2 and 2

It is so hard to believe that 2 months ago Kyle officially became part of our family. It has been an adjustment, but surprisingly it has been fairly quick. With a little organization and a lot of patience we make it through. Some days are tougher than others but I wouldn't have it any other way. We love Kyle and are so glad we are blessed to have him in our family. He is growing so fast. He has started smiling and cooing and has the sweetest dimples. He loves Lilly so much! If Ziff or I can't seem to comfort him we just call Lilly over and she calms him right down. Kyle's not much a fan of being on his tummy, but I am working hard to remember to put him on his tummy for a couple minutes several times a day. At his 2 month check up and he weighed in at a healthy 11 pounds (50th percentile) and is measuring at 23 1/2 inches (75th percentile).

Lilly has grown and developed so much as well. She loves her nursery class at church and looks forward to it each week. Last week she told us all about it the whole way home and all through lunch and then she sang a song for us that she learned in there. It was truly special. She also loves to sing. She can sing happy birthday, Old McDonald, the ABC's, and the Barney "I Love you song". She can count to 4 and she can also say 3-4 word sentences like "here you go". Her vocabulary is amazing and she is learning more and more new words every day. This week she learned grasshopper and she says it the cutest way "hopgrass". My other favorite word she says is ice cream only she says it "e- cre". She has started doing chores and has her own chore chart and she loves to put her stickers on it and is so proud when she gets one. She has also started slowly working on potty training. We have had several successful trips to the potty and she has a brag chart for that too. We aren't pressuring her too much, but she shows all the sign of being ready and tells us when she has to go so we thought we'd start slow. There is just so much I could share about all the wonderful things she is up to but not enough time to type it all. She is a happy healthy 2 year old This video is on here especially for grandpa. He always sends us little videos he finds on youtube so we thought he might appreciate this one! I took this when Lilly was "watching" Kyle for me. She decided to sing Old McDonald to him.

Summer cookout

This month has been so busy! It has been a lot of fun and has flown by. For some reason I feel like July is always the fullest month of the year. This summer we decided to get our little playgroup together with the daddies too and have a big cookout. We went up into the gorgeous Poudre Canyon to Gateway park. Besides the fact I got eaten alive by mosquitoes (ziff and the kids didn't get bit at all!) we had a great time!!! The kids had so much freedom to run and play and the parents even got to play a little.Towards the end we took all the kids down to the water. Some dipped their toes in, but most of them had fun throwing little rocks off the bridge and watching them splash into the water. The kids ran around and played till almost 8 pm and we still had a half hour drive home, but it was well worth staying up late for. I think we will definitely have to do it again.

Ziff was practicing his grilling skills. It took him a while to warm up, but I think he had fun.

All the kids were pretty excited and had a hard time eating, but we had lots of good food for everyone.

Lots of grass to run and play. Lilly loved her freedom and thought it so much fun to roll down the hill. She kept telling Ziff and I that we needed to roll too! She even got Ziff to chase her all around I think they were playing daddy monster.

Lilly turns 2!!!!

2 years ago we welcomed into the world our precious daughter Lilly Kay Reed. Over those 2 years not only have we gotten to watch Lilly learn and grow, but we too have learned and grown. She is an amazing little girl full of life! She loves to laugh and to snuggle and can be a bit mischievous at times something we have come to love about her. She can be very shy and cautious, assessing things before she decides whether or not to let her guard down. She enjoys playing with her friends, swimming, coloring, reading, singing and she loves to bake. It has been so fun to watch her grow and develop her personality. She is so bright and makes our world a better place everyday!This year I decided to start a new tradition of birthday pancakes. Lilly seemed to love the idea of having special fancy pancakes with a candle to blow out. When we sang to her she was grinning from ear to ear. It is a great was to make her special day even more special! She got to celebrate on Monday with a special trip to the zoo, Wednesday (her actual birthday) with pancakes and a present and Saturday with her friends at her party! A whole birthday week.

This year we had her party at a park again. She had so much fun! It was pretty warm out, but she didn't mind. She ran back and forth from the toys to me laughing and smiling. She was having so much fun she didn't want to even stop to eat lunch or her cupcake. She just wanted to play with her friends. She got many wonderful gifts including a doll that Grandma and Grandpa Reed got her, which she loves and takes everywhere with her, and a medical kit for her doll from our good friends. She also got a leaptop from us, which she seems to love as well and has already learned some new animals and letters from. When we got home from her party she kept telling us how happy she was and ran around the house saying "happy happy happy". I think it was a great day!

We have had so much fun these past 2 years and can't wait to see what fun is in store for us in the next few years. She loves to interact with her friends from playgroup and she looks forward to going to her nursery class at church every Sunday. She can count to 4 now, sing her ABC's (although you can't understand all the letters), she can set the table, put her dishes in the sink, dress herself, and say close to 200 words. And she is learning more and more every day. We love you Lilly!

Our fourth 4th

Our growing family

You can barely see her but She is such a big girl pulling her wagon. She almost got run over by big kids a few times so I had to walk right next to her the whole time.

Our sweet angels in their 4th gear! (thanks to Stacey!)

Lilly wasn't sure about touching the bunny at first but she really wanted me to hold all of the animals.

This 4th of July was the fourth one that Ziff and I have spent together. It was a pretty fun on considering that the actual 4th of July was rained out. On the 3rd we went to a pancake breakfast with our ward family. It was a really hot morning. At 9 am it was already in the mid 70's. By 10 it was in the mid 80's. Regardless of the heat though we tried our best to enjoy ourselves. We attempted to eat some breakfast but Lilly was to excited by everything else going on. They had a small area where there were kittens and bunnies to hold and pet and they also had a dog, but Lilly was more thrilled about the bunnies. They had face painting and a few fun games for the older kids and they also had a bike parade. Since Lilly is to small for a bike we decided to decorate her wagon so she wouldn't feel left out and she pulled her wagon until she got tired and then I pulled her. After the church get together we ran a few errands and then spent a lovely lazy afternoon at home together playing. It doesn't get much better than time with your family! I can't wait to see what our 40th 4th holds!!

Lions, tigers & hippos Oh my!

As a special treat for Lilly's birthday this year we went to the Zoo. It was our first time as a family going (besides the trip to see the Christmas lights which was at night). I was so excited and so was Lilly. The whole car ride there she kept talking about what animals she was going to see. I was so fun to go this time because she knew what each animal was and she could spot them on her own. I was so impressed with how grown up she has become. She walked around the entire Zoo for 2 hours and didn't ask to be carried or get into the stroller.

She found one of my old disposable cameras and she decided to bring it with her to the zoo and take pictures of ALL of the animals. It was quite cute to watch her. I assume she has learned from me because I always have the camera and am taking pictures constantly.

She LOVED the penguins! I think we had to stand there for about 10 minutes before we were able to pry her away...literally she was hanging on to the rail. Whats funny was that the whole time she kept asking to see the owl and then when we were at the penguins and the owls were in the building right nest to them she said she didn't want to see them.

We took this picture for grandma. We have one of Lilly in front of the antelopes (her favorite animal) but we needed on with Kyle. Although Ziff was hot and in a hurry so he didn't try to wait for Lilly or to make sure you could see the antelope. So I'm sorry grandma I tried!

I love this picture! It just makes my heart all warm and fuzzy.

Milk & cookies

This summer the local farm has added milk and cookie story time to its program. With the weather being fantastic the kids and I ventured out to the farm for some fresh air. Lilly had a great time and the whole car ride there she was chattering about all the animals she was going to see. I think she was a little excited about getting out of the house and getting to see animals. It was a double win day for her.

They have a little stream there that feeds into the pond where the ducks swim and Lilly and her friends decided it was a great place to cool off.

Lilly was so excited to see all of the animals. It has been a couple of months since we had been and she felt she needed to say hi to each and every one. This is apparently how she talks to chickens.

Our friends decided to make a playdate out of it. We all managed to find some shade to sit in and we enjoyed our cookies and a little bit of story. Lilly surprisingly drank most of her milk. She has been drinking it from her cereal bowl in the mornings because she sees me do it, but I thought she still wouldn't drink it plain. Maybe we have finally crossed that hurdle and can finally drink milk from a cup :-) Fingers crossed

Anyway, It was a fantastic morning and I think we all had a good time.