82 Degrees

So, it's been kinda hot here. I'm not complaining, I'm just still trying to get used to it. I love that I've been able to be outside in a t-shirt and capris and I'm totally comfortable. It's been perfect yard work weather. That getting dark early thing is still throwing me off, though. I'm just not used to playing in the park and then seeing Christmas decorations in the stores on the same day.
Tessa McBessa has four teeth! The top two are making their grand showing. Her own personal stalactites, or stalagmites? I can't keep those two straight. Anyway, she has been biting on material (clothes, washcloths...) and then pulling it away to test out the strength of those chompers. I've given her a toothbrush to chomp on. She thinks it's funny when she sees me brush my teeth, so she's been more excited about having her own than most kids.

This picture was from one of those days where I attempted to pull her hair back. It takes a lot of effort to keep the back from standing straight up. I'm wondering when her hair will have some weight to it. It just wants to stick out.

This is a Jamestown Corndog picture and video. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just ignore me. We don't make sense a lot in our house. However, we do think we're funny.


Today we went to the SMU tailgate party. I tried my first bratwurst. Halfway through it, I realized it would also be my last bratwurst and left it alone. Those tailgate parties are always interesting and sometimes good people watching events. Many people bring their dogs. It takes a certain kind of person to carry a dog around in a designer purse. There are more people on Earth who belong to that category of certain people than I had previously realized. That's all I'm going to say about that. There was an alumni jazz band. They were actually good, and Tessa seemed to enjoy the music.
This morning we went over to the park to exercize. I ran two miles. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but people, I don't run. I walk, I dance, I saunter, I aerobicize, but I don't run for an extended period of time unless I'm being chased. So it was a big deal. I even enjoyed it! I want to be able to run a 5K soon. I think I could have been just fine doing it this morning, but I didn't want to press my luck. I'll get to it by next week. Music makes such a big difference for me. Whenever I've gotten desperate for exercise in the past, I've gone running, but it just gets so boring! I really enjoyed myself this morning (and a few times in the last couple weeks), so maybe I've opened a new chapter on this method of exercise. Thank heaven for the Ipod. The only problem I had was tripping over my feet a couple times because I wanted to dance and run at the same time. Doesn't work.

Pre-jammies.

Jake has his finals coming up here pretty soon. We were discussing today how that means he's almost halfway finished! Go, Jake!
Have a fabulous week everyone!

I've been tagged!

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. It takes me a while to REALLY figure out how I feel about things and make a decision as to where I stand on an issue. I tend to make my friends and family listen to me ramble on about a subject, and then somewhere in that rambling, I find out how I view and feel about a certain situation. Usually after this process, I stand firm in what I've decided and am not afraid to share it when asked. When asked in the middle of deciding, though, get ready for some incoherent strings of thought!
2. I get really shy around shy people --or people who just don't feel like talking to me. You can only comment on the weather so much. Then I just start to feel stupid. I'm a lot less sure of myself than I appear to be. I used to struggle with eye contact, and recently I've found I'm reverting back to that --looking down or away from people I'm talking to who I don't know well. So now I'm consciously working on it.
3. I love the little details in life. I think they are part of what makes a great story (however, not everyone thinks the same, so I have to be careful about my tendency to get wordy). Facial expressions are the best.
4. I find a lot of things funny. I used to think that most people had the same sense of humor I do --because, come on, the things I find humorous ARE funny! Well, it's not true. People do not have the same sense of humor, and some people don't have a sense of humor at all.
5. I can do a lot of things, but I'm not exceptionally good at anything I do (except creating self serve icecream cones). Well, I can't play competitive sports, so we'll take that one out immediately --oh yeah, take out singing too. Other than that, there isn't anything I necessarily shine at doing, but I can get by okay -and I usually really enjoy myself in what I've chosen to attempt.
6. I collect Hard Rock Cafe pins (I still need a Dallas one!), not specific styles, I just like having them from different places. I don't display them or anything. They're just in a Minnie Mouse mug in the office. I collect nativity sets too. I'd like to have sets from all over the world.
*I tag Christina, Lisa, Alex, and anyone else who reads this who hasn't been tagged. Please don't make me hunt you down. If you don't feel like being tagged, then quit yer cryin' and just ignore me.

Finally Feels Like Autumn

I love Halloween. Halloween was a big deal growing up at my house. I think my favorite Halloween memories, besides going to haunted houses every year, involve going to my grandma's house after trick or treating. Grandpa opened the door with the same ugly mask on every year. Grandma had caramel apples, glazed doughnuts, and hot apple cider ready for all the grandkids. I loved that I could count on the same tastes, smells, decorations, and family fun every year. Plus, we'd trick or treat some more in her neighborhood, and some guy gave out mini loaves of Wonder Bread, which was pretty cool. Jake's favorite Halloween memories..."I had a couple of Halloween/Birthday sleepovers growing up. All my friends would come over to my house in costume, go out trick or treating, and then come back for my birthday party and sleepover. Also, I could never understand how JJ down the street could have Halloween candy left by the time Thanksgiving rolled around."



Onto what we did this week... We dressed up on Friday night to visit some Halloween celebrators for a few minutes. We grabbed wigs and decided we would just tell people we were "wiggin out". Tessa did really well with keeping the wig on. I couldn't stop laughing at her. We decided it was going to be included in her official Halloween costume, too. Jake's brother Matt came into town for work last weekend as well, and we were so happy to be able to visit with him. We picnicked and took a walk in downtown McKinney (I love that place)on Saturday and just enjoyed the night air. Tessa shared her first icecream cone with me. She would stick out her tongue and wait for me to swipe some icecream across it. :)
Sunday we drove around downtown Dallas before taking Matt back to the airport. I hadn't been in some of those areas of Dallas. There are so many places I still need to discover.

Halloween was a blur for the most part. I was little more frazzled than I wanted to be by the time I got Tessa to the Trunk or Treat party at the church. Among many other things, Jake's snowglobe from New York was pulled off the bookshelf and shattered. The destructive ability of my child has been grossly underestimated until now. I had never smelled anything like the snowglobe liquid that seeped into my carpet. That was bad news...and a lot of work to get it taken care of. Anyway, I finally got Tessa and myself to Trunk or Treat (along with chili and Jake's costume). It was an all day school day for Jake, but he braved the traffic during rush hour to see Tessa for her first Halloween --plus he was part of her costume. He was with us for about forty minutes before running back to night class. We enjoyed our ward members and friends....and my first trunk or treat ever. I still think that's a whole lotta candy in a short amount of time. Where's the work ethic we used to put into Halloween candy gathering? Why, back in my day.......

Lastly, Jacob turned thirty-one today! Since he had a cake and cookies at work, I decided not to overload on that stuff, so I made Jello jigglers to go with our pizza and movie party. I tried to cut a birthday cake in the Jello with a steak knife before Jake realized what I was doing, and, well, you can see the outcome for yourself. At least he got a good laugh out of it. Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Send Me On My Way

Yes, even Reader's Digest entertains her. Tessa loves books.We had a great weekend. First of all, Jake didn't have any papers to write, so he was able to spend a lot of time playing with us. We had a picnic at a beautiful park Jake found out in Richardson. I love the huge parks here --especially the ones with water and ducks (and an occasional Blue Heron).
We went to the Plano International Festival Saturday afternoon. I was personally excited for the entertainment scheduled, so I didn't pay any attention to the "naturalization" on the online program . Well, we showed up right as the naturalization was getting started. Fifty people were sworn in as new American citizens. They were from all over the globe --Argentina, Ghana, India, Mexico, Bosnia-Herzegovina.... I had never witnessed something like this and neither had Jacob. We felt incredibly fortunate to be there. They repeated the oath of citizenship and then said the Pledge of Allegiance with the crowd for the first time as American citizens. Jake and I both couldn't help but get a little emotional. I don't need many reminders, but I just thought about how grateful I am to live in this country as I watched those little old Sons of the Revolution present our flag. With a crowd cheering, it seemed a wonderful way to be welcomed as a new citizen.
We made our way around the different booths representing different countries and watched some of the entertainment. Tessa had fun dancing with Mom and Dad to the music. One booth, surprisingly, didn't make it into the main collection of booths. This particular booth was for Klingons. Yes, Star Trek Klingons. Two men in full garb were there to represent. The Klingon flag waved proudly above the table. Where does one even find a Klingon flag? No clue. I guess these guys didn't get the memo that it was an international festival..... not an intergalactic one.
Later that day we went over to another park. Jake went to grab something from the car, so I pushed the stroller off the path a little toward a pond/lake. I took Tessa out to get closer to the water and left the stroller sitting there with my purse, the diaper bag, etc. in the bottom basket and a folded blanket sitting on the top umbrella part. I crouched down with Tessa at the water's edge to look at some ducks swimming away from us. A breeze picked up, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I whipped my head around to see my stroller ZOOMing down the incline toward the water. I ran to set Tessa down away from the water and sped toward the stroller as it jumped and toppled forward into the pond. I splashed into the water to pull out the stroller (it was only up to mid-calf) as the blanket floated further out. Suddenly I realized there was a man in the water with me helping me get the stroller out. He then went out a little further to get the blanket. I'm glad chivalry isn't dead. Jake got back in time to hear this guy explain that he thought there was a baby in the stroller when he saw it rolling toward the water. Poor guy. I was grateful for his help. Tessa looked thoroughly entertained. Jake pointed out all the little fish swimming around right where I'd been. Ick. I laughed pretty hard about it. Everything in the stroller was okay. I just sprayed it off when I got home and washed the raft/blanket. Upon hearing the story, most people have reminded me that the stroller has brakes. Thank you, everybody. I know.
Other than that, it's been a good week overall. Just the usual for the most part.... watching the babies, visiting with friends, park time, Rhyme Time at the library, projects, grocery shopping ...just stuff. Jake's brother Matt is coming into town tonight for business. We're excited to have him come stay. Last thing: Erica Whetstone, a friend of mine for over 20 years!?!, is getting married to a really great guy this coming Tuesday. I just wanted to send out a huge CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

My kid is the reason you have to supervise your child while eating those big Gerber cookie stick things. She wants it all at once.

Don't You Know...

So. Every now and then for the past week I've been getting on here to see what else I can figure out. I've seen some really fun things on some friend's blogs. However, it turns out I'm as adept at this as I thought I would be, but I'm trying, people. Posting videos seems easy enough, so that's my first new trick. This is Tessa explaining how she feels about something very important. Cheerios maybe? Why she feels so drawn to eat paper? How much happier life would be if I would just let her pull all the books off the shelves?

If you're looking for substance in the rest of this post, good luck.

In other, very exciting, news... The weather has been lovely! We have butterflies regularly stopping by. Today is a play in the park day.

Jake was offered an internship for half the summer with the Anti-trust division of the DOJ. He's excited. I'm excited for him because he now has an ideal summer of internships. This will really help him figure out which direction he wants to go after graduation. That seems so far away, but it'll be here before we know it.

Tessa has a weird looking bite thing on her hand. My fault for letting her play in the grass? Probably. I have no clue what it is. It looks like a pimple or something, but she hasn't complained about it. I tried Neosporine and a Bandaid on it yesterday, but she immediately licked the Bandaid off. So much for that. And, yes, Mom, I put silver on it. It looks slightly better than it did yesterday, so I'll give it a little more time. If any of you Texans know which of our many seriously creepy lawn creatures might have done this, let me know if there is a better course of action, por favor.

I have finally resorted to exercise videos on those days that Jake doesn't get home from school until 10. The two time a week possibility of the community center isn't turning out to be enough for me to feel like less of a lump. I figured thrift store excercise videos would be just great while I mute them and listen to talk radio or my own music to work out---until there's time/money to take dance classes one day....or teach them. Anyway, last night I discovered just how cheery Denise Austin really is. That's her job, I know, but I can't help but think of my high school drill team advisor. For those of you who know, come on, there's a resemblance. With that smile and sculpted hair, good ol' Denise has kicked my quads into soreness today. That's a good thing. We'll see how Billy Taebo does next time around.

Tessa McBessa is up from her nap....with drool somehow in her hair and banana residue on her upper lip from breakfast. Bath time!

Tessa's Toes and Texas Spiders

By Jake

Another week and another update. Tessa becomes cuter with every passing day. Her on-command performances of "Popcorn Popping" are a thrill to behold. And nothing beats the wrinkled-nose-two-tooth smile that dad gets when he arrives home from school.

Mom managed to keep her occupied long enough to paint her toes this week. Needless to say her tinted toes garnished rave reviews.

In other news, Ralph headed out on Monday. It is always nice to have family come to visit and he of course couldn't get enough of his granddaughter. Tuesday through Thursday we had Chelsea and little Alex Johnson with us. They were the perfect guests and we were happy to have the company.

On Wednesday I had an interview with the Dallas field office of the Anti-trust division of the Department of Justice for an internship in the second half of the summer next year. That would be an excellent experience and a great connection to make with the DOJ. They will let us know before Thanksgiving.

Friday night Maren cut my hair (and did a fine job, I might add). After the cut I took the hair-covered smock outside to shake it off and almost walked right into a giant spider web on our back porch with a big-ol' Texas spider hanging out right in the middle. While it is hard to tell in the picture, with legs and all he was about the size of a silver-dollar. Maren wouldn't go near it, nor would she try and catch the gecko in our garage so that we could pit the two against each other. So I had to kill it.

Until next week...

Fort Worth Stockyards

My dad came into town on Thursday, so we decided to make a trip to see the stockyards the next day. We made sure to catch the cattle drive (which only consisted of about 10 cattle). I don't know if I'd ever seen longhorn cattle in the flesh, so I was pretty impressed with those massive horns. We went through some of the shops with Texas garb a plenty. We didn't have time to go through the cowboy hall of fame or Billy Bob's, so I'm determined to get back and see it all someday. Plus, I might have the nerve at that point to try a buffalo burger. (Seriously?)

Other than our visit to Fort Worth, we had some Texas barbeque, Jake and Dad went bass fishing at Lake Fork on Saturday, and, of course, we enjoyed conference. We also had a sudden visit from Jake's friend and his wife because they just adopted an adorable baby boy in Fort Worth and are ready to go back to Boise for their new baby adventures. Congratulations, Johnson family!!!

On a crappy note, my eyes are still red and icky. I'll be thankful that I don't look like Quasimodo anymore with a swollen left eye, but whatever is going on still isn't finished and has decided to invade my right eye too. It's getting better, and I'm sure it'll move on before long.

It's October everyone! Oh, how I love Halloween. Poor Jake has had to hear about what costume I'm going to put him in for about 6 months now. What a trooper.

Man, I love that little girl!