Mother's Day

This was my first Mother's Day as a mom of two and how special this time has been so far! We arrived home from Destin on Saturday just in time to head over to my Aunt and Uncles house for dinner with Maw Caldwell and the Dallas Caldwells. We ate on their beautiful patio and enjoyed the great weather. On Sunday, we went over to my parents' house for Brunch with them, Ma and Charmaine. They made some great breakfast foods like homemade cinnamon rolls (b/c Grayson asked for them) and quiche. They all kept the boys while Beau and I headed to the Baptism Prep class for Walker. We later made a spontaneious visit to the Seemans' house and back to my parents for some more time on their back patio.

Overall, we had plenty of fun and I felt very loved! 

Walker looks absolutely miserable :) 

Happiest of Mother's Days to me!

Who gave this kid a hose?! Pop, that's who. 

Grayson brought these Mother's Day gifts home from his week at school:

Some of my newest, favoritest foot and hand art! That butterfly is so pretty!

:)

This butterfly is pretty too! In this one year of school, I'm already running out of storage for it all!

Lately

The Reynolds Family didn't let having a newborn slow us down! Nope, we've been movin' and groovin' and here to tell you all about it is my iPhone camera....

Heard Museum of natural Science and wildlife sanctuary - We bought a Groupon for a year membership to this hidden gem in McKinney. So glad we did! Cool animals and some great walking and hiking trails. It's so peaceful that I may actually go without the kids sometime! They have great camps, displays and shows that change out regularly. I have been putting together a document with things to do this summer and this has made the list! Grayson was more interested in the hose that they used to give the animals water than the actual animals. And the screws and nails that the exhibits were built with than the exhibits themselves. ;)

Snake exhibit! So creepy but he loved it.

I love seeing his curiousity. He wanted to know how everything worked.

Making breakfast with an Almost-3-Year-Old - Grayson is at the age where he wants to be involved in absolutely everything we do. He wants to know about it, why we're doing it, what it does/is, and how he can help, which all involves him pulling up a chair and/or tools. Fortunately, no tools came to breakfast prep this morning but he did re-arrange the eggs to where they were stacked on top of each other allowing him to fill the empty crate holes with a lot of cheese. I pick my battles. And you're probably wondering how the counter in the background became so cluttered. When you figure it out, LET ME KNOW.

Loved having his help but I had to have Beau come get him!

Walker's help is so much easier on me ;)

FamJam - Our Church puts this on once a month on a Wednesday night and it's so much fun! Designed mainly for the kids, it was fun to have them in there to worship with us and not have to worry about them being loud. There were balloons, slides, a great sermon just for the kids, "God" spoke to them over the loud speaker (SO funny to see their reactions) and the band was made up of high school kids. I loved the energy! 

Grayson and Daddy clapping to the music

Walker was awake for the whole thing. Here he's doing "The Sprinkler" ;)

Tried to get a pic of the cute H.S. band - oh well.

Brothers - What, this doesn't constitute as being busy? YOU try making a toddler fall in love with his newborn brother! It's not easy but it's a beautiful thing when it happens. :)

For a while, he would sneak touches when he thought we weren't looking. ;)

And then it was quite easy when M&M's were on the line. (Anything for a snapshot of them in their matching brother outfits!)

And then he curled up next to him and fell asleep without being asked. I call all of this....progress!

Melt my heart! Feeding W for the first time.

Bear hunts - Out of nowhere, Grayson has started announcing that there are bears at Mimi and Pop's house and that we need to go "get them." As always, I didn't get the actual hunt on video - I always miss the good stuff! But this is still cute. Aunt Amanda was a great companion on his hunts! He uses a make-shift shield (the lid to his tool box) and sword on his hunts.

Amanda's Visit - I think I already captured some of this trip but we love, love, loved having Aunt Amanda visit from Columbus! She came down to meet Walker and shower Grayson with some Auntie play time. She gives him so much attention when she's in town and he loves it! Other than some floor time, we shopped, dined with family and she went on A LOT of bear hunts with Grayson at Mimi and Pop's house. ;)

Legos!

Armed with hats and guns, they began their bear hunt.

Cowboy Day at school - We get a kick out of theme days around here and you better believe that the Reynolds know how to do Cowboy Day! Just look at this preciousness:

Thanks to our good friend Whitney who gifted G these chaps for his 1st birthday! What? Totally practical. :)

These cowboy boots are officially retired - so sad to see them go!

Cute school crafts

Cowboy theme? I guess Texas/Houston/NASA? Oh well, any footprint craft is going in the archive!

The Circus - Again, love me some Groupon. We got some super cheap seats right up front and close to the action (really, there are no bad seats at the Dr. Pepper Center) for the circus right here in Frisco. I love when things take less than 10 minutes to get to! We loved every minute and thanks to our police officer neighbor who worked the event the night before, we knew exactly when to leave to beat the crowd! Here's a summary of the Shrine Circus: beautiful animals, stereotypical cheesy glittery announcers, carnies hocking over-priced trinkets DIRECTLY to our child (Beau almost clocked one of them), fun elephant and camel riding intermission, seriously amazing motorcycle performance, unnecessarily loud techno and dance music (this is not your Water for Elephants circus, you guys), and female entertainers who are (more than likely) former strippers. Or currently strippers. Just telling the truth, y'all. 

Isn't he beautiful?

Daddy and Grayson watching the tigers!

Moms Night Out - I get ridiculously excited to see these girls! These are the moms from our play group and I just never imagined that we'd become so close. We don't have a lot of turnover in this group and we're going on 2 years of being together. Watching our toddlers and families grow together has been such a treat!

I don't know where these pictures should live but my children are BRILLIANT and this should be celebrated. Just look at that structure he built...

 and that smile on a 3 week old as he looks at the camera. That's hard to do at that age!

 

Coming up: Andrea's trip to the Big D to help me with my kitchen renovation, the kitchen project itself, Walker's Baptism, our family trip to Destin, and our Spring Break antics.

Christmas Recap: Crafts & Gifts!

I definitely wanted to do a recap of this part of our Christmas since it was really the first one where Grayson "got it." I feel a little silly capturing all the gift pics but we took them and I know I'll want to look back someday. We look forward to incorporating more of Jesus' story next year when Gray is older. His school really did an excellent job of this (his nativity crafts hung on the tree and are already put away :( ) I'm excited to get some family traditions started as well. I've already made a list! :)

Christmas crafts sent home with him from school - I don't know where they found the time with all the Christmas program practices!

The top one says that he was going to give me a "brother" as my present and that he would give his brother presents as well. Too cute!

My favorite! We did this last year at Halloween but I love this Christmas theme! It's even on canvas and his feet are so much bigger than just last year!

His report from the last week before Christmas. These pictures show up so much bigger and better on my iPad.  :)

2012 Christmas Card

 We had Beau's side of the family over a couple of days before Christmas since everyone had to head in opposite directions on the actual day. Everyone brought a dish, Beau's mom made the most unbelievable pecan pie and the kids definitely had a Christmas to remember! We only buy for the kids on the Reynolds side of the family, which I LOVE! It's so much more relaxing not to buy for 6+ other adults and we can really have fun with the kid stuff. :)

Reynolds family tree

Beau's parents gave Baby Walker some cute clothes!

Grayson's new excavator - it moves!

He knows who has the pocket knife around here! :) Immediately took it to Dadgy.

Aunt Kara and Uncle Todd gave G this metal dump truck - perfect for all his outside work! 

Grayson's first scooter and helmet from Grammy and Dadgy :)

G and his cousin Payton eagerly awaiting the Santa sacks! They know those carry the BIG gifts. :)

A ride-on excavator - it is so cool!

He can operate the bucket and it swivels like a real one. :) He really loves it.

On Christmas Eve, my parents had a cocktail party so the Dallas Caldwells all came over and enjoyed quite a spread while Grayson ran around and entertained everyone. It was here that we realized he has absolutely come out of his shell and that he would be just fine walking down the aisle in front of all those people at Andrea's wedding! What a ham he has turned out to be!

On our way to Christmas Eve service!

Aunt Gayle and Uncle Jimmy gave him an adorable little backpack that is just his size. He loves carrying it!

Showing off to cousins Scott and Meredith

Christmas morning at our house was just really cool. Beau and I were looking more forward to it than Grayson was.  This was after we were up until well after 1am in panic over a broken piece of the train table. Fortunately, we worked through it and the Asels (our neighbors) came over and helped assemble everything. They are so good to us!

Tree on Christmas morning

First sight of the train table - he was running! :) A gift from Maw Caldwell

Ahh, love that bed head

He loves Daddy's leaf blower so now he has his own to help

Plenty of bath toys - bath time is fun again!

Stocking stuffers - yeah, so Mommy got all the candy she likes ;)

Weiner dog paper, y'all. I was so proud of this. They had antlers!

 "Grayson" activity book

On Christmas Day, we went over to my parents' house for lunch and to open gifts with my side of the family. We had a really small group since we were all leaving in a couple of days to be together in New Orleans. It just didn't make sense for everyone to hustle to Dallas just to turn around and re-pack for a week out of state. That said, the day was still really special and the food was delicious as always.

Mimi gave Grayson a special "Chef Grayson" apron for when he helps her in the kitchen! 

A big surprise and last minute gift from Mimi and Pop - the whole Longhorn football get-up including shoulder pads and football pants. He loved it! So much for discouraging the sport of football.

Ma Smith gave Grayson this PB Kids rolling backpack for our big trip to NOLA. It was a huge hit and he''ll have it
for a long time!

G helped Ma pass out Christmas envelopes :)

He loves squeezing our necks :)

He is the happiest boy we know!

This impromptu purchase made by Beau was a result of a father/son trip to Shepler's to get him his black boots for his wedding tux. And they came home with a Sheriff's set of TWO guns, ammo and handcuffs. This set now lives in my parents' attic. 2 is too young!

Christmas yoga is essential 

Relaxing is important too

And sleep, of course! 

Hoping everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We already miss our families so, so much!