I LOVE Christmas

I've always loved Christmas, but now that we have kids I L-O-V-E Christmas. Ree & Ry have totally gotten into the Christmas spirit and we've all had so much fun. Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma & Grandpa's house where R&R got to play with all their cousins. All the cousins got matching Adidas track suits, which was adorable.

Christmas morning was just the 4 of us at our own house and we enjoyed watching the girls open their presents and get so excited with each one. Then we headed over to Mimi & Papa's house for breakfast and more presents. It was a wonderful of couple of days.
Now that it's all over, I'm ready to put the decorations away until next year and leave town for New Year's. San Diego here we come

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

We are starting a new tradition of getting together with my mom's side of the family on Dec. 23rd. We all gathered together tonight for Mexican food (chalupa & posole), margaritas, rum cake (delicious!), and a white elephant gift exchange. It was tons of fun and we all ended up w/ some great gifts. Aunt Carol really wanted to get some photos of R&R w/ her dogs, Max & Savannah. As you can see in the photos, R&R love to be naked most of the time. We tried getting their pj's on for the picture, but that wasn't working, so we just posed them here buck nekid w/ the dogs.

R&R's first sleepover

Saturday night was a great night for many reasons.
1) Ree & Ry spent their first night away from home at Grandma & Grandpa's house and made it through the night.
2) Cory & I had a great date night--dinner, shopping, & a wonderful movie (Seven Pounds)
3) I slept in until 9:30am on Sunday morning :)

We packed up all the gear and R&R headed over to G&G's house around 6:00. When we got there, Haley said "I'm so excited I can hardly believe it's happening". So cute. The girls ran around and played hard w/ their 4 cousins. G&G reported that they crashed out around 10:30pm. I was totally prepared for the middle of the night phone call telling us to come pick them up, but all was well and Cory & I went over there Sunday morning for breakfast, around 10am. I'm sure that the sleepovers will happen more often know that we know R&R can make it through the night. Thanks to G&G for having a sleepover w/ all the kids and to Gigi & Great Poppa, Cory's wonderful grandparents that are visiting for Christmas, for being patient w/ 6 kids ranging in age from 9-2.

Potty Training Adventures, Part II

I don't want to count my chickens before they've hatched, but I'm pretty sure Reese is potty trained. She hasn't worn a diaper in 5 days and has not had one accident. We've gone out to places this week like Rolly Pollies, Kona Grill, the mall and she's used the bathroom in public everywhere we've gone. She's staying dry through the night and even woke me up at 2am (she was sleeping in our bed) to tell me that she had to go pee. We went into the bathroom and sure enough, she went pee on the potty. I've taken lots of pictures of her going potty because she's always SO proud. Ryan is doing really well too. She's been wearing training panties and pullups and night. I think she's more inclined to go just to get the M&M's. I think we'll be diaper free by January. I'm keeping my fingers crossed :)

Hablamos Espanol

I've been teaching R&R Spanish for awhile now. I started it more frequently after they dropped the signing they were doing. They actually know lots of words in Spanish and use them frequently. I think it's hilarious to hear their little voices saying words in another language. Here's a few of our favorites and the translations:

• Abra or Abre = Open-- they both say "abio"
• Adios= Goodbye--Ree says "ah-eeos", Ry says "adi-dos"
• Salta=Jump--they both can say salta
• Corre=Run--they both say "coway"
• Hola=Hello--Ry says "Ola", Ree says "ah-lo"
  
• Cocodrilo=Crocodile--Ry says "cocodilo" w/o the "r"
• Vamos or Vamanos=Let's go--Ree says "Bamos" as in "Bamos WyWy, Bamos". She's a bossy little minx.

This is just a highlight and I'm working on the Espanol everyday, so I'm sure I'll have some new words/phrases soon to share. It's amazing to watch their little brains growing.

Potty Training Adventures

So it begins. Time to potty train at the Whyte House. It's actually been going on for awhile now, but very casually, and now I'm ready to dive into it head first. Reese is totally ready and I realized that when I went in their room today at nap time. They were monkeying around in there for over 30 minutes and I just kept waiting for them to settle down. No such luck, so I opened the door and the overwhelming smell of poo was wafting in the air. I almost dry heaved. I turned on the light and saw that there was an empty diaper on the floor right next to a big pile of hot, steamy poo. No lie. Of course it was on the PB Kids rug that I spent way too much $ on. I'm getting a glimpse of what's to come. So, Reese yells out "Poopy Mommy!". I said "Yeah, I can see and smell your poopy. Don' t you want to go on the potty??" "Yes, mommy". Well, let's get this party started then. So, here we go...cold turkey, no more diapers or pull ups, only panties. I'm going to be obsessed w/ poo and pee for the next few months. Stay tuned....this saga will surely continue.

On the catwalk

We had such a fun weekend and Saturday was a really busy day for us. Reese & Ryan were in the Nordstrom Kids Holiday Fashion show on Saturday morning. It was adorable!!! They wore brown velvet dresses and pink cowboy boots that I had blinged out w/ rhinestones. I got stopped at least 5 times by women asking me where I got the boots. I might have to start a new side business adding rhinestones to cowboy boots. The fashion show started at 8:45 and we were supposed to be there at 8:15. Anyone that knows my children knows how they like to sleep in and how difficult it is for us to get anywhere before 9am. I had to wake the girls up and was so worried that tantrums would start right away. I was lucky and the girls were in good spirits for being woken up and shoved into tights and cowboy boots at 7:45am. Cory was such a big help and we got out the door at 8am. Yeah!! Once we got to Nordstrom, we got the girls all dressed up and they lined up with all the other kids. Reese & Ryan did so great. They were all set to walk out on the catwalk by themselves and took a few steps out, but once they saw all the faces they got kind of scared. I walked out there with them and helped them on their way. Afterwards, they got 2 big lollipops (that I let them play w/ in the package, but not open because I'm mean mommy like that), gift cards for the coffee bar where we got smoothies and muffins for a snack. We also got a 15% discount on the adorable holiday dresses they wore. It was a great day for the Whytes and we had so much fun w/ our Mimi and Auntie CeCe there to cheer us on :)

The adventures of Mimi, Reese & Ryan

Here's a recap from Mimi's adventure while watching Reese & Ryan today. I'm so glad I can just cut and paste her words right in. I'm also glad I got the morning off (after reading about their exhausting adventures :)

We had such a fun day today with my little busy beavers running around non-stop.

First we played with Aunt Carol and showed her how we were trying to go potty. Reese kept running back and forth between their bathroom and the beach bathroom. Then, she got an M & M for trying – never did go in the toilet, but we had a couple of wet panties. Ryan is always very helpful with the toilet paper, trying to unroll the whole thing.

Somehow they were both butt naked by the time Carol was leaving. We went out the front door to wave good-bye to her while they were saying ‘I love you’ and ‘I miss you, Auntie CeCe’. About the time she drove off, they decided it would be fun to run down the cul-de-sac. I rounded them up to come home and Reesie fell and skinned her knee while running; she cried very briefly and I carried her home. We got the Dora bandaids and cleaned up her knee in the bathroom. Ryan had to have a bandaid on her knee, too, of course. So many times Reese wanted me to hold her and she hugged me so tightly, wrapping her arms and legs around me like a monkey.

After that, we got dressed and played in the back yard. At one point, we were all three up on the platform of the swing set, laying on our backs and looking at the sky and the tree; I love the way the tree shades the set. We watched for airplanes and we could hear the train when we were really quiet. When they heard the train, they decided to start yelling at it at the top of their lungs.

In the family room later we played horsie and I lifted them high up on my feet instead of my knees. They loved that and would spread their arms like an airplane. After that, they disappeared for just a minute or two and it got very quiet. I found them in your bathroom with all of your nail stuff dumped on the floor. While I was picking it all up, Reese grabbed three bottles of polish and ran into the closet to squirrel them away in the corner (where your socks are, Lisa, in case you noticed things had been moved).

Somewhere in between all of this, they went at the Christmas tree and were pulling ornaments off. If it seems like there are more ornaments higher up, it’s because every time I’d replace one, it went on a much higher branch out of reach of little hands.

After they had lunch of spaghetti (Reese asked for omie), bananas, and peanut butter, I cleaned them up and put them on the sofa to sit still and watch DORA!! That’s when I called you, Lisa, and said I was officially exhausted. As you notice, though, even when you get home, I’m never in a hurry to run out the door.

They say so many things and parrot whatever I say. When we were by the tree, I was trying to find a hook for one of the ornaments. I thought I found it and then said to myself, “Maybe not.” Ryan repeated ‘maybe not’ as plain as day.

I could go on and on. Even if it’s tiring, I never get enough of them.

Thanks for EVERYTHING!!

Love you guys…..

Mimi

The Not-So-Terrible Twos

Anyone that has children can relate to the range of emotions you face on a daily basis, especially in the toddler years. I've been honest about how this age has been challenging for me, but the positives far exceed the negatives. It's amazing to watch Ryan and Reese develop their different personalities and talk about everything they are learning. They are little sponges, learning new vocab everyday. I can tell that Cory is just loving this stage and just when you think it can't get any better, they do something new and amazing that blows your mind. These pictures feature some of our new bday presents: new Dora beanies that are a hit w/ the girls since Dora is their new BFF and the new paint/marker set that Reese decided to use on her face instead of the coloring book. I guess it got boring coloring on the pages, so she found a way to make it more interesting. The box of markers advertises "no mess, easy to clean up, washable, perfect for little artists". They've never met anyone like Reese.

Special Mimi time

My mom picked up Ryan today because she wasn't napping and Reese was sound asleep.  I needed a break so I called in Mimi to the rescue.  Here's her recap: 

When I picked Ryan up, she had her babies and her stroller and Lisa buckled her up in the back seat.  When we took off Ryan said, “Peesy seepy.  WyWy up.  Wywy Mimi house.”  Translation:  ‘Reesie is sleeping.  Ryan is up.  Ryan is going to Mimi’s house.’  Then, she just babbled about everything.  We walked to Audrey’s house with her stroller and she was saying, “Coming, Gammie!”
 

Happy Birthday R&R

Reese & Ryan celebrated their 2nd birthday on Nov. 15th. It was a great weekend with friends and family and lots of cake and ice cream. We had 2 parties, a Dora themed party at Rolly Pollies for R&R's little toddler friends, and another party at home for family. It was so much fun, but also so exhausting. I must admit, I love parties. I've always believed "the more, the merrier" & "bigger is better" when it comes to parties. It sounds obnoxious, but I just love getting everyone together to have a great time. When I was a kid and turning 10, I asked my mom to rope off our cul-de-sac and rent a pony & bounce house (dead serious). The answer was no and I settled for a rented clown. I hope that R&R will share my love for parties, but on a much smaller scale :)

To our little Reese & Ryan,

We love you so much and are so grateful for the past two years we've shared with you. What a miracle and joy you are in our lives. We are so abundantly blessed to have you as our daughters. We love you so much!!

XOXO Mom & Dad

La princesas

Grandma & Grandpa got R&R an entire princess package for their bday. They love it. Here they are trying on their crowns that light up. Haley is the original princess. I think she's so gorgeous in this photo. The girls ADORE her and love to follow her around like little ducklings. It's the cutest thing to watch! I can only hope they grow up to be as sweet and beautiful as she is.

Mimi & Papa

I LOVE being a mom, but I think about what it will be like to be a grandma someday. I know it will be amazing. When R&R were born my mom said it was so wonderful to see her baby become a mother. I know I'll feel that way too. Reese & Ryan love both sets of granparents SO much and we are so blessed that they all live so close to us.

Scuba Reese

I love this age :) This is what a tantrum looks like in our house. It starts after bath time where Reese refuses to put a diaper & PJs on for over an hour. I say "Reese, do you want to put on your PJ top or diaper first? What would work best for you?" "NO MAMA!!". She then finds her blue goggles that have been floating around since summer and puts them on. It's hard to see everything through the blue tint, so she steps on our dogs, they freak out, and then she freaks out. This is the photo of her next to the stuffed dog. She then proceeds to drag the dog down the hallway. Finally, she snaps back to happiness in 2.2 seconds and I'm standing there wondering what changed. They say 3 is worse than 2. Brace yourself!

Be still my heart

I love Taco Bell. I think it is the best fast food EVER!! It runs in the family. My mom worked there when she was 15 and tells stories about how she locked the place up at night and came home smelling like beans. Yum! So I can't deny my heritage and have passed the TBell love on down to our girls. The bean burritos w/ green sauce and cheezy rollups are the fave right now. I know what you're thinking. I have to say we really eat healthy 95% of the time and I cook a lot, but you can bet that if I'm hungry and only have $5 in my wallet, then we're making a run for the border. We have the girls' 2 year appt. next week and I'm sure she'll ask what kind of food the girls like to eat. I haven't decided if I'll tell the pediatrician that Reese and Ryan love Taco Bell and have been able to hold a bean burrito since they were 17 mos. old. Some things are better left unsaid.

This Real Estate Market

It gets brought up every day--how bad our economy is and how much this market sucks. I talk about it waaaay more than I would like to, but it seems that it is affecting everyone. It's a trickle down effect, a domino effect, whatever, it's bad. I always try to stay opitimistic about things, but there are days when it seems pretty bleak. The question I get asked the most is "When will it turn around?". If only we knew. I predict it will be a few years and I'm not sure how many people can weather the storm. I'm so grateful that Cory & I get to work under my dad at a great company like Remax. We have good months and then there are bad months. If I don't budget our money, I may end up looking like my Aunt Carol on Halloween, only not dressing up :) Seriously though, it could always be worse. We have a wonderful family and we're all healthy and happy. Those are the things that we need to focus on when times are so bad.

Our new Chuck Taylors

We got some new shoes yesterday and they're about a size too big, but who cares? Could you die at how cute they are?!?

That's Ry on the right. What a poser!

Now I lay me down to sleep

This age (2 year old toddlers) is tough for me and I find myself doing things I never thought I would do as a parent. ( ie: sleeping in our bed or wherever they may fall, watching episodes of Dora back to back, eating candy on Halloween and staying up until midnight) These are just a few of the lovely things I've been letting our children do the past week. Check out naptime today in our bed.

Two 2 year olds

These are a few photos of their recent 2 year photo session.

Fall Fun

This fall has been busy for us--we had my 30th bday party a few weeks ago, the girls' 2 year bday is approaching next week, we went away as a family to Rocky Point, and I left town 2 weeks ago to visit Dana in NYC. Craziness! It's been fun couple of months and we've been totally enjoying watching the girls grow & change right before our eyes. It seems everyday they are saying new words and phrases. We are constantly trying to decipher the toddler speak. Today at the park, my mom and I were playing with R&R and Ryan ran toward my mom and said, "Coming Mimi!" It's so cute to hear those words. I'm always amazed at how much their little brains are absorbing right now.

Fun with friends

We went to the Allans for dinner tonight and had a great time hanging out with everyone.  The weather was gorgeous, food was delicious, and the kids had so much fun playing together.  They are all so cute at this age.  I could eat them up.  

 Ryan striking a pose.

Reese & Zackary.

Four little cuties.

 Reese & Zackary seem to have a fondness for each other.  They kept trying to kiss and Reese would close her eyes.  The two Ryans were annoying each other while Reese & Zackary were smooching in their own little world.  This had us all cracking up.

 

 Misty & her cute pregnant belly.

 Look at that sweet little face!

Avery's 2nd birthday

It was a butterfly theme and Holly did a great job decorating.  It was so adorable.  The girls had a great time playing with friends and celebrating.

 My hands are dirty!  Help!

We love cake!

Defeat

She finally gave up and passed out.  It really is a battle of wills sometimes with little Reesie.