Report Card

Today Madi brought home her very 1st report card! We are happy to report that Madi received mostly scores of "S," or, secure with skills. There were a couple areas that she received "D's," or, showing growth and improvement. I had to laugh when I saw she got a "D" in "aware of personal space and the personal space of others." Yes, my daughter is a "hugger." We attended a family game night at her school the other night and noticed right away how many of her classmates she had to hug as we arrived (even a boy to which daddy gave a funny look :o) Already the girls are giggly, hugging girls....the middle school & high school years should be a blast:) Otherwise, Madi is doing great in school; she can identify all colors, shapes, and letters. We are proud of our little Miss Smarty Pants:)

Happy Birthday to my Baby

Dear little Gracie bug, Happy Birthday! Two years already since we welcomed you into our little family; seriously, where on earth did it go? I can't begin to explain to you what a joy you've been to our family and can't imagine my life without you. I love you so much. You are such a silly little girl and you can be such a little devil sometimes, but that's what we love about you. You are such an adventurous little thing, nothing gets in Gracie's way! And boy oh boy are you a tough little cookie; a new bump or bruise everyday usually as a result of one of your daring stunts:) Thank goodness for all your guardian angels up in heaven...they would all love your anitcs;) Here's a few things about my little girl so I can always remember what you were up to when you were two. Grace likes...fruit snacks, t.b. (tv), Barney, her babies, snow (and eating it), going outside, coloring with markers in places she shouldn't (her body, our couch, etc, etc.), the zoo (minus the rooster that tried to get her feet last time we were there; not really but that's how she tells it;) and life in general. Grace counts to 3, usually or will say, "one, two, one, two." When asked to say her ABC's she sometimes get the abc part out but always ends with, "w, x." Thank you Gracie for bringing to much joy to my life and to everyone you know. Thank you for running up to me when I come to pick you up at Grandma's house and yelling excitedly, "Mommy," and giving my legs a big hug. Thank you for making me smile everyday, even on days when it would be hard otherwise. And, thank you God for making me her mommy, I am so blessed. Happy Birthday dear, sweet little Grace. I love you with all my heart.

A day in the life of Grace...

An entire box of Froot Loops in the chair- silly Mommy, I don't need a bowl!

One Proud Mommy

Madi told me that there was a new boy in her class yesterday, we chatted a little about him and left it at that. This morning when I dropped her off her teacher came and shared with me how Madi had welcomed the new boy and helped him throughout the day, showing him how they do different things in class. The teacher thought it was so nice how caring Madi was towards the new boy. I'm so proud of my little girl!

Failed resolution...

Here we are, 9 days in to the New Year and I have failed one of my resolutions. My goal was to be better about updating this blog.....but, time just gets away from me! So, the Reed Review is back and I'll catch you up on what's been going on with us since my last post at the end of November!

We went and cut down our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving-we saw Doug & Sarah at the first tree farm we stopped at and Dave made fun of Doug for having a saw with him and not a chainsaw. We went to a second tree farm where we found this beauty and when my lovely husband went to start his chainsaw, it was OUT OF GAS! So, the owner of the tree farm cut down our tree for us:)

The whole family went to Madi's first Christmas concert! That's her in the middle in the black & purple dress. They were soooo cute!

This is where I celebrated my 29th Birthday this year, watching the Packers beat the Raiders! It was so much fun; Dave & I had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, tailgated with his aunt, uncle & cousins, then headed to the game. Thanks to my mom for watching the girls & to Dave's parents for the tickets!
The weekend of December 17th we celebrated Christmas with the Reed crew at Dave's parents house. We had a great weekend and they LOVED the family pictures we all had done for them. The kids all had so much fun playing together and putting on puppet shows for us with their new puppet theatres from Grandpa & Grandma!
Christmas Eve we went to mass with my family then to my parents house for the traditional taco dinner, 24 hours of A Christmas Story and presents. We were terribly spoiled as usual.

I got this awesome present from Doug & Sarah, Doug made it by the way! It's a growth chart to keep on our wall and it can be taken with if we ever move. I LOVE it!
December 26th we spent the afternoon with Dave's extended family, the Welter crew. It's always fun to get together with them. Dave's Grandma went in for triple bypass surgery on the 27th so it was great for everyone to be together.

And finally, we rang in the New Year with my mom, Doug & Sarah. The girls actually stayed up until midnight and probably would've stayed up later if we had let them! Crazy kids. So, not that we've been busy or anything, but maybe you can see why our blog has been neglected? We're still recovering from Christmas:)

Santa???

We were in Wal-Mart last week when we turned down an aisle where there was an older gentleman with a white beard and white hair standing. Grace tuned in to him immediately and said, "Santa!" I wasn't sure if he'd heard her or not but he had and he smiled and gave her a little wave. We walked a little closer to him, apparently Santa also needed some salad dressing that day;) As we were getting ready to turn around he said to Grace, "are you still being a good girl?" For those of you who know Grace well, being good is an area she may struggle in just a little bit. Her eyes got REALLY big and she just looked at him, shocked! We walked away and Grace, who always has someting to say, was quiet for a good 5-10 minutes, still taking in what Santa had asked her:) It was so cute!!!