Merry Christmas!

My favorite is the part where Beaker really begins to panic. :)
Thanks, Sis.
I love that Swedish Chef.

Alright!

That's it! Who taught the baby to do motor lips after every bite of prunes and rice cereal? I offered a dragonlike "Nooooooo!" after every splattering, but it didn't do any good except get me a scolding from the 3 year old about being nice. I told the boy it wasn't funny.
The look on his face made it apparent that he didn't believe me.

Yes, Cole too.

Who needs toys? Just hang up some mirrors and my kids will be completely entertained by their own reflections.

I love that it seems he's having a conversation with himself.

It's a miracle I haven't kissed this kid's cheeks off.

Are you surprised?

I'm not.

I like how she's left the window open for all kinds of behavior preceding Christmas.

A Tribute to my Cole Lio Lio

Oh, he's a sweet one. Check out those chicken legs!!! Can you believe that?! At his 4 month appt. he was in the 99th percentile in height and a little over 50th in weight. My long, skinny boy. Cole is such a good natured baby. He cries when he's hungry or tired. That's it. He's so patient with me. His little laugh is usually this fantastic sucking in sound as he bobs his head, unless he really gets laughing, which only his sister can get him to do so far. He's got this great boy hairline and a lighter color is starting to grow in. So far it looks like this kid is going to keep his blue eyes. I can see his father in him, my Grandpa Jack, and especially the resemblance to his sister. He's a thumb sucker, and when given the chance, he's a toe sucker too. Those long skinny legs make it easy to get the toes to the mouth. :)

I love love love it when he stares at me and "talks". When he does this, he usually is reaching up and touching my face. Consider the heart melted at that point.
He is so quick to smile. There is a big mirror hung right above the changing table. It doesn't matter what mood this kid is in, if you hold him up to the mirror, he will smile. Usually a laugh follows.
He is finding his voice. He "sang" all through church today. Either he was doing that or calling for dolphins.

Cole has some strong legs. I stand by this post. Maybe he'll swim or play soccer too. When he gets to kicking in his bouncer, that thing looks ready to take off.

His drool is well timed. If you hold him up in the air, you are almost gauranteed a slobber drop in the face.
Cole adores his big sister. He is perfectly happy to lay by her while she plays with toys because that means he gets to be with her and watch. He thinks she's hilarious. He doesn't mind all the affection she pours on him. Tessa always says, "Oh, he's so cute." I concur.

Tessa's Birthday Pics

She had already opened the gifts from grandparents, thus the Snow White headband and fairy skirt. :)

Her main gift was a bin with "dressing ups" in it. This girl loves costumes and had just a couple that she was always putting on. (And the after Halloween sale was perfect.)

Jake's favorite:

"I don't know who Dorothy is, but maybe she'd pose like this!"

Along with these, she also got a "Mulan dress." She was so excited about her dress up bin and can't wait to have friends over to play.

She requested a pink birthday cake with sprinkles. That's it. After weeks of making it sound like she wanted a huge art project of a cake, she settle on a pink cake. Can do, sister. So, we sang to her and watched her scrape off all that pink frosting into her mouth. She might have had a bite of actual cake. Maybe I'll just get her a tub of icing next year in place of the cake.

She's My Sunshine Morning Girl

And we've been blessed to enjoy three years so far with her. She's my funny drama queen, the sweetest one I know, and my best little girl friend. She turned three years old today. In her words,"Happy Birthday, everybody!"
Her debut:

One for the money:

Two for the show:
Three to get ready:

And......slow it down, kid. It breaks my heart to know that one day that squeaky little voice will be just a memory.

We had a really nice and quiet evening of presents and cake with just us and some grandparents via telephone.

She got dress ups for her birthday. :) Pics coming soon.

Officially Official

On November 16, Jake officially became an attorney in the great state o Texas. We went to Austin/Georgetown for the weekend. The ceremony took place at UT Austin with the state Supreme Court justices presiding. Hundreds of new attorneys stood to take an oath to uphold the Constitution. Pretty cool.

Tessa took the oath too.

Our seats were right up to where all the new attorneys were. Keeping Tessa relatively still through the speeches, etc.? Stressful, considering Ariel the Little Mermaid doll kept tumbling to the floor from a bored and flopping little girl. I was so thankful that I remembered to stuff the last of some gummy worms in my purse before we left. When all else fails, I'm not too proud to shove some candy at my kid to keep her quiet. Cole just drooled and happily hung out on my lap. It's a good thing, because there was no escape where we were sitting.

Happy day. We're so grateful to have reached this point. Now, we keep moving forward.

Halloween

We didn't get to the pumpkin until the last second, but at least we got to it. Jake and Tessa had a great time making the jack o lantern together.

Then to the trunk or treat!

Here's my whine about the trunk or treat: Older kids shouldn't be making the rounds two or three times while the littlies are trying their best to get around once. Move on to the neighborhoods if you want more! Seriously. Bah. Humbug.

Anyway, here's the one family picture we took:

We've got a princess and a frog. Then, with vacation and all, I didn't put much thought into what Jake and I were going to be until it was too late to add effort. However, Jake's costume will be my favorite for a long time to come. A couple nights before, while lying in bed and brainstorming costume ideas for Jake (it's not a choice to not dress up for Halloween at my house), I mentioned Mr. Belvedere and we both busted up laughing. I even snort laughed. So, three bucks later, Jake had himself a sweater vest. The Mr. Belvedere theme song was stuck in my head for a week.
For my costume, I just grabbed some random 70's garb I had. Someone asked me if I just had a costume hanging around at home when I mentioned I just threw some stuff on, and I answered, "Yes. I've got a bunch of costumes to choose from." Then I realized that not everyone is like that. That it's strange for me to have a costume box complete with wigs and a garment bag with things like an 80's sequin top or an orange polyester suit. Oh well. Mom's fault.
Here we've got a couple of the girliest girls you ever did see:

I love you, Halloween. Sorry I kind of neglected you this year. I'll make up for it next year by forcing the family into themed costumes and utilizing some dry ice. That'll do it.

Utah/Idaho in October

Last month we took our two week trip to Utah and Idaho. We could not have asked for more beautiful weather and better company. I did not get pictures of everything that I should have. I am making a promise to myself that next time I will be more consistent with taking pictures....especially of ALL of the cousins.

Well, here are some of the funs we had:
This is Tessa's cousin Simone. The two girls together = inseparable. It's really cute to see them love each other so much. I'm thinking that Gracie will be joining the cuzzie girl hug next go round.

One evening we took a stroll around Temple Square.

The Church has a children's museum on the top floor of the regular museum. Love the dress ups.
The witches at Gardner's Village:

At Dad and Sandy's:

At the Treehouse Museum:

At my Mom and Duke's:

(I can't believe I didn't take pics of the Halloween party. Hanging head in shame.)

Grandma and Grandpa D's:

This would be a girl who wasn't going to bother trying to nap while on vacation. She finally fell asleep while coloring at Gma D's. Party animal.

I think this a sweet picture of Cole meeting his Great Grandma:

Leaves, leaves, leaves.

Dancing Fancy Nancies:

We were able to see a LOT of people during our stay, especially considering we were on vacation, but not everyone else was. Love all around. Thanks so much for making it so we are already excited for next time.