Houston Day 1

On our first day in Houston, we spent the day shopping at Ikea and the Galleria area.  We also went and visited the Water Wall.  Through all of the years that we have lived/visited in Houston, we have never been to the wall.  It definitely is an awesome sight.  Very beautiful and somewhat eery when walking into the inside of it.  We ended the night at the Rainforest Cafe.  It was not that great of an experience as it was in Vegas, but Addison was really excited to go and see the animals and the thunderstorms. That night Addison was able to have some fun in Nana and Poppa's backyard with a little sprinkler that they bought for her.  Every night at home she has been playing in the water before bed and that night was no exception. She had such a great time and was ready to go off to bed and enjoy the adventure of the next day.

Much love,
The Reynolds

Happy 4th!

This weekend we had the pleasure of hanging out with some of our great friends the Horsley's. They came and stayed Saturday night with us. Saturday was a day full of fun for our sweet girls! We took them to Home Depot so the Dad's could have some time with them building a coaster set. What was great about this outing was that both dad's ended up building the coaster holder the short way instead of the long way, therefore the coasters have to have a little push and shove to get them in and a pull and tug to get them out. Awesome Job Guys!! We then took the girls to lunch at Caprock Cafe, always a favorite for Addison! Lunch was met with back and forth of the girls talking, argueing, Addison singing, giggling, and eating, oh what fun it is to have 3 year old girls! We had planned to do some water fun with the girls, but since Brooklyn had an hurt eyebrow that could not get wet, we opted for the Science Spectrum. Naps were taken after this and then on to dinner at Blue Sky with a delicious and FUN ending at Holly Hops! Both girls got Scooper Hero, as you can see from the blue mouths. They then got up and did some juke box dancing to "Peggy Sue" or as Addison was singing, baby sue and "At the hop" They had a blast and the entire ice scream shop had a blast watching them.
Sunday the girls helped make a great 4th of July dessert that we had for lunch and then the Horsley's headed back to Midland! We loved spending the day with them and can't wait for our next visit!
For the 4th, Thomas, Addison , and I made our way to Broadway to watch the parade. It was lots of fun and very very long! We also had some great brisket burritos and corndogs!! YUM! As you can see Addison was done by 12:00! Although no fireworks are to be seen this 4th of July we sure did enjoy our sweet family's day of celebrating!

Much Love and Happy 4th,
The Reynolds

All the photos from the weekend are up on picasa

Swim Lessons

We were lucky to be able to do the Texas Tech swimming lessons for 10 days again this summer with Addison. In the two years previous, Addison and I have done the Mommy and Me class. This year she started the Aqua Tots for 3-5 year olds. In this class there were 16 kids that were split between 4 swim instructors. Addison was lucky to have 3 3 year olds in her class that were very much on the same level of swimming as her and she had a great instructor, Ms. Callie. In this class they give the kids the basics of swimming: going underwater, blowing bubbles, floating on the front and back, scooping, breast stroke, kicking, jumping in the water and doing "windmills" on the back. Addison did really well! She started feeling very uncomfortable with putting her head in the water when laying on her back, but by the end of it she had her head in no problem. Everytime she got in the water she automatically started swimming with kicks and scoops, so I think she has that down.
The last day was fun day! They turned on the river, the wet deck, the wading pool, and set up vollyball nets for the big kids. Addison LOVED it! They put life jackets on the little ones and they started and the wading pool and took a "shower" then they did some floating in the river and headed for the diving board. Although very scared once she saw how far down it was, she did it and there was no crying! YEA! I am so glad we have such a great place to do this with Addison and I can't wait for next summer!

Much Love,
The Reynolds

4th of July Shirts

While looking at some of my favorite blogs, I came across a very cute cheap easy idea for a run around 4th of July shirt. The Horsley's will be joining us this weekend and we will be doing lots of fun activities and playing time and I thought the girls needed some patriotic shirts that they could mess around in. I thought I would give it a go and here is the end result.

Here is the blog if you would like to give it a try!! It was super easy and I did the non sewing method...probably would look better if you can sew!    Tatertots and Jello

Much Love,
The Reynolds

The Love for a Dog

This girl is IN LOVE with this big ole Beagle!! She has always been very sweet with both Finn and Mally, but as of late she has just become infatuated with him. She wants to show him things that she makes, she says hi to him when we come home from somewhere, and she always gives him morning kisses. She also has taken on the job of feeding him in the morning and in the evening. She tells Thomas and I many times that Finny is hers and we have share Mally. It is the most adorable thing ever and her sweetness just explodes with him. What a lucky pup!

She still loves Mally too!!

Much Love,
The Reynolds

Please write your name

As school was ending, I was trying to think of some of the things that I needed to work on with Addison during the summer to get her geared up for school in the fall. I thought of all the things that our 3 year old class would do at our school (Martin) when the I was still there. One of the things that the kids really struggled with and the teachers were constantly working on was the kids writing. They worked on their names everyday. So, I knew that was something that Addison would absolutely love doing. She enjoys drawing and working at her art table, so this was going to be up her alley! Let me tell you, she has surpassed our expectations. I did not think that she would catch on this quickly to writing her name and much more.

This was the first week of the summer.  I helped her trace her name so she would understand how to follow the dots and then while talking her through it, she wrote independently on the bottom.

This was Addison writing her name on Friday.  She was so proud of it, she told me I had to take a picture! She is getting too good!

This was Addison's name today.  She did not have any help from Mommy and Daddy. Way to go girl!

After having Addison write her name everyday, she has quickly picked up a couple of great skills that are going to be so great for her in a new school, but also just great skills that all kids need. She has began to identify lowercase letters quite a bit easier and she is now spelling her first name independently. Along with taking a picture of her name, she wanted me to take picture of her spelling her name. Here she is...

Much Love,
The Reynolds

Reynolds shoot 2011

Hello!
So we have our photos from our most recent photo shoot! We wanted to share with everyone and show some of our favorites.  If you would like to check them all out go to the picasa site.  The link is on the side of the blog here.