Lots O' Reynolds

The official count for Thanksgiving at Windy Hill Farm was 49, but I'm sure we missed somebody so I'm gonna say there was an even 50.

We tried to gather everybody on the porch for a picture, and here's what we came up with. 

(My little family alone is missing Jason, Reed, and Granny Sherry.  You can spot JR on the front row wearing a hoodie, and my parents on each side of the back row.)

It was the biggest turn out we've had in years (though we think a small turn out numbers in the 30's) and was the first time all the 1st cousins have been in the same place for many, many moons.

There's a 34 year age difference between the oldest and the youngest, and though I'd love to claim youngest, I have to settle for youngest granddaughter. 

With this many "Reynolds" in one place, it's easy to be thankful for family!

No Biggie

Go ahead and just relax there, JR.

Cause, ya know...it's such an everyday occurrence you get to pose with Air Force One!

(LBJ's Air Force One on display at LBJ Historical Park.)

Fredericksburg Fabulous Friday

Our road trip continued on to Fredericksburg, which is known as a romantic getaway or girl's weekend kind of a town.

Obviously with my parents and 3 kids in tow, we weren't experiencing Fredericksburg the way it's intended.

Instead of spending the day touring wineries, lunching at small cafes, and/or shopping in fun little boutiques, we:

watched animated, dancing salsa bottles

had my dad babysit on park benches as my mom and I ran in-and-out of stores in record time

and posed for pictures with giant cowboy M&M's.

(Do you see the sign advertising the chocolate covered bacon? We didn't try it, but a couple passing by told us it was really good.)

The whole family did spend a really enjoyable hour in one of the Christmas stores.

And the term 'really enjoyable' isn't laced with one drop of sarcasm. 

Christmas decorating genes run strong in this family!

Yeah Mama! Yeah Me!

I was going to post a picture of my mama and me...

But

A. I can't find one of us together

and

B. My mom would rather I not.

So, instead, I'll show her celebrity look-alike who today will be playing the part of my mom.

 The most fun German-Jew-Presbyterian mom that's ever been.

And some pictures of me as a mama to my appreciative bunch.

Reed's already told me, "I want somebody to say 'Happy Mother's Day' to me!"

(You have to combine both pictures to have a good one of everybody.)

The flower is one that JR passed out at church.

A Little Ancestry/History

Now if you've read my blog for any amount of time and you see the word 'Ancestry', then you probably think I'm going to talk about my mother the German Jew Presbyterian. 

But, I'm not!

I also won't be talking about my second favorite genealogical subject: Granny Sherry's Reason-My-Kids Have-Blue-Eyes-100% Norwegianess.

Nope.

Today I'll be talking about my dad's side of the family.

My parents are hosting my dad's cousin reunion this year, and he wanted me to label some pictures so he could give out copies as party favors.

My grandmother is the one labeled "Demetra", and I don't think I'm being biased when I say she's the prettiest one.  She is!

Now, my mom may have the corner market on being the German Jew, but I think it might actually be a little cooler for me to share that my great grandfather (pictured: James Washington) fought in the Civil War.

Yes, you read that right.

Civil War.

Yep. My dad's grandfather fought in the Civil War.

How is that even possible you might ask?

Well, my grandmother was born in 1894. 

The Civil War ended in 1865.

That's 29 years. And as you can see, Mr. James Washington Wiggins was certainly no youngin' when this photo was taken.

On another historical side note, this is my dad (far left) with his parents and brothers and sisters (one sister was missing from the picture).

My dad's oldest sister was 21 years older than my dad (and is standing beside him).

The place where my parents live today is where most of my dad's family grew up. (They moved to Huntsville, TX when my dad was two.) 

It also happens to be about five miles from the Eastham prison farm.

Now you might be saying, "Why does the 'Eastham prison farm' sound familiar?"

Well, if you're a history buff, it was on January 16, 1934, Clyde Barrow (along with Bonnie) orchestrated the escape of Raymond Hamilton, Henry Methvin and several other convicts in the infamous "Eastham Breakout".

And like any other weekday morning, my aunts, (who would have been between the ages of about 9-14) were walking to school that morning. 

Obviously, they didn't know what was going on, but were terrified when they saw a car with convicts waving guns pass by them. 

They ran all the way to school, only to learn later that is was Bonnie and Clyde and company they had seen.

It took until May 23rd that year to track down Bonnie and Clyde who were ambushed and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  The "Eastham prison break" is considered Bonnie and Clyde's "final run".

So there you have it. 

A little Texas history lesson for the day.

Some Pictures and The People I'm Going to Start Stalking

Don't look now, but I think we might actually have some traditions on our hands!

Snowmobiling last Christmas eve was a great way to funnel some of JR's excited energy, so we gave it a go again this year.

My favorite part? I didn't have to drive!

JR begged and begged to drive, but he just couldn't with the many feet of new, fresh powder. 

He rode with Granny Sherry.

Our snowmobile group (Jason's parents)

Really, who could resist playing in all that fluffy goodness? 

And just like last year, that evening we rode the Polar Express.  

 

Reed received the "first gift of Christmas".

And who do you think the chefs picked out to dance with them?

My parents, of course!

See, I got my "fun" gene from both sides.

Okay. So this next part isn't a tradition, but I love a good overdone Christmas decoration, so I have to include these people.  

On our way home from town we always see a house with lots of lights up on top of a hill/mountain.

(Hill or mountain...depending on what part of the country you live in.)

JR kept asking to go, and we finally went by on Christmas Eve.  Now, if I'd have known it was going to be a-may-zing we would have gone up there every night!

 I so appreciate that they welcomed onlookers in full costume. 

Do you think these people would be scared if I informed them that they were my new best friends?

JR with my new best friends (plus a random girl).

Reed and my new best friends.

I Guess I Should Mention It

So I figured I should write about Thanksgiving day since that is the reason we went to Texas in the first place.

First, and most importantly, it was Jason's birthday.  And though we celebrated what felt like a million times, and this picture was taken a few days before at his dad's house, I figured I better include it so I don't hear, "Why didn't you say anything about my birthday being on Thanksgiving?"

My parents had 31 family members over for lunch, or as we call it in the South, "dinner". I didn't get out my camera since I was too busy talking and stuffing my face, but my cousin, Kristi, did snap this picture of our boys right before they left.  It was one of those, "Oh! We need to take a picture of JR and Caleb!"

JR and Caleb are 6 months a part and both in 2nd grade.  JR certainly has some growing to do if he's going to catch up to Caleb.

That evening we had a visit from everybody's favorite friend, JD. At one point I felt like JD was the celebrity guest star on the Muppet Show.  My 3 children surrounded him on all sides (one above his head) while they played the keyboard, a toy horn, and sang. 

JD also inherited a "cool" new nickname.  Kyle started calling him "ABC".

I'm not sure if Kyle just gave up on all the initial names (JR! JD!), or it was because when I told them to sing for JD (isn't that what you do when an opera singer comes to visit, make him listen to your kids sing?) that Reed broke out into his rendition of the ABC Song.  I'm guessing the latter.

Before I go I just had to add this little extra bit. Kyle just climbed in my lap to look at the pictures.  He pointed at JD and said, "There's ABC! There's ABC!"

Breakfast with My Mom Part 2

Today it was breakfast in bed.

Breakfast with My Mom

Reed said he was ready to eat, so my mom started getting out the cookies.

Jason: Why don't we eat something besides cookies for breakfast?

My mom: I've got Cracker Jacks!

Leaf It Up!

Sure every resident in the Four Corners decided to take the same drive we did at the exact same time, (we actually saw two families we know) but the crowds didn't get in the way of how gorgeous it is this time of year. I also learned there's a name for people who go out to look at the leaves changing. So here we are....

The Tree Peepers!

Friday Farm Scenes

And when I say "Farm Scenes" I of course mean, "pictures I took nowhere near the pasture where actual farm type things would be." I've cleaned enough cow pies off dogs and children that I like to stay near the house...where it's safe.

Okay, so I do have a story about this little rocking chair. The chair is about 80-years old. The German Jew Presbyterian side of the family used to let Gypsies camp on their land as they (The Gypsies) were passing through San Augustine, Texas. This chair is one of the things they made as "rent" for camping on the land. And yes, I said, Gypsies. You know I couldn't make this stuff up!

Wow, This is Dorky

Before I start I just want everybody to know that, yes, I'm very aware of the nerdyness of this post.
My obsession all started because JR really loves puzzles. He's good at them, but it's hard to find ones that are challenging enough without being crazy hard. I bought him a 750 piece puzzle for his birthday thinking it might fit the bill. He had fun working on it, but there was no way he was going to finish it anytime in the next 5 years. So while JR was visiting the other grandparents in Houston, I decided that I'd do most of the puzzle for him, then he could just swoop in and finish it up.
Yeah, um, I got a little too into this puzzle.
I literally had dreams about it. The night my mom and I finished it not only were we crawling around on our hands and knees looking for missing pieces, but I had her lift the dinning room table up so I could look under the base. (She's surprisingly strong for a woman her age. Which since I was 25 this year, makes her 40. Sorry, Mom, if I made you too old.) Oh, and did I mention that we were doing all this at 1:30 in the morning. Yeah, I'm admitting the craziness. Obviously there was no JR swooping in at the end, cause I was finishing this baby. We never found 7 of the pieces (not that I was counting or anything) but with two little ones that also love to "help", I think we did pretty good!

So it is with my greatest pleasure I present to you: One Hundred Dogs and a Cat

Thanks for looking cause if I hadn't posted this, I might have had to glue it together and hang it on my wall.

Aren't Cousins Fun?

I got to have lunch with some of mine the other day. Woohoo for 4 of us having June birthdays so we had an excuse to celebrate!

My View from the Porch

Rocking chairs, a kid, and a dog. If I could convince one of the roosters to wander by we'd have ourselves the cover of Southern Living.

A New Old Sayin'

We're used to staying inside during the Texas summers because it's too hot to go outside, but what we're not used to is staying inside because it's raining. Here's Reed on the front porch watching it rain. And although this last round of rain is due to the hurricane that just hit Mexico, East Texas has had a really wet summer. (I don't think it's even hit 100 yet!) Usually summer at my parents' house is consumed with talking about how dry it is. Although any form of rain talk is acceptable, the highlights are usually: the last time it rained, when it might rain again, and my personal favorite, how big a rain the town down the road got while my parents 'didn't get a drop'. So I can honestly say the conversation Jason and I had last night was a first:

Jason: So what are your parents doing?

Me: Not a lot. You wouldn't believe how green it is up here. (As apposed to my parents usual description of their land as 'totally burned up'.)

Jason: So what are they talking about?

Me: (Giggling) Nothing! It's so quiet. They don't have anything to talk about!

Which got me thinking about all Mama and Daddy's "Old Sayin's". Being good East Texans they've got one for everything, but seems Old Sayin's don't actually exist when you've gotten enough rain. So I came up with one of my own. Feel free to work it into your next conversation, I need to get it into heavy rotation if it's ever going to reach Old Sayin' status.

"A wet summer brings dry conversation."

Ummm, These Might Actually Be Cuter

We Reynolds don't like to be outdone.
And in keeping with that tradition, check out what my daddy was showing off when we arrived. I believe he played the cuteness trump card with these.


And if these few-days-old baby guinea chicks aren't cute enough for you, how about some few- hours-old still in the incubator.

Even the roosters are pretty cute when they're being chased by Farmer Kyle.

Grandparent Pics

Here they are.

Aren't they cute?

And if you're wondering who belongs to who...my dad is the one that looks just like me, and Jason's dad is the one that looks just like him.

It gets even easier with the grandmothers since my mom is the "German Jew", and Granny Sherry is the Reason-My-Children-Have-Blue-Eyes-Norwegian.

How in the World do The Ingys Spend Their 9th Anniversary?

Is there anything more romantic than watching your kids ride Foghorn Leghorn's Barnyard Railway at Fiesta Texas? Didn't think so.

Egg-n 'Em On

I've always celebrated Easter at my cousin's house. (And when I say "always" I'm talking the last 20+ years, so yeah, always.) We made the trek down to Texas last Easter and learned that a weekend trip full of airplanes and rent cars with this pack of kids is not exactly easy or relaxing. We made the decision to stay here, but realized we have no Easter traditions of our own, and had no idea how we should spend the day.
Jason wanted to have an Easter brunch after church so we headed out to the Sky Ute Casino. Yes, I'm painfully aware of the irony of going to a casino for Easter Brunch, but they have a nice buffet, and it's not like we spent the afternoon at the slot machines.

We knew just an Easter brunch wasn't enough for this family, so a few days before Easter I emailed some of our neighbors to come over for an egg hunt. It was a beautiful day and with 11 kids coming over, the bouncy house, and all our riding toys, it turned into a little party. (And you know how we love a party!)

We started off with two dozen cascarones (confetti eggs). None of the kids or parents had seen them before, so JR was excited to show everybody how they worked. And of course, the kids loved them.

Kyle loved them so much that when all the cascarones were gone, he went and found the plastic hiding eggs and started smashing them on his own head. Of course he was showered in candy instead of confetti, but he liked that just as much.

After the celebratory cascarones, it was time for the egg hunt. Here's the egg hunt starting line.

And now for the absolute best part. I have no pictures of the egg hunt or the rest of the party. I was actually enjoying talking and visiting so much that I forgot all about taking pictures. Now that's a sign of a fun day!