Dog-Sitting Dani

As soon as we got back from Tennessee we picked up Dani, my friend Julie's dog. She was going out of town for the weekend so we offered to dog-sit. Needless to say Robert and I have had our hands full and my bag is still packed sitting in the middle of my bedroom floor...

Hmm...which one is hairier?!

The first night we picked up Dani Reese was sooo excited I didn't think she would ever settle down to go to bed. She was so afraid she might miss play time. Luckily Dani is a very sweet, passive little dog because Reese just hugged on her and laid all over her. Reese even thought they should share Dani's bed and food! It definitely tested my tolerance for germs - we and our apartment are due for a deep clean!

I couldn't stand it! If she was going to drink out of a bowl I had to get her her own.

And she was soo excited!!

Reese didn't want to stroll she wanted to help me hold the leash but Dani was so excited she would jerk Reese all around! Reese would run/waddle as fast as she could to keep up!

Shopping, Playing, and Lots of Treats!

So I'm still playing a little blog catch-up. We went to visit my parents last week and of course had so much fun! It was the first visit in a while that we weren't rushed and actually had time to relax and visit.

I got to hold baby Katherine (my brothers 4 month old) while she was awake! Seems like that sweet little girl is always sleeping...although I know that isn't true :)

And Payton was there! We missed her at Christmas so Reese was so excited to follow her around! Payton is so sweet and patient with her.

Reese was probably the most excited to see Cabe..or Caaa! She just follows him everywhere and is completely content to chase him in circles. They each have similar silky blankets, Cabe's is blue and Reese's is pink, and they spent the majority of the time trying to take the other's away. I have a feeling these two are only going to get more comical! I've got to mention my favorite little story from these two...from this trip. They were buckled in their car seats side-by-side in the very back of my mom's car on the way home from the mall. Cabe had fallen asleep and Reese was leaning over towards him repeatedly yelling "Caa!" Probably had to be there to understand the adorableness but she just loves her some Cabe! (and Coley!)

"Don't you get my blanket!"

Ray Charles?!

Tickle Time!! They voluntarily laid down for mom to tickle them. I think Cabe's exact words were "Get me Su-Su!"

Reverse. Attack Su-Su!!

She looks like such a natural with two ;)

I think Reese thought Katherine was a baby doll. She just didn't understand why she couldn't hold her.

We also had a play date with Anna Laura and Ann Charlette and Anderson tagged along as the only boy. Never thought I would have 3 car seats in my car!!

We took them to McDonald's for lunch and to play in the play-place - I'm not normally a huge fan of those but when it's so cold they have to run wild somewhere! I think Reese was excited to see another little girl in bows and such because she is so often around little boys, maybe that's why she can be so aggressive?! It was interesting! Thank goodness for Anna Laura because she ended up having to climb through and help them all down. We joked that taking 3 small children to McDonald's wasn't our typical outing and a few years ago we would have never imagined it! But I still love her! I pray Reese finds a friend as amazing as Anna one day!

Ann Charlette was so excited to let Anna take her picture and Reese was terrified!!

We rounded off our trip with a visit to Grandpa Larry and Grandma Judy's house. Sadly I don't have any pictures and I soo wish I could have video taped Reese with the girls (the Brower's two dotsons, Tessa and Poppy). Reese was absolutely ecstatic to see them! Grandma Reba was there too so of course we had to take them sweets ;) Grandma Reba has a sweet tooth like me! Although our visit with them wasn't as long Reese still had plenty of time to show off. (And even though she now knows doggies bark she was making the pig noise!)

I can't say enough about how great our time was with family and friends. Lots of food, talking, monogramming and more food! Hopefully it won't be another 2 months before we can do it again!

Busy, Busy Little Lady

The last week has flown by without much time to blog. Really the last two months have flown by...it's almost March!! As bad as I hate time passing so fast we are really, really ready for warm weather!

We got a little tease last weekend. Yes, just a week after we were strolling on ice it was in the 60s. Robert and I took Reese to the park for the afternoon and soaked up the sun!

Last week... and this week..

Reese decided she wanted to walk with Daddy and let me push an empty stroller.


Playing at the park.



She was so happy Robert was waiting to catch her when she slid down the big slide. I thought this was so cute :)





And I had to post some videos of this big girl in action. She can climb the steps and slide down all on her own. Robert was shocked how much better she has gotten since his last park visit with her. (One is from Friday and one is from Saturday)

Our Life In The Circus

Well, we don't technically live in the circus but last night we did get to go to the Ringling Brother's Zing Zang Zoom Circus!! Our friend Camden had some extra tickets and invited Reese and I to join. I don't think Reese or I really knew what to expect...the last circus I went to had to of been when I was in elementary school. Anyway, we had soo much fun!

Reese wasn't sure what to think when we first got there. We were a little late so they had already turned off the lights. It was in Phillips Arena, which is huge and it was packed! So it was a little loud and crazy looking at first. And of course, Reese was more interested in watching the other kids than the circus activites. Her favorite thing to do was clap. She had no idea what she was clapping for but any time the crowd clapped Reese popped up and down clapping!

Sitting with Camden watching the tight-rope-walkers.

A funny little fact, this was Reese's first time to use a public restroom. Kind of gross I know but she was just so infactuated with the restroom. She just wanted to keep washing her hands and didn't want to go back to our seats. I had to bribe her with an extremely over-priced flash light!

My favorite part was the elephant tricks.

Part of the finale.

Reese lost interest towards the end and decided to chat on the phone. Typical kid...always on the cell phone ;)

The Fresh Beat Band

Reese has never watched a lot of television, she is more into coloring on the walls and listening to the radio. However, The Fresh Beat Band is her absolute favorite show!! It's a group of 4 kids (really adults in their mid 20s) who have a band and sing and dance. I think its relatively new to Nick so there are only about 10 episodes, it comes on so randomly and it's not on DVD. We finally DVR-ed the episodes so she can watch them at special times. It is 22 minutes we have to get things done!! Needless to say Robert and I know all of the little songs word for word! (It was a great day, it was a super way to spend the day together....)

Anyway, all you have to do is say "Ki-Ki" to Reese and she runs to the living room and starts clapping! I tried to get a little video.

*Ki-Ki is one of the girls in the band. The say her name first in the theme song

SNOW!!!

Well, last Friday Atlanta finally got snow!!! We (I) were so excited!! It really surprised everyone. No sooner than I told my mom "It's too warm for snow and if it does it won't stick," the snow started coming and didn't stop until early Saturday. It was a kind of wet snow and the roads luckily never got very icy around us. It was sunny all day Saturday and Sunday so it all melted pretty fast. But we had oh so much fun while it was here :)

Reese was so curious! We watched patiently from inside for a while, again thinking oh it will never stick. We made Valentine's cupcakes and when we were through with those we looked outside and everything was covered!! We didn't exactly have "snow" gear but we made do! When Robert got home he showed her how to make snow balls and slip and slide on the slick spots.

Saturday we went to Waffle House and the park with our friends Gavin and Camden and their dog Sulley. Reese was beyond thrilled to see Sulley! We had fun at the park even though by that time it was more muddy than snowy. Robert and Gavin tried to make a little sled for Reese but it just didn't work :( Maybe next time...

Some might say it takes a big heart to love Sulley ;) but Reese loves, loves her!! This video barely shows Reese's HUGE grin and squills she had chasing Sulley around.

We got just enough snow to have fun with it but not to be stuck inside all weekend. I wish more of our family and friends could have been here with us. This was technically Reese's first snow and she enjoyed it so much. I hope the pictures and short, goofy videos help everyone share it with us :)

Here are a few more pictures from the snow!

We Are The World 25 for Haiti

Robert and I watched the opening for the Vancouver Olympics tonight. Pretty sure it's the first time I have ever watched them but it was really interesting. They played the new We Are The World remix. So SO many amazing artist from Justin Bierer, LL Cool J, the Jonas Brothers, Barbra Streisand, Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dog, Sugarland, Kanye West, Fergie and on and on... all sang together!! It was awesome! Download it on itunes and proceeds go to Haiti - a great way to give if you haven't already. Just thought I would share in case any one missed it!

P.S. We finally got snow!! YAY! I'll post about that soon!

New Crayons

This morning we made our own Valentine's Day cards! We spent the morning coloring, gluing and glittering!! Reese really enjoys coloring so I thought this morning was a perfect time for her to color away. We each made one for Robert and a few of our other special friends.

I think these beat the expensive ones from the store hands down!

We spent the majority of our afternoon at the pediatricians office. Reese has a snotty nose that just wont go away and I was really afraid she was getting another ear infection. I have a feeling we are going to be making a trip to the ENT soon :( But they said her ears actually didn't look infected yet so it could be another infection developing or trouble from her two year molars. Either way, we started taken some Motrin because she has just been so whiny lately. I know she is just uncomfortable for whatever reason. We are going to start doing saline solution twice a day and using a humidifier to avoid more ear problems!

We rounded off the day with a nice trip to the park. Crazy to hear that our Tennessee friends and family were building snowmen because it was about 55 and sunny here! Surprisingly that's about all we have going on. I'm not complaining though :)

Thank goodness it's the weekEND!

I was oh so happy for Friday to end this week :) I feel like it was one battle after the other this week with a big blow out to end the war yesterday!!

I'm thinking the score is Reese 50 Rebecca 0.

It all started by Reese taking off her dirty, dirty diaper herself. We have been potty training so it is hard for me to discourage her not wanting to wear a diaper BUT lord help us, she got it (poo!) everywhere!! Gross, I know, but I had to include that just so every one gets the whole picture!

I put her in the bath where she proceeded to pull in with her the pig and blanket despite my best efforts to pry them from her clinched, dirty hands. Oh well, they needed to be washed anyway; they were getting a good pre-soak.





As if there wasn't enough chaos in the mess, she slipped on her blanket in the bath, fell against the side and busted her lip open. Yes. She's screaming crying, bleeding down her chin. I jerked her up, dripping wet to console her and the only thing she wants is her blanket and pig, which are drenched in the tub. So then she was whaling even louder because she couldn't have her things.

Worst part is I hadn't finished washing her off when she fell so after she calmed down I had to put her back in the bath. After we finished up with that fiasco, washed and dried off, we put on warm comfy clothes and settled down.

But it wasn't over. I still had to deal with the wet pig and blanket. They haven't been washed in so long because Reese usually will not part with them. So needless to say she was not happy that I put them in the washer. Cried forever about that, stopped about the time the wash cycle was done and started all over again when she saw me put them in the dyer. The poor girl stood outside the laundry doors crying for a good 20 minutes.

What a morning!! I know moms don't ever really get days off but needless to say I was ready for Robert to be home! Luckily we already have a babysitter for tonight...couldn't have come at a better time. I think a breakdown is inevitable at this rate :)

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.