Future Cousins

Here We Go!

Here we go, Steelers, here we go!  Pittsburgh's goin' to the Super Bowl! 

Clearly, a Super Bowl win would be awesome any year...but I think it would be particularly special this year.  Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl in 2006 (the year Calder was born) and 2009 (the year Tessa was born).  So, it would be really cool to uphold this trend and do it again in 2011 as we prepare to welcome our new baby girl! 

Birthday Pics

Before I start getting behind again...I wanted to post a few pictures from Tessa's special day.  

All ready for school on her big day! Complete with matching cheesy grins and squinty eyes. 

Opening presents in the evening.  First up -- a dress up trunk!

I think one of her favorite gifts was this photo book that I had made for her.  She squealed with excitement over the picture on the back as she yelled out all of our names.  It's called Tessa's ABC Book, and there is a page for each letter A-Z.  Each page has pictures of her that represent the letter.  So, A is for Apron (picture of her wearing an apron), B is for Bath and Bubbles (pics of her in the bath and blowing bubbles), etc.  She loves it!! 

Finally, a balance bike (which is a little too big for her right now) and a bike helmet.  In addition to all of this, she also raked in even more gifts from lots of family and friends.  She sure is one lucky girl!!

Cake time!  YUM!

35

So, I turned 35 last week.  Oy.  How did that happen?  Calder painted me two very sweet gifts for my birthday -- a heart-shaped picture frame and a wooden jewelry box.  He chose green paint for the picture frame, since that is my favorite color.  The jewelry box is red and green because he wanted to incorporate both of our favorite colors into it.  Since it's red and green, he told me it was to hold my "christmas jewelry".  :) I meant to take a picture of him with my gifts, but I keep forgetting.  Once I do, I'll add them below. 

So, I decided to ask Calder a few questions to see how well he knows dear ol' Mom...

1. How old is Mommy?  I don't know.  48?  (yikes...)
2. What is Mommy's name?  Courtney  (right!)
3. What is Mommy's favorite color?  green  (right!)
4. What is Mommy's favorite thing to eat?  I don't know.  Broccoli.  (ummm...negative on that one.)
5. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?  Play with me.  (but of course!)
6. What is Mommy's favorite song?  I don't know.  Wheels on the Bus. (actually, that's one of Tessa's favorites.)
7. What is Mommy's job?   Learning math.  (pretty close!)
8. Where does Mommy like to go?   Work.  (sometimes, buddy...)
9. What is your favorite thing about Mommy?   When you play with me.  (Awww!)

Faces of Tessa

Tessa at Two

Our baby girl is TWO today! 

She's a spunky little thing who is just starting to show a hint of the terrible twos.  Her language has exploded over the last month or so.  She's starting to speak in full sentences, many of which are demands: "Drink your water, Calder", "Close the door, Daddy" or "Hold the baby, Mommy."  She blew me away the other day with her longest sentence ever:  "I took the baby's clothes off, Mommy!"

She loves to color and "paint" (aka, color with markers). 

She's starting to show the slightest interest in TV.  She'll watch Curious George for about 5 minutes and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for about 10.  Her favorite character is Pete from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...which is unfortunate because he's not in every episode and when he is, he usually has a pretty small role.  So, she spends the whole time shouting "More Pete! More Pete!"

She really loves her baby dolls.  She makes sure they are well-fed and changed, and that they use the potty when necessary.  :)  Although she's apparently very interested in using the potty at school, she's much more interested in having her babies use it at home.  She'll frequently tell us that she has to use the potty, but I'm pretty sure it's all a ploy so she'll have an excuse to wash her hands.  She LOVES to wash her hands.  She'll sit on the potty for about 5 seconds, then stand up and say "Wash hands, Mommy."  (The funny thing is...this is the exact reason why Calder does NOT want to use the potty.  He'll try to come up with every reason why he shouldn't have to wash his hands after using the potty!)

Her favorite foods are pancakes, shredded cheese, peaches, tomato soup, ketchup and mustard.  (But not necessarily together!)  She really is a good eater in terms of variety.  She eats most things that we put in front of her (unlike her brother), but she just doesn't eat a lot of it.

Other things I want to remember about Tessa at two:

• She knows her first and last names
• She figured out my first name and has recently said to me "Happy New Year, Courtney" and "Pizza hot, Courtney"
• She really wants to be able to do things by herself...but just isn't quite there yet.  She tries so hard to put her shoes and coat on by herself and take them off by herself.  She's getting close!
• When I come in from outside, she'll tug on my scarf and say "Blanket off, Mommy!"
• When she doesn't know the name for something she'll say "This, this" over and over. 
• She loves to watch me put on makeup and she wants to take part too. She loves when I pretend to blush her cheeks, dust her eyes with eyeshadow and gloss her lips.
• As soon as we start the car, she requests her favorite songs.  Once the music is on, she yells "Turn it up!"
  
  
  

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet girl!  We have loved watching you grow and learn over the last two years and know you have so much more fun in store for us in the years to come.  We love you!

New Blankets!

A big "Thank You!" to Ali and Rachel (and Ms. Mary!) who made these blankets just for us!  We love them!

Holiday Outings

This year, we did our best to take advantage of some of the awesome holiday activities that are available in our area.  We had breakfast with Santa, drove through a holiday light show, visited the US Botanic Gardens and the National Christmas tree!  I didn't take pictures at all of these events (shocking!) but here are some shots from the Botanic Gardens and the National Christmas tree visits. 

The theme of the holiday display at the Botanic Gardens was "The Seven Wonders of the World" (plus a few other places).  We checked out the main display room first which was very cool, since everything inside was made from plant/natural material.  It was so impressive!  Afterwards we toured the rest of the Gardens, since we had never been there before.  Calder loved the jungle room the best! 

Eiffel Tower 

 Thomas the train speeds by the Taj Mahal!

 Calder crosses the "tree bridge" in the jungle room.

 Tessa poses in front of the U.S. Capitol

 The U.S. Botanic Gardens building

 Washington Monument

 National Museum of the American Indian

 Lincoln Memorial

 Outside the Botanic Gardens

We visited the National Christmas Tree on the day after Christmas with Zaidy and Grandma in tow.  It was so cold and crazy windy outside...so we didn't spend a lot of time there and I didn't take a lot of pictures.  Calder enjoyed finding the state trees for Virginia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, but we were all disappointed that the train that normally runs around the big tree wasn't running that night. 

On the walk back to the car, Dave and his dad went ahead to get the car while my mom and I waited inside the ultra-fancy Willard Hotel with the kids.  Calder was very impressed with the beautiful tree and I just prayed that he wouldn't knock anything over as he wildly bounced around and climbed over all the chairs in the lobby.  :)  After about 10 minutes, we decided it was a better idea to wait outside under the heat lamps in the valet area. 

I Caught Up!!

I finally caught up (but not without a few fights with Blogger).  I had a ton of pictures from the summer that I never got around to posting...because there were just too many of them to sit down and go through.  6-7 months later, I finally did it!  So, if the winter weather has you down...take a summer stroll through my very belated posts!   

OBX 2010

Tourists in our own town

Family Fun at the Pool

Sprinkler

Playtime in Grandma's Big Yard

3rd of July
More Michigan Summer

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from courtney on Vimeo.

In case you need a translation...Tessa's New Year message goes like this:  "Happy New Year!  I pooped, Daddy."