Bear Feet

As mentioned in my previous post, Tessa is obsessed with her new bear feet slippers. She wanted to wear them to school this morning. They are her new favorite accessory.

Mountains with Kirsten & Jenny

We had a GREAT time up in the mountains. On the way up, we stopped at Goat's on the Roof. It's this silly place right before Clayton where there are goats living on the roof, and they have these walkways between the buildings that the goats walk on. They also have several silly ways to feed to the goats (zip-line; pedal a bike to move feeder to roof, etc.) Tessa liked petting the baby goats. She also LOVED the bear feet slippers we bought her there. We have several funny pictures and videos of Tessa in her slippers. She wore them all the time and even slept in them.

We went to Mud Dabbers again and of course went to Heinzelmannchen to get some more beer. Tessa had her first taste of home brewed root beer. I don't like root beer, but Tessa loved it. Kirsten and Jenny took Tessa into Highlands one afternoon and she got her very own milkshake from Kilwin's.

By far, my favorite part of the week was picking wild, fresh, blackberries. There were a ton along the road up to the cabin and we hit the MOTHER-LOAD at the Kirk's property where most of the blackberry pictures were taken. See attached link for some more great pictures.

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Tessa loves Ellis

Tessa loves climbing into the crib with Ellis. Here she is being a good big sister.

Tessa sleeping

I took this video last night about 10:00pm. One of the things that I LOVE about her sleeping in a big girl bed, is not only the snuggle time at night before bed when we read our books, but also checking in on her before I go to sleep. Now that she is not in a crib anymore I can lean over and give her a big SMOOCH and tuck her back in.

Ernest William Ellis

Yesterday my Grandfather (one of Ellis' namesakes) passed away. Grandpa Bill was a great man and led a very interesting life. He served his country proudly, fighting in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He was in his 90's and had been very ill. Fortunately my parents and sister were able to go visit him recently and were able to say good bye. It was his time.

He was a very formal grandfather to us and we didn't have that close relationship like some people do to their grandparents. We didn't get to see a lot of him, but what I remember is his humor, he never missed Happy Hour and taught me how to make Gin & Tonic, and although I don't know the name I can smell his cologne. But I'll always remember his laugh and the twinkle in his eye after a good joke. He was very tall (6' 4") and it was always funny to see my dad (5' 7") standing next to him. If you really wanted to see something funny, then look at a picture of Grandpa Bill, my dad, and my dad's younger brother Uncle Pat. Uncle Pat looked so much like Grandpa Bill AND he got the height. I wish I could have known him better and had more memories of him. It makes me very thankful that my parents live so close and that they get to spend so much time with Tessa and Ellis.

We'll miss you Grandpa Bill and see you in Heaven for Happy Hour.

Back to School

Tessa and Ellis both started school at West Cobb Prep today. It was Tessa's first day back (in two months) and Ellis' first day ever. When we walked back to Tessa's class we saw all of her old teachers (Ms Arkeyshia, Ms Laura, and Ms Princess). She recognized all of them and gave them hugs and talked to them. She's in a new class now, Sr. Toddler with Ms Martha. She walked right into her new room and sat with the other kids, waved and said 'Bye Mommy'. And that was that.

Then I took Ellis to his room and met his teacher (who is new) Ms Andrea. She was so nice and Ellis thought she was very funny. He kept laughing and smiling. It was very hard to leave him, but I took a couple of quick pics and left. Unfortunately he got bit by a mosquito THREE times on his face last night, so he looks a little rough. I was very brave though and I didn't cry as I was leaving. But I miss him already.

Then as I was leaving I realized I had left my keys in Tessa's classroom. GREAT, now she was going to get upset seeing me come back in and leaving her after she had done so well. When I walked back in they were in circle time doing some dance. Tessa smiled, waved and said "Hi mommy, wook at me spinning. Bye Mommy" and was PERFECTLY fine. She was so excited to see all of her old friends she could have cared less about her old mommy. I am so proud of her.

Mountains

We are having a great time up in the Mountains. By far, Tessa's favorite activity is picking wild blackberries (probably because it involves food). Jenny, a friend of Kirsten's from Del Rio who came with, is a GREAT photographer and has taken some awesome pictures. I'll post some soon. Tonight I am going to make a Blackberry Cobbler, yum yum. After we went berry picking we went down to the dock and Tessa, Kirsten and Jenny swam in the lake. Ellis and I chilled on the dock. It was a perfect morning.