Cell Phone Picture Dump

I finally got around to downloading the pictures on my cell phone so just like the old days where it would take months to get film developed these pictures are a bit outdated.  But that's ok.  I still like 'em.

We had a lot* of snow last year and Cade spent every minute he possibly could out in it.  No hill was too small to slide down.   This is a small rise behind our house that provided hours of fun.

*Don't laugh, Kansas!  It was a lot for us.

Happily eating a chunk of snow bigger than his head.  The best part of the snow was it gave Dana a reason to break out her totally 80s snow gear.  Tragically, she isn't wearing her pastel green jacket, purple goggles or pink headband in this picture.  If she was, I'm sure blue eyeshadow would have made an appearance too. Totally!



I might have posted a smiliar picture of Cade dressed for his pre-school graduation but he looked so darn cute I'm doing it again.

Cross eyed pictures are always fun to take.

You never knew Cade had a mullet, did you?  Or maybe Dana was sitting right behind him and I fluffed her hair over his.  Nah, I'll stick with the mullet story.

My littlest MXer.

 And my former wrestler before his first ever match.  He's in the stance and in the zone!  Dang he was cute.

Showing the big guns after getting his first pin and earning his first medal.

I just realized my camera takes better pictures than I was giving it credit for.  Maybe I should use it more often!

1st quarter of 2012

Sooooo, I'm not doing such a good job of keeping up on the blog anymore. I still blame it on the iPad. Anyway, here's a quarterly update on the happenings in Athens, AL. The pictures are a little out of order but I don't feel like fighting with the blog anymore so deal with it.

Our tree is even rinky dinkier than it looks in this picture. We've always wanted to buy a live tree and plant it in the yard after Christmas to enjoy for years to come. We found out the hard way it's quite expensive, difficult to handle, and you're not supposed to have it indoors for more than a week. We bought ours the day after Thanksgiving. I don't have a picture of it right now but imagine this tree in our yard and totally orange. Like dead orange. I'm not sure it's gonna make it.

Christmas morning!!! Spoiled Kevin got the Foosball table and the other two spoiled boys each got a Nintendo 3DS from Santa. I think back to my first hand held games and how cool they were. Kids nowadays wouldn't give them a second glance.

Cameron couldn't help but "reorganize" the presents every day or two. I think he secretly untaped the edge on some of his presents and peeked when no one was looking.

Cameron and Cade also got these nifty electric scooters. These, along with the foosball table, are one of the few non-game gifts that the kids actually use on a regular basis. Score one for Mike and Dana!

On the last day of the year, Dana traded our beloved Expedition in on a new-to-us Explorer. This sucker has everything under the sun including the park assists where it parallel parks itself! I'm way too much of a cheapskate to normally buy something like that but we got a good deal on it and, most importantly, Dana absolutely loves it.



Here we are in the church pew waiting for Cade's basketball awards ceremony. More on that later. I looked over and all 3 of my family members had their faces buried in some kind of electronic device. Just like in the commercials but worse! Am I the only one who still interacts with the real world around me?


Dana and the boys bought this recordable book for me for Christmas. They each took turns reading a page. You can tell by the doofy look on my face that I'm enjoying listening to it. What a great Christmas present.


The boys checking the contents of their stockings on Christmas morning. Notice their new Christmas pajamas that they received the night before.

Sort-of-annual picture of the boys with the sleigh and reindeer. This might be the last year Cade sits in the sleigh.

We tried to take a nice family picture but with 5 people it's next to impossible to get a good one. After 30 poses and 1200 pictures, this was about the best we got.

Cade's Valentine card box. Dana got the inspiration from Pinterest. Pretty cool if you ask me.

And playing for the Bulls, #14, Caaaaaaadddddeeeee Reynolds! (Audience roars)

Cade had no problem getting the rebound most of the time. Being the tallest kid on the court didn't hurt.

We had some excitement of a different kind in early March when a tornado came through our neighborhood. Our house was mostly spared, the pickup not so much. As of this writing, we're still working with the insurance to get the holes in our roof repaired.

Kevin is on the school's soccer team again this year. He's looking more like a young man than a little boy.

Speaking of Kevin, we recently discovered he's basically blind in his left eye. Not really, but his vision is 20/200 so his brain has quit using it. He had been complaining of not being able to see so we got his eyes checked and that's when they found that. He now has a contact (for his good eye) and we're pursuing a second opinion on trying to improve his left eye. The optometrist says there's nothing that can be done and it's something they would have had to catch when he was a toddler to have any hope. We don't understand why it wasn't caught 4 years ago when he first started complaining and ended up getting glasses - which he never wore.

Other than that, all is well. Cameron and Cade are playing soccer for the city league and their games start the week after Easter. Dana is substituting for the pre-school at our church on a somewhat regular basis. She really seems to be enjoying it. She has also become a Pinterest freak and has made some pretty neat crafty things (and food!) I'll try to catch up on pictures soon but no guarantees. That is, unless I can figure out how to do it with the iPad so I don't have to walk all the way from the couch to the computer desk.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I realized after my last post that I left off a couple of pictures that I meant to include so I'll start with those. Go with me back to October.

I like this one. Too bad Cameron has his slightly frowny face on.

And I really like this one. Looks like a gang of white boy bullies. "Whatchoo say? Me and my posse gonna shut yo mouf!" Ok, I know that doesn't fit with the whitey appearance but they look like bruisers nonetheless.

And I have to include a picture of their Halloween costumes. Except, a day or two later, Dana and I realized we didn't even take a picture of Cameron or Kevin. We're terrible parents! This was Cade before heading off to school. Apparently, he didn't think it was scary enough so he fell off a scooter in PE and split his chin open. We took him to the ER where he got 4 stitches. Then it was right back to school because he didn't want to miss his party. Dude never shed a tear through the entire ordeal.

Cameron was a reaper this year (comlete with black mask and flashing eyes!) and Kevin insisted on buying a new scary mask that he refused to believe looked almost exactly like the one we bought for him last year. Kevin took off with some friends so we never saw him that night and Cam hit a few houses then came back home to help me scare more kids. We had a blast! The best one was a girl trying to figure out if I was real (I also have a reaper costume). She didn't see mini-me walk up behind her. Screamed when I moved, turned around to run and screamed as she met Cameron face-to-face. Ah! Fun times. Lots of other terrified people too that I could go on and on about. If you don't make the kids coming to your house work for the candy, I highly recommend you start.

I don't remember much about November. Kevin's soccer team narrowly missed qualifying for the state cup as the #1 team. When tournament time rolled around, they floundered and just couldn't get it together and lost their first (and only) 3 games. Just like that, our soccer season was over.

We spent Thanksgiving home alone again this year. That sounds sad when I write that but it's really ok. We had a great day together. Dana made a fabulous meal and we played a family game of soccer in our neighbor's yard (it's flatter than ours) before watching the Dallas Cowboys stomp their way to another victory.

And then, the big news for the month... Kevin got his first girlfriend. She'd been strongly hinting and came just short of telling him to ask her out but he resisted for reasons known only to him. And then, like women always do to us poor, susceptible men, she got her way. She's a really sweet girl and hit around our house.

See? This is Madison and Cade at Kevin's band concert. Notice Cade's right arm. I said "a hit" not "hit on", Cade.

All 3 boys had a Christmas performance of some kind in December. Kevin's band concert was first.

See that eye in the center of the picture? This was the best view I got of Kevin playing his sax. Good lookin' kid, he is.


Cameron's school had a Christmas play. Here's Cameron and his buddy Ally after they finished singing.


Cade was an elf and a darn cute one at that!


At the North Pole. Cade really liked his costume so he wore it for pajamas and around the house for several days after the play. We had to pay for it so why not?

We went on a limb this year (get it? ha ha ha!) and bought a live tree. Dana has always wanted to buy one so we can plant it after Christmas and watch it grow. Turns out, it's pretty darn expensive and quite the pain to put in the house. We emptied out a toybox and stuck it in that to hold it. We used a Christmasy tablecloth to cover the whole thing. After getting it home, I read on the internet that you shouldn't have a live tree in your home for more than a week because the roots will start to grow. Oops! We bought it the day after Thanksgiving. I'm gonna be upset if it dies on us.

Our best Christmas present this year is one we got a week early. Mom had a company meeting to attend in TN the weekend before Christmas. We drove up to spend the weekend with them, then brought them to our house to visit for a couple of days. While we were in TN, they treated us to a day at Dollywood. It's like a mini-Disneyland except a lot colder. We'll be sure to dress warmer next time.

I didn't take many pictures since it got dark shortly after we got there. I wasn't trying to be fancy with this shot, it just turned out that way. The place was decked out in Christmas lights. Absolutely beautiful.

For the record, Dana, Kevin and Cameron tried to kill me on a roller coaster. Twice.

The next day, before leaving Pigeon Forge, we stopped at a go kart track to scratch that full throttle itch.

Trash talking before the big race.

Cade and I were handicapped with the only 2 seater car (read - slowest). Kevin and Cameron drove like wrecking balls. Pa hung out with us for a couple of laps then split to chase the others. It was so fun, we turned around and did it again.

Reynolds Family

October-ish

In early October, Cade went on his first field trip (not counting the field trip he took to the same place last year when he was in pre-school. We'll call that a pre-field trip.) to a pumpkin patch. Dana and I both went with along. It's supposed to be educational but I'd say it's more like 2% education and 98% running wild and playing. Those are the best kind of trips. Cade jumped in the pit full of corn, bounced on a huge trampoline thing, played on the slides, pet the animals and basically didn't stop running and jumping until we left. He slept well after that.

Dana and Cade on the hayride to pick out a pumpkin


Cade and me showing off his pumpkin. Poor little pumpkin had no idea what we were going to do to it.

I scored a good deal for admission to this place on a couponing site (Hey! It's not just for women!) so a few days later, I went back with all the boys. Just like last year, Dana wasn't able to go with us because she had worked the night before. The good news is that was her last weekend! No more night shifts for her and us boys got our mom/wifey back on the weekends! Woo hoo!

They look a little bigger than the "How Tall this Fall 2007" pictures I have. Especially that one in the middle.

Take a picture quick! They're touching each other and not fighting!

Can you believe Mr. Cade turned 6 in October? We gave him his gifts on his birthday then took him out to eat. He chose Applebee's because they sing to people for their birthdays. Not very shy, that boy. His big gift from us was a new bicycle. He simply outgrew his other one and after having gone through the other two boys, it's ready to be retired anyway.

Cade's new wheels.

That weekend, we had a proper birthday party for him at the bowling alley. Kevin was too cool to be in a picture with all the little kids.

A couple of weeks later, Cade lost his first tooth. Dana noticed it was barely hanging on so I yanked it out for him. The very next day, he showed me how loose the tooth next to it was so I pulled that one out too. I told him two teeth in two days was plenty. Didn't want him to get addicted to that Tooth Fairy money.

Soccer season finally came to an end. Almost unbelievably, Kevin went non-stop from January until mid-November. As much as he enjoyed playing and we enjoyed watching, we're all glad for a break.

Yes, Cade was that much bigger than the other kids. Little dude turned into a pretty darn good defender and saved countless goals.

Cameron had a terrific season and surprised a lot of people - including us. For someone who "quit" soccer in the spring to wrestle, he not only looked like he hadn't missed a beat but like he'd actually been secretly practicing. He didn't score but he had many assists throughout the season including 2 to two kids who had never scored before (and will likely never score again). That's saying something!


Kevin on his most recent team. They played great all season, barely missed qualifying for the state cup in first place and promptly bombed in the tournament. We had a lot of fun being on this team and traveling to other cities to play and Kevin improved his skills immensely by playing with these bigger, faster kids. I can't wait to see him play for his school next spring where he'll get more play time.

I should add here that getting a good action shot in soccer is very hard. All season long, I only managed to frame one really good shot of Kevin. He was jumping up to head the ball right in front of me and for once I had the camera ready. Unfortunately, one kid behind him and one in front of him had the same idea. All I got was a picture of a Kevin sandwich. You can see one of his legs and maybe one arm. I think a lock of his hair is visible too. It's difficult, I say!

This is Carly and she chews on things.

Outtakes from our family pictures in our back yard.

Haven't taken a boyhead picture in awhile.

Dumb format

I seem to be the only one having issues with the formatting on this blog. I fix the spacing but it comes back even worse when I publish it. If anyone has any tips please holler.

Blame It on the Ipad

So Dana bought an iPad for me for my birthday and I am officially blaming that darned thing for neglecting this blog. It's too darn easy to surf the web and check Facebook from the comfort of the living room couch. As far as I'm concerned, our office has become obsolete because I rarely use the computer anymore. Dana still uses it but that's only because I laid down the law and threaten to bite anyone that touches the iPad.

As for the blog, I'm so far behind I don't remember what happened so I grabbed a few pictures from the last few months and I'll call it like I see it. I have more on the camera that I'll probably download some day and it includes Cade's birthday yesterday. He's the big oh-six!

First up, Kevin turned 13 in July! Big, bad teenager! Breaks my heart to think of my not-so-little-anymore buddy getting so old. He had a simple birthday party and invited some friends over for the night. At least that's all I remember happening.

Spoiled kid got his own flatscreen TV for his room. I never had a TV in MY room. I'm starting to realize just how mistreated I was. Kevin did pay for 1/2 of it but that's irrelevant to my whining.


Kevin and buddies playing soccer. Anytime big kids are around, Cade thinks he needs to be involved. Here's our 5 year old going toe-to-toe with the teenagers. Later, I noticed they were all playing Duck, Duck, Goose. I wonder whose idea that was. It made my heart smile to see the big kids not being too cool to play with Cade. Good boys, they are.

Shortly after Kevin's birthday, we packed up the Expedition and made our annual-and-a-halfy trip to NM to visit our beloved family. We spent a few days in Las Cruces first. We started the week off by holding a private memorial service for my grandparents and buried their ashes. Dad wrote a very nice and very touching memorial. The rest of us (namely, me) just blubbered when we tried to talk about them.

While we were spending time with my parents, we also went to the lake but I didn't include any pictures of that. And we went mini-fourwheeling and drove to the top of Timber Mountain by Caballo Lake.

Cade participates in the time honored tradition of throwing a rock down the side of a mountain.

I really like this shot I got of Eric.

I don't think we're in Bama anymore.

Panoramic view from the top. Definitely not in Alabama.

After saying our goodbyes, we left LC and drove up to Inlow to attend the Harmon family reunion which seemed a little like a misnomer since there were only 2 Harmons there but lots of descendants and their spouses and that's what counts. We all had a great time and I'm always amazed at how well all the cousins get along even though they rarely see each other.

Cameron and Dana modeling our tie-dyed shirts.

We played lots of four square, or rather, 9 square. Dana's in Square 1 here. If you're not familiar with the game, that's the place to be.

Cade took to the climbing wall like a fish to water. He even did it in his flip-flops!

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and it was time for us to leave NM. Fortunately, Dana is the master planner of vacations and had a trip to Frontier City amusement park in Oklahoma City all planned out. Despite being 110 degrees and having several rides closed because the seats were burning people, we had a great time there.

Kevin and Cameron on the water log ride. This was one of our favorites.

The bumper cars were probably THE favorite for the whole family. We rode these many times. Dana, Cameron and Cade ham it up for the camera when they should be watching where they're going.

Immediately after returning from our vacation, another school year began. Kevin is in 8th, Cameron in 5th and Cade in Kindergarten. This year the boys started riding the bus as well so between not having anyone home during the day and not getting to take them and pick them up from school, it's been a bit of an adjustment. Dana and I took Cade on his first day but it was more for us than it was for him. The second day he was having none of that and wanted to ride the bus. Usually, it's the kindergartener that cries but this time it was Dana and me.



In a moment of weakness, or maybe I was sick and in a drug-induced fog, I said something about Cade needing another dog because he still misses and talks about Abby (our dog in Las Cruces 3 years ago). Dana heard, "Let's get a dog!" There was no stopping her at that point and the result is Carly although I call her Dummy.

See? Dumb dog just flops down when someone tries to pet her. Useless, I say. But the boys seem to like her and Dana enjoys having her around during the day so I guess that counts for something. I'd still rather have a cat though.