Mountain Activities

Yesterday we went to Sylva, NC. It's about 45 mins from my parents cabin. We went to this wonderful local potter called Mud Dabbers. They're 'signature' are the face pots that Appalachia is famous for. Ced gave Tessa and Ellis these beautiful sun-faces for their births from this place, and my mom and sister have bought several face jugs from them. One of the potters, Brad, was so great with Tessa. I was a little nervous, who takes a jacked up 2-yr old into a pottery place (can you say Bull in a China shop?). But, he took her to the side room where they sculpt and sat her on a stool and let her play with the clay while Omi and I shopped (good business keep, babysit kids so that parents can shop). When she tired of this, he gave her a giant piece of paper that she could draw on and just sat her on the floor. He was really great with kids and just kept playing with her and showing her all kinds of different things to keep her occupied. It was a really neat place.

Next cam my favorite place. In Sylva is a little Brewery called Heinzelmannchen (German for Gnome). They have these "growlers" that you buy and then fill up with beer. Then you can bring the growlers back and they will fill it for $8 (and on Wednesdays it's only $6). They have GREAT beer, my favorite was the Black Forest Stout. They always are brewing different ones, so you can go in and taste to decide what you want. It was AWESOME. The other cool thing, is that my mom has a growler that looks almost identical to the one from the Brewery that belonged to her Grandmother. Since back in those days you couldn't buy bottled beer, my mom's Great-Grandfather would send her grandmother to the local pub with the groweler and get 2l of beer. They actually have the growler up at the cabin and it truly is identical to the one they have at the Brewery.

It will happen when it happens

I am amazed that she lasted this long. Since we are up in the cabin, Tessa has been sleeping in a Pack'N'Play. Yesterday when we layed her down for her nap, she finally figured out how to climb out. I knew this was coming. With as active and curious and fearless as she is, I'm surprised she hasn't done this before. So, we skipped the nap (she had slept in the car on our outing already). But I was curious to see how night-time sleep would go. Would she lay down and go to sleep or climb. Before I could even shut the door, she was climbing out. I'm pretty sure she fell and was upset. So I went back in and she pointed to the big bed and kept saying "lay down, lay down". So I layed her down in the big bed, surrounded the edges with pillows and put her blanket on her. Amazingly, she stayed in the bed and went to sleep. I have been worrying about how I was going to transition her to her big girl bed and I guess she decided to take matters into her own hands. When we get home, I will just put her in the big girl bed and be done with it.

Misc

Ok, last night mom and I made a warm pasta salad what was delicious. It has a buttermilk & chive dressing and you serve it with arugula, peas and toasted prosciutto. Unfortunately the watermelon margaritas were not so successful. They tasted like booty.

Tessa helped Omi make pancakes this morning. It was really cute watching her help Omi. I also remembered another phrase Tessa has started saying:

I got you - she will say this when carrying multiple toys at once, and she says it over and over and over and over.

Tessa Phrases

I feel like Tessa has started saying so many new things lately and then when I start to type a post I forget some of them. Below are a few funny or new thinks she has learned.

Awesome - this she says a lot, but mostly after she pees on the potty (which she does almost every time).

Look at me - or Look at my leg, foot, hand, toe, or some other object. She definitely likes attention.

That's it. No more. - this one is pretty funny because she uses it when she is done giving me kisses. I ask her for a kiss and then she kisses me, then I say again and she kisses me again, and then we kiss each other really fast in succession until she says "That's it. No more kisses mommy." and she means it. Then she's done.

Poopy Tuesdays

This is a multiple post day today. I have decided to name Tuesdays 'Poopy Tuesdays' since Ellis seems to have selected Tuesdays as his day to have his BM's. Yes, this means he only poops once a week. The crazy thing is that since he is fed breastmilk it's almost impossible to get constipated and according to the Pediatrician they can go for up to two weeks without pooping. Stop reading if you are faint of stomach, but per the doctors as long as his poops are yellow and seedy (hahahahahah I just grossed out a bunch of you) he's fine. My little moose is so cute.

Family

I got the most wonderful note from Reinhard (my mom's cousin in Germany). It's so sweet and really makes me appreciate having this forum with which to document and share our family's achievements and stories. Below is his e-mail.... I hope he doesn't mind my posting this. Thank you Reinhard, we miss you and can't wait for you to come back to Atlanta to visit (maybe another Christmas in Atlanta?)

HALLO MY DEAREST PEOPLE IN ATLANTA,

IT SEEMS LIKE WE HAVE NOT BEEN IN CONTACT SINCE MY BIRTHDAY NINE WEEKS AGO.
THANKS TO BLOGS THIS IS NOT SO. I CAN SEE YOUR OFFSPRINGS EVERY DAY ACCOMPANIED BY THE BEAUTYFUL
COMMENTS WHICH WOULD NEVER APPEAR IN THE REGULAR MAIL. TECHNIC HAS ITS ADVANTAGES.
EVEN THOUGH I AM FAR AWAY AND YET SO NEAR. ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS


LOVE AND REGARDS REINHARD

Summer Nights

We had a wonderful weekend with Mike home. Saturday was the perfect low-key saturday night. We went to Miles' 2nd Birthday party at the Fire Station in Buckhead. It was a lot of fun and Tessa loves wearing her little fireman's hat. I think she wore those boys down at the party. We grilled flank steaks and all had dinner together and went for a nice walk afterwards. We gave Tessa a little toy four-wheeler for her Birthday (it runs on batteries) and she LOVED driving around the neighborhood with it. Ellis fell asleep in the carrier. It was just a wonderful night.

Now, Tessa, Ellis and I are up in the mountains with Omi for the week and over the 4th of July weekend. The men are coming up Friday. We saw a beautiful double rainbow last night. Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come.