Tay's play

About a month ago we trekked to Colorado to see our brilliant niece, Tay in a play. We successfully turned an 8 hour drive into 12. Because it was that much fun to be in the car together. We just didn't want it to end. Or perhaps the reason weighs seven pounds and cries every third hour for the breastaraunt to re-open. Or maybe it was a 2 year old proclaiming she had to poop 4 times. So we stopped 4 times for this reason alone. She pooped 0 times. But you hate to call their bluff about such things. The thought of disassembling a car seat full of spewed bodily fluids, and then continuing to travel with said fluids,will instill a deep and motivating fear into even the laziest of parents (us!). We know. We've been those parents in many a parking lot. But our kids really do well on road trips, and I really actually love listening to them for hours on end together (mostly). We like to roll old school and for the most part, don't allow electronics or TV. So the kids do what I believe kids should do. They talk and sing and imagine. Until somebody got the black horse instead of the brown horse and then somebody else wants to eat their 11th bag of Craisins but I (finally) said no.  The traveling to get where we're going is often some of the most enjoyable time spent together I think. 

Maisey and Anabelle love to rock out. We have a family rock out song that  we started jamming to when Braden was deployed. It was something that could bring us all together and make us laugh, no matter how we were feeling about each other the minute before. I used to roll the windows down, crank the song up, and we had hand motions and everything. We still do it from time to time. We are a bit concerned about the level of rock in these 2 girls souls. 

And then there's Lila. This is her watching Anabelle rock out. Sometimes you can get her to do a gentle head bob or some mild dancing, but mostly she just observes. And then she asks to hear some church music.

Tay didn't know we were coming so it was fun to surprise her. The girls loved riding their horses and playing on their land. Maisey and Tigue were found at the road together and when Grandma questioned them Maisey said, "We are pretending to run away". Which is different from actually running away because, well because Maisey said so.  

Herein lies the essence of Maisey

And then there's these fine lookin fellers...

And there's Reese, living Braden's dream right in front of him. 

This is Tay being Charlie, you know, the one who wins a ticket to the factory.  We were so impressed with her performance and with the person she is. Can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

These three were quite a group. I don't think Rook was allowed to have any kind of opinion that day. 

And then when it was all over Braden flew to California for work and MaShay and I drove home with our 6 kids under 6. On Mother's day. It was memorable. This is MaShay taking 5 of them to the bathroom as she did probably 4 or 5 times. Except for the time Maisey pooped in her carseat. Twice. 

Thanks Gramma!

Braden's Mom came to hang out with us after Elise was born. It was all sorts of helpful to have her around, not to mention fun, as always. The girls all enjoyed private walks with Grandma, especially Maisey as the older 2 were in school the first half of the day. Whenever we drive by the splash pad Maisey talks to me about how she played with Grandma there. She also says her favorite song is the rainbow song that Grandma taught her, and hearing her sing it is close to the sweetest thing you'll ever hear. Getting Gramma to ourselves is such a treat, it's almost worth having a baby. Maybe I'll just save myself the agony and buy her tickets once a year. 

Blessing of Elise Hazel

We blessed Elise on June 2nd, making her exactly two months old. The blessing was so beautiful and filled me with such love and peace. I am so grateful each time we have blessed a child to have that additional insight into who they are and who we are to help them become. It is always a powerful reminder to me that they were His before they were ours. The spirit testified to me as I listened to the words of her potential and her innate purity and goodness. I have felt that about her all along. I wish I had taken a picture of all the men in the circle. I have a love and respect for each one of them and it was so touching for me to have them all hold her and assist in the blessing. The power of the priesthood is real. I am grateful to Braden for honoring it  and using it to bless our family. 

Our Eternal Heavenly Father, by the power of the Holy Melchizedek  Priesthood we hold,  we gather around this child to give her a name and a blessing. Father, the name that she will be known by upon the records of the church is Elise Hazel Reynolds.

Elise, at this time we take this opportunity, while surrounded by so many that love you, to bless you with all those things you will need in this life. We bless you with a strong body that will allow you to be of great service to your fellow men. We bless you with a sharp mind. Especially, Elise, we bless you that your spirit will be in tune with that of your Father in Heaven; that you will be an example of good and aware of those around you. Look for opportunities to lift those who are down trodden.

Elise, you come to this world with a kind spirit - one prepared to do great things. Look to your older sisters, as they will be a shining example for you and that your friendship and love for them will be something that is unbreakable.

We bless you with the desire to be obedient; to do that which is pleasing in the eyes of your Heavenly Father. We bless you with a forgiving spirit and that as you grow you will make choices that strengthen those around you that may come under your influence.

We bless you that when the time comes, you will be guided by the Holy Ghost to seek out an eternal companion worthy to take you to the temple of the Lord and honor you as the princess that you are. As children come into your life, they will look to you as an example of what to be.

We bless you with a strong testimony of the Savior and that your relationship will only grow stronger throughout your life.

Elise, you are loved by so many people. Look to them for guidance and pray always. These blessings we leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

And then I think about 75 people came over for lunch. It was the first time we have blessed one of our kids where our family could be there and it was a really wonderful day that we will cherish always.

To Lila: In case you don't remember every detail of your 5th Birthday....

It started the way every good day starts- by walking into a wall of balloons,  blown up and hung very late the night before by tired parents who reallllllllly love you. 

Then Anabelle presented you with a precious  birthday letter she wrote you.

Then I showed you the felt tree and ornaments dad and I made you . A few weeks ago I asked you if you could have any toy in the world for your birthday, what would it be. Your response: A toy Christmas tree. I wasn't sure what that meant exactly, but this is me trying to fulfill your wish. PS- I would never ever ask the other girls that, I only feel confident in my ability to meet your requests because they are always so simple (THANK YOU!) 

Then I crowned you with the birthday cake hat , to officially welcome the birthday fun.

And I presented you with this nifty contraption to get you to drink your hippy herbs in a pleasant and timely manner (I am running out of tricks and gimmicks to get through this part of our day), which you loved yesterday but would not tolerate today. 

Then I let you pick any movie to watch and you picked, drum roll please........The story of the baby Jesus. And when you asked to watch it again I said Yes! Because after all, you were the birthday girl, and it was baby Jesus. In June. Who says no to that?

Then we let you eat on the couch just so you could watch your "new brand baby", cousin Owen.  The baby obsession is real and anything but fleeting. The other day I asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up and you said, "A mommy with a baby in my tummy".


Then what to our wondering eyes did appear, but a retired Army veteran who now dresses up as Santa Claus year around. You were so stunned to see Him you didn't know what to do.

He showed you pictures of the North Pole, which I'm sure he printed off of fakesanta.com, and you were all excited. 

Meanwhile, half of Elise's face was lost in Owen's Caucasian afro-puff.

Mrs. Claus helped you open your present, sent from the head toy maker in the North Pole, who surprisingly shared your name! You didn't seem to care about that little made up fact, only that the ribbon come off the present and the present be returned to you.

Hi, I'm Lila, the girl who loves Christmas!

Mrs. Vania across the street made you this merry little cake because she thinks you are a  sweetie pie. And you are.

And Aunt Jess made you this little summer Christmas tree  with bubbles and crayons and candy.

It was a very Merry Birthday for a sweet little girl. Thank you for loving the little baby Jesus so much and for reminding the rest of us what the Christmas spirit is all year long. I told someone the other day that I think you were sent to our family to save us all and keep us on track.  

Reese-ster

What is Reese-ster? It's Easter with Reese, of course! A few days before Elise was born Reese brought half of his littles down for Easter weekend. We went to cousin Maren's baptism (the reason for his trip), reserved the base theatre and had a private movie (where Maisey escaped and was found and returned by a man at the bank), and had a hunt for Easter baskets. It's been a few months now so the details are kinda fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure I hid Braden's and Reese's so well that they gave up and I had to tell them where it was. Braden sang in church and our neighbors came to hear him. He did a beautiful job and LaVonna and I were both in tears. Then we went to Cody's for Easter dinner, and we also had an adults only dinner in Salt Lake with Reese, Cody, Jess, MaShay, and Jason. It was a great weekend. Reese warned me before he came that he had a history of sending women into labor early. I did indeed go into labor just one day after he left. I blame him for the unfinished 2012 photo books that I insisted be done by the time the baby was born.

Wrasslin!

Lila had so much fun with her cousins. She frequently talks about Dak & Tagg.

"I hope you dance"

 On March 23rd we celebrated Grandma Viola's 90th birthday. She talked to us about not having regrets and taking opportunities to dance when they present themselves.

It was a day of family and food and fun. And a lot of contractions as I recall (even though that doesn't start with the letter "f"). May I take a moment and rejoice in the fact that I am no longer pregnant. The rejoicing would be accompanied by a wild akaward jig, but I'm still a wee bit sore. Plus, who knows if Grandma meant that whole dancing thing literally or figuratively, anyway. 

Egg hunt! Sam helped Lila and Brock helped Maisey.  And then we all ate their candy and I took the quarters from the eggs. Perfect!

Grandma warming her hands over the cake fire representing nearly a century. 

I love that we named Anabelle after these two fine Southern  ladies. Lots of grit and lots of faith.What else do you need?

We are the proud owners of......a FIRST GRADER!

Anabelle graduated from Kindergarten a few days ago.
Maybe I got a little choked up during the ceremony. It's none of your business if I did or not. But I do tend to be the Mom that always feels a little sadness at milestones because I don't want it to be over. I just want all these little girls to stay mine forever.

Anabelle is a great big sister. I often think we take for granted how truly fantastic she is. Unfortunately for her she is our first and our expectations of her every move are sometimes a bit much. She really is an absolutely wonderful child and she brings us so much joy. 

Anabelle with Bo-Beesey, as she has come to call her.  You know, Elise rhymes with Bo- Beese, plus you have the standard "E" sound which must be added to the end any word associated with a baby. It was a no-brainer nickname when you really think hard about it, like I know I have.

Here we have the backs of heads of all the parents who got there even earlier than our five minutes early. They probably had more than 3 hours of sleep and no babies to nurse and their toddlers probably don't cry about things like purple stripes on their shoes and those weird strings on their bananas. Otherwise, my head would be in all their kids pictures forever. And there's Anabelle in the front row crossing her arms, as she did throughout all the songs. I asked her why she did that (considering her frighteningly good performing knack), and she said the hand actions were funny and she didn't want people laughing at her. Hmmmmm. Please also note that her hair was curled with a curling iron. If you ever see her and notice that this is the case please either give me a hug or buy me a Dr. Pepper because you can assume I need one of the two after having endured this whining experience. 

How did this happen already?!?! Didn't we JUST bring her home from the hospital in the back of our Kia Sportage,  feeding her with a syringe and wondering if it was okay that she frequently went cross-eyed. 

re-run. literally.

Let us ever so briefly recall last summer when I signed Anabelle up for the military kids run. And there was weeping and wailing and and a meltdown of colossal magnitude. So this year when sign-ups rolled around once again I decided it would be a nice opportunity for her to face it again with all the courage and maturity she has gained over the last year. I pumped her up for it in the weeks preceding the race, reminding her how fast she is and expressing my utmost confidence in her not only to finish, but to smoke all the boys older than her (because she can). By the time it was race day she was ready. As luck would have it, it turned out to be a very cold and very rainy morning. We assumed they had cancelled the race, but decided to drive by anyway. There was no on at the starting line so I asked the lady standing under the awning if they had rescheduled the race. She said that people had showed up and wanted to run so they had already started the race. Oh the tears from the backseat. Anabelle decided she would run it in the cold rain, even though she was starting so far behind everyone else and really had no chance of winning. Braden ran it with her and he said she was running a pace that he himself would keep. Although it (once again) didn't go as we wanted, I was really proud of her for running anyway. She demonstrated exactly what I wanted her to. Truth be told, I was proud of me for getting out of the car to take a picture of them.

The day I stopped having to have 5 girls ready by 8:30

Glorious day that it was. Lila graduated from preschool two weeks ago. Unfortunately Braden was TDY that week so he missed it. Uncle Cody was able to come, which Lila always gets excited about. She loved going to school and it was a really good experience for her. She has had a rough time in the last few weeks, I think she is missing it. Every day she asks if its a school day for her. I only have to tell her that its not about 80 more times, so that probably won't get old. 

Mrs. Melinda & Ms. Marji