The Sweetness is Six Months

December 15th marked Tessa Jane's half-year-on-earth. She thinks it was the best six months of her life.

She has become little miss Rollie Pollie. She can not be trusted anywhere. If there is a corner to bonk into, she will. If there is a teensy tiny space to get wedged into, she will. If there is a ledge to fall from, she will. If there is a Christmas tree to roll under and remain concealed for five minutes while ten adults search for the magically missing baby, she will.

She will not, however, eat. We are continously working on that. Last night was a small success as she happily ate a few bites of banana. This is huge considering nearly every other bite previously has been spat in my face. Judging by the numminess of those cheeks, I am one dang good dairy.

And looksy looksy. Someone has sprouted two little munchers. Way too young if you ask me. This girl may be pounding a steak before she ever finishes a bottle of baby food.

My sweet, perfect, content, mellow, little girl, you are getting way too big for my taste. How about you stop time for me???

Some Randoms from the Trip

These were taken on Allen's iPhone so the quality is pretty crappy, but I forgot my camera on these events so crappy is as good as it gets.

Partying at Great Grandma Z's

Playing at a Chuck E Cheese type place, who's name I obviously don't remember

Visiting with Great Grandma K

Linley was in charge of keeping Tess happy.

Celebrating in California

We were not going to travel for Christmas. We thought we were too old and mature. Then on Thanksgiving day we decided we weren't quite ready to spend Christmas all by our lonesomes and so tickets to sunny California were purchased. We had to take out a second mortgage to pay the price to get out there, but of course, Christmas with family is worth any cost- financially and physically.

Sadly, this is our only day of family photos. I had us all dressed matchy matchy for Christmas Eve with plans of taking a shot then. This did not occur.

And this shot below pretty much sums up my life.

Christmas Eve we made Christmas cookies for Jolly Old Saint Fat Man.

The kids hard at work.

The moms hard at work.

Enjoying the fruits of their labors.

Really, really enjoying it. Lucky Santa.

Christmas morning.

Someone is always ruining the shot. Punk kids.

The loot.

Getting ready to tear into the loot.

The sleepy shot. Linley is such a dork. I love that girl.

Stocking time. Photographer husband...you are fired. Not one shot with the kids faces.

Attempting to get all the cousins in one shot. Whoops. Missing a cousin.

There is that handsome little man!!

It was a fabulous trip. Some highlights:

Playing with cousins. Jacob and Linley are the same age, and while Linley immediately professed to not be his friend because he was a boy, he and Ryder had a blast terrorizing Grandpa.

Spending time with the great grandmas. This was truly a priceless experience for me and Allen and the kids.

Seeing the kids faces Christmas morning when they realized Santa got them exactly what they asked for

Beating the adults in a fab game of hearts. Wonderfulness!!

And of course, every second spent with family, eating, celebrating and taking in the true spirit of Christmas.

Thanks everyone for spoiling us silly!!

Celebrating in The City

Tuesday, the 15th was a fabulous day in the fifties, and in an effort to take full advantage of this beautiful rarity, I boarded the kids on the train and met Allen at Penn Station to take in a few sites. Our first stop was to see Santa at Macy's.

Macy's always does a fabulous job, between the train, to Santa, to the windows. Definitely worth the trip!!

Since it was so completely gorgeous outside, we opted to WALK the billion blocks to Rockefeller to marvel at the tree.

This is us marvelling.

Before we began our journey back to Penn, we had dinner at Friday's. Only Friday's in Manhattan is different than Friday's anywhere else in the world. The kids meals begin at $13. Burgers at $18. So for the same price that we could have dined at a decent establishment, we had greasy fries. That shall not be repeated.

There are some great things about this picture. One being that Linley looks homeless, and the other, slightly less obvious- they are asleep. Proof of a successful trip to the city.

After baths we let the kids open up a few key presents (ie, the ones necessary for the trip)

Tess loved the idea

So much so, she was salivating in anticipation

One satisfied little customer

Celebrating Locally

First of all- having my 5 year old operate that massive saw with and even larger blade goes against all of my better judgement. My judgement, however, does not matter when daddy says it is okay. This picture does have a purpose, other than proof for CPS....this marks the last door to be replaced in the entire house. No nasty old door remains. Hallelujah! It also marks Allen using his most phenomenal Christmas gift to him from myself. The tool set/kit/machinery (I don't know what the crap to call that stuff) of his dreams. I rock!

The Saturday before we left for California we spent the day spreading a little festive fun here at home. We took the kids to Friendly's (which is a huge treat for the children as that is their favorite dining destination (it's not really a restaurant is it???) and every time I leave that place I feel the urge to wretch...I'm just saying), then headed to our little local zoo to view it all lit up.

The kids were enamored by the lights. Allen and I were freezing our butts off, desperate to heard the kids through everything as quickly as possible.

We took a break to warm our tootsies at the indoor carousel.

It was a cute little day, gearing us up for the future fun that would occur in California...after our 7 hour plane ride. We needed as much gearing up as possible for that beauty.

The Art of Discovery

Tess has become fascinated with two forms of entertainment as of late.

The first: her little piggies.

She has expertly perfected the grab of her tootsies, finds joy in swinging her toes, and has mastered the artful, elegant and graceful maneuver of shoving foot in mouth.

The second: her binkie.

She is proficient at removing pacifier from mouth, playing with pacifier, then returning back to it's rightful place in her cake hole. This keeps the little dear sufficiently entertained, until binkie is dropped or she rolls her little blobby self over and becomes stuck. Either scenario leads to the same end result of a rather high-pitched and shockingly loud squeal.

Look at that face. Those poor cheeks don't stand a chance against any human in this household.