My birthday/Mother's Day 2009

Stephanie hosted a birthday brunch for me...what a fun excuse to get together and enjoy some delicious food!  What a blessing to have such dear friends up here.  It is so great doing life with these women who challenge me and love me so well!  From l. to r. Catherine; Laney and Hollie Carson; Rachael Davis holding Hudson; me and Carter; Stephanie; Sayde and Page Craft.

Kate's class hosted a Mother's Day Tea last Wednesday for all the mommies.  They all told 5 things they loved about their mom.  Kate said: 1) I love that she takes care of me. 2) She loves me. 3) She makes chocolate chip muffins. 4) She has pretty toenails. 5) She cares for me when I'm sick.  I love those glimpses into my little girl's mind :)

Mimi came up to spend the week with us as my birthday fell on Mother's Day this year :)  Here's one attempt to get a picture with everyone looking at the camera and smiling...as you can see, that didn't work out!  Makes those pictures where it does work all the sweeter.

Checking out the lawnmowers at Lowes.  This is definitely a highlight for my kids.  Every time we go there or Home Depot, this is what they ask to do.

Planting flowers

My cousin Amy lives in Durham and drove over to spend Saturday with us.  Daria also flew in that day to be here for Mother's Day and my birthday.  We had lots of fun hanging out!

The seminary hosted a dinner last Saturday for the international students.  We went and got to enjoy many different foods and a sweet time of fellowship.

Hudson multi-tasking.  He wants to crawl somewhere, but doesn't want to leave his ball, so he pops it in his mouth and takes off.  Hilarious.

North Wake did a child dedication service on Mother's Day.  We dedicated Hudson, which was a sweet time and such a special way to celebrate Mother's Day.  And it was such a treat to be able to have Mom and Daria there with us!  Not the greatest picture, but Team Reed is on the right :)  I have Hudson, and Josh has Carter, and Kate is in front of Josh but you can't see her in this picture.

Happy Mother's Day

We surprised Mom and Daria by taking them over to Durham that afternoon to go to the Duke Gardens.  It's 55 acres of beauty and is recognized as one of the premier public gardens in the country.

*Kate took this picture for us.  We may have a future photographer on our hands.  Check out her creative angling of the shot :)

On Monday we went to the Tea Room.  They have a big trunk full of hats and gloves and necklaces that you can dress up in.  Kate had the best time picking out her attire, trying on multiple combinations until she found just the right one.

What a blessing it was to celebrate my birthday by celebrating Mother's Day!  Being a mommy is one of the greatest gifts I've ever received.

May Days

I've gotten a little behind on the blog since it's May and May always gets crazy busy for some reason.  So here's a little catch-up post, with a lot of daily life pictures...

Popsicles on the Davis' carport with their daughter Lana.

Rachael and Dan rent a house on an amazingly beautiful property, as you can see!  They have a stocked pond and took us down there for Kate to try fishing for the first time ever.

She got the hang of it really quickly, but I think the only thing she caught was a soggy leaf.  Oh well.  She looked cute doing it!

Carter giving Abby Lyon a ride on his firetruck.  Note her butterfly wings.  So cute.  She was taking a break from dressing up with the big girls to get this ride :)

Kate and Anna Kate Lyon.  Princesses, as always :)

Our small group had a fellowship a few weeks back at Tyler Run Park.  It was so fun and the kids had a blast running and digging in the dirt, swinging and sliding, etc.  Here's me and Hudson enjoying a wonderful, relaxing evening with great friends.

Josh and Kate on a daddy-date to The Border.  She gets so excited to go with her daddy, and it just melts our hearts.

Later that same day, we went to downtown WF to get gelato.  Such a quaint little place, and the seats at the counter are all old saddles.  So fun!

Our beautiful irises.  Glad I took this picture because they faded not too long after this was taken!

May 2 was WF's annual 'Meet in the Street', a super-fun festival they do every spring.  They close down the street through the main area of downtown and there are all kinds of vendors and food and crafts set up as far as you can see down the main street.  Here are the kids with the visors they made at one booth.  They're a little tired here, it was getting close to lunchtime and they'd been doing a good bit of walking.

Since she learned how to fish at Dan and Rachael's house, Kate figured she'd try out her new skill at the festival.  She 'caught' a prize!

Team Reed at Meet in the Street.  Can't you tell what a great time Hudson had?!

"Carry me Daddy."  Carter's little legs were SO done walking.  Hitched a ride home with Daddy instead.  Good plan considering we walked there from our house (and absolutely love that we live close enough to do that and still have it be totally convenient!!) What an answered prayer!

I met up with a group of friends to go strawberry pickin'.  The kids were super excited.  Here's Carter taking off towards the fields with his bucket.  He was on a mission and walking with purpose!

My precious babies all piled into the same grocery cart at Harris Teeter.  And if you look closely at Hudson's right eye, you can see where he got his first black eye a couple weeks ago :(  He pulled up on one of our dining room chairs, and wound up pulling it over on himself.  Hudson fell straight back and then the chair landed on top of his face.  One of those moments where Josh and I were both in the room and it happened so quickly neither one of us could stop it!  

Fine Arts Day 2009

Kate's school had their annual Fine Arts Day a few weeks ago (I'm a little behind on the blogging!)  They worked so hard to get ready for it!  First they did a concert where they all sang several songs for us.  Then we got to walk around and see lots of special artwork that each class had on display.  Here's Kate and her class taking their places on stage (they're in the blue shirts)  She's the one waving :)  To her right is Kelsey, and to her left is Charlotte, Emma, Carson and Dylan and then Mrs. Rebekah, her lead teacher.  They have ten in their class but they weren't all up on the stage yet.

Carter spotted a ball on the floor about six seats down the row from where we were sitting.  He was cracking us up, trying to be so subtle, inching his way over towards it, one seat at a time.  Finally, he just got down on the floor right by it!  Loved watching that thought process...

How do they grow up so fast?

Team Reed

Here are all the special crafts her class made.  They decorated flowerpots...the bedazzled, handprinted dish that holds the pot is my favorite.

Her paper lantern.  She told me, "Mommy, mine is the rainbow one"

A picture they made about a story they had read in class

Footprint cactus.  I love the creativity of the teachers, and so appreciate all the hard work that went into such a production!  What a treat!

Goofing off after with Anna Kate Lyon.  Steph and I have been carpooling this year, and the girls have so enjoyed having that time together, as have us moms :)