Reese stuck in the Grass

I found this video when I was downloading pictures from Thanksgiving. I didn't know Christopher took this. I think its pretty funny he pushes her back down on the grass to try and get up again. (Is that bad that I think its funny?) Anyway for your enjoyment!

Family

We have been lucky this year I feel like we have seen a lot of our family. Mostly my side but we were lucky enough to spend the weekend with two of Christopher's brothers. Ben and Ursula came up from Tallahassee, Fl with their two babes and Travis and Ade came for a  company Christmas party so they left their four boys in Utah for the weekend. We had a lot of fun just hanging out. Reese was pretty happy about having some other people in the house to follow around besides Christopher and I. She has the best Aunts, Uncles and cousins. It didn't hurt that two were her size. It was fun watching her try to keep up with Bella(4) and Landon(2). It was a great weekend. We captured a few moments through pictures so here they are . . . 

 (Reese loves her Auntie Ade, seriously she wanted Ade to hold her all the time.)

 (the boys went golfing)

 (so sweet)

 ( The Dougherty Boys married well. I love the sisters I got when I married Christopher)

(These three were too cute!)

 I miss you guys already. Can't wait for this summer! Love you and thanks for coming to Atlanta to see us.

Thanksgiving

This year my Mom and Dad and 3 of my sisters came to Atlanta. It was a great time. On Thanksgiving morning instead of a Turkey bowl, this year, we did the Turkey trot, which was pretty appropriate for my family as we are mostly girls. I think Christopher missed his football but he was a good sport and ran the 5k with my dad and sisters. I ran the half marathon and my mom and bugs were the cheerleaders. 

 

(Before the race)

It started at Turner field and we live really close it. But it took us so long to get there because of all the traffic that we were a little rushed, at least I was. My race started a little before the 5k. I didn't quite hit my goal time, but it was a good race. Next time I definitely don't want to run alone. I'm still trying to convince Christopher to do it with me. Maybe next year! The 5kers had a blast though. They all ran together nice and slow. Most of them were in no shape to run a race. Margie was pretty rocked from the race the rest of the weekend.

My mom and bugs had fun too while they chased us down and waited for us to finish.

I saw Reese and my mom twice during the run. The first time I stopped and gave her a big kiss. She was so happy to see me and then I had to go. I guess as soon as I left she just lost it. She did not like seeing me run away from her and vanish into a sea of people. Then I saw her again and she was sitting in her stroller just scanning the runners going by. I thought I would be ok if I just waved this time she saw me and again just lost it. When we all met up after the race Reese was a mess. She was so afraid I was going to leave her again she would not let go of me. She wouldn't even go to Christopher. Apparently it was pretty traumatic for her. I was so tired I could barely hold my self up, but I felt bad putting her down, so I lugged or I guess hugged my 26 pound baby all the way back to the car. It was kind of nice to see how much she really does love me though.

 Notice her white finger tips. She was holding on so tight, so I wouldn't put her down.

 Then we went home and made an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. It was one of the better ones that I can remember. It was also my first experience with sweet potato pie. I must say I think it is my new favorite, even over pumpkin and I am a big fan of pumpkin.It was sooo good. Wish I had pictures of dinner.

The next day we went ice skating in the park and to the aquarium. It was so fun. Atlanta has some really nice parks and a few of them set up outdoor ice rinks. It was so much fun. We were all a little shaky on skates at first but we got pretty good after a while.

Umm. . . Reese had a little wave of PTSD from the day before whenever I would skate over to her then skate away, so I had to steer clear of her side of the rink. She loves her grandma though, so it wasn't too bad. The rest of the time we just hung out, played games and played with the babe. 

 She had so much fun with her aunties and grandma and grandpa. Her new obsession is purses, shoes and hats. Thanks for coming everyone. I'm so grateful to have such a great family on both sides mine and Christopher's. Happy Holidays!

Tasmanian Devil

Bugs got Tubes a few weeks ago. It was a sad day until she got her drugs . . .

 

 She was so scared of anyone coming near her that they had to give her something to help her relax and oh did it ever. Even though I knew she was happier and less stressed I think it was harder for me to see her drugged up and "high", for lack of a better word, than to hold her when she was going crazy after the surgery. She just laid there and was perfectly quiet, just looking around, eyes completely glazed over, and then they rolled her down to surgery. And of course I was crying.

The doctor came in when it was done and said everything went fine. She told us to expect anything from a sweet little angel to a Tasmanian devil when she came back from recovery and was coming down off the anesthesia. We waited for a little bit while she was in recovery and then we heard her. She was wailing when they brought her in. She had her eyes closed and was just thrashing and spinning in my arms. No position was comfortable for her and nothing soothed her. It was so awful. As sad as that was it made me feel so grateful to have a healthy baby. She finally calmed down after about a half hour of crying. We took her home, put her down for a nap and when she woke up she was just as happy as can be. She has not had any problems since the surgery so I think all is well. Little kids are tough. I think ours is pretty feisty. I love her for it.

Holiday Cards

I love holiday cards! It is so fun to see the cards start coming in the mail and to touch base with so many friends and family. It is so nice to see what everyone has been up to during the year when you can't keep in touch as well as you'd like. Okay so I've never actually sent out Holiday cards before but I've always wanted to and this year  I have decided to use Shutterfly.com. They have some pretty awesome products and Christmas cards.  I have made a few books using their site and they turned out so great with such high quality. They really take the stress out of finding, designing, and printing all your holiday cards. The hard part is picking your favorite from so many different designs. One of my favorite Photo Christmas Cards is this little number. Click here to check out my other favorites. I love them all! Now I just need to decide on a family picture that we all look good in. Which shouldn't be to hard considering my last post.

Shutterfly is doing a sweet deal right now for bloggers: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards. To sign up visit here You need to see all the cards. There are so many to choose from. You can also go to shutterfly.com and see the fun possibilities for books.

Family Photos

We finally got our family pictures taken. My friend DaNae took these pictures for us. She was a little nervous about how they would turn out as she had never taken pictures for a family before but I love them and I think she is a natural with the camera. These are a few of my favs . . .  

There are so many more that I liked. I'm so grateful to have a friend in Atlanta. DaNae's husband goes to school with Christopher. They have two little kids, one is Reeses age and then they have a 4 year old Ella who Reese is in love with. Whenever they are together Reese follows her around repeating "Ella, Ella" its really sweet. I'm so glad we are here in Atlanta together going through the same thing for the next two years. Thanks DaNae!!

Halloween

Thanks to both Grandmas Reese was a big hit at all Halloween festivities that we attended
Grandma Jones pretty much made the Peach even though I like to tell people I helped, I really didn't do much. and Nana Dougherty found the sweetest bug costume! Reese had a lot of fun this Halloween. She is such a social little thing. We took her to a fall festival and she wanted to pet and chase every dog that passed. Seriously she is obsessed with "puppies" as she would say. She starts to pant and bark every time she sees on or thinks she hears one. Its really cute. And at the trunk or treat at church. Christopher and I could barely keep tabs on her. She was everywhere. Even when we went outside to do the trick or treating and it was dark out she took off running to the one car that was playing music and wouldn't leave the area around that car. She didn't care who was with her. She just wanted to dance. She has got some pretty good moves too!

Christopher and I dressed up as trees (of the peach variety), but nobody really knew what we were. A lot of people thought Adam and Eve and maybe we didn't make the best trees but we tried, really, that's all that counts. This picture below was the best we could get of all of us. She is pretty much against taking pictures these days. She will not hold still for anything. I don't know I guess it has something to do with that fact that she is 1 or something like that.

HERE and HERE are two videos (b/c they are so much better then pictures sometimes). One is of Bugs dancing at the trunk or treat. Its kind of dark but still cute. And the other is Reese trick or treating with her friend Ella. She is obsessed with Ella. Its kind of the sweetest things I've ever seen. And Ella the four year old is so sweet to love my little bugs back. Maybe Reese needs a sibling!

Buggies Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Our sweet little Bug is 1. I really can not believe it has been a year but sure enough her birthday has come and gone. We had a little birthday party for her. It was fun to have some of her friends over to our house. We have made and reconnected with some really great friends here in Atlanta. We did a little bug theme for the party. We made butterfly pasta salad, ants on a log, grape caterpillars, butterfly pb&j (I forgot to take the foil off of the sandwiches before I took pics, I always forget something)and my mom made this awesome bread that was in the shape of a caterpillar and we had subs out of that. It was so awesome and I didn't get a picture of it. Lame. Anyway here are some pictures. It really was a fun little party and Reese was so happy the whole time. Oh and the cakes are in the flower pots. Bugs got her own and then I made mini little dirt cakes in the small flower pots for all of the kids. It was such a cute idea I found.

Bugs is def. a one year old. She is walking and running all over the place, and she is talking like a maniac. She does some good animal impressions too her best ones are the cow, monkey and doggie. She dances and twirls on command. She gives big opened mouth wet kisses and she blows nice dry kisses. Her favorite thing to say is Hiiee and she says it just like that. My favorite thing is that she just started saying "Hi mommy" it seriously is the cutest thing ever! I have tried to capture this on video but she is getting wise to the video camera and chooses not to respond when it is on now a days. She loves Elmo (why are all kids obsessed with this red little monster?) and she loves watching Kung Fu Panda. No idea why but one night I put it in when she was teething and we were up all night and she will just sit and watch it ever since. Not sure if its a good or bad thing my one year old will sit and watch movies. Maybe we need to get out more. Anyway she has her own little personality and it comes out more and more everyday. We die over her everyday!

My mom and sister Emily came too. I loved having them here. bugs loves them both so much. Especially my mom they are best buddies and have been since day 1.

Labor Day or is it . . . Memorial Day?

This Labor Day was so nice here in Atlanta. We went to the pool and got to hang out with some friends from back in MI, who live here now. Here are some pictures and a VIDEO from the weekend. Please ignore the fact that I don't know which Holiday it is, it's kind of embarrassing.

Buggy left her sunglasses on the whole day at the pool. I was so excited and thought she would wear them all the time now, but of course it was short lived. The next day at the pool she wanted nothing to do with them.

I also have to tell you that we tried to buy her baby sunglasses but her head was so big that none of them fit so she is actually wearing little kid sunglasses. I need to get her those glasses that strap around the head.

Oh and I have to share this cute story. So, I don't know where she gets this but every time we are reading with the bug and there is a baby in the story and on the page she will bring the book into her chest and hug it and say some form of "awww". She doesn't have any baby dolls yet to do this with, so I'm thinking she just learned it from me doing it to her so much.
She is the sweetest thing and she is just a little sponge lately. She is growing up so fast. I can't take it.
Here is a little VIDEO of her reading with her dad.