Reed's First School Project

Reed Land’s Arctic Habitat

First, Reed cracked the eggs and mixed the cake.

Next, he added blue food coloring to make the water underneath the ice. Then he put the cake in the oven.

First he made penguins from marshmallows and oreos.

Then he made polar bears.

He then made seals by smashing the end of coconut covered marshmallows and cutting them up.

Reed put icing on the cake to make the “ice”.

Reed put all of the animals, plants, and natural resources that he studied about to make this project on his cake.

Reed is proud of his arctic habitat. He shared it with his friends as a snack!

Trike-A-Thon

 The boys had a trike-a-thon at their preschool. They were really excited about it.

 Will thought it was great to get to bring his bike to his school. Of course, Will also gets excited about going to the doctor, having x-rays, and getting homework.

 Tuck and Will were both excited that Pop and Lola were there to watch them ride.

 Will's class was all decked out with their bikes and their helmets.

 Pop helped tuck steer. Tuck really doesn't understand the whole "pedal" concept.

 But he does know how to zoom. He is so cute on his trike.

The boys are really enjoying their first year at their new school this year. It has been a good move having them at the Path Preschool.

Tuck is Three! Pete the Cat Birthday!

 It's hard to believe that our baby boy is three years old! I can't believe that it was that long ago. Abbey pulled out another birthday spectacular with a great birthday breakfast.

 Now, I heard from several of our friends that a 9:00 AM breakfast birthday was entirely TOO early, but I hate going to birthday parties, so I thought everyone would be glad to get the birthday out of the way early.

 Tuck loved "Pete the Cat" so Abbey go everything all decked out for a great birthday party. Lola came in to help and celebrate with us.

 Abbey put hershey kisses in little eggs with mice faces drawn on them. They kids got to hunt for mice and found "mouse poo" inside.

 Tuck was really excited about his birthday presents.

 Tuck's unconventional birthday cake was a multiple layered pancake with all of the colors from Pete's New Shoes book. White Shoes - whipped cream, Red Shoes - strawberry jam, Blue Shoes - blueberry jam, and Brown Shoes - chocolate gravy.

 Uncle Bill got to play with Tuck a little bit with his new gadget toy.

 Tuck had plenty of help opening some presents.

Lots of friends came and the boys were really excited. Tuck's main friend these days is his crib buddy from Taiwan, Wei. So the other kids entertained the other friends. 

 Everybody loves Wei.

Cate loves Tuck. We are happy that we have such great family and friends. Happy birthday Tuck! Love you so much!

Fall Ball 2014

 It's something that we said that we would never do, but alas, we did sign Reed up for Fall Travel Ball this year. And guess what? He LOVED it. It was totally his prerogative and he really loved his team.

 We had a great team of seven kids and 3 of the kids are in my Sunday School class this year. I loved watching Reed improve under the direction of Coach Terry. He has been a great influence on Reed.

 The little brothers also loved getting to go to all of the games. Well, maybe love is a little bit too strong of a word. They, at least, tolerated going to the games.

 All four of Reed's grandparents were able to make it to at least one of the games. Of course having grandparents at your game is much better than parents being there.

 Reed got several goals and he really worked hard on his footwork.

 Sometimes, Mr. Brian gives Reed tutorials when he is keeping the boys.

 Soccer season is over, so now we are going to have random practices to keep the boys in shape, but we will start back again in the Spring.

Family Day Celebration!

Last week for Family Day celebrations, we took the boys to Dave and Busters. Will loves to bowl. Well, at least he talks about bowling constantly.

The boys all enjoy throwing bowling balls really hard at wooden floors. We had a lot of fun.

The boys were excited that Mr. Brian and Uncle Bill joined us on our Family Day Celebrations. It was a special treat for them for sure. 

For dinner we went to Chuy's. The boys love Chuy's. We like taking them to Chuy's because it is loud and we are a loud family. 

Uncle Bill still has pictures on his phone from when we went to get the boys four years ago. They were very impressed to see how much they had grown since then.

After we bowled we went to the game part of Dave and Busters. It was 1/2 price games night. I bought $25 worth of credits and I was beginning to think that we would never use them up. Then Will played a game an hit the jackpot and won 500 tickets. Then I went over to another machine and hit several jackpots and won 2500 tickets. Then we hit several more big ticket wins and by the time we finally ran out of the credits we had 7700 tickets.

The boys each got to have enough tickets to get pretty decent prizes. I think that it was actually one of the best Family Day celebrations we have had. So much fun.

Will-A-Versary - 4 Years

Four years ago today, we were blessed doubly. Not only did we get our sweet Nash, but also our baby Will. Will was definitely the chunky monkey that we expected. Every picture of this little guy showed us the sweetest little round cheeks and legs. He definitely was well-fed and cared for by his Nanny. He was only 4.5 months old, but it seemed like we had waited forever to hold him.

Will and Abbey had an instant connection since they share a birthday and that connection has continued to grow for the past four years. You have never met a boy who loves his mama more than Will loves his mama. Thankfully though, Will has a HUGE heart and there is plenty of love for everyone-- and I do mean everyone. Will loves people. He loves his parents, his brothers, his grandparents, his Uncle Bill, his teachers, his church leaders, his friends, his toys, the insects, the garbage collector, the cashier at Wal-Mart, the police men, he loves everyone.

Will keeps the world laughing with his silly antics and phrases. He loves a good bag and a hat. He will do almost anything for a laugh and gets excited about the smallest of details.

 Dear Will,

I am so proud to be your Daddy. I love the way that you love life. I love the fact that you wear Rainboots on a sunny day and gloves on the hottest of days. I love that you change clothes 15 times a day and never once worry about the fact that they may not match or even be the right size. I love how you can play for hours putting together legos. I love that you give people hugs and you make them happy. Will, you are a larger than life personality and you bring lots of laughter into our home. Will you are so loved. We are are so glad that God chose us to be your parents. I love you, Will-Will!

Love, Daddy

Nash-A-Versary - 4 Years

Four years ago today, Abbey and I woke up in Taipei. We kissed our sweet little Reed goodbye and left him with Lola and Uncle Bill. We promised to bring him back some brothers. We took a taxi to the domestic airport and boarded a plane that took us to Taitung. After dropping our items off at the hotel we headed to the baby home where we met our sweet Nash for the first time. He had just woken from his nap and was told that he was about to go and meet his "mama and daddy". I am sure that he must have been as scared as we were. 

After a few minutes, Nash warmed up to us and allowed us to play some games with him. He was so small yet, so grown-up acting. He was such a smart boy. After a few hours, he was comfortable with us  and knew that he was once again experiencing a life change. In his 2.5 year life, he had lived through lots of little changes. I wished there was some way that we could have assured him that we were his mama and daddy -- forever. 

Flash-foward four years and Nash is a thriving, happy, precious, caring, loving, charming, adorable six year old. He fiercely loves his brothers. He loves to help his mom, and joke around with me (his daddy). He is a gymnast, a climber, and still has the most adorable dimples you've ever seen. He is home. He has stability. He is loved--dearly, loved.

 Dear Nash,

I am so proud to be your Daddy. I love the way you jokingly wipe my kisses off, but I know that you save just a little bit of them so that you can remember me. I love the way that you help your Mama and how you even thank God for times that you get to help her when you pray. I love the way you take care of Will and Tuck and the way you look up to Reed. I love that you smile. I love your smile. Your beautiful teeth and your dimples. You brighten a room when you enter it. I love your artistic nature and your attention to detail. Nash, you are dearly loved. We love you so much and we are so thankful that God let us be your parents. You make us happy. I love you, Fish.

Love, Daddy