chris.reese.girls1.2.3.4

Yes, our Finley is 13 1/2 months, but due to the chaos of the last month and the fact the poor girl has had her fair share of sickiness the past two months, plus a black eye from a fall down the stairs, we finally documented her cute 1-year old self for the books. Thanks to my awesome sister, Rochelle, for the photo shoot, considering Fin has perfected being a moving target. She also took pics of my older girls too...pics coming soon.  She is so talented, and I just love seeing these shots of my gorgeous baby girl!   She has just mastered the art of folding her arms for prayers. It's super sweet.  And loves showing off her ability to do Patty-Cake. It's amazing to see her begin to understand simple commands. She's learning so fast and catching up to her sisters quickly! I want this little girl to stay little, but it's impossible. I fondly recall the days of snuggling, nursing, cooing and her sweet tiny cry. It just goes too quickly. She s...

We are at the 3-week mark of being in our new house. To say we love it is an understatement. Most mornings I wake up to the sun streaming in our windows and pinch myself that we are really here! And the weather has just been incredible (hence my previous mention of the "sun"). We are getting excellent use out of our back yard, front yard, bike rides with neighbor kids, and walks around the neighborhood. We are still back in Seattle quite frequently, which has been more than I'd like due to some dance commitments and various requirements to rent out our old house, but each and every time we work our way home I almost get giddy as we round the corner out of Issaquah and head for the mountains and  home. I just LOVE it here and am continually awestruck at the beauty around us and what my kids get to experience. And as we live more days in this house and experience more of life's activities, I am more grateful and feel so blessed to be where we are. Mother's Day was ...

My mom came to visit and said she'd be up for a project after we moved into this house. Well, I had a doozy lined up for her. At our new house I have a real office. You know, an office that doesn't double as a laundry room, or a living room, or a place to watch TV, or a place for the kids to play. It's a real office, with beautiful windows out to the backyard. It's wonderful! As part of this new office we (meaning "me") decided I needed a real desk. Not the desk Chris inherited 12 years ago that was well-used when he got it, which was made of particle board, which was disintegrating, and was just big enough for my keyboard - but a real desk, where lots of blogging, photo-editing, money management would take place. I found this "beauty" on Craigslist and had visions in my head.  Admittedly, I had buyer's remorse the second I got it in the garage. It was much more beat up than I realized. I still feel I slightly overpaid for it to begin with, ...

I alluded to how much I hated packing in a previous post, and forgive my pessimism, but I've decided I hate moving too. I promised my kids we wouldn't move for a LONG time (God-willing), because I certainly don't want to re-live our "Move Day" any time in the near term...or before I turn 40.  First off...a list of THANK YOUs to people who did soooo much for us. My little pile of thank-you notes sitting on my desk just doesn't seem to do justice to all that gave of their time (even vacation time), energy, and efforts to serve us. We are so blessed!  Rochelle & Trevor  - My awesome sister came two days before the move and just started packing without question. It was the boost I needed and she literally packed half of the remaining stuff in my house in a few short hours. It was amazing. She even sacrificed her husband, who works such LONG hours regularly, to be at our new house on Friday afternoon to help in the unloading. His timing was impeccable ...