'Yo' give love a bad name.....bad name....

We often give Ryan a bad rap by referring to her as:  'devil child', 'stubborn', 'diva', etc.... and while she does often deserve such names, she really is the stinkin' funniest thing this side of the Mississippi.  Even her tantrums are comedic, tonights' was no exception:  complete (I mean complete) breakdown because we wouldn't let her watch Yo Gabba Gabba.  Instead, mom thought it would be nice if we listened to some tunes while watching the Apple TV slideshow of family pics.  Oh hells no.  Ryan lost it "no watch pictures, NOOOO pictures!!!!!!!" God forbid we do some family reminiscing of birthdays, births, loved ones, etc...  The girl wanted her Yo and she wanted it BAD and she wouldn't let go.  We were followed around the house, up and down stairs for a good 10 minutes listening to her present her case for watching a grown man in a head-to-toe orange jumpsuit.   Anyway, no photo documentation to accompany this tender story so here are two random pics of the ladies....

Daddy Blogs

Middle of the second week and mommy had to call in a pinch-blogger.

I have included some artistic photos of my little darlings!  

Please enjoy!

At least she has them on her face - Reese usually just eats my sunglasses.

This sums it up - Reese laughing, Ryan eating and preparing to claw Reese.

Drooling while Dad looks up college football schedules

The loss of hair is mainly due to Mom worrying about the loss of hair - self fulfilling really.
Better her than me - knock on wood.

Daddy - out.

Lazy Sundays....

Truly a lazy Sunday as mom and dad went out last night and needed some time to recover.
The girls had full run of the house today, and someone with an independent streak welcomed the change!

Naturally, what else do you do with a pack of party plates?














Taking after mom's WWF days, Ryan trying out a few wrestling tricks on Reese:

Happy girls - guess the body slams and elbows to the chest  were all in the name of sport.

Reese(y) - as Ryan so affectionately calls her....

A little ray of sunshine on a Saturday - Reese Bentley Stiff at 5 1/2 months old.
Reese is an avid thumb sucker, loves rolling, prefers to sleep on her stomach, enjoys a nice nap with mom, drooling like a dog so we're expecting to see some teeth in the coming weeks (?), loves to squeal and most importantly, ADORES her older sister Ryan.  She can also count to five in Spanish, but we don't want to brag.

TGIF!

Happy Friday from the Stiff gals!  This week was summed up with:

•  Going potty on the toilet (but only when a potty prize is involved, rarely for the better good of the pottier)
• Modern day hot-oil treatment:  As Ryan was helping us do the dishes, we turned around only to find her wiping Reese's hair with the butter-soaked brush Grant used to baste the fish 
• After a long Wednesday, Ryan looked mom up and down with slight disgust on her face and then simply pointed to the bathroom and said "shower mama, shower"  
• And probably the most disappointing news of the week --- our precious Reese who has had a fabulous mane of hair since her arrival here outside the womb, is following in her sister's footsteps and opting for a well groomed mullet*.  Grrrrrr.  So sad.  She is like a shedding dog.  We're all still in shock and mourning those brown locks.  

*the hair you see in this picture is all that is left on Ms. Reese.
Party on top, straight military business on the sides & back

Charge it!

Leave the girl alone for 2 seconds and she's on a mission.....and of course a play purse and wallet won't do the trick.  She knows the difference and don't insult her intelligence by trying to trick her into playing with the old, dusty Coach (back from when mom actually spent money on herself and ventured out beyond Target), Ryan wants what she can't have.

It's also wonderful (sarcasm) that she knows enough to take the credit card out of the wallet, hand it to the cashier and say 'charge it'.













And just to remind ourselves that we can produce sweet offspring whom don't talk back (yet), a little pic of Reese:

It can be hard to find a good babysitter....

So sometimes you just have to suck it up and let Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Terry do the job so mom and dad can head out for a night on the town.  You'd think after 3 kids and 5 grandkids they'd have this thing nailed down.

I love that towards the end, our little devil child (Ryan, of course) hops up on the couch with Uncle T and starts pushing him away, as if to say "I'm done with you now, Reese and I want to gossip alone" 

Some things never go out of style....

Bless my mother for saving some of her favorite outfits of mine as a child.  We dusted off a few of the more precious ones and played dress up.  My beloved red cherry dress, too adorable for words!

With Grandpa back in the day, rockin' the black, patent leather, Mary Janes....

Cherries, circa 2010:

Exciting News!!!!!!

No, I'm not pregnant (although wouldn't that be nice, Grant, to be a big ole family of five?).  Anyway, we're trying out  2011 New Year's Resolutions for size and one I'm contemplating is a daily blog update for the entire year.  Pretty aggressive, I know.  The chances of a 3rd child are probably greater than pulling this one off (and if you know Grant, then you know his position on any more children - that would be a capital H-ELL no).  So I figure we'll use the next week as a trial run.  For those of you who may doubt my commitment to resolutions; I don't want to brag or anything but I have flossed every single day of 2010 thus far (including in between contractions while in labor with Reese).  So watch out.....

A cute pic of the babes to kick things off:

Reese's Pieces!

Almost 5 months old...and truly the sweetest little snack around.

Tantrums rock!

When we signed up for this parenting gig, we were forewarned that the terrible two's were something to watch out for......what we weren't told was how hysterical they are. Seriously, tantrums can be fantastic viewing. What adds to the enjoyment is how one can come out of nowhere over the SILLIEST things... Case in point:

Ryan was playing with paper plates, threw them all over the floor and her EVIL mother asked her to pick them up before she moved her tornado self onto her next victim. Ryan was not a fan of that request.

Hot summer nights...

We had a bbq last weekend with some friends - including 7 tots under the age of 4. After a few too many apple juices, these girls were ready to party!