Happy birthday, Reese Elizabeth!

This little face turned FOUR today!!

Happy birthday to my sweet, precious & amazing Reese Elizabeth!  Words cannot say just how much we love you & how much absolute joy you bring to our lives.  You are such a vibrant, funny, sunny person.  You are truly my best girl friend in the whole world.. I always tell you that God must really love me to have given you (and your equally amazing brother) to me!

 

The years have gone by quickly & I've cherished each & every day spent with you.  You're in such a great phase right now.  You're independent & insanely imaginative; you can play pretend in your room with your toys & dolls for hours.

You adore wearing fancy dresses & as you can see in the picture above, this is how you just came out of your room as I type this.  You often have wardrobe changes throughout the day; luckily you have a big collection of hand-me-down princess dresses.

No birthday would be complete without your annual birthday pic with your BFFs, Sammy & Taylor!

You love school & make friends easily.  You have a lot to say & can talk all day, non-stop.  Reese, you can also be a little headstrong & bossy, but I respect that about you; you don't take anything from anyone.  I hope your confidence stays as you grow!

You love playing in the yard, stomping around in puddles when it rains & swinging on the swings at the playground.  You're insanely dramatic & I'll be shocked if you don't end up on Broadway.  Whatever you decide to do with your life as you grow, I know you'll be amazing.  I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.  Happy birthday, my sweet Reese Cakes & to many, many, many more years & new adventures!!

Christmas movies for the kiddos

It might November 9th, but I'm sitting here listening to Christmas music as I type this post.  Most some would say that it's way too early, but I'm all about maximizing the season since it flies by way too quickly.  While we ate dinner tonight, I wanted to come up with a list of Christmas movies to watch with the kids this year.  Here's what I came up with!

 1) Home Alone

2) Elf

3) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

4) Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

5) A Charlie Brown Christmas

6) A Christmas Story

7) It's a Wonderful Life

8) Frosty the Snowman

9) Mickey's Christmas Carol

10) Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas

11) Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas

12) Arthur Christmas

There are a ton of choices when it comes to Christmas movies, but these are the ones my family is drawn to.  Merry early Christmas!!

Goodbye Halloween, hello, Thanksgiving!

Halloween has come & gone in a flash but it was a blast while it was here!

How awesome was it that Halloween fell on a Saturday?!  Too bad it can't be that way all the time!  Next year it's on a Monday, wha, wha, wha.

After Cam's baseball game, we carved pumpkins & got ready to head to our neighbor's for a get together before trick-or-treating.

It was all about the Bears this year since Cam was a Bears player & Mike carved a Bears pumpkin.  Of course my little gal pal was none other than a princess.  Her dress lit up & played "Let it Go" which we ended up hearing no less than 150 times on Halloween.

We had so much fun hitting the streets with the neighbors who the kids adore.  Unfortunately, it's been hotter than hell in Florida so we were pretty sweaty trick-or-treating.  It's going to be nearly 90 degrees today with God awful humidity.  It does NOT feel like Fall around these parts!

Now that Halloween is behind us, it's time to move toward Thanksgiving!  I don't have all that many Thanksgiving decorations, but it looks pretty festive around here anyway.

I found this great idea on Pinterest (go figure!) for making a thankful chain in honor of Thanksgiving.  Each night at dinner, we've been going around the table & saying what we're thankful for.  So far, Cam's thankful that we live in Florida & for his pets & Reese is thankful that Mommy & Daddy always love her & also for Mommy & Daddy & Cameron.  It's cute to hear what the kids have to say & to focus on being Thankful for the things we have instead of focusing on what we don't.

This holiday season I'm dead set on staying ahead of the game so I can truly enjoy the time since it's so fleeting.  I usually have an anxiety attack as December hits, but not this year!  I've even nearly finished my annual Shutterfly calendars that I give to the grandparents (and us) each year.  They're a lot of work but so worth it!

Both Mike & myself have been working long hours, so I've been a little more frazzled than usual.  I'm most definitely thankful for my Wednesdays off since I'm able to catch up & not lose my mind on the weekend.

I'm so, so happy that the holiday season is upon us!  What an awesome time of year!!