Tennessee Excursion

We like to take a quick trip after Christmas each year. Our destination this year was the Smoky Mountains. The drive through North Carolina was gorgeous with snow still clinging to the trees.


We arrived in Pigeon Forge and laughed about how nothing had changed since my childhood.


They still sell pancake mix at the Old Grist Mill and the river is beautiful.

Then we caught the trolley to Dollywood. It's amazing how a 50c trolley ride can be the most exciting thing in the world to a child. We forgot the stroller but Tessa was in heaven being able to run free about the park. There's no slowing her down these days.

Tessa loves trains but she was a little impatient that this one took so long to get going. Had I realized we were going to sit at the station for fifteen long minutes, I would have waited to board with my squirmy toddler. But once the conductor blew the whistle and we started moving she was happy again.

And of course, there are the ever popular carousel rides. This child loves carousels and with short lines we were able to ride this one over and over again.

Part of the fun of Dollywood is that there are plenty of rides for little kids. Tessa had her first spinning tea cup ride. I thought this was particularly cute since she had just received a tea set for Christmas. I'm pretty sure she didn't make the connection between her tea parties and this ride, but I did and it made me smile.

Amazingly, Tessa was tall enough to go on the Ferris wheel too. I think Gampa and I were secretly hoping we would be turned away at the gate, we're both afraid of heights. Tessa loved the ride, little daredevil. I was doing pretty good until we stopped at the very top and she started wiggling! Whew, we were glad to get off that ride.

Dollywood has more than just rides. There's shopping, restaurants and live shows too. We found an Ireland store where Gamma and Gampa bought Tessa one more Christmas present. We ate pizza, corndogs, french fries and funnel cakes. All the amusement park must haves. We even managed to take in one show, Appalachian Singers. Tessa loved it and danced her little heart out.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so sweet with our precious baby girl. Tessa slept late and then snuggled in bed with us before we all headed downstairs to open presents.

Gamma and Gampa arrived with Nanie in time for brunch and more presents.

Tessa really didn't tear into her packages. She would easily get sidetracked with something like tissue paper, the dog, or a previously opened toy. It took us literally all day to open her presents. But the slow pace made for a nice and relaxing day.

Here she is hanging out with Gampa and Anabelle on the couch.

Probably my favorite gift was the trunk full of dress up clothes. It could be said that this gift is as much for me as it is for Tessa. We played dress up and Tessa modeled several of the new princess and fairy outfits by prancing up and down the "runway."



She was skeptical about the crowns at first so I demonstrated how fun it is to wear a tiara. She received all kinds of cool accessories, including Snow White's Mirror Mirror on the Wall.

Here we are cooking. Ryan was a big help in the kitchen, as always.

We planned our big meal around Tessa's nap schedule so we were all able to sit down and enjoy the food. She didn't wake up until long after we'd finished dessert. Then we had more presents!

We broke out the games and Ryan tried to bankrupt us all with Christmasopoly. Granny deeded me all of her property and Daddy and I made some sweet deals. After that, we called it quits and decided everybody wins.

It was a very merry Christmas!

Irish Christmas Eve

When Irish Eyes are Smilin'....

Christmas Eve is at my parent's house. Each year we choose a different country and it's traditions as a theme for the evening. This year was Ireland and we had such a good time. Here's my little darlin' all dressed in green for the holiday.

It helps that we have Irish ancestors, most of our menu came from my great-grandmother's cookbook. Beer stewed lamb, oysters, scalloped potatoes, soda biscuits, homemade fruitcake and of course the tea and coffee were "flavored" with whiskey. Great job Gamma, everything was delicious!

The boys look like they are about to head out to a pub.

Three genereations of girls, I believe the fourth is watching Mickey Mouse in the living room.

It is customary to clean the whole house for Christmas and give linens as gifts. I love my new linens. Maybe I'll get around to that cleaning by spring.

On Christmas Eve, the youngest girl lights a candle in the window to light the way for weary travelers like Mary and Joseph. Very smart Gamma, an electric candle so our toddler could be safe.

All decked out in her new flannel robe and nightgown.

We danced a couple of Irish jigs, and laughed and laughed. No, I will NOT be posting those videos. We also sang the Twelve Days of Christmas and talked about the true meaning of the song. During times of religious oppression, this popular carol was used to teach about Jesus, the real reason for the season. Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Pictures

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to all of our loved ones with December birthdays - Nanny, Aunt Heather, Nanie, Grandma Bobbie, Grace, Danny and Baby Jesus!

Gingerbread Houses

So I had this brilliant idea to make gingerbread houses with Tessa this Christmas season. Granted, I haven't done one of these in years, but I remembered it being a fun and relatively easy activity. Hhhhmmmm, fun and easy is defined differently when a toddler is involved.


I love the kit I bought, it came with five mini houses for my mini person to decorate. I assembled and iced the houses and divided the candy into little bowls. Then I let Tessa decorate the houses. (OK, honestly I totally helped.) It was very cute to watch her alternate between eating the candy and mushing it into the icing. I believe she has a mouthful of mini M&Ms in this picture.

By the time we were done the kitchen was a disaster, the floor was covered with candy and crumbs, Tessa looked like she had been tie dyed and I was a little stressed out. But it was fun and the finished houses are pretty cute.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Our SS class hosts a very fun Santa party each Christmas. One lucky man gets to dress up like the big guy and pass out presents to all the kids. You'll notice there are no posted pictures of Tessa on Santa's lap. She screamed like we were absolutely torturing her and the picture is so sad. No more Santa pictures for awhile Baby, I promise.




Tessa is currently into bows and likes to pick them out herself. She is wearing three at once in this pre-party picture. Not just any girl can pull off the triple bow, but she matches and doesn't she look cute? We settled on one big bow with two different colors for the party.


Hanging out with our friends C and S.

Sharing a cupcake with S. More sugar please!

We may not like sitting on Santa's lap, but we do like receiving presents. Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals are a hit, at least for about five minutes. That's pretty good in toddler world.

Last year was a little crazy when most of our little darlings were still babies. Now that all those babies are fully mobile toddlers, it's especially wild! But that's the beauty of this party, it's totally kid oriented. Here they have formed a sort of conga line where they burn off a little energy. Can you tell they are on a sugar high?!

You Bring So Much Joy To All Our Hearts

Today we celebrate and remember

The day you came to us

To be part of our family for always.

You have brought love, joy, warmth, and togetherness

Into the family and into our hearts.

You are special, today is special, and you are loved!

Happy Adoption Day Tessa!

Thanksgiving in Texas

We traveled to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with Ryan's parents. For the first time, Tessa had her own seat on the airplane and it made flying with her very pleasant. On takeoff we threw our hands in the air and said "high to the sky!" This child loves to fly!

We had surprisingly great weather all Thanksgiving week. Nanny and Pa took us to the Houston Zoo and it's hard to say who liked it more, Tessa or Ryan. So many neat animals including a baby giraffe. The live oaks are even more beautiful than I remember.

To Tessa's absolute delight, we rode the carousel. She was so cute saying "hold tight" while we went flying around on different animals.

We rode the train which brought back fond memories of my grandparents taking me on the very same train. The tracks have been extended and the train now runs to the medical center where I did my nurse training. Tessa was obviously more impressed with the train and its whistle than my former hospitals. In this picture she is saying "Choo-Choo!"

In the children's area was a petting zoo where Tessa brushed and petted the goats. We cracked up watching her fuss at them when they would walk away from her. "Oh no goat!" Toddler translation: 'You're not getting away from me, I want to brush you some more!' Thank goodness for patient animals.

Since we won't be seeing Ryan's parents for Christmas, we celebrated early and opened gifts. Tessa is still more excited about tissue paper than anything in the package so Momma and Daddy helped open presents. Once she realized there were toys and dolls for her, she became very interested.

The best present was her pizza oven. We all LOVE pizza and it seems like we go out for pizza every time we see Paula, which is how she earned the nickname Nanny Pizza. What better gift from Nanny Pizza than a pizza oven?

Tessa and I received matching aprons. I'm the Cookie Maker and she is the Cookie Taster.

We had to put such cute aprons to use immediately. Nanny and Tessa made turkey cookies.

On Wednesday the Burches got together for brunch. We marveled at all the renovations and watched Tessa climb the stairs over and over again.

We can't visit Texas without a trip to my favorite fast food restaurant. WHATABURGER! Tessa approved and was so cute eating her fries I had to take a picture.

Nanny and Pa have great parks in their neighborhood and we visited them several times. It was a great way for Tessa to burn energy. In fact, Thanksgiving morning we wore her out so much that she took a great nap. Ryan and I both were able to sit down and enjoy Paula's wonderful Thanksgiving meal while Tessa slept.

Traditionally we all gather at Aunt Kristin's house Thanksgiving night and let the kids play. It's amazing to see how much everyone grows in one year! Congratulations to Kellie who had another girl four days after this picture was taken.

The trip home was thankfully uneventful. It was great to see everyone but it's nice to be home too. Happy Thanksgiving!!!