nieto #13

Siena June Harper 

With the birth of Siena, we are now at an even dozen grandchildren!  And we're pretty happy about that!

She couldn't be cuter, and we couldn't be happier that she was born healthy and without complications.  We're SO grateful we have the best OB on earth in our family!  Lindsey did fabulously and was up and running around a couple of days later.  Which relieves my intense guilt that I didn't have vacation days to take to stay with her and help her out.  She's  been amazing!  Violet and Charlie are absolutely in love with their new sister.

Yes, she's precious!  And quite popular, as you can see!
We love our little Siena June!

SAVE THE DATE

ANNOUNCING THE SECOND AWESOME MICHAEL REED FAMILY VACATION

TO BE HELD IN 2019

Air Fare and Lodging will be provided by DTB

(Yes, seriously!)

Please plan accordingly.

Recommendations for destination sites welcome beginning today!



Adam Haygood Lee

On Sunday morning Adam was blessed by his father.  In our Church, it is a tradition to officially give each new baby a name and a father's blessing soon after birth.  It is typically done in church the first Sunday of the month during Fast meeting.   Because Ashley and Landon are in between homes - just leaving their home in the Big Apple, and beginning  life in the Big D, they are, shall we say "transients" - in between homes.  So instead, we had the blessing at home - our home, that is - given that everyone was here from out of town.  Thanks, DTB for making that possible!  Landon, the new dad gave him a wonderful blessing!   Shady then  took  family pictures, and we all went to church for Easter Sunday services.

SURPRISE!

Dad-the-Bad pulled off the biggest surprise of our marriage!  He arranged to have everyone together to celebrate my 60th birthday.  Yes, that's right - the big 60!  Can you believe it?  Yikes!

That's right.  Actually, it was a week early, which made it even MORE of a surprise!  And it was Easter weekend, which made it even MORE fun!  He had it all planned out - I came home from work, walked in the kitchen, and this is what I found!

He flew in this awesome baker from Nashville to make my cake.  She and her "helpers" did a fantastic job, as you can see.  It even tasted better than it looked - if that's possible.

Friday evening we went to one of our favorite restaurants - reminiscent of Brazil - a churrascaria "Nelore" - in the Montrose area.  Unfortunately, we had a few setbacks - Leah and Annie were sick, so Bethy came with Mabel instead of Brandon, Ryan couldn't find a babysitter, so Brianna stayed home, and poor Shady got in an accident on her way to dinner.  The accident totaled her car, the car that hit her, and she was too shaken to join us for dinner.  We picked her up and took her home, then joined the others.  (See her hilarious blog post about the entire incident at babytheshady.blogspot.com)    We're very grateful she is safe!




Saturday was a fun-filled day at Brazos Bend State Park - one of our favorite Houston sites.  Dad's plan was to have a family photo taken in OUR "family tree."  Unfortunately, the park was pretty crowded, and someone else decided it was their family's tree.  The nerve!

 Here's the gang - (minus Ashley and Landon - baby Adam was not cooperating)

 This big daddy was next to the shore, just waiting for some bait!

 Ainsley insisted on pushing her sister and cousin.

 Poodle is always a favorite with the kids!

It was fun to have everyone home for Easter Sunday!  The grandkids LOVED being together.  In  official Reed tradition, we had the kids hide eggs for the ADULT Easter egg hunt.  (It works better that way)  The kids love hiding the eggs and the adults love trying to find the GRAND PRIZE egg!

Note the handsome guy below.  Thanks, GRAYTOP, for the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!
Thanks to every one of you for coming -I love you!

Happy Birthday, Graytop!

Happy Birthday

to the love of my life!

60 years old and still looking good!

One of Carrie's friends asked her, "is that your dad?"  Then she commented that he should be in a hair commercial, because his hair looks perfect.  That's why we call him graytop!

Sorry I don't have your present yet!  I do plan on getting you some biking stuff (as well as a pair of running tights so you don't have to keep borrowing mine.)

Love you, sweetie!

Caroline's Baptism

This past weekend we traveled to Nashville to attend Caroline's baptism.  It was a whirlwind trip, but we had tons of fun!

We love visiting the Funks!

The baptism was great!  Carrie made sandwiches and tons of cupcakes, which were devoured!   Tons of people came from their ward.  I was amazed.

Caroline was baptized with her best friend, Annabeth.  

 After the baptism we took the kids to Target where they could pick out anything they wanted.  Graham chose a plastic lizard (he named him Oscar) from the dollar bin.  I tried to divert him to something I thought would be more lasting, but he insisted.  I finally told him he could get something "besides" the lizard.  He made sure that if he picked something else he would still get to keep Oscar.

We had fun walking the streets of downtown Nashville.

and Carrie made dad a delicious chocolate cake for his birthday (much better than the "fancy" one I paid way too much for  for when we got home.)

Congratulations, Caroline!  We're proud of you.

New York City with the Lee Family

The Lee Family began their journey into parenthood February 2, 2014.  Lucky me - I was invited to join the fun.  And to top it off, it all happened in New York City!  

 Baby Adam thought it was pretty funny to surprise mom and dad by pretending to be a girl on the ultrasound.  (of course, he didn't fool Aunt Bethy)

 F

For a first-timer, Landon took to fatherhood like a pro!

Adam just loved getting his first real bath.  

And Ashley looks pre-pregnancy size after just a few days. 

 They make such a cute little family!

And I had tons of fun helping out.  In my spare time, I borrowed Ashley's boots and went traipsing around NYC sloshing in the slush and snow.  I LOVE NYC!

But I'm SO glad they're moving back to Texas!

Ivy Mae

Ivy Mae Wagstaff Quist

My aunt Ivy passed away this week.  She was 88 years old, and worked at "the shop"- (the family glass business) until a week before she died.  She was my mentor.  Ivy taught me how to cook.  We spent countless hours together baking cookies and making goodies.  She paid me to clean her house when I needed the money.  She allowed me to be her "business partner" in her short-lived catering business.  Ivy believed in me before I believed in myself.  If she had one fault, it would be her generosity.  She made sure those around her had everything they needed and never worried about herself.  Ivy was selfless.  I hope to keep a little of her in me.  She also had a sense of humor.

Last time I was in Salt Lake, I stopped by to chat with my cousin, John, and he related the following story:
Their family decided to take Ivy to the High School football game to watch Olivia dance during half-time.  Ivy took great pride in her grandchildren.  She had just been to her beautician and had her hair done, which she does faithfully every week.  During the half-time event it began to rain, so John ran to the car to get an umbrella.  Fearing her hairdo would be ruined, Ivy could not wait for John to return.  She pulled from her purse a package of  Depends panty liners, removed the disposable strips and began pasting them on her hair, in an attempt to protect her beautiful hairdo.  John returned to a scene of hysteria.  Ivy had captured the attention of the entire audience, panty liners covering her hair.  The adults were laughing, and the teenagers were jockeying for position to get a photo with their cell phones.  He apologized profusely to those around him, but they just laughed, saying they hadn't had that much fun in years.

Although I will miss Ivy, it was her time to go.  And every time I think of her, I think I'm going to smile.

Grandbaby #12

Introducing Adam Haygood Lee



Eight Is Great!

It's hard to believe our oldest granddaughter turned eight just after Christmas!  It seems like just yesterday we were driving from San Antonio to meet Mabel Patrice Peterson.  Man, was she a beautiful baby!   And now she's a beautiful girl!

 She was baptized and confirmed on January 3 by her dad.  Grandma Patrice and Papa Reed gave wonderful talks. And cousins came all the way from Dallas and Arizona to share her day.

Super mom decorated the room and made her an awesome quilt.   And what more could a girl want for her special day than chocolate milk and donut holes?  (highlight of the evening for the kids)

We're so proud of you, Mabel!

New Years!

Welcome 2014!  Happy New Year to everyone!

Our New Years festivities this year were less than exciting.  I worked New Years' Eve, which is typical.  This year there are three pediatricians in the office so I thought it would be so much easier.  Wrong.  Tad was on vacation and Christina ended up having the flu.  Since she was on call, I ended up taking her call, since you can't send someone with the flu to see new babies.  She went home at noon, which meant I ended up staying late.  I got home around  8pm pretty exhausted, but had to take a 256 vignette (long question) test that I had to finish by midnight to complete my accreditation for 2013.  ( I guess that makes me a procrastinator.)  I finished barely in time to welcome in the new year with our lovely fake champagne.  Except that our bottle opener wouldn't open the bottle.  Which pretty much summed up the evening, so we went to bed.

The next day started off better with a long run with Mike and a PR.  Couldn't ask for more than that!

Bring it on, 2014!

Nutcracker 2013

We continued our tradition of going to the Nutcracker with all of the Reed girls that are in town.  This year Atley was old enough to go!

 We didn't get our good seats, as I didn't buy them soon enough to get front row seats together.  It was still fun to watch.

 The Peterson girls. . .  (and Violet) - she's not camera shy)

 We managed to get one picture all together.

 Sweet Leah . .

 I was a little worried about getting there on time, since Lindsey had a change of plans and went to New York instead of coming, so I needed to bring Violet.  I gave myself plenty of time, since navigation is not my forte.  I didn't need to budget the extra time, as I had a navigator in the back seat yelling, "Turn around, you're going the WRONG WAY."  She directed me to downtown Houston without incident!  Whew!

I LOVE the Nutcracker!  We missed Carrie and Caroline, Ashley and baby girl, Poodle, and Ashley!  Maybe one of these years we can get everyone together.

Pizza, anyone?

This weekend for Sunday dinner DTB decided it was time to try out his new (father's day 1 1/2 yr ago) pizza stone for the grill while the kids were out of town (you're welcome!)  We're adventuresome like that!   I went to the store and bought everything we needed.  DTB made sure I purchased a new box of cornstarch, as he stated the instructions for the pizza stone were to slather it with cornstarch so the pizza wouldn't stick.

The pizza turned out with a nice, crunchy crust, but a funny aftertaste.

conversation at the dinner table:
Me: (as I'm wiping cornstarch from the bottom of my crust)   "Are you sure about this "cornstarch" thing?   This just doesn't seem right."
DTB:  "Well, I think I remembered it right, it was corn-something."
Me:  "Could it have been cornmeal?"
DTB:  "Oh, Yeah!  That's what it was!"
Me:  "Great!  That explains a lot."

This calls for a do-over.

Thanksgiving Fun

Thanksgiving was awesome this year!  While most of our family partied at Carrie's house, we had fun with my niece Emily and her sweet family.  Lucky for us (and Abby,) the Harpers stayed in Houston.  The Hamiltons arrived Wednesday evening and Abby and Violet became instant BFF's.  We had a great time introducing them to Houston - Shipley's donuts, kolaches, and many of the landmark sites around Houston.

The first event was Thanksgiving dinner and the "pie wars" - initiated by Bethy.  At first Emily was a little taken back by our competitive spirit, but quickly dove into the fun - making, decorating, and photographing our pies.  I will admit, Bex is a better baker, but we gave her some stiff competition!

 The next day we were pretty stuffed, after eating all that pie.  Since Shady had coupons for the Children's museum, and it was a little cold for Brazos Bend, we decided to give it a try.  The girls LOVED it!

They tried the construction zone . . .

physics challenge . . .

 crafts . . .

 and a special visit from Santa!  Kate charmed old Santa with her bubbly, chatty
personality.

 The maze was a little claustrophobic, and I ended up having to crawl through to"rescue" someone .

 Anatomy and physiology . . .

 and shopping at the HEB!

 This was my favorite station!  Doesn't she look official?

 They actually acted like they knew what they were doing, without any prompting!

Future physicians?  (let's hope not)

You'd think they'd be tired after all of that excitement.

Of course not!  We headed to Chic-Fil-A for refueling, where the girls decided they wanted to go to Herman Park to ride the train.

You just can't leave Houston without riding the Herman Park train.

 Even Charlie had fun!  He was a trooper!  (especially when he was with Papa)