School is in Session!

We've had a busy few weeks...maybe one day things will slow down, after Reese goes to college.
My Mom and Dad came to Corpus two weeks ago and we hit the beach all weekend. They were kind enough to drive down this awesome desk. It was my Pop-Pop's for many years. He got it when he was a fireman at the Reliance Engine & Hose Co #1 in Port Chester, NY. My dad did an awesome job refinishing the wood and Ryan and I are thrilled to have the antique in the house. It's one hell of a desk, and I can't even begin to tell you how long/deep the drawers are. It's also nice to have things that have meaning. We also have a lot of my Grandpa and Grandma's furniture, they spread the wealth as well.
After Mom and Dad were here, Reese and I headed up to Kingwood 4 days later to visit the family. My Aunt and Uncle were in from Belgium and our cousin Stacey is moving to Texas to work as a PT at MD Anderson. Aside from a visit with the family, I also ran in a 10K with my friends Julie and Ashley from Corpus Christi. I plan on running the half with them as well so this was a nice preview run to get us really amped up. Despite the odds we completed the race and did really well. I finished in the top half of my age group and also well overall. Reese had a 24 bug Friday, so she threw up all night Thursday and had a fever all day Friday. Ashley and Julie had lost sleep due to their sweet babies as well. Like I said despite the odds and chaos we did it. Now the countdown to 13.1 miles is really on.

We are women...here us roar! (post race) It was awesome to run in Kingwood because my Nana, Dad and Reese were able to come watch me run. It kept me motivated knowing I had a cheering section mid way through the race.

Reese in her Groucho Marx glasses and her pocketbook from Nana. Sorry this is not flipped, I sent it to the computer from my cell phone...

Ready to head to school!

She picked out her outfit. She said yesterday that she wanted to wear the Hawaiian dress that Grampy got her with her sneakers. She knows what she wants!

Ryan stayed home so he could bring her to school as well.

Sending my girl off to school

Summer HEAT!

And the award for "Craziest Outfit of the Week" goes to Reese Bading. This would be my tankini bathing suit top worn backwards....
and a bikini top worn backwards underneath the tankini.....

Sometimes it's not even worth questioning. Much like wearing a belt with your nightgown, to dress up your look before asking to go to the park at 7 a.m.

I hate running. Esp. when it's about 90+ degrees with 100% humidity. However, I am running. On a regular basis, before the sun is even up(most mornings). I am training for a half marathon, call it as you may...I suppose it's on my bucket list of things to do before I am 30. I decided to run this before I remembered how hot it is in Corpus in the summer. Now that I am in the thick of it I am second guessing myself daily. The race isn't until October but the training...yeah it's HOT. I am not "racing" as much as looking to finish alive. I think it is best for someone to send the meat wagon out around mile 9 to look for my dead body. I am pretty confident that after I run this 1/2 marathon that will be the end of my racing career. I might stick to 5K's here and there, maybe the occasional 10K but 13.1 miles...for the birds.

It just looks like I'm running this Fun Run alone...don't be fooled, there were others. I came in second place in my age division, we won't discuss how many others were also in my age division. because it's not that important. Ryan and Reese came out to watch me run (hence the action shot) and to cheer me on. That being said, whoever said running in South Texas in the summer was a smart idea was nuts. Despite this fun run being at 7:30 a.m. it was still Africa Hot, and the humidity was awesome, as in awesomely horrific. We ran the Calallen Girls Cross Country team's training loop. This was a good reminder of why I didn't run cross country in high school.

Miracles Happen....as you can see in this picture. It is possible for me to be photographed with my child and for it to be a nice picture. Let the record show it takes a special occasion to get me showered and dressed (in something other than work out clothes) in the middle of the day. This picture is from my dear friend Monica's baby shower. I am so excited to have her join the ranks of Mommyhood with the rest of us. We are sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear when Clayton will be making his grand entrance into the world.

***Monica it should be noted that Reese was THRILLED that you sent the Thank You card to her. Since getting it she opens it once a day and recites what it says and then stashes it into her belongings for the next day.

Yet another one liner from Reese. The day after the baby shower we all met with some friends in College Station to eat lunch at Double Dave's. Reese was sitting next to our friend Wayland (Monica's husband) and in the middle of the meal she needed to use the potty. So as we're leaving the table she points to Wayland and says "Hey, Wayland...don't eat my pizza". I was cracking up.

We've been hitting the pool, and gearing up for school. That's right in 2.5 weeks Reese heads off to Mother's Day out and I have 5 glorious hours (two days a week) to do whatever I want to. I am sure "doing whatever I want to" will involve cleaning the house, and running errands but we'll both be enjoying those 10 hours a week.

She's says the silliest things!

No pictures this update. I will try and do some later this week. I do however, have a funny one liner from Reese.

While eating dinner last night, (Reese had finished and was playing in her kitchen) she turned around quickly, looked at Ryan and I and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have to make pee pee."

She's nuts!

Crazy Heart!

We had a busy few weeks. Two weeks ago my Mom came to visit for the week and we had a blast. We hit the beach, pool and got to just spend some quality time together. 3 generations of girls. So nice. That weekend we headed to College Station for a baby shower and a wedding reception. We had a great time seeing our friends and enjoyed our little road trip.
Upon returning home I turned my cleaning lady mode into hyperactive and spent two days doing things that only get done once a year (like oiling the wood in my house which requires the 8 ft ladder, hence it only getting done once a year). I hosted Bunco for the ladies, which is always fun. Ryan and Reese had a special father daughter date night at Chili's and then played at the mall.
Thursday Ryan's Mom came in for a quick overnight visit with Reese. We rounded out our week with a trip to the pool, Reese getting a haircut, and a visit and tour of the local firehouse with some friends. I didn't take my camera but I know my friend Ashley snapped a picture or two of me spraying the fire hose all by myself. I am woman hear me roar! We had a lazy day at home today while Reese played pretend for most of the day.
In College Station at Meems and Grampy's condo. Reese took Meems' straw hat, after she put on her boots, and took all her food into the kitchen to feed the farm animals. Here she is feeding the animals.

Dumping her food out for them. She refused to allow me to photograph her with the hat on

Just playing in the condo with her kitchen. My mom has this girl prepared to play anywhere. She has a kitchen in Kingwood, College Station and in Corpus. Clearly she's loved.

At Chic-a-fila a few weeks ago it was dress like a cow day. We didn't go but they gave out this cow hat a few days earlier while we were working out at the mall. As you can see she dressed herself (in the middle of the day) in her winter pj's and insisted on wearing the Halloween tutu. Topped off with this cow hat she's a sight for sore eyes.

Chips...every time she wears this I think of the pig mask/hat thing from Saw...good thing she has no idea about that or she'd never wear this again. I do think if she came into my room wearing this in the middle of the night I would wet the bed in fear.

Nap time. Lately Reese has been pooped. Especially when we are gone for the weekend. After we got home from College Station she had three days in a row with 3 hour naps. Thurman must miss her after about 1.5 hours because he goes and scratches her door to get in. Then I find him sleeping on her bed with her. Too cute.

The next day during nap. She has started taking so much garbage to bed with her I had to hunt to find her in there. She's under the pink and blue princess blanket by the yellow pillow.

Today she played pretend for about 1 hour all by herself. Her favorite show is Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel and there is a character named Jeremy. Today she had a date with Jeremy. She said he was coming over to pick her up in his blue car and they were going to go swimming. She said she was going to sleep at his house but I said she wasn't allowed to have sleepovers with boys. She thought about it for a minute and said she would bring her own big girl bed to his house. I guess she can problem solve nicely.

Long story short, she packed her back pack, pool bag, and brought along some toys (all in her shopping cart) and went to the pool (dining room) with Jeremy. She played in there for a while, then went into her room and packed most of her clothing in a cardboard box she got from Build a Bear. Along with that was the dictionary. I tell you she was clearly prepared for anything that should come up. Ryan and I were cracking up with all the things she was doing today.

Never mind that she's in a sweater, a beanie and has her Crocs on the wrong feet

My happy big girl! How could you not want to spend as much time as possible with this kiddo. I am so glad that I get to chill with her during the day at home.

Flip this Room!

As stated in my previous post, Leslie was in town this last weekend and we were busy. It was like Flip this House, only we concentrated on Reese's room. Now that she has the big girl bed, we ditched all the "baby" things from her wall and put up what we thought were slightly more sophisticated items.
The shutters (see below)...mirror which we just repainted, and two pictures from my college days which we got new mats for and hung up in the funky silver frames.

Leslie also repainted the letters we had when Reese was a baby and made them match the current polka dot design she has going right now. As you can see she LOVES her new room!

Leslie saw this awesome idea and we thought it would be perfect for Reese's room. Shutters! We can use the slats to showcase her artwork and the knobs on the bottom (our own addition) not only say her name but can also be used to hang things as well.

Her dresser is not missing two drawers they have been taken away. Those two drawers contain her shorts and shirts. Reese enjoys spending most of her time changing into as many outfits as she can all in the course of one afternoon. It's fun for her but the pile of clothes on the floor day after day drives me crazy. As soon as I put them away she pulls them all out again. So now the drawers live in another bedroom that has a kiddie handle on it preventing her from going inside.

Reese wanted to proudly display the artwork she has done more recently with finger paint.

A quick recap!

This picture is left over from our 4th of July festivities. Reese had to jump in and save Chips from drowning. I'm signing her up for lifeguard duty next summer as well.

We took Reese to see Toy Story 3 at the movies. It was her first time to see a movie in the theater so she was super excited! We let her feast on some popcorn since it was her first real movie experience, little does she knows this will most likely be the only time her cheap ass mother buys her popcorn at the theater. It's just not something we Herbst kids did when we were little and I seemed to turn out alright.

She was pretty good throughout the movie. She either sat in her chair or sat in my lap the whole time so I'd say more movies are in her future. Between our recent trip to Taco Bell and now the movies it's like I have a new 3 ft tall best friend to do things with.

Aunt Leslie was here this past weekend. We had a crazy, fun filled, jam packed weekend. We managed to fit about 3 days worth of things into less than 48 hours which was awesome. We also finished making over Reese's room. I have one more finishing touch which I plan on doing tonight and I will post some pics tomorrow (hopefully). Meems arrives tomorrow for the rest of the week so we'll be having more fun with her!

To Kingwood and Back!

Sorry it's been a long time since I posted. We've been busy yet again. We'll start at the beginning. On June 25th we headed out to the Corpus Christi Hooks game. Our minor league team that plays at Whataburger Field.

Ryan's head in the poster. Notice who's husband didn't offer to take a picture of her in the Hooks cutout

After Friday night home games they have fireworks. She stayed up late but I can still report she woke up at 6:15 in the morning. Will she ever sleep until 7????

At the beach. Last year we enjoyed the beach every Sunday...this year we've been three times. You might wonder why the sudden change in attitude. See above picture. See filthy, nasty smelling, gross when it touches you in the water seaweed. It's so bad in Corpus this year that when you get home you have seaweed in your bathing suit. YUCKOLA! We might try again tomorrow but if the seaweed is bad again I am thinking of passing on the beach until conditions improve. Nature (the dirty gross parts) and I...we don't mix well.

We've watched one too many Disney Princess movies lately. Reese puts on my heels and says she's "off to get married". While playing pretend the other day, Reese said before she and I went off to the Nursery Dance (whatever the heck that is) that we too had to get married. So Reese and I had on mardi gras bead necklaces and bracelets and she got us each a book. We kissed, hugged, she proclaimed us "married" and we headed off to the Nursery Dance. At least she's creative.

Reese loves her Meems and Grampy! Big thanks to the gang who watched my kiddo for me in Kingwood. Mom, Dad, Chips, Pete, Sean and Kathy for allowing me to go to the movies and see Twlight: Eclipse. It was as good as I hoped it would be and I never would have been able to see it in the movies without the helpful hands of my family. You all ROCK!

Did I mentioned that Meems, Grampy, Leslie, Sean, Ryan, Reese and I will be heading to Disney World in January. It's official...plans have been made, and everything has been booked. YEAH! Meems and Grampy (thanks to his frequent traveling) made all the arrangements!

*Chips I will post the picture of you two in the pool with Alyssa sends it to me.

Can we have a moment of silence...............................as you all witness history

Reese has eaten her first Taco Bell taco...and she LOVED it! This is great news because...I heart Taco Bell and Ryan does not (fool). This means I found a friend to eat Taco Bell with. You see Taco Bell holds a special place in my heart. Why you ask? Every summer after my Nana and Pop-Pop moved to N.C we drove down from NY. It was a long, boring drive....but driving to N.C. meant we could eat Taco Bell. There was no Taco Bell in NY when I lived there...so once we crossed that beloved Mason Dixon line we would hold out, sometimes a long time, so we could eat lunch at Taco Bell. Ah the memories.