Reese Turns One

Everyone always talks about the first year going by fast. It definitely did with Callie. But Reese's first year went by at warp speed. It is actually quite stunning to realize that she has been in our lives for over a year. And it certainly isn't because she hasn't made her presence known. Reese is full of life and personality. And she is not afraid to share her opinions and feelings. Take for instance, the centerpiece of the celebration for her first birthday.




There it sat, a gorgeous cupcake topped by the candle shaped in number one. For the above picture we placed the cupcake out of reach, sure that the mere smell of sugary frosting would send Reese into an eating frenzy. Apparently there are still a few things we don't know about our daughter.

It started off well. We put the cupcake in front of her and sang happy birthday. And as pictured here, we even shared the melodious birthday songs from her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents left on our voicemail. Reese loved it. She smiled, she clapped her hands, and from our perspective she was ready for the big moment when the cupcake would be devoured.

It was not that simple. This picture was taken after about five minutes of encouragement as we tried to get Reese to even touch the cupcake. You can see that Vivie Ann, Mason, and Callie all thought that they might have the answer to this problem. If Reese just got a little taste of the frosting she would understand what she was missing. Or at least if she saw them eating it her base instincts would kick in and she would take part.


Then Callie went for the direct approach. Just take the frosting and shove it in her mouth. She was sincerely at a loss to understand why Reese would not want to indulge in a treat that she had never had the opportunity to taste before. However, Callie may have also been personally offended because she had taken a lot of pride in the time she spent helping to pick out this particular cupcake.

When all was said and done, Reese did get a bit messy. But as you can see in the picture below, she refused to eat any substantial amount of it. Indeed, after she got some of the frosting on her arm she was mostly upset that there was something sticky on her arm. So this is not a picture of a fist raised in victory, but a signal that she was done with this little charade.



Once we had completed our attempts to capture the iconic moments of a first birthday, it was time to focus on birthday party activities. But in the year lived at warp speed, that meant combining birthday activities with Christmas preparations. Bring on the gingerbread houses!

Vivie Ann and Mason worked well together on their house. We had been sure to keep all of the candy decorations in the kitchen while lunch had been served. But when all of that was done it was time to put as much colorful candy on the gingerbread cottage as possible. This brother and sister team did well, and the picture shows that they were quite happy with the final product.




While the Johnson kids were working their magic, Callie was representing the Bowes family alone since Reese was doing what she normally does at these parties, taking a nap. However she was more than willing to join the crew for the picture with the fully decorated house. All in all it was a great day.

So little Reese Harper is one. Crazy. Our regular readers will note that she has yet to receive her first year promotion and tenure review. The paperwork has been an issue and the current economic crisis has forced us to downsize the front office. It has led to some delays in our normal processes. Trust us, it's coming.