Aunt Claire's House

Tessa and I jetted cross country to Idaho for a visit with some of our favorite people, the Kosmickis. My sweet baby was wonderful on all of our flights. Our connections were uneventful, even "Dee-troit" wasn't so bad. Tessa didn't sleep a wink on the plane but was easily entertained with coloring books, stickers, snacks, dvds and my ipod. I thought I was so smart buying the Color Wonders markers to avoid any messes. Of course, I bought the glitter version and we ended up with glitter everywhere. It looked like we were flying Tinkerbell Express. Fellow travelers were sweet complimenting how well Tessa behaved. Warms a momma's heart to hear that. But, at the same time, I wanted to say "knock on wood, we're not there yet!"
With four kids under the age of 7, we purposely planned the visit during the school year. What I didn't realize is that I would be there for W's first day of 3k. What a bonus to see this growing boy hop on the bus for his first day of school! It seems crazy to me that W and Tessa will eventually be in the same grade.

While big brother and sister were at school, G2 and Tessa had a wonderful time playing together. Even though he is more than a year younger than Tessa, G2 runs and climbs and jumps like a big kid. He had no trouble keeping up with my big girl.

And I just can't believe this beautiful child is old enough to be in first grade! Tessa adores G1 and happily followed her around in the afternoons. Very exciting for Tessa was when we took G1 to dance practice. We arrived early and Tessa and G1 were able to play in the huge studio, pure bliss for my little girl. I really need to look into dance classes for the spring.

Coach Brad was nice enough to let Tessa practice with W's soccer team. G1, aka Assistant Coach, patiently taught her how to kick the ball and Tessa was dribbling in no time. Of course, she preferred to pick up the ball and run with it - to a whole other field! She is three after all.

Did I really think the kids would sit still for a picture?!

With the kids playing together so well, Claire and I were able to spend hours chatting and just catching up with each other. Though we talk on the phone all the time, it's different when you're sitting at the kitchen table and drinking coffee together. I'm so sad that we live on opposite sides of the country but at the same time grateful that our friendship is strong enough to survive the distance.

Sky Top Apple Pickin'

State Fair

On this beautiful Labor Day week-end, we headed over to the Upper SC State Fair. Midway rides, junk food, a circus, animals, and people watching all made for an interesting afternoon.
We all rode the ferris wheel together. Tessa has no fear of heights, wish Momma and Daddy could say the same.
Daddy took Tessa on her first "Dumbo" ride. Let's go high!!!
Momma took Tessa on her first roller coaster ride - wwweeeeeee!!! She loved it and asked to go again and again.
And, of course, we rode the carousel. Tessa can spot one of these from a mile away. It's still her favorite ride.

And what's a fair without a FUNNEL CAKE!?! Tessa enjoys them almost as much as Momma does. We also tried deep fried Oreos, yummy.

Momma's Birthday

Happy Birthday to me! I was lucky enough to stretch out my birthday over ten days this year! It started with a special girl's night out, then there was birthday cake, shopping, steak dinner, more cake and Ryan taking the day off work just to spend with his girls. Thank you everyone for making my birthday so special.

Princess Tess

Tessa is currently fascinated with the Disney princesses. We have quite the collection of royal attire and playing dress up is one of our favorite games. I dress up Tessa and she dresses up her stuffed animals. If Anabelle is in the mood, we dress her up too. She is the best dog.

Tessa's little friend O.K. loves to dress up too. You can see she found the accessories box and is sporting a crown and high heels. The girls were so cute playing together I had to take pictures. Tessa is wearing Ariel's wedding dress and O.K. is wearing Ariel's mommy dress.

Aren't they just too sweet giving each other hugs?

Potty Training

We have begun the dreaded potty training. I freely admit that I have been procrastinating, not because Tessa wasn't ready but because I wasn't ready. Some of my sweet friends have told me encouraging stories of how their child trained practically overnight and it was no big deal. Others have quietly suffered and I had no idea of their trauma. I laughed hysterically when a phone call was cut short because of a streak of poop down the backyard slide. Not so funny now that I have cow patties on my very own floor. My parents made an emergency panty run and I still have to do laundry every night. So here we are, five days in to potty training and having a tiny bit of success.

I believe in positive reinforcement and bribery. Excited praise, hugs, high fives, M&Ms, and ice cream have all been offered as rewards. Little Miss Sweet Tooth is unimpressed so perhaps I will give up on small bribes and go for one big one. Maybe this is the perfect time for us to learn the art of delayed gratification. I see a sticker chart in my future.

I can't honestly say that this week has been all bad. There is something to be said for the bonding time that results from being housebound with my child. We have spent hours in the bathroom together reading books and singing songs. We have played together constantly and I know Tessa loves my undivided attention. I vow to remember that, even when she doesn't need me to take her potty every thirty minutes.

Nanny & Pa

Ryan's parents came to visit last week. It was unbearably hot so we stayed inside most of the time. We played Tessa's favorite game of pile the animals on someone. Pa is being a good sport but Anabelle looks like she's headed off to find a more peaceful spot.


Each morning the animals migrated south. Tessa brought them downstairs one by one. She piled them on Nanny and then snuggled with her, for about a minute.

And we had even more birthday presents!

One afternoon we planned special movie time. Daddy and Tessa settled in with popcorn and a drink ready to enjoy the show. Unfortunately, Cars does not have a princess or sweet music so Tessa quickly lost interest. Daddy and Pa were entertained.

We also went to the Children's Museum downtown. It is pretty cool with a pretend grocery store, doctor's office, recording studio, farm and much more. Tessa had a good time putting the candles on the cake in the bakery and planting carrots at the farm.

Her favorite attraction was this climbing thing. Centered under a sunroof, this two story plexiglass playground was quite the challenge. Tessa made it all the way to the top by herself and then reconsidered climbing down alone.

Tessa Turns Three

Happy Birthday Tessa! Three years ago our sweet baby was born. It's magical to watch her grow and develop and we cherish every moment with her. She's delightfully easy going, loving and kind. We are truly blessed to have her as our daughter.

We are so active and busy these days whether it's traveling, heading to some social activity, swimming or just hanging out as a family. Having a three year old is really FUN.

Ice Cream Celebration

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby. She is turning THREE!!! Her party this year was all about ice cream, her favorite treat.

We had an ice cream sundae bar, ice cream cupcakes and a cake decorated with an ice cream cone. There were ice cream games, ice cream balloons and ice cream aprons so they could get messy with their sundaes.

Ryan scooped out lots of fun. It's hard to tell who liked the ice cream bar better, the kids or the dads. We played put the sprinkles on the ice cream cone. The finished product is so cute I plan to display it in the playroom.

Our ice cream pinata was hysterical. It refused to break, even when we brought in the big kid as the ringer. The kids loved hitting the pinata and everyone got to take extra turns. Ryan and I both took a swing at it too before resorting to a utility knife.

Group picture. Might have had better luck getting them to sit still if I had tried this before I pumped them all full of sugar.

Time for cake! We had the cutest little ice cream cone candles but Tessa does not like fire so the candles were quickly removed. I think we scared her with the mini bonfire on Daddy's cake a few months ago.

And then we opened presents. I love that our friends bought princess stuff, Tessa was so excited to see all her favorites.

OK, I will admit that I really like the princess stuff too.

She took a break part way through present opening to sit down and read some of her new books. It's wonderful that she is such a reader.

What a party! Thank you to everyone for making it such a special day.

Vacation Bible School

As a child I LOVED Vacation Bible School. That's why I was thrilled to be volunteer at our church Summer Spectacular. We had almost 400 preschoolers attending and it was crazy, fun and just a little bit chaotic. Tessa played hard with the other toddlers while I worked with the K3 kids. Isn't she just adorable?On the last day, Tessa spotted me in my class while her class was playing at the playground. She usually does very well with separation but once she saw me, she refused to return to her class. So she stayed with me in the storytime room. Here she is sitting like a big girl with my kids. Precious!