Art and More Take 2

I was slightly more interested in art class this week. Mommy made sure to bring juice and a snack for me in case all shenanigans broke loose. Luckily it wasn't needed this week because Miss Carol let us eat some of the popcorn that we used to make Popcorn trees!

We also used apples (which we DID NOT eat) to make some prints. (Sorry these pix are dark at the top... Mommy is a moron and had her finger partially over the flash!)

Art is fun and all, but I'd rather just DANCE!

Bowling... so fun!

Saturday we invited Grandma and Grandaddy to come to the pumpkin patch with us. Yes, we did go for my birthday party, but we didn't pick our real pumpkins for Halloween. Sadly the weather called for flurries, and it was WAY TOO COLD to have little Emmabelle out, so they met us at our house until we came up with a grand plan. We decided that it would be fun to go to the bowling alley for a little game. I had been bowling, kind of, before for Daddy's work, but we hardly count that. While we waited for Emma to wake up from her nap, we got a little reading in.
Here I am picking out the perfect ball. :)

When we arrived, it was "rock 'n bowl." Quite a few children were having their birthday parties, so all the lights were off and the music was pumping. Perhaps my birthday party for next year? :) The lightest ball they had was a 7 lber, and let's remember I'm only 2, so we used bumpers in the gutters and this handy dandy ramp. Wouldn't you know I got TWO strikes with this bad boy... and the help of Daddy and Grandaddy.

This picture cracked Mommy up because all she could think of was Uncle Funk talking about "my bodddddy!"

What a mush baby! Emma was far too little to bowl, but she had plenty of fun too.

I HEART BOWLING... I talked about it all day yesterday! :) Well, that and golf for some reason?!

I'm the 3rd one... look at that... a 99!

Here I am in action:

Taking turns

Just a little sisterly bonding. We truly adore each other... it makes for great memories.
"Emmaroo... you are just the cutest!"

FINALLY... a semi-decent picture of me holding Emma!

KISSES!

"Okay Emma... brace yourself... it's my turn!"

Disclosure... no 4 month olds were hurt in the documentation of this hysterical event.

October 11

Today was rather enjoyable. After waking up to this joker (My Jacket... Mommy insists his name is JackSON... I insist his name is JackET... layoff Ma!), Mommy and Daddy took Emma Grace and me to the Newbern Festival... for the record it was NOTHING to write home about, but it was family bonding time, so we had fun. :)

After walking up and down the street, we stopped at the Funnel Cake booth. I think we were all pretty much birthday caked out, so we thought this might be a "healthy" alternative. I kept running back and forth to Mommy waiting in line and to Daddy watching my EG.

We then hit up the man down the street who used to be Daddy's pumpkin selling competition. He had some fairly good pumpkins and they were more than reasonably priced, so we got this big bad boy for $5!

After a brief visit from Uncle Aaron and Liz (who brought me the coolest dinosaur birthday card EVER!), we headed to Cracker Barrel. Mommy and Daddy have decided that if my actual birthday falls on a football weekend, my party will be on a different weekend, and we'll just head to a nice family dinner of my choice. For the record I didn't choose Cracker Barrel, but Mommy knew it would be loud there, and I'm apparently at the age where I need loud. :)

This was my first EVER sip of OJ. It was like heaven in a glass.

I will not be beaten by the peg game!

Alas! An Eg-nor-a-moose I am not!

LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! They came and sang Happy Birthday to me!!! I was so surprised and excited... and for the record... I didn't even cry.

They also brought me a little sundae. I don't rather enjoy ice cream all that much, but Mommy got a few good shots of me before I realized what was happening.

Happy Birthday to me!

Progression

Rachel here. I'm not exactly sure how my mini-me went from this: (1 minute old)

to this: (1 year old)

to this: (2 years old... today)

What is a 2 year old Reese about these days? Well for starters I've given up on the word roll. The girl is talking nonstop. Some of it is modern day English, and I'm certain some of it is ancient Mandarin. :) Some uber funny things she is saying these days: a do (thank you... immediately followed by) you're welcome, when you ask her how old she is she responds "how old are you?", when she falls down she says "awe nuts", the second she sees the dog she commands him to the garage, "campout" (timeout), and when Emma farts she says "awe Emma sanky poopoo."

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She's still eating EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN, and had her first bit of orange juice today. We've even moved on to giving her Cheerios with milk in a bowl. Her favorite foods are broccoli, macaroni and cheese, cheese, chicken, yogurt, and milk. Some of her enemies... mainly just ice cream.

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Reese is still madly in love with anything a boy would play with. Cars and trains tend to top the list. She has begun to fancy her baby doll more though. Honestly... we could care less. :)

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She is the best big sister alive. She's always concerned for Emma. If Emma cries, she puts her paci in her mouth, if Emma smiles at her she giggles uncontrollably and wants to play with her even more. Reese loves to throw the diapers in the garkish (garbage) once I'm done changing Emma, and she is usually the first to hear she is awake over the monitor. She's just an all around helpful sister, which is so great and super sweet.

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There is so much going on with this kid these days, I can't even keep track. I'll have to just start updating more regularly on how much she is growing and changing. We love her so much and can't wait to see what the next year brings us. My prediction... more laughs, more temper tantrums, lots of potty messes, and oodles of hugs and kisses. :)

Happy Birthdays

Rachel here. October 10, 2007 was Bryan's big day. The big 2-9. The best birthday present I could have even thought of giving him was to come October 11, 2007 at 2:40 am. Reese we love you more and more everyday, even if you HAVE blessed us with your uglies. :) Happy Birthday my mini-me! Daddy and I love you!

Art and More

So today was my first day of "Art and More." It was fun, but "Energy Outlet" was by far more my speed. I CAN NOT BE CONTAINED! But seriously... my teacher Ms. Carol is super friendly and has no expectations... my kind of lady. She realizes that having a class between the hours of 11 and 12 (lunchtime/naptime) with 2 year olds is an extreme recipe for disaster, so she pretty much lets us have free reign.
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When we first came in, there were supplies at a large table for us to make name tags out of.
Once I was done with mine, I wanted to check the place out. There was literally not one thing in the joint that I didn't touch. I was the first one there, so I had quite a bit of time to kill. You just never know how long it'll take us to get out of the house, so we figure better early than late.

Here I am making my necklace out of foam triangles and cut up straws. Upon seeing the straw pieces, I immediately put them up to my mouth and pretended to drink... so bright I am!

Sadly I only strung about 2 pieces of my necklace before I was bored to tears. Luckily Ms. Carol had some easels set up for us to doodle. Thomas (who has a sweet arm by the way... the kid can chuck sidewalk chalk like no other) and I were immediate soul mates. We both loved to doodle and later throw temper tantrums... ahhhh... if that's not love, I don't know what love is.

I came back to work on my "rainbow pizza." This task began in a temper tantrum because I saw the dyed pasta and immediately started to eat it. Mommy freaked out because it was uncooked, but I was all like "ma... relax... I'm cool." Then Ms. Carol said she'd had that pasta FOR YEARS... that's when Mommy went in after it. She's all sticking her fingers in my mouth like she owns it or something. Needless to say I flipped. It took us a while to recover. After we took a little walk around the room I came back to my pizza. Mommy was the original gluer, and I was supposed to put my ingredients on the spots where she glued. I wasn't having that for too long, so I glued and she placed... we were actually quite the team.

Here is the finished product... cute right?! It's soooo hanging on our refrigerator! One of Mommy's dreams has been fulfilled. We have my artwork (that I did at "school") on the fridge.

For the record... Emma Grace was pretty well behaved too, and she was BY FAR the best dressed in the room!

Mobile?

Rachel here. So rolling over is in our near future... I'm almost certain of it. Emma Grace is teetering back and forth like it's going out of style. I don't think I'm quite ready for this new venture. Reese was over 5 months before she rolled... ahhhhh... those were the days. ;)
This picture is significant because when I put her on her mat this afternoon her feet were where the giraffe is and her head was in the upper left hand corner. I would say it took her about 5 minutes to look like this!

Energy Outlet

Today was my first day of Energy Outlet. Mommy signed me up for a couple of classes through the Rec Center here in town so we could get out of the house and I could play with some other children. I'm starting to become a little possessive, so hopefully more interaction with peers will help me to lighten up a little bit. :) Why such a cheesy look on my face you ask?
Hello Nurse! Mr. Kenny has the key to my heart, and I'd only known him for 5 minutes.

Just look at this set up. We don't have access to any Gymboree classes within a million mile radius, so Mommy is so excited we got into this class!

Where have you been all my life?

I kept playing catch with Mr. Kenny, but each time I threw it at him, I would QUICKLY turn around and run away... this will make the boys swoon... I'm sure of it.

Ms. Maria seemed pretty cool. She was very nice and made sure to show me how all the equipment worked, so I wouldn't hurt myself... and so Mommy could get some good pictures... parental interaction is required, so I could tell Mommy was nervous about not getting pictures (and whether or not EG would keep her cool... for the record... she was perfect).

(Rachel here... JUST LOOK AT MY BABY!)

I had SUCH A GOOD TIME at Energy Outlet that I didn't want to leave. You can only imagine that I did indeed cry from the time Mommy put my shoes on all the way to McDonalds for my nuggets and apples. I CAN NOT wait until next Tuesday! The next venture... Art and More on Thursday!