Sign of What's to Come??

So my almost 3 year old talked on the phone for a good portion of our snow day yesterday. As she talked she paced around the house, laid on the couch, got her diaper changed, etc. Her longest conversation was with her Emme and it lasted about 25minutes! Is this normal?? Am I really in for it when she becomes a teenager? Lord, help me!

Thanksgiving

We had a fun visit with the family for turkey day. There was lots of yummy food, crazy kids running around, and some insane shopping! I won't go into details, but most of you know how crazy I am already. Let's just say when I told my parents they responded with, "Now we know what to get you for Christmas...therapy!" :)

Here are some family pics. Notice the 2nd one and how everyone is looking at the camera!! Miracle!!

Rockin' Fun

We went to visit g-daddy this weekend and had fun walking and rocking. Here's a shot Jimbo took with his phone.

Halloween 2010

Tessa decided weeks ago she wanted to be Snow White. Of course Halloween rolled around and guess who didn't want to put her costume on?? Yup! After several whiny moments and sitting on the porch to look at others dressed up in their costumes, Tessa had an idea! "Mommy, I want to put my Snow White costume on!" "Oh, really?" I said. "Should we put it on now?" The answer was yes. And since it was HER idea she was okay with it. Although it wasn't the full costume I had in mind (she didn't want to wear the red, shiny shoe covers or the red, over-priced headband with red bow) it was what she wanted to wear. Off we went to trick or treat.

You'll be able to tell by the pics below she did not want to have her picture taken. Don't think, even for a moment, that her smile is genuine...she was promised a piece of candy! If you've never met my child...she will do anything for most foods!

She'll probably talk to me in a few years and ask why I even considered putting these pictures on here, but for now...here they are!

Last Sunday, Tessa wore a dress to church that I wore when I was little. We've had it for a while and I asked her for many weeks if she wanted to wear mommy's dress. Of course she never wanted to. Well, this week she chose it on her own. My mission was to get a good picture of her in it...this would be tough! How would I make this work?? Picnic! I told her if she let me take pictures of her in this pretty dress, that we could have a picnic outside. It worked! Here are pictures of t in her (my) dress and during our "picnic." The picnic pic is so stunning, don't you think??

This AM

While daddy showered this morning, t gave mommy a concert. She has 7 little princess figurines and she sang Rockabye Baby to each one. The video is dark, but you can hear her no problem!! Who knew Belle was 2 syllables??

Funny Story

So, Tessa and I were on the way home today and she wanted a particular song to be played on a cd. She was whining about it (big time) and so I calmly told her to use her words and ask nicely to hear the song...she couldn't handle it! She ended up losing it and yelling (very inappropriately, I might add) at me. I told her she was not to talk to mommy that way and asked if she understood. No answer. I asked again if she understood. No answer. I asked a total of five times and finally she answered, "I'm not talking to you." Holding back my laughter, I asked her if she was mad at me and she said yes. I asked her to let me know when she was ready to talk to me again. How funny is this? Such a girl!

On another note, check out the amazing work my hubby did on our picture wall. He did a wonderful job and it was relatively painless for all involved!

BIG Stuff

Well, it's official...Tessa is in her toddler bed! Everything I've read (ok, one book called Toddler 411 which I love!) says to leave your kid in her crib as long as you can. Well, Saturday morning I walked in to her room to find one leg hiked over the side of her crib. Sunday morning it happened. I heard her voice and it was way too loud to be coming from her room. She was entertaining herself with music, books and her stuffed animals. No need to bother mommy and daddy, right? We decided to Nike (Just Do It)! Sunday afternoon we took one side off her crib and created the big girl bed! T has done great! Check her out...

Sugary-Sweet

Bath time was over. I was holding t in her towel rocking her and she said, "That was great!" It was so sweet!

Nose Job

Sunday morning, Jim went into Tessa's room and found little black pieces of felt all over the floor next to her crib. He looked up and saw her holding Mickey Mouse (btw, this was Jim's Mickey growing up) saying her elephant bit Mickey's nose off. Hilarious! Poor Mickey! Maybe we should call Dr. 90210 for help! What do you think?

Too Much Time...

has past! I'm so sorry I've neglected you!! I've had trouble with my take-with-me-everywhere camera, so I haven't been as devoted to posting stuff on the blog. Here's a little update...

About a month ago, Martha (Jim's mom), Tessa and I went on an overnight roadtrip to Atlanta to meet one of my bestest friends in the world and her family. Here are some pictures from our visit including Tessa meeting a new friend. She was having the best time and I was sweating...seriously! I thought she was going to squish little j's head or sit on him or something horrible. Everything turned out okay. No one was hurt during the making of these pictures! Can you tell she loved it??




Here's j hamming it up for the camera. He's probably saying, "That crazy girl has finally left me alone! Yay!"


I love this girl! We met in 1996 and have been great friends ever since. I was so glad we were able to hook up in Atlanta...they were in town from LA!!

Silliness

My parents are in town for the weekend. Mom, dad, Jim and I went out to eat for lunch today and my mom was drawn to this fancy hat. Doesn't she look great?? I love my mom!

Happy Papa's Day

We went to see Jim's dad on Saturday and here are some pictures from that visit. Is it bad that I didn't take any pictures of Jim's Father's Day celebration yesterday? Woops!

Muffins with Mom

This morning we had Muffins with Mom at Tessa's daycare. Originally scheduled for Friday, it was post-poned until today due to the craziness with the floods. Here we are just as we arrived...typical Tessa looking away from the camera! You'll also notice 3 bows in her hair today...mom's choose their battles, right? Yep, wasn't worth it this morning!


On a side note, what a blessing to be able to say we didn't have any flood damage to our current home or new home! So many people haven't been that lucky. It's been so sad to see what has happened here, but an amazing story of working together to make a difference. People from all over are joining neighbors, friends, and strangers to help out where they can. A friend of mine that is among those with flood damage said she has cried more in the past few days because of the outpouring of love from people she doesn't even know than of what has happened to her home. I'm so proud of Nasvhille and the surrounding areas!!

On the homefront: we're really on the home stretch now! We have a walk-thru this week, one next week and we close on Friday, May 21st! I can't believe we'll be in our home in a couple weeks. We're so excited!

Easter 2010

Fun was had by all on Easter. The Thursday before, her daycare had an Easter egg hunt...quite a different experience from last year. Instead of opening each egg and wanting to eat what was inside, Tessa actually gathered as many eggs as she could at one time then tried to eat what was inside! She did a great job! Good Friday, we went to the zoo for the first time this year. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the family time together. Sunday was filled with church that morning, an Easter basket, a yummy lunch, a much needed nap (only for Tessa-although we really needed one too!) and an Easter egg hunt at home that afternoon. It was a great day!

1st Trip...to the ER!

Well, we can now say we've experienced our first trip to the emergency room with Tessa! We all went out for a little family shopping experience on Saturday and while mommy was trying on some dresses, daddy was doing a great job entertaining our little angel! They were having a little too much swinging fun and apparently Tessa's elbow popped out of joint...nursemaid's elbow I believe it's called. Actually, after it happened, Tessa still wanted to swing with her other arm. What a strong girl she is! She didn't cry or anything, she just wasn't using that arm and was chilling out for entirely too long. We knew something was up! Our child doesn't just sit for long periods of time...she's 2! So we found ourselves in the ER.
Here's the before:


And here's the after:


On Sunday I tried to reason with my 2 year old about potty training and showed her some 'big girl panties' to see if we could push this along at home since her daycare says she is about ready for bgp's. This is the best shot I could get of what she did with those...


I have video of that if you really want to see it!! In the meantime, here's a different video I thought was cute. If you listen closely, she says whoopsie daisy!

Progress

The house is coming along and it looks like we'll close towards the end of May! Tessa has taken a liking to her new house. She calls it 'Tessa's House' and loves running around while her voice echos throughout!

Here she is in her room looking out the window (notice baby and blankey were lucky enough to come today)...


Here's what happens when you try to get an action shot of a 2 year old...

Memories

I'm reminded on this day of going to Logan's with my hubby and my mom a few years back and getting a green tea. I thought it would be green colored sweet tea. It wasn't! It was a lot stronger that sweet tea!! :) Have a Happy St. Patty's Day!

Fun Stuff!

Let's start with Chef Tessa...



Okay, now that I've shared that cute picture let's continue. I just found out today that I have more than my parents reading this blog...who knew??

Our house is coming along beautifully!! We should be closing in May some time so we're in the home stretch! I'm so excited to be there as it will be a great home to begin building memories in.

I made a trip to LA to see one of my best friends in the world, Holly. :) We had so much fun doing all that touristy stuff. We went to the WB studios (saw the Friends set), went to Holloywood and saw where all the famous people live, and went to a great baby shower in honor of her sweet baby, Jude! It was a wonderful trip and I was so glad to get to see the 'belly.' Jude is due any day now! Sleep now, chica!




The weather this weekend was amazing! We had no choice but to go outside and ride Tessa's bike that she was given for her 2nd b-day back in January by her Uncle Jeff, Aunt Gret, Chris and Livy. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures from our time.







Hopefully it won't be another 3 months before you hear from us, but realistically it could be! :) Happy spring and don't forget to spring forward next weekend! We lose an hour...boo hisss!!