Thanksgiving and Tree Trimming

What a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend we had! After Reese recovered from a couple days of fever and Matt survived having his wisdom teeth pulled we started the Thanksgiving holiday. Bright and early Wednesday morning Lauren and I continued the tradition of waiting in line for pies at Flying Saucer Pie Company. We were in line at 7:00 a.m. and left with 9 pies 3 hours later. It was worth the wait! They were delicious!

Reese has decided she is too big for her booster chair and loves to sit in the big chair to color (a new favorite past time) and eat her meals.



Thanksgiving morning, Reese enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade before we headed off to Aunt Sharon's.

We had a nice small group of 12 this year. We all fit around the big table, but missed those who could not make it like Harvey, Mary, Andy, Luke, Kat, Aunt Jamie, Mason, Alyssa and Slaton. We all missed Sam. Mom and I held it together well until we said Grace. We always get teary-eyed during the prayer because it is our time to remember those who have gone before us. We miss you all. We miss you Sam!

Joe and Scott relaxed before dinner.

Reese didn't want to pose with me because she wanted the camera.

Say Cheese!

Aunt Sharon and Lauren looking great in the kitchen.

Reese discovered the stairs with Gigi.

Joe and Matt carved the turkey.

Reese and Grandma Pat played with her new Three Little Pig toy.

On Friday, we were up early again, but not for shopping...we got a jump start on Christmas decorating. Reese enjoyed watching us put up the tree and was very gentle with the ornaments. We taught her she could touch them with one finger and for the most part she did.

Later in the day we headed to Mom's for Thanksgiving leftovers. Reese snacked on goldfish and had fun putting her bowl on her head.

Every time we go to Gigi's Reese wants to play in her saucer.

On Saturday, Reese and I went back to Mom's for some shopping, pizza and to help her put up her tree. It was so much fun going through all of her ornaments and reminiscing my childhood and remembering Sam's favorites. He loved Santa ornaments, and I must have counted at least 10 of them that Mom placed on the tree. This year we will remember Sam in all we do to celebrate the holidays.

Reese loved Mom's tree and helped Mom hang the ornaments. She was so precise in her placement. It was so cute. Reese also said Christmas Tree! We hear new words all of the time.

You'll notice the sweater and diaper...she ditched her cords and shoes hours before!

Tonight, Reese enjoyed a snack in one of her favorite spots in the kitchen.

Before bedtime, she jammed and danced with me while watching HBO's replay of the 25th Anniversary of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert at Madison Square Garden. I think she gets her love of music from her Mommy!

She clapped to express her enjoyment and said/signed "more" when the song ended.

When I say "woo hoo!", Reese says "woo hoo!" I can't wait to take her to her first concert.

Even when I wasn't dancing, she stood in front of the tree and gazed at the ornaments while swaying back and forth to the music.

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy

The highlight of this post is the video of Reese running around the kitchen giggling and saying Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Matt makes this loud growling noise that I am always afraid will scare her. I was right; when she heard Matt play the video she ran to me crying as if something was after her. The video is at the bottom of the page.

Our Magic Pop w/Nutella kick is still on...






Weekend before last, Matt and I went to my friend Linh's wedding on Saturday. We had a great time, and I enjoyed catching up with my Hitachi girls.



Me, Sandra, Linh, Jamie and Lynn




The next day, we took a trip to Lake Conroe to celebrate Aunt Sharon's birthday. Reese's favorite part was opening/closing the back door and swinging back and forth on this bench.

This week, Reese managed to find more shoes to try on. That and putting on my make up are the most girlie things she does. For some reason, she doesn't like her coat or jacket and lets us know about it when we put them on her. She also doesn't like layers (hence the coat aversion) so jumpers are out.

She dug my boots. This is the smile from ear to ear I was telling you about in a former post.

She is also very fond of the camera, meaning she wants it and generally gets distracted when I pull it out to take her picture. You will see this in the video too.

So this morning, she took pictures (with our help) of me, Daddy and herself. The pictures of Matt and me were not postable (i.e. too goofy).

I almost thought Reese was over her layer issue today because she let Matt dress her in the cute outfit that I put together. She wore it long enough to go to the grocery store and then was like take off this dress, these boots and these tights. She ended up in a comfy tee and velour pants. Can I really blame her? When I am at home, I want to be comfy too.

Later this afternoon, we went to a birthday party for one of Reese's classmates at Pump It Up. All of Reese's friends from school were there. It was fun for the kids and a great opportunity to meet some of the parents.

Reese was a little shy at first, but jumped right in before too long.

She didn't go up the stairs or down the slide completely by herself, but we didn't mind because it was more fun to join her. I always forget what a workout I get at these places.

Reese didn't eat the pizza, but she liked the cake.

And here is the video!!!

She has just recently started calling us Mommy and Daddy instead of Mama and Dada. Today she started rattling off the names she calls us and our familiy, she said "Mommy, Daddy, Gigi, and Mawmaw (for Grandma Ruth)."

Earlier this week, she was flipping through her photo albumn and said "Grandpa" when she saw the picture of Sam holding her. It made me so happy to hear and brought a tear to my eye.

Reese turned 22 months yesterday. It's hard to believe she will be 2 years old in 2 months! Man, our baby girl is growing up.

We saw the speech therapist for a follow up on Thursday, and Reese is at 24 months with her language comprehension and 21 months with her speech. She surprised us with some of the things she knew and commands she could follow; like how to place the flower on Daddy's shoe. She knew more body parts than I was aware she knew. It was amazing to see her mind work as she pointed out objects in books and physically.

Her vocabulary increases everyday and she tries to mimic a lot of the words we say. Especially when we are reading books. We are very proud of her and thankful to her teachers who teach her something new each week.

Thank You Veterans

On this Veteran's Day we honor and thank Grandpa Jack, Joe, Matt, Grandpa Beard, Granny, Sam and all those we know who have served. We also thank the family of the service members deployed (or about to be deployed).

As quoted from my CEO John Rynd, "Veterans Day is the United Sates Holiday honoring all military veterans. It is usually observed on the 11th day of the 11th month of each year, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. This was supposed to be the War that ended ALL wars. As we so painfully know, it did not. So we now have countless veterans, both living and dead, who have served our country throughout history. Please take a moment today to reflect and honor the sacrifices made by so many in service of our country and THANK YOU to all of you who have served or whose family members have served our great country."

New Favorite Snack!

While visiting my friend Crystalyn in Richardson in October, we discovered a delicious treat. It's called Kim's Magic Pop and to my knowledge it can only be found at Central Market. What is it you ask? It's a brown rice cake, but not your typical tasteless rice cake. It is fresh & tasty with only 15 calories per cake and it is fat free. Reese and I eat them like they are going out of style. Crystalyn had mentioned she liked to put Nutella on hers...another treat I had not tried before. I always saw it in the store, but never purchased it. Oh my gosh! Nutella is like chocolate icing! Made from sugar, hazelnuts, skim milk and cocoa...Nutella spread on Magic Pop is the next best thing to a chocolate chocolate cupcake (and has become my substitute when I am craving a cupcake and don't have one). Magic Pop is great with or without Nutella...we enjoy it both ways on a daily basis!





This past weekend Reese and I traveled to Dallas to visit Meghan, Sam and Maggie. Before arriving at Meghan's, we stopped in Plano to visit Wendy and Coleman who is 4 weeks old. He is so adorable, just like Karsyn. I didn't get to hold him much because Reese was pretty jealous. She cried Mama, Mama and held out her arms for me. Wendy and I enjoyed catching up while Reese played in Karsyn's kitchen.

At Meghan's, Reese had a blast playing, coloring and going in and out of the doggie gate. She was a little afraid of Kelsey, the dachshund, at first, but warmed up and was talking non-stop about Kel-key (as she called her) and kept saying Kel-key, dog, ruff ruff.




Maggie loves to take pictures, so I asked her to take some of Reese playing. She did take a few, but she took more still shots which I found to be very good. She took three tries to get this one right. What a perfectionist! :)

Too close and cut hippo's bottom off...





Too far away...




Ahh, just right! Posed and perfect. I think Maggie will make an excellent photographer one day!

On Saturday, Meghan and I took the girls shopping. Reese isn't much into shopping or staying in her stroller. I think we counted three melt downs throughout the day. Just your typical "terrific two's" (my new word for them) when she can't express her desires to me in words she screams, cries and sits on the floor at Chic-Fil-A. Even Maggie thought Reese was going a little overboard one time and said "Man, she's loud!" (or something to that effect).

Later that evening, we drove to Fort Worth to meet Maylee and Lance for dinner at Uncle Julio's. It was fabulous! The food was quite good as were the rita's and the company!

This picture doesn't do justice to the sunset we enjoyed while heading West, but you get the idea.

Lance and Maggie have a great time together!

On the way home, Reese discovered Meghan's iPhone (as did I). I want one!!! I knew they were cool, and had a lot of apps, but now I know more and am adding it to my Christmas wish list. I shrieked with joy when Meghan played an episode of Sex and the City for me. OMG!!! (I know, I am a dork). Reese watched Disney movies while Maggie played a variety of games on Sam's iPhone. It actually held Reese's attention for the entire drive home which was about an hour.

We had a great weekend with everyone and can't wait to go back in December for Canton weekend.

Here are a few shots of Reese this week....

She loves to lay on her tummy in the tub. It's almost like swimming.

She still loves to horse around after bath time.

And bouncing out of doors never gets old to either of us!

Her hair is really growing...check out the curly mullet. I can't wait to see it when it all evens out.

Matt managed to get this skirt on her today, with only a little struggle. She is really starting to make her opinion known.

Reese has also been talking a lot saying words like bite, hot, more milk, mine, baby, bird, dog, choo choo (for train), bye bye, hi, Elmo, Big Bird, Dora, nana (for banana), ballon, apple (cherries and tomatoes look like an apples too), apple juice, yogurt, stool, please and thank you in sign language, wawa (for water), Mama, Mama, Mama, Dada, Dada...and on and on.

She also points out objects in her books and uses words and sounds to name them. It's so much fun seeing her learn, play and talk. She is so interactive with us and she gives us huge smiles from cheek to cheek. She laughs and laughs and loves being tickled. I am loving this age!!!