Well the end of April and beginning of May were very busy! I took Reese with two of her friends, Nathan and Caroline, to see her first movie in the theatre! We saw "Earth" on Earth Day. It was a very good movie. Reese really enjoyed it. You can see that we came to the movie prepared! I popped popcorn at home and brought it in individual bags and of course we came with sweaters and blankets because you know how they LOVE to freeze you out of a movie! By the end of the film, she was ready to go...but we did get to see the end.

In May we went to the zoo again...someone remind me next year to not bring her in May since the school groups are there!!! Really it wasn't too bad, but it would be nice to not have to navigate around them! We carpooled with Reese's friend JP and we met Nathan and Alexander there as well. We rode the train and the carousel and then visited all the animals. Reese really enjoyed the baby pandas...so cute!

The other pictures are from Mother's Day. We went to brunch with my brothers and sisters-in-law who live here in Atlanta as well as my parents. It was very nice and the cousins always love seeing each other.

Will update with our trip to Disney very soon!!! The profile picture at the top is actually from our lunch with the princesses (Ariel is Reese's favorite!).

april update

Oh my goodness, I can't believe that I was actually able to post two collages on here. Makes it a little easier for updating my blog and also I don't have to make the photos way toooooo small to be able to fit it all on!

I am really trying to get back in the swing of things. I have so much to update on. These photos below are from March 2009. As I stated earlier, we moved into our new townhouse and then the Easter stuff started!!! There are photos here from our day with her cousins Hudson and Sam. She absolutely adores them and they all had a great time playing with Reese's kitchen. It was also nice having my brother and sister-in-law over as well as my parents!

We had our MOMS Club Easter bunny brunch and we also went to three Easter egg hunts....needless to say by the end of the Easter season Reese totally knew where to run for getting the most eggs. She ran straight to the middle of all the eggs and started scooping them in her basket-you can see the basket in the picture below. That same day we went to get our toes painted and then went to our friend Corrine and Paul's house to spend an Easter dinner with Corrine's family.

You can also see the budding ballerina pictures, although I am really thinking that Reese's real profession will be Broadway. She loves to dance and sing...and she makes up all her own songs. She sings in a language that I am still unfamiliar with, but maybe someday she will identify it! I love that she has a great outgoing personality (of course when she is with people that she knows). I really think it will take her far in the long run.

These pictures are from Easter. We met my brother Terry, sister-in-law Anne, and cousin Oliver over at my parents house. My dad loves to color eggs each year and so Reese and Oliver helped him. The reason why she is coloring eggs in her underwear is that I didn't want to get her beautiful Easter dress dirty....I know, let her live a little, but I did by the dress in France and I was totally afraid that the dye wouldn't come out-I was probably right as it took at least a day for it to wear off of my fingers!

Reese and Oliver had a great time hunting for eggs in the backyard and taking a nap in the same room. We had two pack n plays in the guest room and they were in there giggling away. After countless times of going up there to shoosh them (it had been 45 mins and they were late for the nap as is) I told Reese that if they couldn't be quiet then she would have to go in another room and she said "ok, I want to go to the other room". I moved her and she went right to bed....too funny. Oliver was still awake after about 30 mins....and I seriously thought it was Reese keeping Oliver awake since it was him giggling and her dancing around in her pack n play!!!!

Ok, so here is where I am going to have to brag a little bit about my little beauty!!! I really don't ever do this, so I shouldn't feel so bad about it, but Reese is just amazing. I never really knew how much a 2 1/2 yr old could know! She has known her ABC's for at least 1/2 the year....she can count to 20 in English, count to 5 in Spanish (they have Spanish at school) and count to 5 in French. She also sings in French. I have a CD of French songs that I play once in a while and we usually listen to it while we are playing. Well recently she had really begun to verbalize what she is hearing. I know that everyone says that they are little sponges, but it really is true. I need to make myself speak French on a regular basis so that she understands the meaning of the words she hears. I read to her in French on a regular basis, but must admit that I don't translate as I read because then the book would take forever!!!

I have to say that I feel so lucky to be her mom.

Jan-Mar

After we returned from New York in January we moved in with my parents (they live 3 miles down the road). They had two extra bedrooms so we were able to still have Reese in her own room. The reason that we moved out of our apartment is because our kitchen became infested with ants and our new townhouse would not be ready until the first weekend in March. That meant that we had 6 weeks that we could stay in this place that reeked of pesticides or live with my parents. This is just one of many, many reasons for my absence from the blog-I really felt kind of absent all the way around!

My grandmother was also living with my parents at the time so it was a wonderful opportunity for Reese to be able to get to know her great Nana Marie. They would play tea parties in nana Marie's room and sit on the bed together and watch TV. They were so cute together. Reese also loved having two new pets-my parents have a lab named Claire and nana Marie has a small dog named Charlie. Reese loved taking them for walks and playing with Charlie. We only had one toy casualty-Claire ate Maria (a toy that came with her Dora playground). She still talks about it. I know that I shouldn't laugh, but we were at the movie store the other day and there was a picture of Dora and these two babies (we named them Esteban and Maria when they came with the playset) and Reese saw it and said-Look Mom, it's Maria. Then she reminded me that Maria is no longer because Claire ate her.

In February Reese went to the Circus for the first time with her grandparents and her two older cousins Hudson and Sam. She had a wonderful time and the kids had a great sleepover too! She loves being with her cousins.

We had a pretty good snowfall on March 1. I was really lucky to get home. I went to NYC for a night (to hang with my mates) and fortunately something woke me up at 6 am and I decided to look at the flights for the day. I knew there was going to be snow in NY that day, but I had no idea that ATL was going to get snow. When I logged onto the computer I saw that all the flights after noon from NYC to ATL were cancelled so I asked me girlfriends to take me to the airport. The ATL airport was a complete mess by the time we landed so I was grateful that I got in when I did. When I arrived at my parents house we put on our ski gear and went to play in the snow. It wasn't nice fluffy white powder which is what I prefer, but it was great snowman building snow! Reese loved it....just so thankful that she didn't mind wearing all the gear b/c I really want to take her skiing sometime soon!!

The pictures at the top of the screen are from her valentine's day party at school which her great Nana Marie and nana were both able to attend! She loved it!

Christmas 2008

Ok, so I guess I am getting close to blogging about Christmas in July...but better late than never!!!

This was the first Christmas that I had to work so we ended up having quite a few Christmas'. We celebrated with my family first and then when I went to work in Brussels, Rob and Reese flew to his parents house in upstate NY to celebrate. I joined them when I returned from Brussels. Reese's "big" present was her new kitchen which she loves. She is still playing with it. She had a really great time this Christmas as well. Started to really think about Santa, etc.

So the pictures are as follows: from top left...Reese and I making a gingerbread house for Christmas with my family, her kitchen next to the Christmas tree, Christmas family picture, her cousins with my brother and sister-in-law, Reese eating a brownie (she actually says that she needs chocolate!), Christmas with m family, the Grand Place Christmas tree in Brussels, the Mannequin Pis in Brussels in his Santa costume (they dress him in over 300 outfits), Reese opening presents at Grammy and Grandpa's in NY, at Grammy's piano, waiting patiently (all alone) at the table for our Christmas dinner with Rob's family, and my angel's beautiful smile!

Christmas 2008

Here is another Christmas collage that I made....Reese had Christmas with both of her great grandmothers and here is a picture of her with her Great Grammy Conte....she also make snickerdoodle cookies with her grammy and grandpa (grandpa is a fabulous baker) and the video is sooooo cute....wish I could figure out how to do that-maybe someday! We didn't play in the snow for long b/c there wasn't too much left!

Goodbye to Phil Staiano

On Friday, January 16, 2009 my friends and I lost our friend Phil Staiano. He passed away from a pulmonary embolism after returning from a wonderful trip to Brazil.

I met Phil through my roommates from NYC. Heidi, Diana, and I were in the same training class and Heidi and Diana ended up marrying Mike and Brian Stapleton (yes now they are sisters-in-law!). One of Mike and Brian's best friends was Phil Staiano. Phil was always there for every special occasion in our lives and every night out. He was a wonderful person and he will be sorely missed.

I must thank Diana for sending me these pictures of Phil...the last one taken of us as a group was just this past November in Sanibel Island, Florida. I know that Rob was very disappointed he was not able to see Phil in Florida.

The funeral was a very difficult time for myself and for my friends. It is so awful to see your friends hurting like that and I just can't imagine if it were one of my closest friends....someone who I confided in and always relied upon to be there. The service was very nice as the priest made a statement about the fact that Phil had lived a wonderful life since there were so many people sitting in the church. He did live a fulfilled life and a good life. It is something that really makes you think about the way you live your own life and makes you question as to whether you have touched as many lives as he did.

My thoughts are with my friends as well as Phil's closest friends and family. He was loved by all who knew him and he will be forever missed. It will just never be the same even though we will move on.

In loving memory of Phil.

Thanksgiving 2008 and pre Christmas Parties

So to start out...I have to give Kristi a thank you so much for helping me out with my blog background. It looks much better don't you think? Now I feel I am getting better skilled at the background and much better at the pictures. Picasa is a dream, but it takes a little too long for me to figure things out sometimes (Kristi, I take back the bad things I said about Picasa if this post turns out great!). So I am almost up to date and if things go this smoothly from now on we should be at least blogging about the current month! I was off in November so we were home for Thanksgiving. We went to my brother Joel's house and once again my sister in law Sharon made a wonderful dinner. We usually bring side items so that one person isn't making the whole thing. I brought a corn casserole (so yummy-Jessica's recipe) and a pear/apple tart. Delicious. Reese had a wonderful time with her cousins Hudson, Sam, and Oliver. They sat at their own children's table!!! Reese also received an apron and hat from her friend Isabella (Isabella's mommy knew that Santa was bringing Reese a kitchen for Christmas) and that is a picture of her chef outfit. Also the picture on the rocking horse was taken when we were taking photos of Reese for her Christmas picture-just thought I would include it since it was so cute!

These pictures are from the Breakfast with Santa and the Christmas parade in Atlanta. Rob's office hosted a breakfast with Santa and then we had reserved seating to watch the parade. Reese does not mind seeing Santa, but she constantly reminds me that she is not going to sit on his lap-so funny! She loves waving at him and as you can see we convinced her to give him a high five. The little bear stamp was from the breakfast as well....she decided to get the airbrushing on her hand rather than her face. She loved the parade and we attended the parade with her friends Isabella and Caroline and their families. The photo of her shoes with the socks inside is there because everytime we walk in the door from the garage we sit down and take off our shoes by the desk. I always line up our shoes and the day of the parade Reese sat down and took off her socks and shoes, put the socks in the shoes as shown, and lined them up perfectly. Just thought it was pretty funny. The picture of the Christmas tree is at my parents house (yes the same day) and Reese had just finished putting the star on top of their tree....she was so proud of herself!!

These photos are from her MOMS Club Christmas Craft and her daycare Christmas party. At the MOMS club craft we made Christmas wrapping paper and you can see Reese sitting there painting her paper. Her friend Maggie showed all the kids how to paint their hands and then put their handprint on the paper. It was so cute and lots of fun. After the girls were done painting they decided to sit down at the piano in the room....the photo has her friends Maggie and Caroline in it. Her daycare Christmas party was lots of fun. I was able to attend as were many other parents that day. We had lots of goodies to eat, stockings to open (her teachers were very generous), songs to sing, and a book exchange. The book Reese received was "Are you my Mother?" by P.D. Eastman and she loves it. There are two photos of Reese with two of her daycare teachers who are so wonderful.
Also I enclosed another photo with Reese wearing my favorite black slingbacks...I told her when she is older she can wear them on dates too!