chris.reese.girls1.2.3.4

Paige and I made a quick trip to Yakima earlier this week to visit family. Paige is such a lucky girl to have three grandmas (on Chris' side) all in the same place! Even though it was a quick trip, it was great to see everyone, and Paige loved relishing in the attention and love. (Pictured: Great-Grandma Apken, Grandma Apken, Great-Grandma Hendricks) Another reason we headed over to Yakima was to catch Aunt Roxcy and little Josie before they headed back to California. This is Uncle Lane's family and they had flown in to visit for Thanksgiving. Chris and his Uncle Lane are a little over a year apart and basically grew up together. We miss seeing them and it was great to see Josie. She's pretty adorable...and growing up so fast! Josie, Aunt Roxcy, Charise, Paige

We spent a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving in Vancouver with my brother, Bryce, and his family. His wife, Becca, and I made the entire feast on our own and felt very accomplished in our efforts. We had never attempted such a feat and it required a million phone calls to all our mom's. We even made my mom's famous rolls, cranberry sauce from scratch (Becca), and real pies from scratch!! What I loved most about this Thanksgiving was how low-key and relaxed it was. We hardly ever left the house, nor did we feel the need to. Becca and I shopped early on Black Friday (with Camille during her brief visit) and the boys were back and forth from Home Depot to work on some projects in Bryce's new house a number of times. Paige loves her cousins Ty and Caden and enjoyed all their fun toys. THANKS GUYS! Becca and Chris trying to get the bird out of the pan...surprisingly difficult, but funny! I am pumped about this littly guy! He was yummy!! Baby Caden, Ty Ty, and Paige in the big tub. They...

Monday...dishwasher broken...my favorite appliance we upgraded just six months ago...Sears cannot fix until after Thanksgiving. This is my new nightmare . In my entire married life, I've only left dirty dishes in the sink overnight a handful of times and now it's a daily routine. Handwashing dishes is insane!! It's my own fault too. And it's seriously busted, folks. My handy husband took it apart and broke the news: it needs an entirely new door. Please Sears...I need you! (At least the bottom rack of the dishwasher is serving nicely as a drying rack)

It's been a long week, folks, but I've survived (barely). On Tuesday, Paige threw her standard tantrum when getting her diaper changed, and I decided I was ready to give up fighting her. We went straight to Target and bought big-girl ELMO panties, a new potty, a toy for going #2, and headed home to get started. So for the next three days we didn't leave the house (except for a brief hour on Wed for some help at mutual) and every 30 minutes treked to the potty. I have to say...Paige is doing really well. She wanted the Bert & Ernie toy so badly she did go #2 that same day, although she hasn't gone since, but we've only had a few accidents otherwise. On Friday, I had to drag myself out of the house, so we went to run some other errands and she even went potty at her first public restroom. Chris and I went out last night (which I soooo needed) and the baby-sitter said Paige asked to go potty a couple times! This was probably not the best week to start this, see...

As many of you know, Chris started a new job in September with Allyis. His company was recently awarded as one of the top family-friendly companies in the Puget Sound. Because of this award, Allyis was highlighted on our local news’ Evening Magazine show last night. The footage was taped during the company’s family Halloween party last week and Paige makes her big debut in her Dorothy costume. If you’re interested in watching, click on the link below…it’s a 2 ½ minute segment and Paige is about halfway through the bit. HAPPY WATCHING!!! http://www.king5.com/video/eveningmagazine-index.html?nvid=190809&shu=1

For those who requested the inside to the Jello fiasco, here it is: It was the night before Paige's birthday and I had been in the kitchen making Sunday dinner and all the prep for the party, including the Elmo cake. I was ready to go to bed, but decided to hurriedly make the Jell-O jigglers (JOJ) for the party to get one more thing done before Monday. I had never made JOJs before...and I used a recipe calling for real gelatin...I wanted to be sure they would hold together well. So, everything's all mixed up and I pour the hot, RED mixture into a 9 x 13 pan and then realize the JOJs would be like 2" thick, and that is not what I had envisioned. So, I quickly transfer the liquid into a sheet cake pan (while dripping a bit on the counter and floor...but it was only a little and it was fine). Then I realize I need to get the pan into the fridge, which is about 5 full steps away. I give myself a small pep talk and then go for it. I get started towards the fridge and Chris (o...

Here are some pics of the last week or so...Just so you can keep up (and I can go back and remember the craziness of it all!) I know I had pics of Paige on her birthday in her costume, but here she is on Halloween looking so adorable. I really hope for the rest of her life she takes to heart the saying, "There's no place like home." I guess that is what every mother wants. One of Paige's favorite parts of going trick-or-treating this year was the fact she can now reach the doorbell on her own. This is her practicing on ours. Twice this year I made Halloween sugar cookies. It's one of my favorite things to do at Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. When I made them for the second time this October, I let Paige help and it made her so happy! It kept her occupied for literally one whole hour. I gave her a small portion of the dough and she rolled it out, cut out the shapes, licked it, ate it and repeated those steps over and over for a good sixty minutes (don't wor...