Some Catching Up To Do

Hi everyone! We have some catching up to do, so I'll just jump right into it.

Easter. Ours was great...hope yours was too. We had a nice, relaxing day of going to church, followed by an Easter egg hunt for Ben. It was very cold in the morning, but the afternoon weather was gorgeous, so we grilled out for lunch and dinner and spent the majority of the day playing outside. Here are a couple of before church pictures....

Ben and Greg:

And Ben and I (I was playing with all the fancy effects on this one):

Please ignore my hair in the above photo. I have been having serious hair issues lately. I had planned on working with my natural wave/curl so I wouldn't have to straighten it, but I ended up looking like I had been electrocuted, so I opted for the last minute ponytail....but even that ended up looking messy. Oh well.

Here are some pics of Ben hunting eggs:

Don't you just love the ears? They were a gift from Gigi and Grampy. Very cute.

You will also notice a new addition in one of the pics above. That is our new goldendoodle (golden retriever/poodle mix) puppy, Lamar. He has been with us for about 2 weeks now and has been keeping me on my toes for sure (as if Ben hadn't already cornered that market). Lamar is adorable, but it's kind of like having another child around the house. Ben really likes him, but is also a bit jealous, which adds an interesting dynamic I hadn't prepared for. As for Lamar, he has two modes: asleep and buck wild. Luckily, we already have him in puppy obedience training, so the buck wild part should be under control in the next couple of months (I hope). Here is a pic of Lamar's first day at our house:

And Lamar in "buck wild" mode:

Ok, so, the name "Lamar". Everyone asks about it, so here goes. We have a donut shop in town called "Lamar's". We frequently get donuts from Lamar's on Sunday mornings. It is a little family tradition we started (very healthy). One morning, I mentioned it would be funny to name a dog Lamar. And it stuck. So there you go...we now have a dog named Lamar. Yes, it is unconventional. But not as strange as you may think..... our new-ish neighbors have a dog named "Steve". We agreed that Lamar and Steve should definitely hang out some time :-)

I signed up for the Disney marathon (it takes place in Orlando in early January). I'm so excited!! Apparently the course is nice and flat so it will be great for my first marathon. My training will likely start in August/September. It works out perfectly because that's when Ben will be starting pre-school (twice a week). That will give me time to train without feeling guilty for leaving Ben and Greg :-)

We had crazy weather this past weekend with all the tornados and storms and such. On Saturday night, the tornado sirens went off around midnight. So, we got Ben and Lamar and went to the basement. Even after the sirens quit, we decided to just sleep in the basement for the rest of the night, just in case. Let me tell you...that was a treat. We have a large sectional couch in the basement, so Ben, Lamar and I all slept on it. Poor Greg took one for the team and slept on a makeshift pillow bed on the floor. I think the only one who actually slept was Ben.

Other than that, we had a pretty low-key weekend. Greg and I decided to splurge and order a movie on Saturday night. It came down to "Young Adult" with Charlize Theron or "Drive" with Ryan Gosling. We decided on "Drive". It was.....interesting. Very, very slow to get going and then very violent. Not at all what I was expecting. I kept having to close my eyes because of all the gore. Normally, I would say you can't go wrong with a Ryan Gosling movie because he's a great actor and, hello, it's Ryan "easy on the eyes" Gosling. But I can't say I would recommend this one.

Welp, that's all I have folks. Hope you're all having a great week! Later!

Brooke

A Savior to the World

Happy Easter everyone!

Just wanted to post this song that I love. Please listen and read the lyrics. The message is beautiful.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving us more than we could even begin to fathom.

He is ALIVE!!! Hallelujah!

Have a wonderful Easter everyone!

Love,

Brooke

A Royal Pain in the, um, Foot

Happy March, my peeps! I love spring. Don't you?? It is my second favorite season behind fall. We've had some seriously gorgeous days lately. I dropped Ben off at speech therapy on Tuesday and ran an errand. When I went back to get him I was a little early, so I decided to roll down the windows and just sit in the car for a bit. It was darn near heavenly. It was 70 degrees, sunny, a bit windy (but not super-windy), and the birds were chirping away. I just closed my eyes and took it all in for a few minutes. Small pleasures :-)

I'm really glad to see winter coming to an end because, although the weather this winter has been pretty amazing, it has been a tough one health-wise for the Reynolds family. I think it was late January when it all started and has been one thing after another ever since. First, I had a week-long stomach bug, then Ben got very sick (upper respiratory) for about a week, then I got what Ben had except mine turned into a month-long bout with bronchitis. I sounded like a man for a good week and completely lost my voice for two days. Then, when I finally got to the point where I felt like I could start my half-marathon training, I developed a large ganglion cyst on my foot and had to have it surgically removed. Does it sound like I'm whining?? Because, I am.

Sooooo, I've been wearing this uber-fashionable "boot" on my foot for a week now. I have one more week to go and then the staples come out. Then, I have to take it easy for a couple more weeks and then I can resume vigorous exercise. I will say, however, that surgery was like a small vacation. Is that sad? I mean, at one point, the nurse was prepping my foot by washing and scrubbing it and we were chit-chatting and, for a second, I felt like I was getting a pedicure. And everyone was always checking on me and making sure I was okay and I didn't have to do ANYTHING. And then they gave me what the anesthesiologist referred to as my "margarita" (not the sedative used in surgery, but a "pre-sedative", if you will) and said it would make me feel like I had a couple glasses of wine. It actually made me feel like I had a couple of BOTTLES of wine and then I'm pretty sure I fell asleep mid-sentence. I don't remember a whole lot after that. It was glorious.

This means the half-marathon is probably going to be a "just for the fun of it" event. I'll admit, I have a hard time running races "just for the fun of it". I mean, it's called a race for a reason people. I've never been good at half-a@#ing things. If I do something, I like to do my best. It's called being a perfectionist. It has been my lifelong blessing and curse. So, my sights are now set on bigger and better things......I'm planning on doing the Disney Marathon in Orlando next January!!!!! It will be my FIRST FULL MARATHON!! I'm so, so, so excited. I really hope it doesn't sell out before I get to register. I've already asked my mom to come with me and hopefully we'll get to spend some time with my aunt, uncle and cousin while we're down there (they live in Tampa). Since it's going to be my first marathon, I figured the Disney marathon would be ideal. We'll be running throughout all four parks so there will be all kinds of distraction from the pain :-) My only goal for this race will be to finish and to enjoy myself!! Oh, and not die.

I'm also excited because we're going to Florida in a few weeks to visit Greg's family. It will be Ben's first trip to the beach. We've been talking about it for weeks and he is mega-pumped. We're going to be taking family pictures while we're down there, so I was out looking for something to wear and was harshly reminded in the dressing room that (a) Two months of zero physical activity has translated to a mild, yet annoying weight gain and (b) I am pale....like, blindingly so. I don't think all the self-tanner in the world is going to help me. It will probably just make me look "normal-person pale" as opposed to "is that really her skin or is she wearing white tights all over her body?!?" pale. I'll still be using the tanner though. I have to....the world's optical health depends on it.

Ok, well, that's all the news I have right now. I know you are jealous of our glamorous life :-) Have a great weekend everyone!

Brooke

Like a Good Neighbor...

I feel like much of my life is a lesson in humility. And it's not like I engage in overtly proud or even irresponsible behavior to bring it upon myself. For the most part, I keep to myself and speak when spoken to. I'm beginning to think this is the problem. It's no secret that Greg and I have never been the most neighborly individuals. I'd like to say the reason is because we've never lived anywhere for very long and therefore, to prevent ourselves from feeling the emotional pain of leaving our dear neighbors when the inevitable next moves takes place, we've inadvertently withdrawn ourselves from the social interactions that the "neighborly" engage in. But we all know this isn't the case. Basically, we're just lazy. I know that sounds awful, but it's the sad truth.

Now, don't get me wrong, we do have friends here (from church and Greg's work and my MOPS group) they just aren't our neighbors. A recent interaction with our "closest" neighbors (relationship-wise) made me realize that maybe it's time to "get out there" a little more.

We decided to order out for pizza one night (I know, shocking). Just as Greg drove away, the doorbell rang. It was one of our neighbors and her daughter selling girl scout cookies. I was a little flustered because I had taken a nap when Ben was napping and had woken up not too long ago...and I looked like it. Anyway, here is how the conversation went:

Me (opening the door): Hi! How are you guys?

Neighbor's Daughter: Would you like to buy some girl scout cookies?

Me: Sure! What do I need to do? Do I need to fill something out?

Neighbor (her name is Tara): Nope, we actually have the cookies right out here in the car so you can get them right now. Which kind would you like?

Me: I'll take the Thin Mints. Can I write a check? (Greg is the only one who ever has cash)

Tara: Sure, it's $3.50. I'll go get them and be right back. (If you think writing a check for $3.50 is embarrassing, just you wait....)

Me to Neighbor's Daughter: Who do I make the check out too?

Neighbor's Daughter: You can just make it out to my mom.

Me (thinking to myself): Oh crap. What is her last name? What is her last name? WHAT IS HER LAST NAME?????

Me (trying be very sly) to Tara: Hey Tara, how do you spell your last name? (Thinking to myself...please don't let it be Smith or Jones or White....)

Tara: W-E-S-T

Me (thinking to myself): Backfire.

Yes, it was very embarrassing. I mean, we've lived here for almost 5 years for crying out loud!!!! This ranks right up there with the time we first moved in and one of the neighbors on our cul-de-sac came over to introduce themselves and bring us some cookies. I was here by myself and we still had Jackson at the time who went ape every time the door bell would ring (among many, many other things). Anyway, when I answered the door, I had to hold Jackson back so he wouldn't dart out the front door. The neighbor looked a little startled and I said "Oh, don't worry, he won't bite" at which point, Jackson turned on me and literally started mauling my arm. I wish you could have seen the neighbor's face. His eyes were bugging out of his head and he practically threw the basket of cookies at me and made a beeline back to his house. They haven't spoken to us since. I'm not kidding.

Or, there was the time when we lived in Florida and Jackson escaped from our backyard and ran like the wind through various neighbors' backyards. Greg was gone, so I went running after him while carrying a bag of treats and screaming "SIT! SIT!". Did I mention I was still wearing my pajamas?!? And crying? I finally ended up in a backyard where a high school-aged boy was trying to relax on his family's lanai. When I saw him, I started pleading with him to help me catch my dog. He just sat there, frozen and visibly afraid of me. I looked crazy......no, no, I WAS crazy!! And then, Jackson stopped running and relieved himself in the boy's yard. At which point, I gathered my emotions and my dog and called it a day.

Clearly, I should never be left alone. I'm not even sure how I get around in the world.

Anyway, I think the time has come for us to be more neighborly. Or more normal. One of the two.

Brooke