chris.reese.girls1.2.3.4

The Swine wasn't on my list of "To Do"s before Thanksgiving, but consider it completed. Five days . This thing had me in bed for five days. Thanks to Chris and some very kind friends who so willingly took care of my kiddos. Today is day six and while I'm still not back to normal, I'm getting there and I'll take it. Last night for FHE we were talking about Thanksgiving. We asked Paige what Thanksgiving means and she said, "that it's almost Christmas?!" While that is true, we hope to not overlook this important stand-alone holiday...we have much to be grateful for this year. So now we are off to the east side for a Apken/Hendricks gathering!! Happy Travels and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Miss Paige finished up swim lessons for the year. She had a good run, advanced to the next class and will take a break until the spring. She made great progress and we are proud of her!! Check out the two videos: (Please ignore my high pitched squealing...sometimes I get carried away)

I'm catching up...and didn't want to miss out on documenting my weekend away! The wives of the "Golf Your Guts Out" men have always talked about having our own retreat. Needless to say, it's mostly been talk...until this year! Thanks to Chris' wonderful Aunt Kristin who made arrangements for us to stay in Roslyn for a weekend without kids, husbands, and responsibilities. We enjoyed a day at the spa (I had a glorious facial), a day of shopping in Leavenworth (our paths crossed with Grandpa and he took us all to lunch!), lots of chit-chat, movies and dining out at some wonderful favs: the Ellensburg Pasta Company, Village Pizza, and the Cle Elem Bakery. Let's hope we can do it again!! The whole crew (post-spa) at the Ellensburg Pasta Company: Aunt Julie, me, Kaelin, Dani, Janet, Aunt Jana, Aunt Kristin Sister-in-laws: Dani, me, Kaelin Aunt Julie, Aunt Jana and Dani in Leavenworth Thanks to the hubster for staying home with the munchkins (Brynn was even sick)...

We had a wonderful Halloween. You may notice a complete recycle of previous year's costumes, but it made one less thing for me to worry about! I know I won't get away with it next year... We enjoyed the ward Trunk or Treat. Look at that parking lot covered in leaves...it's fall! It was a fairly warm (and dry...yeah!) night and we enjoyed hot chocolate and fun friends to visit and chat with. Thanks, Jex's for sharing trunks with us!! Okay, she's the cutest lion ever... am I right?! I won't even detail the lengths Paige and I went to decide on a costume. I gave her until the 15th to "lock in" her decision. She changed her mind on the 16th and every day thereafter, but too bad...we were locked! We invited ourselves to my sister's house so her kids could teach Paige about trick-or-treating. Thanks, Shell, for hosting us!! We were even more thrilled when my brother's family decided to come too!! What a wonderful group of cousins (only missi...

This is what we gave Paige for her birthday. She loves it! She totally biffed her first time out on the bike and I got it on video...Its on the video camera, so it may take me a while to get it on the blog, but I'll work on it. It's kinda funny... She received her birthday crown and was serenaded at school on the day of their costume/trick-or-treating party day. She thought it was pretty cool...Don't you just love her teacher with her finger in her ear...Ms Colleen probably wouldn't like this pic... And below is Paige with her gifts from Grandma Dalley (office supplies and a mailbox). She's holding the stapler in her hands as if it were gold. Her favorite was the stapler. I would suggest when Accountants consider having children, they should be prepared for this type of outcome. (Okay, I think that's the last of the birthday posts...phew!)

This is the fort concept I had in my head that Chris was able to put into reality. I forgot to take a real pic with my camera, so the one from my phone will have to do. (And truth-be-told, I LOVED this fort! I begged Chris to let me keep it up for a few days, but he only gave me two (boo!). It was so cozy and warm and I totally hung out in it by myself. Awesome!) Paige and Addison at the "Ticket Stand" Food, Glorious Food. And in my haste, I only took one photo and don't like it, but oh well! Paige, Addy, Cameron ready for showtime! They watched "The Incredibles". We were so sad to not have Lena with us due to a last minute emergency, but these three had a fun time! Birthday Cake! It's supposed to look like a movie ticket...and yes, I know, it could probably be featured on Cake Wrecks . All in all, it was a super fun party. I loved the coziness of just having a small gathering. And again, I just can't believe this little girl turned four! S...

My Paige is four years old . That sounds old to me. Her birthday week is always scheduled to the max with birthday and Halloween festivities. I hope she gets used to that! But as I sit and reflect, Paige is such a unique and wonderful girl and all the chaos to celebrate her birthday is well worth it. Things we love about Paige: Her outfit of choice is basketball shorts and a t-shirt She loves to watch sports on TV with her dad. In fact, during Sacrament meeting a few weeks ago she turns to whisper me a secret: "Mom! When we get home from church we get to watch the Seahawks!" I whisper the same secret to Chris and he said he did not rehearse that with her one bit. She LOVES to help in the kitchen She is a climber and a jumper...I pray every day she doesn't bail off the balcony in our loft She is a backseat driver!! She always wants to know our route, destination, timing, etc. She loves to say, "S-T-O-P, Stop sign!" at each stop sign we see. She also understan...

We enjoyed two pumpkin patches this year: (1) A cute, local patch together as a family on a wonderfully sunny day, and (2) Spooner Farms with Paige's preschool, which happened to be ON Paige's birthday. It was freezing cold, but we had fun! After our family jaunt to the patch we had our standard FHE activity to carve. So fun! Look what we found! Paige and I had recently checked out a book from the library called Hogwash and Paige reminded me these pigs could really use a hogwash! At Spooner Farms....freeeeezing cold! We lasted about 4 minutes in the corn maze. We sooo needed dad. GUTS!! The finished products! Silly and scary faces....

4 years since my Paige was born 1 birthday breakfast with dad 1 birthday party with friends 1 husband's handy skills to make my movie theater "fort" a reality 25 clothespins required to hold fort together 2 hours to put together new big-girl bike 5 phone calls with ins. company and body shop to get dented Tahoe fixed 3 little girls to serve at our Apken Cinema 20 dollars for each girl to spend at the "movies" 2 dozen cupc akes 4 dozen sugar cookies 1 birthday cake 3 separate batches of homemade frosting 4 quarts homemade spiced cider 10 toes/fingers to paint for tea party 1 tea party celebration for my niece's birthday 5 dots to fix on Minnie's costume 2 pumpkins carved 1 ward trunk or treat 1 costume party at school 1 pumpkin patch field trip (in the freezing cold) 4 minutes spent in the corn maze before giving up 5 cousins to join for trick-or-treating 6 lbs of candy hanging around after all the festivities 1 extra hour of slee...