Previously on Reynolds...

Long time no see!  I have been so diligent taking photos of other people that I've become relaxed when it came to taking photos of my own family.  I told myself I would never do that but here I am, blogging after almost a month hiatus.  Oh well!  Please excuse the low quality pictures.  I don't have to think on this blog which I love.

Alia turned 11 months a couple of days ago and will be turning 1 year old on March 19!!  I cannot believe it!  This first photo was taken in the shopping cart.  We would shake it lightly and Alia would get these huge eyes, making us laugh hysterically!

Our niece Shawnie made Alia a hat out of a Styrofoam bowl and she didn't even try to take it off.  It was so funny!

We finally took Brody to get a haircut when Great Clips was having a huge sale.  I didn't realize how much he needed one till I look back at these photos and realize how long and nappy Brody's hair had gotten.  At first he didn't want to get a haircut because he thought only girls did that but then he was convinced boys got haircuts too when his dad got in the chair opposite him.

He was still pretty distraught with the whole process.

And so was Drew.

He was a lot happier after when he and dad looked alike.  Since then he's been walking around telling people about his haircut and won't stop telling them till they compliment him.

And Drew was happier too.

As for Kurt and I, we've been busy me, taking photos and Kurt with work.  We recently got into Heroes, streaming all the season's from Netflix.  Our nightly decision is : Sleep or Heroes?  Heroes!  YATTA! (I know I know 4 years too late) Now we go about our daily life wishing we had abilities and looking at different situations if we had certain ones.  Pathetically fun!  And we've officially become the worst parents, letting Drew watch with us.  There have been a couple episodes that are truly gory even for me. We'll pause it and make Drew leave for a minute and the entire time she's throwing a fit saying, "I want to watch him kill her!"  Like I said: Officially the worst parents!

till next month...  ;)

Did I mention we had a good Christmas as a family?

Well we did.

And then we went to my sister's house.

And then we came back home to a popsicle house.

Our house had literally frozen.

It took hours to heat it up.

So we went to bed kind a cold.

And woke up to gushing water at 3 am.

The pipes had finally thawed.

And had bursted.

In three different locations of our house.

We had to shut off our water for three days.

We were dirty.

Our house was dirty.

I was depressed.

Our house is finally clean.

Our water has been on for awhile now.

And everything runs smoothly.

I am happy.

:)

Update on the Goose: She did great for her surgery.  Woke up cranky and was screaming for 15 min straight but now she's doing great and she can hear!

YAY!

Happy Christmas!

We had our ward Christmas party last night and Santa made an appearance.  I had no idea he was going to be there but I'm so grateful I brought my camera or else I, and a lot of other parents, wouldn't have had their children's pictures taken with the big man.  Our ward did a great job from food to decorations.  I was even able to take a plate home for Kurt who had to work.

Some updates about us:

After having Christmas morning at our house we are driving up to Salt Lake to be with my family and especially my mom who is flying in from Hawaii that morning.  Alia signed her first sign which was "milk" and now uses it constantly for all the right reasons.  She also turned 9 months today.  YAY!  It's so sad how fast they grow!  :(  She's also semi crawling, semi scooting on her belly, but she's so mobile! She can go from her belly into a kneeling position.  She also pulls herself up on everything, including just the wall and she's starting to cruise and get around.  I tell you it doesn't get old!  Drew is on her Christmas break from preschool and every morning she asks if she has school.  She likes being home and playing with her brother but I think she's not as challenged with us and misses her friends.  Brody is just being a boy.  He loves to go out into the snow, cold, you name it, with a beanie, gloves, and boots.  Sometimes a shirt but I have to make him come in to get more clothes on.  He's also talking a lot more and is getting his colors down.  He also tries to read and to recognize letters like his bigger sister whom he loves!  Kurt is liking work and is doing great at it.  He is definitely kept busy juggling his work, family and sleep but he does a great job at it.  I also have been keeping busy with the kids and starting my own business but it as been fun and is so worth the hustle.  We also gave away our family dog, Leonidas.  It was a bitter sweet moment but I know he's doing good with his new family.  That's pretty much us in a nutshell.  This started out as just a post but now it is kind of our family yearly update.  If I don't post again by Christmas we hope every one has a merry one!

Update

Yes, we're still alive even though the cow that was in our yard is not.  I haven't blogged in a while so here's to catching up!

Drew's swimming lessons ended and both Drew and Brody are very sad.

Alia is now 8 months and she is getting to be a handful just because no place in the house is safe anymore.  She is scooting/army crawling.  She'll get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth, maybe crawl for a second but she still gets around mostly on her stomach, pulling with her arms and pushing with her toes.  She really is as fun as ever.  She still only has the two teeth but she can still cut your skin if you stick your fingers in there, trying to get out what she just ate off the ground.  She is only bottle fed now and is drinking more than I would've thought possible.  I don't know how much she weighs but since feeding her formula and regular table food she has filled out a little more.

Oh, and she's also pulling herself up on things

It's gotten significantly colder here but that does not deter Brody from going outside naked.  Yup, this is what he wanted to wear outside the other day.  I tried to get him to get dressed but he wouldn't.

On Monday for FHE we went to the college's planetarium.  This is the sunset we saw on our way there.

The planetarium was super fun.  First they had a slide show to inform us about some of the things we could see and then we headed upstairs to actually look through the big telescope.  The kids liked looking at the moon and Jupiter.

Earlier that day I got a nice surprise in the mail.

My business cards!  YAY!

And to end this post, last night Brody came in to show me what he had drawn.  He pointed to it and said Brody!  It was a self portrait.  I LOVE these kinds of drawings.  When he does stuff like this I know he's getting older, bigger and smarter.  He's actually drawing things that look like what he's trying to draw.  And of course Drew's picture is amazing too!  I really love my kids!

Annyong Haseyo!

Why hello! It's been a while. Here's what's been going on with the Reynolds gang.

Drew learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! This was a video taken a couple of weeks ago and now she can ride forever and nobody has to start her off either. I was 10 when I learned how to ride a two wheeled bike. Things like this, her learning to ride a 'big girl bike' really makes me want to slow down time.

Aila was cheering Drew on from the stroller. You can see her legs kicking in the video above.

One of my favorite habits babies posses is eating their toes. LOVE IT!

Drew presented Brody to me like this saying, "Isn't he stylish?" We get these free stickers in the mail from Disney every once in a while and I have to say thank you Disney for keeping my kids occupied with free stickers for 5 whole minutes.

September 28th was the last time I posted and it was our wedding anniversary. Kurt had to work so I took the kids to the Korean Festival. When Kurt got back from his mission in Korea he brought this hanbok back for his niece. She's outgrown it and has giving it to Drew. She was SO proud that she was able to wear it.

The food was SO good and oh so free!

After we ate they had a Korean fashion show and traditional dance. It was so fun to go and have the kids behave really well. Alia did let us know when she was tired and headed home.

When Kurt got home he gave me these and Photoshop CS4! I'm SO excited to start playing on it but our computers optical drive is being dumb so we have to get that fixed first.

Drew had her last soccer game on the 29th of September. She wanted to score SO bad she was getting incredibly frustrated and she was being aggressive and trying her hardest too. Even though she didn't score a goal it was the best I've ever seen her play! She did an amazing job this season and I can't wait for next year!

I just have to capture moments like this so I don't forget. Forget her first time noticing fish? Kinda but more her first time noticing things in general. It's just so cute to see Alia grow and develop. I tell you it doesn't get old no matter how many kids you have.

With soccer done swim lessons started. We love Headstart! They have a free swim lesson program to all headstart students. The last time we went swimming Drew ripped her suit. Huge whole. No suit. The day of her first lesson I found this suit on the clearance rack, because swim suits are not in season here all year long -what's up with that?- at Christensen's. The last and only place I had left to look. $10!

Drew did awesome! This is her first formal swim class and I was a little worried with how she would act, because shes like a firecracker now days, but she did great!