3 Weeks.

Our little Reed is now 3 weeks old. Like the last two weeks, this one flew by. He stayed awake longer today and didn't let me go too long without holding him, hence not a lot got done today. But that's ok, right? You've got to have priorities! He's so squishy and warm and cute and he smells SOOOO good. I love the smell of babies. His cheeks are so fluffy and soft and his hair is so velvety. When he stretches, he pulls his feet up to his bum and raises his hands above his head and holds his breath and then squeeks it out again while turning bright red. It's so cute. It's no wonder we can't get enough of him!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Yesterday we made the easiest PB Cookies I have ever made. I really thought that the recipe was missing something, it's that simple. I have to confess though, we made two batches and the second one we added a pinch of salt and vanilla, just to experiment, and they were good either way.

Amazing Peanut Butter Cookies

(from Jessica at Little Birdie Secrets)

1 cup peanut butter (we used extra crunchy)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk chocolate chips (we used a mix of pb chips and chocolate)

Mix together and bake on a cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

(Let cool on rack before you move them or they may fall apart.)

Welcome Christmas.

I love the Christmas Spirit this time of year. When we came home from our Thanksgiving "vacation" at my parents house, my sweet Sean had cleaned the house, done the laundry and set up our Christmas tree. (I am so very thankful for him.) So on Monday, for Family Home Evening we decorated the tree and listened to Christmas music. Yesterday, for the first day of Christmas, we wrote some letters and made and ate some yummy and warm peanutbutter cookies and milk. Delicious! (I'll post the recipe next!)

We love the lights on the Christmas tree, especially at night when the other lights are off. It creates such a calm and magical spirit in the house. I love reading the scriptures together by lamplight and the Christmas lights. Cozy!

This year for gifts, we are making them again. We did this last year and I loved it. It was a lot more fun than shopping for gifts! Ty has drawn up his plans for the rest of the kids already. It involves wood! He is so excited. Hopefully I'll be able to help him get them done!

More Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was so nice this year. (It always is!) We spent the day at my parents house and enjoyed an abundance of delicious food, wonderful company and watched some football. (The kids hiked with Sean that morning and we watched the parade that afternoon as well.) Katie and John made the cutest Thanksgiving Turkey centerpiece with colorful feathers for us to write our blessings on. It turned out SO CUTE! We may have to make this one a tradition. (I forgot my camer for the actual Thanksgiving Day celebrations. Sorry. These are from the rest of the weekend.)

This is one of the smallest Thanksgiving's I think we have ever had. It was wierd not having more of my family there. (We missed you Keri, Justin, Dusty, Julia, Spencer, Robin and Hayden) We had the best Thanksgiving's growing up. (Janice and Kevin and Kim and Kendee, and cousins, we really miss and love you too!) The kids were excited and made a lot of noise as usual, but we missed all of the cousins.

The kids and I ended up making a vacation out of this weekend. We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house until Sunday morning! We shopped, ate, watched football, jumped on the trampoline and Grandma got more than her fair share of the Disney Chanel. It was a lot of work for Grandma...so thanks Mom! (We have the sweetest Mom in the world. Seriously.)

Saturday night a cold front moved in and it got chilly. The kids wrapped up in blankets and jumped on the trampoline and then we got a surprise...RAIN!!! They stayed out long enough to get the blankets soaked before they had to come in. I remember jumping in the rain for hours in Texas and Florida when I was a kid (at least when there was no lightning!) We don't get much rain out here, so we are grateful for the Thanksgiving rain and the chilly weather we got this weekend, along with all our other blessings that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with!

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll! Hope yours was blessed.

2 Weeks.

Reed is two weeks old already and I can hardly remember a particular day during these two weeks. They have gone by in a blur. He is a cutie. He has been sleeping, eating and growing and a lot of diaper changes in between. He likes to stay awake from 12-2am to make sure I have something useful to do in the middle of the night! He has a deep little cry...which isn't really much of a cry at all. It's more like he's shouting "ow, ow, ow!" We usually hear this when he gets his diaper changed! Carly has embraced her mothering skills. She is sweet and loves to hold him. Ridge and Ty are great helpers as well. I never have to throw a diaper away when they are around. Ty is especially in love with our little guy. He loves to hold him and tickle his cheek and "pet" his head. I love watching how sweet Sean is with his tiny little son. I have always melted watching one of the kids tenderly curled up on his chest. They are soooo little and he is sooo big. But he is such a sweet, patient and tender daddy with his babies. I love it!!!

What a fun time in life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! This morning before the sun came up, Sean woke the kids and took them out for a special surprise. He took them on a sunrise hike up to the north Maricopa Mountains. They hiked about 3 miles according to Sean, so they should be good and tired tonight! Even Ty hiked the whole way. Sean brought his 22 and let them shoot. They saw a snake, some beautiful dessert scenery and made a great Thanksgiving memory. It was a beautiful chilly morning. Next year Reed and I will have to join them! I am so thankful for my sweet husband and my great kiddos. We are thankful for our awesome family near and far and for all of you we are lucky enough to call friends. We are so blessed.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your hearts are as full as ours.

Reed William Rieman born 11-10-09

Reed has joined the runts in the hay...and the other runts need to watch out. Reed is 22 inches long, 9 pounds 7 ounces. Reed was bor at 6:46 PM. He is a big boy. Lisa is doing great, her nurses and midwife were great. And Reed latched right on to Mom nursing. He has some good lungs too.

Heeelloooo Baaaby!

Well, it's official. Tomorrow morning (November 10th) we will be meeting our baby! We're scheduled to start the fun around 9:30am. This sweet one will make it's grand entrance on my little sister's birthday!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!


Happy Birthday Cindy!!! Hope you like the present I got you! (But I get to keep it!)

When I dropped the kids off at Cindy's house tonight they all wished us good luck, kissed me and the baby, whispered messages to my tummy and as I was leaving out the door they each yelled what to name it:
Carly: Courtney
Ridge: Jake
Ty: Jack Jack
Hmmm...we'll see....

Family time...

This post is more for me than for you. Just remembering a comfortable Sunday afternoon together as a family. But you're welcome to read.

Our church started an hour later today and that one little hour changed the landscape of our whole day. We got home close to 4. Usually we nap and have "quiet time" after church. Today it was soooo late, but we decided to try it anyway. The kids all piled into our bed with us and we read books and then a couple of us fell asleep. (You know which ones...the old folgies who can't function without a Sunday afternoon nap anymore!) The kids played around us using the baby's crib as a fort and putting together puzzles and reading books. They were actually pretty quiet, or we were just unusually tired from a very fun Halloween. (Thanks Katie!)

Right before dinner tonight, Ridge fell and hit his chin on the table and his head on the tile. Dad patched him up good. Now he's sporting a cool little chin strap on his face. He found Sean's "Paul Bunyan" cap and wore it until bedtime. He looked so cute.

Carly was rolling around in her rollerblades she bought at Savers with her own hard earned money. I remember wearing my awesome skates in the house too! But, after two falls from her, we nixed the blades. We already had enough blood from Ridge. (Sorry Carly)

Ty had a tough time at church today. No classes for him or mom. (He said he didn't like the new church building.) Better luck next week.

Ridge and Carly took over the camera for a few shots and Ridge did my hair the way he likes it. He often pulls my hair to one side and tells me how "gorgeous" I look that way. Tonight he did it and then asked to take a picture of me like that. Cute. Now I have a picture to go with the memory!

We topped off the night watching a couple of short inspiring clips from Sean's facebook page. (One from President Hinckley and one called "Validation" if you want to check them out.) The kids liked them. I may have leaked a tear or two also.

Ty fell asleep sitting up next to Sean. Maybe that explains the attitude today.

We read our scriptures and said our prayers and off to bed they went without one complaint!

Hope you had a wonderful Sabbath day.

It's November...Thanksgiving month. We'll be trying to come up with some "Thankful" activities to do. If you have any traditions or ideas I'd love to hear them.

38 Weeks and counting...

My cousin requested a pregnant picture of me, so we took some today. I think I only have a couple of pictures of me during this pregnancy from a few months ago, so I was well behind! We are at 38 weeks and still doing well. The baby is VERY active and feels huge in my tummy. It's funny...at this point I'm ready to have my body back (do baby hic-ups drive anyone else crazy? It's like having an eye twitch! Aggg!) At the same time, I will miss having this little baby in my tummy wiggling around. I bet lots of moms can relate.

Our bodies are amazing. I am always humbled and in awe that our Heavenly Father has made us capable of the miracle of birth! I am so grateful to be a woman!

We are so excited and grateful to welcome another sweet little spirit to our family this month!

Now...any guesses what it will be?!!

Halloween bags and sketches.

My friend Jeanette had a craft day for the girls and we made these cute felt Halloween bags for our kids. I had Ty with me and thought it was simple enough for him to design and sew with me. He designed a monster head, which is cute and I don't have a picture, but I'll get one soon. He told me the colors and then sewed them all on himself! It was fun for him.

Ridge designed a robot on paper and decided it was what he wanted. So we cut the robot out of felt and he sewed his design on the bag. I cut a cat design out for Carly, but she decided that she wanted it to coordinate with her Halloween costume, which she decided will be a pirate this year. So, she sketched her design on paper, we cut it out and ...it's still a work in progress! Ridge and Ty's are done and we've sewn the bags together. They have been carrying all kinds of loot around the house in them. Carly will be done by Halloween, I'm sure!

The picture of Sean is a colored pencil sketch he is working on of an elk. I love love watching Sean draw. He is very talented. I thought his mom would like to see what he's been up to.

I just couldn't leave Ty out, since I don't have a picture of his bag, so here is Ty giving me a "look". He really was happy, just posing for the picture.

Hope you're having a great Fall!

Lisa

First Day of School...a Success!

The kids have been packing and preparing for school for a couple of weeks now. Sean gave the kids their special Father's Blessing on Sunday night and they picked out their clothes, packed their lunches and went off to dreamland!

Thier first day of school finally arrived and they were so excited. We've been told their teachers are wonderful and they have a beautiful new school campus. It's still under construction and a work in progress, but will be awesome when it's completed.

I think school will be a major adjustment for Ridge this year. He had half days for kindergarten and has a very active imagination. I hope he does well with the new schedule. (Six plus hours of concentration will be a major adjustment!)

Carly came home and told me how fun it was and that time flew by! She is so excited about what she is going to learn. I hope that lasts all year!