Pianos, Rigs and Crawfish...Oh My!

A lot can happen in two weeks!!!

Let's start with the weekend before last...

Reese spent her Saturday morning bouncing around her pillow fort. She absolutely loves playing, jumping and diving into pillows, so Matt decided to pull all of the pillows off our bed and make a fort on the floor.

Later that afternoon, Meghan and Maggie came by to visit. Reese loves playing with other kids. Other adults . . . . . . not so much.

On Sunday, Matt and Reese snoozed on the couch while I caught some zzzzzzs on the love seat. Now this is what Sundays are for!

Later that afternoon, we all headed to Mom and Sam's house to meet two of his daughters, Katie and Maggie (and Baby Elliott). It was the first time I met Katie and Maggie and they were great! We had a nice visit and dinner at Palazzo's. Unfortunately, I only managed to get a few pics of Reese.

She is doing this new one legged scoot . . .crawl . . . semi-walk . . . . dog at a fire hydrant thing. It is so weird, funny and cute. Katie swears that her niece Caroline was doing the same thing before she started walking. Hmm . . . . I wonder if she was just trying to make us feel better. ;)

This past Thursday, Mom and I went to see Billy Joel and Elton John's Face to Face concert. It was an absolute blast! I have been dying to see Elton John for years, trying to get tickets in both Houston and Las Vegas, but it never worked out. Finally, I made it! And to top it all off, I got to see Billy Joel too.

They kicked off the show playing piano, face to face, singing each other's songs.

After at least 5 . . . maybe 10 songs, Billy Joel departed (his piano went with him) while Elton played and played and played. I was able to hear all of my favorite songs: Tiny Dancer, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Bennie and The Jets, Daniel, Crocodile Rock, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Rocket Man, Saturday's All Right For Fighting, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, I'm Still Standing, I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, The Bitch is Back (I carried my matching purse) and Levon.

Just when I though it couldn't get any better . . . . he would play another one. Elton was flamboyant as ever, all decked out in a colorful tuxedo with bright rubber shoes. The back of his first coat said, "I'm Still Standing." He only had one costume change (when he returned to join Billy) into another tuxedo. You can see the back of the coat in the picture above.

Then it was time for Billy Joel to take the stage. He was so entertaining and had a fabulous band. I felt like he really got the crowd into it because he talked to us and introduced each band member individually. Mom digged the tall guy who played every instrument known to man.

Billy also mixed things up by playing the piano while it spun around the middle of the stage and by singing a few classic songs with the guitar.

I forgot how many of his songs I love: Moving Out, Only The Good Die Young, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, Tell Her About It, We Didn't Start The Fire, Uptown Girl and Zanzibar.

And when I thought this can't get any better, it did! Elton came back and they jammed for another 10 or more songs. Billy would jump from his piano to Elton's or slide across Elton's piano on his belly. He was so goofy. They ended with Candle in the Wind and Piano Man.

Oh, I loved it! So well worth it! I'll go again, no doubt!

Friday, I got to go on a field trip to one of my company's rigs, Hercules 253, which is temporarily located (i.e. "warm stacked") in the Galveston shipyard.

Me, Phyllis, Rachel, Lona and Terri (my boss)

We had to wear steel toed boots, safety glasses and hard hats (green means you have been on the rig for less than 6 months).

The Derrick and top drive (the top drive is the yellow machinery pictured below that is similar to a power swivel that is used in place of the rotary table to turn the drill stem).

Driller controls.

Me in the lifeboat. You can survive in this for a week.

Braving the personnel basket. Imagine if you were hanging on to this basket in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, in 50 mph winds while simutaneously being carried up hundreds of feet above the ocean.

When I got home, Matt and Reese had gone to visit Matt's parents, so I got a quick nap before I began preparing for our company.

Here is Reese doing her one legged thing again.

She can entertain herself for hours (well minutes really) with the most common things. She loves digging through bags, purses, you name it.

I tried to get her to wear my hard hat, but she would rather play with it.

On Friday night, Reese noticed I was eating chips and queso and she decided she wanted some. Over the past few weeks, she has started to notice what I am eating and she'll grab it and put it into her mouth. She digs the chips! I was always worried about giving them to her because I didn't want the chips to be too sharp. Apparently I've been holding out on her.

Nolan, Wendy and Karsyn arrived Friday evening as we hosted the annual Crawfish Boil. We've been doing this for years now; it's like our college reunion. This year everyone except Scott and Lauren had a kid or two.

Reese started out in her saucer so I could peel some crawfish, plus our backyard is not child proof. Yes, she is chewing on a spoon.

Kade and Reese.

This was really Reese's first time to play in the dirt. Like I said our backyard isn't child proof or parent proof so we do not hang out there.

She discovered dirt.

Eewww, let's wipe it off. Oh by the way, she doesn't like grass either. She won't sit on it or touch it, but she will try and eat it if you hand her a sliver. (Today she and I sat in the front yard and I tried to get her to touch the grass. She wouldn't even sit down, so I tore some grass off and held it in my palm. What did she do? Grab it and put it in her mouth.

Baby Issac.

Karsyn and Isabella.

The rest of the gang.

The guys peeling crawfish (Jerry and Scott are missing from the picture). 30 pounds later their hands were on fire, but we've got a freezer full of leftover crawfish for gumbo.

Reese walked more today, when she thought Grandma wasn't watching. I still haven't seen her walk on her own since the last post. :) Stubborn child.

Walking !?!

When I got home from work on Friday Grandma Ruth told me Reese had walked from the kitchen to the dining room all by herself. Grandma was trying to distract Reese from playing in the pantry and said "Let's walk." Reese then let go of Grandma's hand and after standing and flapping her hands all about she took off into the dining room. I was so excited and hoped she would do it again for me. Reese was happy to oblige. I stood her up in the kitchen and backed into the dining room. She stood there for a few seconds and flapped her hands around and then she walked towards me taking at least 10 steps. She even managed to cross the threshold without stumbling. I've uploaded a video at the end of this post to prove it.

Reese walked a few more times on Friday, but really hasn't done it again since then. With that said, I don't know if I can officially announce that she is walking, but we'll say she took her first 10 steps at 13 months. We now know she can do it!

Reese still loves playing in her container cabinet, placing the lids in the containers and stacking them on top of each other.

Matt was out of town this weekend, but Reese and I kept busy. On Friday night we went to visit Amanda, Pete and Baby Elizabeth for dinner. Elizabeth is 5 months old. A few other friends were there and we enjoyed catching up, playing with the girls, tasting a new Cabernet wine called The Happy Camper and eating pan seared Tilapia. Reese and I didn't get home until 10:30. Luckily she went right to sleep.

Saturday morning Reese, Grandma and I got ready and headed out to run a few errands. Later in the day we went to Mom and Sam's to hang out, shop and eat dinner.

Grandma Ruth bought Reese her first ball. Reese loved to watch Mommy dribble left handed and roll the ball back and forth to her.

Reese seems to enjoy multi-tasking while her shaking Cheerio maraca and rolling her Elmo ball.

After another late night, we had to move the clock forward 1 hour for daylight savings time, so we ended up in bed around 11:00 p.m.

Sunday was a day full of chores that went by too quickly. I would have rather not spent so much time doing things around the house, but I have realized there is always something that needs to be cleaned, put away, cooked, thrown out, etc., etc. Reese entertained herself while I folded laundry. She must have played with these boxes for at least 30 minutes just talking and climbing away.

Reese and I were both getting cabin fever about 2:00, so we headed out to wash the Volvo and do our weekly grocery run at Kroger.

She hung in there just long enough to get home, take her bottle and crash. I prepared dinner while she slept on Grandma Ruth.

Matt got home around 5:30 and we took a nice walk to the park while the casserole baked.

Reese made the sweetest faces on the way to and from the park. I was like the paparazzi as she and Matt walked down the street.

Reese walked all the way (holding Daddy's hand) to the swings when we arrived at the park.

Daddy held her up high before letting go!

Time to head back home for dinner.

See those cute faces she was making.

The cutest baby girl.

Tonight, we took advantage of the light and took another walk around the neighborhood and to the park. We ran into many of our neighbors and their kiddos, and we finally got home around 7:00 to eat leftovers. Reese walked a long way with Daddy.

She even walked up the stairs to the porch!

Time for bed little Reese. Let's go read a book with Daddy.

For the big finale...here is Reese, The Little Walker!