Calling the Hogs (and Bears)...

...and maybe eating some spaghetti from between his toes.

Finally caught up! Whoop!

It feels so good to finally be caught up on the blog again! I'm going to try my best to post every week and not get that far behind again. So... here are a few pics from these last two weeks... They have been busy ones! Grandma and Pops came in for a visit... then KK came in... we've had 3 birthday parties, a sleep over, and LOTS of fun. Here they are...

Our handsome little man...so grown up!

Having a great time at his buddy, Carson Darby's, birthday party!

Carson's Birthday

Reid & Cole

Have I mentioned this kid LOVES "sketti noodles"???

Had a quick visit home to DFW this summer and got to see lots of our friends - here's Reid and Keagan =)

We do a babysitting co-op with several friends here in Little Rock - the kids LOVE it, and it gives us adults some free babysitting for nights out as well! Last weekend was our night to keep the kids... we had 5 (Alex & Kylie - the girls)... then these 3 boys - best buddies! (Reid, Cole, and Carson.) Here they all are getting ready for bed - it's too cute!

Benjamin and I on a date night - love him.

Enjoying some cake at Avery's birthday party... Reid loves him some Jump Zone!

Welcome, Annabel Grace!

On September 3rd, 2001 our beautiful niece, Annabel Grace arrived!

She was 9lbs 3 ounces and 21 inches long.

She was born in NYC, NY by proud parents Joe and Candice (Ben's middle brother).

Annabel, we are so excited to meet you and already love you so much!

First Day of Preschool

To say that Reid was excited to start preschool in his "new classroom" at his "new school" and take his teachers their "special presents", is an understatement. Ha! (He only said the words in quotes about 100 times!) We are so very thankful that Reid loves school - he loves to learn and loves meeting new people!

This year, he started at Second Presbyterian here in Little Rock. We've really liked the school so far! He is in the 2B class with his best buddy, Cole, and right next door are two of his other little buddies - Owen and Miles. He goes to preschool at Second Presby on Mondays and Thursdays from 8:30am - 12noon. Then on Tuesdays, he goes to our church's MDO from 9am - 2pm.

Here's Reid on his way to Meet the Teacher... He loves his new teachers - Ms. Karin, Ms. Sandy, and Ms. Sarah Jane!

First day of school (he's just a little excited)!

I think he looks so big in this picture carrying his own back pack! I asked if he wanted help and he said "No, Mommy...I a big boy now!" Mommy tears.

Finding his hook for his bag and jacket outside his classroom

With his buddy, Cole

Looking for his name =)

He found it and hung up his own bag

He and Cole playing puzzles in their new classroom

To celebrate the first day of school... we made "Happy Cake", of course!

Big Boy Pants

Reid is definitely NOT ready to begin potty training (Mommy CANNOT WAIT for the day he is), but Grandma sent us some Thomas the Train "Big Boy Pants" in a package and Reid was REALLY excited about them. I had a brief glimmer of hope that these might be the motivation he needed to start potty training... but nope. He's just not ready. And I'm not going to push it until he is. Preserving some of my sanity - ha! Reid did look really cute in his big boy pants, though, so here are a few pics!

Reid's First Movie

On Saturday, July 16th, Ben and I were feeling really brave and took Reid to see his first "real" movie in the theatre. He was so excited! We went to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie thinking it would be perfect because it was only an hour long. Reid was so not interested in Winnie the Pooh, but he REALLY like the previews for the other movies - ha! He made it about 45 minutes, and then we left because he was only interested in talking to all the other kids there. (Side note: Two weeks later, our playgroup took the kids to see Despicable Me, and he sat there the ENTIRE two hours... awesome! Reid LOVES movies as long as it's a movie he's interested in!)

Here's our little man playing video games while we were waiting on the movie to start... he's VERY serious about car games =)

Picking out his popcorn and candy (his favorite part, of course!)

The pictures inside the movie theatre didn't come out very good because I couldn't use my flash... oh well!

Me and my favorite little guy!

Shackelford Fire Station Visit

Over the summer my friend, Emily, also coordinated a playgroup on Wednesdays and always had such fun (free) things planned! One of my favorites was the fire station visit - the kids loved it! The Shackelford Fire Station was so nice to let us all come and tour the station. The firemen let the kids get in the trucks, tried on all their firegear, etc... what a great time!

Reid and Cole standing in awe... =)

Hanging out in the firemen's chairs

This was Reider's favorite part!

With his buddy, Cole

All the kids (and Reid was so done taking pictures - ha!)

Summer 2011

I'm really thankful that we had such a fun summer here in Little Rock and still having a hard time believing that fall is already here! I do have to say that I am so ready for cooler weather... summer here in Little Rock was hot, HOT, HOTTER... and then even more humid! (And I'm from Texas - I'm used the the heat!) Thankfully, our neighborhood has two really great community pools and we spent A LOT of time there these last few months. Reid LOVES to swim - he's definitely a little fish! Our summer routine was get up in the morning...breakfast...head to the gym to workout with some friends...then out to one of the pools for rest of the hot day. We swam...then swam some more... pretty much every day. The kids loved it and I secretly through a little party when the pool finally closed over Labor Day weekend. Ha!

A pic of Reid on the very first morning that the pool opened over Memorial Day weekend:

Swimming with Daddy

For moms with toddlers, these were THE BEST find this summer! We have tried every type of floaty out there, and these are the only ones I loved... They allowed Reid to swim on his own without flipping him on his back or face (even when he jumped in). They allowed me to relax a little out at the pool =)

With Cole and Alex

Two of my favorite LR Girls - Emily Martin and Mel Darby (BU friends as well!)

The evenings were nice when the Dads could take over! (Nate Darby, Ben, & Russ Martin)

Reider has also become quite the ham... he loves making people laugh!

Yep... I pretty much wear a hat every day in the summer.

Sand at a birthday party...

And, of course, SUCKERS!

In the mornings after all of us Moms were done working out, we'd let the kids in to do their "exercises"... too cute!

Reid and Cole... two little weight lifters in the making - ha!