It's been a great couple weeks.

We have been really busy the last couple weeks.  We started by working in the garden last weekend and then worked all day this Friday and Saturday painting the kid's rooms and rearranging furniture so that Leyton now has the bunk bed in his room and Nia got her new loft bed that Monte built.  Then we went to see Monte's family for Easter Sunday and went to church with them and ate way too much.

Here are some pics of Kye "helping" Daddy in the garden :)

I had to throw this pic in because it shows how big Kye is getting! 

He was eating his breakfast on a stool at the counter with the "big" kids :)

Where have I been? 2011

January 2011 - Nia has her second gymnastics meet and wins 1st All-Around. I am so proud of her!!

A little fuzzy, but you can tell she is on top of the podium :)

February 2011 - Leyton turns 6 with a Star Wars party at the bowling alley. He enjoys basketball so much. He spends almost every nice day in the driveway shooting baskets. Maybe he has found his "thing"??

March 2011 - Nia has another meet and wins 1st All-Around again! Wow, this is so much fun. I am officially a "Gymnastics Mom" :) I spend the entire meet tracking scores and feeling like I am about to vomit because I am so nervous. Nia is calm and collected. (She gets that from her Daddy) :)

Nia has her 9th birthday party at a local jewelry/bead store making necklaces and bracelets.

April 2011 - Go to see my brother to celebrate his 30th birthday. We find out he and his wife are moving to the west coast this summer. It makes me sad that they will be so far away, but I know it is the right thing for his family.

Where have I been? 2010

February 2010 - Leyton turns 5. We have a Monster Trust themed party at our local inflatables place.

March 2010 - My grandpa passes away after a long battle with Louie Body Disease and dementia. I thought I was prepared for it and didn't even get that upset at the time. It would be almost 6 months later when it hit me hard. I guess it had been so long since I lost someone close to me that I forgot how final death is.

April 2010 - Nia turns 8. How can my baby be 8???? It seems like she was born just the other day. This is the first year we don't have a party with all of the extended family. Just her friends at the skating rink. Another sign she is growing up!

May 2010 - Kye comes down with his 4th ear infection in 3 months. A lot of long nights spent bouncing him to sleep only to have him wake up screaming a few minutes later. His ears hurt!!!

June 2010 - Kye has ear tubes put in. By far the best decision we ever made. He is a different baby! He sleeps through the night every night!

July 2010 - Me, Monte, Nia, Leyton, MIL, FIL, SIL, SIL, and Monte's aunt take a trip to Maine for 7 days. My mom keeps Kye with a broken knee. I still can't believe I left him with her with a broken knee! But she did great, my dad and grandma were a big help.

August 2010 - Nia starts 3rd grade and Leyton starts kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN!! He is growing up way too fast! Nia joins the gymnastics team at our local gymnastics academy. She really seems to enjoy it!

October 2010 - Kye turns 1. Probably the fastest year of my life! Monte says they just keep getting faster. He is so wise.

December 2010 - Nia has her first gymnastics meet. Leyton starts basketball camp. Can we say too many activities and not enough time?? :)

Monte, Nia, Leyton and I go to Crested Butte to go skiing. First time for me in almost 2 years. My mom keeps Kye. I love her. She is such a blessing to me and my kids. We would be lost without her!

Making snow angels white snowmobiling.

Where have I been?? 2009

I am going to try and chronicle what has happened in the last couple years in a 3 posts so here goes...



January 2009 - Monte finds out his co-pilot is to be laid off and panic sets in. Super concerned about his job security and start to make plans to reduce monthly expenses.

February 2009 - Feeling a little off so I decide to take a pregnancy test that I had laying around and low and behold it is positive. More panicking. Wrong economy to bring a baby into. Monte is calm and collected as always. I love him. I just don't know what I would do without him!

Leyton turns 4!

March 2009 - Go with Monte and the kids to Crested Butte again on a flight. Ski for two days and on the third begin spotting. More panicking. This seems to be a pattern with me! Decide to wait to tell family until we are sure everything looks good at 9 week ultrasound.

April 2009 - Officially 9 weeks and get to have first ultrasound. Baby looks great. Measuring right on track but a small blood clot is found near placenta. No more running for me. :( Nia's 7th birthday party we tell the family we are expecting. A lot of shocked people because Nia is 7 and Leyton is 4 and everyone thought we were done. God had another plan!

Nia turns 7!

June 2009 - Took the kids to Kansas City to a Royals game and Oceans of Fun. Fun time!
Have the gender ultrasound at 20 weeks and It's a Boy!! The blood clot is gone, so I can begin running again. Easier said than done after an 11 week hiatus plus I am pregnant!!!

July 2009 - Monte and I celebrate our 10th anniversary.

August 2009 - I turn 30. Hard to believe I am pregnant with #3 at 30. Some people don't even start until after this age. I guess that is what happens when you marry an old fart! lol jk I love you Monte :)

Nia starts 2nd grade and Leyton starts 4yr old preschool. I have a whole 3 hours to myself in the afternoons. Just in time for a new baby, right !?!?!

October 30, 2009 - I start my day with a Halloween party in Nia's classroom, followed by a full day at work, then come home fix supper and get the kids situated with a movie and finally sit down and realize that I am having contractions. Wow, I wasn't planning on this yet. We have an induction scheduled for next Wednesday. The whole pregnancy I said "as long as he isn't born on Halloween" Looks like I jinxed myself! Call my mom and dad about 11:00pm because the contractions are getting pretty intense and they live an hour away and we need babysitters for DD & DS. They show up about 12:30am and DH and I head to the hospital. I get there and am only at 2c. What I was at my last appt. The contractions are really intense now and I can't get any sleep. They check me again in an hour and no progress. No progress!! We decide to go home so DH can get some sleep. I have contractions all night, so the next morning we head back to the hospital. They check me, I am at 2 1/2. Are you kidding me! I mean, I am almost crying now. I can not go back home. I haven't slept all night and I am not making any progress!! They call my doc, who happens to be on call, thank you Jesus, he comes in and says, "so do you want to have a baby today?" YES!!!! They start pitocin about 2:00pm, break my water at 3:00, epidural about 3:30pm.

Kye Rus Reneau was born at 7:45pm, October 31, 2009.....Halloween. Leyton tells me he has the coolest birthday ever. I start to feel better. It will be okay. I just have to get over it :)

November 2009 - I don't remember a lot, just that I was always tired. It is hard getting up with a newborn every 2 hours and then up for good at 6:45 to get the big kids off to school.

December 2009 - Kye's first Christmas

Monte has a flight to CB and he takes Nia and my brother for 10 days. Longest 10 days of my life! I am home alone with a 2 month old and 4 year old.

Back in the Swing of Things (I hope)

As you can tell is has been a long time since my last blog. In the last couple months I have rediscovered reading blogs and have come to realize how exciting it is to have a way to track things. I am going to be starting a new adventure this summer and I wanted to have a place to write down my feelings and post pics so this seems like a good idea. We will see. :) I am planning on keeping this blog about my family and what we are doing these days and I am going to be starting a new blog to track my new adventure (details to come in time)

I hope this will be fun for all of us!

Julie