Tricks

Reese's favorite part of swimming was watching Mommy and Daddy do tricks and race in the pool. She kept yelling "Again!" and "What else can you do?" I have to post this video of Todd jumping in because I know Reese will ask to watch it on the blog.

Swimming Pool

We are staying a hotel downtown for a wedding tonight. Grandma and Grandpa Cipra brought Reese for awhile to take a dip in the pool. She had fun swimming and playing.

Jukebox

We had dinner at the Jukebox Cafe in Delano this evening. Reese and Daddy ended the evening on their self-made dance floor drawing many smiles from other customers.

Cautious

We took Reese to the Maple Grove Community Center today. We started in the toddler area, but she soon ran toward the big kid area with the tunnels and huge slides. However, as she climbed around, she was very cautious holding Lovey and paci and waiting to make sure all the big kids were gone before making her moves.

Christmas Day

The Christmas fun continued at the Cipras today. We were all spoiled with too many presents, a visit from Santa, and lots of laughs.

Milk and Cookies

We put out milk and cookies for Santa this year. When we tried to explain leaving cookies for Santa, Reese said "No, eat 'em!" Luckily we were able to convince her to leave the cookies -- and we found some wonderful presents in the morning.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration with the Haags. It was fun to have all FOUR grandkids together - even more presents than last year and we filled an entire pew at Christmas Eve service. We had a great time opening presents, playing, and relaxing.

ABCs

Reese has really taken an interest in letters lately. She likes to do her alphabet puzzle and recognizes letters in various places. Of course her favorite is "R for Reesie", as she says.

Tonight during her bath, she sang the ABC song - not missing a single letter all the way through to "Now I know ABCs. Next time won't you sing meeeeeeee." It was adorable! I wish I could have run to get the camera, but obviously I could not leave her in the bath. Way to go, Reese!

Two Days Old

Baby Aubrey is now two days old. We have missed her the past 48 hours, so stopped by for a visit. She just keeps getting cuter!

After getting our baby fix, we went to Daddy's basketball game. Reese was so proud of her Daddy and gave him a big hug when the game was over. She is turning into quite the Daddy's girl.

Evening Nap

Reese skipped her nap today, so I was looking forward to an early bedtime. However, while I was cooking our delicious dinner at 6:30pm, Reese fell asleep in her chair while playing with the iPad. Obviously my plan did not work. She was up until 1:30am after her evening nap.

Aubrey Lyla

We welcome our niece Aubrey Lyla! After 10 hours in the hospital waiting room, then over 24 hours of labor, Aubrey made her entrance into the world tonight. She weighs 8 lbs 13 oz, is 20.5 inches long, has blue eyes, a little brown hair, and is gorgeous!

Congratulations Troy, Tammy, Peyton, and Brayden! And way to go Tammy, you are a champ!

Twinkle Twinkle

A beautiful rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". :)

School Bus

When Reese woke up this morning she rolled over, pointed to the painting on her wall and yelled "bunny rabbit!" Thank goodness we added that bunny! Then we asked her what we should name the bunny. She thought for a minute and decided to call him... "School Bus". Ha!

Waiting

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our niece. Tammy was supposed to be induced today, but (long story), the doctor decided to postpone until tomorrow. We decided to stick with our original plan to pick up their other kids and hang out this evening.

Brayden built a super cool robot. Very impressive!

Then we took Peyton out for his 13th birthday (which was yesterday). First we went to Dave and Busters to play games. Then we sent Daddy and Reese home and went to the new Harry Potter movie.

A fun night, but we hope to meet the baby tomorrow!

Chandler Anderson

My mom's cousin's son (does that make him my 3rd cousin?) is a very talented artist, and he painted Reese's room this week. Wow, beautiful, and amazing are the words I use to describe it. I love it!

Reese played a role in the design. One morning Chandler and I were talking about the number of butterflies and birds to add -- and Reese chimed in (unsolicited) "and bunny rabbits"! So, you can now see a bunny peaking out of the flowers.

When Chandler finished today, Reese gave him a big smile and said, "Thank you!"

I definitely recommend Chandler for any artistic needs (wall, canvas, etc). Check out more of his amazing work at ChandlerAnderson.com or give him a call 507-383-1805.

Parties

Reese and I enjoyed two parties today. This morning we had a little neighborhood Christmas party. The girls were all so cute and loved their presents.

This evening we went to an old friend's house - someone I knew in elementary school and junior high. It was great to reconnect. We met their daughter Marley who is just a few weeks older than Reese. The two girls were on the move all night - hence the slightly blurry picture of the two of them running for the camera!

Cute Family Picture

Another picture I found from awhile ago -- just a cute family shot.

Just Like Us

This picture was taken awhile back, but reminds me so much of my brother Brian and I when we were growing up. Jack acts just like Brian used to - hamming it up in front of the camera. And Reese acts just like I used to - standing in the background eating a chocolate chip cookie.

Potty

Reese pooped in the potty for the first time tonight! She was taking a bath and told Daddy, "I have to poop!" So he took her out, sat her on the potty, and she went! Fingers crossed this means she will be very easy to potty train.

Snow Plow

We had a huge snow storm this weekend. Reese enjoyed watching me snowblow the driveway and the snow plow go by.

She was so funny about the plow. She sat by the window watching for almost an hour, yelling and dancing around when she saw the flashing lights come our way. When the snow plow finally left our neighborhood, she said "Love you snow plow" and made kissing noises. Funny girl.

Reindeer Libby

Libby was a trooper and let us dress her up like a reindeer for Christmas (although she doesn't look particularly happy about it)!

1980s

Funny picture of Reese in what looks like an aerobic outfit from the 1980s!

Tough Week

It has been a tough week. Let me provide just a few examples (yes, these are just examples, even more things went wrong)...

Monday: Discovered Libby (our cat) has tapeworm. Despite the fact our vet told us it is very unlikely to transfer to humans, I spent about 10 hours cleaning and disinfecting our house.

Tuesday: Reese and I slipped and fell down our basement stairs. Lots of tears from both of us, but luckily our only injury was a small bruise on Reese's back.

Wednesday: Too much to do at work. Which means sleeping only about 3 hours each night and going in on Friday (my normal day off).

Thursday: Found out our friends lost their baby girl well into their pregnancy. I cannot imagine what they are going through. Our prayers are with them.

Friday: Helped Brian by going to pick up Jack from school. The snow and poor driving conditions kept us on the road for over 6 hours. Reese was a trooper. Thanks to Tammy and Troy for letting us stop in and take a break for awhile.

Saturday: Got a virus on our computer while searching for pictures of "cute cats" with Reese. Five hours and about $200 later, the virus is gone and our computer is protected again.

Hoping things look up next week.