Birthday and Half Birthday Pics

Happy 7th Birthday!

Seven, really?!  I don't know where the time has gone.  My beautiful baby girl is growing up.  We started the day with donuts and Lego Friends cookies.  Then we headed to church.  After that we did a video call with Nanny & Pa and then went out for Mexican food with G&G.     

Due to an unfortunate attitude problem, we cancelled Tessa's birthday party this year.  It was almost as hard on me as it was on her.  I love planning parties.  But, like any good consequence, we saw a dramatic improvement so it was definitely the right thing to do.  And just because there was no party, doesn't mean there were no presents.  She is just glowing with excitement looking at her packages. 

That's my sweet Tessa!  It's hard growing up, I'm glad my girl is still sweet most of the time. 

This may be our biggest Lego Friends set yet!  Tessa plays with her Legos for hours at a time.  I think they might be the best toy ever invented. 

Yet another sign our baby is growing up, she got her own computer as a present from us.  She loves the idea that she can work on her computer while I work on mine. 

Daddy is showing her all the websites we preprogrammed it with.  Plus he loaded a bunch of our pictures onto her computer.  She loves pictures almost as much as I do.

And then it was time for cake.  They decorated the cake to look like a road for one of Tessa's Lego cars.  Pretty cool. 

 Her BFF came over to share cake with us and Tessa was so happy. 

As of right now, Tessa still wants to be a painter at Disney World when she grows up.  Her favorite toys are her Lego Friends and her princess dolls.  She is a fantastic swimmer and she loves to read.  Chapter books are some of her favorite gifts.  And she is a fabulous big sister.  Happy Birthday Baby!  Yes, I still call her "Baby" even though she's my older child and obviously growing up.  She will always be my baby.    

Happy Half Birthday

Big Boy is 6 months old already!  He is growing, he's now 28 inches long (99%) and weighs 18.3 pounds (65%).  We had a little half birthday party for him at G&G's house.   

I didn't think he would actually eat any of his cake, but he did investigate it a little.  I love that we were able to keep the hat on for a few pictures.   

G&G found this cool play set for Jackson.  He is pulling up to a standing position and it is just the right height for him.  It has a mini slide, a door and windows that open plus lots of fun toys attached like a phone and a mailbox that doubles as a shape sorter.  Thank you G&G! 

4th of July

We had a busy day scheduled for 4th of July.  For lunch we were going to a friend's to swim and eat.  Then we had a neighborhood block party with fireworks for dinner.  But first, we had a trip to the emergency room after Jackson took a bad fall.  He is ok, as you can see in the pictures, but it gave us all quite a scare.  We still made it to both parties and I even snapped a few pictures of my patriotic kids. 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Baseball is by far Ryan's favorite sports so we gave him tickets for Father's Day.  It was just our luck that it was Disney night at the ball park.  Tessa looks so sweet with her daddy even though she had a sinus infection and an ear infection.  Frozen lemonade is a perfect treat on a hot night. 

We took turns walking Jackson around the stadium, sitting still isn't one of his favorite things.  Pretty cool picture of him with Gampa and the field in the background.   

Look at Jackson's thumb planted firmly in his mouth.  I have accepted that he will not love his binkie like Tessa and I did.  He is a thumb sucker like his Daddy. 

We made it to the 7th Inning Stretch before calling it a night.  That's pretty good with two kiddos.  Jackson is passed out in my arms and Tessa is taking the picture as we leave the park.   

Sitting Up

Guess who can sit up now!  Jackson can!  We were hanging out in the playroom when I realized that he can sit by himself now.  It usually lasts about 15 seconds and then he falls over but he can do it.  Such a big boy.  He also babbles constantly.  He might have said Momma.  During a diaper change his babbling sounded like "Why Momma?" 

And here he is feeding himself.  I have no idea what he is eating, banana or pizza crust.  Who knows, I'm too sleep deprived to remember. 

Speaking of sleep deprivation, I was way too optimistic when I posted that he is sleeping through the night.  That just doesn't happen around here.  And as an added bonus, I think Tessa is having night terrors.  She wakes up screaming most nights.  Someday we will all sleep, someday.   

Father's Day

It was Ryan's first Father's Day as the Daddy of TWO kids.  His arms and his heart are full. 

We went for Mexican food at Chuy's with G&G.  Tessa loves this restaurant because she can get a fruity drink, pretty much the same reason I love it.  She is so sweet with my dad, Happy Father's Day Gampa!

 And this girl loves her Daddy. 

 After lunch we all took a nap.  Pretty much an awesome day all around.  We love you Daddy!

Swim Team

Summer break has officially begun and that means we are at the pool almost every day.  Tessa has swim team practice each morning.  I wrestle her little brother while she swims like a fish.  

This is our last year as a Guppy.  It's nice that they keep the little kids separate, it makes for much quicker swim meets.  G&G came to cheer on our little swimmer.  Dressed in white with their sun hats on makes me flash back to how they looked when they worked my swim meets. 

Everybody gets a ribbon, of course.  I'm very proud of Tessa, as the season went on her times improved.  She still likes to pop up out of the water to make sure everyone is watching and cheering.  When she stops socializing and swims, she is pretty darn fast.   

At some of the meets, they do a fun parade to get things started.  Tessa is cheering for her team. 

Yet another pre-meet parade, this time princess style.  Tessa's friend Stella joined our swim team this year and it's been fun for the girls to swim together.  Fun for me to have a chance to catch up with her mom too.   

Little Man is a trooper when it comes to being dragged around to his sister's events.  Here he is in the shade kicked back with a bottle.  How can he be old enough to hold his own bottle already?!  Pretty soon he'll be swimming too. 



Last Day of School and Five Months

Last day of school, hurray!!!  Tessa is so excited about summer vacation and so am I.  No more car line, no more packing lunches, no more missing Tessa all day.  Mrs. Crocker was wonderful, it was a good year and Tessa learned so much in kindergarten.  My favorite line from her teacher is "Tessa reads beautifully!"  Yes she does and I am so proud of her.   I plan to do summer homework including reading, math, speech and writing most days.  Hopefully we will be well prepared for first grade in a few months.  She looks so grown up compared to how she looked when school started.  It's amazing the difference a year makes. 

And speaking of amazing differences, look at Little Man.  He's five months old and 17lbs 3oz.  He nurses all the time.  He's better about eating cereal now that I mix it with breast milk.  I would like to wait until six months before I introduce more foods.  He's happy and so fun.  His pincer grasp is well developed.  He grabs everything in site, especially hair.  He took a few sips of water out of my cup, he wants whatever I have.  He is trying to suck his thumb but I keep giving him the Wubanub binkie with the bear attached.  He may actually be sleeping through the night. 

Dance Recital

A prettier ballerina I have never seen.  My baby is absolutely gorgeous in her ballet costume. 

I was the backstage mom again this year.  Things went very smoothly since I had two other moms to help this time.  I love that Tessa wants me around and I treasure these times with her.  She had two dances, The Glow for ballet and Magic Mirror for tap.  The Glow was so sweet I nearly cried watching them.  And I marveled at how Tessa's tap skills have improved, her step-ball-change was fabulous!  This year the recital was held at Furman University which made for some wonderful pictures.

Tessa's BFF came to watch and even brought my ballerina flowers.  Miss Tobie helped my mom and Ryan with Jackson during the long performance.     

Daddy had flowers for the tiny dancer too. 

 And Gamma's flowers were the most beautiful of all.

A nice family shot of all four of us.  We are so proud of Tessa and how hard she has worked at dance this year. 

After such an eventful day, we marked a milestone with Jackson.  He slept in his crib in the nursery all night.  Don't misunderstand, he did not sleep through the night by any stretch.  But each time we laid him back down in his crib rather than the cradle.  I managed not to break down when I saw the empty cradle in our room.  How is it that he is already old enough to move to his own room?