2009/07/31

Death awaits us all.

So, what do a Harvard Professor, The President of the United States, and a Cop have in common? Aside from the beer, they will all die and be judged by God, who is no respecter of man nor does he play favorites!

The Darling of Heaven is Jesus Christ our Lord. Without this Savior there is no hope for any of them nor us.

2009/07/29

Surfin' USA


Colby and his new board. Before he could go out and try it, he had to melt off the old wax and apply the new wax. Jake took him out Friday morning for the "dawn patrol." He practiced paddling with it over the waves and swimming with the wetsuit, shoes, etc. He had fun and needed hot cocoa to warm up afterwards. Looking forward to taking pictures of him riding the thing.. sitting or standing.. I'm not picky!

Let me Explain...


Actually, I can't.

I'm bad.. I know it



I have this beautiful little child and I haven't posted any pictures of him in days. I'm so sorry! Please enjoy our Samuel. He's shoeless. Typical for a Reynolds until winter strikes or they learn to walk.





2009/07/23

Louisa ~ Making our Home Lovelier


I love to happen on this sort of thing.  It's always when I need it.

2009/07/19

Our house is feeling like Home

With the unpacking pretty much complete, the throws of life are beginning to feel normal to me again.  The kids are acting like themselves.  Though I think probably they've acted like themselves all along, only I was different.  With that, here's a look into what's been happening.

Samuel isn't sleeping through the night and that's okay.  I like getting up with the little tight fisted boy.  He's so sweet!  He's developing a flat spot on his head, so we're having to watch how we tuck him in at night.  Because of his clavicle injury, he's preferred sleeping on the side of his body opposite the injury.  He also hasn't used his left arm very often.  Thus he has limited movement and seems rather stiff on that left side.  These things should begin to clear up now that his clavicle is nearly healed.  His Dr. says that it takes 6-8 weeks for the fracture to heal.  

Silas received a Tonka truck for his birthday and likes to give Salt rides in it.  His vocabulary is expanding somewhat.  His favorite phrase being, "Daddy Home."  He's also sleeping in a regular twin size bed now.  He has the room to himself until we move Samuel out of our room in there.

Libby is much the same, crazy.  She asked me if I was a boy or a girl the other day.  I had to laugh because for a postpartum mommy this comment could lead to a great deal of crying..  She also realized I had the baby.  Two days ago, she exclaimed, with her crazy eyes in wonderment, "Mommy, did you have your baby?  YAY!!!" and then, "Mommy, are you having another one?"  I am carrying a pudge that's quite soft around the middle still.  Oh Libby.

Louisa spends ample time riding her "new to her" mountain bike.  She is practicing using gears and has already taken a ride down to the beach with Jake, Colby, and Ben.  She isn't quite ready to wonder off to the parks alone so she spends some time each day pouting - to which she's easily cheered by helping me in the kitchen.

Benjamin has made friends with two little boys named Jeremiah and Ezra.  They play war, ride bikes, and use walkie-talkie's.  He also enjoys swinging from the rope swing in our backyard. We have the most amazing climbing trees from which hang a thick rope, perfect for swinging, climbing, tying up your sister.. you get the point.

Jackie has a couple of friends, though she tells me, "They're not like the girls in North Carolina."  I agree with her, she left behind some dear friends.  She likes to run about with Colby and have light saber wars with he and his friends.  She's pretty neat.

Colby has taken up skateboarding and Jake just bought him a surfboard.  He's getting very excited for his upcoming classes this fall.  Some will be online and he's feeling quite grown-up about it.

Jake's busy adjusting to the new schedule of school.  Lots of studying to be done.  He's enjoying riding his bike to and from school.  We live rather close to the school, so it's about a 15 minute ride or so one way.  Colby sometimes bikes in with him and will start meeting him for lunch once or twice a week.  

I've been cooking.  That's how I feel most at home.  We've been enjoying yoghurt, bread, jam, granola and some new recipes from a new cookbook I was recommended from my friend called, "Barefoot Contessa."  It's fun and the recipes are easy to follow.  Just my style.  

I hope you are all well too!  We love you guys and are especially missing you East Coasties!

2009/07/13

Silas is 2




Silas turned 2 today.  It's hard to believe how fast the last 2 years have gone by.  We are so thankful for the time we've had with the sweet boy.  He's such a joy to us all.  With the singing of the "Happy Birthday" song tonight it was evident how much the little guy is adored by us all.  We praised God for His gift to us, ate cake, and opened presents in celebration of the day. Thank you for the phone calls(Moms and Dads), visit (Mrs. Good), video email (The girl and boy Pastor Thomas), and cards.  Silas felt so special even if he didn't know the significance of the day.

2009/07/09

Monterey is Lovely




We've had a small amount of time to begin our explorations through Monterey.  What we've seen has been beautiful.  The coast is crisp, be it the cut of the landscape or the continuous breeze, it's unique in its own right.  We had a chance to take the 17 mile drive as well.  There we saw the beautiful Monterey Cypress.  We've seen the trees all over since arriving but were bewildered by what the name of it was.  We saw the Lone Cypress as well.  Supposedly this was the tree that inspired the designer of Pebble Beach Golf Course.  The Course was beautiful.  I have always been a skeptic when it comes to golf courses and such, but this was lovely very pristine and well manicured.  

Sam the little Man



He is so sweet.  Can you imagine curling up like that?  I am still surprised every time I see the babies with their head hung that way.  Seeing him makes me want to snuggle him and take a long nap.

Vegas Baby!


In our journeys to the west we ventured through Vegas.  Arriving late in the evening our adventure was short-lived and we are glad for it.  I attempted a photo of the city the evening we drove in.  Obviously I've still not improved with the no-flash photos.  As dizzying as the photo is, that's actually about as much sense as Vegas makes to me.

So we obviously had to walk away with a funny story and this one is of sweet Lib again.  As we drove through the strange city of the desert we noticed several castles along the way.  They are obviously casinos of some sort, but Lib didn't know that, so we took the opportunity to exercise our parental rights and had some fun on her behalf, saying things like, "Look Libby that's your new castle."  We are going to move there.  She'd remark saying, "I am a Princess-Lady, I need to dance."  After we'd drive past it, we'd say, "Just kidding, that's not our new home."  Then we'd pass another castle and say the same thing.  Each time she'd get really excited and remark how she, "needed to dance" and how she's a, "princess lady."  We had quite the time of it and everyone laughed.  

Now driving through the desert with 7 children and a westie you must realize that your mind becomes a bit like mush from the long hours of no bathrooms, trees, or anything of the remotest interest.  Actually it can be very exciting when the 3 year old makes the dreaded pee pee call 20 minutes after the sign that reads, "next bathroom service 100 miles."  So, you get to pull over in a freaky ghost town and let your little girl squat to make pee while you support her; meanwhile your husband hangs out the window with a loaded gun just in case some goon decides to jump the BRV. Back to the point.  Driving through the desert is when the giggles can set in and crazy ideas cook up. For example; before we left North Carolina we would harass our little dog Salt.  Doing things like making him dance with us and putting little red boots on him.  You know the kind that your daughter might put on her American Girl Doll.  In the process of such harassment my husband would sometimes sing, "put on your red shoes and dance with me."  That particular line comes from a David Bowie song.  If you don't know Bowie, good for you, you're better for it.  So, I decided that I would download this song of his, "Let's Dance" just for the trip.  The song just happened to come on during this part of the drive.  We got to laughing hard about, "serious moonlights" and "fall into my arms and tremble like a flower."  Have you ever heard such nonsense?  What was the man thinking when he sang that song?  It's now officially our dog's song.  We have visions of our little westie "putting on his red shoes and dancing the blues."

Perhaps you had to be there to get it. 

2009/07/02

Still in Cali... doing alright, only one broken bone!

It's been a busy week as you can imagine.  We are in the house and 85 % of the boxes are opened and unpacked.  We're still placing a few items here and there.  
Family update:

Jake fell and sprained his ankle badly the day before we were to unload our shipment.  We were very concerned it was broken because of the loud pop he heard, but praise the Lord it's not.  We hired out and payed someone to unload the shipment for us.  The Good's were by our side and a huge help to us as well.

We've had a bout of sickness here too.  I had a fever of just shy of 101.  That's the highest in a long time.  So I spent a couple of delirious nights irritated that I didn't have the energy to unpack.  Colby had the same thing.  The others seemed to have a milder case of it.

Samuel has a broken Clavicle.  This was a suspicion of ours as Jake and I discovered a knot on his shoulder while in Texas and upon researching online figured that could be the case.  The radiologist confirmed our suspicions.  It would have been broken upon delivery.  He was rather large at birth and well, I'm not.  So, it broke on his way to life outside the womb.  It will heal with time and doesn't need a cast because it's a clean break.  The lump we felt is the mass of cells that are surrounding the break helping it to heal.  It's remarkable really, the capability of the human body to heal itself and all because of God's design and His Grace.  

So that sums up the last week.  Hopefully I'll post more from the trip later, with details of red boots and castles... woo hoo!