Last Week to be 1 years old!!!!

It is hard to believe that my baby will be 2 years old in ONE WEEK! She has been such a fun addition to our family. This past month she is growing leeps and bounds, getting ready for her transition to be a 2 year old!

She is in a big girl bed now (a toddler bed). She does a pretty good job of staying in her bed. Things have been a little challenging, mainly at night, as she is pretty much potty trained so when she wakes up (no matter what time, 1am, 3 am, 6am) I jump out of bed to take her potty...and she goes!





I went to check on her at nap time today and found it quite comical that Sadie was wearing tap shoes, while asleep! I think she is asking to be put in dance class, which we plan to do when she turns 2!!!

"Official" Christmas 2009

This year's Christmas celebration seemed to last the entire month of December, not that it was a bad thing at all. We should celebrate the birth of Christ of day! Bryce (and Sadie) really got into Christmas this year.

On Christmas Eve Eve (yes 2 eves), we attended a gathering at our church. It was a nice service with carols, skits and sermon. After the service we headed up to NW Indiana to celebrate Christmas Eve with Jared's family. Jared's mom and step-dad hosted Christmas at their new home in St. John. It was great to be with family and watch the kids play together and be so excited about Christmas!

We drove back home on Christmas Eve to prepare for Santa's big arrival! Sadie was very sleepy when we got home, so she went right to bed. Bryce made sure to leave cookie and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. He was so surprised the next morning to see that Santa had brought him his Spider Man fishing poll he had asked for! Sadie got a Hi-5 video and princess ball from Santa.

We had my Aunt Gayle, Uncle Larry, cousin Christopher (and his girlfriend) over for Christmas Dinner.

We truly enjoyed this years Christmas and excited to see out kids learning the true meaning of Christmas!

The Christmas Celebrations Continue

Upon returning home from Wisconsin we have been in full swing with Christmas Celebrations. It began with a Christmas Party at our neighbor’s house, complete with a visit from Santa. This Santa was GREAT. He read a story, even rapped a song, and asked each child (nearly 25) what they wanted for Christmas. The kids could hardly wait their turn to sit on Santa’s lap. Santa even had a present for each child in his bag. We had a great time.

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

The preschool’s annual Walk to Bethlehem was held last week. The preschool director “walks” each class through props (made by the classes) that help tell the story of Jesus. Each year they build on the story. Being that this was Bryce’s 3rd year, the story was quite detailed and all the kids enjoyed hearing the magical story of Jesus’ birth. Sadie’s class was a bit more to the point. They sang “Happy Birthday to Jesus” and each gave Jesus a hug.

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

From Christmas Celebrations 2009

Both Jared and I have had work Christmas Parties. I have also been baking away making my famous tea-rings (a recipe that has been passed on from my grandmother to my mother and to me). Christmas is not the same to me without making these tea-rings).

Jared read in the paper this past weekend about some of the best light displays around the area. The 1st and 2nd Place decorated houses were in Carmel, so we strolled by them one evening. We have NEVER seen anything like this before. You pulled up and they told you to tune in your radio to a certain station as the light display was synched to music. It was unbelievable! We know the kids enjoyed it as well as we did not hear a peep from them in the backseat looking at the lights. This will be a new tradition for us from now on!

There have been numerous Christmas specials on TV and we have enjoyed sharing these with the kids. This Christmas season truly has been magical with the kids. We have heard Bryce on numerous occasions singing Christmas carols by himself…too cute! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

A Reynolds Family Christmas

Our annual Reynolds Family Christmas was held in Wisconsin this year, December 5-11. With my brother, Aaron, and his girlfriend, Ashley, taking jobs in Wisconsin we decided to venture up to their area. We got a timeshare condo in Wisconsin Dells. My brother, Eric, flew in from California and my parents and our family caravanned up to the Dells.

The kids did great on the drive. It probably helped they were in different cars and had all the attention of two adults just on them!

We spent one day skiing at Cascade Mountain. We got up on skis last year for the first time in over 10 years, up at Lake Tahoe. This ski resort was much more in our comfort of skiing. We are enjoying this new adventure and hope to make it a yearly event. While we skied, my parents took the kids on a Santa Train ride and then brought them over to watch us ski. Bryce even asked, “When I’m 4, can I go skiing?”

Another Day was spent at an Indoor Theme Park at the Kalahari Resort. There were go-karts, carousels, ferris wheel, high ropes course, mini-golf, laser tag, arcades and so much more! We all had a great time.

Being the Waterpark Capitol of the world we of course enjoyed the indoor waterpark at Kalahari. This place was great. They are very catered to kids. There were so many things for the kids to do. Bryce did some waterslides on his own, but preferred to do the ones with us in tubes/rafts. Sadie was so content in the kiddie area. My mom was so entertained by Sadie’s excitement!

We visited the Tommy Bartlett Exploratorium and it was so neat. There are hands on activities galore that focus on making things go and how things work. Eric and I remember going to this museum when we were kids.

There was so much laughter, game playing and reminiscing during the week. We had Christmas Dinner one night and even had a surprise visit from Santa! We even got 14-16 inches of snow making it feel just like Christmas!

The kids, as well as Jared and I enjoyed ourselves so much that we would LOVE to make this a yearly trip.

So Much To Be Thankful For

Thanksgiving of 2009 made us feel very blessed. The Lord has given us so much to be thankful for. We have a home, food, beautiful and healthy children and great families.

We ventured up to Northwest Indiana on Tuesday night, which was a great travel day. On Wednesday we took the kids to Bass Pro Shop where they have a Winter Wonderland and even get to meet Santa and take a picture FOR FREE! The kids had a blast, we even went back later in the evening. Bryce could hardly wait his turn to meet Santa and Sadie followed right in tow. Bryce asked Santa for a Spiderman Fishing Pole!

We spent Thanksgiving Day at the Reynolds’ household where my brother, Aaron, and Ashley (his girlfriend came down from Appleton Wisconsin. We also had Ashley’s family join us. A great time was had! The kids enjoyed being at Nana and Papa’s with all their toys…lots of them where mine and my brothers when we were little!

Jared and I decided to participate in Black Friday this year. I will state that was our FIRST and LAST time going! I love a good bargain, but those people are nuts! It truly was a spectacle worth seeing.

We then went over to the Wagner/Bognar household. Bryce and Sadie LOVED being with Evan and Norah! It is so neat to watch the kids grow up together. Evan and Bryce are 5 months apart and Sadie and Norah are 4 months apart.

We hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving with your families!

Halloween 2009

I know Halloween has passed some time ago, but I thought I better get this blogged before we get to Thanksgiving (yikes, next week) and all the activities we have for December.

The month of October was CRAZY!!! Jared was on an 8 week traveling spree and I was working quite a bit between the office and hospital. I am soooo happy to report that Jared will be home for quite some time and I won't have to play the "single-mom" role for quite awhile, yippy!

The week of Halloween was very busy for the kids. Sadie had her Halloween party that the parents were invited to come to. The next day we attended "Trunk or Treat: at Bryce's preschool, which is also my aunt's church. We didn't want to get the kid's real costumes dirty, so Bryce wore his pirate costume from last Halloween and Sadie was a princess.

Bryce had a Halloween parade at school with a class party. He had a blast!

Halloween night was quite cold. The kids made it around the cul-de-sac then had to come inside to warm up. Bryce enjoyed handing out the candy to all the kids. We warmed up and met up with all our neighborhood friends for some more trick-or-treating fun.

We decided to pass on carving pumpkins this year, but the plus is we have been able to enjoy them longer as fall decorations on our porch.



I am now caught up and hope to not delay posting Thanksgiving and Holiday blogs!

A Trip to San Francisco to Celebrate Eric's Birthday

My brother, Eric, turned 30 on october 9th so I thought it would be a great time to go out and visit him. I have been to San Francisco a few times and have already done many of the touristy things, so we did more local things.

He took me to his work, Solyndra, a company that is designing a new type of solar panel. I was amazed to see what Eric does, especially since I know he helped design and the build the machines that are building these solar panels! I am so proud of my brother and I am amazed at how intrinsic his mind is!

He then took me to his friend, Yale's, place of work, Google! This place is unbelieveable. I want to work for Google. They are highly encouraged to take breaks and have fun! They have fully-stocked micro-kitchens every 150 feet and they have over 25 buildings on their campus! They have 3 meals a day, plus snacks fully provided to them at no cost! They have many on-site amenities such as a work-out facility, lap pool, massage parlor, salon, oil changes, dentist, sleep pods and many more! It was so cool to be able to tour this company!

We saw a shoe called Beach Blanket Babylon which is a musical theatre show with a spoof of pop culture. It was quite hilarious and would encourage anyone to see it if they are in San Francisco.

We had the opportunity to go up to Napa Valley, I have never been and already cannot wait to go back! We toured the wineries of Robert Mondavi and Sterling Winery. Such a peaceful and cool experience.

While we were in San Francisco we also watched the Columbus Day Parade as well as the Blue Angels down at Fishermans Wharf. Thos planes are soooo cool!

I had such a great time with my brother and I am so greatful to be his little sister!