Pink

We have done so many things I want to blog about but everytime I sit down to blog I get overwhelmed and start surfing the internet for clothes. Brian is less than thrilled. 

First things first, Bria starts preschool in less than 2 weeks. We had a home visit from her teacher and she was so nice, we all really liked her and think this will be a good fit. It's twice a week for 2 1/2 hours so it's a good way to introduce her to being away from home, although I'm not too worried. I think she will do really well for the most part, I hope anyway!

Lip gloss expert

"Zen I pucker, like dis!"

Bria is obsessed with the color pink. I did not push this on her, she just decided it's the best thing ever. When we go to the library she picks out books based on the amount of pink they have on the cover. I haven't taught her the phrase, "Don't judge a book by it's cover, " yet.

A ballet move I am not familiar with, but it's cute all the same

Bria has decided waking up early and coming in our room to "sleep" is a good idea. If she actually cuddled and slept it would be adorable. But she doesn't. She moves all over and then the second she sees you barely crack your eye open she yells, "Good morning!" in the cutest voice ever that you can't help but smile and then she knows you can't tell her to go back to bed. Darn her cuteness.

Oh yes the twirls!

This is called, I am adorable and perfect and sweet...most the time ;)

Reese usually wakes up around the same time (one of them is waking the other up, I don't know who it is yet) so I bring her in our bed and nurse her then we all have a big party in our bed where Brian and I try to wake up enough to actually get out and start the day. Both of us are praying the other gets up first and takes care of the kids so the other can sleep. On the weekends that works but during the week we both have to get up anyway. But I like when Brian gets up first because he always makes my coffee for me and it tastes better when he makes it.

I'm in shock that Reese isn't walking yet. I thought for sure she would be walking before her first birthday, and I guess there is still time. But she gets all loosey goosey when you try to let go of her hands and have her walk by herself. I think she knows what we want her to do so she is making sure to do the exact opposite.

Brian and I have been slacking about going out on date nights so the other week we did a group date with our friends and it was so much fun. We went to a movie at Cinetopia which is the most fabulous way to watch a movie in the theatre. Big overstuffed chairs with ottomans and even a waiter. I had a beer and cookie while watching the movie, fabulous!

Me and my friends

Chatting before the movie started

I swear our husbands were there, it's just hard to get a picture of all of us. Alright, I'm gonna go work on some more blog posts about our fun times at the beach!

11 Months

You know it's going by fast when you don't even have a chance to post the monthly milestone on the right date. So way back on the 21st Reese turned 11 months old. In just one short month (okay, less than a month) Reese will be 1 year old. I can honestly say I'm in denial.

Let's focus on what she is up to now:

Weighs about 17 pounds, in size 3 diapers, 9-12 month clothes, and size 2 shoe

Has some hair in the back but the hair on top is still super short, looks like it will be curly :)

Has skinny arms and legs, where did her baby chub go?!

Crawls (regular crawl, not the army crawl) all over

Can crawl up the stairs and go down them all by herself and LOVES doing it

Puts everything in her mouth, which is good when it comes to food, bad when it comes to things that are not edible (like crayons and chalk, which seem to be her favorites)

Is such a ham! Seriously, this child makes some hilarious faces and loves to make people laugh

Waves hi and bye

Started clapping 

Still has just the 4 teeth

Schedule: Bed around 7:30, wakes up around 6:30 am, takes two naps (one at about 9 am and the other around 1:30 or 2 pm), nurses 3 times a day, eats 3 meals and a snack or two

Is such a good eater, she eats veggies and fruit and loves to eat all by herself. I'd say her favorites right now are black beans, blueberries, grapes, avocados, and nectarines

Walks along furniture and while holding onto hands but is still cautious about doing it alone

LOVES Bria's white bunny (it was an Easter gift from Grammy), in fact, she now sleeps with it and cuddles with it (fortunately Bria has her blankie and puppy that she prefers)

Says Mama, dada, ny (night?), and yeah

Loves dogs

Is busy and into everything :)

I attempted to start weaning her a little, today was the third day that I didn't nurse her in the middle of the day, so now we are down to nursing once in the morning and once before bed

I can't believe we will soon be celebrating her 1st birthday, my baby is growing so fast!

And I raaaaan...

...I ran so far awaaay! 

I ran my very first race!! It was the Muddy Buddy race and it was so much fun. Seriously, I'm addicted. It was 3 miles with a bunch of obstacles throughout. The obstacles were totally my favorite part, there were cargo nets, walls to climb, tunnels to climb through, things to balance on, huge slides, ropes to climb, it was so awesome. 

Not only was the race itself fun, but everyone gets all dress up in different costumes and you run it with a buddy.

My friend Randi and I getting pumped for the big race

 Randi and I were the Hillsboro Housewives and we went for a subtle costume-leopard print socks :) We ran our little hearts out and kicked booty at the obstacles, it felt awesome. We found out that evening that we got second place!!
So why is it called the Muddy buddy race?

At the very end you crawl through a huge mud pit before crossing the finish line. Sounds dirty and it is, and for some reason it's the most fun way to end a race :) It's definitely going to be an annual thing!

*And I have Reese's 11 month post almost complete, just need to take her monthly bunny picture, I'm a few days behind!

Girls just wanna have fun!

I can't tell you how much fun it was having my nieces up here. Even just being an hour and a half away makes me feel like I'm missing out on so much and it felt good to be able to spend time with them. I promise, you will never meet two girls who are as kind, respectful, and helpful as my nieces. They are incredible. Jaime and Schuyler are such an amazing example for Brian and I, we listen closely to their parenting advice and take notes like crazy because their kids are simply wonderful.

Kailey has the most infectious laugh ever. Bria and Reese would laugh purely because they loved Kailey's laugh so much. Bria loved dragging Kailey around to play different games and was so thrilled when Kailey would color pictures for her. Kailey's quiet nature is so precious and calming. She was so willing to walk Reese around and try and make her giggle. Reese enjoyed trying to grab Kailey's glasses and her braces :) It was so fun to watch Kailey play games with my girls and happily go "camping" in the living room.

Kailey, your sweet spirit and laugh is admirable and infectious. It's impossible not to smile when you are around, I love you so much and am so grateful for your positivity in life.

Going camping

Jaidyn is so mature for her age. She is 11 but I would trust her to watch Bria by herself, she is that responsible. She was so good at playing with Bria, knowing what Bria liked and which games to play. She helped me so much and was so good about cleaning up after herself and reminding Bria to clean up her toys. Reese was so easily comforted by Jaidyn. Bria bonked her head pretty hard on the table outside and I quickly handed a fussy Reese to Jaidyn while I scooped up Bria and comforted her. Jaidyn calmed Reese down like it was nothing and had her content and playing. It was magical.

Jaidyn, you are such a special girl and I feel so lucky that my girls have you in their lives to look up to and to strive to be like. Thank you for being you, I love you so much.

All their camping gear :)

Watching a movie: Madagascar

Jaidyn helping with bedtime

After bath time :)

As hard as it is to be "far away" from my family, it's been fun having Cassidy, Jaidyn, and Kailey come and stay with us for a few days. I feel like I get to spend quality time with them that I might not get to otherwise.

Here's a hint...

...can you guess what our weekend looks like? 

 Girls girls girls!!! Brian is out of town for business stuff and I get to have my two nieces stay with me!
Bria is in heaven. I'm in heaven. Reese is in heaven.
We are so happy to have them :)

More later, but right now it's time to go play and/or be productive :)

Put yourself in my shoes

I can't even believe how much I love this picture, it's going in her wedding video (really wish I would've made the bed, and cleaned the mirror!)

My little lady just primping away

Realizing at an early age that heels are painful

Reese wanted to try them on too :)

I appreciate my girls walking in my shoes and realizing what a tough job I have ;) Bria has been obsessed with my shoes lately, she loves going into my closet and putting them all on. I think my favorite is when she puts my boots on and they go all the way up her legs. I remember trying on my moms shoes and loving it so it makes me smile to watch my girls do the same thing.

My baby loves babies

Hugging her baby

 I know I've already mentioned that Reese loves babies. But seriously, she LOVES babies. She will crawl over to them, hug them, kiss them, look at them, crawl around with them, laugh with them, talk to them, I could go on.

 Let's just say they make her super happy and it is beyond adorable to watch her with them.

 

Baby said something hilarious apparently :)

I think this child needs a special dolly for her first birthday :)

I'm fired

I can't believe it's been a week since I blogged, bad me!
We did have a busy week last week, although I couldn't exactly tell you what we did every minute of the day, all I know is we were running around like crazy and enjoying the sunshine. We have spent a lot of time swimming and a lot of time at the local parks.
Saturday was Kayla's bridal shower and it went great. I brought Bria down with me and left Reese with Brian. My Dad watched Bria during the shower and I think they all had a good time. Bria was very happy and very tired when I got there to pick her up, she slept most the way home :)
Sunday was kind of a lazy day, I slept in (thanks babe!) then when I got up Brian took a nap. I organized and cleaned a little then we went to our friends for a little BBQ and some swimming.
Last night my friend Randi took some family pictures for us and I cannot wait to see them. She has a gorgeous yard so we took them at her house. She has a great eye for photography and is wanting to get into it professionally so I told her we were more than willing to help build her portfolio. You know I will be posting a bazillion of them when she gets them all finished up.
So that's what we've been up to lately. My friends have started asking me what I'm going to do for Reese's 1st birthday and I keep saying how I'm totally behind in planning it. So yeah, I'm not really sure. I think we are going to have a small party at our house with family and a few friends. I better get on that since it's about a month away.
I have been horrible about taking pictures lately so here are a few random ones from a week or so ago:

Bria planted some veggies in Aunt Heather's garden and here she is devouring her sweet peas, she LOVES them

Just playing

Okay, I'm gonna try and be better about pictures and blogging!

Birthday busyness

Bristol turned 3 yesterday and had a BBQ to celebrate this momentous occasion. Bria was so excited to go to her party, although after while she decided it was her own party and when I corrected her she told me that wasn't very nice (for all my Friends viewers, this reminds of when Phoebe said to Monica, "I would NEVER tell you it wasn't your birthday!").

Giving Bristol loves on the run

My crazy haired child 

Party fun!

Reese is such a cuddler, even if it's just a water bottle :)

Reese has become a little stinker these days, and also a mama's girl

But she still loves her Daddy

And Bria still loves cupcakes

And I love Lanie's friend Brindy, she's an awesome photographer

Oh the eyes, they kill me!

The girls devouring their cupcakes

The birthday girl and her beautiful Mommy!

My youngest and me

It was quite a fun party and we got quite a few cute pictures :)
I was insanely busy this weekend, it was crazy. Brian's hike went well, he's safe. The girls and I got some swimming in and lots of time with Grammy, Heather, and Tracy. All in all, it was successful, just busy! More on it later :)