Merry Christmas!!

I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL Christmas! We have had a lot of fun so far today...

Our festivities began last night when Ryan started blowing up Reed's ball pit:while I was playing with our new laptop from my mom (this picture was taken with the webcam, and the frame added from the same program. It was fun to play with!)

This morning Reed came out to see his ball pit all blown up with all his balls in it! He was in heaven. After we had our little family Christmas the family came over! It was so much fun opening presents and watching Reed's reaction to everything! I never realized how much fun having kids would make everything. It is so neat to see everything through your child's eyes! Though our day is not over yet, I thought I would put some pictures of the day so far:'

Ill be sure to add some more pictures soon! The laptop make it so easy!!
Merry Christmas!!

A little Remodeling

With Christmas approaching, Ryan and I realized we would soon have 8 people at our house, and only had 4 chairs to sit in...so being thrifty and crafty and having a handyman for a husband we headed to Goodwill where we purchased 2 chairs for $12 total! Yeah for 50% off furniture on Saturday! When then proceeded to Joann's and got fabric to recover all of the chairs, new and old. I am so excited about the new chairs. They look so clean ( stains happen with a baby and white seats), and I love that it was a project Ryan and I could do together...take a look at our work! :)

Goodwill Chairs (And Reed) Before:

And After:

The Goodwill chairs were brown and we (Ryan) spray painted them black.

Our Chairs Before:

And After

And our table (minus the Goodwill chairs):

The table and chairs above were left in the house when we moved in. In fact my Father-in-law built the table! One day we may upgrade, as this one is starting to sag a little in the middle, but for now it is perfect!! I am so thankful to have a husband who embraces projects like this ( there was a lot of stapling fabric with me in the laundry room - to not wake the baby) that make me happy, and does everything to be as perfect as possible! Love you Ryan!!

Friends!!

Here are a few fun pics of Reed and Gabe at Dorothy B Oven Park. I feel so fortunate to have such great friends to raise Reed with!

Checking out the moving reindeer

"holding hands"

I look forward to many more years and memories together! Love you guys!

Some Christmastime fun!

We took Reed to Santa for the first time this year. I thought he would like him, or at least didn't expect him to be terrified of him. We finally got this picture with him, unfortunately I was not prepared to be in the picture, but thats OK. Maybe next year...

Later in the week we went to Dorothy B. Oven with some good friends. I got some good pictures of Reed and his buddy Gabe, which I will post later.

As usual, Reed has been helping Daddy work outside. The picture below was taken last weekend when Ryan put the lights on our house (and it was really really cold). The bottom picture was taken yesterday, when Ryan finished raking the leaves, and it was HOT! Crazy Florida needs to realize Christmas time is supposed to be cold.

For now, we are enjoying some time together, and getting ready for Christmas!! I am looking forward to the time with the family.

Thanksgiving and Wedding Weekend

For Thanksgiving we traveled to Jacksonville and spent the weekend with my family. We had a great time playing with my uncles twins, who I unfortunately have no pictures of. Reed had fun feeding the ducks in my moms backyard ( until he got nipped). Nevertheless, it was a fun weekend...

Eating breakfast like a big boy, with CRAZY bedhead!

The weekend after Thanksgiving Ryan and I traveled down to Bradenton for Ryan's cousins wedding. It was a beautiful weekend with family! Reed did amazing the whole weekend. He immediately fell in love with his cousin, and enjoyed meeting all the rest of the family! Here are just a few fun pictures from the weekend...

Name Game

We are having the hardest time coming up with a name for this baby. Reed went along with the R.E.D. tradition, and I think it would be fun for this baby to do so as well - but an "R" name is hard! I also, of course want this name to sound good with Reed...
Here are a few names we are considering...let me know what you think..PLEASE!!

Ryder Emmett Dender (Ryder Dender)
Riley Edward Dender (Riley Dender)
Daniel James Dender (Daniel Dender)
Davis ? Dender (Davis Dender)
Or maybe
Emmett Dender

Late update:
How about Reece Dender? :)

I would LOVE you opinions please!!

What NOT to do when pregnant....

...take your sweet 18mth baby boy for his first REAL haircut!! Though this was an unintentional mistake..it turned out OK.

I have loved my sweet Reed's hair and was dreading having to cut it..but was persuaded by my husband. SO, off we went to Super Cuts. I told the woman I liked his hair and just wanted it trimmed so it would be out of his eyes...and what does she do? Well look for yourself...

Note: This is how I felt at this moment as well!!

In case you couldn't see in the picture the lady used BUZZERS to cut his hair...not just a trim!!!
Needless to say I got in the car, immediately called Ryan, and started crying saying "NEVER EVER AGAIN!"

The haircut isn't so bad. He looks SO much older...but still cute. I actually had to do a little adjusting this morning because she left the bangs really long - once I started to freak out. I guess it is time for my little boy to start growing up...I just didn't want it to be so soon.

Here is the finished product:
Now you can see his face! However, don't be surprised if the long hair is back in a few months. :)

Daddy's Little Helper

Reeds favorite place to be is outside!! Since he was itty bitty he has been happiest outside, but more than being outside, he loves hanging out with Daddy outside. This weekend he spent some time outside helping Daddy change the oil in my car! He was so cute!! I can tell he wants to be just like his Daddy - which bring much joy to my heart!!

Helping Daddy fix the car

"Here Daddy, you need your hat"

Riding on the car jack

Not only does Reed want to be like Daddy outside, he loves to do what Daddy does inside too:

Playing X-box together

Later on Saturday Uncle Michael came over for dinner. This proved to be an eventful evening...not only because of the 2 dogs we had running around but..well..

a picture is worth 1,000 words, so here are 3,000 that speak for themselves...

Just in case you were wondering, we were not the ones to take the diaper off...Reed did that all by himself! HA! Then he continued to escape outside to see the doggies...It was an eventful, but memorable, night!

It's A..................

BOY!!!!!!!

We are so excited that Reed is going to have a little brother to play with!! As soon as I can figure out how to scan the pictures I will!! We were able to see some great profile shots, and even some cute shots of his hands ( all 5 fingers on both) and feet! He measured a little bit bigger than we thought, so the new due date is around March 30th. Who knows when he will actually grace us with his presence. Now we get to start the name game....any suggestions....please!!

There it is....

At 18 weeks we finally got a picture of my belly.

Here he/she is:

We go back to the doctor Friday, and will make the appointment for the ultrasound then. I am hoping we will be able to go next week...but who know! I will be sure to update you when we find out, and can stop calling it an "it"

Fall Fun!

This weekend was a GREAT one!

Friday night we went to our church's Fall Festival, where Reed dressed up in his cow costume (yes the costume I made, with a little help). He had so much fun running around, getting candy and being crazy! And of course, he was the cutest cow there! :) He would even "Mooo" when asked what a cow said! I was a proud Momma all night!

I had to put a picture of his backside, because the tail was the best part!

We didn't get too many great pictures of him in his costume because he was so excited, and then my battery died - but not to fear, he will wear it again before Halloween comes and goes, and I promise to get some good pics then!!

Saturday was a great day too! My mom came in town for a little bit, and then that evening Ryan, Reed and I went to the pumpkin patch to take some pictures! It was so much fun to see Reed react to all the "balls". Cheeeese! He crawled right over to that spot, which wasn't easy, sat down and smiled! What a ham!

I believe this was taken just before Reed tried to throw the pumpkin :)


Oh! I almost forgot...I made Reed another shirt Saturday, with the help of my creative husband
I think he liked his new shirt! :)

Thats all for now! Hope you all had as wonderful of a weekend as I did!

Boo!

I wish I was crafty! Rather, I wish I could sew...But because I can't I (yet) I have learned to improvise. Today I made this shirt! I think it is SO cute! All I did was print the image onto special paper, and iron it onto the shirt! Ya!!I am hoping Reed will be able to wear it next year too -- It is a little bit big!
In addition to this fun, and quick, little project I have been working on Reed's Halloween costume. He is going to be a cow! As soon as it is finished I will put up some pictures!

Oh, and I should have some "belly" pics soon too...we have been waiting for the belly to appear..I think it is finally photographable - at 17 weeks! :)

Wishin' we were fishin'

This weekend we were fortunate enough to have a babysitter Saturday, so that Ryan and I could go fishing on the St. Marks River. Though it started out chilly, it turned into a perfect day! I caught a few little brim with the worms Ryan captured (yes, I even put the worms on the hook myself), and Ryan caught a few bass and a few brim. Sadly the bass I caught got away before he got into the boat :( Oh well! I had a great time spending the day with my husband, and can't wait till Reed is big enough to join us!

Itty Bitty Brim

Little bit bigger Brim

Good sized Bass :)

SURPRISE....

We are pregnant!! We are expecting our 2nd little one early April, making me just over 15 weeks pregnant now! We are very excited that Reed and his sibling will be so close in age, and we hope that they will be good friends growing up! As for me, I am feeling much better recently. I have a rough first trimester, but it is amazing what happens when you cross over into the second trimester! I am still extra tired, so you can pray for me and for some more energy!!

Reed is doing great! Running around, saying new things ( still not eating "real food" - I am very open to suggestions). I have so much fun taking him to the park, or just to play outside. I think if we would let him, he would play outside ALL day! Here are a few fun recent pictures of Reed:

This "Big Brother" shirt is how we made the announcement we were pregnant!

"hello?"

Peek - a-boo...I see you Daddy!!