Future Olympian

Well the switch has been flipped and most importantly Reece is loving it!!!

Reece and Gregg head up to the ski area everyday after school , even if he only skis for an hour.  He went from the kid who was crying a few weeks ago about his lessons to now not wanting to leave the mountain ( if you can call it that here in Michigan).  Of course we are so proud!!

THANK GOD!!!!!

So I really am not even sure if I want to be writing this post but my hope is that it will help me in moving on and not focusing on "what could have been"!
Earlier tonight I was going about my everyday life.  The plan was to take Reece skiing after school but he decided he didn't want to go, he wanted to come home and play hockey on the rink.  Therefore I decided to head to the grocery store before heading home.  The last thing I said to Gregg was to be sure the ice was safe.  I did tell him I saw several ice fishermen out today but just be sure.
Make a long story short as I am sitting in the driveway Gregg texts me as to my where a bouts, which was odd.  So I quickly came inside to be told there was a "slight issue".  Reece fell through the ice.  Yes OMG  one of my biggest fears- Reece fell all the way through the ice!  As he began retelling the story my anxiety sky rocketed.  Thank GOD Gregg was right there and without panicking managed a plan to pull him out, get inside, and unclothed very quickly.
It is amazing how quickly life flashing in front of your eyes.  So tears are running down my face, my eyes swollen and I am trying to find a way to not focus on how different things could have turned out yet focus on how grateful that Gregg was right there and able to remain calm enough that it has hardly even rattled Reece!
I hate to even admit that moments like this will make give him an extra kiss, a tighter squeeze, and extra I love you, but gosh we need to treasure EVERY MOMENT and thank God more often for our lives!!!


So now to put it behind us and hope I can manage to not let the could have been consume me!

Highlights of our week...

* I had a routine doctors appointment and was able to see and hear Baby Matthews heartbeat again.  Not much better than the sounds of life! LOVE


*Telling everyone our secret - I feel like a new person to be able to share our excitement.  Although I will miss conspicuously drinking water out of a beer can ( something about it was fun, though not quite the same as the real thing!)


*Experiencing Reece learning to read.  All I can say is this is a truly remarkable thing. I'm not sure if it is the process or to see him succeed at learning a word, or conquering a new book! He exudes a smirk of surprise but mostly pride!

*Watching Reece become a skier with a smile on his face!! ( It has been a chore the last couple of weeks. Gregg reminded me he is the child who cried at Disney the first couple days.  I guess he needs to slowly adjust, so although sometimes frustrating it is why we love him so much)


*Embarking on my first field placement.  I definitely felt like a adult when the 6th graders were calling me Mrs. Matthews.  I cannot believe I am going to say this but I really loved teaching 6'th grade, maybe my future! ( I always thought I would want to teach kindergarten or 1'st grade)


* Spending the afternoon as a family conquering our hockey rink. Life passes us by each day so quickly with routine commitments.  It was so nice to slow down and enjoy spending time laughing, playing, and conquering what just started as an idea!!


* In yoga today our instructor spoke to us about accepting ourselves where we are at today.  I need this. My clothes are becoming uncomfortable limiting my options, my skin is a mess, I could go on and on yet bottom line I feel fat and less than myself.  Of course I am having constant internal battles with myself, we have wanted this for a long time.  We have friends who can't get pregnant to lost a pregnancy all the while I am complaining about gaining weight.  Clearly it is ridiculous but I simply need to readjust and focus on what I learned at yoga today. I definitely tend to focus on the past or wish for things differently in the future when I know that none of it is possible without accepting today and the blessings we have been given!  This coming week I am going to work on accepting myself TODAY!  


A photo dump from the week....

We have some VERY exciting news!

We are embarking on our second biggest adventure to date.  Baby Matthews is expected to arrive by August 4, 2012.  We are beyond excited and feeling very blessed!!

Happy New Year

We had so many good intentions to post something spectacular for ringing in the New Year but here we are with no pictures and simple normalcy.  I guess sometimes simplicity and normalcy are nice.  It was a crazy holiday season, now we are back to school and back to work.  Honestly the schedule feels so nice.  I guess I have learned that our family operates much better and happier when we ALL have a schedule.  We did make our New Years resolutions - Reece wants to eat healthy and get his legs and arms stronger so he can be a better football player ( NO LIE THIS IS HIS RESOLUTION and my future).  I try to stay away from the word resolution instead setting goals. ( maybe saying this make the sting not so bad when I find myself slipping backward).  My goal for 2012 is to live in the present.  Much of 2011 Gregg and I spent so much time and energy taking about doing things when... Sometimes those things came and other times they didn't , either way we always found ourselves saying we should have done it! So our goal for 2012 is to GO FOR IT!  Gregg always says we find a way so instead of stressing and postponing we are going to go confidently into our decisions and know that God truly only gives us what we can handle.  We are definitely looking forward to the ride!

We hope you all had a wonderful and blessed holiday!! Look out 2012!!!

DEFINITELY NOT TO LEAVE OUT - LETS GO LIONS!!!!

Merry Christmas

WOW it saddens me that Christmas has passed but brings such a smile to my face in recalling what an amazing weekend we had.  Someone told us that twenty years ago they don't remember the presents they received but the memories that they made with family and friends.  We made some incredible memories beginning with taking Reece to his first Lions game on Christmas Eve then onto a wonderful morning and day with family on Christmas.  Several of our family are out of town including Kristen in France so we were able to Skype with them so they were right with us in all the excitement.

Let me not forget to mention the Matthews' were completely spoiled by Santa this year!!

Looks like Santa came!!

This is just what I wanted

Next stop - Church, then Nana and Papa's for more presents and dinner!!

 Time to hit the slopes

 Brady knows just what to do

Even Kristen and Manu joined in on the fun in France 

 Uncle Scott deep frying our turkey dinner.  Santa was so excited he blew over:)

Time for a little football

And of course one of our many new Lego packs 

WHEW maybe exhale but only for a second!!

Our North Pole Party

It couldn't come soon enough, today was our North Pole Party.  A great friend called one day and said "Lindsay you have to do this", she found this party on another blog (KelleHampton.com).  So our project began.  What an amazing evening it turned out to be.  It truly captured the Christmas spirit from the eyes of a child.  The pictures capture it best!

These are a few pictures before the kids arrived for the party.

As the sun went down the North Pole transformed....

Then the moment Reece had been waiting for ALL DAY, his friends arrived!

Santa wrote us a special note letting us know he lost some things last year in Reece's neighborhood so we went on a hunt looking for all the important things he needs to deliver presents this year, PHEW just in the nick of time!  ( Santa even sent an Elf to help us look for his belonging, especially those glasses.  The Elf then took a big box back to the North Pole with her.)  

There was only one thing left to do - prepare our reindeer food so Santa's reindeer know how to find our house!

It truly was a magical night, as captured by Reece's face when the Elf headed back to the North Pole