The Reed Family

Its been a while since I’ve last updated our homeschool blog. Life has been crazy topsy turvy since the birth of our youngest ..Maggie .  Learning all what it entails to be a mom of a child born with VACTERL Association takes alot of work . Especially since many people haven’t heard of this and sometimes even doctors we deal with haven’t .

Our school life has been more then just books . Which in a way is a wonderful thing . Marilyn , Katie and Hannah have all learned more then what they ever could have this way they they would of ever of have being stuck in a room with a bunch of kids that are just like them .  They have learned compassion , that there are all types of children not just children like them .  They have learned and have seen the strength their baby sister has each time we go for medical testing or for a surgery to help make her better .

Anyways I’ll be posting pictures here in the next few days or so .  So be on the look out !

Hello everyone . Just wanted to update the blog here a little bit .

We celebrated Marilyn’s 9th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Marilyn invited her friends and had a great time.  Here are some great pictures that were taken on Sunday .

Happy Birthday Marilyn !!!

Here are the girls when we first got to Chuck E. Cheese . The first friend to come in was Marilyn’s best friend Courtney .

Here’s the Mod Squad. These three swim together on the swim team . It was nice for the girls to do something together other then swimming . From right to left : Marilyn , Courtney and Gina .

This is a small picture of Marilyn by her table :>)

Here is a picture of Marilyn with the Big Cheese himself . Chuck E. Cheese .

It was great having the party done for us this year. It was planned all down to the minute. Here after the kids were done eating pizza they got to dance with Chuck E.

Ok so this is a little out of order. But here are the kids eating too .

Of course you can’t go to Chuck E Cheese’s and not play the games .  Here Courtney was showing Marilyn how to get lots of tickets . She is quite a game player .

After they were done playing games it was time to cut the cake and sing Happy Birthday . We surprised Marilyn with the CARS cake. They loved that movie and they have a whole collection of the CARS and the movie .

Then it was time to open gifts. Here Marilyn is sporting the Polly pockets she got . She also recieved some Littlest Pets, some clothes , Bratz diary and a video game for her Game boy .

It truely was a wonderful day . Marilyn had a day that she will never forget . In the end Marilyn said to me " Mom , you know what my most favorite part of my birthday party was ?" And I said "What was that Marilyn ?" and she said " That all of her best friends came and they all had a great time together.

I guess you can’t get anything better then that for a birthday :>)

Boy we just never know where we'll bump into Santa this Christmas season .

Yesterday Maggie went for her checkup at Shriners for her back and lo and behold Santa and Mrs. Claus were there waiting for us .

Shriners is a beautiful place. They have redone the whole hospital. The staff there is great. From the people who do the admission to the doctors. Everyone there has been wonderful .

Here they already had a present waiting for Maggie .  When we got home and opened it , it was a baby's first blanket.

Maggie enjoyed having Santa hold her . She smiled at the both of them.

Santa's helpers wanted to get on the action too. Here was elf ” Too Tall” and one of the staff members. They just thought Maggie was a doll.

After being held it was time to go back and get her x-ray . She didn't fuss not one bit .  Then we came back out and visited with everyone in the waiting room.  We meet so many nice families and the children there are so GREAT. They all have different problems but the nice thing about going to Shriners is you can see past all of that and see just the Kids.

Finally it was time to go back and wait .  Their rooms are just so kid friendly. Not even in a pediatrician's office is it this kid friendly. I mean they have a toy box in each room and a toy maze on the wall for the little kids to play with while you wait. Sometimes we get right in and the doctor comes right in . But sometimes we have to wait. There are alot of families that come to Shriners.

This room was the JUNGLE room.

Well that is all the pictures I have for now. In a few weeks we go back so I'll get some more.

Hello everyone . It was time to kick off the holiday season with hooking up with the red jolly guy. Marilyn , Katie and Hannah made sure that Santa knew what they wanted for Christmas this year.

Yesterday was a beautiful day . We left to go to the park early to see Santa. But to our surprise even though we thought we were getting there early and thought we would get a good place in line . Well we were wrong.  Even though it was such a far trek to get to Santa we were still in a good place in line. Behind us the line stretched all the way to the end of the park.

Oops , well this picture is a little small. But anyways the Big , jolly red guy came sporting on the Corry fire truck .  The kids were just in awe that Santa could come in on a fire truck .

Well it was going to be a little while before we got up there to see Santa .  The nice thing was they had people going around offering hot cocoa to everyone while they waited.  Even though it was warmer and alot less snowier then last year . The hot cocoa tasted good .  While we waited we played guessing games and I spy . We stood in line for a total of an hour and 15 minutes. The girls were really good the whole time. They also thought of their list of things that they wanted for Christmas this year.

One thing though is we always teach the girls that Christmas just isn't for getting but also giving to others as well. That Christmas is meant to celebrate baby Jesus' birthday .

We keep Jesus the reason for the season , even though its hard to get past all the hoopla of Christmas .

By the time we had our turn Marilyn was all set with her list .  She asked Santa for more games for her Leapster , and more movies for her Video Now. She also threw in that she wants a Nintendo DS . But I told her Santa picks out the things that he feels each little girl and boy needs.

Hannah even ventured up on Santa's lap. What she asked for Christmas I wasn't sure. Because when Hannah gets shy her voice is real low . So we couldn't hear it .  Santa just told her to write it all down on a list and send it to him .

Katie requested Bratz Dolls . She knows she isn't allowed to have them. But she thought she would ask anyways.  She also asked for more Littlest Pet Shops too. They have a HUGE collection of Littlest Pets.  But they are the best toy we've ever bought . They don't require batteries ( except for one of the toys ) and they let them use their imaginations . 

Last but not at all the least.  Maggie let Santa know what she wanted for Christmas.  A bouncy seat , and more diapers !

This was our first encounter with Santa. This Friday we get to go see the Jolly man once more before Christmas to finalize what is wanted for Christmas . We always go to the Christmas in Spartansburg . Where the “REAL” Santa lives .

One more thing before I end the blog . Katie's birthday was on November 10th and we had a fun time celebrating it .

Katie got the things she REALLY wanted for her birthday .

Tim and I got her the movies : CARS and OVER THE HEDGE . It was really nice because they both came out that week of her birthday . So that worked perfectly .

After she was done getting her gifts at home. We went up to grandma and grandpa's house . There Katie got the LIttlest Pet Shop get better center. She had been asking for that like forever . Well now she has it .  She also got a Lighting Larry McQueen watch too.

After opening the gifts  dad made the spaghetti and Marilyn made the garlic bread. Which was REALLY good. She did an excellent job making it . This was Katie requested for her Birthday dinner.

After dinner we all saved some room for cake.  I'll admit it . I frosted the cake. It was a little strangely shaped after coming out of the oven. But it was all CHOCOLATE!!!  I added 7 regular candles and the number 7 candle . Katie had alot of candles to blow out . The cake was really good though , and it was served along side bubble gum ice cream . Which was really good too.

Maggie enjoyed it later on

Well until next time everyone. Hope y ou enjoyed this quick little blog .

This will be a little bit of a short blog today . But I got Hannah's preschool pictures today and I thought I would post them on here. They turned out VERY cute .

She has definitley grown up so much , even though she still is our little girl .  If you look carefully you are looking at a sea of blondes. How cute is that !  There are three girls and three boys in Hannah's class .

She LOVES preschool ALOT . The lady in the blue shirt is her teacher , Miss Lori . The other lady is one of her helpers.  Hannah LOVES Miss Lori . She is always so happy to go into preschool , she gives her teacher a BIG hug and goes and plays. Hannah has never cried once when we've left her so far.

We've seen Miss Lori outside of the classroom and Hannah still gives her a BIG hug then too.

Also here is a cute picture of Maggie . She turned 3 months old yesterday . She is growing up so fast .  Here she is sporting Hannah's favorite onesie . Dora !

Well everyone , swim season has started and Marilyn and Katie will be going to their first Invitational Saturday .  They are really excited . I can't wait to see what they will do . I'll update everyone and let you all know .