Reid can be a picky eater at times. He LOVES bread and most fruits but it is very hard getting him to eat vegetables. I was telling my friend Tiffany this and she suggested I put spinach in our smoothies. She said you couldn't taste it. Reid LOVES smoothies (and so do EK and I) so I tried it out one day. I put a heaping handful in and couldn't taste even a hint of spinach. Here is my list of ingredients for my smoothies. Don't ask me how much of each because I never measure when I make these.
-yogurt- I use vanilla yogurt because I like a little sweetness, but if I were just making it for me and EK I would use plain yogurt and honey. Toddlers aren't supposed to have honey though so I use vanilla when Reid eats them.
- Crushed ice- You can use cubed ice but my refrigerator crushes it too so I use crushed to help the old blender from having to work so hard.
-One Banana- No need to cut up, just throw it in there
-A splash of juice- It can be orange juice, apple juice, grape juice, etc. If you don't have juice then skip it.
-Frozen fruit- I have found that strawberries and blueberries work the best. I have used peaches before and the flavor doesn't shine through enough. Lately I have been adding frozen pureed pears too. They are left over from when I was making Reid's baby food.
-Milk- Enough to help the smoothing function of the blender, but not so much that it is too liquidy (I know that is not a word- I am math minded so cut me some slack.)
-Fresh Baby Spinach- I buy this from Sam's or Costco.

I absolutely love recipes that you can just dump a lot of stuff in it without measuring so this is right up my alley. Also, the possibilities are endless. I think I am going to try shredding carrots next time. Reid sucks these down and I like that he is getting many food groups in this meal. I usually pair it with a piece of whole wheat bread. Like I said, he loves bread!

Like most 3 year olds Ella Katherine says the funniest things.

Chickle-A= Chik-Fil-A
Matrols= Controls (as in Remote Control)
Hanitizer= Hand Sanitizer
Bassert- Dessert
High Scream- Icecream

Our pastor has recently started a blog. You can go to the following website: http://www.wpcajax.org/news or click on the link in the list of the blogs on the right. Here is a snippet:

"All of these characteristics go against the flow of our society. If we flourish, it can only be by Your blessing. O, Lord, how long can I, can we, continue to endure this swim against the tide of contemporary culture?

"You have need of endurance... My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him." (Heb. 10:35-39)

I need mental and spiritual toughness, not to forsake the way, to give in, as Francis Schaeffer used the term, to "accommodation" with the world.

O, Lord, is it worth being that different? But which one of the 8 things listed above can be negotiable and we still remain Biblically faithful? Are any of those characteristics optional in Your eyes?

On the other hand, Father, I can err with a prideful Elijah-like complex, ‘We're the only ones left.' No, You preserve a remnant of Your choosing that does not bow the knee to Baal.

Strengthen me, strengthen us, in faithfulness. We will reap a harvest of righteousness in due season if we do not give up."

Ok, as of today he is actually 13 months. His birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we had his party on his actual birthday- January 16th. Seth's parents came down for the party and we had a few of our friends from church over.
Seth grilled bbq leg quarters and I made Amanda's baked bean recipe, corn on the cob, garlic bread, and cole slaw. His cake was from Costco. Their cakes are so good and only $17 for a half sheet.
I made Reidy's little smash cake and just like his sister and mama, HE LOVES ALL THINGS CHOCOLATE. This was his first taste of cake and needless to say he is hooked.
The day before his birthday I sewed for 18 hours trying to finish his outfit, hat, and bib.This is Reid and his buddy Harrison who is only a 1 1/2 weeks older than Reid. Kristin and I had the exact same due date. I made Harrison's outfit too.
We had a great time, and enjoyed it even more because Seth's parents could come.

Reid is such a blessing to us. He has the funniest little personality and keeps us laughing with his little mischievous grin. He loves to eat but can be quite picky at times. He isn't really fond of vegetables, but loves fruit and bread and pasta. He is happy as long as his belly is full and he isn't teething. Right now I think he is getting his one year molars in because he hasn't been sleeping well, he has been especially clingy to me, and has been cranky. He does have his 4th bottom front tooth coming in as well. He still is not an official walker. He has been taking steps since before his first birthday, but hasn't been in a hurry to walk. He can crawl really fast so I think he just doesn't want to bother with walking. He is a great climber! We recently got bunk beds for EK's room and he can crawl up the ladder all by himself. I keep the ladder up when I am not in the room. When he gets a little bigger he and EK will share a room, hence the bunk beds. He gets really excited when Daddy comes home and hugs Seth so tight. He loves books with flaps that he can open and close. He loves to dance and play his guitar.

He has already learned the letter B sound.

At his 12 month checkup he weighed 23 lbs 12 oz and was 33 inches long.

Ok, I have been a really really really bad blogger lately. I have a love/hate relationship with my blog. I LOVE reading other people blogs and I know family and friends want to keep up with what we are doing, but dang it if I don't hate the whole uploading pictures thing. It requires patience and that is something I don't have a lot of. Anyway, this post is to catch up for the last few months.

In November we went to the "North Pole" to see my mom. Actually it was North Carolina but EK calls it the North Pole. I had a couple of Southwest tickets from my career woman days that needed to be used so we flew. It was EK's second time on a plane (but she was a baby and doesn't remember it) and it was Reid's first. One weird and pleasant thing about the trip was that my buddy and ex-coworker and his little girl and girlfriend were taking the same flight. And another coworker happened to be on there too, so we all sat together and they caught me up on how the old construction job was doing. Then on the way back we flew into Fort Lauderdale to connect to Jax and I saw another coworker in the airport.

Reid was great on the flight. None of flights were full so he got a seat all to himself. He would sit there and just wait for people to look at him so he could flash them a smile. EK had a great time too. She really enjoyed getting her own juice and of course we brought her movies.We had a great time visiting with mom! She took the kids to get their first "Build-A-Bear". Except in our case it was "Build-A-Kitty" and "Build-A-Dog".

And we got mama a snuggie.



Moving on to Thanksgiving....

My family Thanksgivings are truly a feast. All my paternal extended family and my grandmother's 6 sisters and their families get together for a family reunion. We meet in the Echo Methodist church fellowship hall and get down to business tasting 7 different dressings, more casseroles than you can shake a stick at, turkey, ham, and desserts that you dream about all year. I seriously believe that the best country cooks in the southeast are in my family (but I may be a little partial). I didn't get any pics of the actual meal but here are a few at Papa's house.

Here is also a picture of the guys doing a little target shooting. Don't worry, this is out in the country and completely legal.

Michele and I also mourned that this should probably the last time we let all the kids take a bath together. They are getting a little too old for it:)

We also visited with the Parker side of the family. This is Reidy and Aunt Priscilla.

Brayden enjoyed climbing up the slide.


And for Christmas...

We went to a luminaries event at Seth's school. The kids decorate the sidewalks with bags with lit candles.

Made our first gingerbread house.

Had lots of fun taking our Christmas card photo.

Enjoyed great adult fellowship at our church Christmas party.

Stood in awe of God's creation in my backyard on a beautiful cool foggy morning. He makes even a simple spider web beautiful.

And made a house out of a cardboard box.

A few days before Christmas we set off on a 10 day road trip across the southeast. We loaded up our little Honda Accord with 2 adults, 2 children, one dog, three suitcases, over 20 presents, a pack-n-play, and several other things. We were packed in there like sardines. Thankfully we purchased a luggage bag and rack to hold many of the items. We were in a total of 6 states during our little trip. It started at my dad's house....

EK and I took a little ride on the 4-wheeler.

We did a little singing.

My oldest brother Ryan. Forgive him for his attire.
My two favorite boys.
And my sister-in-law Jennifer who is carrying EK's first girl cousin (Laney Louise) on my side of the family. Currently there are 6 boys and her. She is so excited to have another girl in the family and I can't wait to kiss her sweet face.
We visited with my great uncle Stanley and my great aunt Gloria from Nashville.

Here is Cade who is such a sweet older cousin.
Papa, EK, and Cole.
Daddy and Mrs. Kay got EK a sleeping bag and Dad got Mrs. Kay a sleeping bag. They were snuggling up while we did our bible study for the night.
After our visit in the Wiregrass we headed a little north to visit with my brother Nathan and family and my mom. The twins and EK had fun playing the Wii.

And EK snuggled with her Granny.Here is Michele.

After that we went to Seth's parents house. More to follow on that once I get the pictures from Mr. Reid.

After Christmas we headed up to Gatlinburg and on the way we stopped at the Cabbage Patch Hospital in Cleveland, GA. It was a Christmas present for me, ahem, I mean for EK.

My little poser.

A baby was delivered while we were there. The "doctor" asked for a name and we hollered Ella and that is what she was named.
Ella Katherine adopted her very own Cabbage Patch doll and named her Ella Katherine. Here she is signing the birth certificate.

We let Reidy boy hold a baby too.

Then we finally made it to the mountains and were greeted with SNOW!!!! My little Florida babies had never seen snow .

After this picture our camera's battery died and I forgot the charger so Mr. Reid has the rest of the pictures. More to come about Gatlinburg in a later post. Maybe I will get it done before next Christmas;)