I just have to post

Santa: what do you want for Christmas
Ryder: Good
Santa: I can do that
Santa: are you a good boy
Ryder: Yup
Santa: Are you scared
Ryder:Yup
Santa: Do you want a Candy Cane
Ryder: Yup
Hey, at least he didn't cry

Zane LOVES Santa now that he is older. He had a whole list of things that he wanted. Starting with an ambulance, a police car, pokemon, ironman, and about 100 other things. Boy is he going to be very disappointed when Christmas morning comes.

We went to our ward Christmas party. It was a WhoVille celebration. It was so fun and the hair, oh my goodness, there was some amazing hair-do's there.

The boys in front of the Christmas tree in their Christmas PJ's. Kib and I bought these PJ's back in September when we were out shopping with the boys. We actually thought that Zane would forget about them and we would be able to keep with tradition of new PJ's on christmas eve. HA! He has asked for them every week since we got them, and once the tree went up, it became daily. We finally caved and gave them to the boys. Now, we just can't get them out of the PJ's. They were them to aerobics, school, shopping, playing outside, sleep, and repeat. At least we know they like them.

I was so thrilled to receive an email from my father-in-law thanking me for keeping this blog. It made me want to hop on and post something. For a while i was thinking I was just doing this for my BFF, who already knows everything anyways. Glad to know others are enjoying it as well. So far this month has been absolutely crazy with preparing for our big move, and all that goes along with the holidays in general. We are really looking forward to having our extended family together the week between Christmas to New Years. I am sure that there will be plenty of pictures and stories. These next few weeks will fly by, and then we begin our new adventure, in our new home, with new surroundings, and new adventures. What a great way to start a NEW year.

Thanksgiving

Zane and Ryder loving on our Santa

Reyna and Zane by the fire

The boys all snuggled up

Ryder thought Thanksgiving was better served on his head than on a plate

Our Thanksgiving family photo shoot

We had such a nice Thanksgiving. We all ran in the local Turkey Trot, watched the Macy's Day parade. Ate food, warmed by the fire pit, and of course, took some amazing family photos. Black Friday in our house means decorating for Christmas, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. Nothing too crazy this year. Just fun, and relaxing.

A few Halloween photos

Breaking the silence

The Winner Grandkids

Ryder struttin his stuff

A fun family photo in Seattle

The boys in the sleeper car on the train

It's been far too long since I last updated my blog. frankly, it's kind of a pain. It's much easier to just post photos on facebook. But on the outside chance that there are people out there that actually follow my blog, I will give you the cliffnotes update.
Ryder is fully potty trained. No accidents in the past month. I will give it a few more weeks b4 I start giving away our extra diapers, but he doesn't even need them at night or for naps. It's such a blessing to have had 2 boys both potty trained by 2.5 years old. Guess we must have done something right. Ryder's newest trick is telling people his name. It started this past week when a fire fighter asked him "what's your name" and he responded "Ryder". So cute. Seems I always have a lot to say about Ryder, but that is becuase he is still at the age where he is growing and learning exponentially. Zane is a little less obvious with his growth, although I will say that he is becoming much easier to deal with. Tantrums are starting to diminish, and we are able to communicate more effectively. He is much better at arguing his point though, and I am not always sure I like that, cuz it makes a lot of sense.
We went to WA for a last minute trip in October, we were able to see Kib's family, my brother and his family, and a couple of friends as well. The highlight for the boys was the train ride to LA, which was AWESOME, and relaxing, and most definitely the way that we will travel again. Halloween came and went without any incidents this year (last year Zane was in the hospital with pneumonia). We had lots of parties to go to. Zane was a police officer, skeleton, batman, and astronaut, Ryder just stuck with the astronaut the whole time. They were so good, and respected our candy rule. They each got to keep 5 pieces of candy, and the rest got recycled back out the door to the trick-or-treater's

It's Potty Time...

There are just too many fun things going on not to post about them. Ryder is doing an amazing job potty training, he went 4 days w/o an accident, but alas, those #2's will get the best of you eventually.


The boys have been doing better about actually playing together. it helps when they get things that they can have in common. My Mom sent them these fisherman vests, it's all they wear these days.


Zane and Ryder have made steadfast friends with 2 little brothers that live near us. Their ages are the same, and they seem to be best buddies. Makes playdates so fun. Here is a photo of Zane with his buddy Tyler. They were playing baby superheroes, so funny.


I am sure many more fun things will come up this month so I will have plenty to post come my monthly update. I just couldn't keep all this fun stuff to myself.

August 2010

Here we are another month has come and gone in what seems like a flash. August has been pretty slow for us. It's my birthday month, and Kib surprised me with a dinner party at one of my favorite restaurants. Adults only, it was great. My dear friend Tracy was nice enough to watch the boys for us so that Kib could take me shopping at the mall. It was really the perfect day.
Both of the boys started school this month. Zane goes to preschool 3 mornings a week, with the same teachers as last year. He loves it, and I love the time with just Ryder. One Tuesdays and Thursdays Ryder and Zane are doing a preschool co-op that I started with some friends. It's great, 6 kids, 4 families, so I only have to teach every 4 weeks. The rest of the time they go elsewhere and I get 2 hours to myself. Wow. It's amazing! I taught this past week and the kids LOVED my marching band. It was such a hoot. I really enjoyed the time with them.
We have had the most bizarre weather here this month. With cooler weather, high humidity, and lost of awesome storms. The boys love playing in the rain.
And when it's too awful for them to play outside, they usually get into lots of fun with all their dress-ups. Occasionally they even play nice together. This is a rare moment, so I had to capture it on film.That's all in Reed news. Kib and I are training hard for our century coming up in November. Our fabulous friends have all taken the boys here and there for us so that we can get our long rides in. To say that we are blessed, doesn't even begin. Great kids, great friends, great life.

Zane's Birthday

This is such a crazy month, I feel like I need to post more than once. And, it is of course, Zane's birthday month, which is very important and deserves it's own post. I remember as a kid feeling like my birthday lasted an entire week. Between friends and family, it did. Well, Zane's birthday seemed to have done the same thing. He started receiving packages early in the week. He got dress ups from Andrea. And not just one or 2, it was a good 5 outfits. He is in heaven with all the fun dress-ups he now has.


On Zane's actual birthday we went to our good friend James' house and spend the whole day in his pool with his 6 kids. Yup, 10 kids and 3 adults. It was a blast. The kids were all exhausted by the time we left. On Sunday, the kids went to the Natural History Museum with Kib while I worked. We had a few close friends over for a party Sunday afternoon. It was a fun, and relaxing birthday weekend. Zane loved all of his gifts, his new bike was a hit, although it's a tad too big. His dress-ups are amazing, and he has already played his games a handful of times. I am so grateful to all of our friends that helped to make Zane's day so special.

Beautiful June

We had the most beautiful June since we moved to PHX almost 5 years ago. We didn't hit 100 degrees until the middle of the month. For those of you not from here, we usually hit 100 by the middle of May. So we got about 4 extra weeks of gorgeous, outdoor weather this year. The boys may very well grow fins by the end of the summer. I took them to the pool for the first time this year, and they both loved it. We have literally been in the pool almost everyday for the past month. I am so excited for them to start their swim lessons in July. I know they will both love it.
We were fortunate enough to be able to go to San Diego for a week. I am so grateful to Andrea for giving up some of her time without her family, to have us bombard her house. We did so much while we were there, including a trip to LEGOland, and a bunch of trips to the local parks and play areas. It was so relaxing, and the boys really enjoyed it there. Zane really loved legoland since he was finally big enough to go on most of the rides. Ryder on the other-hand couldn't go on a single one, which is why he looked like this photo most of the day...

Thanks to Andrea we were able to get some new family photos this month. They turned out so well thanks to her.


I took Zane on a Mommy son date for the first time. We had so much fun. I taught him all about how to take a girl on a date. He took me out for ice cream, held the doors for me, paid with the money from his wallet, and we sat and talked. I couldn't believe that he sat nicely the whole time and just talked. He is getting so grown up. After ice cream we went and played at the park, and watched a baseball game here in Maricopa. It was the perfect date night.
After my date night with Zane, I decided to take Ryder on a day date (since he isn't so fun at night when he is tired). We went to the Elmo Live show. Boy-oh-boy did that kid think he had hit the jackpot. He loved it. And I loved watching him enjoy the show. He was so excited and blown away by the whole experience. It was awesome.


That about sums up our month of June. Zane had his first sleep over this month, it was with a 13 year old. Pretty funny. But he thinks he is pretty cool now that he can have sleepovers. I made it home for a few days at the end of the month. It was so nice to travel without the boys to see my family. It was far less stressful that way. I was really enjoyable, I got to see all my extended family as well as immediate. It certainly makes me miss home even more. But that is a battle that I fear I will definitely lose. Now we are into another crazy month of fun. Stay tuned for more exciting news from the Reeds.

May Days

I am so disappointed that it is half way through June, and I am just getting around to updating all of our May happenings. I'll work backwards since my brain seems to work better that way right now.For Memorial Day we spent the morning Kayaking on the Salt River. It has become a tradition in our house, and we all seem to really enjoy it.

Zane graduated preschool, again, but this time he refused to participate in any part of it. As a matter of fact, Ryder ended up going to the front of the room and accepting Zane's diploma for him. It was so cute. I am waiting for a friend to send me the photos, and then will make sure to post them. Good thing Ryder likes being the center of attention.
I ran the MOAB Relay with some girls from Maricopa. It was so much fun, and a really good experience. Somehow I seem to have become a runner, and although it's not my first love, it offers a lot more opportunity to participate in fun/crazy events.

The boys always seem to be on the go, doing things, learning things. We went to the butterfly conservatory with Zane's favorite girlfriend, MaKenna.

We went to the zoo with our good friend Audrey. Both my boys are in love with her, it's so adorable. And I am pretty sure she is totally in love with them too. I treated the boys to feeding the Giraffe's that day. They loved it. We have a really great zoo here.

Last, but not least, we had our trip to the Children's museum, we hadn't been there in over a year, and they had made a lot of huge changes so it felt like new.
Both of the boys are growing by leaps and bounds. Ryder is saying 3 and 4 word sentences, and his cognitive skills are really picking up. He has started pronouncing his P's really well. And he is getting easier to understand. On the flip side, he is 2, so very, very 2. He is a very little 2 with a very big attitude. We call him Napoleon because he refuses to let his size get in the way of what he does. He tries to do everything Zane does, and it shows. He is a walking bruise these days. But I have never seen a happier kid.
Zane is getting more mature, and wickedly smart, by the day. I think we are phasing out of the terrible 2's/3's and transitioning into our fabulous 4's. His reasoning skills are so well developed. He has the best manners of any kid his age, and is smart as a whip. He and Daddy are making huge headway with his reading. He still has his total meltdowns, but they are getting easier, fewer and further in between. I am really enjoying my little dude and all the cool questions and statements that he makes. Although he sometimes is exhausting, I really do enjoy him so much.
June is shaping up to be even busier than May. Stay tuned for another exciting edition of MY2REEDBOYS!!!