Sky Top

A trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard is a Labor Day tradition for us.  Tessa is almost 43 inches tall this fall!  

Only the girls were able to go this year, but we had a great time.  We ate a batch of hot apple donuts, they are so delicious!  Then Tessa played on the playground and we picked apples.  Lots of the apples had already been picked but we hiked until we found a few trees with apples still on the branches.    

Tessa picked about half a bucket before losing interest.  The good thing is that they have bags of apples ready to go by the cash register.  So I still came home with plenty of apples.   

Happy Labor Day!

First Day of K5

My BABY started K5.  She goes to school ALL day EVERY day.  Let's see if I can write this post without crying.  Oh, who am I kidding?  Sniff, sniff, sob.  Here she is, all ready for that big first day with her personalized princess backpack, princess lunchbox, pink water bottle, cute outfit and a huge smile. 

I love this picture, Anabelle is thinking "that lunchbox is full of yummy food and so within my reach."  Tessa is wondering "how many more pictures do we have to take before I get to actually go to school?" 

Tessa's teacher made a home visit before school started.  She gave us an outline of how the days would be organized.  Tessa and I did a picture page so she could get an idea of what would happen at school.  Never mind the drawings, neither of us will ever be artists, but it was a fun activity.  She has circle time, language arts, snack, centers, unit studies, Bible study, lunch, playground, math and then it's off to carpool line.    

Here we are!  Each class has an animal theme and this year Tessa is in the Mouse Class.  Tessa was totally comfortable walking in and getting settled.  It helps that she is still going to school at our church and so everything is familiar. 

The obligatory picture with Momma.  I volunteered to be Room Mom so I'm sure I will be up here more as the year passes.

And the picture with our new teacher Ms. Haynes, we think she's great!

Time for Momma to go and Tessa to start learning all the great things kindergarteners need to know.  Unlike the first day of K4 where Ryan was there to hold my hand and pass me tissues, I had to do this one on my own.  Oh well, no time for pity parties, it was time to take Nanny to the doctor.   

Our Trip to Kozmo World

Last year the BFF and I decided to meet in Las Vegas (if you missed those pics check out my blog post ) and while it was way fun, we missed getting together with the kids.  So, this year, Tessa and I traveled to Idaho.  Of course, the night before our trip when I realized that my license was expired I wasn't sure we would make our flight.  I could have used my passport but, oh yeah, that was expired too.  I now know that you can fly with an expired license as long as it has been less than one year since expiration and you have another form of picture ID.  But, you get a nice little lecture from your friendly TSA agent.  Side note, my license and passport have now both been renewed.  We made it safely to Idaho and our kids were so excited to see each other.  May our girls always be as sweet as they look in this picture.

While it snows ten months out of the year there, August is a beautiful month to visit Pocatello.  The desert heat feels wonderful and the skies are so blue.  One day we hiked an easy mountain trail with the kids.  The boys were excited to show Tessa their "tree houses" along the way and they had a great time floating sticks down the stream.  After the hike we took the kids for ice cream.  Lucky for us, the frozen yogurt place was having story time that afternoon.  So, we scored free treats for the kids plus someone to entertain them while we ate our ice cream in peace.

Another day we all went miniature golfing.  Tessa had never been before and Brad patiently helped her and the boys while Claire and I played with G1.  I would have more pictures of Tessa's first mini golf experience except I either got competitive or was talking.  Let's go with talking since I have to admit that G1 ended up beating both Claire and me.  

Another day we went to a waterpark.  Tessa is a great swimmer and the water was chilly so I did not plan on getting in.  Those plans went out the window when she followed G1 to the deep water where kids jumped from one floating lily pad to the next.  The lifeguard was a little stressed when Tessa lined up for her turn and I'm pretty sure she didn't believe me when I told her Tessa could swim.  With such a short summer, they probably don't see many just barely five year old swimmers out there.  Sigh, into the water I went.  And it was probably a good thing because, while Tessa can swim, she's wasn't strong enough to haul herself back up onto the floating pad when she fell off.  The girls loved it, G1 could make it all the way across the pool without falling off.  Tessa thought falling off was part of the fun so she did it repeatedly.  I personally enjoyed the time in the lazy river more since I could sun myself on a float while watching Tessa swim against the current.       

There has been a new addition to the Kozmo Klan since I last visited.  This is Bun-Bun, a rather large and very soft bunny.  Tessa was obsessed with petting, holding, touching and looking at him and once accidentaly toppled his crate.  I didn't know that bunnies are actually rather delicate creatures and so we had to make sure the kids didn't manhandle him too much.  I was sad that I missed the cow that G1 had been raising all summer.  She showed him at the fair before I came and he won Grand Champion.  Good job G1!  Speaking of animals, Tessa tried to adopt a new dog.  The kids were playing outside while Claire and I were chatting at the kitchen table.  In comes Tessa leading a huge dog that looks like a WOLF!  "Look Momma, I got a new puppy" she announces, smiling proudly.  Bear in mind that Claire has two dogs of her own that were right there in the kitchen with us.  Claire calmly says, "Maisy (the elderly beagle) is going to freak out" and I see Olivia (the energetic black lab) bristle the fur along her back.  "Oh Honey, that's great!  Let's take the new doggie back outside...NOW."  Yikes!!!  My baby is such an animal lover, and she may grow up to be a veterinarian, but I had no intention of keeping this new dog.       

In addition to the fun activities we had lots of time to talk.  A special thanks to Brad who basically parented all four kids the whole time so Claire and I could catch up.  It's really special to be able to talk to someone about everything, someone who just gets you and has known you and your family long enough that you don't have to explain the background before launching into a story.  I needed that, especially this time because, while I was out there, my dad was admitted to the hospital via the emergency room.  Long story short, the stomach bug he had that caused him to miss my birthday trip to Carowinds progressed into a terrible systemic infection which then sent him into sepsis and he started having multi-organ failure.  At one point we were all afraid he wouldn't make it through the week-end.  It was scary but I'm happy to report that he is now on the mend.

Neither Claire nor I took the usual amount of pictures and somehow we never took one of the two of us together.  Oh well, there's always next time.  Thanks for having us, as always it's great to visit you!     

The Big 3-5

This year for my birthday I wanted to go to Carowinds.  Maybe I wanted to feel like a kid again and maybe I rationalized that my child loves anything that goes fast, but roller coasters seemed perfect for my very adult sounding 35th birthday.  Plus, we have lived here for over ten years and had never been to the amusement park that straddles the SC/NC border.  And it was awesome!

After I complained excessively about the first super long line, Ryan bought us all fast passes.  Unlike Disney World (where life is as close to perfect as it can get and fast passes are free) you have to pay for these fast passes, but it was totally worth it.  We were able to skip right to the front of the line and ride with almost no wait.  Ryan took Tessa to the kid area and my mom and I took off for the big rides.

While my mom and I were riding crazy high/fast/looping coasters, Tessa was riding solo for the first time.  She is not one to leap before she looks, but she's not timid either.  So Ryan believed her when she said she wanted to ride alone.  This is a speedy little kid ride that she loved, until it came to a jerky loud stop at the end.  Then, of course, she had to wait until the ride operator released her seatbelt.  Ryan said she was pretty upset, but she got over it.  I think that makes this a "before" picture, since she's not crying. 

My mom took over Tessa duty and Ryan and I had a turn riding the big roller coasters together.  Carowinds features the Peanuts characters.  There is a hokey little Peanuts show that performs several times a day.  I believe we saw it no less than three times.  Tessa also wanted to meet the characters and would scan the park looking for them.  My mom and Tessa spotted Woodstock and snapped a few pictures.      

Dog lover that she is, Tessa was not going to rest until we found Snoopy.  Ryan dutifully asked park attendants when and where Snoopy would be.  Lucky for us we found him minutes before he called it a day.  Not being a huge Peanuts fan, I had to ask who the guy is with Snoopy.  Ryan told me his name is Franklin.  Peanuts trivia for the day. 

After the mini-coaster drama, I wanted Tessa to ride another roller coaster before she developed a permanent fear of them.  So we headed to the other kiddie coaster.  Oh, the fit she pitched when we got in line!  I know she thought I was torturing her, but it's like riding a horse.  When you fall off, you get right back on.  There was a super nice mom standing right behind us in line and she was so encouraging.  She introduced Tessa to her four year old who was riding.  Tessa listened tentatively as the little girl explained that it was a really fun ride.  By the time we boarded Tessa wasn't crying anymore.  I held her tightly next to me and whooped and hollered and laughed and Tessa realized that she still liked roller coasters.  Mission accomplished.  A late afternoon thunderstorm ended our Carowinds fun, so we headed over to the Disney store at a nearby mall.  That was a fun adventure and Tessa came out with new clothes and -unbeknownst to her- a few Christmas gifts too.       

On Saturday, I treated myself to a pedicure while Tessa and Ryan worked hard on my special cupcakes.  They were very sweet, stacked little cookies with lots of icing.  She was so proud of herself and happily helped me eat them.

My actual birthday was on Sunday so we took my cake over to celebrate with Nanny.  Bless her heart, she kept getting confused about when my birthday was and had tried all summer to give me my card.   

I loved my 3-5 crown and, when Tessa requested I wear it all day, I was more than happy to comply.  Happy birthday to me. 

Nanny Paula Visits

Nanny came to visit right after Tessa's birthday.  Ryan took off work and we had a fun long week-end together.  Tessa thought it was great that the birthday presents just kept coming.  Here she is modeling the new Merida night gown. 

 

And here she is holding a collectible Cinderella statue that now lives on a high shelf in her room.  Nanny understands Tessa's love of princesses.

We took Nanny to the farmers market and out to eat and to the pool, but mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed the company.  We talked Nanny into making some homemade peirogis while she was here.  We all love these little Polish potato dumplings and Tessa had a blast cooking with Nanny.  Look how precious she is rolling out dough with her own mini rolling pin.

We also made a trip to the Michelin store where we e-mailed ourselves pictures with Bib.  I was amazed watching Tessa work the iPad that Michelin provides to take these pictures.  She is so technologically proficient and I am starting to feel like a dinosaur. 

Thanks for coming to see us, we'll see you again at Thanksgiving!

Birthday Tea Party with Belle

The day of the party had finally arrived and we were all ready for a fabulous party.  My beautiful princess eagerly waited for the guests to arrive.  She had literally been planning this party all year.

I ran around like a crazy person putting the final touches on things.  I must say the princess dress and crown cookies turned out beautifully, as did the mini strawberry shortcake roses.  There was only one almost crisis when my good camera's memory card failed.  Before I could panic my dad and Ryan swapped memory cards and I was back in the picture taking business.  We all know that not being able to take pictures would have constituted a MAJOR crisis in my world.

 

While waiting for our special guest to arrive, the girls sat down to tea in the dining room.  Each girl had a teacup place card that Tessa and I had crafted together.  On the menu were cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, scones, cookies, croissants, fruit, cheese and PB&J sandwiches.  The sandwiches were cut out in the shapes of castles and slippers.  The tea magically tasted like apple juice or pink lemonade and the girls had fun sweetening their drinks with sugar cubes.  They were adorable, all decked out in fancy gowns and jewelry, eating and chatting.      

When Princess Belle made her grand entrance, all seven little girls stared in awe.  We have never seen so many girls all be quiet at the same time.  I, on the other hand, was squealing like a five year old.  Once the girls got over their shock, they all started talking.  Belle gave them a quick lesson in tea etiquette including how to hold up your little finger while sipping.  

Princess Belle sat down and joined the girls at the table.  She patiently answered all of their questions and I was impressed with her Disney knowledge.  The girls even put her on the spot asking her to sing all the princess songs and she did.       

All I ever want is to make my baby happy and this is one happy little girl.  A favorite line in our house is "Dreams really do come true."  I tell her all the time that she is my dream come true.

After tea time, we moved into the living room.  There were tea party games, necklaces, rings, bracelets, crowns, shoes, dresses, a "castle" and more for the girls to play with.  We had decorated with Tessa's collection of princess gowns, including the newly acquired Ariel dress from the day before.  We love to play dress up and it's wonderful that G&G can stock my princess with a complete wardrobe. 

I also had a craft station where the girls could decorate a castle with sparkly stickers. 

 

And Princess Belle did makeup for the girls.  I love how Tessa is puckered up for lip gloss. 

I'm having a good time with my little princess.

After the make-up session, we moved to the kitchen for pictures and cake.  The girls all posed like Belle, absolutely adorable.  

Then we did individual pictures with Belle.  Here is Tessa mid curtsy, I love how this picture shows her pretty little high heel shoes. 

Ryan got the joy of helping Tessa open presents this year.  She is happy being the center of attention but I think Daddy got a little claustrophobic with all the girls pressing closer and closer as each package was opened.  Tessa received lots of wonderful craft items and we have been enjoying using them.

Before Princess Belle had to leave, we sang happy birthday and cut the cake.  It is no small feat to serve this kind of cake but my mom did a great job.   

 

Happy Birthday to You!  Happy Birthday to You!  Happy Birthday Sweet Tessa, Happy Birthday to You!!!