Kindergarten

Zane giving Ryder a kiss goodbye

Mommy and her little man

My 3 Reed boys!

Green Eggs and Ham to start the year off right

Zane getting off the school bus

Yesterday was a huge mile marker for our family. Zane started Kindergarten. He has only been asking to go for about 2 years, so he was more than ready, and so was I. All 4 of us took Zane to school to drop him off at his classroom. He got a sneak peak on Friday, so he was familiar with it and his teacher (who is about 70 years old and can barely move, it's a hoot). There were no tears from any of us. The parents go to stay at the school for a PTA breakfast. I am so excited to start my PTA responsibilities.
Zane rode the bus home yesterday and he LOVED it!!!! When I asked him how school was, he said "AWESOME." phew! i wasn't all that worried, but you just never know how it's going to go. He told me about learning about the calendar, doing art, eating lunch (where he found $5 on the floor in the cafeteria), and of course, recess, and the bus ride home. The hardest part of the day is getting the grizzly bear to get out of bed. He has never been a morning person. But this morning he told me that he doesn't want me to take him to school anymore, he wants to ride the bus. Seriously? 2 days of kindergarten has rendered my unnecessary. I love it!!! He is so independent. I don't think I will get so lucky with Ryder. Speaking of, Ryder, he doesn't seem to mind Zane being gone. He starts Moms Day out next week so that I can spend time at Zane's school. We are all loving this new change in our life.

My May post

The boys at the pool

Ryder digging in the sand at our campsite

The boys with Sid the Science Kid at the Science Museum

Well, I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I last posted. Either we have been really busy, I have been really lazy, or just not the much has been going on. I am leaning towards really busy with a little bit of lazy mixed in. We are love, love, loving it here in Texas. I know my PHX friends doing want to hear that, but this has really been a great move for us. This feels like home. So what have we been doing? A lot of Mom's club activities (which i seldom remember to take my camera to). Swim lessons for both the fish...I mean boys. A lot of outings to the Science museum (my Mom got us an annual pass). And camping over the memorial day weekend. Did I mention swimming? We have a pool here in our community, and we have been everyday for the past 2 weeks (sometimes twice a day). both boys are swimming on their own (one with floaties, the other without). Zane dives, swims, uses the diving sticks. He loves, loves, loves, the water. Ryder just this past week figured out that he can swim on his own with the floaties on. He is in heaven. So what's in store for us next? Try 3 weeks in NY. Should be so much fun. Hopefully I will have a gazillion photos to share.

A few of my favorite things

The past couple of months have been crazy busy. So much so that blogging felt a lot like a chore. But, on the outside chance that people are reading this, I figured I should give the cliff notes version of whats been going on.

Most importantly, Ryder turned 3 in March. It's hard to believe that my baby is so old:) He is fully potty-trained, can recognize some letters and numbers, knows his colors, is passionate about dinosaurs, Toy Story, and Cars. He is our little comedian, always looking for a laugh or a smile. I so appreciate that about him, as he has definitely helped to make us relax a little during all the changes that have come about this year.



Grandma and Grandpa Buckle came to Dallas for spring break and Ryder's birthday. We had such a great time, and they of course, in true Grandma and Grandpa style, spoiled the boys rotten!!! Trips to the museum, the Disney Store, Play areas, it was a none stop, fun filled, weekend.





Zane started and ended his soccer season already. He loved it. Soccer was a much better fit for him than hockey was. He is already signed up for soccer camp this summer and he says he is ready to play again in the fall. He started swim lessons (along with Ryder) this week, and has asked to play basketball this coming winter. He seems to really like sports, and arts and crafts. give Zane a craft to work on, and he is focused and determined to finish it. He will disappear for a couple hours with the right project, and no interference from little brother.
We finally got Zane into a Mom's Day Out Program 2 days a week. It has been a HUGE blessing for all of us. We took Zane to see his new school last night. It was quite an experience for all of us and it made Zane even more excited to start school.
So now we are in a holding pattern, not much going on until we head back to NY for part of the summer. All in all, we are really loving TX. We have started to make some great friends, and we really enjoy the surroundings.

Watch Out NHL, here comes Zane

Zane started a six week course in Hockey. I managed to score the classes for free, and it has been such a good experience. Zane hit the ice for the first time last week, and he rocked at it. When the teacher told him to get down on the ice to learn how to get up from a fall, he looked at her like she was nuts. The idea is to stay standing, right? So smart. By the end of the class he was skating so well that they had moved him from the youngest, to the oldest group. We were so proud. Zane seems to like it, and loves wearing his pads around the house. In a couple of weeks he starts soccer, that should be equally as enjoyable and entertaining.

The Farm

I really hate how difficult it is to move photos on this blog, so in all my laziness, you will just have to deal.
We went to the Heritage Farms today. It's a non-working farm for kids and adults to come and enjoy. It was only 3 miles from our new place, which is one of the reasons I really like it here. Everything is so close. The boys had a wonderful time. Ryder really enjoyed feeding the chickens, they ground their own corn first, and then fed the chickens. Ryder did it one kernel at a time. It was hilarious, and he taught me with a great amount of seriousness how to do it the right way. They boys loved the tractor that they not only got to play on, but they rode in the back around the farm. Zane's favorite part was the gentleman that brought all kinds of icky animals, african roach's, bald python (which we learned have toes, very cool), a tarantula, a bullfrog and some 3 week old bunnies (those were actually adorable). This is just another fabulous activity that we were able to do thanks to our Mom's clubs. I like how close and convenient everything is here. Makes trips out a lot easier for all of us.

In case you hadn't heard...

We MOVED!

Kitchen

Living room
Boys Room

Zane playing in snow the day we moved in

Zane driving the moving truck. He did a great job!

So here we are, all settled into our new place in TX. So far we love it!! Minus of course our friends we left behind. But then that would have made life perfect, and we all know, life is never perfect. Our transition has gone very smoothly. Cheryl helped us move out here and get unloaded, when we dropped Cheryl off at the airport to head back to PHX, we picked up my Mom who stayed with us for a few days to help with the kids and unpacking. In 6 days time we were totally unpacked and settled in. We have already been doing play groups for the past 2 weeks, and are really having a great time. The boys have handled the move amazingly well.

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

These are, of course, in no particular order:

Zane with his Aunt Lana

All 6 grandkids

See, he is real

My niece, nephew and step-son. On the Polar Express

Here we are just before we started our Polar Express Train Ride

The Silly 6

Grandma with her 2 boys

Ryder with his new Woody and Buzz plush. They are now inseparable

I hate trying to arrange pictures on this blog. So, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Christmas pretty much rocked this year. We keep it very simple, believing that who and how you spend Christmas is far more important than how many gifts are under the tree. My Mom and her husband came in 2 days before Christmas and just went along for the crazy ride. We spent Christmas eve with our good friends the Callister's. It was so relaxing, and fun, and the food, well, you just can't go wrong when you dine at the Callister's. Christmas day was a hoot. Ryder woke up at about 6 am, and I did my best to keep him happy, until about 6:30 when i just couldn't stand it any longer. I woke Zane up so we could get the fun going. We did our usual gift opening, the boys surprised us on what things they liked the most. Needless to say, Santa did not hit the nail on the head. Oh, well, maybe next year. For the 5th, and unfortunately final, year, we had Christmas breakfast at the Tenney's. The rest of the day consisted of movies, playing, and most importantly, not getting out of our PJ's the whole day.
Over the next few days Kib's kids, and my sis in law and her kids, arrived in PHX. We went up to Williams for the Polar Express Train Ride. It was AWESOME!!!! My Mom and Ken treated all 11 of us to the Polar Express experience and we all could not have enjoyed ourselves more. We even got to see snow. Which both my kids decided they didn't like, that was, until we got in the car and drove away, and Zane decided that snow was his favorite thing in the world. whatever!
New Years eve we spent at the Tenney's. SO FUN!! Although we were home by 8:30 to tuck the little guys in, and I, of course, celebrated on east coast time, and was in bed by 10:15.
So here we are, it's now 2011, and there is no doubt that it is going to be a HUGE year for our family. Just not sure if it's huge good, or huge bad, yet. All I know is that we are ready for this adventure to Dallas. Ready to not be in limbo, ready to get back to eating better, and definitely ready to start working out again.