Tulip Fest 2011

A couple of weekend ago we went over the mountains to see the last weekend of the Woodburn Tulip Festival. It was a little bit of a gloomy day but the flowers were looking great and the kids had a blast. Here are some photos of the kids and the flowers:

The Reese Kids Ride!

The training wheels are off! After just a couple of weeks of practice in the alley and some skinned knees, Pippa can now ride a bike all by herself- starting, stopping, balance, honking the horn, you name it, she can do it!

Here's a little "training montage" video of Pippa in action:



While we were out practicing William was rocking the trike:



Of course, sometimes even the best riders fall down and go boom:

Pippa's 5th Birthday Party

Last week was Pippa's big 5th birthday party. The theme she wanted was of course princess, so we had all the girls come dressed as princesses and did a Princess Training Academy, where King Nick devised a series of games that would teach them how to be a proper princesses in this topsy turvy world. They learned all sorts of things, like how to talk to animals, how to be sneaky when dragons are around, how to make a princesses wand, how to avoid eating poison apples, and how to find m+ms in whip cream. You know, princess stuff.

The birthday girl!

The birthday brother, not amused!

Pre-party dance party

The princesses receive their first lesson

Making wands

The birthday cake

The most out of tune princesses ever

Blowing out the candles

The birthday gifts

Princess Silly Face

Opening presents

It was quite cute, they all battled to see whose present she would open next

The aftermath of Princess and the M+Ms, the modern retelling of Princess and the Pea. Walt Disney, call your office!

All princessed out

So you say you wanted some pictures of Thomas....

The very talented Lindsay Russell of Lindsay Russell Photography came by the other day to take photos of Thomas. Here is bunch for your baby-lovin' pleasure.

First Impressions of Thomas Robert Reese

This is old news to most of you reading this, but our wolf pack has grown by one. Thomas Robert Reese was born on March 27, 2011 at 11:52pm. He weighed in at 9.5 lbs and measured 21.5 inches and is as healthy as I have ever seen a baby.

The delivery was fantastic. We did a home delivery with the midwives at Motherwise in Bend, Oregon. The two midwives were incredible and made the whole experience as easy and stress-free as have had a delivery. Heck, it wasn't even all that messy! The best part for sure was being able to sleep in our own bed afterwards instead of the hospital bed for Laura and the hospital room couch for me!

The three older kids love the new baby a ton. It's a constant battle to see who gets to hold him next or kiss him on the head. Oliver and William are constantly asking where Thomas is and what he's doing and if they can see him (with Mummy/sleeping/not right now, let him sleep). Pippa is ready to babysit by herself any time we're ready to put her in. It's wonderful to see how much they all love him, hopefully they'll still feel this way in 11 months when he's walking around and swiping all their toys!

Here are some pictures from the last three days. I'll post more as I get them!

Laura earlier in the day. She had felt her first contractions at 3am but they didn't really get going until 7pm when the kids all went to sleep. It was a race to see if we would have a 3/27 baby!

Mum and Thomas after delivery.

The kids woke up the next morning to find a new baby in the house. And they were just expecting pancakes!

"Thomas" was the winning bracket name.

"Robert" is after one of the grandfathers, who are both named Robert. But we're not telling which one!

Thomas sleeping. He comes awake at night for a bit but mainly likes to sleep so far. Takes after his dad!

The Brood.

Brothers!

Big Sister getting her big sistering on.

The kids checking out their new brother.

Big brother giving little brother a welcome cuddle.

Happy Dad is happy.