Merry Christmas from Griffin!

My cousin and I had a fabulous Christmas!

I love my new chair!
Whoa - Santa rocks!

This is my mommy and dada - our Christmas card photo!

And this is me - smiling on the card too! Thanks, Aunt Jill, for taking such great pics!

My mom is a little blue because the holidays came and went so fast!

We had fun though and look forward to a great 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Busy holiday....

We had a little reunion over the weekend to see our Humble friends. Here we are with ALL our little ones :) Class of 1995 and their babies!

Tucker and Griffin - 14 months old exactly! They share a birthday!

My sweet BFFs from many moons ago...love them so much! Jenny is now heading to Notre Dame while Amanda lives in Nashville. Not sure where I'd be without them....

We went to the Armstrongs annual Xmas sweater throw-down. See Sara's shirt??? YAY - due in June!

And to these ladies - I LOVE YOU! These are Griffin's teachers. Well, they use to be! After the holiday, G is now in the toddler room. WHAT!!?? He is getting so big, so fast. And, these sweet ladies have loved him since day one and made this paranoid mama feel so good about leaving him each day. We love you, Ms. Yoly and Ms. Cristi!

Not stopping now...off to see more friends and celebrate with the family!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Santa, we are not a fan...

After watching Santa on TV...

...and reading book after book on him and his reindeer....

...and even responding, HO HO HO, after being asked what Santa says...

...this is what happens when he visits us at school -

My poor pumpkin - he looks terrified. It breaks my heart that I wasn't there to kiss his sweet face after he was obviously scared out of his mind. I mean, can we get a Santa that looks half way real? This man scares ME....

We'll try again next year...I think! :)

Holiday Fun!

We've passed the Christmas tree test. Now, G likes to walk by, stop, and just brush one of the ornaments with his hand and keep going.

But, there is one ornament that he continuously takes off to carry around the house.
Uh-oh - think they caught me!

We are having fun celebrating the holidays. My good friend from grad school invited me to her Pajama Breakfast, and all I can say is WOW! She cooked some DELICIOUS treats and even had "to go" bags for her cookies. Ashley, those didn't last much longer at my house. Let's just say a certain husband enjoyed your treats as well.

Thanks for including me!!

Only one more week of work then busy time in Humble! We will head home next weekend to see our best friends - it's one of my favorite parts of the holidays! Then, we return again to Humble for Christmas eve/day with the whole clan. Can't wait to see what Keaton and Griffin think of everything this year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

....start with one ornament-stealing-wine-drinking par-tay with the coolest teachers (and former ones) on the planet.

I am beyond lucky to have found some of my best friends at my job. Here we are after our little reunion - love them!!

.....add in a little stinker in his holiday red!

.....mix in some cold weather and a holiday parade!

.....add in some chill time with our buds!

....and you have the perfect holiday!

Hope your holidays are warm and bright!

In the Ville...

We spent our turkey day in Stephenville this weekend, and boy are we tired!

Chillin' in the Ville is not as easy as it use to be - this boy is CURIOUS. He had to check out everything around him while I chased him around.....

His cousin, Gunner, was such a good sport the whole time.

Here they are taking a ride on the tractor.

Dada and mini-me checking out the scenery.

This is his other cousin, Gavin. They liked to run to the window, and point to the kitty.
Griffin would say, "Kitty, kitty - meow" - too cute!

Then, we chilled out on the sofa, watched some cartoons, and had some Lucky Charms.

Look at that belly....

We hope you all enjoyed your holiday! The one setback (which I thought was MAJOR) - no cable in the woods. What did that mean? Having to get the play-by-play of the Aggie/TU game via text messages. I was so sad to miss, but so glad to hear we played well!

Now, the house is all decorated for Christmas,

and we are so excited with all the plans we have in store as we get ready for Santa!

Thankful....

This week and always, I am so thankful for many things in my life...

A sweet little boy and his precious little cousin

My beautiful little family and a helpful, amazing husband

The cutest little face on the planet and the joy he brings each to day to my life

The pure joy my sister and I have now that we have boys so close in age.
I am also thankful for her help in helping me raise Griffin.

And, to steal an idea from my friend Ashley -
I would love to hear what you are thankful for this holiday...leave your comments and let's celebrate our blessings together!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Moving on up...

Before I tell you all about Griffin and his latest moves, I had to share a pic of some of my most favorite people. Kristin, the one with the cute belly in the middle, is Hans's best friend's wife. Hans and Glenn have known each other FOREVER and are more like brothers (well, we have another name for them...). How lucky am I that I LOVE Kristin so much?? If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be the mom I am today. AND...she is adding to the group -

Ryan Joseph will be here on Dec. 9 - we can't wait to meet him!

On to my little dude, this is his CHEEEESE face. When I get out the camera, he smiles this goofy smile and says "CHEESE!" Too darn cute, I have to say.

He now has a new view of the world. We turned his seat around, and he is in awe.
Makes a car ride so much more fun!


What else is Griffin up to, you might ask?

• He is now RUNNING.
• He is now acquiring a busted lip or bump on the forehead every now and then. See the above pic for his 2nd busted lip at school. His round little belly just got too heavy to carry and down he went!
• He eats whatever we eat - faves: pasta, pasta, and more pasta. Oh, and cheese.
• He is being transitioned into the toddler room at school and is doing SO well. He even gets to be in his BFF's class. Yeah, Braxton!
• We are loving milk and are ALMOST bottle-free. I am a sucker and we still have one small one in the evening. He usually throws it, so I think we are almost done.
• He loves looking at pictures. He now sees one of his cuz, Keaton, and says, "Teaton." Too cute.
• He is still loving a good book. He picks one up, says "book" and then backs himself into your lap. He gets bored about one page in, but I still think it's cute.

And...we still love every second with him. Life couldn't get any better.

It's Halloween, Charlie Brown...

We spent the Halloween weekend in Humble hanging out with good friends and family!

Reed and Phillips Family
My cuz, the UPS man, and me - Charlie Brown!

See? Aren't we cute??

Here's Mama and Dada :) They ate my candy because I was too busy chasing the bigger kids.

We had a blast - looking foward to Thanksgiving and Christmas now!!

One!

Remember this little guy?

Or this tiny angel?
Guess what? He is now ONE!
And just as the day he came home....

.....he is as sweet as ever.

Griffin Hardy Reed -

Thank you for blessing our lives, for making us whole again, and for reminding us what life is really all about. You give us joy daily, and we want nothing but joy for you in return.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, sweet boy. And here's to many more....

We love you with all our hearts.

Birthday Bash!

This sweet little referee turned ONE!

We had a great HALLOWEEN BASH to celebrate -

we are so lucky to have such amazing friends and family come celebrate the big day.

We had ladybugs, pirates, Superman, Hannah Montana, a UPS man, and even Wolverine!
Griffin loved every second!

We can't believe our little one is ONE. Where does the time go?

More celebration pics to come soon!

THANK YOU to all our friends and family for such a fun day!

Pumpkin Patch Flashback...

Here is what we were doing exactly one year ago...taking sweet Keaton to the pumpkin patch....

...and waiting for our little pumpkin to arrive!

One year later, Lil' Griffin makes a trip to the pumpkin patch - recognize the scarecrow outfit?

And one year later, our sweet pumpkin is growing and walking!

CAKE!

Here are some more photos from his 1st birthday photo shoot. He loved the cake and will have some more this weekend we celebrate with all our friends and family.

One more week until the big day...

HAPPY ALMOST BIRTHDAY to the sweetest boy around!

Sweet Sunday...

This is how we spent our Sunday - being a model for Aunt Jill. She organized a little photo shoot for us, including a red balloon, new shirt, and a birthday cake. We practiced our cake-smashing abilities then had an impromptu bath to get the blue icing out of his hair, ears, and every little fat roll on his sweet little self.

What a treat and gift it is to have Aunt Jill and her talent so close at hand! We love you!

Two weeks until the Halloween birthday bash!

Where has the time gone?

We are so thankful for this sweet blessing each and every day!

Walking, talking, and more....

We are walking everywhere and exploring everything! Enjoy the following video and note a few things:

1. I am not a good videographer so prepare for a bumpy ride.
2. I tend to get really loud and maybe even sing a bit. It isn't pretty.

And for the star of the show, please note:

1. He loves to call for "mom" and "daddy."
2. He is a very determined walker on the go, non-stop.
3. He has one favorite song, and it's a rap one. Not good parenting, I know, but it is so darn cute. Listen for his version.
4. He loves his "juice" and asks for it often.

We are on the countdown to his first birthday and birthday bash - can't wait!

And we're off.....

One day shy of his 11 month birthday, he took some steps. He also took some hits, some spills, and acquired a few bruises, but this is one determined little guy. I am so glad he saved some of his big moments with my mom. What a special weekend we had! We are so proud :)

And, as you can see in this little clip, he is pretty proud of himself too!

Game Day!

Football season has started...GIG 'EM, WRECK 'EM, and BFND!

(Side note: AGGIE gear will be coming soon! We just had to put this outfit on as his daddy has been waiting a whole year for him to be able to wear it. NO ORANGE IN THIS HOUSE!)