Gamma's Birthday

Gamma's birthday week was full of fun.  First we had cake, and more importantly icing.  Tessa wanted to decorate the cake with the Chipettes, but we opted to have them on the side. 

On Gamma's real birthday, we headed to Dupont State Forest to see waterfalls.  I could say we hiked, but really it was more of a leisurely stroll over the river and through the woods.  The weather was gorgeous, cool and sunny just like my mom likes it. 

Posing by the first waterfall, Triple Falls. 

Thanks to a fellow hiker, we have a group shot.   

This trail is great because you can climb down to the riverbed for an up close view of the falls. 

Then we moseyed on down the trail to High Falls.  Seriously, we weren't going anywhere fast with Tessa stopping to look at something or dig in the dirt every five seconds.  But we were in no hurry and she was happy.  On the return trip, we had to laugh every time we spotted her "tracks" where those little fingers had scooped up sandy soil.

After admiring the falls from here, we took the trail down to the base of the falls.  Tessa entertained herself by throwing sticks in the water and watching the current carry them away.  Seeing her precariously balanced on rocks and then bending over the water's edge gave my heart a big jolt.  She was so intent on grabbing sticks that I was afraid she would topple right into the water and be swept away.  So, we moved to safer rocks where she took her shoes off and dangled her little painted toes in the freezing water.   

This is such a sweet picture with Gampa.

Tessa is saying "Hooray for Birthday!"

She sure does love her Gamma.

Yep, we live in a beautiful area. 

After our trip it was home for chocolate pie and champagne.  The next day, for the birthday finale, we all went out to eat.  Happy Birthday!

Easter

Easter is such a glorious holiday.  We marvel at the magnitude of God's gift of grace, his Son sent to die on the cross so that we may be forgiven of our sins and redeemed.  Amazing Grace!  While riding in the car the other day, Tessa randomly announced "I have Jesus in my heart, I love Him."  The faith of a child is a beautiful thing to behold.  

We snapped a few pictures before heading to church bright and early Easter morning. 

After church we snapped a few more pictures with our friends.  

The three amigos made a break for the playground but I did manage to get a few good pictures.

 

And, for once, we mommas got to be in the picture instead of behind the camera.  We didn't plan to color coordinate, it just happened.

After church we went to my parent's house for lunch, egg hunting and presents.  In her Easter basket, Tessa got a variety of Ariel swim stuff.  And, to be cute, the Easter eggs were filled with goldfish.

We all watched Tessa hunt eggs around G&G's yard.  These eggs were much more exciting because they were filled with chocolate, lollipops, toys and Squinkies. 

Yes, we now have a million Squinkies plus the carriage/gumball machine.  And you can see from the huge smile that Tessa thinks this is the best gift ever.  Happy Easter!

 

Easter Pictures

 

 

Egg Hunts

The week before Easter was full of fun parties and egg hunts.  Our SS teachers hosted a cook-out at their house after church.  They have a big backyard and a swing set, the perfect place for all of our munchkins to run around and collect eggs.  I am amused at the different way kids pick up eggs.  Some race for as many as they can find, some wander aimlessly, and some sweetly share their eggs with the babies.  Tessa likes to examine and open each egg she finds, she's very patient and methodical.  I think the kids had the most fun playing by the side of the pool.  The weather was warm and beautiful and several of them wanted to swim.  It's not that warm yet!  So they settled for sticking their feet in the water and floating their empty eggs.  We were so sure someone would accidentally fall in the pool, but amazingly that didn't happen.

After I spent hours on these cookies, I just had to take a picture.  This was supposed to be a fun project for me and Tessa to do together the day before the party because she loves to cook.  Note to self, do not try to learn something new while also cooking with your four year old.  Making and rolling the cookies went great, Tessa is just precious with a rolling pin in her hand.  Making the Royal Icing also went well because she is fascinated with my stand mixer.  Then came the food dye and my stress level went up a few notches.  Icing went into pastry bags and squirt bottles and by now my kitchen is a disaster.  We iced one blue cookie together.  Before it had a chance to dry, said blue cookie was fumbled, smeared on Tessa's shirt and then landed icing side down on the floor.  At this point I realized that perhaps I should finish these myself after she goes to bed.  Tessa loved the finished product and the cookies were a hit at the party, so I will consider this a successful first attempt at "Flood Icing."

We also had an egg hunt at my friend's house while the kids were on spring break.  The kids dyed Easter eggs, we ate super cute snacks, and played outside.  Everyone was having such a good time that we ordered pizza and stayed for lunch.  

 

 

The day of Tessa's school party I had to work.  But, G&G were able to go to her party which Tessa just loved.  The kids made bunny ears and bunny bags and then hunted eggs in the classroom.  She is so cute in her ears!  One night over spring break Tessa asked what we were doing the next day.  I told her there was no school so we could sleep late (wishful thinking on my part) and snuggle.  She started to cry and said "but I LIKE school!"  I love that she is that excited about school, it means she is happy there and that makes me happy.    

Springtime

To my absolute pleasure, spring came early this year.  Our cherry tree was covered in gorgeous blooms so I decided to do a photo shoot.  Tessa wasn't sure she liked being hoisted up into the tree, but she was a good sport anyways.    

We have been making the most of the beautiful weather with lots of outside playtime.  Tessa loves to play at "her park," as in the swing set in the backyard.  

And wow does she like to swing high.  I told her that when I was a little girl we had a big tree next to our swing set and I would always try to touch the leaves with my toes.  She now does the same thing.  We must have taken twenty pictures of this pose, she thought it was extra funny to say cheese while upside down.   

And then, just for fun we took pictures in front of the azaleas.  Such a pretty girl. 

St. Patty's Day

For St. Patrick's Day we had a picnic outside and made a fruit rainbow, complete with a pot of gold.  No surprise Tessa's favorite layer was the red one, strawberries of course. 

I am making an effort to craft with Tessa more these days.  She absolutely loves it and, now that I have Pinterest to provide me with such wonderful ideas, I am having fun too.  Our St. Patty's day craft was painting shamrocks.  So easy!  Cut a bell pepper in half, dip in green paint and stamp away.  We made page after page of shamrocks.  Notice how well Tessa is writing her name, I'm so proud of her.  

And for a special treat that night, we made Shamrock Shakes.  They are made with vanilla ice cream, mint extract, green food dye, chocolate swirls, whipped cream and green sugar sprinkles.  Tessa is fascinated by kitchen appliances and the malt mixer was a new one for her.  Ryan helped her swirl everything together and also helped her finish this huge shake.  We have been married for almost thirteen years and I am just now learning that he likes mint ice cream!  Watching the two of them suck up neon green milkshakes was too cute.

Ahoy Matey!

It's leap year which means Ryan actually had a birthday this year, his ninth birthday to be exact.  And since his birthday only comes around once every four years, we wanted to make a big deal out of it.  A friend gave me a great idea to pick a theme that a nine year old would like.  Hmm, what does a little boy like?  Pirates!!!  So the shopping for eye patches, dreadlocks and other swashbuckling paraphernalia began.  But guess who already had Elizabeth Swann's pirate princess dress ... Tessa!  Perfect. 

I wanted to surprise Ryan and managed to keep pretty quiet about the party prep.  But keeping a four year old quiet is a different story.  He probably wondered why Tessa kept talking about pirates.  I tried to explain these comments away by reminding him she loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  While we were at OK's party, Ryan's parents were nice enough to decorate.  Ryan knew we were having cake with family but he was surprised to see the decorations and discover we all had costumes. 

In fact, I love these costumes so much I think they will make an encore appearance for Halloween.   

Tessa racked up on pirate toys, pirate books, pirate music and even a pirate Ken doll.  But one of the gifts was actually for Ryan, a bottle of rum.  I might have gotten a little carried away with mixing drinks.  Rum Runner, Planter's Punch, and Bermuda Triangle were just a few of the recipes I tried that day.  Of course we blamed any balance problems on the eye patches not the liquor, it's amazingly hard to navigate with only one good eye.  To say it was hilarious celebrating like pirates would be an understatement.    

The pirate cake turned out great.  The staff at Bi-Lo seemed amused when I walked in with a picture of what I wanted and the toys to do it with.  Then again they could have just been amused that my little helper was sporting one of her princess dresses, Giselle that day, and adding her two cents about the pirate cake.  Side note, we don't usually venture out in princess dresses but that day she was adamant and was even willing to forgo the free bakery cookie in favor of wearing the dress.      

Ryan managed not to light his long flowing hair on fire when he blew out his candles.  Then he proceeded to cut the cake using his pirate sword.  He really cracked me up making his pirate face. Arrggghhhh!  

Happy 9th Birthday Ryan!

Nanny & Pa

Ryan's parents drove all the way from Texas to visit with us and bring Ryan his car.  To say that he was excited about buying their BMW would be an understatement.  I'm not sure they had even been here two hours before he was handling the transaction and signing the deed. 

Here is my successful hubby, the proud owner of a Bimmer.  And Tessa thinks the car is fun too, she loves for Daddy to go "faster, faster!"  She's also very into sunroofs these days.  The other day I told her to get in my car so we could go to school.  When I came into the garage she was standing up and waving her pageant wave at me from the sunroof.  Funny girl.

We had a fun long week-end with Nanny & Pa.  We played, took walks, went out to eat and just generally enjoyed spending time together and celebrating Ryan's birthday.  His parents gave him a new grill and we enjoyed breaking it in too.  It was chilly, much colder than they are used to in Texas, so we mostly did inside things.  The best was when we went bowling.  Ryan bowled six strikes in a row!!!  Pretty impressive for a guy that hasn't bowled in a year or so.  Although he did used to work at a bowling alley so that explains some of it.  Tessa was a fantastic cheerleader but she and I claimed the lowest scores.  We also played board games.  The funniest was watching Pa try really hard not to win Pretty Pretty Princess.  He's such a good sport and she adores both of them.  We are so glad they could visit.