Her 5 Year Check UP and Interview

Laney had her five year check up with Dr Kleber.  She did so well getting her shots!  Mommy and Daddy were so proud of her.  Yes, she cried just a little, but not that much.  She's a tough cookie!!  Here are her stats on how she measures up:
Height: 40 1/2 inches (less than 10th percentile)
Weight: 34 lbs (less than 10th percentile)
Dr Kleber was not concerned with her height and weight because she was on the same track with both.  Yes, she's petite, but it's not like she is underweight since she's also short!  She's just a little thing!!  Here are a few funny things she said when she turned five...."Mommy, now that I'm 5, will I be as tall as Kendall (a girl in her class)?"  My response, "Uh, not sure on that."...knowing all to well what the answer would be.  Another funny...."Mommy, now that I'm 5, can I sit in a booster seat?"  My response, "Let's ask Dr Courtney at your checkup" again, knowing what the answer would probably be.  So at Laney's appt with Dr Kleber, Laney asked in her little quiet voice, "Now that I'm fiiiiiive, can I sit in a booster seat?"  Dr Kleber's response, looking down at Laney's chat with a look of disappointment, "Uhhhhh, I'm sorry Laney but you're just too little still."  She took that response like a champ!!

OK, now it's time to reveal Laney's 5 Year Interview!!  I did this last year and looking back at the responses, it makes me smile.

1. What is your favorite phrase: Watch Me

2. What is your favorite food: McDonalds (yuck!)

3. Who is the coolest person on Earth: Livi and Charlo

4. When you grow up, what do you want to do: Still sleep with Teddy.  So I explained what the question meant...her response:  A haircutter ;)

5: What is your favorite color: Orange (stayed the same!)

6. What is your favorite song: Scooby Doo song

7. When you're outside, what is your favorite thing to do: Swim when it's summertime

8. If you could go anywhere in the World, where would you go: Disney (stayed the same)

9. What did you like to play with when you were little: My red telephone and with Teddy

10. Who is your best friend: Mommy and Livi and Charlo

11. What is your favorite snack: Fun Dip

12. What's your favorite movie: Scooby Doo and Doc McStuffins

13. What is your favorite thing to do with Max: Play in my room and have him pretend he is a monster and he chases me 

14. What is your favorite book: My Scooby books and Doc books

Yes, most of the answers have changed, which we knew would happen.  I love that I started this!

She's FIVE!!!!

I find myself saying this every year....how can she be "blank" years old?  I also find myself telling Benji, or thinking to myself, "Five years (whatever Laney's age is) ago, I was...." It's hard to believe our little girl is five!  And boy is she proud to be five!  She jumped out of the car yesterday to go to school and said, "I'm FIVE!" to Mrs. Joray.  She also was hoping she was as big as Kendall at school, now that she's five.  (Kendall is already 5, so I guess she thinks she grew over night)

We had the best day ever with Laney and Max!  I always take the kids' birthday's off, but this year, we were lucky enough to have Daddy join us!!  He said he was going to try to do that also every year.  We started off the morning with our traditional pancake birthday breakfast, then opened some awesome gifts from Mommy, Daddy, and Max!

Once we all got ready, we loaded up the car and headed to Greenwood for the day!

We had a lot on our agenda for the day....shopping, Build A Bear, lunch, Monkey Joe's, and Target (per Laney's request!)

Laney and Max both built their stuffed animal at Build A Bear....both chose to make dogs.  Laney named her dog Woof Woof and Max named his Reese (as in the Reese cup!).  It's much better than his original idea for his dog, which was "Turkey" 

After Build A Bear, shopping, and lunch, we headed up to Monkey Joe's for the kids to burn some energy!  I can't say it enough....I love that place!  The kids love it even more!

I wish I could go down that slide!

Seeing that huge smile on her face all day made my entire week!  Notice the sticker on her shirt that says she's five! 

We ended the fun day at Chili's (Laney's request).  Grammy and Pappy joined us for dinner to celebrate the big birthday girl!  On a side note, we always go to El Nopal for birthday dinners, but Laney did not want to go there this year because, and I quote, "Victor isn't there anymore"  

Happy 5th Birthday Laney DeeAnn!  

Party Time!

Let's party, Doc McStuffins style!!  

Laney had her 5th (WOW) birthday party at Simply Pottery in Columbus.  She invited a friend from school and her closest buddies that she sees on a regular basis.  We were limited this year on amount of people, so it was a tough decision for her. ;)

The kids had some cake 

watched her open all of her gifts

and painted some cool pieces!

As you can see in the above picture, she is beyond excited about being FIVE!!

(more birthday pics to come...stay tuned)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love was in the air this morning with the Reinhart clan!  

The kids were fired up to see they received valentine's from Mommy & Daddy!  

A lot of people don't really care for the holiday....as for me, I love it!  Benji and I don't go all out and celebrate, but I love the holiday for kids!  The school valentines were always my favorite thing to do!

trying to do a heart with her hands ;) 

Helping Laney do her valentines for school was a week long project.  I learned last year to start early instead of the day before the party.  Having a 4 (ALMOST 5!) year old write every.single.name PLUS her name takes time (and patience from this Mommy....throw in a glass of wine, and I was good to go!).  Eighteen valentines to write out, plus to for the teachers....whew!  

As far as Max goes, he couldn't get enough of the candy this morning!  I think before Laney was even finished opening her gifts, he had already consumed 4 Reese mini  cups.  Needless to say, the candy soon got put up for a bit! Speaking of candy, I'm a candy lover.  I will say I've cut back TONS compared to when I was in high school and college.  But grabbing a couple pieces here and there is too easy to do!

We hope everyone has a fun and loving Valentine's Day!  

XOXO

CHRISTmas time!

That special time of year has come and gone.  We all put so much time and thought into the holiday season and it's gone in a blink of an eye.  Spending time with family and friends is the most important part of the season.

We kicked off the holiday weekend with the Reinhart Christmas at our house!  Nana and Papaw, Aunt Bridget, Uncle Josh, Uncle Scott, Whitney, Quinten, and Livi came to help celebrate with us!  We had a full house and loved it!

Later that evening, the Bruce family came over to enjoy some Christmas cheer.  The kiddos exchanged their gifts with each other and enjoyed running around and playing while the adults were able to kick back, relax and enjoy some adult beverages! ;) 

These four kids are not just cousins, but they're all best buds.  I don't know about Betsy and Charlie, but if a couple weeks go by and Laney and Max haven't seen Charlo and Bets, they're asking where they are and what they're doing.  And honestly, it's not just the kids Laney and Max look forward to seeing....they love their Tiff and John too!  

Sunday, December 23 we were able to spend the evening with Pa and Nana Laura for Christmas.  It was nice this year to actually celebrate with them BEFORE Christmas and not 2 weeks into January! I am hoping we can continue that every year!  We went to their house this year and had a great time visiting, opening gifts, and running around with the kids!  

Laney and Max were such good kids this year that Louie (our elf) got them a gift on Christmas Eve morning. Christmas Eve is his last night with us every year.  We always miss him when he goes back to the North Pole!  The kids' gifts were Elf on the Shelf pjs and a Scooby Doo Christmas DVD.  I am hoping this is a tradition that Louie will leave PJs and a Christmas DVD every year on Christmas Eve morning....we will see!

The tradition continued at Aunt Bea's house on Christmas Eve.  We all gathered there to spend time together as a family.  We ate, opened gifts, and enjoyed each other's company.  This is one of my favorite days of the year.  We missed not having Matt, Malinda, Lauren, Luke, and Emma with us.  Although they weren't physically with us, they were in our hearts.

Grandma Dee got an iPad this year and was very surprised!  She's already set up her Facebook account and is looking forward to connecting with family and friends!

The kids were all smiles on Christmas Eve.  The day was perfect!

Then came evening time to head to our next family tradition....go to our candlelight service at church.  Again, it is my favorite church service.  The sanctuary is so pretty all decorated for the season.

The congregation is all happy and smiling.  And the music is so beautiful as we sing "Silent Night" and the lights all turn off.  The beauty of our church is lit up by candles.  I love it. 

We ended the evening at Grandma Reinhart's house celebrating with Benji's family.  The kids loved seeing their cousins.  They got their last wind in before we headed home to sprinkle some reindeer food on the yard and set cookies out for Santa and elf donuts out for Louie and his friends.  

Christmas morning....wow is all I can say.  These kids were loving everything about the morning!

Grammy and Pappy came over, as usual, to watch the kids open their gifts.  We had a delicious breakfast made my yours truly and some delicious strawberry mimosas.  Thank you Pinterest!

Santa brought both kids this year a Leap Pad 2 and a game!  They are enjoying learning what all their Leap Pad can do! 

Christmas morning with my family.  You can't ask for a better gift!

Speaking of great gifts....Benji scored a new pair of Oakley shades!

and he wasn't the only one!  Looks like Mommy has a new pair to wear running!  Yeah for us!!

These 2 little critters weren't left out either, don't worry!  Their stockings were overflowing with goodies!

Christmas night was a fun one, as usual.  We spent the evening at Grammy and Pappy's house.

The new swing will definitely be the place to be!  It even has some LED lights inside to lighten it up in the evenings!

These 2 kids are loved by so many!

We really can't get enough of them!

We toasted to many more Merry Christmases in the future!

We played until the night came to an end....

and when it did, we snuggled up, got nice and cozy together and thanked God for another wonderful year!

Merry Christmas!

Love, the Reinhart Crew

Greetings to Everyone!

Wow...how fast the month of November went!  I noticed the last post was about Halloween....seems I skipped Thanksgiving.  No, I'm not one of those that puts up decorations right after Halloween.  I do celebrate Thanksgiving!  We had a great Thanksgiving holiday!  My brother and Malinda came to visit this year, which was nice.  Usually, we don't see them in November, but they're traveling to visit Malinda's family for Christmas this year.  Thanksgiving was very nice...spent time visiting with family, just how the holiday is supposed to be!  Unfortunately, I did not take ANY pictures!  I know, crazy...I had my camera, but did not even get it out! 

 

We had the wonderful, Jamie Marshall, take the kids pictures this year for our Christmas card.  As usual, she did an amazing job!  It was a fast, mini session with her, but she managed to capture a few cute pics of the kids to use for our cards this year!

For those family members who read this and would like pictures of any of these, just email or text me.  I bought the rights to the pictures so we could do what we want with them! :)

 

We hope everyone is able to enjoy these last TWO weeks of the holiday rush!  It really is sad how much we prepare for Christmas and it goes by so fast.  This year, I plan to treasure the special moments with the kids and not get stressed about what to make, what to buy, and when to get home! 

The magic in their eyes is priceless!  It's something we need to hold on to!