Happy Birthday, Zaidy!

Nonna and Zaidy came to visit in early March, so we had an early celebration for Zaidy's birthday.  Daddy and Tessa made brownie bites in the Bakery Bites Express that she got for Christmas.  So yummy!

Spring Tease

Who's ready for spring?

We *thought* this late February day was going to be our last romp in the snow...but as it turns out, Mother Nature would have more in store for us!

Not happy about the muddy knees.

 

And just like that, she's over it. There are puddles to jump in.

 Our funny, silly girl loves the outdoors!

And here's what our yard looked like a week later!

Loose Teeth

Just after turning 5, Tessa had two teeth that started to get really loose.  She wiggled them endlessly with her tongue, and finally, on February 7th the first one fell out!  Ok, maybe 'fell out' isn't quite how we should put it -- mommy had to intervene a bit!  Have you ever seen anyone so excited?

And then, just 9 days later, the other bottom tooth came out!  Gotta love her crazy faces! 

Her new look...at least for now.  She's convinced that a top tooth is going to come out soon (but I think she's going to be waiting for a while.)

Can We Go Snowin'?

Just like her brother, this one LOVES the snow! We've had a lot of it to enjoy this winter, and every time she looks outside to see the ground covered in white, she says "Mommy, can we go snowin'? Pleeeeeeease!?"

How on earth could I say no to this sweet face? 

Pride

I'm bursting with pride over this little one today.  Yesterday, she read me several pages of Hop on Pop!  She has been working on reading the little BOB books for a while, but only here and there.  In her Pre-K class, she has really been catching onto her sight words lately, so I thought I'd see how she'd do with a little Dr. Seuss.
2014-03-07 16.44.48 from courtney on Vimeo.


Meanwhile, little sister wanted to read too.  She read "Cat in Cap":

"The Loose Tooth One":

 

and my personal favorite, "Walk On The Thing":

Party Time...Again

Two weeks after Tessa's 5th Birthday blowout, we had Alyse's 3rd Birthday celebration at Build-A-Bear.  She had so much fun partying with her little friends!

Snuggling her new bear, Emily

Heart ceremony -- so cute!

Greeting friends

Time to wash the bears!

Group shot!

Ready for cake!

Blowing out the candles

Sweet friends!

All tired out!

Opening presents at home on her actual birthday

Modeling her new nightgown

A Winter's Hike

On a rare, warm January day in between snow storms, Alyse and Calder took Mommy and Grandma on a hike.

Calder loves to dig up big rocks and throw them in the creek behind our house.  And Alyse likes to do what big brother does.

Lately, Calder tends to end up IN the creek on most hikes.  This time, he found a big piece of slate (frequently used for personal sidewalks in our neighborhood) and considered it a major treasure!

He was SO proud!

He carried it all the way home to show Daddy.