Happy Birthday Tess!

Yesterday our sweet Tess turned 7 years old!  We had lots of fun celebrating over the weekend.  First, we went to Willard Bay with Papa and Aunt Mel's family to do some boating.  The weather was pretty windy so the water was super choppy--not too fun for water-skiing, but the kids still had fun playing on the beach.  Tess got to open her gift from Papa on Saturday.

 On Sunday morning I needed to decorate Tess's cake for her.  She asked for a bunny rabbit cake this year. She and Miles loved helping me pipe on the rabbit's fur.

Sunday evening Gramma & Grampa Terry joined us for dinner and Tess got to open her present from them.  Tess is getting to be a pretty big girl--she asked for CDs as gifts this year.  (I guess we should get her an mp3 player and join the 21st century, but for now she still likes CDs on her portable stereo in her room.)

We realized that Tess's cake didn't have whiskers...I asked her what we should do for whiskers and she suggested that the candles could be the whiskers--brilliant!  So, here she is blowing out her candle-whiskers.  During the first blow she only got 4 candles blown out...

This next picture is just priceless...when she didn't blow out all 7 candles, Miles leaned over and blew out the last 3.  Bryan snapped this picture immediately after (if you click on the picture, it should open up bigger, and clearer...).  Everyone's faces are just perfect.  First, starting on the right, you see Gramma looking at Tess, like "oh no...what's she gonna do to Miles?"  Then you see Tess, with her mad face, growling at Miles (and she even stood up off her stool, maybe to hit Miles?), and then Miles on the left with the look like, "oh crap, now I've really ticked her off."  Luckily she didn't get too mad; just growled a little and then she moved on.

On the actual birthday, Monday, we surprised her with a new bike and a new tetherball set for the backyard.  Bryan buried a hollow fence post in concrete a few inches below the grass and then this pole is removable so we can take it out when we need to.  Apparently Bryan was quite the tetherball-king in his school days at Shelley Elementary, so they had fun playing with this all morning.

Tess is quite the little tetherball-pole-climbing-queen in her own school days at Freedom Elementary and she showed off her skills to us at home too.

 Bree was just excited about Tess's choice of chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast!  Yum!

For her birthday activity we went swimming as a family.  I was so proud of Tess's swimming skills--she has gotten really good.  She went on the big water slides alone this year and also jumped off the diving board for the very first time this year too!  Way to go Tess!

Tess's birthday interview

Favorite vegetable: I don't really have one.

Favorite fruit: strawberries, raspberries, and that's all.
Favorite dinner:  chicken cordon bleu, french dip sandwiches, and pie.

Favorite food:  pop-tarts and cake.

Favorite treat:  Snickers.

Favorite Movie: Monsters Vs. Aliens, Happy Feet 2, and Tangled.

Favorite TV show:  SpongeBob and iCarly.

Favorite thing to do:  play with friends.
Favorite game:  Chutes & Ladders and checkers and War and chess.
Special friend:  Mari.

Favorite book:  BFG and The Witches and Matilda.

What makes you laugh?  tickles. 
What makes you sad?  my brother hitting me or kicking me.

Does anything make you scared?  Wicked did, at Lagoon.

What makes you feel better when you're scared?   calming down in my room.
What is your favorite part of school?  recess and math. 
What is your favorite song?  Rumour Has It by Adele.  I like Taylor Swift too; Speak Now.
What do you want to be when you grow up?  a singer.
What's your favorite toy?  my radio.
What do you like to play with Miles?  teenager.  
What do you like to play with Bree?  give her toys & stuff.

I sure am glad that Tess is in our family.  At the end of first grade Tess's teacher gave out class awards and Tess won "Most Spunky Personality."  I love that!  That fits Tess to a T.  She is spunky!  She is quick to laugh and giggle (and she has a super cute laugh and giggle; I love to hear it.)  She makes friends very easily because she's a bit of a class clown.  She is very, very loving; she's always giving hugs and kisses to me, Bryan, and especially Bree (not so much with Miles...they are getting to that age where I guess it's gross to hug and kiss your brother!)  She loves to read stories together; one of my favorite parts of the day is laying on her bed with her at night and reading chapter books aloud together.  She is so creative; she's always making "stuff" out of other "stuff."  Usually it's jewelry, or a clever hair decoration, or a cute little book or story that she wrote.  She is super athletic and coordinated too (she did NOT get that from me!)  She can do tricks and flips easily and she's getting better and better at doing back handsprings at her tumbling class.  One thing that is a huge strength (but also something that is frustrating) is that Tess is stubborn!  It's frustrating as her mom when we argue and she digs her heels in and won't budge on her opinion (sadly, she DID get that from me...), but it's also a strength because she'll keep trying and trying until she succeeds--she won't give up easily.  Our "Miss Tess" is a wonderful little girl and we love her very much!

A Father's Day Tribute

{A little tribute to the three best fathers I know...}

I know lots of smart people; I like to be around smart people.  I'm impressed by smart people and one of the smartest men I know is my own brilliant father.  My dad is a fount of useful knowledge (and sometimes useless trivia!); he is quick and witty and has a near-perfect memory for things that he reads and learns.  He is amazing to me.  He is extremely loyal and would do absolutely anything for his family.  His kids (and especially his grandkids) have him wrapped around their little fingers.  My kids get away with all sorts of things at Papa's house and they just love it!  I know that I can ask my dad to do anything for me and he would find a way to do it.  I'm sure my siblings feel the same way about Papa too!  I've often heard the adage "The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother" and my dad is an absolutely perfect example of that.

My father-in-law, Russell, is fantastic.  He is one of the kindest men I have ever met in my life.  When Bryan tells me stories of his dad getting after him and his sisters when they were younger (yelling, kicking their behinds when they needed it, etc.) I can't even believe Bryan.  No way would Russ ever raise his voice or get angry--I haven't seen it happen even once in the 10 years I've known him!  When he asks me "how's my favorite daughter-in-law doing?"--even though I'm his only daughter-in-law--it makes me feel so good.  He was an awesome father and mentor to Bryan when he was a little boy, teaching him everything he knows about being handy.  Bryan says that when he was a teenager, his friends would say, "let's go over to your house and see what Bob Vila is up to" because he always had a project going around the house.  Bryan learned so much from him; to this day, Bryan credits his mechanical know-how to his dad bringing home things (electronics, machines, what-have-you) from the D.I. for Bryan to just take apart and figure out and put back together again.  What a wonderful way to let him explore and learn!

And now of course I want to talk about--and brag loudly about, so if you can't stand some shameless bragging, stop reading now--my sweet Bryan, the love of my life.  The best daddy to our three children that I could ever hope for.  I just love to see him with the children.  Bryan is not the type of guy that loves little kids....unless they're our little kids.  He loves our kiddos and I think that watching him play with them is wonderful.  He brags about them to me and tells me how smart he thinks they are (which I agree with, of course!) and it just makes me so happy to know that he's proud of them.  He takes them to do fun things--things I would never really take them to do, like tarantula hunting, or rifle-shooting, or looking for frogs.  He can get Bree to crack up, and I just grin from ear-to-ear when I hear him in the other room, talking to her and tickling her until she's laughing her head off.

Bryan is without a doubt the most handy guy I know.  That guy can fix or build anything!  He has finished 2 basements, doing everything (plumbing, framing, electrical, drywall--until we got smart and hired it out this last time, just to save time!--tiling, ductwork, hanging doors, trimwork, painting, etc.)  He's laid carpet, installed sprinkling systems, poured concrete, put up fences, I could go on and on.

And then of course there's all that he does with our vehicles.  We're able to have 3 vehicles that are fairly old, and have quite a few miles on them, but they run great and are completely reliable because he can fix anything!  (Even our p.o.s. diesel truck that was a debacle when we got it; he was able to fix it up and we sold it for a profit!)  He's amazing!  And he can build anything.  Just this past month, we got a new bigger bed so we needed a headboard to fit.  They're pretty expensive, even used, and so he said he could build us one.  I explained what I wanted and he quickly came up with a detailed drawing that was just perfect.  A trip or two to Lowe's and (poof!) we have a new beautiful headboard that I love!

Well, I've done enough bragging (to use one of Bryan's favorite sayings, "it's enough to gag a maggot!") so I'll stop, but I just wanted to say that marrying this man was the best decision I've ever made in my life.  Even if he wasn't great with our kids, even if he wasn't handy at all, I am still so lucky to have this wonderful guy.  He is so good to me.  He looks out for me and protects me.  He tells me that I'm beautiful.  He makes me laugh.  He is so much fun to be with and he's my very best friend.

(This photo was taken just minutes after we got engaged.  It's one of my favorites. )

Happy Birthday Bree!

Our sweet little baby turned one yesterday!  Where has the time gone?  This year has flown by so fast.  I really do feel like I'm in the "blink and you'll miss it" phase with the kids.  I just love them so much and sometimes I really, really wish that I could make them stay little forever.  But, I can't, darn it....so here are a bunch of photos from our fun day yesterday. 

Bree likes her new swimsuit.

She got lots of help opening presents from Tess & Miles.

Her first cell phone.

The cake...yum!

"Are you seeing me mom??  Is it really OK that I'm eating this?"

I love this pic--look at her left hand.  She was covered!

I think she's a fan.

Oh no--it's not a good time to start playing "peek-a-boo!"

 Today Papa and gma & gpa J came up to visit and celebrate with us.  Here's Bree outside with her new water table.  It will be a great toy for her to play with while the bigger kids are playing in the pool on these hot summer days.  Bree was absolutely soaked after a few minutes, but she really had a lot of fun, so it was worth it!

Some of Bree's stats: 

30 inches tall and 20 lb, 13 oz.

favorite song:  Mama Loves Bree (one I made up, obviously, that I sing before bed and naps.)

favorite book:  Bobby Bunny or Polly Pony

favorite game:  Peek-a-boo

favorite toy to snuggle with:  a little rattle-doll with blond braids

favorite activity:  pull out all the toys from the toy bins and spread them all over the family room

favorite fruit:  blueberries & grapes

favorite food: cereal (Kix or Cheerios) or bread

favorite expression:  cute toothy grin

favorite friends:  Tess and Miles, of course!

Oh, how we love this girl!  She has been such a joy for the past year.  What a wonderful way to complete our family.

Conversation in the Van...

While driving home from swimming lessons we had quite the conversation.  Here goes:

Miles:  I want to marry Tess when I grow up.
me:  You love Tess and she's your best buddy, but I bet when you're grown-up, you won't want to marry your sister.
Tess:  I will--I want to marry Bree!
Miles:  2 girls [he calls them "gills"] can't get married!
Tess:  Yes they can!  They just can't have babies!
Miles:  Nuh-uh!  Mom, can 2 gills get married?
me:  ummmmm...... well, yes.......  but Tess is right; they can't have babies.  [I really didn't want to get into a big  discussion about marriage and homosexuality and adoption, so I was trying to be very vague...]
Tess:  you have to have a boy and a girl to make a baby.  There's a part of the dad and a part of the mom that makes the baby.  And when the dad smooches the mom, that part goes in and makes a baby.
me:  well, it's a little more complicated than that.  But that's pretty close.

Luckily at this point the conversation steered its way into other topics.  Whew!