Understanding Tessa

So, we're in the stages of Tessa's life where she adds new words to her vocabulary every day. She repeats just about anything you say which helps us understand what she is saying. But every now and then she'll come up with a new word on her own that takes us awhile to figure out what she means. It's fun yet exhausting at times. Here's a list of new words and their definitions for your pleasure.

Pitabuta cup = Peanut Butter Cup

Nap = Snap

Schtep = Step

Et's Goooo = Let's Go

Supa Dupa = Super Dooper

Wheyaoo = Where are you? (to the tune of Scooby Scooby Doo)

Banky - Blankie

Ig Ock = Big Truck

Ock = Sock

Mees = More (We've concluded that she says "mees" for more because it's more and please combined)

Mack = Milk

Rice = Water (we try to have her repeat after us to say water every time, but it still comes out sounding like "rice")

Here are some other funny things that Tessa has said:

Mom: Tessa, are you ready to take a nap?

Tessa: Nope.

Mom: Are you ready to go downstairs or not?

Tessa: Not

The girls were sitting at the table for dinner when Abby was being her usual loud self. Tessa turned to her and goes, "Abby, Shhhh" complete with her finger over her mouth. Hilarious.

So we had dinner at our friend's house last week where Tessa got to do makeup with Abby. But then later in the night, Tessa got into what she thought was makeup on her own and came down to show us her new face.

Apparently she had found some ink that is supposed to be used for body tatoos. It's like war paint, but pretty funny. Luckily with a little scrubbing in the bath that night, it all came off.

And not to leave out sister stuff, one of the newest activities the girls like to do together is make "snow angels" in the house. Tyler and I decided they should be called "dust angels" or "dirt angels".

At least they play together!

The Best Game Ever!

So I've been wanting to do a blog about this since Abby's birthday. About six years ago, before Tyler and I had kids, we found a game for our friend's daughter that we purchased for her birthday called Pretty Pretty Princess and it is seriously the best game ever invented. It looked like this:

If you haven't ever seen this game, you go around the board landing on places to get jewelry of your color. To win the game you have to be wearing all the pieces of your colored jewelry plus the crown. Girls of all ages love this game and the best part is seeing dads play. Ever since our first experience with this game, we have purchased it for our friends who have daughters in the 4- to 5-year-old range. And from that first purchase, I knew as soon as we had a daughter old enough, we would buy this game for her. So when Abby celebrated her fourth birthday last month, I was so excited to get it. Here's the one we bought, one of their newer Disney versions because we couldn't even find the original in our stores:It's the same concept just using Sleeping Beauty pieces instead of generic. Surprisingly, as soon as Abby unwrapped the present, she goes, "YES! Pretty Pretty Princess!" She knew what it was and I didn't even know we had talked about it with her. Needless to say, we play the game about once a day, and with Tyler too if it's in the evening. I wish I had a picture of him playing with us because this is truly how you know a dad loves his daughters all dressed up with earrings, necklace, bracelet, ring, and crown! But in a close second - we have cool Uncle John. He'll play Pretty Pretty Princess with his nieces!

So final comments - if you have a daughter, you NEED this game! It's seriously the best game for any girl. Show your princess you love her! That's all I have to say. :)

Family Photos

I made winter dresses for the girls again this year. They're simple and unintentionally big enough for them to grow into, but they're at least wearable. I luckily got Tyler to dress up with us early one Sunday so we could take a few family pictures. I wish I could put a disclaimer that I was 7 months pregnant when these pictures were taken. This is why we only take professional pictures every OTHER year - the year I'm not pregnant! :)

Christmas in Utah

So, I was sitting on my porch swing this week enjoying the sun and warm breeze of a Texas December day while my kids played with chalk when I realized how funny it was that a week before that same day, we were doing this:

We were in Utah and there was a lot of snow. What a difference! But while we were there, we did everything you can think of doing in the snow like attempting to build snowmen (the snow didn't pack very well),

Sledding down a hill made by Tyler himself. All the cousins loved this kid-sized hill and it was well-used during our stay,

Trying to walk in the snow, but as you can see, it was quite deep,

and of course, snow angels.

We had a great time while visiting family in Utah and continuing the many Christmas traditions. Here are but a few:

On Christmas Eve, we always ride the hay wagon around town ringing bells and singing carols.

Then we have a talent show. Here is Tyler's leaving pose after his jingle bell clogging talent, which was a surprise to us all.

Grandpa always plays his guitar to the 12 Days of Christmas, and this year he let Abby and her cousin Anna help a little.

And what's Christmas Eve without matching pajamas? Especially when 8 out of the 9 grandkids are girls!

That meant for a lot of screaming, but also a lot of having fun. We drove this year to Utah, so it was our first driving family vacation. The kids did well and we only had a few patches of bad driving conditions, so overall it was a good experience. We loved being with our family and really enjoyed the week vacation together. We had a great Christmas and hope you did too.

Abby's Sweet Four Birthday Party!!!!

Yesterday we celebrated Abby's birthday with her friends. We had a princess party complete with a cakewalk to princess music, a princess pinata, and of course presents. We finished the party with pink cupcakes which unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of.

Manning the video and digital camera was a bit difficult. So here are pictures of the kids lined up to take their turn to whack the pinata, but I don't have any pictures of the pinata itself. Typical.

Everyone got a turn, but it only took one go around before all the candy was let loose.

Abby received lots of great presents from all her friends. The goods included a cinderella barbie, princess dolls (can you ever have too many? - Abby would say NO!), coloring books and materials, decorations for her pink tree, princess pjs and slippers, princess puzzles, princess bubble bath, and princess jewelry among other wonderful gifts.

As you can imagaine, it was very princess-y, but in our house, what else would you expect?!? We enjoyed the whole thing and say a big thank you to all who attended and to all others who wished her a happy early birthday.
On a separate note, Abby participated in her first parade last weekend with her dance studio. She rode in the float with some friends and did very well. I had both cameras again, so this was about the only picture I got which was taken before the parade even started. But it's an awesome picture, so no regrets. Abby goes back and forth on if she likes parades due to the loud noises of the police cars, but it didn't seem to bother her this time, so it was a good experience for us all.

Christmas Decorations

So we've spent the last week slowly putting up our Christmas decorations. We bought a lot of lights last year after Christmas when they were on clearance, so I was very excited to be able to use them this year. Some were meant for outside, but we still don't own a ladder, so maybe one of these years, we'll decorate the outside of our house. As for this year, we did our best with the inside with all that we had.

We still have an apartment-size tree so maybe next year, our big purchase will have to be a bigger tree for our bigger house. This year with the extra lights, I stole the idea from my friend Jill to put a nativity with lights on the mantle. I really like it.

Our favorite part of the tree is Dad's choo choo train. Tessa especially loves it, maybe a little too much since she's not really supposed to be touching it.

Our most exciting purchase of this year is the infamous pink tree that if you've talked to Abby she's already told you all about. We've talked about it since last year when she saw it at a store. So this year, every week Abby has looked in the ads for any type of pink tree available. And Dad was nice enough to get one once we saw them in the store.

Combined with the princess lights Grandma Black gave the girls last year, our upstairs landing has officially become the Pink Princess Christmas Spot. Here's what the lights look like in the dark even though it's a little blurry:

And with the extra lights I was able to do the stairwell banister like I've always wanted to. So here's our entryway all lit up for Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Thanksgiving and No More Cast!

Our Thanksgiving was a nice, quiet family event. We enjoyed hosting all of my family (but my mom was still the head chef in my kitchen, thank goodness). We played games, the Wii, and of course took pictures. Here's the latest of the 5 grandkids.

Tyler was sick the whole week poor guy. He was out with some kind of respitory infection/congestion thing for like 10 days. He didn't even get to enjoy much of Thanksgiving dinner. It didn't keep him from playing the typical turkey bowl Thanksgiving morning with our nephew and the rest of the men from our ward though. Luckily he's doing much better now. Abby helped in the kitchen. We made four pies: pumpkin, pecan, cherry, and chocolate. Yummy.Our main event to start December was getting Tessa's cast removed. That happened yesterday. She only cried a little and we got to keep the pink cast for a memory keepsake. She was so cute trying to tell us about her leg through tears--jibbering while pointing at her leg in between the deep sighs that come after a good cry. It was so adorable. She's now relearning how to walk again. She crawled for half the day yesterday and has now decided to attempt walking, but her leg is still a little stiff like she's not quite sure how to bend it. And she still walks on her toes on that leg like she had to with the cast. It's all coming back to her quickly, so it won't be long before she's running around again and doing all her other crazy stunts.

Finally, a little on Abby so you know she's not being neglected. She loves preschool and today they did a project where they had to cut out pictures from magazines that made them think of "me." So here's the final outcome of what Abby thinks of when she thinks of Abby:

From top to bottom, left to right, here's what Abby said when I asked her why she chose each picture:

1. I like swimming
2. She's picking flowers
3. 'A' is for Abby
4. Looking awesome
5. Nail polish because I like to look beautiful
6. I like to eat food

Pretty clever I think, and rather fitting for our Abby. :)