Shepherd Dutch Oven Cook Off!

Reed "riding" his horse

Daddy cooking chili reneo!

Daddy's turn to drive the kids around!

Grandma's humming birds that eventually got used to all us noisy people

Marian gets a ride! Aunt Heather got very cold going back and forth, but the kids all loved it!

Marian and Grandpa survey their surroundings

The new sandbox!

Dani makes a new friend with uncle Rick

Reed on one of the new bikes!

Dani with a flower that Reed had picked :o)

Grandma holding Dani

Every Memorial Day weekend the Jeff's side of the family (aunts, uncles, and cousins) all get together and have a dutch oven cook off with a winner in main dish and dessert. It's always a lot of fun and this year was no exception! Jeff's parents had filled the sand box clear over the top and had all kinds of new toys to find and play with in there. They also had gotten a few little bikes for the grand kids to ride, Reed and Marian both were sad that were weren't going to take them home with us :o) Marian did have a little accident when she was playing on the teeter toter, somehow she ended up falling off? We really don't know how or what she did but she ended up being fine so, all's well that ends well, right? Anyway Dani made some new friends and learned that she doesn't always have to take a nap when she is supposed to. Reed loved having older kids to run around and play with and Marian well, she's just Marian, she loved everything from playing in the sandbox to riding in Uncle Dennis's 4 wheeler thing. Even the humming birds were there to put on a show! There were at least a dozen of them darting in and out of Catherine's garden! As we are driving home, again Jeff and I dream of the day we might some day be able to have our own open space like that up there. But for now we are happy where we are at :o) Till next time!

Reed's First T-ball game!

Reed is now in real T-ball! He has a lot of fun at the practices and had a good game on Saturday. Maybe by the end of the season he will get the gist of the game :o) He didn't understand that you are supposed to run around the bases :o) He would just run to first :o)

Preschool Graduation

Reed graduated from Preschool today. He has learned so much this past year, I am so glad that we were able to have to attend one, especially this one. He can be so shy and just not very socially oriented and this has seemed to help him become adjusted for "real" school this fall. He has finally learned his colors, and he is counting much better. The biggest thing for me really that I am happy with is that he can cope with other kids much better now than he did before. He went to the preschool down at Vineyard elementary where he will be going for kindergarten, so he should have fewer worries about being in such a large school now. He is really looking forward to kindergarten now :o) I keep telling him that he has to wait for the summer to be over, but I think we still need to work on the concept of time :)

Bowling

Monday night, was of course family night, and my parents invited us to go bowling with them. Jeff and I have been going over to play bowing on the Wii with Gabe and I guess Gabe has been asking to go real bowling for a bit, so we go to go along! :o) Reed got a real kick out of it and it was fun to watch him throw the ball and then watch as the ball bounced back and forth on the bumpers and then ever so slowly make it's way down to the pins. Once in a while Jeff would have to to rescue the ball and let Reed try again. Marian used the ball slide, but she got board half way through and so Reed took the rest of her turns. Dani was happy being passed around and was really happy with the ice cream that was served for dessert! We all had a lot of fun! I won the first round (with 107) and my dad won the next (with 111)!

The Budding Artist

She had to add the noses that she had left off after I had taken the first picture. :o)

Marian has this knack for drawing these really cute faces! I absolutely love them! I know I'm her mom and I am supposed to love them, but really, I think they are great! Especially for a 3 year old! She does self portraits and family pictures, and can capture that person a bit already! I know you all think I must be a "typical" mother for thinking her daughter is really good at something, but hey, I am her mom and I reserve the right to act that way :o)

A Pirate's 5th Birthday!

This is the lobby when you first walk in....

This is the pirate coming to life, and Reed hiding his eyes because he wants to watch, but it's just too scary :o)

So here we are trying to get a picture with him and the pirate in the background

He really has a death grip on me :o)

Unwrapping Prince Caspian!

And swords to play that he is Peter (or Caspian)

Playing Guitar Hero with Aunt Jennafer (Uncle Chance is helping)

Reed got to go on quite an amazing (and sometimes scary) adventure for his 5th birthday. We took him to the Pirate Island Wednesday night for pizza and a good time with family, we had never been to this place before and I was thinking it would be another of those cheesey little kid places, boy was I wrong! This place was GREAT! You walk in and it looks like you are entering a pirate cove, the whole place is decked out to look like you are in the throws of a pirate lair. The waiters are dressed up like pirates and they even speak like one, every 20-30 minutes there are lightning flashes (strobe lights) and the skeletons come to life and talk. (the one in the lobby had the kids fascinated and when it came to life they couldn't take their eyes off him. After it went back to sleep I tried to get Reed to stand in front of it so I could get his picture and he nearly peed his pants! He was NOT going to turn his back on that thing! So I had to hold him (while he was clinging as tightly as possible to me) while Jeff took our picture. You can kinda see the skeleton pirate in the background. I had to peel him off me just so we could go get our seats! :o) I don't know why but it made me laugh :o) the poor kid, but he still had a great time! He was just very weary of any of the skeletons that came to life that were near him :o) The service there was great and so was the price! I was expecting to pay twice what we ended up paying! I can't wait to take them there again! The arcade had things like Guitar hero, and a rifle range, along with a boxing thing that Jeff liked, really I am thinking of trying to get Reed's friends from school to go back with him. The prizes are within a reasonable range too! Only 100-300 tickets to get the big prizes (and that is easy to get)!

For the past month Reed has been asking for the Narnia Prince Caspian movie, as he recently discovered it and would watch it every day if I let him. He would say "mom I really want the PC movie for my birthday" over and over and over again. So the weekend before I remember that I needed to order it, fortunately it came within 3 days of ordering it :o) Jeff also found a sword and shield at Toys R Us and he was super excited that now he can look like Peter!