The Reed Family - Homeschool Blogger

Hello all

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:37:00 -0500

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 !

Happy Birthday Marilyn

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:03:00 -0600

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 :>)

Santa is everywhere

Tue, 5 Dec 2006 08:59:00 -0600

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.

Santa Claus came to town

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 08:31:00 -0600

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 .

Hannah's School Picture

Thu, 9 Nov 2006 14:04:00 -0600

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 .

Happy Halloween

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 21:33:00 -0600

Its ghosts and goblins and ghouls . Its Halloween night !

We all had a wonderful time yesterday for trick or treating . So lets start with the beginning of our scaaarrryyy day ....

It was time to get up and get ready for school ..........

For later that day we were to meet up with gouls .................

There were ghosts and goblins that gave us a whirl ,

And as soon as we went in we bumped into ..Bubble girl !( Hannah ) .

and flower girl ( Maggie ) ............

And present girl( Marilyn ) , right at the door .............

There were candy, and games, and so much more .

We saw friends ( little Abbey , katie's friend , and her brother Kyron )

We saw family ( Ann Louise , Grandma , Me and Maggie ) and we thought we would try ........

To judge the best costume . How hard was that ,,oh my !

There was dinner , snacks and grown ups to laugh at ,

all while they sat.

And Santa showed up with his big belly and hat .

It was time to trick or treat and get wet in the rain ,

Which made trick or treating a bit of a pain .

Once they were done it was time to go to the fire hall

To eat donuts and drink cider and wait for the call ...

Oh wait ! Can't forget the best picture for last . Goggle girl fighting for truth, and justice ,

what a blast !

The End

Swimming and Pumpkins , Oh my !

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:24:00 -0600

Saturday , the girls had their first swim meet.

They had alot of fun swimming against the other team . The girls swam well and swam fast even though they had some tough competition .

Here the girls were gettting out to the pool area. They were ready to swim turbo speed.

Here's a nice picture of Marilyn in the pool . Even though our camera takes great pictures it doesn't do to well with action shots .

But here the girls are taking turns practing their flip turns .

Maggie came along with us too. She was a very good girl. When the buzzer went off she would turn her head towards the pool . Maggie knows those sounds because Mommy was pregnant with her during swim season last year .

Hannie came along too. She's used to the swim meets. They can be VERY long depending on how big the teams are . But she was a good girl too. She stayed with mommy the whole time and cheered on her sisters.

Daddy took a nice picture of Katie and her friend Abbey . Abbey is a sweat little girl and she loves my girls ALOT .

Here's a really nice picture of Marilyn and her friend Courtney. Courtney started right along with Marilyn . This is their 3rd year together . Courtney moved up to Cadets though . Would you believe she is older then Marilyn ? All of Marilyn's friends moved up to Cadets this year. Only because of the date of their birthdays made it possible for Marilyn to swim a third year in Midgets this year .

This picture is a little bright . But next to me is my friend Penny, she is a third year mom like myself . Penny has been my inspiration . She had the gastric bypass surgery ( she was actually bigger then I was at my heaviest at one time ) . She is now down to I believe she said 140 and she keeps it off. If you can tell in this picture I've actually gained some weight here. Not very proud of myself . But I'm hoping after Maggie weans that I can get back to my old exercise and diet routine so I can shed off the pounds again .

Like I said these meets can be a little long . After a while Maggie decided to take a snooze.

O.k. after the swim meet was all said and done daddy took the girls up to the farm and they carved out their pumpkins with .....well... Pumpkin .

This is something they do every year with their grandpa and they love doing it .

Here Hannah and Pumpkin where coring out the pumpkin . Hannah decided she was going to make a robot pumpkin .

Of course dad wanted to get in on the action . He loves to carve out the pumpkins too. Dad was the "pumpkin artist." The girls told him what they wanted and he carved .

So everyone , here are the finished products . Hannah's was the robot pumpkin , Katie was the "sccarrry " pumpkin , the tiny pumpkin was Maggie pumpkin ..its a little different pumpkin with the sideways nose .. and Marilyn's pumpkin was a Halloween cat.

Well everyone . I will post the Halloween pictures tomorrow . Here is to a night of funfilled costume dressing and gorging on lots of candy ....

October is Fire Saftey Month .....

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 09:23:00 -0500

Hello everyone. Sorry its been a while since I last updated my blog here. We've been a VERY busy family and finding the time to sit and do this can be tough .

But I now have a moment to post some nice pictures of the girls.

As we all know October is Fire Saftey Month and every year the kids go to places and sit in the fire trucks and learn all the important things everyone should know to do in case of a fire .

So here are some nice pictures of the girls that Tim and I both took of the girls celebrating the month of October .

Here are the girls with pumpkin at the Fire Hall's Open House . They sure did a beautiful job fixing it all up . They had punch , coffee and cake to celebrate the new opening . It happend at the perefect time for Fire Saftey Month . As you can tell it was cold that day . I had to break out the warm hats and coats . But it wasn't long before the snow began to melt anyways .

While mom was in visiting with the ladies of the Fire Hall , dad and pumpkin took the girls out to see the fire trucks in the garage .

The girls jumped right in . They sure were excited to sit in the big fire truck. In this last picture Hannah sure did look ready to drive away . We told them they would make great fire girls some day

Dad took this nice picture of the Spartansburgh fire truck .

O.k. we didn't want to leave out Maggie here either . Dad took this picture with the cell phone so its a little out of focus . But it really is a nice picture .

This is a great opportunity here to tell you all that I have developed a page called Maggie's page . It's to update everyone on Maggie's Dr. appointments since this is a big part of our lives right now . I thought it would me much easier to put it all on one place then to type it out everytime someone asks. We see alot of doctors and for different things so sometimes it can be hard to keep track of what is what .

So if you get a chance come and visit Maggie's page . I update it regularly and there is a guest book for you to sign it to let us know you visited .

http://thereedfamilypa.tripod.com

Now after all of that Maggie is growing and doing very well. We're dealing with a nasty case of diaper rash . But all is well .

Family First Sports Park

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 20:24:00 -0500

Hello everyone . Thought I would update the blog with the first of the year back to school field trip.

We went to Family First Sports Park and had tons of fun . I mean the girls had tons of fun

I did take some pictures. Some maynot be that great because I was taking them with one hand and holding Maggie in another .

Marilyn also took some pictures too of her new Pacyber friends.

The first activity they did was the indoor golf. They had alot of fun doing that . Marilyn LOVEs to play golf.

Here Katie was getting a putting lesson . It didn't take her long to figure it out .

In this picture Marilyn and Katie were getting another golf lesson . Marilyn really enjoyed this alot . Then after a little while it was time to move on to the next activity ......................

Rock climbing ! This was not their favorite one though . My girls aren't really climbers .

This was one of my favorite pictures I took. After the girls were done with rock climbing we walked over to the next building for lunch . Hannah decided she was going to hitch a ride with one of the Pacyber staff . Hannah made an instant friend . Miss Aleesha . They both ended up with each other after lunch and Miss Aleesha wore Hannah out .

Here it was lunch time . The kids all got to sit together and the moms had a table of their own .

After Marilyn got finished eating she decided she wanted to get some pictures too. So here Marilyn took this picture of mommy and Maggie . Do I look tired ? I was

This was one of the friends Marilyn made that day. Its not hard for my girls to make instant friends .

Katie made one too......

Marilyn took this nice picture of some of the kids in the younger group. I believe there was alot more . It was actually nice to see more younger kids this year on this field trip. Last year it was more older kids then younger and Marilyn and Katie felt a bit left out of it all . But this year they were too excited to meet everyone.

After lunch the kids then played basketball. I didn't get pictures of that because Maggie decided she wanted her lunch then .

So after basket ball, the kids went to make rockets and they got to shoot them off. It was really neat to see how far they all went .

After all of that we went out for a bite of dinner and took a quick ride around town and traveled back to our back to school fair .

I didn't get pictures of this because we were busy going from booth to booth and talking with friends and making new friends.

When we got home though I took a quick picture of their t-shirts that they got from the Back to school fair . It was a Safari theme . The girls and I had a great time and definitley plan on doing it again next year.

I'll end our blog here with a cute picture of baby Maggie . She sure is growing . Time has gone by so fast . She is so bright eyed and alert and is such a good baby .

In this picture Maggie is 7 weeks old. She will be turning 8 weeks here on this Sunday .

Penn Dot Open House

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 09:43:00 -0500

Hello everyone . Thought we would share some pictures from the PennDot open house. This was the first year we made it to the open house because in past years it was always raining and cold.

But this day it was sunny and fairly warm. Just a slight cool breeze . If the breeze wasn't there it would of been perfect .

Marilyn , Katie and Hannah enjoyed seeing the Emergycare ambulance .

The Erie Zoo was also there with a few animals the kids could pet. I'm not sure what animal this was because I was in the van feeding Maggie . So I missed hearing what it was and Marily couldn't remember the name. I'm sure it was a LONG name for a tiny animal .

After we were finished inside looking at the animals we went out to check out all of the trucks. Penndot had a nice turnout . It was really nice to see all of the families enjoying themselves. Plus it was cute to see the dads look at all this stuff with their children too.

The kids were also allowed to sit in the trucks and beep the horns. Marilyn and Katie LOVED that . Hannah didn't want to sit in the truck though .

Anyone ready for snow ??? I know I'm not . But Penndot is with their big snow plows.

Next it was time to check out LifeStar. This is our emergency helicopter in Erie . This is only a substitue helicopter though because the original LifeStar was crashed some months ago . The pilot had a heart attack .

The girls hopped at the chance to sit in the helicopter though . It sure was neat to see all the gadgets and gizmos that are in there .

Here is nice picture of the girls standing behind the helicopter. It sure is small in there. If your claustrophobic it wouldn't be a good place to be . This helicopter is smaller then the original LifeStar. I think they are expecting the new one to come sometime soon here.

Next it was time to stop for a bite to eat. They had drinks and cake and popcorn for everyone . Here we are standing at the table by the chocolate cake . I don't usually stand by the cake and eat but since my hands were a little full that is where we had to stand to eat

When we were finished eating the girls decided they wanted to get their face painted . Katie decided she wanted it on her arm and not her face though .

Katie decided she wanted a caterpiller and Hannah wanted the pumpkin . Don't they look cute ?

Marilyn was in true football spirit and decided on a football. Go Steelers !

As we were getting ready to leave ,Smoky the bear made his entrance into the garage . So the girls had to stop and hug Smoky the bear and get their picture taken with him. I was surprised that Hannah wasn't scared of him . She just walked right over with her sisters and gave us a great big smile .

After all of that we stopped at my sister Michelle's house to visit our new addition to the family .

This is baby Annea ( pronounced uh-nay-uh ) . Annea is Polish for Ann. Annea was born on August 31st so she's about 3 weeks younger then Maggie . Its so great to have a large family , and the best thing of all is getting to welcome each new one with hugs and kisses .

Well there you have it folks. Some updated pictures of us all .