Fun in the Car

Reese has been in heaven this week--for lots of reasons, not the least of which being that she has had at least three people sitting in the back seat with her when we drive anywhere.  She has been entertained nonstop playing with makeup, singing songs, playing peek-a-boo, and eating snacks.  Here she is playing with Aunt Lally's makeup bag--hilarious!

In the last couple weeks, Reese has picked up a new phrase: "no, no, no, no".  Usually when you ask her questions, she answers with the sweetest "uh-huh". (Do you want some milk? Would you like some more? Is mommy your favorite person in the whole world?...Uh-huh.)  But, the way she says "no" is so funny!  And because we all laugh when she says "no", now she thinks she is hilarious and she laughs at herself.

Don't mind my man voice.  I seem to have caught a bug on the way to Florida.  What is with me getting sick on vacation?!

Bienvenidos a Miami

Reese and I are in Miami this week enjoying the first annual Stimpson girls' trip!  We have been having a blast swimming, shopping, and enjoying the beautiful (and warm!) weather and Reese has been enjoying the constant attention from her aunts and MommaCat.

Quite the social butterfly, Reese has been walking around the pool deck smiling at people and making lots of new friends.  Everyone she sees has been going crazy for how cute she is in her darling bathing suits (can you blame them?!).  And Reese is turning out to be quite a little fish--she LOVES the pool and the ocean!  When you hold her in the pool, all she wants to do is squirm away from you, kicking her legs and putting her face in the water.  She also loves to jump in from the side of the pool, although we are still working on her waiting until the count of three when I am ready to catch her.  

My mom wrapped a hand towel around Reese and she thought it was the greatest new skirt.  As they walked around the pool deck, if the towel started to fall off, Reese would stop so that my Mom could wrap it tight again.

After a few tries, Reese got the hang of keeping her arms on top of her inner tube to stay afloat.  And she loves the ducks on top--she swims around saying "Cack, cack"--just like the ducks say.

Celebrating Tessa's birthday at Cheesecake Factory...the first of at least three birthday celebrations for the week.  That's how we roll with birthdays in my family--we try to celebrate for at least a week.

Reese's favorite snack after playing in the water was goldfish--how appropriate!

Easter

When I was growing up, every Easter my mom would make a bunny cake and let my sisters and me help decorate. Now that I have a little one of my own, I was very excited to carry on the tradition! For my first try, I'd say it went pretty well. But I can't wait until Reese is big enough to help me decorate--I think it could definitely use her touch.

Michael's idea to have a striped bow tie

We had a great Easter this year and had a blast watching Reese participate in her first Easter egg hunt. She was pretty excited about it for about four eggs...then she lost interest. I would find an egg in the grass and call to her to come over and put it in her basket and she would just walk on by. But, she got a baby duck Pez dispenser in her Easter basket, which she loves! She actually got a few ducks in her Easter basket and she loves to see ducks because she know what they say--when I ask her what a duck says, Reese says, "Cack, cack!" It is a crack up--I'll see if she will do it on video.

Here is Reese, scoping out the course before the fun begins. (sorry you can't see her whole Easter dress--it was freezing outside! but it was darling!)

Dad is about to introduce Reese to the goodness that is a Reese's peanut butter cup.

Dad wasn't opening the candy fast enough, so she had to help him out. Either that or she got her hands in there first to make sure Dad didn't eat her candy.

She popped that Reese's cup in her mouth so fast!

Good Friday goodness

Reese and I planned an Easter cookie decorating party on Good Friday. I have had these cookie cutters forever and finally decided to try them out. I quickly remembered why I rarely make sugar cookies--the recipe that came with the cookie cutters, while delicious, was incredibly involved and detailed in its instruction. There are quite a few tricks when making sugar cookies--especially sugar cookies that are supposed to fit together and stand up when assembled--and once I got the hang of them, it went pretty smoothly. And we had a blast decorating them! Oh, and the kids did too. Here are a few pics of the fruits of our labor.

Thanks to Whitney for taking these pictures!

Cherry Blossoms

Last week Reese and I went on a day trip to the Kenwood neighborhood of Bethesda, MD to see the beautiful cherry blossoms. It was a little rainy that morning, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and it was the perfect weather for a little stroll through the cherry blossom lined trees.

Then on Saturday, the weather was gorgeous, so we took Reese downtown to see the Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin. But, it was an absolute madhouse downtown, so we decided not to try to fight the crowds with Reese in tow. But, she didn't mind. Reese had a ball, mostly because we let her loose on the Mall and she had tons of room to run around. Michael chased her while I dragged the stroller (why did we take that thing?!). She got to see some kites, some other kids, and some dogs (she gets SO EXCITED when she sees dogs!)--and she was a happy camper.

Spring Break

Reese and I took a little spring break last week to Utah to visit some friends and family. We had a lot to squeeze in to 7 short days, so we had to hit the ground running!

Reese was an absolute champ on the flights out to Utah...including our three-hour layover in Denver. I had my diaper bag stuffed to the brim with all of Reese's favorite snacks and books and it seemed to do the trick. We sat in the back of the plane and I think Reese really liked looking back in the galley, too. When we were almost in Denver, one of the flight attendants commented on what a good girl Reese was and how her son, who is one day older than Reese, would have never sat still for that long! I think I was beaming. By the time we landed in Salt Lake City, Reese hadn't slept in about ten hours, the poor little dear, and she still had enough energy to make Lauren chase her around the airport. After at least another hour in the Salt Lake airport--can you believe they lost my car seat and stroller?!...that I checked at the gate?!!--we were off to start the fun!

Reese and I spent our first night at Lindsey's house and Reese could not wait to play with her cousins! Reese was still going strong, even though it was almost midnight for us, but I decided it was time for bed. Unfortunately, all the sleep deprivation during our travel caught up with us and Reese woke up every thirty minutes that night. Not that fun.
The next day, after lots of playing, we loaded up all three kids and went to this fabulous boutique/bistro called Dear Lizzie, where we had the most delicious sandwiches and cupcakes! Mmmm. The cupcakes alone are worth the drive!

It was hilarious to have all three kids piled up in the back of Lindsey's car!

Later that afternoon, my mom arrived from Montana and we drove down to Orem to stay at Granny's for a couple days. Reese had the best time and absolutely loved all the attention from everybody.

Reading with Good Ol' Uncle Pat
Rocking with Granny
Four generations of Dowling/Stimpson/Wheatley women

Next we went to visit some of our favorite people who moved to Utah from Arlington last year. We got to meet their newest addition Ava! She is such a doll!

Reese and Ella had a ball playing together. Ella was so sweet to share her St. Patrick's Day cookies (I think Reese ate about 5!) and princess fruit snacks. Reese was in heaven!
Isn't Reese sweet to help Ava with her binkie...I'm pretty sure she is helping to replace the binkie and not trying to steal it.

We spent the rest of the week at Lauren and Ben's house in Park City. Ooh, Reese loves her Aunt Lallycakes! She played dress up in her closet, took baths in her enormous bathtub, and went on long walks in the sling when mom got sick.

Nice legs, huh?

We even got to have a sleepover with Halle and Matt and McCall! I think Reese wanted to be Halle's friend a lot more than Halle wanted to be friends with Reese. Reese kept trying to give Halle hugs and Halle made a face to her mother like, "get this girl off me!"

We also got to visit some other of our favorite friends, who also moved back to Utah from Arlington (what gives?!). Reese had so much fun playing with her old buddies, and she loved their golden retriever! I didn't know it, but Reese loves dogs! Ever since then, every time Reese sees a dog on the street or even in a commercial on tv, she gets so excited!

Doesn't Lucy look thrilled to have older brothers who always want to play with her?!

Unfortunately, two days before we were supposed to go home, I got sick. It started as the flu and then morphed into the stomach flu...ugh. It was so nice to have Lauren fill in as Reese's mommy while I was under the weather. Lauren took Reese for a long walk in her new sling while I rested, and apparently Reese loved it!
I felt so yucky the morning that we were supposed to come home that I called the airline to try to change my flight...but it would've cost $800. So, we had to just suck it up and get on the plane. By some miracle we made it home without any incident, and Reese was a perfect traveler once again.