Watching paint dry

Actually, watching nail polish dry. Reese is still upset about her peeling fingers and toes and she decided some pink polish would make them "pretty like a princess." I think it just draws attention to the mess that is her feet.

Drake woke up super grouchy from nap time but laying with Daddy in his easy chair watching golf solves everything!

I have got to find a gymnastics class for this little girl. She spends half her day on her head.  She's a bit like a cat - she walks along the back of the couch or the end of my bed and I don't really worry because she has such incredible balance.  I would NEVER let Reese do the same thing.

Stella decided to join Daddy in his office and help him finish up some paperwork.

A few more videos - Stella is reading up a storm. (She thinks Bert is a duck.)

Here's some good pretend play with Stella.

Flashback Friday

I've been looking at old pictures and have to share a few.  

Their expressions say it all - Reese is hamming it up for the camera, and Stella is over it.

"We are eating solid food!!!"

Cutie-pie.

When I was in Monroe last week, I was looking through Jill's old guest book and found a page about this particular visit to New Orleans.  I mentioned how out-going Stella was at the music festival, letting random strangers hold her.  

"Why isn't this car moving?"

Love this mullet.

Love these eyes.

Reese went through a phase where she was obsessed with cleaning everyone's toes with wet wipes.

This guy!!!!!!!!!

The power of the jinx

Wes is quite superstitious and believes in the power of the jinx.  Me?  Not so much.  Until now.  Every time I make a comment about how well our kids are sleeping, someone has a horrible night and Wes gives me the look that says, "You had to say something, didn't you?"  ARGH!!!!!!!!!!  Wes has been out of town all week and the kids have slept perfectly!!  Down at 6:00 pm, both Reese and Stella are in their big girl beds and they don't get out of bed until I get them in the morning.  Drake wakes up at 6:00 am on the dot.  I take him some water and a toy to get one more hour of rest.  Then at 7:00, I get Drake and Stella.  Reese sleeps until 8:00.  When Wes returned home yesterday, I was bragging on the kids.  And then I went to bed.  And Drake started crying.  Wes took care of it.  Then Stella starting crying.  And Wes took care of it.   Turns out, Drake lost his pacifier but I don't know what set Stella off.  She hasn't woken up in the middle of the night in a while so I hope this was a fluke and I plan on keeping my mouth shut about all sleep accomplishments.

In other news, I took the kids to the pet store on Tuesday to kill some time.  

On Wednesday, Stella had school so the rest of us went grocery shopping.  Drake is OBSESSED with balloons.  Every time he sees one, he starts yelling, "Boons!  Boons!"  I couldn't resist this time so we picked out three balloons to take home.  

Reese's favorite thing to do at HEB is use the Buddy Bucks to earn points.  The cashier gives me a couple of pretend dollars and Reese gets to put them in the machine.  Then the machine spits out points.  You are supposed to save the points to cash in when you have earned enough for a prize.  But Reese thinks the "coins" go in her piggy bank.  Fine with me!!!

 Speaking of Reese, her poor feet are peeling from hand-foot-mouth disease.  It's pretty gross.  A few days ago, I pulled off her shoe and the entire bottom of her big toe just came off.  Reese started screaming, "I scary!  I scary!" which means I'm scared.  It was pretty scary.  I told her that I would put on some medicine socks (plain white socks) to fix it.  Seemed to calm her down.

I've been saving Reese-isms in my phone.  Here are her latest sayings.

When you ask her how old she is - "I'm 3 years cold."

When something breaks or falls - "Oh my goodness."

When we tip-toe downstairs because Drake is still napping , she whispers - "gentle-toe, gentle-toe" instead of tip-toe, tip-toe

Freckles are called breckles.

Videos

Here's a bunch of videos - enjoy:)

Stella reading a book about oranges. She loves reading.

Stella has some OCD tendencies. Here she is repeating the same actions over and over. Interesting!

Reese loves to read, too!!!  She has one volume - LOUD!!

Stella playing baseball.

And Reese playing baseball.

Bye Bye, Hot Tub

Since we only used our hot tub once this past winter, we decided to get rid of it.  I posted an ad on Craigslist - "free hot tub" - and had twenty text messages within a half hour.   After texting with the first person who responded about the details, we made arrangements for them to come on Saturday and move it.  It took 7 guys (Wes joined the fun) to move it, but it is GONE!!!!  

We are going to re-stain the deck, then move the grill and smoker to this area.

In other news, Reese and Drake are feeling great after their bout with hand-foot-mouth disease.  Drake's legs still look pretty bad, I'm guessing he has another week before all his blisters have healed.  Reese peeled a slice of skin off the bottom of her big toe that was the size of a dime, and nearly as thick.  She started crying and screamed, "I SCARY!!"  which means I'm scared.  Poor thing thought she was falling apart.   They missed a week of daycare last week so when I took them this morning, I asked if anyone else had been sick.  Yep, they've had a string of it pass through the daycare, starting three weeks ago.  So that's where they got it!!

I know I need to post videos.  It's time consuming so I need to set aside an hour to do it.  Maybe tonight, after the kids are asleep.  KK is here this afternoon, so I got all my errands done.  Time to go fix dinner and do baths.

XOXO

Reese Renovations

I spent the past few days in Monroe, Louisiana!!!  Jill's house is awesome and I was excited to meet Mom and Dad there to work on a few projects.  First on the list was the laundry room.

To do list:  Move the plug for dryer, re-route dryer vent, remove or re-work the shelving, change the light fixture, add wainscoting and paint.

 Here is a before picture...

Here is the after picture:

We made such good time on this room that we set our sights on the Master Bathroom.   The bathroom is quite large with an incredible antique armoire turned sink.  Jill had already been given some floor to ceiling grey curtains that are very dramatic.  It needed a fresh coat of paint , new hooks, new bathmat and other decorative odds and ends.  

Here is a before picture:

And here is the after picture:

The difference is SOOOOOOOO dramatic.  We had trouble choosing a paint color - the first one looked lavender on the walls.  But we decided to use the laundry room color (Pewter by Benjamin Moore) and it was perfect.

Here are some pictures of the work in progress.

Love your house, Jill.   Can't wait to bring the whole family!!