How is it Sunday night already????

Time is flying by! This weekend we did a lot, but not as much painting as the last two weekends. We did get the downstairs half bath done, and talked about doing more but that was about it. We are loving our new house!

Makayla loves to get the camera so I can take a picture of her, then she comes to check out the picture. I kept telling her that it is "you", now when she looks at the picture, she points to it and says, "you." Pronouns are tricky!
This is what she does when I tell her to smile. Is this the toddler smile?

How cute is this?

She's getting braver with the water mat.

That toddler smile again!

She loves to watch animals on t.v. She will even watch a little about animals other than fish!

Tonight she sampled a shrimp, didn't seem to like it, then devoured 4 of them!

Kona really seems to enjoy his freedom thanks to the invisible fence. Most of the day, he hangs out in the front yard keeping a watch over the neighborhood.

We hope everyone had a great weekend!

Erin is awesome!

Erin has completed the Ironman! She finished in 11 hours, 15 minutes, beating her time last year by 35 minutes! She got second in her age group but it was a close race the whole way. Unfortunately due to the way the start was done, the racers and spectators didn't really know how the official times ranked them, but for those of us following online, it was very exciting! Thanks to cell phones, my mom and dad were kept informed so they could cheer Erin on. For those that win their age group, they are awarded a spot to participate in the Hawaii Ironman. Now we all need to sleep with fingers crossed that the first place finisher does not take the spot and it passes to Erin.... She'll find out tomorrow!

The Ironwoman

Now that we have had a break from checking on Sean and his race, today is Erin's turn! She is competing in the Ironman Triathlon in Louisville, KY. The race started at 7 am today. If you are interested in tracking her, go to this link, http://ironman.com/events/ironman/louisville/?show=tracker&rid=255&year=2009 Type in her race number, 242, and it will give updates as to where she is in the race. But check fast - unlike Sean's crazy race, Erin will be done today.

Makayla's new favorite food

Lately whenever I ask Makayla what she wants to eat, she says "popsicle" (in a very adorable toddler way). When I picked her up from daycare this afternoon, they had been playing outside and the first thing she said to me was "popsicle." So of course we have to go home to have a popsicle before dinner!

She loves them!

Hanging out on our back steps - thanks for getting them built so fast Grandpa Ed!

We decided to get Makayla a new high chair like the ones in restaurants so she could be up at the table with us. Tonight was her first meal at home with it.

I don't think she cared where she was sitting - as long as she had food! But we liked her sitting at the table with us :)

By the way, I made it through my first day back at work with no tears :) It's a nice feeling to know that I have a wonderful husband who takes excellent care of her in the morning and we found a great day care for her to go to during the day. That being said, is it too early to start wishing for snow days???

Where did summer go?

I remember when I was a kid, summer seemed to last forever! What happened??? This summer flew by but I don't think there is much more we could have fit in. A beach vacation, visits to Johnsonville, Marion, D.C., Charlottesville, and Baltimore, gymnastics, library, playground, pool, and a move! Not bad for two months! I had such a good time at home with Makayla and am a little (ok, a lot) sad to be going back to work tomorrow. We start our teacher work days tomorrow and the students return after Labor Day. I will miss spending all day with Makayla, but will do the best I can to make what time we are together special. I am also looking forward to meeting my new class and the challenges it will bring.
Yesterday Julia, Matthew and Kelly came to visit. I really enjoyed catching up with Kelly and the kids had a great time playing outside with Makayla's new water toy (I'm such a sucker for these things, and this one was one sale!) Julia and Matthew jumped right in, but Makayla was a little more hesitant.

Maybe it's because she couldn't see because her hat was too low...

Seriously, pull the hat up so you can see!

After a few minutes of watching, she joined the fun (and I fixed her hat).

What could be better than watching 3 kids laugh and play???

Updates

So much has happened over the last few days!
Race update - After 9 days and 6 hours of racing, Sean and his team have finished! We have been able to track his movements online, now we look forward to hearing from him and hear all about his adventures. Way to go Sean!
House Update - 3 more rooms done! Jason and I painted the kitchen and family room Friday night and the office Saturday. Here's the office - furniture is on the way.

I love the kitchen!

Another thing we have been looking forward to is hanging up our pictures - and we have a ton of them! We got started by hanging a few today.

Makayla update - She is still a goof ball! Friday morning I made pancakes and she had a little chocolate chip snack while they were cooking.

She loves anything that can be a hat!

Saturday morning she enjoyed her very own donut - and she ate it all!

There are a ton of kids in our new neighborhood and lots of them ride bikes by our house. Every time Makayla sees them, she says "hi" and "bike". When we were out shopping a few days ago, she got so excited when we saw the bike section. So of course, I had to get her one!

Unfortunately, her feet don't really reach the pedals yet :( But the driveway has enough of a little slope that she can cruise down it.

Team Kickapoo Scouts Update

Remember that race I mentioned a few days ago that my brother is doing? Well, believe it or not, it's still going on! They have been racing for 6 and a half days now covering almost 400 miles and still have about 200 miles to go. I get tired driving that far... Unfortunately one of his team members was injured a few days ago and had to drop out so they are continuing as a team of 3 but will be unofficial. I am enjoying checking the updates online and am so impressed with what my brother, and all of the other racers, are able to do. It's hard not to get motivated and start to think there must be a way to fit a few of these races into our future...
The website has been posting a ton of pictures and here are few of Sean in action.

Gymnastics

Today was Makayla's last day of gymnastics. I think she had a great time and I am so glad we were able to do this class over the summer!
Today they brought out the hula hoops which she had fun playing with.
Ready to go on to the next thing!

Showing off her very first ribbon.

The class always ended with a song and bells and Makayla loved hitting them on the mat. As soon as the song was over, she went and put her bells away. Then looked around at the other kids who weren't putting them away and she went and took theirs to put them away...

Another fun day

There is a brand new elementary school just about a mile away (Makayla will go there eventually) and they have an awesome playground so we started the day by checking it out. Makayla was a little timid at first and didn't want to walk too far away from me, but about 30 minutes later she was climbing up the stairs and going down the slides by herself!

Then we went back home for lunch and while Makayla slept, I organized all my kitchen stuff that won't fit in my kitchen. If you can't find what you are looking for at Bed, Bath and Beyond, check my basement.... I probably have two...

After she woke up, we headed to the pool! The past few times we have gone, we have gotten popsicles so now that is part of the routine. This one started out as mine...

She did share a few bites with me!

A new addition to the family

For a family that's all about fish, it's hard to believe that we didn't have one for a pet until last week! Now Makayla finally has a fish.

She loves to watch him eat.

She says, "eat up!"

As of today, the fish still does not have a name. We call him fishie most of the time, and Makayla just says "eat up." Does anyone have any name suggestions?

Looking back

One year ago...

Today...
One year ago...

Today...

House Update

Three rooms done! After a year of renting, one of the things we have been looking forward to is painting. So that's what we did this weekend! We started with Makayla's room.

She was taking a nap as we finished everything up and it was so fun to see how excited she was when she came in for the first time. She kept running around the room pointing to everything and saying what it was. We hope she likes it!

My red dining room!!! I have wanted this for a long time. It looks great - and will look even better when I get the table cleared off and the rest of the stuff put in here!

While Makayla took a nap today, I painted her bathroom. It will also be decorated with a fishie theme of course :)

Just another relaxing weekend at the Reynolds house!

Catching up with Makayla

Here are a few shots of Makayla enjoying her new house!
While my mom was here, we put together a table that she got for Makayla. We were very proud of ourselves for getting it all together correctly, much to Jason's surprise I'm sure :) Makayla LOVES the table - and all the pockets where she can put her snacks!

This afternoon we headed outside for a bit. She gets so excited when I tell her we need to go get her suit on - she practically runs up the stairs! If you are wondering where the fence is for Kona, we decided on an invisible fence. After a week of training, Kona is doing great and has no interest in getting anywhere near the edges! We really like the openness of our backyard without a 6 foot tall fence.

Back to Makayla, check out her pouring! Just a few weeks ago, this was a real challenge. Most of the water would end up outside the table or on her. Now she can pour it right in!

Makayla has recently started playing with some of her stuffed animals. Today she moved her bear from one seat to the other, about 50 times. Then she shared her grapes with the bear. It was so cute!

She kept saying, "Eat up!"