Where did December go?

Hello! Yes we're still alive. I have never been absent from the blogging world that long. It's been a busy December so now that we're all back home and settled in here are some pictures from the holidays. I have videos, but a girl can only get so much done at a time.
Reese got this "Night Before Christmas" play set from her Oma and Opa. She really enjoyed playing with it for the few weeks before Christmas.

Obviously chocolate of some sort, but can't remember what it was. I'm going to guess a Hersey's kiss since she has mastered opening the fridge and getting them out herself.

Getting ready to bake cookies for Santa

Santa brought this kitchen and as soon as she saw it she got to work. She's IN LOVE with it

SO HAPPY!

When she saw it on Christmas morning she said (as softly as she could I think mostly from shock) "Santa brought me a kitchen"

Her first Cabbage Patch kid. Everything makes a comeback! Meet Baby Lily!

Thurman, just hanging out watching the madness next to his Mommy....yes he's a Mama's boy

Tearing into the toys

So excited for her UNO Moo game

So I got this fabulous idea to make home made cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning breakfast. I'm talking stayed up extra late on Christmas eve to get the dough to rise etc. and then hand rolled these bad boys the next morning. Nevermind the fact that one of the said rolls was probably my caloric intake for the month, but holy crap they were good. I impressed myself once again.

See the pool of melted butter....

I also didn't really pay attention to the amount the recipe made until I was rolling them out. It was enough to feed a small army. This is batch 3 and 4. I didn't eat them all, we sent some around the corner to our friends Julie and Kris. I also took some home to Kingwood

Moved into it's new home

So after putting Reese in her pj's for the night she decided on her own that it might be best to put back on her clothes. So here she is struggling to get on the second outfit.

That sums up our holidays in a crazy nutshell. Here's to a calmer January and 2010.

Ugly Christmas Sweater!

Tonight at Bunco it was Ugly Christmas Sweater night. I rocked my Goodwill $2.97 sweater and actually got compliments (sadly). Super fun night with my super fun friends. I love nights like this because I am always reminded of how lucky I am to have met such wonderful ladies in Corpus and to have made SUCH great friends.
My Ho's (I say this because Julie's shirt said "Where my Ho Ho's at?)

Ryan has a knack of taking unflattering pictures my thighs are not really that wide. It's a disease he suffers from. So this picture still doesn't do the entire sweater justice, however I think it holds all the essential tacky elements of a ugly sweater. I have gold tinsel, holly, sequins, bears, a rocking horse, blocks, trains, a Christmas tree and the kicker is the cowl neck top. I rocked this!

Thurman and Winter in Corpus

Our new dog Thurman. Good news, he's in LOVE with Reese and thankfully Reese LOVES him. They have so much fun together already. More to come later.
Thurman Murman...think the movie Bad Santa

Sleet building up on our driveway

Frost on the grass...this is about as winter in Corpus as I think we'll ever get

Thurman Nerman as Reese calls him.

Thanksgiving in Rewind!

What a week! Spent most of it in the car but such is life. First (Nov. 22nd) we hit the road to Seguin and saw Ryan's family for two days. Reese enjoyed her time with her Oma and Opa. We got to visit with the great-grandparents and Ryan's Omie had Reese figured out. She pulled out the old kitchen toys from when the boys were little. Reese had a field day cooking hot dogs and iced tea for Omie and Opie. When we saw Omie again on Monday for a family funeral, Reese remembered Omie right away and said she wanted to go to her house and cook. I think she made Omie's day.
We hit the road next and headed to Kingwood. Got to visit with the fun Gertz/Judson crew and Chips. We also of course saw Nana and Pop-pop and Grandma and Grandpa. Once again Reese kept them all entertained and we're all ready to see each other again in a few weeks for X-mas. Nana bought Reese some Elmo underwear and my child is in 7th heaven. Next it was off to College Station for the football game. We got to tailgate, see our friends, and hang out with that crazy Chips in the hotel room for the game. Leslie and I made it the entire first half before we had to turn off the TV and all the lights to try and get Reese to fall asleep.
Unfortunately our trip got cut short as we got a call from our house sitters that our water heater broke and flooded the house. We headed home Friday morning for day 5 in the car and did some damage control. We thankfully found a plumber Friday afternoon who had the water heater we needed so we were back in business. Yesterday we got the fans and dehumidifiers to dry out the place. We lost a bunch of Reese's books to water, but we'll hook her up with some new ones. Other than that we were REALLY lucky that our good friends cleaned up the water for us and were even checking on the house to let us know what had happened. I don't want to think about what would have happened if no one had been by. It would have been standing water for at least 2 days before we would have arrived home.
Reese made a bed for herself at MiMi's house.

Reese and Chewie. Sadly the day before Thanksgiving we had to put Chewie down. As some of you know she had gotten really sick, and was not getting any better despite all our efforts. She dropped ten pounds since Oct. and was just not herself. It was really hard but she's not suffering anymore.

What happens when you ask your two year old to smile for the family Christmas picture.

The current state of my house. Baseboards are gone and we're in the "drying out" process. It POURED today. I'm talking monsoon. Notice I am also utilizing the fans to dry off my shoes. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

The Dehumidifier. Come to my house this week and you're have AWESOME hair days.

The blowers!

Crazy kid

Sometimes I find Reese in the weirdest places. I left her to watch Barney while I got dressed the other morning. As you can see the shopping cart doubles as a seat in times of need.
Happy as a clam...yes I know she's entirely too close to the TV, she sneaks over when she sees I'm in the other room. She was promptly moved back to the couch.

We're big fans of the Tupperware here. What I didn't know was how perfect her feet fit into them. She walked around like this two nights in a row.

She's also become a big fan of wearing nothing but undies in the house. Another moment where I am reminded why I think she's exactly like her Aunt Leslie/Sister.

I am starting to impress myself!

I've been really impressing myself lately. I busted out the Elmo cake for Reese's bday, mastered the sugar cookie and even made two cookie bouquets a few weeks ago. I am starting to be Suzie Homemaker...who knew I had it in me. Here are my turkey cupcakes that I'm bringing to Bunco tonight.
Gobble Gobble!

Aggies!

11-18-99

2:42 a.m.

We will never forget

So we're a little boring lately

I agree we've been kind of boring lately. Our schedule has been pretty wide open which is nice because we feel like that never happens. Reese and I have been busy with Stroller Strides and enjoying the WONDERFUL weather that we've been having. In fact today she got to wear long sleeves and pants. Crazy, I know. We had a fun evening with some friends on Saturday night, we're not going to discuss the score of the Aggie game, it's just not worth it. Other than that we've been doing things around the house and enjoying the fact that we're not busy. The fun and excitement starts back up this week, so I'm sure we'll have better pictures in the future.
Reese enjoys laying with her dog on the sofa. They enjoy Sesame Street and of course Barney.

This is the sock puppet Reese and I made at our Stroller Strides playgroup. Notice the strange placement of the eye and nose at the leg part of the sock...and the off center eye towards the toe. Bet you can guess who added those little touches. Don't think about putting said puppet on your hand. Reese runs away says "It scares me...REALLY bad"

Sunday....she had a long weekend. Up two nights until 10 p.m. and no nap on Saturday. Sunday morning, Ryan was trimming our hedges and I was in charge of raking. Reese got stuck in the stroller for safe keeping. Obviously she was pooped. I think this was her first nap in the new stroller. Exhausted doesn't begin to describe it. She got wheeled around all over the yard while I did things in the yard and she just slept like a champ.

Clearly relaxed when she fell asleep.

Later in the afternoon. She woke up from her nap only to fall right back to sleep on the sofa while watching football. Out cold...

This morning, showing off her super fly new outfit from MiMi and Grampy. She looks so stylish in her Adidas outfit.

Sunday in the park!

Long weekend.

Feeding the ducks. Reese knows exactly where the duck pond is and whenever we pass by she asked me to take her. She'll say "Take me to the duck pond Mom, please". She was telling Sister and Sean about it and requested they take her there...so of course we agreed.

I think he's too big

She said she wanted some water and showed Ryan where she wanted it from.

Sliding with Sister

Body outlines

Ready to ride her bike...now if she could only clip this helmet on herself.

Pull-up head!

So happy just running wild at the park. This face is why I love staying home with her

Swinging