Kate's Kindergarten Graduation

So it's the end of June and I'm just now blogging about Kate's Kindergarten graduation...what can I say...I'm behind!

I can't believe how FAST this Kindergarten year went by!! I vividly remember this time last year when we found out Kate would be going to Little Lambs Kindergarten at Bay Leaf. Little did we know how incredible it was going to be! What a special thing to be part of the inaugural class and have the opportunity to sit under such great teaching. And we praise God for it!

Here is our graduate. So proud of our girl!!!

They asked all the graduates what they wanted to be when they grow up and then their teachers did superlatives for everyone. Kate was "Most Spirit-Filled" and "Future Mommy" :)

Getting her diploma

Look at that sweetness...Mollie was 17 days old here. She slept through the entire graduation!

Yay Kate!!!

We were so glad Mom was able to be here for Kate's graduation. Three generations represented here!

Can't say enough how much we love Mrs. Streit! Before we knew Kate would be at Little Lambs, we thought she would go to WF Elementary for Kindergarten. So everytime we'd drive past it, we'd pray for her teacher. We were asking God for a godly woman who would love Jesus, and love on Kate, and invest in her while teaching her...Mrs. Streit was the answer to those prayers, no doubt about it! The funny thing was it came about at a completely different school than we originally thought, but it's just another reminder that God's ways are higher than our ways, and He knows best when it comes to meeting our needs. So thankful!!

All the families of the graduates gathered for a picnic after the ceremony. Except ours. Because I packed our picnic lunch and walked out of the house without it. Totally forgot. So no picnic-ing for Team Reed. We just hung out instead. Here is Kate with her friend Kayla...the two girls in their class :)

After the picnic it was time for fun and games in the gym. Kate and Carter would stay and play on these inflatables all.day.long if we'd let them!

There was a face-painting station set up too. Carter chose a "fire soccer ball".

Kate chose a puppy dog.

Can't believe it's on to 1st grade from here!! But for now, we're just enjoying our summer together :)

Mini-me?

It's always so fun to me to look at our babies and try to figure out who they look like.

I remember seeing an ultrasound of Mollie at 26 weeks and thinking she looked just like Carter. I had an ultrasound of him at 26 weeks that I pulled out and compared and it was incredibly similar! And now it's fun looking back at his baby pictures and seeing how much they favor...

Here he is...

And here's Mollie...

And I also keep thinking of a picture I have of me when I was one day old...

I'd love to hear what you think...leave a comment with your thoughts :)

Happy Birthday Josh!

May 26th was Josh's birthday...we always laugh that he married an "older" woman (I'm 16 days older than he is). We enjoyed a delicious Lilly's pizza, hand-delivered to our door by George Robinson (Mr. G-money as the kids like to call him)...thanks!! Then it was time for COOKIE CAKE!!! The kids were excited...to put it mildly...

The kiddos gave Josh a Nerf goal for his birthday. Lots of shooting going on around here...Carter is walking around saying "Hand in the cookie jar...oh yeah". Hilarious.

And Hudson just likes to dunk. Of course :)

Happy Birthday Babe!! We love you!!

Kate's "Early" Birthday

It's not always easy having a summer birthday, especially when all your school friends get to celebrate their birthdays in the classroom throughout the year. Kate's birthday is not until August 7th, but Mrs. Streit agreed to let us do an "early" birthday for her the last week of school.

One thing I love about Kate is that she knows what she likes! She was very specific about what she wanted...cheese pizza, breadsticks, and pink cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles with a blue 'K' on top.

What a sweet group of kids! And Carter thought he was SO big being in the mix with all the big kindergarteners...

Mmm...

Me and my girls!! I'm so used to saying I have boys...still haven't quite gotten used to the fact that I now have girlS too!!! I love it that there are now two of each :) I've always liked even numbers...

The whole crew invaded their little classroom :)

Fun party! Thanks for letting us do this, Mrs. Streit!

Ballerina Girl

Kate had her first ballet recital this year! It was quite a large show, and her class had two dances to perform since she takes tap and ballet. They all worked really hard and it showed...they did a great job!!

Our beautiful ballerina girl.

Lined up and waiting to perform

Kate with her sweet friend Reagan before their tap dance

It was a little stressful for me leading up to the recital because it was scheduled for the same day Mollie was due (May 15th). So I had no idea if I would even get to be there for it!! But God in His providence allowed for Mollie to come smoothly on the 11th, and for me to feel well enough to be there on the 15th!! I was so glad I got to see Kate after seeing all her hard work and practice over these last several months! So proud of her...

Here's all the girls after the show...Three generations :)

Mittens for Mollie

It's funny to me how many memories are triggered by simple things, like a smell, or a sound, or an outfit...

This pile of clothes represents so many memories of our sweet baby Kate. They were all hers when she was born, and I'm so thankful now that I've saved them these past six years...What a sweet thing it has been to see our second sweet baby girl wearing her big sister's clothes!

Tiny bundle of preciousness. Mollie is doing great...at 2 weeks old she weighed 8lb 5oz (4oz past her birth weight!) She's doing much better sleeping (the first week was ROUGH), even surprising us with several nights of 5-6 hour stretches. Definitely on the right track!

Josh's parents came up to meet their newest grandbaby. This makes #9 for them!

So peaceful. And check out her mittens! We came home from the hospital with instructions to not cut her nails for two weeks. Well, Mollie managed to scratch her right eye before she was one week old, and wound up with a nasty infection. She had to wear mittens to keep her from putting her fingers in her eye while it healed. It's funny because the kids call them her boxing gloves :)

Lovin' on Nen.

Comic relief...the kids love this crazy ringtone that Josh has on his phone...guaranteed laugh from all :) It's actually come in handy a few times as a diffuser when the boys are getting into it with each other. All Josh has to do is pull out his phone, and the tears turn to laughter from one second to the next.

Lovin' on Pa. And if you look closely, you can see Mollie's poor little swollen right eye.

Look how long she is!! And the mittens make me laugh because they swallow her tiny little hands.

Saying good-bye...Nen and Pa's visit was short but sweet :)

Oh my word. Love them so.

Sleepy girl

I love it when they get all wadded up like this to sleep

Chillin' in her swing...actually sleeping soundly for a moment as the boys are off doing something else. Usually Mollie in the swing is a magnet for them to come "help" swing her. She's going to have to be a tough girl to survive in this house :)

Although, I must say, in their defense, both Carter and Hudson LOVE their new baby sister and are very sweet and gentle when they interact with her. Makes this mama's heart so full...