LOVE

Isn't this the sweetest Christmas tree ever? The story is even sweeter though. I bought this tree for Abby at Hobby Lobby but then BeBe also bought Abby a tree - a beautiful pink tree with lights that really was perfect for our girl. So I asked Abby if she wanted to pass this little green tree on to Jacob. She said yes but then also wanted to make ornaments for Jacob's new tree. I'm not sure how clear the picture is but she made a dump truck, a fork lift (with pallets), a cement truck, a football, basketball and a soccer ball. These are all things that Jacob just loves. His world right now is all things truck. Sometimes I am blown away by the thoughtfulness of my children.

It's been way too long since my last post... we had Halloween, which was so fun and our older kids were very into trick or treating this year. Robby just rode around in his stroller looking cute in his skunk suit. Thanksgiving was different for us this year in that we are usually in Temple with my side of the family - and many years Matthew's family comes to Temple too. This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends and then BeBe, Papu and Uncle Scotty came up to visit us Friday after Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time and will be anxious to see the rest of both sides of the family over Christmas. Daily I am having moments of being overwhelmed with thankfulness for all that we have been blessed with. When I look back on the past year I am amazed by how wonderful God's plans are for us! Why do I ever worry because the truth is God takes us on journeys that are far better than we could ever imagine - they are not always smooth but His ways are always better than our ways.

So this year I am thankful for a most-loving God, a husband who loves his work and adores his family, children that bring us so much joy, family that encourages us constantly, old friends that when I am with them it feels like a constant hug, new friends that we are so looking forward to living life with and raising children with, a church family, our fabulous new-to-us home that fits our family perfectly, good health, daily reminders to stop, live in and enjoy the moment and delicious food (mostly desserts). My cup runneth over indeed.

Sweet Robby

I realize that none of my children really favor me much. They all look much more like their daddy. But, today Becki texted me a baby picture of myself and we think it kind of resembles Robby. Sweet Robby is a precious little dude and we are so blessed to have him. He is very easy going and doesn't really fuss much. When I went to get him from the nursery after women's Bible study yesterday morning though one lady mentioned he was quite the dare devil. Matthew and I have had the same observations but I was hoping it wasn't so. After all, isn't it enough to have one son that is a dare devil?!? Hopefully his cautious sister will have an influence on him! We love you, Robby!

Baby Robby

Baby Na

Life Lately in Norman... Stories of school and (unsuccessful) potty training

Well life here in Norman lately has been quite nice. We are settling into our new daily routine with a kindergartner. So far Abby is loving school, most of the time. We had a few rough mornings last week with her waking up in tears and telling us she didn't want to go to school. However, bribery has always seemed to work well for this child so I told her I would come and have lunch with her at school if she could go three days without crying. It worked and I love having lunch with her anyway so it was a win-win situation. We are in a carpool with some friends and I pick up on Mondays and Wednesdays, so twice a week (at least) I have the opportunity to ask myself, "How have I become my mom so quickly?" I am also like my mom now in that I am a proud member of the PTA. I am blessed to have a wonderful mom so I am delighted to follow in her footsteps - I pray that I can be as good as a mom as she is! Oh wait, there is one way in that I am not like my mom at this stage... Those of you that I grew up with know my mom fed us very healthy food and always made us lunches without dessert (some of you may have memories of me trying to sweet talk you into giving me YOUR dessert). Mom, don't be mad but today I bought Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls to put in Abby's lunch. I just couldn't help myself.

Speaking of bribery, it does not seem to work well for our second child. I am ready for him to be potty-trained but he feels differently. I borrowed an idea from a friend and put some prizes on display, however so far he is content to just sit and look up at these fabulous cars and this awesome puzzle:) Maybe they are not fabulous or awesome enough for Jacob? Or is he just that stubborn? Oh well, they can just sit there and gather dust until he's ready to put his body on the potty for potty time (to quote Elmo). Here are some pictures of late. Most of them are on Facebook so sorry for the repeats.

Wouldn't you hop on the potty for these prizes!?!

I love Jacob's expression in this picture. He just woke up one morning wanting to put on this Buzz costume.

Abby has now lost three teeth. The tooth fairy almost blew it on this one though. Thankfully I remembered right before bed and sent him in to do his thing before we fell asleep:)

For you, Hannah

So this past weekend I was sitting at the kitchen table with my wonderful sister-in-law and she said, "You don't update your blog too often, do you?" The truth is I used to be a decent blogger but these days I am just plain bad. I love reading the blogs of our friends and family - in this regard I am a taker instead of a giver. This has to stop. So, I decided to do a post of fun summer memories. This post is for you, Hannah - I love you and your blog accountability!

The Smith Girls - We kicked the summer off by running a half-marathon with my dad. It was hot but good!

The kids and I visited Temple this past weekend while Matthew was in Chicago with his dad and brother. We had a great time with friends and family. Here I am feeding the babies puffs - they went nuts over it!

Robby - this little guys brings us so much joy!

We spent a week this summer up in northern Michigan at Burt Lake. We had a blast with our family. This is a picture of Jakey with our cousin, Tommy.

We went for a family walk in the woods up north and the kids all had a blast. Becki and I toted the babies around like this all week. I love that my sister (who also happens to be my best friend) and I have babies that are seven weeks apart.

Sweet Robby on the beach at Lake Michigan

Robby and me at the cottage on Burt Lake

Could they be any cuter?!? We love you, Mom & Dad!

And could they be any cuter?!? Matthew and Jacob taking a walk on the beach.

The girls of the next generation. Becki and I pray that Abby and Mina Claire grow up to be best friends.

Happy 1/2 Birthday to Robby!

Robby is 6 months old! We are so thankful for the joy our youngest child brings to our family. Robby is such a sweet little guy and his big sister and brother just adore him. I took him to the doctor for his 6 month well visit and he weighs 17 pounds and 6 ounces and is 26 inches long - which puts him at the 50% point. He seems so big to me but I looked back and Jacob weighed in at 19 pounds when he was 6 months old.

Happy 1/2 Birthday to our littlest man! We love you, Robert Andrew!

Summer Fun

How is it possible that it's already July!?! We've had a great summer so far - lots of weekend trips and good times with friends and family. I feel especially blessed because Matthew is basically off for the summer. I think I can definitely get used to life as a professor's wife!

Shepherd and Jacob playing together in San Antonio during our visit last month. (Too bad they can't wear underwear all the time yet - Jacob has clearly demonstrated to us that he's not ready for potty training!) We had such a wonderful time and loved spending time with old friends!

Sweet Samantha loved playing with Robby.

Robby and his buddy Carter

Abby and Sara Kate are reunited! Abby got to spend three nights with Sara Kate and loved every minute of it.

Pop built his grandbabies a sandbox and they all just love playing in it.

Lately...

Lately I've been spending lots of time counting our blessings. We are thankful for our new town and the sweet new friends we have met (although we do wish Norman was in Texas - closer to old friends and family), thankful that Matthew is so happy in his work and that he is working toward his dream job and thankful for such a loving family and our precious babies! We are thankful for a God that loves us so. The list could go on and on...

This weekend we had both Matthew's parents and my parents come for a visit. Above is a picture of Robby and Bebe.

Pop and Hootsie with their grandbabies.

Abby and Jacob after planting some flowers in the yard. Last night Abby said, "Jacob is my brother and my friend."


Our littlest love, Robby.

Dad and me after the OKC Memorial Half Marathon & Marathon. We each made it - but it hailed on poor dad's head as he finished the full marathon.

HOME

We are finally getting settled into our new home here in Norman. We cannot believe how quickly sweet Robby is growing up! He is the perfect finale to our family and a wonderful gift from God. Robby has a precious disposition and he is a good eater and decent sleeper, thankfully.

Robby on March 11, 2011. He was a great smile, I just haven't caught it on camera yet!

Sleeping baby. I was carrying him in the sling a couple weeks ago and Robby fell asleep - and stayed asleep for a little bit.

Jacob is TWO! We cannot believe this little ball of joy is two years old. Jacob seems to be adjusting well to our new life here - he is good as long as he can run, eat and play hide and seek with his Daddy and sister - it doesn't matter to him what state that is in!

Just catching up...

During our transition from Texas to Oklahoma we spent some time in Temple - and it happened to snow a lot while we were there. Here are our snowbunnies!

Daddy and Abby making a snowball.

Right before we left San Antonio Robby had some lovely ladies come to meet him - my college roomies! Heather (with Robby), me and Jacob, and Laura (with the cutest baby bump ever).

Our loves - I know it's not the greatest but this is the best picture I have of my three babies. Thankfully one of my new friends here in Norman is an amazing photographer so I am going to ask her take some better pictures of the three Reyes kids.

Abby and Robby - she is ADORABLE with her baby brothers. They both love her so very much!

Happy Birthday Abby & Adios Texas!

There is so much to update with our family that a few blog entries can't really cut it, but here we go...

We moved from San Antonio to Norman, Oklahoma, about a month ago. We knew from the start our time in San Antonio was temporary, but as seven months turned into three years our life there became very hard to leave. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful church family and some of the best friends in the world. But, we knew the best thing for our family was to make a move to Norman so that Matthew could start on his PhD at the University of Oklahoma. In the midst of our move and saying goodbye to our friends in San Antonio, we had our third baby and celebrated Abby and Jacob's birthdays. The good news is that the Lord is loving and faithful and His plans for us are better, more perfect than anything we could ever imagine. We are really enjoying our new home here, Matthew loves his new career (he is teaching a couple classes while taking a couple as well) and we have already met some wonderful people! Here are some pictures from our journey...

As we were packing up our house in San Antonio our life group came over for lunch and to pray for our family as we prepared to move to Norman. We loved living our life with these amazing people for three years. There is no way to express all that we experienced together - what a blessing in our life!

Jacob and some cake.

My sweet, precious friend Tanya planned two wonderful little parties before we moved - a birthday gathering for Abby and a "friendship" party (we couldn't stand to call it a goodbye party). I was blessed to have an amazing group of friends that I met through the first preschool Abby attended in San Antonio. One thing our group knew how to do well was celebrate! I will miss all our birthday dinners at Cheesecake Factory (I checked and there is one in Oklahoma City though - so you all come on up whenever).

Abby and friends - she met these sweet little people when she was two and now they are all turning five!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Oh, sweet friends. I miss you!

Abby and friends.

Welcome to the world, Robert Andrew Reyes!

Robert Andrew Reyes

December 29, 2010

1:15 pm

8 pounds, 2 ounces

21 inches

Just a couple hours old...

This is how interested Jacob was in what all was going on. He loved the endless supply of chocolate milk available at the hospital.

Abby and Sara Kate with Robby. Sara Kate decided early on that our son's name would be Robby Ray Reyes - we modified it a bit to Robert Andrew Reyes.

Robby and his nanny, Abby. Big sister is in LOVE - and so are we!