Happy Birthday Buddy!

Reed woke up this morning rip, roaring, and ready to celebrate his birthday.



Manya brought him his birthday breakfast. Sausage biscuits from McDonald's.



Of course, Reed had to line up his trains to help him eat.



Reed was thrilled to get presents, although he didn't really get that many today.



Tonight, we took him for his favorite supper: "Rolls and Peanuts." He loves Logan's.



I think he likes to throw peanuts on the ground.



After supper he got to go ride the carousel at the Mall. He loves riding the Ostrich. He wanted Uncle Bill to ride with him.



They had a good time going round and round in circles.



Reed's birthday party is this Saturday, so he is going to get to have two celebrations.



Afterward we went to Target and were thrilled to finally get to meet little Macy! Macy is Nana and Putty's sweet little granddaughter.



Reed was a little bit timid around Macy.



But she was SO sweet!



Then he finally warmed up to Miss Macy.



When we got home, Manya gave him a new train, "Rosie". Tonight I realized that since Christmas I have replaced 34! batteries in these different trains! Thankfully, Enna and Poppy sent Reed a giftcard to buy lots of batteries!



He was EXCITED!



We didn't get him a cake, but gave him cupcakes from Cupcake Collection. Yum! Yum!

Click on the picture below to see Reed blowing out his birthday candles. And yes, before you asked his candles were a tea light and a #2 candle. We're going to do better on Saturday.

Valentine's Day Recap

So, here's a little recap of our Valentine's Day.

First, we woke up and got ready for church. It's 3 degrees below cold here and we're about tired of it.



After we headed out of our house, we went our normal breakfast hotspot, Hardee's.



Of course, Reed was excited to see that Mrs. Velberta and Mr. Mel were there. They are always there, so it wasn't much of a surprise, but Reed has to ask every week as we approach, "Where's Velberta?"



Reed was extremely sweet yesterday, which happened to be a great Valentine's Day.



Then, it was time to head to church. Abbey, Candace and I teach preteens. It's a blast.



Yesterday, our kids were a little hyper.



Well ... a lot hyper. It could be the fact that they have had so many snow days, or ...



The fact that we brought Coke and Dr. Pepper and Candace brought Brownies and Cupcakes.



At any rate, they were a lot of fun.



And I was thrilled that they were liking our Sunday School music CD so much. They actually wanted to have a dance off.



Then we had to go to Extended Teaching Care, my least favorite place of service within the church.



But, I was having a blast with them yesterday.



And they were having a lot of fun too.



Until Miss Leah came in and said that her and Candace only had 1 kid in the nursery, so she volunteered Candace to stay with Abbey so we could go to church. So, I took the opportunity and heard a great sermon.



After I left, the kids made Valentines.





Kolbi, Reed's good friend enjoyed making his Valentine.



Of course, Reed and Britton had a blast working together.



Manya came to church with us yesterday. Afterwards, we all went to Zaxby's. We were supposed to have roast for lunch, but Abbey had yet another crock pot issue. This time, it was forgetting to turn it on!



Last night, we had Danny, Megan, Candace, and Manya over for Valentine's Lasagna.



Abbey tested fondue for the baby shower she is throwing for Tamara tonight.



Reed was very impressed.





Our guests really enjoyed their meal.

Afterward, we played "What's Yours Like?" It is so much fun!



Danny really impressed us yesterday when he said that he had gotten Megan a "punch kit" for Valentine's day. We were eager to see what a Punch Kit was, but it turned out not to be as "techno" as we thought. What he meant, was that he had bought her all of the supplies to make punch, because Megan loves punch.



So, all in all, I would say we had a great Valentine's Day.

Happy Balentime's Day!

Okay, so we're not really celebrating Valentine's day really big this year. We celebrated last weekend and decided that we wouldn't get each other presents.



But, what kind of husband would I be if I didn't get Abbey some flowers.



A few years ago, when Ava and Brookie got married, I went early the church with Lola to help Mr. Bob do the flowers.



The experience was invaluable for me, because he taught me how to arrange flowers. That meant I didn't have to pay crazy florist prices anymore. I could buy grocery store flowers and just do them myself.



So, yesterday, I went to Whole Foods (they have great flowers usually, but not as great as Central Market if there are any Texas readers out there!) and bought some flowers. This afternoon, I headed over to Manya's with Reed where the flowers were hiding and fixed them right up. Abbey was surprised.



We had not been out of the house since around 4:00 yesterday, so today at 5:00 we were stir crazy and decided to go Chili's for supper. We had a giftcard, so that was our main enticement to go. We called Uncle Bill and asked him if he wanted to meet us there.



Afterwards, we went to Target and did a little birthday party shopping. Can you believe that Reed is going to be 3 on Tuesday?!?!?!? We are in complete denial. Just imagine. In a little over a month from now, it will be the three year anniversary of referral and the birth of Flat Reed! What a blessing he has been in our lives!





We're so excited about getting a Flat "little girl" sometime in the future, too!



The waiter at Chili's apparently realized his service was less than stellar so he offered Reed a balloon.