Where did the time go?

I can't believe that two years ago today I was having a baby! Where the heck did the last two years of my life go? I guess time flies when you're having fun. Today we're having cupcakes at Stroller Strides with all her friends, then tonight we're having pizza (one of her favorites) and topping it all off with the Elmo cake. She'll also be opening presents and I'm sure singing Happy Birthday to herself 9 million times. She will probably tell everyone she's 6, since that's her stock answer when you ask her.
I am so glad that I decided to be a stay at home Mom. It might not be for everyone, and she might drive me crazy some days but I sure wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world. I sure hope she knows that I wouldn't have baked this Elmo cake for any old kid, only my RB.
HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY REESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now a stroll down memory lane...followed by some bad ass pictures of my Elmo cake. Wow looking back at it now, having a baby sure does knock the ever loving crap out of you. This was seriously the most flattering picture I could find. People should warn you about the hell you'll look like after giving birth. Sure it's worth it in the end to look like crap when you can hold that baby all day long but man was I tired. (It should also be noted now that it's been a while and I saw some of the pictures Ryan took to be funny, it was worth flipping him the bird in some of those to let him know just how much I loved him taking those pictures)

First picture with my sweet baby!

Man oh man...It's crazy to see the difference two years makes. Such a cute kid (not that I am partial or anything)

Ok, I know you're all only here to see what the Elmo cake turned out to look like.....

Naked Elmo!

Halfway there....

Finished product! I doubted myself before this ordeal started but I have to say DANG I did a good job!

And that my friends is South Texas weather!

Well we've had a wild weather week in Corpus Christi. Last Monday (the 21st) it was HOT HOT HOT. Tuesday we got a cool front with some rain, and by Wednesday I had to put Reese in jeans since the high was 68 degrees. It was AWESOME...we've been waiting for that for MONTHS! Thursday it started warming back up and by Friday we were back in the 80's. Today we had a great beach day, about 87 degrees, water temp of 81, it was perfect.
I have to say today is one of the nicest days at the beach we've ever had (weather wise) the water was so nice you didn't even hesitate to get in and the air temp was not too hot so you sat there and weren't sweating while you played in the sand. Such a great day. I would bottle these types of days up if I could.
Sorry this pic appears to be fuzzy...that's what happens when she runs "super fast" while you try and snap her photo

Cooking dinner for Chewbaby!

Can't you tell how much Chewie LOVES when Reese plays with her?

Smiling for the camera

Reese insisted we take Chewie's picture. This was right after the hug, neither would pose in the hug long enough to snap the photo

Off to the beach! (if Daddy ever finishes doing his fantasy football crap)

PIGTAILS!!! and they lasted 45 minutes. Then she told me her head hurt and she had to take them out.

But as you can tell we moved onto a ponytail! Today at the beach Reese didn't even hesitate when it came to getting in the water. She ran full steam ahead as soon as we got there and went in about waist deep to jump waves with Ryan. Then she played by herself, with her bucket and pail for 1.5 hours.

Dancing in the water!

Strike a pose!

Reese playing, and Ryan flying the kite

Checking out the pelicans

Wild beach hair, but check out that nice line in the center of her chin. She took a header into the pail while at the beach and landed right on the edge of it. I'm not sure how you trip on sand (when it's perfectly flat) but she did. She should have a nice little bruise for all her birthday pictures on Thursday!

We're hoping for another great week of weather and we know we'll have lots of birthday pictures for later this week. Wednesday I'm tackling the art of making the Wilton Elmo cake and icing it with homemade buttercream icing and dying it all to look like Elmo. Pray for me...as this will be my biggest challenge yet.

10 days till the big 0-2!

We've been on the road yet again. On 9/10/09 we headed out to see some great friends for the weekend. Reese and I left around nap time and headed to San Marcos and hit up the outlet mall. Reese got a stylish new pair of kicks from the Stride Rite store and I can't even tell you what a big girl she looks like in her new sneakers. It's crazy. I will have to take a picture of her in the new kicks to post. They are super cool and according to her (and she will show you if you ask) they make her run SUPER fast. After the short shopping trip we drove over to New Braunfels and stayed with some friends at their river house. We had an enjoyable first night, all hanging out and muching on some yummy food at a local favorite (which we've been to before since it's close to Geronimo).
Saturday we ventured out into the overcast weather to Schlitterbahn (America's #1 water park...and the "hottest coolest time in Texas") and had a BLAST. We were sans kiddo, which was a nice break for me, and we rode TONS of rides with our good friend Monica and Wayland. What was even better, since it was the 2nd to last weekend they were open, and the weather was sort of cloudy there were hardly any lines and we got to ride everything we wanted to multiple times. We're already talking about going next year. SUPER fun. Reese hung out at the Bading house in Geronimo and got to spend time with her Oma and Opa (along with Chewie).

Sunday we departed and made the trek to Houston for a little Kingwood R&R. We of course, visited with all the grandparents and enjoyed every minute of it. Reese loves her great-grandparents. It's really cute seeing her walk right into their houses saying hi to each one and giving them big hugs and kisses everyday when we headed back home.

She also got plenty of time with Mimi and Grampy when we were there. Sister and Sean came over for one night as well. It was a swell time had by all and we were sad when we had to head home.
This week we're back to the normal routine and counting down the days until Miss Thang turns 2!!!! AHHHHH! She's a piece of work this one...today she told me that she wanted to go to College Station to stay at the condo. We'll see about getting that kid to Aggieland soon enough. At least she knows about College Station now...since she'll be living there in college.
Only a few pictures this week...sorry I will try and take more for next time.
Feel asleep with her toy mustard bottle
She passed out on the bed around 7:45 the night we got home from Kingwood. Poor baby was pooped from all the entertaining she did.

Playing with Mimi

Checking out her new coloring book

Working on showing Reese how to say she's 2!

So happy that Sister is visiting

Reese loves Sean-e (as she calls him)

Per Leslie's request

Busy again...it seems like we're always going, going, going on the weekends in the fall. We headed to Geronimo on Aug. 29th for Ryan's cousin's wedding. Reese had a birthday party in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon. Kid was WORN out. She danced for about an hour at the wedding, the other portion of the reception she ran circles around the cake table. She was the "wild woman of Borneo"...which is what we used to call my sister when she was little. The older Reese gets the more she is like Leslie when Leslie was little. This only means I will have my hands FULL.
Like I said, the kid danced her heart out. We two stepped with her (Ryan held her while we two stepped), so she got to dance like an adult as well. She brought Baby Ty to the wedding (I should point out we're VERY into Baby Ty but not so into him wearing clothes) so she was dancing with her baby on her shoulder. The mimicking thing cracks me up.
I'm not sure why she is trying to get undressed while she is dancing. We might need to sit down and talk about this before she gets much older.

Now that we're over the fear of the chicken dance skirt (see video on previous post) she's been dancing all around the house. The other night she even asked to wear a hair bow. Since I was pretty sure hell was freezing over in our house, Ryan put in a clip hoping that it would last for a little while. It lasted for 3 pictures. Good news, I have been bribing her to wear hair clips and pony tails. I'll be honest probably not the best parenting approach but this kid has some out of control hair...so if she wants to play outside she has to wear a pony tail. If she wants juice she wears a hair clip. My bribe on the hair clip the other day lasted from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. so take that you nay say-ers.

We headed to College Station this weekend for the first tailgate of the season. Ryan made it to the game, Reese and I headed to Huntsville to see our friend Michelle get married. Reese was a social butterfly at the wedding, just running off and playing while I visited with friends. After the wedding, we drove around Huntsville, I showed Reese where I used to live and then headed home to wait for the Aggie game to get started. We hung at the condo for a few hours and Reese entertained herself with the new (used) play kitchen that MiMi and Grampy got her. She cooked meatballs and pot roast (which will be done at 3:30...that's what Reese says when you ask her when it will be done) She LOVES LOVES LOVES her kitchen. Thanks Mims and Grampy.

We headed up to the tailgate during the 3rd quarter so we could party at the end of the game. Reese must have walked 3 miles in the time it took for the game to be over and MiMi to come to my aid. We got to see cousin Atlee and some of our good friends. Reese and Atlee played the baby Aggie version of washers and snacked on cheese. I can't believe they are both about to be 2!!!

Reese and Atlee are only four days apart so they get along very well.

Baby Aggie washers...pick up the washers from the hole and stick them back in there. Every so often dump washers into grass, find and repeat.

We got a new CD for the car so Reese has learned about 6 new songs. After listening to it for 4 hours in the car she has most of them memorized. It's crazy how much she can remember. I am still in shock that in a few weeks I'll be the Mom of a TWO YEAR OLD!

Sorry the video is on right side up...I took it on the camera and not the video camera.