Reese Turns 4

Reese is four years old today.

Here are some things about her:

Starting preschool . loves to play with her tent . likes her "barbies" (what she calls any small doll) . shy around peers . Artsy- loves coloring, painting, play-dough, cutting, gluing, taping etc. . likes to pick out what she wears (she gets to choose her clothing by herself every other day) . Always excited when Daddy comes home . loves to be a helper in the kitchen . trying to get a hang of her independence . great big sister, shares and comforts and loves her little brother . likes rides in the little red wagon . favorite foods are pizza, juice, oatmeal, milk and Coco Puffs . trying to break the finger-sucking habit . loves primary classes . likes to read and go to the library . curious . good memory . smiles and giggles . girly . 

Happy Birthday, Reese!  Love you!

Birthday Party

 The Saturday before Reese turns 4, we had a birthday party!

Invite says "It's COOKIE - I mean PARTY time!"

Invites to Reese's "Cookie Party"

We started out by watching Cookie Monster's Best Bites as the guests arrived.
Then we played "Who took the cookies from the cookie jar" (No Pics).
Then we read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" (also no pics).  The book had "puzzle pieces" taped inside that the kids had to find as we read, which were drawings I did of things in the book.  By the end everyone had a puzzle piece.

Passing out the cups

Then we brought our puzzle pieces to a display of gift bags.  Each gift bag had a shape taped to it and the kids had to find the shape that matched their puzzle piece.  Inside the right bag was a treasure!
The pictures on each puzzle piece also indicated what was inside the bag.

finding the bottles of icing

The pieces were: Glass of milk (cups in the bag), straw (bendy straws in the bag), bottle (bottles of icing in the bag), apron (child-size aprons in the bag), pile of dust (bag of small caramel balls in the bag,  the kids didn't know what they were, so I got away with calling it "dust") , jar with colored pieces in it (jar of sprinkles in the bag) , and a cookie (cookies in the bag).

watching what comes out of the next bag!

  

PS: I made the aprons from inexpensive towels.  I got five aprons out of one towel.  That's less than a dollar apiece.

Then we took our treasures to the table, decorated cookies with some refreshing milk.  What kid doesn't like drinking from a straw?

 

Decorating Cookies. Clockwise from Reese on the left: Reese, Mia, Shayne, Liam, Nathan, Steve, Katie, Tessa, Lillie.

And then, birthday cake!

Cookie Monster Cake

I don't know what was up with the camera.  So here are two snippits of it.

Then we played with balloons:

We lined up and played a game like Bocce Ball, but with the balloons instead of balls.

Then Presents

Then we ran out of activities before it was time for the party to be over so we played with toys.

And read more stories.

And then watched more Cookie Monster on TV as the kids' parents came to pick them up. Obviously planned that so the parents would think all we did was watch TV for two hours. (Hah!)

Happy Cookie Party, Reese!

Before and After

Here are some of the projects I've been working on lately.

First up, a sewing project:

Actually, I didn't get a before photo, so I photoshopped what it looked like in this photo

Just turned the old-fashioned jacket into something more modern that I could wear on formal night on the cruise ship.  PS: dress from DI.  10 bucks.

Next up, I finally turned our fourth bedroom into a guest room instead of a storage room!  The room is really small with low ceilings, so I new I needed vertical stripped window curtains.  I couldn't find anything I wanted for less than too expensive, so I bought a small amount of a pattern I liked (with a coupon) from the fabric store, and then some flat sheets from Wal-mart.

Some cutting and sewing and- well, I should have taken the picture at night.  Oh well. I guess you can tell that the window isn't very tall, so the long curtains help the room feel less squishy from top to bottom.

Then I got a bed.  I found one on online classifieds that has a headboard with shelves and drawers underneath.  Genius move on my part.  It eliminates the need for not one, but TWO more pieces of furniture- the dresser and the night stand.  Trust me, this little room would barely fit one, let alone both of those things.

I don't have a pic of the bed put together before, but I wanted it to match the room, so I painted it brown and white.  

This was my FIRST painting project EVER.  I learned that paint is not nice to beginners.

 And After:

And with the custom bedspread and throw pillow that match the curtains:

Not too bad, eh?

And here's the next project.  When we moved in our exterior doors were actually made for the interior- hollow.  Oh, and I suppose I can admit publicly now that the problem is fixed that one of them never locked. They came primed, but not painted.  Here are the befores:

New door with storm door

Old door with old storm door- because I didn't get that before pic. Sorry

And new door without storm door.  Thank you to my little Vanna.

I'll get back to you on the afters once we figure out what we're going to do with them!

Update: We finished painting!  Check here for the "after" pics.

First Haircut

Okay, after some hysteria, tears and, yes, some yelling (I apologized for that), I called a friend to get a stylist recommendation to fix Reese's DIY mullet cut.
So now, without further ado, Reese's first haircut.

The before:

Curly little pony tail

Also, please see two posts ago.  I don't want to relive the "right before" on this post.

The During:

Curls on the floor

The After:

The purple flower is helping to hide the part that we'll have to be careful about covering up for the next little while. But she loves to wear purple, and it satisfies my need to make her hair cutesy when I can't do braids and twists and curls.

Birthday Party

On Liam's birthday we had to cancel some family festivities due to illness.  So we stuck the cake in the freezer and rescheduled for two weekends later (we were in Alaska in the in-between).

I didn't get many pictures, but I did get video of the "happy Birthday" song.  And I forgot to get birthday candles, so we used the only other candle I could find.  I don't think he noticed.

Aack! HER Curls!!!

Reese was supposed to get the scissors back today.  Before I could give them to her, she stole them.  And cut herself a mullet.

I asked her multiple times this morning if she was ready to get ready for the day, but she kept saying no, she had to "finish her work."  Later I found her trying to get ready all by herself, but I had her come to the bathroom to get her hair done as usual, despite her protests that she had to get her work done.  I told her she could finish her work (which I thought was coloring a picture) after she got her teeth brushed and hair done.  I can't believe it took me until she was sitting down with the brush in my hand to notice how short it was on top.  I suppose that since her hair is thin and curly it always sticks out funny, and I had to look closer to see that her mullet wasn't just a style, it was a cut.

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She hid both her hair and the scissors under the base of our dining table so I wouldn't see.