how Reese eats a cupcake!

UPDATE! My two friends who commented on this blog are true in their statements. This my friends is a competitive eater in the making. She's taking after her mother, the great "Bad Girl Bading". I can only hope she'll perform as well as I did in my competitive eating glory days. It takes mad talent to hold down a pound of cookies, dream and eat big Reese, it's in your blood.

We went to a birthday party on Saturday evening for one of Reese's good friends Riley. When it was time for the cupcakes my good friend Ashley snapped this picture of Reese diving right in. I'll be honest I go right for the butter cream icing myself. Why mess around.
Have a Happy Halloween. Sister and Sean (the BEST Aunt and Uncle EVER) are coming to visit this weekend. Ryan, Sean, Leslie and Reese will hit the streets for candy. I'm manning the fort and handing out candy to all the little kiddos. I can't wait to see all the costumes. I'm dressing up too. Pics to be posted on Monday!

Pack Mule

Is it me or do I look like the family pack mule?

I have more pictures from this past week but the pumpkin patch post took me over an hour so I am done for the night.

MANY pictures..little talk

Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Devine, Texas. Reese sported her new overalls, which make her look JUST like I did when I was a 2 year old. We made it there (2 hours in the car) and back with no accidents and a little person in the backseat who would tell us to pull over when she had to make "peeps". I am now confident we could make it to Houston without any trouble with the potty. She had a lot of fun, did all kinds of things and was still worn out today from all the action (that and she was up until 10 p.m. the night before watching the UIL Marching Band competition at the high school).
Hanging out near the petting zoo portion

Holding hands with Atlee...she likes to call him by his full name...Atlee Homann

The crew...Ryan, Reese, Atlee, Erin and Jason

Reese was telling me the wind was blowing in her hair

Following Atlee. They preferred the short cut through the hay maze

Playing washers

Fishing...more fun for Ryan

I wouldn't have touched it either

I think I have a picture from when I was this age where we look VERY similar

Pooped out a pumpkin

So excited to play with water

I am in LOVE with these overalls

All by herself

Pumping water

Dressing the scarecrow...he's just missing the clothes

Helping Ryan dress the scarecrow

Kicking back with a cold one...water that is

She landed here...

Having a ton of fun jumping up and down in the piles of hay

Good look of the shirt and costume

Mildred Hubble...a character in the movie the Worst Witch. I made the tutu and came up with the whole punky witch theme on my own...I had the vision last year for Halloween and knew this was what it would look like all year long. I am thrilled with how it came out.

The game was drop the hat and make Daddy pick it up

Farmer Reese

Family photo op

Looking back

I was going through some old posts on the blog, mostly too see how crazy big Reese has gotten. I came across a blog I posted on March 24, 2008, about how Ryan turned in his thesis. Sadly, I have to report that he's still working on correcting that thesis...I wrote in the post how I was so excited to see him graduate in May, as in 2008. Here we are a few months away from 2010 and I am still waiting.
Ryan, my birthday is next month...All I want is for you to graduate. This is a cost-less gift....no shopping required, no wrapping, just get your ass in gear and finish school. I'm serious JUST give me a date for graduation and I'll be a happy birthday girl!
Keep your fingers crossed for me people....it's the same gift I've been asking for over the past 3 years. Maybe the 4th time I ask will be the charm.

GREAT weather!

AMAZING weather here over the weekend. It's been in the 70's with cool mornings and amazing afternoons. I sure hope this lasts but as I type this I should know better than to think this is here to stay. I think it's going to get warmer as the week goes on. We enjoyed the nice weather while it was here though. Yesterday we taught Stroller Strides and Reese even got to wear a sweatshirt (for the first few minutes of class), then we headed to a friend's birthday party and came back home and played outside.
Today we had lots of play time outside both after we woke up and it was in the 60's and this afternoon when the breeze was blowing and it felt like fall. To die for weather. I wouldn't mind it even getting a bit more fall like.
In case you all didn't know, Chewie's been riding on the sick train for the last few weeks. We're still waiting on some blood work and for her to eat something besides cottage cheese but she's getting a little of her pep back. It's been a rough two weeks, daily trips to the vet and me cleaning some sort of bodily dog fluid on a daily basis. We're hoping that she's on her way to healthy times.
When you ask Reese to smile she does this nose scrunch and giggles.

Chewie hangs out tied to the tree and we color on the sidewalk. It works out nicely.

You know when you look at all your OLD (like OLD as in your great-grandparents) pictures and they are all in sepia and everyone looks so serious...here is Chewie and Reese's early 1900's serious pose.

I can't tell you how much this kiddo LOVES her dog Chewie. When Chewie came home from her extended stay at the vet (sick and for boarding) Reese told her "Chewie I'm so happy to see you" (FYI this shirt goes with some super cute stretch pants which she wore to Church and looked so stinkin' cute...however we wore shorts to play outside since it was SUCH a nice day)

Cleaning up the chalk...we've been doing this and blowing bubbles (still using the ones from Easter...thanks Judson's) on a daily basis...I hope it stays this enjoyable for a LONG time.

Funny story...today in the check-out line of Sam's Reese got my cell phone and said "Hi Karlie." (My Pop-pop's name is Karl, however and my Nana calls him Karlie, and sometimes we do too) So of course I started cracking up because it was so funny. Ryan turns to me and says "Does she even know who Karlie is" and as quickly as he says that to me she shouts out "Pop-Pop" and knew exactly who she was talking about. She then had a conversation with herself, pretending to talk to Nana and Karlie about the clothes she was wearing. Hilarious. Most days, if she can get the phone off the counter, she pretend calls everyone she knows and has entire conversations with them...and her new thing, when she talks to people for real, she says "wanna talk to Chewie" and walks the phone over to the dog. Just cracks me up.

Potty update!

So we're done with Day four of Potty training in three days! I know sounds crazy. I went off this book that all the other Moms were using but sort of winged it since I did not read the book. I don't think I will ever say we're really fully 100% potty trained until I can trust her 100% when she's like 5 and has shown me consistency for several years but I'd say I am pretty confident that we're doing well and hopefully on our way there. She has a road of work ahead of her but we're keeping our fingers crossed.
We started Sunday afternoon, no reason to waste time at home, or cheat a few hours and get a head start. Sunday night we had one time on the potty and one accident. Not bad for the first night. Monday was an awesome day. She only had one accident and was so good about telling me when she had to go. Tuesday (Day 2) was horrible. She peed on me, on the floor, was laughing when she did both. I was at my witts end. I didn't know what was wrong with this kid. She would sit on the potty for 15 minutes waiting to go and stand up and pee right on the floor. I was insane by the end of the night. (couple this with a sick dog as well and I was a wreck). I went out with my friends and then talked me off the ledge and made some few helpful suggestions. I left, hit Wal-mart and came home ready to tackle Day 3.
On Wednesday, armed with a potty chart, stickers, smarties for keeping the undies dry, and a bit more pizazz, we tackled day 3. We were accident free, and made 11 trips to the potty. It was an awesome day. She didn't tell me every time she had to go but I watched her like a hawk and as soon as I saw signs like she might have to go we headed to the potty! I was pumped yesterday.
Since 3 days was all this book said I figured we were doing good. Today, Day 4, we headed off to the doctor for her 2 year appt. She did so well while we were there, we made 45 trips to the potty, all false alarms or an excuse to leave the exam room, but we were accident free. I thought we were going to have to throw the entire thing to the wind after she got her finger pricked and the flu shot and only wanted to scream bloody murder (and the whole way home until I removed the band-aid), but we did well this afternoon too. No accidents, and even a trip to the vet this afternoon without a hitch or wet pants, however you want to call it.
The true test comes tomorrow when we head to Stroller Strides and I have to teach. We have a 25 minutes car ride, a bumpy stroller ride and a Mom who has to teach ladies all while watching for pee pee and making sure she goes when she has to go. We'll see how leaving the house on time tomorrow goes with having to get her to pee before we head out the door. Should be tough, but I am ready.
She didn't drink near as much today so we didn't have as many trips to the potty and for a while there I was thinking she was holding it on purpose but I still should be happy with the outcome that we have this far.
So wish me luck tomorrow, I will be armed with extra undies, shorts, shirts and I suppose a change of clothes for me in case I am the innocent victim. I'm also driving around with the potty chair in the car so we'll see how that goes. We can only move forward at this point. Yeah for Reese being a BIG GIRL!

Wait for it....

Here we are in Aggieland!

Pee Pees, Where are you?

Another weekend another road trip. We headed to College Station on Friday for some weekend fun in Aggieland. Reese and I headed up on Friday afternoon and as I drove I watched the temp. gauge on my car drop lower and lower. I was so excited. When we got there it was 59 and WINDY. As much as I hate to admit this, that Yankee blood I pride myself on so much is gone. Living in Corpus, pit of humidity and 1000+ temps has thinned my blood to the point of no return. I froze my tush off while the crew set up the tailgate tent Friday night. Reese splashed around in her rain boots, played in the mud and I stood there shivering. Sad really.
The weather forecast said it would be 74 on Saturday for game time...it never got past 59 degrees. Good thing Wal-mart was close to the condo, I headed out for some long sleeve shirts for Reese and I. I did bring her a sweatshirt but she only had a tee-shirt so I needed to warm her up.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head over to the Quad to watch step-off and see the Aggie Band while they headed towards Kyle Field. We have this Aggie DVD Reese likes to watch and the only part she likes is the band. She also watched clips on YouTube so we figured she would have a great time. She did really well until the drums came pounding by, after that the crying started along with the chant "No like Aggie Band". Sad really...she'll learn to love it. I think the most shocking revelation of all was that Ryan had never been to Step-off/March In. Mind you the guy has been in college for 12 straight years and has never been. Crazy I know. I think that he must have a check list of "Things to do before I get my PhD" I hope I can figure out what might be left so we can check them all off and get his ass out of school.
It was the perfect weather for football, however, Reese and I headed to the outlet mall with our friend Andrea. She got some new shoes and Osh Kosh overalls (just like I had when I was little) and she was soooo well behaved.
I had fun enjoying the cooler weather and was sad to come back to Corpus and deal with humidity and rising temps again. Tomorrow it's going to be 90 again. Gosh I love this place sometimes.
Waiting for the Aggie Band...and the cannon to sound.

Note...I had to carry my Dad's backpack...I am not this dorky of a mother to push a stroller AND wear a backpack.

Me and my BIG Aggie GIRL!

Potty Training Boot Camp started yesterday afternoon in our house. Today was the first full day. We had to go to the vet to pick Chewie up and also to run over there once more this afternoon. Both times she was diaper free and didn't have an accident. She did well at home, #1 & #2 on the potty today and only one accident after nap time. Not bad odds for day 1. We're hoping tomorrow goes well too. I am using this 3 day method thing so we'll see how we do. I know she can it's more if she will...at least we had one good day so far. She tells me when she has to go, which is great. She also tells me when she has to go but really just wants to flush the toilet. That's when she says "Pee Pees, Where are you?"...then jumps up and says "All done, I flush". Fun really.

So here's some shots of her sitting around in her undies killing time.

Enjoying her lollipop while we watch some TV

Blue tongue!

Wish me luck over the next few days!

The Birthday Edition

Wow, mounds of excitement here today. Thanks for all the calls and birthday wishes for Reese. She really enjoyed them all and as predicted she did sing Happy Birthday about 12 dozen times throughout the day. I would say the 2nd birthday extravaganza was a success. She also LOVED the Elmo cake.
We got her a travel size magnadoodle for the car (she drew a booty and then Daddy...I wonder if she's trying to tell Ryan he has a big butt), a tricycle and the helmet that go along with it. We figured we needed to teach her bike safety since she's a clutz.
Thanks to the Judson Family for the super pretty flowers and awesome balloon. She LOVED the balloon and had SOOO much fun with it all afternoon! Thanks!

So happy!

OMG!!! An Elmo card. She was also equally excited to get the Barney card from MiMi and Grampy! She showed Chewie both cards, along with a Mickey Mouse one from Chips and laid them out on the floor for Chewie to get a good look.

Safety First! I didn't make her wear the knee pads. She suffers from chubby thighs (don't we all) so the knee pads were a little tight. Ryan stuffed her in them, but for blood circulation purposes I allowed her to take them off. She's too cool for school in this picture.

The trike! That what bad-asses call it.

Cruisin' the sidewalks of Calallen. Note to speeding high school drivers, my baby has a trike now, I'm out for blood if you go too fast on my street.

I want cake!

Waiting for the big song (the third time, yes she loves singing Happy Birthday)

Blowing out the birthday cake!

Videos to come at some point soon!