Amazing Reece

Here are some pictures of one of Reece's many talents.... he amazes me!! He is so limber and strong! I was a pretty strong kid, and never in my more athletic days, was I ever able to do this! He started doing this AFTER he decided to quit tumbling. Our neighbor, Savannah, taught him.

Believing

I don't recall the age I was when I figured out the little secret about the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and even Santa Claus. But, I have hard time believing that Riley will continue believing much longer... he actually just found out about the Tooth Fairy a couple of weeks ago. He caught "her" green handed a while back. To my defense, the kid should have been WAY asleep at this point. Oh well, I told him the truth followed by a warning NOT to talk about this to his brother. A 6 year old (at the time) has every right to still believe and have fun with it.
I was SO sure this was going to be the year that Riley became suspicious of "Santa," mostly due to the TF incident. So far he hasn't questioned anything! We even had a sad conversation at dinner last week, and Riley came to Santa's defense. Reece came home from school telling us that a couple boy's in his class told him Santa was dead. And, since he was dead, their parents had to be Santa for them. Keep in mind that Reece is only in 1st grade, and I felt so sad and mad that these poor kids couldn't just enjoy the tradition at their young age. I told Reece that maybe they were naughty and Santa won't come their home, so mom and dad had to do Santa's job. Is that bad?? It just broke my heart.... and one of the first thoughts that actually crossed my mind, was the very low income school the boys go to. Kids at the boy's school see things in their daily lives that they shouldn't ever have to at such a young age, and what if the lack of "Santa" is just one more reality they have to live with in their early years. What a sad childhood! Thankfully, Mrs. Olander did get upset with the kids who were saying such things, and both of my boys were in complete shock that anyone would think this way!
Guess we get to "believe" a while longer.... and I'm okay with that!

11 Dozen Cookies Later

I've been keeping my sister busy this month.... She just makes the prettiest and best tasting cookies E.V.E.R!
I got Riley some basketballs to take to school tomorrow to celebrate his half birthday.... then my para friends decided we should get some Christmas cookies for our kiddos on Tuesday, and my other friend ordered her daughter some girly cookies for her birthday. I decided not to take them out of the wrapping, because I wasn't sure I'd get them secure again before delivering them. Aren't the beautiful!!??

Gingerbread Fred

Last week, Reece got to have a visitor from school.

His name was Gingerbread Fred... and Reece's homework was to write a journal about what they did together. There was even a book called "Gingerbread Fred" to read, but mommy didn't know about this book until it was past bedtime.... oops!

Where's Fred?? Haha!

Birthday Fun

Reece had a very nice birthday! He woke up super early, and he looked at me (because there was no way he was going back to bed) and said, "I'm so excited!!!!"

Not sure if he was more excited about his birthday, or the fact that his Grandma and Grandpa were coming from Arizona that day. I bet it was both!

Aunt Joanna made his birthday treats for school.... we decided on bowling and party hats, since he had a bowling birthday party this year.

This came home from school that day.... the next day I got a very nice email from his teacher. She said that Reece went to school and told her, "I might go wild today!" She was very glad to report that he did not, in fact "go wild" and I should be proud that he focused so well on his birthday. He even had this perfect math page.

When Reece and Riley got home from school, Grandma and Grandpa were here!

We went to watch Riley bowl, and he got his game high!! 87!!!

Then it was off to have birthday dinner at Applebees, where Reece got a mini birthday dessert. After that we sent the big boys to go pick up Reece's ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Reece really loved the Jayhawk cake!!

What you may not know about Grandma and Grandpa, is that they are ice cream fanatics.... so this cake was especially planned around them!

"Reece LOVES cake!!"

Silly us! We totally cut into the cake before we remembered the candle.... my brain just doesn't work like it used to! It's a scary thing.... so here is the "wish" after we began eating.

Reece was so patient! We made him wait ALL day to open his one gift from us.

WOW!! It was a Nintendo 3DS!!!

Here is a video of Reece opening his gift.... mom and dad were silly and made him work hard at unwrapping it. I'm not sure whose reaction was better... Reece or Riley's???

Happy Birthday, Reece!!

My sweet "baby" is officially 7 today!

I still have the feeling, that I survived 7 years of Reece..... haha! But I just couldn't imagine life without this kiddo. I love his spunk and his desire to do it all and have it all. I hope that fire never leaves him!!

Reece's 1st cake!

Mr. Blue Eyes

Reece is pretty excited for a couple reasons.... A. It is his birthday. And B. Grandpa McMillan and Gramma Sally are arriving today from Arizona to spend a few days with the family! I hope they survive Kansas in the winter time.... I think it's been a while since they've been around cold!

Happy Birthday, Reece!!

We love you!!

Birthday Bowling

Somewhere along the way, I blinked, and my baby is now just days away from turning 7!!!

We got to give him a bowling party, and I think it was a crowd pleaser.

Reece chose a Transformer cake..... I had to put the action figures on myself, and apparently I need to brush up on my Transformer trivia, because I put them on like they were fighting. Reece informed me that these two were NOT enemies! They are both good guys!! Oops!

Shaylyn and Nicholas.

Shaylyn and Asa.

John, Shaylyn, Nicholas, Garrett, Asa and Logan.

Reece's favorite girl..... Savannah!

The "older" kids.

Time to make a wish!

I have to tell a Reece funny...

Nicholas was telling everyone that he saw Santa at Walmart, and he thought it was pretty cool!!

Reece's reply was, "It must have been a fake Santa, because I saw the real one at the Farm (Prairie Pines.)"

Rudolph.... I mean, Asa!

***

Today, Reece and Riley dug for dinosaur bones.

It is still in the works, but Reece got this gift and apparently, when all the bones are found, they can build a dinosaur. We'll see how this ends!