Tessa Turns Two on Thanksgiving

Well, I definitely dropped the ball with Tessa's birthday update.  We surprised her with cupcakes for breakfast.  All she was interested in was the frosting, though.  She opened her presents from Gramma & Grampa C. and Ahmma & Dumpa H. while she skyped with them.  After her nap time we did a quick photo shoot in our front yard.  Reviewing the pictures, she looked so grown up to me. How did that happen….my baby girl turning two? We had a low-key Thanksgiving dinner.  It was so casual that we didn't even have a turkey.  Instead, I crock-potted an eight-pound turkey breast that had been marinating in adobo for the past three days.  We sang 'happy birthday' again after dinner, and the girls & I dug into some homemade pumpkin cheesecake.  Tessa only ate her cool whip topping. Silly girl!  A couple weeks prior to her birthday she started copying her sisters and telling knock-knock jokes during mealtimes.  She cracks herself up and everyone else around her. She also started acknowledging her farts by saying, "I toot."

This is her trying to show me 'two fingers' 

Happy Birthday Tessa Stiles

My Thanksgiving babe's girl is two!

Boo Boo's Birthday

We celebrated Piper's birthday as a family a little before Veteran's Day.  She had four requests: ice skating, ice cream, McDonalds, and Hello Kitty cupcakes.  So, we did the first two while Dadda was home.  Dadda corralled Tessa in the bleachers while the girls and I spent about 45 minutes on the ice.  Afterwards we went to Baskin Robbins where Piper chose a scoop of rainbow sherbet.  On her birthday I painted her fingernails pink and we did lunch at McDonalds, and then she helped me bake her cupcakes.  She skyped with Gramma & Grampa C. and was very excited to show them the mermaid she picked out at Muddpuddles.  For her birthday dinner she wanted pizza from Papa Murphy's and sparkling lemonade.  We invited Sophie and the Ridgeways over for dinner and dessert. Overall, she had an amazing couple of days celebrating her birthday.

Good morning birthday girl!

Chowing down on their happy meals.

Four-year old photo shoot in the backyard.

Happy Birthday Boo!

Happy 4th Birthday to our Tacky, Taco, Little Urchin, Dragon, 

Viking, Squanto, Pipes-n-snipes, and P-cub. We love you!

Halloween Recap

I am still utterly amazed when I look at these pictures!  Sophie made the girls' costumes again this year. I didn't think she would be able to top Anna, Elsa & Olaf, but she did!  The yarn wigs to the wooden buttons & face paint; she thought of every last detail and executed it all beautifully.  She even agreed to get them dressed early Halloween morning so that I could take these pictures before leaving for Eugene.  Dadda ended up taking them trick-or-treating around the neighborhood in the wind & rain storm, then they headed to our church's fall festival where none of the girls' friends had any idea who Raggedy Ann & Andy were (and Rags).  I, on the other hand, spent the day watching our Varsity Guys compete at the State Meet.  I chaperoned the 'supporter' bus, and was pleasantly surprised when we had 20 teammates join us to cheer on the guys.