My First Halloween!

Reed has been experiencing his first Halloween all day long! He went to the Pumpkin Patch today with his best friend Britton. Then after a nap (I bet you can't guess who napped with him!), it was time to get ready for well ... what exactly was he getting ready for? He's too young to "trick or treat" and too young to play the Harvest Festival games, so I guess he was just getting ready to be cute!



Reed did really well in his ultra-cute, ultra-HOT Monkey suit! He even wore his little hat pretty good!



Then he went over to Mia's house to see her, but she wasn't in her outfit yet! We took the opportunity to use their beautiful pumpkin and mum display for a cute picture of Reed. I must say that I think this is one of my new favorites!



Ms. Jennifer sent Reed a Halloween card and told us to make sure that we were to come by her house and trick-or-treat. She had a set of books and banana puffs (perfect for cute little monkeys!).



WE LOVE MS. JENNIFER! She is the best!



Here is a picture of the fam at the Harvest Festival tonight!



Best friends -- a monkey and dronkey!



"Dronkey," says the Monkey, "Did you make a stinky!"



The dronkey and monkey posed for a picture at the photo stop!



He is the cutest little monkey that I think ever happened!



Even the preacher loves our little monkey!

Coming this week: "What To Do While Sitting in a High Chair," "Miss Jane Comes for a Visit," and "A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch."

Sweet Sleep!

I had to go to the dentist to get what I thought was an infected area around my fake tooth checked out! Turns out it was only a piece of food! I came home from the dentist around 2:00.



Reed was asleep in the pack-n-play in our room. I looked at him and thought he looked like he would be more comfortable if he laid down in my arms. Mommy thought that was kind of a silly decision, but I went ahead and made it! Mommy went to buy groceries while we napped. When she came home, I guess we were so cute, she decided to take some pictures of us! Finally, at 4:45 she made us wake up!



Last night I mentioned that Reed was sleeping in the P-n-p because he was getting too tall and I was scared he would fall out! So, tonight, we adjusted the baby bed down to the lowest level and now Reed cannot jump out of it!



He didn't seem to mind it!



But, after a 3 hour nap, what could you really find wrong with the world?



He's been pretty happy since the big nap. He went with me to meet a tradesman at our new house for a bid and then we came home and he ate his baby food. It was yummy! Then daddy worked on some potato soup for supper while mommy put the finishing touches on her "pumpkin" cake for the harvest festival tomorrow night at church. The potato soup was AWFUL! If you were starving, it would suffice, but there would be no other reason to eat it!



Reed and I went to Lowe's to get a set of allen wrenches so that I could adjust Reed's bed down. We went by Krystal on the way home for a couple of burgers for mommy and me. I went there because I LOVE Krystal's apple pies. The problem is that I forget that our Krystal is the most inept one in all of America, right along with the Sonic in a neighboring town they compete for WORST restaurants in America! Needless to say, Krystal was out of apple pies!

Bubber is in his new adjusted height bed! Yippee!

Reed Climbs the Stairs

This morning Reed woke up and had a bottle. After a little while, he began thinking that he might need a morning nap. He decided to stretch out on the sofa. He looks pretty comfortable to me.



Once he woke up, he was all smiles for mommy. HE was pretty happy with life today!



Happy, that is, until IT came out!



He was not happy with the evil contraption, but apparently mommy felt it was necessary!



Reed decided that he would take a try at the steps. He figured out how to get up the first step, but couldn't quite figure out the other steps.



Until we were "Skyping" with Enna and boy did he climb then! He climbed all the way up the steps to the second floor!

He was lovin' it!


It was a lot of fun letting Enna talk to Reed on Skype (for those of you who do not have it, it is video phone over the web and it is free. You should get it!). She even got to see him take his bath.



Apparently Reed thought something was wrong with his toy box, because he spent about 10 minutes counting and surveying its contents tonight. First he thought maybe Kobi might have borrowed some of his toys, but we told him that was just not possible.



Then he immediately thought Hannah Claire might have gotten them, but when he remembered that HC's mommy likes to shop, he figured that wasn't the case. Plus, we reminded him that the people in Taiwan had still not sent Hannah Claire's referral. He got really mad and threatened to call the agency!



He thought it might be his new cousin Joshi who took them, but he remembered that she was a baby girl and she couldn't play with "big" kid toys yet.



Then he blamed his girlfriend Raleigh because apparently he is not spending enough time with her in favor of the toys. We won't even go there ...



Finally ... he realized they were there all along!



They were just hiding under the big dump truck!



P.S. Since Reed is getting so good at climbing into things and out of things, he is sleeping in the Pack-n-play tonight because we need to lower the mattress in his bed!

MMmmm ... Teething Biscuits

Reed wore a tie to church today. Well, sort of. He was actually wearing a onesie that had a tie screenprinted on it. Mommy immediately wanted it this summer when she saw it at Old Navy. Reed doesn't get a lot of clothing time at Old Navy, because Gymboree has taken up a lot of his wardrobe budget.



This morning, I woke up a long time before Reed did. I kept waiting and waiting for him to wake up, because he had not woken up all night so I hadn't had a chance to feed him. Finally, at 7:15 he woke up and had a bottle. We had to do a lot after that. We had to make mommy wake up and take her shower. I came downstairs and fed Reed his fruit and then we went back upstairs to get Reed dressed. Mommy was ready by then so Daddy got to take his shower and get ready.



We were all ready and out the door by 8:40! That's great since Sunday School doesn't start until 9:15. We had time to swing by Hardee's for a sausage biscuit.

We had extended care this morning, so Reed came in the room to help us with the 2 and 3 year olds. Thank goodness, one of my Sunday School students Alexis, volunteered to help us! We had triplets and several other kiddos. I don't know how Mommies and Daddies do it when they have 3 at one time!



We went to look at the new house today to make sure we were on the same page with colors. Mrs. Jenny came to look at the house with us. She also told mommy that she had a "friends and family" coupon from Gymboree for her! That made mommy smile!

When we came home, Reed was ready for a snack and so we gave him a teething biscuit. He was MOST, let me say it again, MOST! impressed with the biscuit! He loved it! He ate it and got it all over him!



This is yummy! I think I am going to enjoy "getting teeth" now! Well, not really.



The teething biscuit started esaping from his grasp once it was sufficiently slobbered upon, so he had to go and get it. He is getting 2 teeth right beside each other on the lower level.



You won't get away from me now! It was a most enjoyable 30 minutes of chewing on a teething biscuit to say the least! Now, washing the cute little outfit could be another story!

I'm Proud to be an American (and they can't take that away!)

Today we completed our Writers' Conference for 2009-2010 curriculum. I had an excellent group of writers. One writer is not pictured, Mary, because unfortunately she became ill and couldn't come today. We also had the help of a real live missionary, but I can't show her photo for security reasons.

Second Row:
Pam (Florida), Natalie (Texas), Beth (Mississippi), Reed (Tennessee), Susie (Illinois), Mark (Missouri), missionary, Jeff (Tennessee), Dave (Ohio)

First row: Stephanie (Tennessee), Joanna (Tennessee), Charlotte (Tennessee), and GG (Missouri)



Mrs. Beth is our very dear friend and one of my writers. She just loved getting to see and play with Reed.



I finally figured out how to play with the photos, so the next few you will see have been edited some.

When we got home, we had a special package from the US Department Citizenship.



Reed got his official certificate of citizenship along with a letter from the president.



Reed did not want his mommy taking away his America!



Reed thought that President Bush's letter looked very tasty!

Is This The Cutest Baby Ever?

Our little natural learner was totally impressed by the rain and other things that have been happening in our backyard this week. He's been having a lot of fun with Lola and I think that Lola's been having a lot of fun with him! She's been nice to bring them to see us at conference.



Sometimes, I think it would be so neat to see what he is thinking!



Other times, when you see a face like this, you know exactly what he is thinking! Happiness! This is also the smile that we got when we came home tonight from conference. I've heard people saying that they are not sure what they ever did before their children. I am pretty sure that I understand them!



Last night, Reed was privileged to meet a missionary who served in Taiwan and she spoke Mandarin to him. Tonight, I had dinner with her and was telling her that our guide, Fion, told us while we were in Taiwan when we asked why the Taiwanese people did not adopt any of the Taiwanese babies that it was because they would "prefer to have children biologically."

At first I thought, "Yeah, me too." Now I think, "Thank you God that we couldn't! Thank you God! What a blessing our little baby boy is! He is incredible and we love him so much!"



The tooth continues to "slowly" creep forward. Lola reports that Reed had a pretty happy day!



Reed was showing mommy all of the ergonomic features of his paci. She was most impressed.