Happy Birthday Gampa

We went to Gampa's favorite steakhouse for his birthday this year. The food was delicious and Tessa was thrilled with the free birthday dessert. Now we know how to get the child to sit still for more than five minutes, give her ice cream and a spoon! Happy Birthday Gampa, we love you!!!

Mountain Getaway

This past week-end we headed up to the moutains with two other families for a mini vacation. Tessa did very well, only protesting her bedtime the first night. After many tears, Ryan miraculously convinced her to go to sleep. She slept all night in her own room that night and every other night. I think this is a vacation first!

We are lucky to have friends with girls Tessa's age. They played together with a minimum of fussing and fighting. Each morning they would wake up and ask for each other, so excited to be having this extended playdate.

Feeling adventurous, we decided to take the girls on a one mile hike. They loved tromping through the woods and criscrossing the creek on wooden bridges. I love this father/daughter picture.

The area is very family friendly with two nearby parks. The girls had plenty of energy to slide and swing and play, even after hiking all morning.

The house had a wraparound porch where the girls spent lots of time running and playing. The weather was so great that one night we even decided to eat outside. I love that it wasn't too cold! The boys showed off their man skills by building a fire and we all enjoyed smores. I still can't believe that Ryan had never had a smore! Needless to say, he thought it was yummy and Tessa did too.

We were just across the street from a gorgeous golf course. I hit a handful of balls at the driving range and was pleased to discover that I can still hit a decent 7 iron! The boys played a few holes that afternoon while the girls were napping.

We saw lots of deer, inlcuding this baby one. No bear sightings though, and that's probably okay. Very nice, very relaxing long week-end with good company. Let's do it again sometime!

Bouncing Baby

After a very busy work week for me, Tessa and I had some playtime at Monkey Joe's. We introduced Gamma and Gampa to the joys of inflatables. They were great sports about bouncing with Tessa and she was happy as can be jumping and sliding with all of us. She's no longer as interested in the toddler area but preferred to spend most of her time on the biggest slide in the whole place. No fear! I'm very impressed G&G both tackled the slide with her more than once. Then we headed over to our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch where Tessa delicately dipped her chips in salsa. Amazing! After all the excitement she took a three hour nap - yay!!!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! Earlier today we headed to the clubhouse for a neighborhood party. It was lots of fun with cookie decorating, a picture frame station and pin the nose on the pumpkin. Tessa really wanted to go to the pool and didn't understand that it is closed until next year. Several times we walked over to the pool gate behind the clubhouse and said "Bye-Bye Pool." She loves to swim and apparently is like her Momma, already wishing for the return of summer.

Tonight we dressed both Tessa and Anabelle in their bumble bee costumes and had a fabulous time trick-or-treating. While my darling daughter has an unbelievable sweet tooth, she was more excited about knocking on people's doors and socializing than actually eating the candy. I guess she had more than her share of M&Ms while I was bribing her to smile for the camera.

Gamma and Gampa joined in the fun too! They helped pass out candy, take pictures and even got to trick-or-treat with us. Tessa loved all the attention and was very excited to stay up two hours past her usual bedtime.

Happy Halloween everybody!

We Bought a Car

Yippee!!! I now drive an SUV!!! We have been shopping and saving for a car since Tessa was born and this week-end, we finally bought one. I love it! It's a dark blue Hyundai Santa Fe with all kinds of bells and whistles - my favorite feature being the heated seats. We moved the carseat, toys and Dora cds and then took it for a spin to Target. How fitting.

Boo in the Zoo

Each year our local zoo hosts a very fun activity called Boo in the Zoo. Candy stations are set up throughout the zoo and the kids get a chance to dress up and trick-or-treat. There is even a haunted house, called the Not So Scary House, that's perfect for the little ones. Despite the chilly weather, we went Saturday night and had a blast.

As you can see, Tessa is a bumble bee this year and she is just precious! She is adamant about not wearing hats but is otherwise pretty easy going about how I dress her. However, I was a little worried that getting her to wear the wings might be pushing my luck. Thanks to a little engineering from Gamma and Daddy the wings went on and didn't bother her. As long as she could run around, jump and climb she was a happy little bee. We did have one impressive wipe out when she discovered running downhill is a little tricky. A couple of scraped knees earned us an extra bag of Cheetos at the next treat station. And she's just so darn cute asking for "Mo Chee-toh!"

Pumpkin Carving

While I was at work today my parents treated Tessa to a pumpkin. While she napped, my dad patiently carved out the pumpkin using the Dora pattern my mom provided. The resulting jack-o-lantern is fabulous! My mom and I then roasted the pumpkin seeds for a yummy snack.

When Ryan and I took Tessa for a walk tonight, she said "Bye Dora!" and waved at our front porch. The pumpkin is a hit! Thank you Gamma and Gampa!

Claire and Kids

I was thrilled to have my friend Claire visit with her three small children this past week. I still can't quite believe that she was brave enough to make the flight with all of them in tow! It's a testament to how very good her children are that she managed the trip so well.

We all had a great time playing, picking apples, riding carousels, feeding geese, and cruising around in a minivan. My parents joined us Saturday afternoon as we ventured out to Fall for Greenville. The kids had a blast runing around, dancing in the street and eating pizza, funnel cake and kettlecorn.

I miss them already and wish, not for the first time, that they lived closer. Thank goodness for airplanes and Verizon unlimited calling!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lasagna Night

Around our house dinner can be a rather stressful time. Tessa and I are usually both tired and hungry, Daddy has had a long day at work and Anabelle would swear she's starving - if only she could talk. So when tonight's dinner actually turned out to be fun, I pulled out the camera.

Frozen lasagna was on the menu tonight and, let's face it, Momma's much more easy going when dinner preparations consist of opening a box and turning on the oven. As you can tell, Tessa LOVED the lasagna. She had three helpings and then a brownie for dessert! Yes, I made her take her dress off first so I could enjoy my own meal without worrying the red sauce might stain her clothes. As it was, we headed straight to the bath after our meal, for obvious reasons.

Also, click on our friend Caroline's blog for fun pictures of Princess Tess at playgroup earlier this week.

North Carolina Apple Festival

It's Apple Festival time again! We took Tessa up to Sky Top orchard for a day of apple-picking fun. The child loves, loves, loves apples. It's hard to think that when we were here last year she wasn't even walking yet. I remember propping her up by this sign. Look how much she has grown!!!

We had such fun walking through the orchard watching Tessa pick and eat the apples.

Of course I couldn't resist a photo-op in the apple basket. What a doll!!!

She toppled over right after taking this picture, that whole hill thing makes for an unbalanced basket. No harm done, we went right back to apple picking.

After all that running around we took a break for a picnic lunch. It was nice and cool in the shade. Then it was off to the playground for more fun.

Time to pay for our apples and head home. We'll see you next year!