2.27.2012

Big E

I know, I know, I'm silent for weeks then BAM three posts in one day. My problem is that I keep saying, oh I'll pos that tomorrow and then I forget what I wanted to say, so no more "waiting until tomorrow"

My moose can identify the letter 'E', both upper and lower case. I think this is pretty amazing. I know they've been going through letters at school, but I didn't really think anything would "stick" with him. Today when we got home, he kept pointing out all the 'E' and 'e' that he saw. I was so excited, I kept high-fiving him and praising him how smart he was. Well, needless to say, Tessa did NOT like all of the attention he was getting for something she knew herself and she started to pout. So, I explained to her that she already knew her letters and that Ellis was just learning them. I told her how she could even spell her letters already and Ellis can't really write yet.

She replied "Yeah, he can only scribble scrabble!" as if he was the class dunce. I see the sibling rivalry already coming to fruition.

Acorns

Tessa loves collecting acorns. She likes to gather them in a bucket. It's great, because it's keeps her entertained. She does it at Omi and Opa's house and she did it when we visited Gramms and Papa Tim.

Last night she collected a TON of them with Opa.

Where did February go?

Holy cow, it's almost March. For some reason, whenever Mike is working out of town the weeks seem to fly by. I can't believe March is knocking on my door.

Mike and I had a great Valntine's Dat Night. We celebrated the weekend before, and Omi and Opa kept both kids overnight for us. I think it's the first time they have had both of them and they had a blast. Mike and I went to our little local Mexican restaurant and it was so nice to just take our time eating. We actually finished our half pitcher of Margaritas for a change and even got one more. It was a really nice, relaxed evening.

The kids had fun exchanging Valentine Cards at school. Although I loathe this practice as neither of them understand what it means and I feel like it's such a waste of cards and crappy candy. Most of it ends up in the trash anyways. But, I guess it gives the teachers in class something different to do and Tessa really enjoyed opening all her cards and of course eating candy (1 piece at night - I know, I'm mean).

On Friday, Tessa and I drove up to visit Aunt Kirsten. She had put together a Good Bag with movies, popcorn, coloring books, and candy (of course). On Saturday we went to the Raleigh Children's Museum and met up with Carson and Kinley (Ellis' future wife) and Kirsten's co-worker's family. Tessa had soooooo much fun she kept wanting to go back. They are just so much fun and obviously totally for kids. One room had this big pig floating above this ball pit and you had to keep "feeding" it these balls and then the belly would open up and the balls would fall on top of the kids. It took a while in between and there was no way of knowing when it would happen, but Tessa sat through it several times. I kept telling her to be patient and she would say "Look, Mommy, I'm being patient" They also had volunteers from the Raleigh Symphony and had several instruments the kids could play (Violins, flutes, french horn, trombone, etc.) Tessa killed it on the French Horn. It's pretty hard to play, but she was doing great. The ladies were really impressed and said that was the best sound they had gotten all day. She said that Tessa was a natural! Great, Tessa's going to be a band geek. Oh well, whatever make her happy.

My good friend, Jessica, from my college days and her husband came over for dinner on Sunday night and it was just fun to catch up. She's getting her PhD in Economics at NC State. Tessa had such a great time and Aunt Kirsten did such a great job making everything kid friendly and fun. It was really nice to get that quality time with just Tessa. Of course, on the flip side, it's the longest I've ever been away from Ellis and I missed him a lot. It was great picking him up from school on Monday. He got a lot of quality time with Mike and spent the night at Omi and Opa on Sunday night. I think he enjoyed having all of the attention as Tessa can be a little dominating in that aspect.

Anyway, February has been fun, exciting, busy and crazy. Let's see what March has in store for us.

2.13.2012

Moose

Ellis is really starting to talk a lot. I see his eyes watching my mouth closely as I mouth out different words. The other day I asked him if he was my Monkey and he said "No, Moose". I just laughed, I mostly call him either Moose or Ellis. He just such a sweet little man. I don't want him to grow up. I want him to give me hugs and kisses forever.

2.01.2012

Pink Eye

Supposedly Tessa had Pink Eye on Monday. I'm not to sure, since it never actually got pink, just was a little cruddy and she did mention her eye hurt Sunday morning. Either way, the Doctor said she had it so she couldn't go to school on Tuesday. My mom picked her up Monday and took her to the doctor for me (knowing I would be missing Tuesday - thanks Mom, you're the BEST). Tessa must have overheard the someone talking about Pink Eye and proceeded to tell Omi that her eyes were pink now, but they used to be blue. She literally thought that the Iris part of her eye was no longer blue, but Pink.

We had a really good time yesterday. We got up and took Ellis to school, then ran to the grocery store and Dunkin Donuts, where she got a heart shaped donut with heart sprinkles on top. Then, while I did some work from the house, she colored, did some puzzles, and watched a movie. Then we had lunch and took a nap. I got some laundry done and when she woke up we made cupcakes (pink with purple icing of course). While I was cleaning up the kitchen, I told her to clean up the den and we could go to the playground.

She loves to do thing by herself, usually becasue it garners a lot of praise from us. So, she likes to get dressed, but not have us look so that it can be this big surprise unveiling (I know, she's a little on the dramatic side). So, while she was cleaning the den, she kepts saying "Don't look, mommy." Over, and over, and over, and over again. When she was ready she came running in and said "Look mommy, I did it all by self." And she had actually done a terrific job. She even lined up the large trucks like we do against the wall. I almost cried thinking about how self-sufficent she is.

She had an absolute blast at the playground, the weather was a sunny 68, perfect playground weather. Then we went and got Ellis. What a great day it was.



She decided to put on Daddy's pants and go to work to see him. He's working in Nashville right now, so we only see him on weekends and whenever the kids ask for him I just say "He's working right now. He has to work far away, but he'll be home Friday." They seem to be fine with that answer..............for now.