Holiday trim

Reese is looking presentable following a little snip with Ms. Courtney.

Gameday

It's Daddy/Daughter day at the Swamp for the Messal family.

Thanksgiving lunch

Mommy and Daddy have joined Reese and her class for a Thanksgiving lunch and performance.

Thornbrook Art Festival

Taking a cheese and cracker break at the Art Festival. October has brought with it some beautiful fall weather.

Gator Girl

Reese has really become fond of striking a pose. Completely
unsolicited charm and character...we love it.

This is Friday night following the Gator volleyball game.

Feeding the Ducks

This past weekend's overcast skies saw the Messal family running a lot
of errands. We took a short break from all the running around to
subject ourselves to a hord of very un-shy ducks.

Reese's initial hesitation diminished once she found refuge atop the
retaining wall. As our fowl friends began to flank Reese's unprotected
back side it was again time to move on.

In addition to our philanthropical feeding of Gainesville's duck
population, we also pulled the trigger on Reese's BIG GIRL BED! We
picked up some new books for Reese at the library. We got Reese all
set up with a pair of cletes for soccer which starts tomorrow and we
topped it off with a little frozen yogurt.

Nice little Saturday considering the unhappy skies.

What happens when....

...we let Reese pick out her own apparel for a quick trip to Wal-Mart for some school supplies. Gray t-shirt (too small), a Puma skort, gaudy Gator socks with old black dress shoes (too small)... at least she didn't look out of place.


Reese-ism:
"Daddy, you can't eat poop or you'll get a tummy ache."

Story Time with Poppy

Memaw and Poppy dropped by this evening and Reese made Poppy read her
the 'Big Bird' story before she heads off to bed.

Reese-ism

While enjoying an impromptu meal at Chick-Fil-A, an Arabic family came
in and sat down at a table across from us. Reese glanced over at the
wife, with traditional head wrap, and nonchalantly says aloud, "That's
Jesus' Mommy."

Sent from my iPhone

Pre-Season

Reese and Mommy warming up our seats for the impending football season .

Hangin with Grandpa

Visiting with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma for dinner this evening.

The things that Reese says...

TICKLE TIME

While driving back to the house from the park yesterday, Mommy and Daddy had Reese in a bit of a giggle-fit. We would ask Reese, "Hey, do you know what time it is?" She would reply, "No", and we would simultaneously reach back and tickle her while yelling out "TICKLE-TIME!"

Reese would laugh uncontrollably (best sound in the world by the way). Anyway, we repeated this a half dozen times over a 5 minute period, eliciting the same glorious response on each occasion.

Then, following an episode of tickling, Reese abruptly inquired, "HEY! Do you know what time it is?"

We played along and responded, "No."

And then with a completely straight face, Reese looks at her bare wrist and plainly says, "four o'clock".

Definitely one of the funnier things this week. By the way, it was actually like 7:45.

Hilarious!


Photos from the weekend

For a Mother's Day gift, Reese and Daddy went on a "photo shoot" around campus this past Saturday. Reese isn't usually too accommodating when it comes to posing for photos (not that that stops us from trying), but she must've understood that these were going to be hung up in Mommy's office and she took direction uncharacteristically well.

Here is a sampling of our endeavor:

Headless Reese

Having a little fun with "PhotoBooth" before nap time on this rainy Sunday afternoon.

Downtown Disney

Reese and Olivia are checking out the doggies (made of Legos) outside
the Lego Land at Downtown Disney.

Reese and Dora

Checking out the sites at the Nickelodeon Hotel

The Sleepy Pose

When the hands go behind the head, you're about 3-5 minutes from a
sleeping beauty.

Gettin' Hair Did

Miss Courtney is turing the Rag-a-Muffin into a Princess before we
head over to the Magic Kingdom for the weekend.

Spring Arts

On Saturday Reese got loaded up into the bike trailer and headed downtown to the Spring Arts Festival.

The Thomas Center (pictured above) was ground zero for all the child-related activities and was a good place for Reese to "people watch" and shake loose some of her standard shyness.

Here are some of the highlights presented to you in bullet format:

• While traveling through all the chaotic traffic noise on the way downtown, Reese's angelic little voice cut straight through it with a sweet rendition of "Jesus Loves Me"
• We watched a percussion group perform. One of their drummers was dressed in a blue gorilla suit. Once they finished, all Reese cared about was going to see the blue monkey up close.
• Reese is TERRIFIED of port-o-lets
• Reese decorated a rag doll which resembled a voodoo doll and named it Brent (our cycling-adventure travel companion).
• Reese likes ice-cream
• When eating ice-cream, Reese requires a lot of napkins/attention.
• Reese fell asleep in the child trailer on the way home. This is especially amazing due to the bumpy route that we traversed. Imagine falling asleep in the Baha 1000 rally.

Rag-a-muffin

Reese needs a haircut before we head to Disney this coming weekend.

...and yes, that's her Snow White dress she's wearing.

Thanks Aunt Lynn & Uncle James

Reese opened one early birthday present this morning from her Aunt
Lynn and her Uncle James in Detroit.

The bikini fits great and the warming weather will definitely lend
itself to ample visits to the pool.

Not pictured is the accompanying grass skirt that came with the
bathing suit.

A Piece and a Slice

The stars of "A Little Piece of Reese" and "A Slice of Tyce" got
together for some breakfast last weekend at the Cracker Barrel. After
a few games of checkers and lounging in rocking chairs, Reese and Tyce
graciously posed for a few photos.

New shades

The Easter Bunny brought Reese some new sunglasses in her Easter basket.

Waffles & Monsters

Reese is in the process of housing 3 Eggo waffles while she is
entertained by "Monsters Inc.".

Chillin'

Finished dinner, washed the car, folded some laundry, now we're hangin
with our friend Dora.

Ball Pit

Reese has been in perpetual motion since arriving at the gym this
morning. Can you looong nap!

Stay and Play

Reese and I finished with gymnastics class and then we stayed to play
on the indoor jungle gym.

TGIF

Today is the first time in a long time that Reese was able to go to
school in something other than long pants and long sleeves.

We're in the process of familiarizing Reese with all the Disney
characters prior to her maiden voyage to the world of Mickey Mouse.
She's still a bit vague when it comes to Donald Duck, but Mickey's
playhouse (the cartoon) is helping to rectify that. Reese's shirt is
adorned with her favorite of the Disney characters, Minnie Mouse, even
though she calls her Mickey.

Happy Friday!

St. Patty's Day

I forgot to post this pic of Reese on the way to school on St.
Patrick's Day.

She was rocking the green stretch pants and shamrock shirt that
Grandma brought her. She also decided that she wanted to wear her camo/pink Gator hat because it also had green in it.

In her lap is one of 6 plates of green cookies that we baked the night before. When I say "we", I mean that Reese mushed in some green food color into the cookie dough for 5 minutes, then I stayed up baking the
cookies after she went to bed.

Erin Go Bragh!

Reese makes me laugh

Last night, Reese and I were moving right along with our nightly routine of dinner, playtime, clean-up, bath, stories, bedtime when she said something that made me laugh (once again).

During bath time, I needed Reese to stand up so I could more efficiently wash her legs and backside. After nicely asking 3 times with no response I resorted to the classic "I'll count to three".

Without even having to utter "ONE", Reese shoots up to the standing position and exclaims, "You didn't even get to 'one' because I'm fast, BUDDY".

She placed a great emphasis on the second syllable of the word 'Buddy', it came across in such a way like she was mocking me for being slow or maybe like I forgot how to count to 3.

Last year at this time...

...Reese was on the verge of becoming a 2-year old and growing both mentally and physically faster than we could keep up with. Here we are on the precipice of her turning three and the rate of growth hasn't slowed down.

I've just gone back and reviewed my postings from the month of March in 2009...wow, my little baby has quickly turned into a little girl! I know that it's so cliché to once again make note of the fact that my child is growing up so fast, but it's the most apparent thing when looking back at pictures like this, taken exactly one year ago today.

No matter how fast I pour copious amounts of downloaded photos and videos into my iPhoto software, I can't help but lament all of the moments that I've not captured. The little looks, the hilarious curiosities, the cute little daily outfits that are all giving way to this ever-maturing child.

I know that the feelings will be the same as I review this post on March 9th, 2011...I just hope that between now and then I'm able to cut through the daily routine in order to take time to appreciate Reese as she is at that moment...and snap a few million photos while I'm at it.

Tea time

Reese and cousin Hayley enjoy a poolside snack.

Super Nugget

A super hero mask mistakingly made it's way to our house from daycare.
I'm unsure of it's origins but Reese got a kick out of it.

Gymnastics Meet

Reese is loving the front row. Warm-ups might be better than the meet.

Reese-ism

So we're sitting here enjoying our dinner (roasted chicken, cranberry
and mandarin orange salad sandwiches served on 5-grain wheat bread
with a side of edamame...in case you're wondering). Reese sees me stab
a cherry tomato from my salad (that has ranch dressing on it), and says:

Reese: Daddy, what's that?
Daddy: it's a cherry tomato, would you like one?
Reese: is it sweet?
Daddy: No.
Reese: is it spicy?
Daddy: Nope.
Reese: Is it ranch-y?

Gator hat

Reese just grabbed this Gator hat while we were doing some shopping.
She looks so cool in it and I'm a sucker for all Gator apparel...SOLD.

Another look

It's like she's not a baby anymore. She's a liitle girl.

Ponies

Reese's new teacher put Reese in Pony tails today and she's adorable!

Yep, that's my kid..

... heading into the hotel with a ski jacket and swim goggles.

Nastics

Daddy and Reese are watchin a little Gator gymnastics.

Some Recent photos

Strike a Pose

COY adjective (coyer, coyest) making a pretense of shyness or modesty that is intended to be alluring.

Tea for Two

During a recent visit from Reese's cousin, Hayley, the two young debutantes were found in the play room quietly enjoying an afternoon tea,

Recon Photo

This photo was taken last week while doing the night-time inspection of the house.

Is it weird...

...that my daughter carries full bottles of juice/Gatorade around the
house, treating and talking to them like they are her baby dolls?

I just heard her say, "No, I'm not going to put you down until you
behave."

Weird.

BTW: the photo is Reese sitting in front of a mirror with her two
"baby dolls" watching herself talk to them.

Body Heat

Reese and I were taking our daily walk to the mailbox this afternoon
when she realized that her decision to NOT let me put her jacket on
was the wrong move.

I picked her up in order to keep her warm during our short jaunt
across the street. Once she threaded her arms down my jacket sleeves
it was only common sense to zip her into my coat, right?

Reese got a big kick out of our attempt at marcupial mimicry.

A rare head-banding

It's a rare occasion for Reese to allow things to be put in her hair
(barretts, hair clips, pony tails etc.). On those rare occasions It's
even more rare for Reese to LEAVE those things in her hair.

This morning was one of those occasions when she not only suggested
she wear a head band, but she actally left it on (at least until I
dropped her off, I'm sure it didn't last long after that).

So here is a rare photo of Reese without hair in her eyes.

Nitey Nite

Tax-Season is upon us and Mommy is working late.

Reese is ready for bed and warming herself by the fire before crawling
under her sheets.

Good Night Mommy.

Goin' to France

We just asked Reese why she was packing a suitcase, she replied, "I'm
going to France".
Us: how are getting there?
Reese: I'm just gunna have to drive.
Us: what are you going to do in France?
Reese: I'm going to play with my toys, but I'm going to bring all of
you with me. I'm going to where flip-flops cause I'm not going to go
outside.
[we've been telling her that she can't wear flip-flops because it's
too cold outside]

Ten Pack

***read previous post first

Here are the ten pair of panties that were just removed in order to
facilitate a little potty time.