Big Girl

I love this picture of Miss T.  But, I almost started crying when I first looked at it.  It just hit me that she is truly a toddler, and not a baby anymore.  She is growing too fast for this sappy mommy!

Mother's Day Breakfast

On the Friday before Mother's Day, Calder and Tessa's school hosted a special Mother's Day Breakfast.  As luck would have it, my mom was visiting that weekend, so she got to come too! 

Calder was just a little bit happy to see Mommy and Grandma!

Giving us a little lesson!

I left my mom in Calder's classroom and went to visit Tessa's room.  It was difficult to get a picture of her in her room, since she would not leave my side from the second I walked in...

...until she heard that the food was on it's way!

Hugs from Ms. Benny!

My spot at the breakfast table. :)

After breakfast, I brought Tessa back to Calder's room where she enjoyed the big kid toys!

Little girl in a big school!

Razzle Dazzle

Who knew that raspberries could be so much fun?

Sun and sprinkles

Earlier this month, we had some really unseasonably warm weather.  So while Daddy was doing some yardwork, we decided to break out the sprinkler!  My two water bugs LOVED it.  Tessa would gasp every time the water hit her...but she always came back for more.  Calder could have played in it for hours!

At 16 months...

At 16 months, Tessa...

...loves to get into her big brother's bed. Loves it. Begs and pleads and squeals with joy once she's in there loves it.

... is getting more curls by the day!

...is one heck of a shape sorter.  She almost has this toy completely mastered. 

  

...loves the book Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton.  She knows almost all of the animal sounds!  She is also crazy about books with pictures of babies and loves to kiss the babies.  :)

She also...

...loves to "pretend" drink out of bottles, even though she was never much of a bottle drinker herself.

...tries to drink her bath water. Constantly. And if there are no little cups floating around the bath, don't worry, she'll just suck it out of the wet washcloth.  She's also starting to take great interest in the toilet -- we had a bit of a close call with my car keys the other day! 

...would rather play with cars, trucks, or trains than a baby doll. 

...says "Mommy" instead of "Mama". In the sweetest little voice you ever heard.

Goodbye, Friends!

We had to say goodbye to our wonderful friends, Susannah, Amelia and Isaac who are moving back to North Carolina to be closer to their families.  We are so happy for them, but will miss them terribly! 

And, the momma's had one last night out too! 

Come back and visit soon!

Latest Installment of Calder-isms

I love love love the things that come out of a 3-year old's mouth.  Where do they get this stuff!!??

"God is good at making things.  Bob the Builder is good at fixing them."

"On your market, get set, go!"

"Where are the constructions for the game?"

Calder: "Mommy, why are you shaking your head?"
Mommy:  "Because you ask a LOT of questions, Calder..."
Calder:  "Yep! And I have lots of ideas too."

I've been trying to make a point about giving him 'ownership' of the good things that he does.  So, I find myself saying "You must be so proud of yourself!  You did XYZ!" a lot.  So, I said this to him last night.  His reply?  "Yep. I love myself.  I love me." 

And, while playing with a toy cash register, he asked "Where is the goody card that goes with this toy?"  After much confusion, I eventually figured out that he was talking about a credit card.  I really kinda like that one.  I think I'll start calling them goody cards too.  :)

Sillies

Cousins playing house

It was so cute to see all four cousins playing "house" together in Sandhya's little Rose Petal Cottage.  Ok, so it got a little rowdy at times, and I think the house may have even fallen over a time or two...but cute nonetheless!

Calder delivers the mail.

Tessa loves the kitchen!

And bubbles are fun too!

Kissing Cousins

Me and My Shadow

Photos by Calder

Lately, Calder loves taking pictures.  In fact, the Easter Bunny brought him his very own camera!  Here's a sampling of his work:

Pretty artsy, huh?

Dairy Queen

Tessa is quite the little dairy queen.  She loves her milk, cheese and ice cream.  And she LOVES yogurt.  Lord help me if I do not start shoveling yogurt into this child's mouth the second she wakes up in the morning.  I'm not kidding.  If she's anywhere in the vicinity of the refrigerator when the door opens -- she bolts over to it, and begins climbing the shelves to find the yogurt.  Fortunately, she can't open the refrigerator door herself!  Yet. 

Here she is begging for her 3rd yogurt of the day.  At noon. 


Yo Baby from courtney on Vimeo.

Big Truck Days

Like last year, we had a great time at Big Truck Days this year!  Calder really enjoyed climbing in and 'driving' all of the big construction vehicles.  

And once again, his absolute favorite thing to do was to sit in the back of one of the big trucks and buckle the big seatbelt!

Even Tessa had a blast.  She was climbing into and crawling around in the big trucks just like the big kids!