Keeping it Real.

My Sunday night reality check.

When I sleep at night I wear these tank tops with a shelf bra (somewhat supportive, but not industrial like my day-time wear). Last night I was laying next to Tessa on my side and she was on her side facing me and we were just talking about our day. She was playing with the straps on my tank top and looked at my beebos (that's what she calls boobs) and she said "Mommy? Your beebos fall down?

YES DEAR, my beebos have fallen down, no thanks to you two! Thanks for keeping it real, girl. Time to go to bed!

Little Man

Ellis is 10 months old now and is just growing like a weed. He's already wearing 12-18 month clothing. He's in the taller side, his legs and arms are longer. He's crawling like a mad man. He is so fast I can't keep up sometimes. He's like speed racer. He is also great at pulling himself up to a standing postion and loves looking out the windows. His favorite spots are either our bay window in the den or the glass front door. He's also really close to walking, he walks along furniture or walls while holding on with one or two hands. If we hold his hands he will walk around and LOVES it. He just laughs and squeals the whole time. He has this wierd laugh/squeal thing he does. I'll have to try and capture it on video.

He has this big, beautiful smile and has four teeth with FOUR more coming in at once. He is pretty much in chew/bite mode now. He actually got written up for biting his friend. Seriously? At least Tessa waited until she was in the Toddler room before terrorizing everyone.

But he is just so much fun and really always seems to be happy and in a good mood. It's is so cool to watch Tessa and Ellis playing together. She really like to keep him entertained.

K-Rock

Don't forget to check out Kirsten's blog at www.followingkirsten.blogspot.com for updates on all of her adventures in Iraq.

No Hat, Daddy.

Mike and Tessa were playing around in the den today, and Tessa saw Mike's blue Auburn hat and started getting upset. She started saying, "No Hat, Daddy. You not go to work." And literally grabs the hat and runs off and throws it over the gate. She just kept saying "You don't go to work." I guess she thinks that whenever Mike puts his hat on it's time to leave for the week. It was funny and a little sad at the same time.

My Valentine

I'm pretty sure he had some help from Ms Laura, but this is from my sweet Moose.

Spelling

A couple of weeks ago I took a day off and didn't take the kids in to school until 9:00am. When I took Tessa into her class they had just sat down in circle time and the teacher had a flash card with each of the kids names on them. She would hold it up and say "Who evers name this is, please stand up and spell it." Then that child would stand and spell their name. And they actually did a great job. I was so surprised by this. I know Tessa recognizes her name, but didn't know she could spell it. She does it all the time now. When we're driving she'll say "T-E-S-S-A. Tessa" She knows and recognizes all of the letters of the alphabet.

Yesterday when we were looking through her Valentine Cards, I would show her the card and say "Ok, let's see who this is from" And we would spell out the names and sometimes she even recognized who they were "Tiana, Mekel, Samantha, and Chandler" The other ones she could spell, but not really read. I just continue to be amazed by her.

She can also count in German now and the other day we were next to a school bus and she read off the bus number in GERMAN.

Derogate or Deride

Here are some funny Tessa stories....



Princess Frog - she really likes this movie and will sing along with most of the songs. Sometimes she even recites lines from the movie (I know, I know, this is probably a sign that she watches too much TV). So the other day we were driving home and she was being a little sassy so I started to tell her that was not nice and she needed to be nice.....before I could finish my sentence she told me in a stern voice "Don't you derogate or deride, Mommy" This is from the movie where Facilier is talking to the Prince and his servant (except the Mommy part). I laughed because I thought it was funny that she remembered that part AND she used it somewhat in the right context.


Tinkerbell - another one of her favorites that she will recite and sing/dance along with. There's this one scene where Tinkerbell decides she doesn't want to be a Tinker Fairy anymore so Silvermist is teaching her to be a water fairy. She decides to show Tink how to take water bubbles and make dew drops on a spider web. Tessa like to act this scene out and was in our bedroom last night pretending to be Silvermist and she picked up the bubble and put it on the web (aka my dresser drawer handle which is really long). She even did the hand motion like Silvermist. Then she asked me where my bubble was. In the movie Tink keeps trying to pick it up, but it bursts before she can get anywhere. We acted out the whole scene together. SOOOO much fun.

Chillin'

Here's a picture of Tessa enjoying the sun that FINALLY broke. It feels like the first real sunshine of the year.

Old School Pics

One of my favorite old pictures of Dad and I. We went to visit him during one of his long field exercises. They would have family weekends where we could go visit. You can really see the resemblance to Tessa and Ellis (I think)



I love Kirsten's hat! I think Mom knitted it for her. She's an amazing knitter (is that really a word?) and used to make us these awesome sweaters. I should make her knit more stuff for the kids. I need to send Omi back to sweat shops.



Rocking the skates! I was SOOOO upset because it was my Birthday and I got these Care Bear roller skates and knee and elbow pads. I was so excited, but then Kirsten got the exact same thing. How is that special? Unfortunately, shortly after this picture was taken Kirsten broke her arm on the skates. I'm serious, she fell and sat on her hand and broke her wrist. Now that I'm older I feel guilty for having been upset with her, but back then I felt like it served her right. God, I was mean. I LOVE YOU KIRSTEN!

Tessa

I swear it sounded like Ellis said Tessa yesterday. Mike and I were sitting at the breakfast table with Ellis in my lap and Tessa was running around. Mike was calling her name really softly in a question-like manner "Tessssaaaaa?" And then Ellis said and we both looked at each other with astonishment. He hasn't repeated it yet, so I'm not counting it, he still has yet to say 'Mama'. He'll say 'Dada' all day long, but no Mama.

I'm still holding out for Mama.

Some pics

My handsome Moose.



Tessa in her big girl Jammies that Aunt Kirsten got for her.



Ellis getting ready for the National Championship game.



I let Tessa help me make brownies one day while snowed in. I even let her lick the whisk afterwards, but I strapped her into her chair (I don't need chocolate ALL over my house). But this picture about sums it up. Enjoy life, little girl.