Hat, eyes, shoes, cheese, and wawa

Those are the words for the week. Tessa even knows the signs for all of them -- except for eyes. She has her own sign for eyes. I think most kids share this sign -poking out the eye of the closest parent. I never thought it would be cute to have someone spear my eyeball with a finger, but what do you know? I think a lot of things are cute that I'd never have considered before.
Tessa was getting into hats last week, and she's still a big fan. Thus, the pictures. She's really good about keeping them on for a while. We got her an awesome hat for Easter. I'll make sure to take some photos of her wearing it next month.
Jake has been busy writing his mammoth sized paper. He keeps wishing that the next two weeks would be gone already, because that means the torture of that 45 page thing would be over.....for all of us.
I spent my free time last week recording myself reading a book. Sometimes I have a little job reading for a girl over at UT Dallas. I saw her last week, and she asked me if I would read this particular book so she could write a book report on it due in a week.

Sure. So I packed it in when I could and learned more about government involvement in the railroad, highway, and trucking industries than I ever thought possible. It was actually pretty interesting and definitely not something I would have read on my own. But, hey, now if what has happened to the railroads since the late 19th century comes up as a topic of converation at a social gathering, consider me prepared.
Also, this week I finally finished a little project of mine. It has been, what, two and a half years since I started it? I have an autumn/Thankgiving table runner I embroidered/sewed a while back, and I thought it would be fun to make other ones for different holidays. This Easter one has been shoved away for quite some time, but our Relief Society's Chat 'n' Chocolate nights have encouraged me to take it back out and finish it. So, here is the finished product:

I tried to get a closer shot of the embroidered parts, but Tessa's little hands were faster than me with the camera. Her butter fingers are in the corner, but you still get the idea.
Now that this one is done, I want to start on a summer one. I'll show it to you when I'm finished in three years.
This did put me in project mode, so I've started to make patchwork throw pillows for Tessa's room. (There's an adorable futon in there that needs help pretending it belongs with the decor.) And I've got plans to make Tessa a skirt with some material I've got on hand. If it doesn't turn out, you'll never hear me mention it again. If it resembles a skirt, I'll post it with macaroni necklace style pride all over this here blog.
This is Tessa visiting with Grandma (matma) and Grandpa McBride on the web cam. She's just relaxing.....eating Teddy Grahams.