faith in God scout award.

 He had a nasty flu one day and I turned around when he was sitting at the table and turned back around to him looking like this, Poor kid! Miss Mollie also had a sick day with strep throat but I wasn't surprised to see her sitting at the table later in the day getting her crafting on and teaching her little sis everything she knows!

 Mollie had her 100 days of kindergarten in January. I glued 100 sequins on a shirt....dont do it! It took forever and several burns later I came up with this. She loved it though and that made it worth it. It's incredible how fast our kids are growing and changing. I feel like we are on to a new unfamiliar chapter in our lives with no babies and big kids who want to be independent.  It's fun and scary at the same time. I hope we have taught, and will continue to teach them, correct principles and that they will know how loved they are. Sometimes we yell, but its because we care about you and want you to make good choices. Love you kiddos!

Snow day with the Call's

We thought we'd take a mini vacay and head to Idaho to go snowboarding with Chad's sister, Chelsey's family. They all got new ski gear and it was alot of their kids first time so we thought we'd take Mollie for her first time. Here she is with her cute cousin Kloe in their matching hats. 

 I thought I was going to freeze so I loaded up with my BIL's gear. But I ended up sweating and it was a beautiful day!

 Carter has really caught on to snowboarding and we didn't see him most of the day. I never thought my 8 year old would lap me so many times on the mountain but he was with his cousin and we just stuck to the bunny hill (which is a rather large bunny hill with a lift!) so I could still see him most of the time. It's awesome how much he loves it and how good he has gotten at it. He was fearless.

 When we finally caught him one time we made him ride the lift with us.

 Chad tried tirelessly to teach Mollie to ski but when you are on a board yourself its nearly impossible to teach a new skiier. We were glad when Uncle Shane came by and saved the day and helped Mollie and Kloe all day long. He was a trooper!

Shane's dad works ski patrol so whenever we got cold or the kids were tired we could sneak into the patrol lodge and rest. It was nice and cozy compared to a crowded lodge. 

 When it got busy they made everyone sit 3 to a chair. I looked up just in time to see Chad passing squished into a chair with 3 other guys. It looked humorous.

 Me and Kari stuck together as beginner snowboarders and when we got tired we had girl time in the
lodge. I was grateful for a quiet place to relax.

All in all taking 6 kids on a ski trip was a successful day! We had a blast being with cousins and our kids learned some new skills. Until next time!!

January Things

Starting the new year off really well with a crummy cold. BLAH. I spent a few days on the couch and the girls were really great to snuggle up with me and watch movies so I could get a little rest here and there. But there were those times they wanted a meal fixed that were absolutely painful. And it took all my energy to make a sandwich. But hey atleast they are dressed!

Little Bri was so excited to be a SUNBEAM! Really, wasn't she just born? And now she's 3! She kept dancing and singing the Sunbeam song all morning long. It was a success and she only tried to escape once! Little Ry loves to dress up and get her picture taken. If I whip out my phone she poses and says CHEEEEESE! Love this little lady!

 Here's the kids on their first day of primary in new classes! Nursery, CTR 6, Sunbeam and VAL 8

 I'm still working out several times a week and have met some incredible ladies through it! I love it so much more than a gym but it sometimes can be difficult with the kids. Brielle usually has my phone for the duration of it so I get fun random photos like this one all the time. But I really hope that by them getting to see me work out all the time that they will know how important it is to take care of themselves and to exercise!

 The newest exciting thing for Mollie is she just started piano lessons! She is so stinkin smart and picks up things so easily. So I wanted to give her a new challenge. She is already reading on a 1st grade level and school comes so easily to her. It has been a challenge but she again has picked up so quickly!

 Oh and here's how I get through the tough days sometimes.....YEP dirty diet coke and a sugar cookie!

 On the boring snow days Mollie wanted to create another Fairy House. Hopefully the lawn mower won't accidentally eat it again.....

 She is so darn creative and she added to it almost every day for a month! So you can imagine how it looks now. She recently discovered my glue gun and she will never got back to waiting for Elmers glue to dry. She has burned through a whole pack of glue sticks already!

That's mostly it for January!

Ringing in 2017!

Since we couldn't get home for Christmas we headed to the ID land for New Years to be with family. I thought I'd kick off the party with a new hair do! My newest SIL, Brittney, hooked me up and I love it! 

 When fun uncle Adam got there he set up a fun "battleship" game for the kids. It was a hit with both big and small.

 We let Carter and Mollie stay up till MIDNIGHT! That is not a normal thing for us so it was a big deal for them!

 The games got started after dinner and we had a blast playing all sorts of games with the fam. And in true Reed fashion, there was enough food and snacks to feed an army.  Twice.

 Counting down and here's the cheers to 2017!

I don't have too many crazy plans for 2017..... but  I do want it to be a great year for our family and with that I want to focus on more family time. More FHE's, more game nights, more kid talks and kid dates and reconnecting with our extended family as well. So here's to the new year and starting things off great!

Christmas Morning!

Before we climbed in bed we noticed Santa had come! 

 Sometimes our excitement as adults isn't containable either! I'd be lying if I said I went to sleep quickly. But I finally dozed off....and was woken at 2:45 with all THREE kids standing by my bed and Brielle already stuffing candy in her mouth! I checked the time and almost died when I saw it! We quickly put all the kids back to bed and I think an hour or so later the girls were back sleeping but Carter never did go back to sleep! Darn kid!

At 6 AM we did finally get up to find that Santa did indeed come and no one was disappointed! Carter begged for the Hot Wheels AI track which actually is pretty cool but usually more money than Santa spends on his gift. I'll just say I'm thankful for online sales. All Mollie wanted was rollerskates and it just took a few days for her to master it. Brielle is way into Barbies and she saw the doctor barbie and she just had to have it! And Ry Ry loves babies and so Santa brought her a baby with a wagon. (Finding girls gifts this year was really hard! We already have all the girly stuff it seems!)

 Rylee wasn't too excited about the early morning but that quickly changed when she saw Santa had brought her treat cups with snacks in them! We also all got oranges so here is Mollie with them all gathered up in her night gown! Silly girl!

 And my famous LOOT pictures are all below. I like to document what we get every year just for fun. I make everyone do it every year. (my mom did it for me as a kid too)

Mollie's gifts

 Brielles gifts

 Rylee's gifts and trying out the new wagon.

 Carter's gifts.

 Chads and my gifts

It was fun getting the grandparents gifts in the mail. Lots of freeze dried food from the G&G Hymas including freeze dried creamsicles and fat boys!

 And more fun stuff from G&G Reed.

 The build a fort kit was a hit and we've all had fun playing in it!

 Merry Christmas to all! We had a wonderful Christmas and just stayed home all day and enjoyed the day! We had so much snow and several of the freeways were closed to Idaho. So we stayed in our warm house all day. We were also fortunate enough to help a family in our ward with some money who were in need and after a fun RS Enrichment activity we decided to start our own Christmas jar already for next year to help another family. We'll see how it goes but so far the kids love looking for spare change around town and adding it to the jar. I love Christmas and the feelings of peace and joy it brings! I am so grateful to my Savior for being so selfless to save my life. I love Him with my whole heart and look forward to the day we will live with Him again. Merry Christmas to all!