We’ve been trying to get back to normal life over the past week. Last Sunday Courtney came to visit overnight, which was super fun for Brian and me and pretty fun for Reese. Kids can’t help but love Courtney, but Reese was still really grouchy from her sleep loss over the holidays.

Reese also spent a quality half hour in the kitchen sink. She loves being on the counters, and she recently discovered that she can turn on the water by herself. I gave in and let her fill the sink and take her clothes off. I filled the sink a little too full, and it overflowed. It didn’t matter, though, she loved it.

When Nana and Grandpa Kevin came they gave Reese her Christmas presents: one of them was a fun dress-up box. Reese loves it:

This is the bag we store the marble game she got for her birthday - she does love the marble game, but as you can see, she also enjoys the bag.

We celebrated Reese’s birthday with Brian’s family during Christmas weekend, and had a birthday party for her here on the actual day. Here’s Richmond:

Here’s birthday in NC:

We had a lot of fun in Richmond the weekend before Christmas. According to tradition, we celebrated the weekend before with Brian’s family. Reese loved being with her cousins. Here she is looking for Caleb:

Even though she can open doors, she prefers to look under the door. Unfortunately, that is the bathroom.

Reese loves her cousins, but she does have some favorites. Now she has a new favorite: she fell in love with Levi, her 15 year old cousin from Georgia. I love that picture.

Grandma’s gift to Reese: fur, of course.

Grandma also got the girls matching outfits (semi-matching in big girl Grace’s case). Aren’t they sweet?

Grandma also picked out an awesome tutu. The best part was that Reese opened it, pulled it out of the box, immediately put it on, stood up, and twirled. I wish I had it on video.

I’m sorry I’ve been away and without photos for so long. I’ll try to mollify you all with a few posts.

We decorated the first weekend in December (leading to a very dry tree by the 27th) and Reese really enjoyed helping.

Last year after Christmas I got a garland of bells especially for Reese and she had a fun time playing with it. It spurred many refrains of “Jingle Bells.”

Brian and I left her with Grandma and Grandpa for the afternoon and evening to go to DC to celebrate our 6th anniversary and to meet up with some college friends. We had lunch at the hotel where our reception was and had someone take a picture:

If I were more industrious I would post a similar photo 6 years old, but I’m not.

We also visited the Archives and National Gallery and spent some quality time on the Metro. I still can’t wait to see that group picture of us all (ahem, Erica!).