Our Crazy Life…

So my oldest baby was born 2 days after Christams 2003… and barely 2 days… he was born at 12:48 in the morning on the 27th.   Talk about an amazing Christmas gift!  Buuut for little Trey it’s not always amazing. Granted, we have great family that go out of their way to make sure Christmas and Birthday stuff are very separate… but it does all happen at once and by the time the holidays are over, he’s on gift overload.  It all kind-of loses its luster I think.  Plus, birthday parties are really hard to pull off during the holidays… everyone’s on vacation, everyone’s busy… it’s tough.

So this year we decided to throw him a 1/2 birthday party.  No presents.  Just a fun-filled afternoon with lots of ice-cream and one giant water gun fight.

This might turn into an annual event… Trey’s 1/2 Birthday ice-cream party/water-gun fight… whattya think?

Here are a few pics:

We bought entirely too many toppings and way too much ice-cream.  Seriously.  We’ll be eating this stuff for months.  Which is just grand for my waistline.

Lots of kids… lots of running… lots of me being paranoid that my super-boy-all-boy-hyper-insane-no-girl-calming-influenced family would be terrifying to Trey’s friends (and their parents).  I think maybe it was okay… right?… right?

* crickets *

Annyway…

The baby did so well! He was off playing with the big kids, running around with them… after them… under them… hahaha.  At one point a few of them had him cornered against the fence and Trey ran over and came to his rescue… “Doon’t shoot my BROOTHER!!!”  Awww.  It’s not like they were hurting him or anything… in fact Noah was just sitting there taking it… getting shot with the water in his cute little chubby belly… but there’s something about watching your kids stand up for each other.  There’s that piece of you that always needs to reassurance that they’ll take care of each other… and this made me smile.

It was all smiiles for the most part though. 

DJ, my first child I’m raising, was the supreme instigator… with his FATHER coming in a close second… evil, those two….

Anyway, just a few.  I have lots more to blog from this weekend…

Stay tuned!

~ K

We are a low-key kind of family, especially when it comes to birthdays, holidays… things like that.  Some people throw huge bashes, lots of people, raucous laughter, music… this little family, well, we just like being together.  Father’s Day this year was no exception…

We started last night.  Okay, nope… reewind… it started Tuesday morning… or maybe it was Monday. I can’t remember.  Anyway, a few of us got together, threw a big ol’ tarp on the driveway and had the kiddos paint pictures for dads.  It was a lot of fun!

Noah did a good job actually painting… I fully expected him to play his ‘Noah the Destructor’ card and ravage everyone else’s paintings, but he was pretty content to paint and just watch.  Well, except for constantly trying to paint on his brother’s canvas, but… that’s pretty good for him.

As always, Trey did great.  He painted bold strokes with bright beautiful colors… and watched everyone else.

Faast forward to last night… we decided to take DJ to his Father’s Day dinner a little early.  Wild Wings it was.  (Sorry no pictures, but I left my camera in the car… doh!).  And, uhm, for those of you out there that haven’t been to Wild Wings Cafe yet (it’s over in Chesapeake), drop what you’re doing and GO RIGHT NOW.  We spent years eating the wings from Wild Wings while we were in Charleston… and when we left the area, we missed it something awful.  Buffalo Wild Wings has NOTHING on this place.  Seriously, 33 flavors of wings… you heard me… 33! Go now.

Ookay, so yummy food under our belt, we made our way back to the Peninsula…

…and it’s about a 40 minute drive…and I was bored…so I played around with the camera a bit… I know.  I know.  D-O-R-K.

But what Saturday night outing is complete without ICE CREAM?!  Yes, ma’am, we stopped at Coldstone before we got home… mmmmmm.

Yum.  Ice Cream everywhere.

There was a band setting up at the restaurant/pub next door… Noah was a little wary of the drummer… he isn’t a big fan of loud noises.

We tried to sneak in a picture of DJ with his boys, buuut, I think they had other plans… like, you know, to make faces and loud noises and farting sounds… ice-cream highs don’t lend themselves very well to nice calm pictures.

So home we went

Today, with all the ‘outings’ stuff out of the way, we spent the majority of the day in our pajamas.  We made yummy breakfast, cleaned out the guest room (b/c Tee-Tee is coming this weekend!!!), put up some curtains… and then DJ tried his hand at a new recipe (drunken chicken) for the grill.  And while the chicken was cooking, we played outside.  It was great.  Low-key and perfect.

So, DJ here’s to you.  You are such a wonderful father.  You are hands-on, playful, and openly loving.  I don’t think I could ask for anything more.  Truly.  My boys will be better men because of you.

We love you Dadda.

Until next time,

~ K

… only to say, I’ll be back soon with some pictures… I promise.  Really, I do.

But so as not to leave you with nothing, here’s a little excerpt from a conversation at our breakfast table this morning…

TREY: Mama.  Why did you marry daddy?

DJ (snickering and chiming in): Yes, mama. Why did you marry daddy?

ME: Because of…

TREY (cutting me off entirely): Was it because he was so HOT?!

He’s 5.  Where does he get this from?

Trey and I have several “projects” that we plan on working on this summer… I figure we’ve got to keep busy-busy-busy… or I’m liable to go absolutely insane

So as time goes by, I’m sure you’ll be updated on these projects as well… soo fuun for yoou-ouuu…!

BUT today.

No projects.

Just enjoying the fact that we didn’t have to be anywhere at any given time.

…so we colored a bit on the floor.  The A/C is out downstairs… some blower/pump thingy.  It’s supposed to be fixed this week… soo we’ve been hanging out upstairs.

…aaand… Noah’s learned to climb onto our bed.  Great.

Trey, apparantly, thinks this is hilarious.

Me, not-so-much…

More to come soon!

Later,

~K

Today DJ re-enlisted.  Yup, another 4 years!

I am so proud of DJ… and excited for what adventures this next four years will bring.

Yet… yet…

It’s hard to verbalize.  Maybe some other military spouses out there can help me find the words because I’m never able to pinpoint how I feel.  It’s like you sit there and watch and breath in deep…and as you well up with pride for what your spouse is doing (and what your family is enduring)… you also realize the reality of…well…what your spouse is doing and what your family is enduring.  And then you slowly exhale… and an easy smile comes over your face.  Because, while you’re not upset or sad or scared, you’ve moved past that rip-roaring-all-american-pride-for-your-country-anthem-singing-flag-waving-enthusiasm and are filled with a sense of … truth.  It is what it is.  And we just do it.  Everyone does it for their own reasons, but we all just … do it.  We keep going.  We keep serving.

Our good friend, T, administered the re-enlistment oath for DJ.  I like that.  I feel like it’s more meaningful that way…

It’s little ceremonies like these that keep our military going.  If everyone got out after a few years of service, we wouldn’t have much of a military…

…. aaaand….

…because I don’t do well with too much “serious”…

Trey is pounding his feet on the floor… and Noah is CRACKING up.  Yes, we take the firestation by storm when we come in… hope they didn’t want to get any work done or anything…

Until next time,

~ K

I can now say I’ve been to a Pirate festival…

This weekend was the Blackbeard Pirate Festival here in Hampton. It was a beautiful day so we decided to venture out; afterall, Trey LOVES pirate stuff. Well, he pretty much loves anything that involves weapons and violence. Hmm. yay.

It was fun! Definitely interesting, with some very interesting people, but altogether fun.

Here are a few shots:

The ship isn’t technically a pirate ship.  It’s the Kalmar Nyckel.  But it’s VERY neat and still sails in the open sea.  Trey had a good time looking at the canons on board.

Cool.

I’ll have some pics of the boys up soon.

~ K

So, I hate to disappoint you out there, but this blog… is not going to be all pretty pictures. Those of you that have been around for a while know very well how much I like to write and vent and vent and vent and bitch and whine and complain.  Soooo, if that turns you off… I – so – sorry… please move along. But this is, as a friend so very well stated in one of her blogs, therapy-through-writing.

Okay more like whining-through-writing… but it helps me wrap my head around my life sometimes. So there.

The latest in Reedy Family madness… Private School.

This is a looong story, but I will do my best to save you some drool and sum it up quick.  Here goes:

We suck and totally didn’t research school areas before we moved and settled in one of the worst possible school zones in the city of Hampton. Yay us.

There.  Whew. That feels so much better. Admitting you are a moron is half the battle, right?

So here we are.  The elementary we’re zoned for is a nightmare. We thought there might be a light at the end of our tunnel as they were planning on closing that school, opening a new one, and making the school we wanted Trey to go to an application only school… However, the city decided that they weren’t going to have the new school done in time and… here…we are…  We ran and put our name on the waiting list for this other school, but he’s waaaay down on the list and, well, it’s just not going to happen.

So we began looking at private schools.

And then I saw the prices and had a heart attack.

But, after touring a few of the schools, speaking with the principal at one, and taking Trey to see it… I think we’ve found the one that fits us best.  I’m impressed with the curriculum, love how friendly everyone appears to be, and feel like it will be a good fit for our family.

However, I will be selling my organs to pay for it.  Anyone need a kidney? We’ll start the bidding at, oh, say, 6 trajillion-bajillion dollars. Hello? Bueller?

In all seriousness, it was a very heavy conversation DJ and I had… can we really afford this?  The answer, yes… barely.  It will hurt, but we’ve got it.

But, the real question is… how could we NOT?  This child is so important and so amazing and so intelligent and so sweet… how could we not do it?  As much as we debated, we knew all along that this was the answer.

He is worth it. Every stinkin’ penny…

Until next time,

~ K

I know, I’m a master of words.  OUTSIDE TIME.  Brilliant and prosaic.

Are you guys sick of me yet?

Anyway, these are older pictures (as you can tell by the actual presence of hair on Noah’s head)… but I wanted to share them b/c they are so ‘us’.  These boys love to play outside… several weeks ago the weather was absolutely amazing.  Warm, but not too hot… nice breeze… sunny… it was awesome.

So, during the week I would walk to pick up Trey from school… and everyday we passed this cute teeny little patch of yellow flowers in the park.  And everyday I’d say, “I need to bring my camera…” and everyday I’d forget.

Until this day…

And it is obvious that Trey thoroughly enoys having a mother obsessed with photography.  He is clearly enjoying me making him sit there…

Noah wasn’t so bothered.  Ever since he discovered those dandelion things that you can blow the fuzzy stuff off of (do they have a name?!)… he’s obsessed with picking flowers and blowing on them, regardless of the TYPE of flower…

Is it bad that this is my favorite picture.  I mean, really, how cute is this?

Trey loves to play hide-and-seek and chase and tag and whatever other games require boundless amounts of energy.

Noah was enjoying himself too I believe…

…aaaaand… I just had to throw this in there… *sniff* … I miss his little baby hair… *sniff* 

Have a good Tuesday,

~ K