Phone Pictures

 These were from a couple of weeks ago, playing at OSP.

 On Feb. 1st, this arrived at our doorstep. New bunk beds!! It's a full on the bottom and twin on the top. The kids love all sleeping together. Now Kelsey has her own room and it works out well that way since she's not exactly on the same sleeping schedule as the others.

She loves to sit in big girl chairs, and CLIMB! Oh my she climbs everything she can. But her most favorite spot in the house is up on the fireplace. It's always barricaded now because I don't like her playing in the ashes, but she occasionally still manages to get up there.

 

Madison is doing awesome and except for nights and naps, she's potty trained! She decided it was okay to poop on the real big potty, not the little trainer one. Then the next day she came down with a bad bug and was throwing up a lot and had diarrhea. So that set us back a little bit but once she got better she did fine again! We now finally have more children in underwear, than in diapers!! Cool!

Brynlee found these white spandex shorts in her drawer and got so excited. "Look Mom! I have white shorts just like the ones you wear!! (Like my garments) Then she insisted on wearing them over her tights, to church. But it was too hot so we ended up pulling them off during sacrament meeting. :) Made me laugh.

 Sledding/playing outside. We've received A LOT of snow this month of February. Seems to be makign up for the lack of snow in Jan.

 

 This last week I built a "secret snow fort" in the backyard with Ty and Bryn. They helped too! They each have a little shovel and it kept them busy for a long time.

This weekend Fur Rondy started!! So yesterday morning Tyler and I went downtown and ran in the Frostbite Footrace! It was a 2.5k fun run, and his first race. He did so awesome and kept pushing himself even when he didn't want to do it anymore. I was so proud of him and his determination. It was a very cold, but fun morning with my big boy. I only wish his eyes weren't closed in this picture :).

This past Friday we went to UAA Planetarium as a family to see one of their Friday night showings. They do these awesome movies in the big dome ceiling and a short lecture afterwards. We were going to see if we were interested in getting a membership because it's a really cool thing, and not too expensive for our whole family for a year. But after one night, we realized we are about 10 years too early. There's no way we're going back with anyone but Tyler. But it was worth a try, right? :)

Book of Mormon Prop Swap

At the end of last year, I participated in a Book of Mormon prop swap with 3 other ladies. It was not my idea, but I thought it was brilliant and it was so fun to do that I wanted to share the idea. We each decided on two things we would contribute. Then we made 4 of each of them, kept one for ourselves and passed out one to each of the other three families. I made robes and gold plates. But once the robes were made, I realized I still had some leftover fabric that was given to me that I didn't have a use for. So I threw in a head piece and a little coordinating sash. No sewing involved for those parts, just fabric strips. Tyler is modeling it below.

For the gold plates we got some chip board, punched holes in them, and spray painted each gold. Then used some bigger rings to hold them all together. All the stuff can be found at any craft/scrapbooking store.

It's been so fun for the kids to act out scripture stories and really bring them to life! Family home evenings are much more exciting for everyone. Obviously the props are not limited to Book of Mormon stories only. The picture below is from this week, they acted out david and goliath. This was at the end when David (Tyler) defeated Goliath (Daddy). You can see some of the other props we were given. Madison's wearing a crown, Ty and Bryn both have different head pieces, and swords and shields.

Even little Kels likes to get involved :)

Valentine's Week

 We had a fun, busy week. Ty's birthday on Monday. Tuesday we went over to a friend's house (Rebecca Swift) for a Valentine's party. We had a fun time with them--they will be fairly close neighbors, and in our ward when we move in the summer. Wednesday we went to playgroup in the morning, YW at night. We brought Ty's bike to playgroup and he was able to start riding by himself! Without me holding it steady for him as he started peddling, he just did it! That's big news :). Thursday was Valentine's Day! In the morning we went to gymnastics. After school, lunch, and naps, I made cinnamon rolls and we took them to daddy's work and had a Valentine's treat with him. It was a fun way to break up the afternoon, and the first time we've been in his new building. We didn't go up and see his office (ahem...cubical) because I don't think they are ready for the Weston circus/parade. Friday we had the Moore boys over to play while their parents went to the temple and it dumped snow all day long. Saturday we switched off babysitting with our friends Tim and Christina and took turns going skiing! It was a super fun date. We got there a few minutes before they even opened, which was awesome because we had several runs before we were even sharing the place with other people. Hilltop ski area is a pretty small resort, but it's perfect for me because I had only been skiing one other time in my life. So I was able to get more comfortable before I felt like I was going to run into everybody. We had a great time and loved going just the two of us. We haven't had a date in a while--much too long! After both couples had a few hours, we all went out to dinner together. Then we came home and put the kids to bed early, and I snuck off for the night to a stake dance where I totally got my groove on and danced with the girls :). But the best part was coming home to Kenny and making him dance with me in the living room. So romantic :). I love that man. Today we had the Halcomb's and the Hilbert's over for dinner after church. It was fun to get to know them all better. I just really love people and getting to know new people. There is so much snow everywhere!! Starting to get cabin fever!


Our poor sad flowers the day after valentine's! :)

On the ski lift. I was so dang cold.

The sun was still rising as you can see. It was beautiful and you could see all of Anchorage.

 

My beautiful girlies before church.

Happy 6th Birthday Tyler!

Monday, February 11th was my first born child's SIXTH birthday!! How can he seriously be that old? He was so excited to finally have his turn for a birthday after happily celebrating mine and Bryn's. He also woke up to a decorated house and a table full of wrapped presents. The highlight of his day was going to a fun indoor bounce house called "Pump It Up". It was the perfect place for them to run around, climb, jump, slide, etc. for a couple hours and have a blast. What made it even more fun is that some friends came! David, Kai, and Kiana were the fun guests that joined us.

THE PARTY! L to R: Bryn, Ty (holidng Kelton), Kai, Kiana (all Reed kids), Madi, Kelsey, and David Sponseller

 Some of his presents included magnifying glasses (he's been asking for those forever!), some new shirts because he's growing so fast we can't keep up, books, legos and a lego mat from Grandma and Grandpa A., and a fun little archery set (though it was a little cheaper than we expected and doesn't actually shoot anything, but he's good at pretending so it's okay :). )

Oh what can I say about Tyler. He is 6 going on 20. He's so mature for his age, and wants to be an adult. He thinks he should be able to make his own decisions and just be treated like a grown up. He is very inquisitive and loves to learn. He is reading very well and is a joy to homeschool (most of the time). He takes his role as the oldest child, and only brother very seriously. He takes such good care of his sisters and treats them well, and they love and adore him too. He's a huge help to me and I don't know what I'd do without him. His favorite sport is still soccer, and he changes what he wants to be when he grows up almost every day. But some of the more common answers are a rock star, a soccer player, an actor, a scientist, and a police officer. He has a very pure heart and a sensitivity to the spirit that is a great example to us. We love our Ty man so much and we're so glad he's part of our family!

Brynlee's 4th Birthday!

Saturday, February 9th was Brynlee's Birthday! She turned 4 years old! For the last month or so she asks quite often when she will be 18. I'm not sure what's so exciting about the age of 18, but she is anxiously looking forward to it. But I know she wasn't too disappointed about only being 4--she had a great day! She really milked the whole "I'm the birfday girl so I get to choose" or I get to have that, or I get to do this, etc. etc. :) Her siblings were glad when the day ended haha. But it's always fun having a day all about you. When she woke up she came upstairs to see balloons and decorations galore! Also a table with all her presents wrapped and stacked, and her new birthday outfit laid out for her. She was ecstatic! She had some yummy sugar cereal to help celebrate the big day too. She just couldn't wait very long before wanting to open presents. I didn't see why one would hurt, since the reason we usually wait till night time is because daddy's not home. But since it was Saturday, we said sur eyou can open one. Then I answered my phone, and during my phone conversation she quickly opened two more without me or Kenny even knowing! haha. She was happy with all of it.

We went to a school info. fair thing to find out about all the different language immersion programs, charter schools, etc. that are offered in Anchorage. It wasn't very birthday-ish, but it needed to be done since that was the only day they had it. We applied for Tyler in 3 different lotteries...we'll see what comes of it.

Kenny tried to take Ty and Bryn ice skating, but when they got down there they found out that it wouldn't be open skate for like 3 more hours. So he took them out to lunch adn they played around for a while before coming home. Played a lot of games and just had fun together as a family the rest of the day and spoiled Ms. B. I let her and Ty help decorate the PINKALICIOUS cupcakes. They thought it was fun to pipe the frosting out of the bag and choose their own tip. 

She chose pizza for dinner (thank you Costco) and opened some more presents after cupcakes and ice cream.

I LOVE her face in this picture. And that Kelsey is diving out of my arms to the candles :).

Brynlee is just so much fun to have around. She just loves life and gets so excited about everything. She's always singing, dancing, twirling, and running around. She is such a great big sister, and awesome buddy to Tyler. She's very motherly by nature, and always talks about how she wants to be a mommy when she grows up. She loves to come into the bathroom in the morning and do her make up next to me while I do mine. (Her cousin, and idol, Eva gave her some make up for Christmas with her own little bag and everything, and oh how she loves that!) She loves nothing more than to dress up and look and feel pretty. She changes her clothes multiple times a day, is always willing and brave to try new things, loves to be outside, and is not a picky eater at all. She'll eat anything we give her, and I appreciate that! She has a beautiful smile and a light about her that fills our home. We love our sweet Brynners!

Happy Birthday to Me!

On Monday, Feb. 4th I turned 26 years old!! I decided that I would take a whole day off of cooking and making food. Turned out to be a great decision :). My wonderful friend and cousin, Carmin, brought over a fabulous crepe breakfast for me the night before my b-day. She's incredibly thoughtful like that. After school and piano, we tried to go to the library only to find it was closed. So we made a quick stop at the post office (where I got asked again if I run a daycare. Nope, just my family! :) ) Then we went to McDonald's for lunch where the kids played on the play equipment for over an hour. Even Kelsey, she's quite the climber and would repeatedly go up the first two, and stay there. Then I'd take her down and start her farther away and she'd go right back over to climb again. We had a relaxing afternoon, naps and games and puzzles. When Kenny came home we went to Qdoba for dinner! It's not Cafe Rio or Chipotle, but it's still really good. After that we picked up a chocolate cake and came home to indulge! Chocolate cake with a glass of milk is pretty much my favorite thing to eat in this world!! I blew out all 26 candles in one breath and the kids were so cute to sing to me multiple times throughout the day. For presents (see pic below) I got myself some new black boots and perfume (Pretty by Elizabeth Arden) and the best part...HOT YOGA CLASSES! I'm so excited to go use those. I've never done it before and I can't wait. I heard from a lot of friends and family members throughout the day and felt very loved and special. I have such an amazing and blessed life. I could not ask for anything more. Here's to another great year!!

 

Kenny had all the kids sit on the fireplace and one of them was hiding my perfume gift behind their backs. I had to guess who it was before I could receive it. Bryn's the only one with a poker face :). They loved being involved like that. Daddy's always creative with fun, spontaneous games.

The night before Tyler would just not go to sleep. He was crying and when I went down there to talk to him he said through his tears "I just want to plan your birfday!" So I said I would go upstairs and plan it and write it all down and he could see it in the morning. He cried even harder and said, "But you're not supposed to plan it, WE are! It's YOUR birthday!" hahaha. What a sweetheart. He loves birthdays and wants to do them right. I sure appreciate him caring about me like that. So we quickly came up with some ideas and carried most of them out. He wanted daddy to get up early and decorate the house and blow up balloons, and make me a crown to wear all day. That didn't happen :). But we still had a great day and did the rest of his list. 1 down, 2 more birthdays to go this week!

1 Year Mark!

 Today is a big day for me. One year ago today we flew to Alaska and embarked on a crazy adventure. We've come a long way and I'm glad to have the first year under our belts :).
Tonight we went over to our friends, Brigham and Chelsea Moore's house for dinner. They're fun people to be around; the kind that do a lot of good no matter where they go.

We had sort of a big week around here. Monday morning I told Madison to go get dressed. She came out with 2 pairs of panies in her hand. I said, "oh did you want to wear those today?" And she said yes, so I went with it. She's been working on it all week. It's sort of difficult because it only works when we are home, but we can't just cancel everything in life because she's potty training. But she's done pretty well, and made some progress. I had to laugh the other day when she had an accident and didn't get upset. She jsut took off her underwear, put them in my dirty clothes bin and said "well let's try again!" I admire her optimism :). She is sometimes a little sneaky and won't tell me when she has an accident. She just changes her clothes and goes about her day. Until I find pee on the carpet. And we had a #2 on the carpet incident also. But she's doing great and we'll just keep working on it.

 

After 2 horrible nights of screaming and crying and no sleeping, Kelsey finally has a new tooth. She has had a bad cold this week too, and discovered that she has two nice little holes at the bottom of her nose...

But much mor esignificant than nose-picking is the progress she's made in WALKING! She is so cute and I just love that I'm home to catch every little milestone. She recently developed a love of books and loves to be read to, and flip through them herself.

We love our big 11-month old.  Tomorrow starts a big week for our family...3 birthdays in one week!! So we'll update on all the celebrations as they happen :). February is always a big month for us!