Happy 4th Birthday Miss Angela!!

It's TRUELY hard to believe that our Miss Angela will be 4 years old at 4:26am on June 13th.

As I look back at her "first pictures" all covered by the tubes and wires... it still brings tears to my eyes...

But luckily she was a fighter from the moment she was born, and has become such a strong little girls... and a true joy to have in our lives!!

Happy Birthday Miss Angela!!!!

a quick kitchen update...

when we moved in we "liked" the color of the kitchen... which was a light yellow... but as time went on it just seemed "dingy" and "dated"... so I decided that since we "had some time" we should paint it and change the hardware... so we started around 7am, finished by 11am and now it looks like it's always been this way... We like how it turned out... hope you do too!!!

before.... the "yellow" paint...and the "new paint" and hardware....

Summer in our backyard...

I've had SOOOOO much fun watching all the plants grow... and for me it's like christmas every day in our backyard!!! We've been making small changes here and there and it's looking more like "our yard"... And this evening I noticed we have three different colors of lilies in our yard... absolutely beautiful to say the least!!! enjoy the pics...and just a few pics from the front and back yard....

Tea Party with Grandmom Reedell

Angela and Elyse treated grandmom to a tea party at our house. Since she had her two boys, this was a "new experience". Everyone came away with smiles on their faces... it was a great day with grandmom... oh yeah, it's ALWAYS a great day with grandmom!!!!

Birthday Party #1 - complete....

Whew... what a week we've had. It's been full of ups and downs, but at least it ended on a good note. We celebrated both Angela's 4th (eventhough it's not till june 13th) and Elyse's 2nd birthday on sunday, May 24th. We had family and a few friends who couldn't make it to the "kids party"... and we all had a BLAST!! The girls started their "fun" early since they stayed with mom mom and pop pop for the weekend and then they brought them to their party... lucky little girls I tell ya!! And as expected... her are a glut of pictures from the party... enjoy....

fun with mom mom and pop pop (and next door neighbor Sammie...)

and the party fun... hope you enjoyed...

Elyse's new BIG girl bed...

We promised that we would get Elyse a BIG girl bed (the full sized one... she looks sooo tiny in it!!) for her birthday. It was delivered on thursday, and I had all intentions to do it after they left for the weekend (off to Mom mom and pop pop's house...), but my little "insistent" kiddos were very adimate that they needed to set it up NOW. So, I drug the mattress and boxspring up the steps, moved furniture all over the room, and got it all together. It looks PEFECT. She slept in it for the first time last night and slept totally normally. She runs to get into bed now... which is nice. We hope this continues for a while... I still can't believe my "baby" is in a HUGE bed now!!!! Yipes....

We'll miss you forever grandpop and dad!!

We are sorry to say that Stanley Reedell left his earthly body on May 22nd at 3:45am. He fought a LONG battle with Scleraderma.

I still remember when I met Scott and he told me his dad was "very sick" and that was over 11 years ago. He experienced MUCH more than he ever had anticpated. He said a few weeks ago, "I never thought I'd see either of my sons get married, and then I did. I never ever imagined I'd see grandchildren, and now I have four. I am a very lucky man".

He fought until the very end. He was a wonderful man, father, husband, and grandfather and all of us will miss him dearly. But now we know that he is in heaven, watching over each and every one of us. Eventhough he can't be here with us on earth, he'll always be with us in our hearts!!

We love you dad and grandpop and will forever!!

Our Miss Angela...

It's hard to believe that our Miss Angela will be 4 years old on June 13th. I had the picture done a bit early so that we didn't have to "rush" closer to the time... but she did a GREAT job... so here they are... enjoy!!

thanks for looking!!

Happy Birthday Miss Elyse!!!

Happy Birthday to our Miss Elyse!! At 11:08 am today (may 10th) Elyse will be 2 years old. It's hard to believe. These past two years have flown by... REALLY!! I still remember like it was yesterday finding out we were pregnant again... and now my "little baby" is no longer a baby. She has changed sooo much. Now she can dress herself, definately has an opinion of her own (to say the least), is learning new words each and every day (not sure if this is a good or bad thing right now....), and can even ride a "big girl bike" (with training wheels). Wow... what a year.

Elyse is such a sweet little girl and we love her more than we could EVER express... so today is your day... Happy 2nd Birthday Kiddo!!!

birth announcement pic....(she was only a few days old here)

first birthday pic....
and her 2nd birthday pics....

now I ask... where has my baby gone???

Happy Mother's Day!!

First of all, you should go hug your mother and say thanks for everything she has ever done for you!!! I know I didn't appreciate my mom until I became a mom!! Now I say thank you and apologize for ALL those "crazy things" I did ... and fear what my children will "put me through". But it's a rollercoaster ride... and luckily I LOVE rollercoasters!! So, happy mother's day to everyone out there...

Our "little girl" is REALLY growing up!!

Today we had Elyse's 2nd birthday pictures taken... and she was absolutely perfect. It took less than 5 minutes to get them ALL taken... she just did GREAT. I've had many pictures taken of her over these last 2 years, but this was TRUELY the BEST experience yet!!

It's hard to believe that she will be 2 years old on sunday (too cool that it's also mother's day!!) May 10th.

So, here's to Miss Elyse... and she's just growing up tooo quickly!! Enjoy the shots!!

Tons of fun at the Philadelphia Zoo!!!

So, the weather might not have been the BEST today, but we still had a BLAST at the zoo!! Our friend Heather and her daughter McKenna (aka "kenna" to the kiddos) came along to enjoy the day with us!!! The girls did soooo much... from riding a horse, camel, the endangered species carousel, and playing in oodles of "dinosaur eggs"... what didn't they do. Oh yeah, we did see some animals there too!! The pumas were pacing right infront of the big glass windows... as were the tigers playing for us... So, it was a wonderful day... hope you had one too!!

our "karate kids"...

Yeah, well this was "interesting"... to say the least. The Bensalem MOMS club had an activity scheduled for a "beginner karate class"... and I figured sure, why not... this should be "fun". Well, it was geared towards kids around the age of 4... so Elyse was a bit "small" but had alot of fun anyway. In the end, Angela did GREAT and paid attention the whole time... Elyse made it about 20 minutes... but was cute trying to do some of the moves... then falling down... so, here is a collage of "their fun"....

So yesterday my friend (Kelley) and I participated in Girls with Gears. It's a fundraiser event to raise money and awareness for women's heart disease... and they do this by sponsoring walking, running, and biking events. Yesterday was their largest event, which was a biking event. You could choose from 10, 25, 40 and 62 mile long bike ride... through rural Montgomery county (in Pa). We did the 40 mile... and only got lost once... so it was great. The weather was beautiful and it was a GREAT day. We definately did NOT set any landspeed records, but finished in just under 3 hours and had a great time throughout the ride. Here are some pics of our fun....

A Reedell Easter... LOTS of fun!!!

wow... what a whirlwind of fun we've had over the last few days!!! Our weekend start on friday when we spent the day shopping with my MIL. Each season she takes the girls to the local outlet mall and she outfits them in everything they could need for the upcoming season. Then we go out to lunch, and it's always a GREAT day!! And now the kiddos look even cuter than usual in their "new duds"...My aunt, uncle, and cousin (who's 8 years old) came in from State College (Pa) and stayed at a local hotel from friday till monday morning. We met up with them to go roller skating on monday morning, and the girls were sooo cute skating together!! And Elyse now can skate on her own... for a little bit. Those little legs just don't quit. And Angela... she's getting really good. She was gaining speed and just doing GREAT!!! Then we came back for a nap (the girls of course) and then when we woke up we met my aunt, uncle, and katie at the pool for some swimming. Of course that also made the girls smile ALOT!!! Then we came back to our house for dinner and egg dying. We dyed 9.5 dozen eggs... and amazingly it wasn't much of a mess. Elyse did drop a few eggs into the dye from too far... but it was a fun night. Finally the girls were in bed around 9:15pm... it was a LONG and FUN day for all!!!

Then it was Easter morning (sunday). We put their "presents together" (they got a yard swing, pj's, sidewalk chaulk, a set of clothes each, and bubbles). The girls got up and were VERY excited to see what the easter bunny brought to them. They loved all the "goodies"... and were VERY excited to get all dressed up and head to church. The girls brought MANY smiles to all of the church goers, then we had breakfast there, then came home. The girls played with some of their "stuff" and then had a light lunch, then off for a nap before everyone arrived for the easter festivities. Everyone got to our house around 2pm and we ate around 3:30 or so. We ate ALOT (there were 22 people at our house), then did the annual easter egg hunt, then ate dessert, and then finally the house cleared out around 7:30 or so. HUGE thanks to everyone who made it a GREAT easter. It was REALLY nice to get the whole family together (both sides for the first time in a LONG time....) It was another LONG and FUN day... whew we were pooped.....

And the girls FAVORITE present was Ollie the Bunny!!! My sister got him a few months ago and worked all this time to house train him and get him used to other pets (we have cats...)... and now he's here, and GREAT. He's sooo huggable. The girls are enjoying helping to take care of him... I think he'll make a wonderful addition to our family!!!! So, it was a fun and exciting weekend... hope you all had a GREAT one... and a GREAT week!!!

So, while it did take a while to assemble, we are ALL sooo happy with the finished product !! I think it took between 10 and 12 hours to complete... but we LOVE it. The girls actually had 8 friends over yesterday and they had a BLAST!!! And now we even have a sandbox set up under the "fort area"... so their playarea is complete!!

Now we are just looking forward to some nice weather to enjoy it even more!!!

Happy Easter from the Reedell Chicks!!

Wishing you and your family

the happiest of Easter Holidays!!!!

Brandywine Valley Duathlon...

April 5th officially was the start of our race season (for Scott and I of course). We participated in the Brandywine Duathlon, held at Hibernia Park (in Coatesville, Pa). We did this race last year and it was a tough but good first race of the season. At least this year it was NOT raining like the last, but it was still nice and chilly to start off the race (at 8:00am). But we are happy to report that both Scott and myself did GREAT. Scott bettered last years time and he was happy how he felt when he crossed the finish line. Me on the other hand, was just about the same as last year... but the BEST part was that I won second place in my division!!! For the FIRST time ever I was on the medal podium!!! So, overall, the race was GREAT... and now we will be starting training for our "big race", an olympic distance triathlon this summer (with MANY other races before and after it of course...). And EXTRA special thanks goes out to "aunt Erin" for spending the day with "the gals"... so that mommy and daddy could go do their race!!!!

The Riding Reedells

With these two active little girls do you think they'll be running and biking with mommy and daddy soon??? So, now both of the gals LOVE riding a two wheeled bike (of course with training wheels...). Elyse hopped on Angela's bike last week and just rode off. She was finally tall enough to reach the pedals... and did VERY well. She has to work on the steering while riding, but can push those pedals better than any little legs I've seen!!!!

It's sooo funny when Angela says, "mommy, I can't clean up I'm training for my triathlon"... of course this is while she's running circles around the house... tooo cute for words!!! We are looking forward to when Angela is age 7, and then she'll be able to compete in the "kids triathlons"... if she wants to of course!!! So, until then they'll just have to hang with mommy and daddy!!!

The swingset is up....

... not quite finished yet, but at least now the girls can get out and play on it. The swingset was delivered last wednesday and it came in about a million pieces... The HUGE and HEAVY boxes were in the garage, which is good and bad. Good because it's cedar so our garage smells fabulous... bad because Scott had to park in the driveway... But now we are making ALOT of progress... and "all" that is left is to put the roof on, build the picnic table, install the "windows" and chimney.... and stake the whole thing down. So, we are more than half way done and it fits PERFECTLY in the only "sort of flat" space in our backyard... so here's a pic of the swingset, from piles of wood to what is done as of last evening (sunday, april 5th)....