French Toast Pizza

For all of those not privileged enough to experience the beauty of French Toast pizza on our last visit to Kingwood, please enjoy the video below. My cousin James talked a BIG game last week about his french toast pizza, (we had pizza for 20 people on Thursday night) so the next morning we held him to it and put him to work. I was slightly skeptical at the time, however upon completing my taste test I have to admit it was very tasty. I would even venture to cook it at home. Ryan poo-pooed the idea but when he tried it he also thought it was pretty good.

Swim Lessons and a BIG girl bed!

After returning home from our trip to Kingwood, I knew Reese was pooped. She didn't stop once in Kingwood to take a nap, and was up late most nights. She's playing catch up this week. Monday she took a2 hour nap, Tuesday 2.5 hours, and Wednesday the poor baby didn't even make it past the couch. She just passed out. She's still playing catch-up which is fine by me, and man is she burning energy when she's awake.
We're in our last week of swim lessons and she loves it. She yells from the pool (as I sit on the total other side from where she is) "Hi Mom, look at me" and waves with such force. She's getting to be such a big girl.

Reese LOVES the water. If I didn't force her to rest during the day I have no doubt she'd be in there all day long. I am excited for swim lessons to be over because that means we can hit the pool with our friends every afternoon. Summertime is my favorite (not the heat) because I love the pool just as much as she does.

Kicking away!

We also had a BIG week in the way of Reese's sleeping arrangements. She went from the toddler bed to her very own BIG girl bed. This was my bed when I was little so I should say that it's held up rather nicely.

I need to take a moment and thank my Mom and Dad for all the great items of furniture they have given us for our house. I would say that out of the 9 rooms we have in our house that 7 of them are things that my parents gave to us. My Dad re-finished our dining room table after we bought it, Reese's entire bedroom set is mine from when I was a kid, that my Dad painted when I was pregnant. Both guest bedrooms are outfitted with furniture that was either mine or someone else's in my family and the entire kitchen and family room is their old furniture. I should point out that the couch in our family room is about to be 27 years old and it is as comfy as the day they bought it. I can't tell my parents enough how thankful I am for everything they have helped us with, given us and fixed up for us (and for a long time stored for us). I love you both and really appreciate everything you do for us.

Ok, so we moved her mattress in on Sunday night and she slept on that. I took on the task of sanding down and painting the headboard and foot board and worked every afternoon in the 100+ degrees to get it done. Today I finished my painting, so tonight we made the big switch-eroo! She's happily sleeping in there as I type.

SOOOO happy!

Reese and Fancy Nancy ready for bed.

I still have a few things left to do, new curtains, new something or other for the wall but all in due time.

Now that she's in a big girl bed, and everything that she had when she was a baby is out of her room I am kind of sad thinking about how my baby is not a baby anymore. She's such a big girl. The funniest thing is when she says things like "When I was a younger girl...." I told her how when I was a younger girl that I slept in her big girl bed, so now every time she thinks of something to say about babies she'll say "When I was a younger girl you held me like a baby" or something to that effect. She cracks me up.

When disaster strikes!

We spent all last week in Kingwood and I can't say enough how well Reese behaved under the circumstances. With all the comings and goings we normally do in Kingwood, this week we did even more. She was well behaved, so loving to everyone who visited and was a trooper pulling ten hour (or more) days with no naps (by her choice). She had a blast seeing all my cousins, extended family and family friends. She knew exactly who everyone was and had so much fun talking to them all. (Kathy, she kept asking on Saturday if her fairy godmother was coming...)

In an effort to try and get her to nap on Saturday we allowed her to watch Mary Poppins (her new fav) while she laid in bed upstairs. I figured she'd fall asleep at some point given the kid was exhausted. About an hour later I was sitting in the kitchen talking to family when I heard a little voice say "HELLO" while she was coming down the stairs. I ran around to get her when I saw what could possibly have been the a worse mess then what BP is trying to clean up in the gulf. The issue at the time was not so much what she had done to herself, it's what she could have done to the room and the BRAND new less than a week old freshly painted walls in my Mom's house. Thankfully she spared the walls.

When she saw Leslie with the camera the waterworks started. I think she was embarrassed. Notice the amount of make up she used.

Right above the flower on the stripes side of the dress you can sort of see the wad of pink toothpaste she also got on there. I guess she had some powder in her mouth so she brushed her pearly whites.

The dress is clean as a whistle. My Mom is a miracle worker when it comes to stains on clothes.

You can see she is pooped....however she applied the entire can of bronze powder with precision...including proper brush technique.

Next time I will tell her she doesn't need to be as dark as Snooki.

After getting home yesterday Reese told me that she had to go to her friend Sydney's house to water her garden. She's all ready to hit the road.

Leaving the house!

*Note: Our family friend Dorothy got Reese an adorable dress last week while we were all in Kingwood. Reese who comes from a long line of immediately needing to wear new clothes, wore it right away. Since that day she has only chosen to wear dresses. The dress she has on in the above pics my Dad got for her last year when he was in Hawaii. She's still in her pj's as I post this blog but I am sitting on pins and needles to see if she wants to wear a dress today! We might have a girlie girl on our hands after all.

We'll miss you Pops!

This past week we said good-bye to my Pop-Pop, or as Reese always called him "Pops". He was a great man who we will miss tremendously. I was very lucky to have spent so much time with him when I was little and have even more time with him the last 10 or so years that he lived in Texas. Reese always loved walking into their house and yelling "Hey Pops!"
He lived to be 85 (almost 86 years old) so I would say he lived a long and successful life.
We'll miss you Pops!

Black Eyed Peas anyone?

As stated previously, I think it's important for my kiddo to have a well rounded education...and important to not only listen to the classics but also some excellent music from my day as well.