End of Year Recitals

The hills are alive with the Sound of Music, especially here in Flagstaff where today we retired the piano and trumpet for the summer. Sarah has just finshed her first year of trumpet and her fifth year of piano. Sarah has become very musically talented and we are so proud of her. Sophie has just started taking piano lessons this past January and has picked up on it so well. Today was their piano recital and they had to have their pieces memorized so I was really nervous for them, but they got up, played and didn't skip a note. Sarah also had her end of the year band concert and what do you get when you have at least 85 kids on stage trying to play together on stage. LOUD! Yeah, that's right - poor Sydney and Sean had to plug their ears. (Enjoy the pictures of them demonstrating how LOUD it was) They were ready to go after the first piece. Luckily, they played the Star Wars theme for their last song so it kept his attention. I just have a give a woo hoo to my girls and let them know I am so proud of their accomplishments

Oh, and one last side note, after the recital Fred took Sean to get his First REAL haircut. Yes, he has had trims before, but now Fred thinks he looks like a boy. Poor Fred, on the way to the Father and Sons outing they stopped off at a convenient store to get a soda and Sean was taking his time when a man looked at Fred and said, "Just like a typical woman always taking their time to decide" This only motivated him more to get his hair cut, it looks good, but my baby is so grown up now. Ok so my camera has a video feature that I finally figured out how to use! Check it out!

Memorial Day Weekend

First and foremost the Reese family would like to THANK all of the men and women who fought and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be FREE and live in this GREAT country.

This past weekend we went down to Tucson. Our renters in our house are moving out and we had to go paint and clean up the yard. (Thankfully the weather was so nice that it really wasn't bad being outside especially after shoveling snow on Friday) It was a busy weekend and we had a great time seeing friends, but not enough time. We have to go back down in a couple of weeks to do the cleaning inspection and give our new renters all of the keys and things. While we were there we stayed at the Hilton El Conquistador where Fred used to work and the kids had a great time swimming at the pool and going down the water slide. (Poor Sean he was too short!) I just want to thank our friends, the Hardings, for letting us crash at their home Sat night. I know it was crazy, but we had a great time!

What the Heck!

WARNING DO NOT attempt to adjust the picture, YES, today is May 23, 2008 and once again it's snowing in Flagstaff. I swear, someone needs to kick Mother Nature in the you know what. It's amazing that only 3 days ago Flagstaff broke a record for record heat (84 degrees) it was so nice. I actually didn't have to put on a hoodie that morning. I think the only one who has enjoyed this snow fall is our dog, Max. He just loves running around in it. Oh and I watched a squirrel trying to find it's nuts! He was probably thinking I woke up to soon, I need to go back to bed, which is what I'm going to go and do.(I tried to take a picture, but those little boogers are fast) Anyway, have a safe and great Memorial day weekend!

Father and Son Outing

This past weekend I LET Fred take our son out into the wild on their 1st Father and Son's campout. They went camping in an area called Bull Pen in Camp Verde. They had a great time and Fred said the whole time Sean kept asking, Is this camping dad? Are we camping dad? There is a creek where they went camping and Fred said Sean stripped down and got into the water unbeknownst to him until someone probably concerned for the naked child in the water asked Fred, "Hey don't you have the kid with the curly hair?" Fred said, "Yeah that's me" (nice response, HUH!) "Well he's naked and in the water." I think all of the guys got a laugh out of that and took plenty of pictures. (I hope they don't end up on the ward bulletin!) Fred said they had a great time bonding sleeping on the hard ground. I know they had a good time, but the girls and I all slept in my king bed nice and comfy.

Happy Belated Mothers Day

I just wanted to wish everyone a "Belated" Mother's Day. The day started off really well we went to the famous Little America Mother's Day Brunch and I proceeded to eat a lot of food. They had made to order omelets, waffles, ham, prime rib and of course the chocolate fountain. Sean LOVES the chocolate, well I think everybody does, but not as much as him. I had to force him to eat a waffle before we had chocolate. I have learned that he likes the chocolate covered fruit (that still counts as a serving of fruit, right!), but he really loves the skewers that you put the fruit on. He just wanted more sticks (as he called them) let's just say that he was covered with chocolate. People stopped eating just to watch him eat his chocolate fruit on a stick. (I wish I had my camera, but I wasn't a blogger yet) I had to take him out to the bathroom to clean him up and we had to walk through the hallway lined with people waiting to get in. All I heard were people snickering and how much somebody enjoyed the chocolate fountain. I think I heard someone say he looks good enough to eat. Oh Well, I had a great day and I enjoyed getting homemade gifts from my wonderful children. I would just like to leave you with a poem Sophie wrote for me, it's called--

My Mother

My mom is really delightful,
She is very great to me!
She helps me with school,
And she is kind as can be!

Whatever she does,
she can do very well!
When she works at a shop,
She know the way to sell! (Side note, she drew a picture of me at the GAP)

She may be a little naggy,
And make me play with my brother,
And we may get into a fight,
So my little brother gets my mother!

My mom is so sweet,
A heart so tender,
She may be a little tense,
But I still love her!

(Another Side note, Sophie had the word mean in the poem, but her teacher suggested the word tense, You know I thought she gave me a funny look when I dropped off her lunch yesterday. Would a mean mother let her child go hungry? I think not and I think that was Wonderful of me to take it to her).

Anyways, one more quote from a lady who I think is Hilarious, Erma Bombeck
"All of us have moments in out lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them." (Don't you just love her!)

Oh and remember children make your life important without them we wouldn't have Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Infant Swim Resource

Sean has been involved with a swim program called ISR (infant swim resource). It was featured on the Today Show this morning and his instructor, Colleen Haas emailed me and asked if the parents of all of her students could help get the word out of the AMAZING program. I'll start off with our story, living in Arizona everyone (well not everyone, but close enough) owns a pool. Drowning is the #1 cause of death for toddlers ages 1 to 5 and it's sad because it is sooo preventable. Sean loves the water and so we put him in the six week program to help him learn how to swim at the age of 2. It is mainly a survival course and if he falls into a pool fully clothed he will know how to survive. He knows how to float on his back and yell for help. You can check out video demonstration on their website at http://www.infantswim.com/ . Also you can check out http://www.todayshow.com/ and see Dr. Harvey Barnett, the man, who studied this idea that infants can float. We met him last year while we were in Tucson and I am so grateful to him for having a passion to save lives.

Sean and His Instructor Tracy

The End of An Era

I'm sad and happy today to announce that we will no longer be buying diapers in this house again. I told Sean the stores do not make diapers anymore and he now has to where BIG Boy underwear. (I don't usually lie to my children, but the kid has to be potty trained in order for him to attend preschool while I go to school next Fall.) He got to choose underwear that he likes(Spiderman, Lightning McQueen, he wanted Go, Diego Go, but Fred thought those were too Girly!) and so far he has been doing good. I have finally graduated out of the "BABY" stage and we can close the book on that chapter AND I'm tired of changing diapers.!!!!



Yesterday in Flagstaff it SNOWED! Yes! it's May, but someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that. We have had such a crazy winter and I HAD retired my snow shovel for the season so to wake up to 3 to 4 inches of snow was not good. Sean woke up and was so excited he came into the den and proclaimed, "It's snowing! Yeah! It's Christmas!" Luckily, for my wallet, Christmas is still 7 months away and Santa is still making toys at the North Pole. The kids had delayed school schedule(they went 2 hours later), but I think they were relieved they didn't cancel school because this school year they had to take away 3 vacation days. Enjoy the pictures of the kids in the snow(taken on 5/13/08) and Sean's snow outfit (snow boots, shorts and Lightning McQueen shirt).

Me, Wonder Woman, Not Really

Do I really think that I am Wonder Woman? No, but Sean has this obsession with Super Heroes he thinks he's Spiderman, Fred is Batman, and I'm Wonder Woman, I didn't even know he knew about Wonder Woman. (his sisters are whoever he can think of at that moment) AND I thought it would be a catchy name for my blog. When you think of Wonder Woman she is out fighting crime and looking good while doing it. So as a mother of 4 in today's world I have to be their Wonder Mother to help them fight off today's temptations AND look good while fighting off the evil bad guys. (Please don't take me too seriously!) I hope that I can live up to my son's new title for me, some days may be more wonderful than others, but I will give it a good try. Sit back, relax and enjoy and I hope to hear from you.