Thankful

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love everything about it, being with family, the food, the very premise of setting aside a day to thank God for His abundant provision and blessing...so much to be thankful for this year, and every year!!

Josh's brother Kevin and his family came up from Dawsonville, GA to spend Thanksgiving with us at our house. It was such a joy to have them here! We had a blast...like a 4-day long pajama party :)

Teri Lynn and I cooked it up Thanksgiving morning. Here's the finished product :)

Cousins!! Most of them anyway...Hudson was already camped out in his chair waiting to eat and didn't want to get out just to have his picture taken. That boy is serious about his food :)

Fixing plates

Working off the meal with a little Wii dancing...

Seriously. Just like one big slumber party. LOVE IT!!

Bailey and her new friend Carly :) Awww...Dogs are the best.

Go-karts!! Who knew places like that participated in Black Friday sales?! The local place by us was having a sale where you could ride and play all you wanted for $10! So Josh and Kevin took Cullen, Campbell and Kate down for the afternoon while Teri Lynn and I took the littles shopping :)

Kevin and Campbell are in the bottom right corner in car #27, and Josh and Kate are right behind them.

Followed up go-karts with a little putt-putt. Kate thought she was SO BIG getting to go with the older boys!!

Being silly with Daddy

Kate and Carly. She loved the fact that she could carry her around like one of her baby dolls :) I'm surprised Carly didn't wind up with a dress on at some point!

Brothers :)

Cousins :) (Only missing Kecia's two and it would be a complete picture of all of them!)

We had such a great time visiting with the Dawsonville crew...Kate went to bed tonight asking if they could come back tomorrow :) Thankfully, we'll be heading home to GA in less than a month to try and soak up as much of our family time as we can!! So thankful!!

Jumpin' Beans

Carter had his first ever birthday party this week at Jumpin' Beans!! Having to delay the party actually worked out really well because we were able to have it in the morning and Carter's cousins were in town visiting for Thanksgiving! Look how excited my boy was!! Love seeing that joy on his face :)

Speaking of joy, Kate absolutely LOVES to jump!! Having a blast. I love it!! Only wish I had some of that energy for myself :)

Hudson got in on the jumping too! Taking a little break with Daddy...

Campbell

Cullen, Caden, Josh and Carter. Too bad they're not having any fun at all.

Love my Josh!! This picture made me laugh though, because it looks like I've got a weird headband on, or something is growing out of my head...it's really just the handle of my friend's baby carrier :)

What a blessing to be surrounded by such sweet friends to celebrate three years with our sweet Carter-bug...

Getting serious about his cupcake.

Baby brother is just as serious about his, too. A little messier though.

Happy Birthday Carter!! Love you!!

Mimi and Auntie Daria

Mom and Daria came up last week for Carter's birthday and to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. Carter spiked a high fever the 2nd day they were here :( He was so pitiful, but so cute with his little mask on in the dr's office that I couldn't resist taking his picture...The fever stayed for 3 days but never progressed into anything else, praise the Lord! We did have to delay his birthday party a few days since he woke up with a fever on his birthday, but as you can see from the earlier post, it didn't keep him from having a happy birthday!

Getting some sympathy love from big sis

Hudson and his roomie, Auntie Daria. Carter gives up his bed and Daria sleeps in the boys' room with Hudson when she comes to visit us. So cute this time because Hudson started saying her name!! It's so exciting when they are first starting to try and communicate!!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with them a week early since we didn't go back to GA this year. My second time to host (1st was when Carter was 3 days old...thankfully Mom and Daria did all the cooking that year which allowed me to go from the couch to the table straight back to the couch! Love family!!) We had quite a spread this year, and enjoyed every bite. One of my favorite meals of the whole year!! So thankful for each one around this table. Blessed beyond measure...

My little stairsteps. Wouldn't want it any other way!

The Wilks girls :)

Mom gave Carter a Spiderman bike for his birthday! He was super excited and wanted to ride it immediately! So we took a quick spin down to the Robinson's and back. Carter thought he was SO BIG that he could ride just like Kate...

Look at him go!!

Here is our Japanese maple in the front yard. It was stunning this year, and I'm so glad I got this picture because two days later, the weather turned yucky and all the leaves fell off. But wasn't it GORGEOUS?!

Happy Birthday Carter!!!

"I'm THREE!!!"

Carter's "Lightning Mcqueen" cake. Funny story...he saw a picture on facebook of the cake our friend Megan had made for her son Luke's 4th birthday back in September and has been asking for one for his birthday ever since! I did my best to replicate it...

Sir Carter in his knight gear

Yay for new boots! Now, let's just hope that it snows sometime this winter...

Um, he likes the cars. :)

Handy Manny laptop from Nen and Pa

Very intent on opening presents.

"Piderman" umbrella, as Carter calls it.

So glad Mimi and Auntie Daria came up to celebrate with us!

Hudson enjoyed the festivities (especially the cake). If you look closely, you can see almost all of his new teeth.

Carter's new big boy bike! Thanks Mimi!!

Love this boy!! Hard to believe he's already 3...

Going for it

One happy birthday boy! You can barely even tell that he ran a fever most of the day...

Taking his new cars on the road...

Happy Birthday Carter! We love you...

Full

Kate's class went on a field trip last week to a local pizza place!! My kind of field trip!! We all got to tag along and enjoy a great lunch after the kids learned all the ins and outs about making pizza. They were so sweet to include Carter in all of it...he thought he was SO big :) You can't see from the angle of the picture, but all the kids mouths were hanging wide open watching Mr. Keith toss that pizza dough...Super fun!

My little shopping buddy helping me out at Harris Teeter :)

Evidence that my boys really DO love each other...sometimes I wonder when it seems that Carter is constantly pushing Hudson, or tackling him, or taking his toys out of his hands, or some other form of aggravation. Still feeling our way through how to best shepherd little boys! But there are plenty of 'melt your heart' moments woven throughout our days too...Just happened to catch one.

I love to see my kids imaginations in full effect! Here they are in their 'Jerry car' (aka Bailey's holder for her food and water bowls). I'm not sure where the fascination with 'Tom and Jerry' came from because Josh and I haven't even seen that cartoon since we were young (a long, long time ago!!) and I don't think my kids have ever seen it. But it's one of their favorite things to play!

We had our first ever family movie night last night! We rented 'Toy Story', popped some popcorn, and everybody snugged up in blankets to watch the movie. Hudson only lasted through the previews, but Kate and Carter soaked up every minute :)

This morning was the annual Toy Chest at Bay Leaf Baptist Church. It is an absolutely amazing ministry for seminary families to come shop for Christmas gifts for their families. Everything is priced at a fraction of the retail cost, and all the proceeds from the morning go directly to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering!! The generosity is completely overwhelming. What a blessing to see the love of Jesus move believers to give radically! I went by myself last year and learned my lesson trying to navigate through the shopping for all three kiddos. This year we recruited our sweet friend Brandi to come over and hang out with the kids so Josh and I could go together. I'm so glad he got to experience it this year!! We had a great time spending the morning together and left so humbled to be on the receiving end of such incredible love and generosity!

And...the fog has finally lifted!!! I am 14 weeks and officially starting my 2nd trimester!! How is that even possible?! The exhaustion has finally improved and I'm so thankful. I actually feel like I can function again :) And check out the belly bump!! So very exciting! Me and the boys went a couple weeks ago for a check-up. The doctor was having trouble finding the heartbeat, so we got to have an ultrasound instead. Turns out she couldn't get the heartbeat because the baby wouldn't be still long enough!! An unexpected treat but such a blessing to get to see our newest little Reed!! It was Carter's first time ever seeing an ultrasound too, which was really cool...

Halloween 2009

Buddies :)

Not really Halloween related, but too sweet not to share. Carter and Hudson have been enjoying having their mornings together while Kate is at school.

Carter posing with the "big, HUGE pumpkin" outside Kate's school

Kate's school did a Fall Festival for all the kids. Jumpy thing: always a winner! Kate and Carter are front and center...

Gathering to get 'tattoos'

Kate and her teacher Mrs. Streit

Carter had a serious case of indecision all the way up until time to go trick or treating Halloween night. Trying to decide between Buzz Lightyear and Spiderman was very difficult for him. Here he is giving "Buzz" a trial run the day before. I really think I could squeeze his face off he's so stinkin' cute!!!

And here was Hudson's trial run the day before. He also had two choices, but I was the one with the indecision problem. Loved this costume, but he was not at all a fan of the big ears :) Adorable though, no doubt!

My 'pumpkin' cake

This one makes me laugh...look at the way Hudson is looking at Abby...who, incidentally, is the cutest strawberry I've ever seen. Stephanie's sister handmade it to go with Anna Kate dressed up as Strawberry Shortcake. She did a great job! Wish I was handy and crafty like that!!

Giving up on watching the GA/FL game to go out trick-or-treating on N. Main with the Lyons. Obviously, you can see we went with Plan B costumes for Carter and Hudson (aka Spiderman and Giraffe)

Seriously. Too cute for words. Better choice than Dumbo because it wound up being in the 70's(!!!) when we went out. He would have burned up in that Dumbo outfit with all the extra padding!

Love Miss Catherine!!

October

October was a big month for Team Reed! We found out we are expecting our fourth child (due May 2010) and Josh had ankle surgery to repair a torn ligament and remove some bone spurs. And that was only in the first two days of the month!

We were so incredibly blessed by the way our church body ministered to us leading up to Josh's surgery and during his recovery. It was extremely humbling to be loved on and cared for the way we were...really in too many ways to mention them all...but we are so very grateful for each and every one.

Here's Josh post-surgery with Justin, who was a HUGE help to us. (He's the one who volunteered to take Josh to his surgery at 5:30am and then waited for him and got all his meds and instructions and then brought him home). HUGE help as we didn't have anyone to stay with the kids so I could take him. The funny thing is, Josh doesn't even remember any of it. Pain meds. :)

My mom arrived the next day and stayed the whole week to help us, which was also HUGE! Again, way too many ways to mention them all...so incredibly grateful for how she loves us.

Kate got to be the 'star' student the week Mom was in town. One day she chose to bring in special treats to her classmates and wanted to do Rice Krispie Treats. I remember doing this with my mom when I was little, so it was fun to watch Kate get to do it with her now.

My cousin Amy (who lives in Durham) and her mom Janet (who is married to my mom's cousin Paul) met us for dinner one night. Super fun treat, since Janet lives in Maine and Mom is in Atlanta and they usually only get to meet up in NJ every couple years!

Helping Carter make a birthday cake for his buddy 'Mr. Blake Grubbs'. Carter thought the mixer was too loud :)

But, it was all worth it when he got to lick the batter...

Mom got to come in and read "Amelia Bedelia" to Kate's class. Always a favorite!

Mimi!! Love her!

Celebrating Abby Lyon's 2nd birthday at Rolesville Park.

Kate and Carter were enthralled with their party favors...glowsticks! They took them in our closet as soon as we got home from the party so they could see them well-lit :)

Little man

Team Jenkins came in town for Board of Visitors. Got to spend some great time hanging out with Bowdie and Andrea and their boys. Precious friends from home. We miss them so much!! Carter thought he was SO big hanging out with Jarrett, Blaine and Jacob!

Cheering on Josh's flag football team since he is on the injured reserve this season...

We skipped the big NC fair this year and went to a local fall festival instead. Probably not even in the same league as the fair, but we were looking for some low-key fun for the kids. We all enjoyed it...playing games, eating hot dogs, decorating cookies...

Hayride!

Kate on the pony ride

Carter with his 'shooter gun' getting all the pumpkins

Hudson going for the donut