because blogs with pictures are more fun

How cute is Molly's face!

Ollie wearing Emily's pink jacket. I think it's his color.

Look who held the baby!

Cashed out.

Watching her baby graduate.

Thoughts about a few things

Jeff and Shannon- One of the funnest weddings I've ever attended. So beautiful, too.

Lotz and Jenny- I know you regretted the ribbon but they are very cute invites.

Grey's anatomy- So long. I will miss you.

Lost (season 1 and 2)- Our new summertime hobby.

TLC roasted vegetable crackers- Oh, how I love thee.

The cutest brinner ever!

what can happen when you sleep on wet hair

the boys

taken when they were 12 days old

our week

Good job, Blake!

2 babies!

Danny is older but Charlie is bigger.

The past few days

1. Molly turned 2 and loved every minute of her big day.
2.-5. Wii Olympics
6. I'm so glad slings are "in." #4 lives in hers.
7.-10. Holly waitressed (along with her fellow officers) at Red Robin to raise money for Special Olympics. A.R. will soon be 69.
11. The cutest chandelier ever! Thanks Randy and Tammy!
12. Princesses on a bed.
13.-25. An April shower for Daisy. Thank you Lisa and Jenny for such a cute luncheon. It was adorable and the food was wonderful. You guys did such a good job.

How we celebrated...

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us on Friday night and a special thanks to Lisa for getting the cake. It was so fun!

Some (or all) might think it weird that we went to an Oak Ridge Boys concert for his 30th. Well, we are weird. Daisy slept all the way from the first song until the Elvira finale. Her first concert....

Matt is 30!

Sorry Missy, no old pictures, my scanner went kaput.
Thirty reasons why I love him:
1. You're punny.
2. You can fix anything!
3. You never worry.
4. You read Bible stories to the girls every night.
5. You love the fair more than I do.
6. You are great at discipline.
7. You wanted to adopt.
8. You were cool with a home birth.
9. You don't complain about me spending money.
10. You like the same people I do.
11. You wear cowboy boots.
12. You make yourself eat vegetables and drink water because you know it's good for you.
13. You are so loyal.
14. You drive a mini van even though you don't want to.
15. You put the kids to bed.
16. You remember your widows' birthdays.
17. You have wonderful grandparents.
18. You dress well.
19. You change diapers.
20. You are my voice of reason.
21. You are patient with me.
22. You love Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.
23. You do your homework for Bible Study.
24. You think way faster than I do.
25. You buy great Christmas presents.
26. You let me paint a whole lot of our house pink.
27. You bought this house because I love it, even though you don't.
28. You are a hard worker.
29. You take care of my family.
30. You are the best husband and father in the world!

case in point

So I mentioned in my last post that taking pictures of a one year old is probably one of the hardest things ever. Here are our attempts at an Easter family picture. Look at Ollie, not at my double chin, please.

4 and a half days old

I bought these really cute shirts that say Daisy on them for my girls to wear just in case I had a Daisy and then I totally forgot about them until 2 days after the birth.
So I just had to put them on the blog.

On another note, we are all adjusting fairly well to being a family of 6. Of course, I've had constant help and a stream of visitors so I'm not sure how I'll do with it all once things settle down. We shall see. Oliver has done the best (surprisingly), he adores his new sister and he has actually been better behaved this week than usual. I have no good pictures, however, because the kid is so darn busy. I think photographing a one year old is one of the hardest things ever. The girls love her but they have had a bit of a hard time with me not feeling 100%. I can't wait until I'm back to normal, either. I know that home birth is not for everyone but I loved, loved, loved it. It's definitely what I'd do again, if there was an again.

Daisy Adeline

8lbs 2oz, 21.5 inches long, 8:23am
Sorry to those I failed to get pictures of...Hillens, Talburts, Bradley....
Thank you so much to everyone who shared this very special day with us.

I never thought I'd be jealous of a dog..

Mandy's house saw a birth before ours did. I just hope I don't have to give birth on top of old sheets in the kitchen. Ha!

So, can we say that Spring is here? I mean not officially, but do you think we can put away the puffy coats and snow boots? Today was just glorious. We were outside almost all day between running errands in the morning and hanging out in the backyard in the afternoon. I just love not having to mess with putting 13 layers on my kids before we walk out the door.

Speaking of kids, I would like to give a shout out to Becky Liles who shared with me one of the best tips ever. Oliver was having a coughing fit in the middle of the night and I did just what Becky had told me to do, rub Vicks on his feet and put socks on over it. After about 10 minutes, the coughing totally stopped, just like it always does when I do this. So, thanks Becky for sharing this with me over a year ago!

Pink or blue

Just 2 more weeks to go (roughly). What do you think....boy or girl?

Where we love to spend our snow days

Birthdays and more birthdays

Maggie turned 5 on Thursday. Those leap day babies (Bayley and Ethan) finally got to celebrate their own special day on Friday. Happy birthday today to Henry, Kendra, and Tom.

Jen's shower

what a day

I had set the table all fancy last night in preparation for a family Valentine's day breakfast. I even did place cards. We awoke this morning to no power, just when I thought we were in the clear from all these outages. We all got ready in front of the fire and we took our french toast to Mandy's house to bake. We ate there then ran a quick errand before heading to the mall for pictures at the Picture People which was total chaos due to the holiday. We met Matt and Mandy at McDonald's for lunch then headed to Mandy's to take naps as Matt's parents were also without power and my dad has the flu. Just when I was getting ready to make our reservations for the night at the Wilson basement B&B, our power came back on. The kids and I made our way home a little after 4. Once home, Maggie fell face first into the stairs and then Lucy fell all the way down them. We have lived in this house, which has 2 staircases, for 6 months. None of my kids have fallen down them before and then in one afternoon, we have 2 casualties. The older 2, none the less, not the toddler who still walks like a drunken sailor. Go figure. All 5 of us went to dinner where we always go on 2-14, Digiacinto's. It was fun to take the kids especially since our days of being a fivesome (is that a word?) are waining. We then went to the hospital to visit my grandma who is having triple bypass in the morning, 3 hours before my mom is scheduled for her breast cancer surgery (when it rains it pours...). Then, tomorrow night we will celebrate Matt's grandparents who ran off to get married 65 years ago today. They might not be newlyweds but they sure do act like they are!

I love the 80's

Thanks to C-O-X for throwing such a great 80's party. Pac-man. pizza, Weird Science, 80's Trivial Pursuit, and a rockin playlist. Not to mention the fabulous costumes worn by all except the host and Johnny A. Lots of fun. Who's hosting the next decade theme party?

Happy birthday momgrandma

Today is my mom's birthday. My kids call her momgrandma because she's the grandma that's also my mom. Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for her as she battles breast cancer. I have been overwhelmed at the number of people who ask me daily how she is doing. She goes for a second surgery next friday and then she will start radiation. Her prognosis is good and her doctor doesn't see a need for chemo. We love you mom!

why we blog

Welcome Jenny to the blogosphere. I laughed out loud several times perusing your new blog. Andrea, congratulations on 2 years of blogging. Your blog is one of my favorites. Always witty and updated regularly, I like that in a blog. I've been thinking lately about why I blog. My reasons for doing it are so different from the motivators that got me started a year and a half ago. My number one goal is to keep Ollie's foster parents updated on him. We e-mail back and forth but there is a bit of a language barrier and they always say they love seeing the pictures of him on here. I have a large amount of family that reads this. I had no idea of this until my grandpa's funeral last July. I love that my second cousins and relatives near and far can easily catch up on our lives. I just wish you guys would comment once in awhile....you all know who you are! So....tell me...why do you blog? Or...why don't you blog?

One year ago today......

...we brought a very scared, slightly bald, chubby Korean home to be a part of our family. He's grown into such a little man. He loves to kiss and cuddle and he can also hold a grudge like nobody's business. I'm so glad God choose us to be his parents.

my day doing nothing

Last night, the new baby tried to make an early appearance. After lots of medicine and 5 hours of one-on-one time with my midwife (who I think should moonlight as a therapist), I was ordered to spend the day in bed. I cannot remember the last responsibility free day I had. It was great! My mom and her sister came over to help with the kids. We had both lunch and dinner delivered to us by kind family members. I chatted on the phone, gave the girls manicures and pedicures, caught up on my e-mail, made a few to-do lists, and played Farkel. I think it would get old quick but one day of bed rest was heavenly!

our weekend

3 birthdays- Sam, Chandler, and Olivia. Sorry Chan but I didn't get a good pic of you at your party. We also got to spend an evening with some of our favorite people.

and baby makes 6

I get asked ALL the time how I'm able to get ready for this new baby when I don't even know if it's a boy or girl. First of all, let me just say that I'm glad I don't know what this baby is. The suspense is fun, it's incentive to get through labor, and I just want to experience the surprise once. I couldn't of done this with my first, and probably not even with my second, but it's been pretty easy to do it with a fourth. Here's how I'm managing. I'm not into yellow or green as the traditional unisex colors so we are painting the bassinet and changing table (both of which will be in our room) black. I had my doubts about a black bassinet, I thought it might look a little goth, but then I got the new Pottery Barn baby catalog and they are selling a black bassinet so I figure ours will look fine. My mother in law is helping me make sheets for it out of black and white gingham. I searched high and low for fabric that could be used for either gender and I finally found this (pictured above) at Hancock. I made a baby sling out of it and I will probably make a diaper bag in the coming weeks with it. That's all the neutral stuff I'm doing. If it's a girl, well she won't be wearing the same thing twice. I have all of my girls' clothes plus Jen gave me Molly's stuff so we have lots and lots of pretties for her. If it's a boy...well....I realized I only had one gown and one blanket. So every time we go to Target or the mall I'm picking something boyish up and saving the receipts. Target just on Wednesday got in this line of baby stuff. I bought three blankets in boy colors and I can't wait to go back and buy more. And that's that.

a valentine birthday

We celebrated the girls' birthdays today with a valentine tea party. They had so much fun and they loved all of their gifts. They have been wearing their new nightgowns while playing with their new toys all afternoon. I think a MLK b-day party might become a tradition since it's a day off of school and it's in the middle of both of their birthdays. Thank you to everyone for coming!

Kansas City

We had a wonderful, very relaxing weekend in Kansas City celebrating Mandy's birthday. The rumors are true, Rick and Jan really are the best hosts. We shopped a lot, ate a lot, and watched the Cowboys lose. Jan introduced me to Nell Hill's which inspired me silly. I have been hanging pictures and moving stuff around all morning.
We can't wait to go back!

Our weekend

We welcomed home a very happy Sam.

Celebrated Lucy's third birthday.

New Year's Eve by the numbers

 

The party began at 8. Mark brought 72 pages of games to play, 1 atomic clock, 1 sprig of Mistletoe, and 4 downloaded versions of Auld Lane Syne. 9 kids lasted past midnight, 1 did not. Johnson had to pause his dog joke 4 times because he was laughing too hard. We used 2 pounds of chocolate in the fountain. We had 8 bottles of sparkling juice which we thought might not be enough. We have 3 left over. We played 2 truths and 1 lie. We missed 8 of you who were stuck by weather in Colorado.

Sweet Caroline

Caroline Jane Reynolds
12-28-07
10lbs 3oz

St. Louis

We spent the weekend in St.Louis with my family. We shopped on Friday.... if you want a new wardrobe, just conveniently forget to bring all of your clothes on a trip, that's what Matt did. Then we went to Old Town St. Charles for this. which we had been to before but this was the first time the girls were old enough to understand it. We stayed in on Saturday and had a wonderfully relaxing day. My aunt fed us like kings (she's one of the best cooks I know) and we opened our gifts before heading to bed. We ate here before heading home today. We waited over an hour for a table but it was definitely worth it. The best pancakes I've ever had. Can you believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve?

Babies and Christmas shopping

Wasn't today just glorious? To be able to send my kids out to play in December without coats on was such a treat. Of course, as you've all heard by now, the weather wasn't the only great thing about today. We learned that we will be meeting our new Korean friend Sam shortly after the new year. And we discovered that Sam and Oliver will be joined by not one but two Jeppsen boys in May. How fun is that?!!

On a totally unrelated note, the girls wrote letters to Santa. Maggie asked for a goldfish and a pink polka dot bow for our fireplace. Lucy wants a pony in a house with a handle and an apple. Like a real apple, not a computer. In a few short years, it will be a real computer and pony they are asking for.

Christmas parties at Lighthouse East

What a difference a year makes

And to think....by next year, there will be 3 more!

The past few days....

Enjoyed the most perfect weather at SDC on Saturday. Swam it up the next night at Big Cedar.

live and learn

Soooo...we thought we'd try something new to celebrate black Friday. "We" being 4 SUV's full of shoppers, some excited, some not so excited. We hit Tanger outlet in Branson about an hour before they were scheduled to open at midnight. It's a good thing we got there early as parking spaces got scarce really fast. The deals turned out to be not so good and it was so busy you could hardly move in the stores. The lines to check out would of taken us hours so we walked away with very little to show for our efforts. We were home and in bed by 2:30. But.....I must say.....it sure was fun!

santaphobia

All of my kids hate Santa. I thought for sure Oliver would be my one child who could be brave enough to get within 6 feet of Mr. Claus without screaming. I was wrong.

It's official!

New York

In list form:

Thursday
Got to our hotel around 7:00
Times Square- wonderful
Maxie's Deli- very authentic
Ferry to and back from Stanton Island- the best scenery we had

Friday
Woke up at 6:00
Breakfast at Pershing Square- the only overpriced meal we ate
Gray line bus tour of downtown Manhattan- the best way to see New York, did you know most of lower Manhattan is built on a landfill?
World Trade Center site- more interesting than I thought it would be
Lunch at the Stage Door Deli- reasonable, authentic, and good!
St. Paul's Chapel- I think this is a must see
Central Park
Apple Store
H&M with a kids' section- thank you to Missy for telling me the exact location
Macy's- the highlight being the old wooden escalators
Gap
Our hotel room to rest up and change clothes
Dinner at Mesa Grill- wonderful!!
Empire State Building- we miraculously didn't have to wait in line
Off to bed at midnight

Saturday
breakfast at McDonald's in Times Square- not planned, it's a long story
Gray line bus tour of uptown Manhattan- Our tour guide was great, he told us where the stars lived, where movies and TV shows were shot, and where to get the best deals on food and knock-offs.
The Guggenheim
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rockefeller Center
lunch at a pizzeria
Anthropologie
NBC studio tour- got to see the SNL and Today show sets, they are both way smaller than they look
ABC Carpet and Home- the most beautiful store I've ever been in
Fishs Eddy- I think this was one of my favorite things of the whole trip
Wholesale district- gross
Strawberry- a lot like a gigantic Rue21
back to the hotel to rest a bit
Grand Central Station- unbelievably beautiful
Dinner at a deli on Times Square
Souvenir shopped on the streets
Dessert at a pizzeria
Hershey's store
M&M's store
Had to buy the 5 for $10.00 I heart NY shirts!
Toys R Us- to take pictures of the 4 story tall ferris wheel for the girls
Back to the hotel room for the girls while the guys explored the Chrysler building and the Waldorf Astoria

Sunday
NYC marathon day
breakfast at Grand Central Station
shuttle to the airport
left for home!

Things we learned
Food is not as expensive as we thought it would be.
New Yorkers are nice, we didn't encounter one rude person the whole trip.
Don't prepay for a shuttle to and from the airport.
Ellis Island closes way early.
For 4 people, a taxi is just as cheap as taking the subway.
That Bryan and Holly are great travel companions/roommates.

Halloween

Live from New York....it's almost friday night

I'm doing a quick blog from the Apple store. We are having a great time, our hotel is wonderful, the weather is cold enough that we need a coat but it's still comfortable, and we are seeing a lot more than we thought we'd have time for. We got to our hotel last night around 7, we walked 10 minutes to Times Square where we had a great dinner at Maxie's. We took the subway to the Stanton Island Ferry and sailed that to the island and back. (Thanks Mark, we loved it!!) After one more walk around Times Square we headed to bed around midnight. We woke up early this morning, ate a yummy breakfast at Pershing Square, and hopped aboard our grayline sightseeing tour bus. Thank you to the 20+ people who insisted we take the double decker bus tour, it's been so informative. We feel like Manhattan experts now after listening to the tour guide talk about the history and culture of NY. We've seen more than we would of any other way, too. We stopped for an authentic NY deli lunch and then sightseeing at the WTC site. We also toured St.Patrick's church. We are now doing some shopping before heading over to Central Park. Tonight's plan includes dinner at Booby Flay's Mesa Grill followed by the Empire State Building. I hope to post pictures soon! Miss you all!