Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for in our lives. We are grateful to live close to Nana & Papa so we can spend special days with them.

Thanksgiving got off to a start with a little holiday decorating. No, we weren't decking the halls or putting up the Christmas tree. Instead, Tess had a great time decorating her dollhouse with Nana for Christmas.


Wendy had a pretty grand time herself ("How many years have I been waiting to do this?!").





Tess also enjoyed watching the Doggy Show with Dad & Papa (you know the football is bad when they watch Westminster on Thanksgiving).




We whipped up a scrumptious dinner that we couldn't help but rave about. A few culinary T-day tips from the Wendy & Miriam show:
  • Williams-Sonoma turkey brine=yummo turkey & gravy
  • For a delicious pumpkin pie topping, add 1/2 tsp almond extract + few tsp sugar to whipping cream
  • Do not multitask while your sweet potatoes are under the broiler (won't tell you how I learned that one)



We are also thankful that Wendy let us use her camera for a few Tessie pics. Tess is getting to be such a big girl. Her molars have finally started to come in and her hair is getting long (I had to trim her bangs this week). She's looking so grown up to me these days.






Tessie still doesn't "do" naps away from home, even though she was tired and a bit onery. ("Come on, Mom, I'm almost 2. It's my prerogative to be onery.")




But she made up for it with some Papa snuggles. This girl sure loves her Nana & Papa. I think it's because she knows how much they love her!




Happy Thanksgiving to all our family! We miss & love you all. We are so thankful for YOU!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Tess: Almost Age 2

*When Tess takes a bath she likes to slide back and forth on her tummy, saying, "Swim, swim, swim!"

*Tess is a musical tease. One of her favorite games is to deliberately fill in the wrong words to songs. I will sing with her, "Twinkle, twinkle little star," only her version goes "Twinkle, twinkle little...Elmo." Or house, tunnel, Bert, froggy--whatever happens to come to mind. She immediately chastizes herself and then cracks up laughing. "Twinkle, twinkle little...BERT--NO-O-O-O-O-O-O!"

*Tess had the following conversation with herself in the car this week: "Papa. Nana. Tess. Dada. Mama. Happy."

*Whenever we go under an overpass on the highway, Tess yells out "TUNNEL!" She also thinks all the overhead signs on the highway are tunnels.

*She loves walking around in Mom & Dad's shoes. She's pretty skilled at walking in high heels.

*Part of Tess' bedtime routine includes snuggling into our bed and reading a book. Tess is pretty insistent that Dad is in charge of reading the book, though she likes Mom to listen too.

*Tess thinks that she can end prayers early by simply yelling out "AMEN!" in the middle of the prayer.

*Tess loves to pretend to wash her hands. She'll walk around carrying a big bottle of soap or lotion, hold her hands under the pump, say "S-s-s-s-s-s" (of course, that's the sound of the soap coming out of the bottle), and then rub her hands together. Repeat.

*Ryan has taught Tess that her nose beeps. It's not uncommon for her to beep her nose several times a day. Any other nose within beeping distance is also fair game.

*Tess is haunted by the memory of old battle wounds. She'll point to a place where she had a scrape 2 months ago, get a grieved look on her face and say, "Owie, owie!" Then a smile will break across her face and she'll say "All better!"

*There's a routine Tess likes to follow when she wakes up. She likes to point out all the "T's" in her room, then she likes to shake her moon waterglobe from her great-Granny, then she likes to look at her Wildflower Nature book from Cousins Camp. She's pulled off the dried flowers from most of the pages, leaving only dried stems. But she still sniffs each page and says, "Flower!"

*If you ask Tess which show she wants to watch, her answer without hesitation will be, "Drge!" Tess adores Curious George and gets very engrossed in the show. If George, say, falls off his bike, she'll gets a concerned look on her face and say ,"Oh no! Oh no!" If George spills paint everywhere, she'll say, "A mess! A mess!" George often provokes belly laughs and cries of "Funny! Funny Drge!"


*Tess does not like her activities to be interrupted by something as trivial as lunch. She often responds to a suggestion of lunch or dinner with tortured howls. She can usually be convinced by an offer of cheese--her all-time favorite food.

*Tess makes friends everywhere we go--even at stoplights. More than once I've caught a stranger in the car next to us smiling and waving hello to her at a stoplight. No one ever waves hello to me! Once an elderly man even rolled down his window and had a conversation with her.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I Suppose Even Lazarus Died Twice

The camera was working again (hooray!) and now it's not (double sob!).

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Smooch

Tess got her first kiss today.


Tess & Cade

When I picked Tess up from Nursery after church, her friend Cade ran over, threw his arms around her, and planted a big one right on her lips!

When we left, he ran crying out of the room to give her another hug. She reciprocated with a big squeeze.

Cade is one majorly cute little boy and Tess thinks he is the funniest thing ever.

Am I supposed to have to worry about this yet?

Saturday, November 14, 2009

All Wet

My water bottle leaked all over my bag and left me with 1 dead camera and 1 dead cell phone. I'm airing them out and praying for a miracle of Lazarus proportions.

Sob!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Count On Me

Tess likes numbers and she is a good counter. She can count all the way up to 15, though she usually skips either 4 or 5 (but never both) and sometimes gets stuck at the number 10.

She likes counting objects, but she can't seem to grasp the concept that each item only gets counted once. And some never get counted at all. So she often ends up with 13 fingers and 7 toes.

I've been trying to get her counting on video, but she has to be in just the right counting mood and she's a reluctant performer. You have to listen closely.


Tess' favorite number is 7. Could you guess?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Happy Birthday, Ry Guy!



In planning for Ry's birthday this year, I thought back to the first November 6th I spent with him 12 years ago. It was a gorgeous autumn day and we took a romantic picnic to the park, where we ate lunch and snuggled on a blanket under the bright blue sky and golden, changing leaves. He was so cute and I was so HAPPY!

So, I planned picnic and we headed over to Clemyjontri Park. It is an amazing playground designed so that special needs children and other children can play together. Everything is low-to-the ground and easy to access, which makes it great for toddlers!





It would have been the perfect day if it didn't turn out to be so cold and windy! There was tons to do and Tess wanted to try it all, no matter how cold it was. We braved the frigid temps long enough to test the out the maze, ride-on cars, airplanes, trains & school bus, playhouse, 3 different playgrounds (but she refuses to go down any slides), seesaw, swings and the Sway-fun glider.




But it would have taken a whole lot of snuggling to endure a picnic outside. Instead we took it home for a picnic in the living room. Less romantic, but much warmer!


For the record, Ryan is still cute and I'm still HAPPY! Happy Birthday, Ryan ! Your 2 girls LOVE you!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hidden Pond Park



We took a field trip today with a few friends to Hidden Pond Park. It's a small nature preserve with a fun, hands-on nature center. Tess loved seeing the fish, turtles, snakes and frogs. For the record, turtles are her favorite.





They even had little binoculars for kid-sized bird watching.




It was a golden autumn day at the pond. Tess particularly enjoyed running back and forth over the bridges.


Tess running with her funny friend, Cade.
We rode up together and they made each other laugh the whole way!
They like to hold hands when they walk together.


And with all those kids, only one fell in the pond (nope, it wasn't Tess). Come on, those are pretty good odds!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy Halloween!