Happy Birthday Reeders!

What a cute boy stuffing his face! He loves cake!

Molly insisted that we get balloons and party hats. It was all her idea. I am totally lame and wasn't planning on any of that. Reed LOVED the balloons! The hats, not so much.

We made a Mickey Mouse cheesecake. Julie rocked the blackberries. It was a bit messy, but really fun.

Reed eating his first Happy Meal! He looks so proud! We sure love this little guy! He is such a sweet boy. He definitely has an attitude and won't do anything if he doesn't want to. He is very friendly with others and loves to perform. We love you Reed!

Molly's gift to Reed

So proud of her wrapping job.

She worked hard to tape every last bit of it.

Molly with aunt Julie thoroughly enjoying Reed's kite!

Random stuff

The most beautiful tree I have ever seen. It's a Magnolia tree and this picture doesn't do it justice. This was on Easter day at Brady's aunts house.

All of us, except for Paula, has had a baby in the last year. It is so fun to see them together. Tyler, Reed and Elena. This picture is missing Emerson :(

Molly playing soccer. She loves it. I love getting pictures of her with that real smile.

Molly's first big girl party(This picture is not the best). Her friend down the street had a birthday party and I didn't even stay. I have noticed that Molly interacts with others much better when I'm not hanging around. She is such a shy little girl and tends to cling to me in most situations. Molly has been going to a speech preschool once a week and has really seemed to enjoy it. She really likes to observe others. It takes her a little bit in new situations to get comfortable enough to play with others, but she eventually will play and have a fun time.

Who's kids are these?

I have heard people talk about their kid's falling asleep while playing or just laying there, but I didn't really believe it. These two pictures were on the very same day about an hour apart. I was seriously in shock. It was the easiest bedtime ever!

A thousand dollar smile!

From the moment we knew we were having a baby, I hoped he or she would get their daddy's teeth. I have terrible teeth. As a child Instead of getting an ice cream cone for having zero cavities I got to go back to the dentist to have 6 cavities filled. At the time, my mom didn't know any better and she didn't know that while my brother rarely brushed his teeth, I was brushing both morning and night. I spent a lot of time in the dentist's chair. We would go every six months and I was lucky enough to go back once or even twice in-between. I seriously hate going to the dentist!
When Molly's teeth started coming in, her pediatrician could see that they were very close together. He advised that we floss her teeth. We have been so good at taking care of her teeth. Molly never took a bottle, so she never went to sleep with milk or juice. It seems that it has all been for nothing! At her first "real" trip to the dentist, Molly had cavities between most of her front teeth and some between her molars. Her two front teeth were so bad that the dentist needed to put in crowns. Since there was so much work to be done, They had to put Molly out. She did a great job! I think she might even let me take her back.
It is hard spending so much money on teeth that are just going to fall out, but I guess it's important or something. Anyway...We are glad it's over and have decided that if she has more cavities next time, we're just going to stop brushing all together.

Before

After

Our Family

Family pictures are a nightmare! You just never know what you're going to get. At least we're all in the picture, Right? We were able to get these done while in Washington with Brady's family. It was nice having the help. We'll see if we ever get these up on our wall.

Benners

Molly's cousin Ben moved away last month. I'm not sure if it's been harder on Molly or me. They spent a lot of time together. Molly and Ben play so well together and it was nice to let them play while we had some adult interaction. Ben has been gone about a month now and I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a day where Ben's name wasn't mentioned by Molly. It has been almost heartbreaking for me. Obviously I miss Lora, but it's seeing Molly miss her little buddy that hurts the most. Luckily they are only three hours away! Molly sure misses her Benners!

Our little cuties

I love this picture. I love that Reed is taking his time to crawl so that Molly has a little while longer to not get annoyed by him. Reed adores her. Molly can always get him to laugh his hardest. We will try doing the same things to get him to laugh, but it's just not the same. Molly is so aware of her little brother and is helpful when she wants to be.

Yoga

Molly showing off her tree pose

I have heard of so many people loving yoga, but I sorta just thought it was a trend and couldn't be that awesome...until I tried it! I seriously love it! It is the best thing ever. I love how I feel doing it and how I feel afterwards. When I'm doing it at home, Molly likes to climb on me or do it along with me. It's pretty cute.

Christmas

Molly decorating her graham cracker house. She was really into it. It was pretty cute to watch her work.

Molly as an angel. She refused to wear a halo. I was surprised she was willing to participate at all.

Sadie was such a trooper to participate and Ben made everyone laugh with his shepard outfit.

Molly enjoying one of her favorite toys from Grandma and Grandpa Larson. It's a dump truck that you can take apart and put back together with a power drill. Molly also got her doll house from Santa that she had been asking for. The night of Christmas, Molly said," it's okay, Santa will come again tomorrow." With her birthday so close to Christmas, she was getting presents everyday for a few days in a row.

Reed was just along for the ride. You gotta love that cute face. He of course loved all the wrapping paper.

Santa

Reed was okay with Santa at first

But then he got a good look and decided that the white bearded man was a little bit scary.

Molly was super excited for Reed to sit on Santa's lap...not so much for herself. She actually did muster up enough courage to tell him that she wanted a doll house.

The Birthday Girl

Molly on her birthday. We love this girl so much! She has such a big heart and is always telling us how much she loves us. Molly is extremely shy, but has recently started coming out of her shell. She loves to be around others, especially me. She is pretty much my little shadow.

Molly was spoiled with lots of fun new toys to play with. Here she is with her playdough meal making thing. I was hoping that with all her new toys, that maybe, just maybe, she would want to play by herself. No such luck.

Molly loves everything Dora, so...We bought Dora and Boots cupcakes. I wasn't even going to try making something that I'm sure wouldn't have even resembled Dora. Molly was thrilled and I didn't have to do any work. You gotta love that.

I can't believe she's 3!

Happy Birthday Molly! We love you!

Thanksgiving in Washington

We were able to spend thanksgiving with Grandpa and Grandma Larson this year. We were extremely nervous about the long drive, but the kids were actually great. Here is Molly with her own little suitcase anxious to get on the road.

Molly and Katie "helping" Grandma make rolls

chocolate covered pretzels with extra sprinkles

Reed had his first taste of cereal while we were there. He loves it!

Molly and Reed cuddling with daddy. I sure love these three.

Grandpa and Reed sucking on their fingers. Reed has taken a liking to his two fingers on his left hand.

Awww. Getting some Julie time.

This was actually towards the end of our drive home. I'm surprised to see she was still smiling. It took us 16 hours to drive home due to the snowy/icy roads and road closures. We stayed in Idaho for a night and to our surprise actually got some good sleep. I wish we had a king size bed!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a great time!
When we finally got home, Molly ran to her room and spent some much needed time with her babies. She really missed them.
Thanks Mom for shoveling our driveway. We were so tired and it was so nice to be able to pull right into the driveway.
We are so blessed to have our families. We love you all so much and appreciate your love and support.

Trip to Philadelphia

Reed and I took a trip to Philadelphia to see Adam and Brooke. It was Reed's first plane ride and it was LONG. He really did fine, but you know how it is with a baby in confined spaces.
It was so fun spending time with Adam and Brooke and kids. We all miss them so much. I had told Brooke that Reed was a fussy baby, but he made a liar out of me. He was so happy while we were there. He loved all the kids running around. I got to meet baby Emerson and be there for his blessing. I didn't get many pictures so these will have to do.

Emerson, Reed and Sarah Jane

Reed and Emerson in their matching outfits

Reed and Emerson spooning.
Reed also rolled over for everyone. This is a skill he does not like to show off, so it was a nice surprise.

Halloween

Officer Reed and his prisoner

Molly as a cute little dinosaur

Reed's blessing

Reed was blessed by his daddy on August 29th. It was a special day and we're so grateful to have Reeders, Molly's name for him, as part of our family. He has such a spirit of love about him. He tends to cry a lot if he isn't being held, but when I go to pick him up, he forgives me with a sweet smile. It makes me want to just eat him up.

Grandma Larson made Reed's little blessing outfit and the quilt he is on. It was so neat to have him in something made by his sweet grandma. He also had cute shoes that I forgot to put on him. I didn't get the greatest pictures and I'm pretty sure no one would be happy if I posted them, so these of just us will have to do.

What do you think?

Molly at about 3 months

Reed at about 3 months