Holiday picts.

Update on our project: It is coming right along. The drywall is done and looks great. We painted and I REALLY like the colors. So glad we've done the work to make it look nice. Now this weekend my Dad is coming to help Trevor build shelves on either side of our fireplace. Once that's done, I'll stain them and the trim and it should be all done. Oh, and then there are the lights too....well, either way, we are moving right along and enjoying it!

So, I thought I'd throw in some pictures from the holidays. Hope you enjoy!
Our Christmas adventures started with all the Reid's at Dan and Martha's in Rochester Hills. So much fun to all be together.

All 8 of the Reid grandkids. Reuben is up in the corner to the left. Number 9 is in Martha's tummy. :) Yay!

The kids having a dance party with Aunt Martha! They love to dance!


Then we traveled to Grandma Rosey's house and enjoyed time with her and Scott and Berta and their kiddos. Also, such great fun.

Uncle Scott reading to the girls

Grandma Rosey with some Justus, Hailey and Kara

Justus and Kara :)

Early in January we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Herbert's to enjoy celebrating Christmas with them. Fun times.

The pond was frozen and perfect for sliding around

Of course it wouldn't be a fun wintery time without a ride on the tractor with Grandpa.

We got Justus this Michigan outfit for Christmas and it just so happened that while we were all together there was an IU vs. UofM basketball game. Perfect day for him to wear it...except I don't think Micigan won.

Here are the girls, Eva, Kara, Hailey and Haddee in their new p.j's. Even though they are cousins, they are sweet friends too.

When we got home, the girls had fun with Papa Reid on his 4-wheeler in the snow too! Austin was at a CMU wrestling match with Dad.
And then here are a few random pictures of the kids. Here's Kara "reading" her BibleAnd this is the best picture I could get of Austin...he's been trying to avoid the camera lately. It's still pretty cute though. :)

And Hailey lost her first two teeth! They were SO loose! She didn't even know she lost the first one. We think she might have swallowed it. The second one her Dad helped out a little. Either way, the other two adult teeth were right there ready.

And then there are a few pictures of our little Kara sleeping in funny spots.

Quick project...yeah, right... :)

I will start out by saying that by the Grace of God I am still smiling. :) I have been anxiously planning this project for over a year now and after Christmas I was set to go! (That's why I haven't posted any Christmas pictures or anything recent because I started this the first week of January) Well, to make a long story, short what started out as a "patch and paint" project turned into a project of dry wall and mudding the dry wall, etc. I was just going to patch some spots and paint with new warm colors. Well, I am confident now that I wouldn't have been happy with the quality of the walls and will really appreciate what it will now someday look like. And really, this is only the third week, so it's not like it's been months of living amongst the mess, but considering that the day I had planned to paint, I was actually tearing down paneling...that was kind of a bummer.
I have realized in the last few years that I struggle at times to enjoy the process of projects (as much as I really do like projects, I'm usually real impatient and just want them done). So, this has been a real lesson for me. Mostly because I feel like we've just been waiting and making decisions and waiting. And a lot of the things I wouldn't mind doing or helping with. But. I either don't know enough about how to do it or cannot physically do it by myself so I wait until Trevor's days off. But really, I've seen God bless this process in many ways already. You can ask me if you want to know more details :)
Anyway, there are many more steps before this will be complete, but I'm excited to say that as far as the dry wall (which most people will admit is a pain in the butt), we have done what we can do and now we will have the pros come in to finish it off. So, we are moving on! Progress! Then I will paint, we will put up trim, lights, build shelves on either side of the fire place, and get new carpet (although, the carpet is just a dream -I think. How I'd love to ditch the burnt orange, but new carpet is expensive! We will see what's left from what we have saved for this project).
I do hope to post some pictures from Christmas as there are just so many cute ones! And of course I hope to post a picture of the completed room sometime in the near future. Until then, here are some before pictures and one of Austin helping tear out this little half wall. He loved it!

After I pulled off the paneling

Austin and Trevor taking out the half wall.

Dry wall up and first few coats of mud...this is where Trev and I stopped and called in the pro. He comes tomorrow- Hallelujah!

Merry Christmas

Yes, I am quite a bit later than I usually am, but we've had a busy month and a half or so. At the beginning of the month when I would usually post, I was in Alabama for a week. I went to visit a dear friend and her family. Of course as things go with a busy house of four kids, I didn't take any pictures with my camera. A nice break from the cold, you might be thinking?...well, no. It was in the 20's and 30's for the first two days. Then a whopping 40 and for the last two days it did reach the mid to upper 50's which you will find no complaints here. It was sunny almost each day, so that was a bonus right there. It was a blessed trip by God, for sure. I love that family. I did get to go without any kids. My wonderful hubby stayed home, took a couple of days off and took great care of the kiddos.

This picture is of Great Grandma Reid with 5 of her 15 great grandchildren (my three and Adam and Katie's two oldest- Brooklyn and Kale). We went up to visit while our guys were hunting. It was a really nice visit.

Over Thanksgiving we got to see cousins at Grandma Rosey's house. They have a great time with Haddee, Eva and now little Justus. Hailey and Haddee had on "matching" outfits - green shirts and brown pants. They were so excited....simple joys.
The kids and Grandma put on a little singing time for us. They sang all kinds of fun songs, but I think this one is "If you're happy and you know it".

A great tradition: making cut-out Christmas cookies. My great grandma's recipe is for sure the best ever. That's just my opinion though. We had a good time. Hailey's really getting into her creative side and took great care with each cookie.

Austin definitely got in on the decorating, just as long as it took to do the one he wanted to eat :)

I couldn't resist putting this picture in. It was a priceless moment of thanks for a gift from her big brother. So sweet.


And lastly a wonderful Christmas photo. They actually cooperated quite nicely. Have a great Christmas everyone. We are certainly looking forward to being together and with other family too. Enjoy whatever the Lord has planned for you.

Finishing Fall...

I simply love this tree in the fall. The picture of course doesn't do it justice. It actually almost looks like it's glowing when the sun hits it. The outside leaves are bright yellow and the inside are more orange. Simply wonderful. And then all the fun we have in the leaves. Crunching, crunching, crunching....my favorite part...And those of us in Michigan have got to be thankful for the AWESOME fall weather we've had. Simply perfect.

Austin is real creative. His "ideas" are often not possible because of either the materials needed or the "know-how" or both. However, this time he was pretty set on making some huge scissors. He sharpened each stick by rubbing it on the road and then brought me a nail and asked me to reach him a hammer so he could put his scissors together. So, I helped him nail them together and they actually moved like scissors. They didn't actually cut, of course, but he sure had fun playing around with them and "cutting the leaves".

And he has just gotten into climbing trees. Still pretty cautious, which I'm thankful for, but I think he really loves the adventure!

The hunter, 50's dancer, and kitty cat...
On a side note here, Austin has really been into hunting lately. He's been asking a lot about it and when he can go. He always wants to go to the "property" ie. the family hunting property in Gladwin. It was a nice day last week and Trevor took him up there to look for deer. He was sooo excited. He lasted about 45 mins. in the blind and then wanted to get out and explore and build a fort. They had good "dad and son" time in the woods. One of many to come, I'm sure.

Hailey's party at school. Her two friends, Audra and Avery. And of course the honorary kindergartner, Kara. Kara and I spend Monday afternoons in Hailey's classroom helping out where we can. I really like getting to see Hailey at school and getting to know her classmates. Kara LOVES going to school. She asks almost everyday if she can stay at school with Hailey. Hailey's teacher has been great inviting Kara to join in with whatever they 're doing. And the other kids like having a little girl around too.

Kara was the cutest little kitten around. I tried to put her hair up (like in the first picture), but she plays with it so much that it started coming down. Below is her fierce, tiger-like growl face.

And my big tough man. No he's not dressed up for Halloween. He's dressed up for SWAT. He made the team this summer and he just got all his gear. He loves it. And I'm so glad for him. He is great at his job and really loves it.

And the creating continues. Legos are great. They are one of the best toys around.
Every kid (boy or girl, younger or older) that comes to our house has a good time building something. Austin could play with legos all day everyday- if I let him. And he would take pictures of all of his creations and write out directions for each one so he could build it again, or some other kid could.

Enjoy the remaining days of fall. And be thankful- I am. :)

The joys of fall

Fall really is one of my favorite times of the year. September always brings back great memories of apples. My grandpa had a small apple orchard, so September was always "apple time" for me. We had applesauce, apple pies, apple crisp, apple cider. It was great. I love making applesauce, even though it is sometimes a bit labor-intensive. The smell of warm apples cooking is worth every minute. And then there's the other smells of fall at our house, pumpkin bread and zucchini bread. Wonderful. I think fall has a lot of wonderful smells outdoors too. Crisp air, leaves, wood burning stoves...and the noises too....leaves crunching and the wind blowing. So great. Anyway, hope you enjoy these pictures from several different things. And if you lean in close enough and close your eyes, you may be able to smell the apples :) Or you can just come on over and smell them for real.

We had a fun and wild time with my niece (Brooklyn) and nephews (Kale and Banner) last weekend. We went to a parade downtown, played in our "box fort" and of course, legos.

Today was an awesome fall day. So, for our family night we went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch. We each had an apple cider doughnut, picked out a pumpkin, went through a -kind of crazy- corn maze, climbed "Mount Pleasant" and walked around and saw all of the pumpkins! It was lots of fun.





We realized this summer that Kara had never really been old enough to remember Trevor being in his police uniform and driving a "black and white". She was only a year old when he went into YSU (youth services at the high school). So, we had to get a picture of her in his car. :)

For Hailey's birthday we got her ballet lessons. She started last week and has been so excited. She's talked about ballet for quite a while and tries to do little moves and stuff alot. Plus, she gets to do it with one of her best buddies, Gwyneth.


And here is Austin playing soccer. I have a feeling that our falls from here on out will be filled with soccer. Beautiful fall days and chilly ones too. Austin has really started to enjoy soccer more and more. He likes to talk to his dad about positions and plays and has really enjoyed getting out there and running. His first game he actually scored the first goal. I was so excited and proud. God has really blessed him with some great abilities.

As you may have noticed from the above pictures, Hailey got her hair cut a good bit shorter. Well, when we went to get that done, little sis didn't want to miss out on the action, so she got her's cut too. You can barely notice, mostly because mom wasn't ready to see her beautiful, curly locks gone. But I thought I'd share the pictures of Kara's first hair cut anyway.


And then this is just kind of a random picture of the kids. They thought it was so hilarious that they all three could fit into daddy's new SWAT gear bag.