Old habits die hard

So I went to the photo desk at Fred Meyer today to pick up some pictures that I had dropped off. They couldn't find them! They weren't in the drawer under "Watts." They weren't on the counter and they weren't in the machine. Turns out I had typed my last name in as "Thorpe." I have been married for over 4 years and I have never done that before. Kind of funny.

Another nap time gone

So Reese has been asleep for an hour. An hour ago I turned on my computer with full intentions of working on my talk I'm giving in church on Sunday. But here we are 60 minutes later and... no talk. I have spent the last hour looking at blogs, uploading pictures to facebook, reading people's walls on facebook, shopping for a new head band, eating a snack while I checked my favorite photographer's website and now writing a blog post about it. Social media got to me again... whoops.

I can't live without...

 If I could keep this in a holster on my belt- I would. Reese spits up regularly and almost always on the carpet... or my pants... or Spencer's shirt.

 Reese loves Elmo's World so much. She will not sit still on her own unless this is on. She is in love with Mr. Noodle- the second he comes on screen she laughs and laughs. This is how I get things done while she is awake. (I'm not a bad mom- she only gets 30 minutes a day.)

 The best high chair for apartment living. Plus, Reese is a social girl and wouldn't be happy unless she was at the table with us. This is also how we read books because she won't sit still if she isn't strapped in.

This is Lovey. If Reese has this little guy to suck on, she goes to sleep like a champ.

And of course, these two :)

Hooray!

Reese's pictures came in the mail today and I LOVE THEM! Spence does too :) I have picked out a few... well actually a lot... of our favorites. We need to pick one to blow up big to hang in our house- let me know which one you like best.

More Christmas Fun

 So this year we did a lot of fun things to celebrate the season. We took Reese to get her picture with Santa (which reminds me, I need to scan it so I can post it- so stay tuned.) We went to the Festival of the Nativities at our church building. It was amazing- there were nativities from all around the world. They also had a live nativity (someone in our ward asked if we had volunteered. We laughed so hard- not only is Reese huge now but she is so noisy. It would not have been spiritual at all.) We went into Seattle to see the gingerbread competition they do at the Sheraton to benefit research for juvenile diabetes. We took our good pals Brett and Jenna Alvey with us. It was fun to take this picture because Reese was smiling and drawing the attention of everyone standing around waiting. She is such a babe.

We also went to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens again this year. They recreate the plants they have there in the Spring out of Christmas lights. It is amazing. This year they had a scavenger hunt to find all the animals throughout the gardens. It was for kids, but we had fun looking for them anyway.

The last thing we did (after Christmas actually, but that's ok) was go down to Tacoma to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium for Zoo Lights. It is similar to the Botanical Gardens but they have lots of animal scenes. They also have an old antique carousel that we took Reese on. It was so fun- we picked a tiger that didn't go up and down just to be safe. But she loved going round and round and waving at all the people.

 Here is a short little video of us on the carousel. Enjoy!

Annual Thorpe Family Gingerbread Competition

 Sorry for all the Christmas posts but I need to do some catching up and we have done lots of fun stuff. Every year my family does a gingerbread competition- it is our favorite tradition and we look forward to it all year. We buy (and eat) way too much candy and make a huge mess but we all love it.

 Mom usually goes for a mosaic style- very cute Santa this year.

 Kara and Josh made a Christmas tree out of frosted mini wheats. There is also a sleigh on there.

 Dad always says he has no ideas and then does something awesome. This is his ski village. the little condos had windows and front doors with shoveled walkways.

 Al made a helicopter pad with Santa's sleigh coming in for a landing.

Another mosaic. It was cute, colorful and kind of random- a lot like Selina :)

 

My tribute to the Nightmare Before Christmas. Notice Jack on the left behind the graveyard. The Oogie Boogie Man (made of a green Air Head) is on the right by the Christmas tree. I'm not going to lie- I was pretty excited about this. Nerdy... I know.

So where is Spencer's contribution this year? It's right here...

Yes, even though Spence loves doing the gingerbreads, he sacrificed himself and took care of Reese while we all played. It was really sweet of him because he usually dominates us all with his awesome creations.

Christmas

We had an awesome first Christmas as a family. On Christmas Eve we spent the day at my parent's place. My sister Megan and her husband Boone were in town and we really enjoyed being with them. The Elders came over and had lunch with us and played dominoes and Chinese Ping Pong. Mom had made sugar cookies so we decorated those (we stole two to bring home and leave out for Santa.) We spent the rest of the day watching How to Train Your Dragon (loved it- seriously), eating way to much, and playing some games. We opened our siblings gifts that night- thanks to Josh and Megan for our gifts! We read the Christmas story in Luke 2 as well as some other scriptures from the Book of Mormon. We have a little baby sized plush nativity so we let Reese play with the pieces as we told her the story of the Savior's birth.
Once we were home as a little family we put out Santa's cookies, milk and some carrots for the reindeer. We put Reese in her Christmas jammies and read a story.

On Christmas morning Spence and I got up so we would be ready for Reese when she woke up. She woke around 8:30 (our baby is awesome) and we brought her out to see what Santa had brought for her. She loved her stuffed Elmo in her stocking and liked her car from Santa but is still figuring it out.

Her favorite thing of the morning was a blue bow from one of the boxes. She crawled around with it stuck to her hand and then she would sit down and just look at it. We opened our gifts from Ed and Lorie and Dallin and Morgan (thanks guys!) Before heading back over to my parent's house.

Everyone was up and waiting for us so we got to dig right in. Reese had the most presents out of anyone, so we were all helping her open her new toys, books and clothes. Presents are so fun- to get and to give. My favorite presents I got were a Whippy Cake head band from Spence and some bird pictures from my parents. My favorite presents to give were surprise Adidas to Spencer, a new rug for my parents and Reese's new Elmo. Christmas day was spent eating again (turkey dinner- yummy) and watching the Madagascar Christmas movies (so funny!) We played more games and really just enjoyed being together as a family. We Skyped with Ed and Lorie- we sure did miss the Watts side of our family. We are truly blessed to both have awesome parents that we love and respect. Our first Christmas with Reese was a total success and we loved every minute of it.