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. 

Love Machine

For Valentine's this year we had a couple's date night.  Dinner was catered, babysitters were arranged and the guys got a band together to provide live entertainment for us all.  This is a talented group of guys, the lead singer is especially fabulous!  Check out their video on YouTube.

Everything was organized except for flowers.  I will let this go, eventually, but when I asked about flowers and decorations I got a classic eye roll and pfft response from my own hubby.  We were NOT going to have a Valentine's party without flowers even if it meant I had to buy myself flowers.  Which is, in fact, exactly what I did.  Thankfully, several of the other wives volunteered to decorate too.  We spent the afternoon mixing and matching our girly stuff, arranging flowers and making the clubhouse look pretty.  I actually kind of like that stuff so it wasn't a hardship.  And the party was so much fun.  Not only was it great to listen to the band, it was nice to get to eat, chat and laugh with good friends.    

While Ryan was helping with clean up duty, I went to pick up Tessa.  She was having her very own Valentine's Party at the gym for their monthly Parent's Night Out.  I was in Ryan's car and didn't have any Tessa cds so we listened to Ryan's ipod.  I played all the Love Machine songs so she could hear what Daddy had been singing.  Between her new light up shoes, loud music and wild arm waving we looked like a rolling rave in the old Maxima.  But the best was when she started belting out Elvis, "come on, come on ... come on, come on ... come on, come on ... aaaahhhhhh little less conversation little more action!"     

Valentine's School Party

I have never seen a sweeter Valentine!

Milestones

This week-end we hurdled a couple of milestones.  First, it was Tessa's half-birthday.  As a special treat, one of Tessa's bffs rode with me to pick her up from school.  Then we went to Chick-Fil-A for a celebration lunch.  The next milestone was for Tessa to spend the night at G&G's house.  Tessa was thrilled that she would get to stay with G&G all night while we went to Ryan's work party.  I knew she would do great but spending the night away from Momma is a big deal, at least to the momma.    

The next day we went to Gatti Town for pizza and presents. 

As luck would have it, we ran into Tessa's other bff.  These girls bumped and rolled around in the monster truck before riding the carousel.

Tessa rode the carousel again, and again, and again.  She rode with G&G, with Daddy, and with Momma.  She sure does love the carousel.  

Back to our table for cake.  For her miniature cake, Tessa had chosen Aurora but then didn't want to eat any the pink icing.  Maybe it was one ride too many on the carousel.  Oh well, it was a fun half birthday and by this point everyone was ready for a nap.  Happy 4 1/2 Years!   

Gymnastics

Gamma has been taking Tessa to gymnastics this year while I work on Tuesdays.  It had been months since I had seen Tessa do her circuits so I was so excited to see videos from observation day.  Thank you Gamma for recording all of this for me.  I laughed when, during warm up, they bounced their legs like butterflies and pretended to fly.  When the teacher asked Tessa where they should go, she immediately replied "Disney World!"  Ha!  And every other kid used the same answer.  Let's go!  Tessa went first for most of the skills and she did a really great job.              

This is my favorite video, her off script snow angel makes me laugh.  Tessa is best at tumbling and when she is old enough we may switch to the straight tumbling class.  I am amazed that she can almost do a cartwheel.  And she's so darn cute with her hands on her hips and her little wedgie.    

This video shows how much she is improving.  Her upper body strength is developing and she is doing so good on both the bar and the rings.  

Great job Tessa!

Charleston

After Christmas we went to Charleston for a mini vacation.  The city was, as always, gorgeous and so is my baby girl. 

We stayed right downtown within walking distance of everything.  In fact, we took a walking tour.  While we have taken many tours of Charleston, we had never done the architectural tour.  It was wonderful and I learned so much.  We took the stroller but Tessa hardly used it, she preferred to walk like the adults.

Our tour took us all around the historic district, into a secret garden, and through an old house turned art gallery.  Somehow the history just sounds better when told by someone with an authentic Charleston accent.  This particular house wins my prize for best Christmas decorations, his flowers were gorgeous.  

We drove out to James Island to see the holiday lights.  I love this light version of Rainbow Row.

The weather was gorgeous with bright sun and fairly mild temperatures.  I was the only one who was cold but that's because I have no tolerance for anything below 65 degrees.  Shopping is always on our agenda and so I treated myself to a new coat.  No, it didn't matter that I had brought my almost brand new coat on the trip, I needed this one with it's cute ruffles.  Notice Tessa is mid air in this picture, she has so much energy!

We walked along the battery where the most beautiful of all Charleston homes face the water.

And in that bright winter sun, we tried to take a picture by the pineapple fountain and pretty much blinded ourselves. 

Lunch at S.N.O.B. was dee-lish.  The name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Charleston geography.  The most desirable addresses are at the tip of the peninsula, south of Broad Street.  Therefore, only in in Charleston is it a compliment to be labeled S.O.B (south of Broad).  This restaurant is just across Broad Street, hence the name Slightly North of Broad or S.N.O.B.  With fresh seafood and specialty house drinks we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves here.

We crossed the new Cooper River bridge to Mount Pleasant for a harbor tour.  We bundled up, boarded a speed boat and took off.  Our tour guide gave us the run down of Charleston holiday traditions while we skimmed across the water.  Tessa thought the speed boat was awesome and asked the captain to make it go even faster.  He got a kick out of that.     

After our tour we ate more fresh seafood and watched the sun set.  Goodnight Charleston. 

Christmas Day

Christmas morning had finally arrived.  As a child I used to be amazed at how presents would multiply during the night and practically explode out from the tree on Christmas morning.  I love that we can create that same magic for Tessa.

G&G's dollhouse, stocked with princes and princesses of course, was a huge hit.  I admit, I had fun arranging the furniture and placing the dolls.  Belle was dining with the Beast, Cinderella and Prince Charming were cuddling on the porch swing, Ariel was bathing in the tub, Sleeping Beauty was in bed (duh) and, well, you get my point.  Tessa LOVES this toy and I love watching her use that active imagination of hers.  At one point, Ryan noticed she had relegated all of the princes to the living room while princesses were everywhere else in the house.  Ryan renamed that room the "Man Cave" and I had to laugh.              

Ryan and Tessa made me a card for Christmas.  While I don't normally go for pictures before make-up (or caffeine), she was being so sweet that it was a camera-worthy moment.  

We video conferenced with Nanny & Pa so we could share Christmas morning with them.  Tessa opened her computer/reader and immediately started pushing buttons.  This book comes with activities and books and all kinds of neat programs.  It's pink and has princess stories preloaded so you know it was a hit too. 

G&G and Nanny came over around lunchtime for more holiday fun.  We had forgotten to take our British family picture the night before so we pulled out the tripod and posed.  It became a comedy of errors to get a good picture.  The lighting was weird thanks to the tree and the windows, Tessa was being a wiggly four year old, and the automatic timer was throwing us all off.  Then Tessa and Nanny got the giggles and it really got challenging.  Notice in the top picture how I am shoving Tessa into position.  I'm glad we got these pictures, even if it wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be.     

Ryan did his usual excellent job of cooking the turkey.  I'm getting better at planning our holiday meals so there isn't so much to do on the actual holiday.  I would much rather play with all the fun new toys.  But, with a group effort, we had a very nice meal and this princess looks so grown up sitting at the dining room table.    

We spent the rest of the day playing, chatting and relaxing.  Time spent with family is priceless, my very favorite Christmas present.  

 

Victorian Christmas Eve

Our country this year was England, more specifically, the Victorian British Empire.  We took artistic license and included Jamaican Rum and Native American Pocahontas, hence the need to expand and include the whole empire in our theme.  A bit of trivia, we have Queen Victoria to thank for the tradition of our modern day Christmas tree.  My mom did her tree all in pink which was perfectly pretty for Tessa.  The rest of the house was also beautifully decorated using English ivy, roses and Victorian lace.    

The menu for Victorian Christmas was easy since we decided to forgo the Christmas goose, only the flaming figgy pudding was new to us.  Honestly, my mom's old fashioned bread pudding was way better than the figgy pudding, but it was worth a try.  The warm apple cider spiked with rum kept us all warm and happy.   

As per our tradition, the gifts were all for Tessa with the exception of a few trinkets for the adults.  I love my lavender scented pillows and essential oil from the old family farm in Heacham, UK.  My grandma received a book about Queen Elizabeth II (who bears a startling resemblance to said grandma) and Ryan had a sampling of British beers.

Our very own resident princess received the most beautiful Belle costume.  Belle is from France, but the English realize that France has the best fashion and so they import.



This is perhaps my favorite gift, a Bobbie(y) Bear from Harrods.  Love my mom's shopping ingenuity!

We headed home to put out cookies and milk for Santa.  I had forgotten to buy carrots for the reindeer but we decided an apple would work instead.  Notice the laser like focus Anabelle has on the cookies, no way could they stay here in front of the fireplace.  After all the excitement at G&G's house, I didn't think Tessa would ever go to sleep.  But, the thought of Santa skipping her house because she was still awake was all the motivation she needed to get to bed.  Although, I'm pretty sure that while in bed she spent a good while staring out her window looking for his sleigh.  Ahh, the magic of Christmas at four years old...