Each of the children are named after a family member. Nathan shares the same middle name as his Daddy and his Paw Paw. I thought it would be nice to have a picture of the three “Reeves” framed and put in Nathan’s room. I took these two pictures on Easter Sunday but can’t decide which I like better. Help me to decide!
Melton Reeves, 8o years old, Kiplyn Reeves, 46 years old, Nathan Reeves, 4 years old.
PICTURE #1
Picture #2
*sigh* It’s nearly impossible to get all three kids looking at the camera at the same time and smiling. 2 out of 3 isn’t bad though, is it?
Sweet Savvy….
I was at the grocery store on Friday with the three kiddies. Mary is walking beside me, Savvy is in the front of the cart and Nathan is in the large part of the cart where you put the groceries. The children are all sitting/walking quietly and doing what they were supposed to do.
We were in the produce section choosing tangelos when this nice lady approaches us and starts to speak to Nathan.
(A moment before I had told him to stand up in the cart but to hold onto the sides b/c I had just put bananas and apples in the cart so I didn’t want him to crush them)
Lady speaking to Nathan: You need to sit down! That’s very dangerous!
(Nathan is looking confused b/c I just told him to stand up and now some stranger is giving him the opposite instructions)
Me: No, really he’s fine. I just told him to stand up. (smile!)
Lady to me: No he’s not! That’s very dangerous! He needs to sit down!
Then she turns to Nathan and says “That’s very dangerous! You need to sit down right now!”
…. Now, usually when this stuff happens I’m to flabbergasted to even know what to say and I get all flustured and just walk away. But today, well, I don’t know what came over me but I had the right words all of a sudden!
ME to Lady: NO, he doesn’t need to sit down. What he needs to do is mind his mommy and I just told him to stand. (I smiled while I said it and tried to be pleasant but firm).
She looked surprised and just turned away. I don’t she was trying to be mean, just old-lady nosy-ish. 
Honestly though, the NERVE to argue with me and to then to continue to correct and direct my son while I’m standing right there giving him opposite directions!
We’ve had a wonderful one so far.
On Saturday, 12/20 my family came here for Christmas. We had 11 here for a non-traditional Christmas dinner- Hawaiian steak shish-ke-bobs, marinated vegetable shish-ke-bobs, mahatma rice, a yellow squash, zucchini and onion stirfry, salad and homemade breadsticks. For dessert we had all kinds of stuff. After opening presents the kidlets were sent off to bed while the adults stayed up playing games. Fun night! The adults draw names and no one buys for the kids except grandparents. I got a large frame that holds three vertical 5×7 pictures. I wanted one so I could frame my three favorite pictures from the photography session in August. I’ll post a picture of it when I’ve got the pictures in and the frame hung. Oh, also I got a subscription to Readers Digest which I love. I’ve been getting RD since I was in college. My Mom gave Mary the Melissa and Doug IceCream set, Nathan a rocket ship set with astronauts and Savvy a set of the three little pigs- it’s three nesting houses and the three pigs and the wolf. All very cute and the children were thrilled.
On Wednesday, 12/24 we celebrated Christmas Eve and Kip’s 46th Birthday! My sister and nephew came an hour earlier than everyone else so that we could carry on our family tradition of reading “Twas’ The Night Before Christmas”- my parents always read us the version that was illustrated by Tasha Tudor. It’s out of print now but through some nefarious dealings I was able to obtain a copy for myself. So, we set the grandkids up on the couch and read the story just like when we were kids. Then the kids each got to open their present from PapPap (my Dad). Mary got the most awesome mail set, Nathan got a Dominoe set and Savvy got the sweetest little dolly you ever saw. Just right for her size.
Not the best picture of Savvy- she was tired and hungry and we were trying to hold her off with crackers. But you can see her clutching her sweet baby doll.
Everyone else arrived a few minutes later. We had 15 for dinner that night- our family, Sarah, Bob and Alec, Mel and Carolyn, Billy (Carolyn’s son), Cheryl and their kids- Caitlyn, William and Chelsea. We had seven kids that night- 10,10,7,5,4,3,1. It was wild. For Kip’s birthday dinner we had lasagne, butterhorn rolls and salad. There was dessert craziness here. I made: German Chocolate Cake, Lemon Pie, Coconut Cream pie, cut out sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles and peanut butter fudge. My sister brought a delicious banana-sour cream bread. We had spiced pecans from my Mother, homemade peaunut brittle from a neighbor and Carolyn brought Chocolate Walnut Fudge. And let’s not forget the Scotcheroos that I made Kip for his birthday.
After much eating and opening of presents all the kids went outside and spread the “reindeer food” that the kids and I had made earlier in the day (a combination of oatmeal, glitter and Craisins). Then we went in and followed the Norad Tracks Santa website. The kids and I had been watching all day as Santa traveled from China, Australia, Russia, through Europe. When we saw he was out over the Atlantic, Billy and Cheryl left with their kids and we hurried ours into their pj’s and on to bed. Santa was almost here!
We usually limit the gifts to three from us and three from Santa + one big gift. This year we did a little more. We saved a lot of money by shopping at Toys and Co.’s 20% off October sale and then Gifted Imaginations ran a 25% your entire order + free shipping sale so we had money left over and used it for extas.
Each child got a stack of three books and each child got a different set of blocks to add to our every growing collection (can you really ever have enough blocks?). Mary and Nathan also each got a puzzle, a game and a baseball glove and ball set.
The Big Gift for all the kids was a new kitchen set, refrigerator and wooden food. There was also an Indian set with 4 teepees, 6 indians, 4 horses, 2 buffalo, 3 totem poles, camp fires, etc. set out for the kids as a group gift.
Then each kid got their own separate gifts- Nathan got a REAL tool box with tools from For Small Hands- it had a hammer, saw, drill, sanding block, head lamp, measuring tape, safety glasses, etc. He also got some pirate stuff, the space base set that goes with the rocket ship he got for his birthday last year and this fishing game which all the kids have loved and had fun with. Mary got a princess dress, some more of the Snap N’ Style dolls, a changing table for her dollys, a set of audio books that included Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden and Little Women. Savvy got the Haba Sticki Blocks which are perfect for her size. A cute little mushroom house with some figures, etc. in it, a Snap N’ Style doll and pounding toy. Her two favorite gifts were a toy telephone and a little wool ball from Little John Lane.
Christmas Eve- all ready for the kids in the morning…
Christmas Morning…
We still have Christmas with Kip’s family this coming Sunday and then Nathan’s 4th Birthday next Saturday (1/3) so more parties to come- after that we’ll have a four week break until Mary’s 5th Birthday. I’m always partied out by February!
Well. I feel like a crappy Mom today.
Savvy has been sick on and off for the last two weeks. Last Monday (12/8) and Tuesday she was sick. I thought it was probably a little cold that would go away on it’s own. She had a fever (102) and was Queen Crank. I planned to take her to the doctor but then she was better on Wednesday and Thursday. Then sick again Friday and Saturday. Seemed better Sunday, Monday and Tuesday but then by Wednesday afternoon she was definitely sick again. Then on Thursday, Mary came down from her nap complaining that her throat hurt, she was cold and her “body hurt”. So I decided that enough was enough, they were both sick, I’d take them all in to the pediatrician today. Savvy has an ear infection and her throat is “nasty” in the words of the nurse. Mary also has a “nasty” throat and Nathan has the beginnings of one. It doesn’t appear to be strep, just some other random throat infection unhappiness. All this time I thought it was just a mild head cold and would take care of itself with a little time. I feel terrible that I didn’t realize she was really sick. humph. Poor babies.
Wednesday
We had a bunch to do that day. My cousin came for a visit with her oh-so-cute little boy. They left around 3:30 and we were out the door a few minutes later. We stopped by the peds office to get a weight check on Savvy. (more on that in a minute). By the time we left the office she was clearly not feeling well so I ran into Rite Aid and bought some infant tylenol, a little single-serve jug of milk and some crackers. We fixed her up, went into Stride Rite to get her some new shoes because she had outgrown hers and they were having a 50% off sale. Next we went to the Tae Kwon Do studio and signed all the paperwork and got the kids their uniforms. They gave them their little bittiest uniforms and they are still a bit big on the kids but man, do they look cute. Then it was off to PawPaw’s to have pizza and show off our uniforms.
Thursday
We made Christmas sugar cookies on Thursday. The kids helped roll out the door, cut them with cookie cutters (Nathan kept calling it “stamping” as in “Mom, It’s my turn to stamp the cookies!”) and then after they were baked I frosted them while the kids did sprinkles. Much fun was had by all. Our most beloved babysitter and her husband came for dinner that night- we had a lovely time. Parmesean Chicken with spaghetti, garlic bread and salad. Of course, cookies for dessert. They very generously gave us a family pass to the Children’s Museum- I can’t wait to use it soon! Ignore my VERY messy kitchen in the picture below!
Updates on Kids
Savvy has gained weight! She is up from 19lbs. 6oz. at our November appointment to 20lbs. 2oz. today! WOOHOO! That’s 12oz. I was so pleased.
Last year when we had Mary and Nathan’s yearly phsyicals they weighed about the same- Mary weighed 33.5 lbs. and Nathan weighed 33.3 lbs. Today Nathan weighed 41.5lbs and Mary weighed 35.5 lbs! He outweighs her by 5 lbs. now!
The Pleasant Garden Fire Department is taking Santa to visit all the neighborhoods in our little town. Last night from 7-8pm was our scheduled visit. The truck was decorated with lights. The Santa was a really good one. They gave out candy to all the kids. It was so awesome.
And here’s the fun part. We have never taken our kids to meet Santa. I thought they were to young in years past, plus the Mall Santas are never good, you only get like 20 seconds with them and they charge you outrageous fees. So we just never did it. We did not tell Mary and Nathan that Santa was coming. We just said “hey, lets all go for a walk!” The kids and I had put up our outside lights earlier in the day and our neighbors had put up their decorations so we went out to see the lights and “decided” to take a walk down the street. Lo and behold, who do you think we “ran into” while we were out for our walk? You would not believe how excited the kids were. It was SO.FUN. Lots of neighbors came out from our street and everyone was standing around and visiting. All of the Junior Firemen were dressed as elves and passing out candy. They brought a chair on the back of the fire truck so that Santa could sit down at each place they stopped and hold the kids on his lap. He probably spent 5 minutes with Mary and Nathan just talking with them, getting their picture taken, etc.
Savannah was not so sure about Santa.
Mary and Nathan ready to go outside in their snowsuits! I got such a steal on these at the WEERUNS consignment sale. Nathan and Savannah both got Lands End snowsuits for $6. Mary’s was a little more expensive- her’s was an Osh K’Osh set that I paid $20 for. However. It was in pristine condition AND it’s a snow jacket and snow pants. So the coat is actually her heavy winter jacket that she’ll wear all winter long.
Mary and Nathan in the front yard….
I WISH this picture had come out clear- you can tell it would have been a cute one. Drat.
The View out my front door- this is what I see every morning. Our bedroom window and bathroom window overlook this to so this is what I wake up to every morning. It’s so pretty. This is one of the big things I like about this neighborhood- we’ve got the benefits of living in a neighborhood and having neighbors yet it feels like we live in the country.
Mary and Nathan playing in the neighbor’s yard.
This is Princess. Kip says she has to be gone by Thanksgiving because three cats are to many. She is SUCH a wonderful cat. She’s fat. She lays in your lap. She has her claws yet she’s never clawed any of our leather furniture. She’s litter box trained and never has accidents. She’s about as much as a problem free cat as you can find. Plus she’s fat and lazy- two qualities that my family highly prizes in a cat.
Ideally we’d keep Princess and get rid of Little Bit but he’s declawed and such a wimpy scaredy cat. He would need to go to a home with no other animals and someone who would be serious about keeping him inside. As yet, we haven’t found anyone who fits the bill. He’s the perfect cat for an elderly person. He will come and sit in your lap at night and watch tv with you. He also doesn’t seem to have any bad habits other than the occasionally sneezing fit.
I’ve been sitting on this little gem of a post for a while now just waiting until I get annoyed enough to post. Today’s the day!
One of my biggest PET PEEVES is when I hear parents say that their child isn’t “listening”. I’ve got a news flash- he hears you JUST fine. What your child is doing is NOT OBEYING.
He HEARS what you are telling him he just doesn’t WANT to do it so HE’S IGNORING YOU.
It is beyond outrageous to hear someone say “She’s only three, I can’t expect her to listen to me.” Whaaaa? (Thanks, Sarah C.!) Does she “listen” to you when you say “Let’s go get icecream”? Can she “hear” you when you say “Let’s go to the toy store”? Is she able to obey those times? If you say “Susy- go get in your carseat- we’re going to get icecream!” does she run to the car and get in her seat? Common sense would dictate that if the child can “hear” the good things and can choose to obey when it benefits her, that she can “hear” you the rest of the time as well. She has the ability to obey, she is choosing not to. Either these people have a child who is seriously cognitively delayed or my children are brilliant. Because you know what, my 15 month old is able to obey. I can give her a command and she knows EXACTLY what she is being told to do/not do. Sometimes she obeys and sometimes she doesn’t. We’re working on that. But it’s certainly not a question of “does she understand”. She understands juuuuust fine.
Another bit of common sense: Seriously, if you can’t get your three year old to obey, what are you going to do when she’s fifteen? Do you think they just arbitrarily decide to obey at a certain age? Are you counting on being able to reason with them as they get older? What if the child doesn’t like you reasoning? Then what do you do?
Honestly, this is just baffling to me. Why would you not just teach them to be obedient at a young age?
In an earlier post I mentioned planning for the holidays. Yesterday we did one of the Thanksgiving crafts I had picked out for us to do back in September. Using some cardstock and $1 ink pads from AC Moore, the kids used their fingerprints and thumbprints to make these cute Thanksgiving Turkeys. We made cards that we are mailing to grandparents and some elderly relatives that live in Virginia and New York. We also made place cards for the Thanskgiving table. Here’s some pictures of our handiwork:
Kip traced the kids hands and then they did the coloring to make handprint turkeys.
Mary made these handprint turkeys all by herself.
I mentioned in yesterday’s post about Savannah’s Busy Box. Here it is.
A 10cent pencil box that I got from Wal-Mart on clearance. Filled with odds and ends that we’ve picked up.
A tin that the covers pops on and off, film canisters, a change purse that snaps open, a little zippered bag, a bottle with a cap that twists on and off, two scoops, the hard plastic thing from the inside of a tape roll, straws bent into triangle, a flexi-mouse, a block with a jingle bell in it, a piece of ribbon, and a yellow coin keeper. This is enough stuff to keep her busy for quite a while. Opening and closing things. Hiding the ribbon or the block inside of the different containers and she looks for them, etc.
A Brag on Kip: My husband is such a great Dad. He takes Nathan to work with him on Saturdays which is a wonderful thing. He really enjoys his “man” time with Nathan and thought that he should carve out some special time with Mary. So this morning he took Mary out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, just the two of them. She got all dressed up in her favorite purple dress. She had her wallet with two dollars in it and her fancy little pink purse. Oh, she was *SO* excited for her special morning out with Dad! They had a lovely time and Mary used her $2 to buy a pack of gummy worms to share with Nathan. Kip is planning on making this a regular event. He is just the best Dad.
Leaves, Leaves, Leaves!
Kip spent the majority of the day blowing leaves. It was a HUGE job. He blew a big pile in the front yard for the kids to play in. Here they are:
This precious one? Oh but she has been a Naughty One lately! Look at that innocent face- it’s hard to believe isn’t it? But I have photographic evidence.
While I was fixing dinner last night Savvy was scooting around on the floor. I turned my back for just a few seconds to stir the pot and she snootched over to the laundry basket holding two loads of freshly folded laundry and started snatching the clothes out, flinging them around the kitchen and just having a big time.
She doesn’t look a bit sorry does she? 
She’s also learned how to climb the stairs. I found her halfway up the stairs when she thought I wasn’t looking.
Busted!
Mary and Nathan Friday night (11/14). Kip saw on Fox news that there was going to be a shuttle launch so he went upstairs and got the big kids out of bed. Here they are snuggled up together on the couch watching the count down.
Saturday Morning 11/15: Nathan goes to work with Kip on Saturdays. Mary has decided that she LOVES to wash dishes. She hauls out her stool and will happily wash dishes for as long as you’ll let her.
While I’m taking the above picture of Mary I see Savvy has got into more naughtiness. She’s got my baking cabinet open and is pulling out all my cake pans, bread pans, pie plates, etc. (No clue what the yellow spot is on the inside of my cabinet door is- clearly it’s time for me to wash the cabinets down again)
While the men are at work we ladies are heading out to Friendly Center. Papa handed me a $20 this morning and told me to take the girls to Toys and Co. and buy the two big kids some rocket ships. We’ll probably call MiMi (Kip’s Dad’s wife) and see if she wants to join us for a Ladies Lunch.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Kip has a friend who is an artist. He does folk/primitive art from a Christian view point. He and Kip have been doing a Bible study every other week together. This is the painting he gave Kip to commemorate their finishing the book of John together.
We found the *perfect* spot for it in our kitchen- I love it!
