Muffins with Mom

This morning t and I had breakfast together at her school.  It was not only Muffins with Mom day, it was also fancy day.  All the kids could dress up and t was really in to it this year.  A big shout-out to Uncle Jeff, Aunt Reddy, Chris and Livy for the silver heart necklace and tiara, and to Aunt Melanie, Uncle Chippy, Cole and Caitlyn for the Rapunzel dress and hair!  It was all a big hit today!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there and a very special Mother's Day to my own mom!  I love you and hope you have the great day you deserve!   

Easter

What a wonderful Easter day we had in Tennessee.  We went to early church and and the music was so powerful (as usual)!  We left there to go back to Emme's house for an Easter egg hunt then we went out for brunch.  It was very yummy!  I was really building that up to Tessa saying that this is something Fancy Nancy would do!  We got to the restaurant and she asked if Fancy Nancy would be there (my response here could make or break the total brunch experience)!  I broke the news about FN not being with us and told her she was with her family since it was Easter.  That went over better than expected.  We went home and all took naps/rested and then Emme came over to our house for a fancy dinner.  Yes, I broke out the china!!  It was a lot of fun and the perfect combination of festivities and rest!  

Yes, she usually covers her face with whatever she's holding in
pisc...no doubt on purpose!

The Easter Bunny is so practical! 

Ummm...I'd like to go on an Easter egg hunt for eggs like this!

I got nothing to say on this one!  

They both look beautiful, don't they??  LOVE this pic!

BIG Girl Bed

Yes, it was that time.  T was running out of room in her toddler bed (partly because of her height and partly because of all the stuffed animals she sleeps with).  I wonder when/if the fascination with stuffed animals will ever go away.  To tell you the truth, at this point, I can't see the end in sight.  She LOVES them!

She went from this:

To this:

She did very well with the transition.  She came home for days after and would go in her room and hang out in her bed reading or playing.  What's not to love about that bright and colorful bed, right?  

  

The BIG 4!

Hi there.  Yes, I know it's been a while since we last talked.  I'm here to catch you up.  It will come in pieces...let's start with January.  T turned 4 and she chose a Rapunzel themed party.  She had a great time and I had a lot of fun getting ready for the party.  With her b-day so close to Christmas, I never feel like I have enough time for planning.  This year I decided to have t pick out her theme before Christmas.  This worked out well although I was worried she would change her mind.  I'm glad I didn't have to deal with that!  Here are some pictures:

Tattoos...not just for kids!  Yes, there were adults to walk out with Rapunzel tatts!

This was the Pascal craft the kiddos made.

This picture below is not from her b-day party, but very special.  Her Great-Grandma (GG Dobbie) gave her birthday money to go buy what she wanted.  We headed off to Toys-R-Us and these are the items she picked out with her money.  She was so excited to get to do that!  Way to go GG Dobbie!

Dentist Visit = Success

Awesomeness

In case you didn't know she's four today!!  Notice the four fingers??  Does this mean she's a big girl and won't whine anymore?  Didn't think so!

Boo-ster seat!  Need I say more. 

The BIG Day

Tomorrow is a big day!  T turns 4!  I was thinking back to last year and remembered exactly what we did on her birthday....

Jim had class so he wasn't able to experience this lovely adventure.  T wanted to go to Chick-fil-a so off we went.  I told her if things went well at dinner that we could stop at Gigi's on the way home and get a cupcake.  We get inside, order, and get to the table with our food.  T got nuggets (as she usually does) and I got the #1.  She wanted some of my sandwich and, being the loving mother I am, I get my knife and place it to my sandwich to cut her a piece.  That's when it happened:  the tight fists, the red face, the flailing legs, the shoes flying off and, my favorite part, the bloodcurdling scream. I could not believe it...well, actually I could.  I gave her the mean mommy look...no response.  I squeezed her arm..."Ouch mommy, you're hurting me!"  I began packing up our stuff and said we were leaving.  I stopped.  I began unpacking our stuff saying, no we're not leaving.  This newly turned 3-year old was not going to win this!  I sat there eating my sandwich glaring at my precious angel.  I put the last bite of my sandwich in my mouth and that's when she said, "Can I have some of your sandwich?"  Ha!  Yeah, right!  We finished at Chick-fil-a and went straight home.  We walked in the door and she said, "Mommy, aren't we going to Gigi's?"  Arrggghhhh!  Let's hope for better things this year!!

  

Yee-Haw!

Halloween 2011 was a great success!  Tessa chose to be Jessie from Toy Story this year, so we had a cowgirl on our hands.  It was such a cute costume and she got loads of compliments.  Now, we've got enough candy to last us...at least a couple days!! :)  Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!!     

The Farmer's Market

T's class went on a fieldtrip to the Farmer's Market today and I was lucky enough to go along.  What a crazy few hours!!  We had a great time and, by far, the best moment was when we were walking to lunch and t said, with no prompting, "Mommy, I'm glad you're with me today!"  I love that girl!! 

Chagganooga

This is how my child says Chattanooga and it's really cute.  We went there this weekend for Jim to run the 1/2 marathon.  In addition to the race on Sunday, we visited the aquarium, the IMAX (Born to be Wild 3D), the park (a couple times) and had some yummy food!  As we stood waiting to see daddy in the darkness (race started at 7am.  Sunrise was at 7:45am) t said, "Mommy, what are we doing here?"  I guess she didn't get the importance of being about the only two people (of course there were workers, too) out there at this time of the day!  Well, the runners came and we, oh I mean I, cheered them on.  T chose to cheer on daddy...that was it!  And I think we were lucky to get that! 

In the traditional Wilkinson fashion, I wore a horribly tacky, gold jacket with black plaid to cheer Jim on.  These jackets were purchased about 15 years ago at Marshall's on the clearance rack because you never know when you'll need 'em!  One of them still had a price tag on it and, for all you bargain shoppers out there, we paid $4 for a jacket that was originally $50!!  What a wonderful savings!! 

You may ask: why would one wear such a thing?  Well, I wanted Jim to be able to see me in the huge madness of people!  Wait!  This is Chattanooga, not Boston!  Let's just say he had no problem finding me and neither did anyone else!  One man named me the favorite fan and a woman told me as she ran by that I'd managed to be everywhere (we mapped out several locations to visit on the course).  I can picture my dad smiling as he reads this!  I'm sorry to say there are no pictures to document this fashion statement, but just wait for the full marathon.  I will definitely have pictures then as Jim's mom will also be wearing one!  You won't want to miss that!

Although I don't have pictures of me in the jacket, here are some others from our trip.

t on the playground

waiting to see the IMAX.  it was titled Born to be Wild...ain't that the truth!!

gettin' it done!

after the race

1st place in my book!

one of us was more into this picture than the other

mom and dad - taken by tessa.  this was on the 3rd or 4th try.  eventually we moved our heads where they'd show up in the picture.  if we hadn't done that, we may still  be there now trying to get a shot with both mommy and daddy!!

   

Cruisin'

We can no longer say we've never been on a cruise!  We recently returned from a family vacation with my parents and Jim's mom and had a great time!  We stopped in Nassau, The Bahamas where most of us went swimming with the dolphins.  I don't have pictures of this yet, but it was AMAZING!  That was the one thing I really wanted to do and I loved every minute of it.  We hugged and kissed the dolphins, danced with them and, of course, did the infamous foot push through the water.  It was really cool!  Dolphin Tale is now on my list of movies to see.  In Freeport, we visited the beach and some shops.  Then in Key West we went to Hemingway's house and did additional shopping. 

T had a great time at Camp Carnival (face painting, coloring t-shirts and puppets, reading books, running and jumping around) and choose to be with her new friends more than us.  She was always eager to see what towel animal had been created for us as we entered our room each night. 

We were in the bean bag toss, went to the comedy shows, saw the hairy chest contest (no Jim didn't participate in this), performed in the final show on Saturday night (I was Gloria Estafan - the Rhythm is Gonna Getcha), and ate tons of yummy food!

A great time was had by all.  Here are some pictures.   

one morning at breakfast

mom & dad as we arrive in Nassau

hana, towel doggie, and t



on our way to swim with the dolphins



one of the butterflies at the conservatory in key west



t with a turtle (it's down there somewhere)

jim in front of our ship



me in key west as we were about to board our ship



Our last dinner

gloria estafan and her dance partner



t and her idol, gloria



back home.