"Is she stacking?"

Reese had her 18 month checkup a few days ago. The doctor was asking all his usual questions to assess her developement: How many words does she say?, How many body parts does she know?, Can she follow directions?, Does she point to things?, etc. His last question was, "Can she stack blocks and how many high?" I felt like a horrible mother! I had to say I didn't know, we have never played with blocks! I worried about it all the way home.
So, as soon as we got home I found Noah's blocks that I had boxed up and put in the garage and brought them into the house. I sat Reese down very seriously and showed her how to stack one on top of another. She looked at me like I was crazy and this is what she did immediately. Well, I guess that answers that question!
I wish that somehow I could get a study guide for the test we are going to have at the dr's when she turns 2!

Faces only a mother could love.

I have to admit that since Reese came along, I do not have the passion for the dogs I once used to have. I get so tired of letting them in and out every 10 minutes while Reese and I are trying to play. I get so tired of waiting for Diamond to sniff out the entire yard before going to the bathroom when Reese and I are trying to leave the house to go somewhere. I get so tired of cleaning up Ginger's accidents because I cannot let her out at the exact second she tells me because I am changing Reese's diaper. I get so tired of the dogs hovering around Reese's chair at every meal because they know she drops things. I get so tired of the dogs waking Reese from her naps because they are barking at the UPS man at the door. I get so tired of getting mad at the dogs for everything they do.

I do understand that all the problems they cause are a direct result of their owners not training them properly, and I get so tired of not having the time to train them properly. However, I took these pictures of them recently for a project Noah had at school, and it reminded me that I need to make time to love them again. Look at those faces - how could I not?

BFFs

Reese and Ruby ("beese" and "bubi" - Rs are hard at this age). The pictures say it all.

Are you going to eat that?

I'm so excited about Noah's teachers this year. They are both very excited to be teaching and are planning some awesome activities. We really struggled last year with teachers and so I'm looking forward to a new year and hopefully at least a small change of heart from Noah about school.A recent assignment in science was for the kids to make an edible plant or animal cell to take to school the next day and eat. Of course Noah chose cake with candy toppings (it's always about the sugar). I had such a great time making this with Noah. This is the kind of stuff I dream about us doing if we were homeschooling.

After they had their party in class, I asked Noah what the other kids made their "cells" out of. It sounds like they were mostly desserts. So I began rambling on about how it could be done out of pizza, on a tortilla, a hamburger, blah blah blah. At the end, I said to Noah very excitedly, "We should have a cell pizza dinner this week! Just for fun!" He replied, "Really?" I guess it's good we are not homeschooling.

It's for what?

Reese has started telling us when she pees and poops in her diaper so se decided it was time to introduce the potty. I got out Noah's old potty that we had saved and cleaned it all up and had it waiting for her when she woke this morning. She sat on it for a minute but then began to examine it and all its parts. She found uses for every piece of it - the bulk of it can be used as a stool to gain heighth to things she wants to reach, the bowl makes a great hat and the seat is perfect for putting around your neck when dancing and twirling. Here she is modeling this lovely new accessory.

Gog!Gog!Gog!Gog!

This is Reese's new fascination - swim goggles. Much to Grammy's dismay, I'm sure - she warned us never to allow Noah or Reese to wear swim goggles because of a mishap when Dave was young. Way to ruin it for everyone, Dave! (my kids are not allowed to have jawbreakers or hard sucky candy either because of daddy) Anyway, we won't tell Grammy that Reese wore these most of the day - to watch Kipper (her favorite show), to eat lunch and to swim, of course. It will be interesting to see where the goggles go tomorrow.

What were we thinking?

You would think among four grown adults that at least one of us would have some sense. Not so in this family! We (Dave's parents and Dave and I) chose to get out of the Arizona heat and take our summer vacation together to the west coast of Florida. So we went from hell to hell with humidity (and possibly oil)! Well, somehow by pure dumb luck, the oil spill did not get to Naples, FL and we managed to have a great time - even while melting into puddles on the ground.

The airport was probably Reese's favorite part of the whole trip. Between the planes, the monorail and the escalator, who needs the beach?

The beach seemed to be Noah's favorite however. He spent his time building sand castle masterpieces and looking for the perfect and most rare shells he could find (and apparently there are many, because we brought home buckets full!) Reese loves the water. She has absolutely no fear of the water and had us all in knots while we were on the beach. She loved running into the waves and then squealing and running back as they chased her to the shore. The problem became when they would inevitably catch her and knock her down and try to wash her back out to sea. It was a great fun to her, and anything but fun for everyone else who were nervous wrecks! There are no pictures of her doing this because who could take a second away from chasing her to take a picture?!

We had a wonderful hotel suite with two separate bedrooms, a kitchen, a living space and a wonderful balcony overlooking the ocean where we liked to spend our mornings eating breakfast and watching the world go by.

We spent most of our time close to some sort of water - beach or pool - because of the heat, but were able to check out other interesting sights in Naples also - the pier, America's smallest post office, alligators in the wild (which Charles is convinced almost ate him for lunch), the mangrove forest on an airboat (who knew that all this time all we needed was a deafening noise in Reese's room to get her to sleep?), the Naples zoo, and Thomas Edison and Henry Ford's vacation homes.

Sneaky

It's amazing how different Noah and Reese are. I am really nervous for the trials we are going to face with her. I guess, however, that after the traumas I put my parents through, I deserve all I have coming to me - what goes around, comes around.
So here Reese is where I found her hiding with the bag of grapes that she stole out of the fridge all on her own. Noah still asks before he gets anything out of the fridge!

Living in the moment

Reese is teaching me to live in the moment and not keep planning my life away. She manages to thwart my plans all the time getting us sidetracked doing things I don't have time for and making me very frustrated. I am so thankful for these moments. I am not a go-with-the-flow type person and have always envied people who are. With Reese around, I have been forced to stop and smell the roses (literally) and think about how fast our days go by and if we run out of time for grocery shopping or or doing the laundry, there is always Panda Express and Febreeze. and I have noticed so much more about my world by not focusing on the future and taking time to look around me.

Take time to question and ponder everything.

Take time to sit when you're tired - no matter where it is.

Take time to feel every bump in life.

Always, take time to eat when you're hungry.

Fabulous Fourth!

For the fourth of July, my wonderful parents got us all tickets to an evening at the Phoenix zoo, including dinner, games and fireworks. It was perfect. There were lots of things for he kids to do - a carousel, face painting, water fountains, and dancing, not to mention seeing some of the animals. After dinner, we were taken by tram to the back of the zoo where we had special seats for the city fireworks, complete with popsicles provided! The whole experience was just that much better because we all went in our matching Old Navy t-shirts!

The whole thing was a lot more fun than the july fourths we spent at the Logan stadium, sitting in the sun, after lugging our coolers full of drinks and snacks, watching the cloggers and jets fly over for four hours until the fireworks started. Although, still nothing beats the show in Logan with the fireworks right overhead and the gorgeous mountains all around.

Catching up again

I've gotten behind again - the whole summer has gone and school has started!

June was full of activity. After our trip to New York, my mom and nieces came to stay with us for a week while we all went to VBS. A ranch theme this year so the girls wanted to have freckles painted on everyday for their adventure. Of course, they wanted Reese in on the action too.

During the week we also visited several local fun spots. One of them is the Wildlife Museum - a place full of taxidermied animals. It sounds horrible, but it's a great place, out of the heat, where the kids can run around and touch and feel all kinds of animals. Here's fearless Reese sitting on the alligator, Burnee making friends with the lion and the whole group posing for a picture (notice Noah hiding behind his sister).

After VBS, Noah's friend Eli came to visit us for a couple of weeks. It was wonderful to have him here and they had a great time. They went to church camp in Prescott, AZ and a local day camp where they did science stuff. And in their free time they , along with Noah's friend Tyler, made a Star Wars video. What an awesome memory that will be to watch when they are old! Here is a picture from the opening scene.