Dear Tessa,

You love school and are learning so much.  Swimming, P.E., music and recess are your favorite school subjects.  When I pick you up after school you come out the door and your face is just beaming smiles. 

You told me that you play your own version of Hide-and-Go-Seek called "Hide-and-Go-Poop" with Cordelia at school.  Remind me not to invite Cordelia over to the house any time soon. 

(Thanks for the non-stop potty humor Kindergarten!)

(Also for the never ending cold-flu-ear-infection-pneumonia-Bubonic-plague.)

I see this face all too often these days.  Sometimes, especially in the morning, there is no pleasing you.  I'm thinking you are maybe a "night owl" rather than a "morning person".

You torment Emma endlessly, and then wonder why she doesn't want to come give you a hug.  I've tried explaining that if you were nice to Emma, she would be nice to you.  This concept has not sunk in yet.

We call you TessieBear, Big Girl, Lovely, and Sweetheart.

My favorite time of day with you is reading time right before bed.  You pick out a few books and we snuggle up on the couch.  I have a feeling in a very short time you are going to be reading the books to me, instead of me reading them to you. 

You've been setting the table all by yourself for quite a while now.  You are just like me, you want the table to look pretty so you put out place mats and candles.   

You can be persuaded to pick up your toys, and even the toys in Emma's room.  Sometimes this involves bribes, but it is always worth it.

Your things are strewn from one end of the house to another.  Daddy told me that he found one of your sticky earring stickers on his chair at work, which means it rode around on the seat of his pants for a while first.  AWESOME! 

We were getting ready last Sunday for your play date with your friend Sadie.  Since we went to a party on Saturday night, our house was destroyed less than clean.  We had a lot to do, and only a little time to do it.  We worked for an hour or two, and then you went in a flopped down on our bed and said, "So do you think we should work to get ready for the play date or should we just lay down and talk so we can forget about it?"  Ah, dear girl, you are so much like your dad and me it is amazing.

Tessa, I love you and thank God for you every day.

Love,

Mama

Note to self:  Check Tessa's pants pockets for pet rocks, crayons, and lip gloss BEFORE putting them in the wash.

**I'm six months behind on these newsletters but will be catching up soon. Hopefully.**

Emma doing stunts… the slide is extra slick with the snow on it!

Rosy cheeks.

They asked for spoons… I wouldn't have thought of spoons as snow toys, but okay.

P.S. Thanks for the snow boots Grandpa!

I had to bribe Tessa to get her to smile for this picture.

What?  You don't let your kids go on the trampoline when it is icy? 

We got this letter in the mail from Tessa's school…

January 18, 2008

Dear Parents,

Enclosed you will find a paragraph written about your child and read at the P.O.P.S. (Power of Positive Students) assembly in January.

Every month students are chosen to be honored that represent the theme for the month.  This month we congratulate some of our students that have the Life Skill of "Integrity".

We are proud of our (school's name) kids and want you to know how special your child is to us.

Sincerely,

(School Secretary Name)

Here is the paragraph they wrote about Tessa…

"There is a girl in the kindergarten class who shows that she has integrity.  She knows what is right and wrong and wants to choose to do right.  This girls follows the procedures and is kind to the other children because it is the right thing to do.  In the classroom, she loves to learn.  She does her personal best on all of her work.  The other children enjoy playing with her because she is a happy, fun girl.  Thank you for your integrity, Tessa!"

From what Tessa tells me, after they read your name in the assembly, you get to go up to the front and sit in a special spot.  After the assembly is over, all the P.O.P.S. kids get a donut (very exciting if you are a kindergartner). 

Go Tessa!  We are proud of you!

**This post is more than two months late.  Emma's birthday was November 27, 2007.**

When it was time to plan Emma's second birthday we knew the only theme that we could possibly use would be Elmo, since Elmo is the love of Emma's life.

I still had the Elmo cake pan from Tessa's second birthday party… SCORE!

I got a cake mix.  Strawberry, because Elmo's insides are pink, right?

I mixed it up…

and poured it in the pan.  Ready to bake! 

Elmo looks worried.  He says, "Elmo wonders what you are doing to Elmo's head!"

Emma watched it bake for a while.

All done baking.

Now the tricky part… flipping it over onto a platter.

Time to frost.  Thank goodness for Wilton Ready-to-Decorate Icing.

I bought red and white icing early so I'd be prepared ahead of time.  The day of the party I got the icing out and realized… hey, Elmo's face isn't just red and white.  I need orange and black also.  Uh oh. 

Fact.   In my neck of the woods there isn't a single store that carries this particular icing in all four colors I needed (red, orange, black and white).  This means multiple trips to stores, after multiple calls to stores, all on the day of the party.  Awesome.

Fact.  Black icing is nearly impossible to find unless it is Halloween, so stock up in October if you plan to make this cake.

Okay, ready to start frosting Elmo.

Now frost some more.

And more frosting.  Almost done.

Ahhhh… finished.

Feed Elmo cake to Elmoid Emma.

Other uses for the Elmo cake pan include, but are not limited to…

Freeze water in Elmo cake pan for Ice day at preschool.

Can be used for play dough, although I doubt you'd ever have enough to actually fill up the Elmo cake pan.

**Emma's second birthday party post coming soon.**

My nephew Braden swims for a local high school and was named in the Statesman Journal newspaper on December 7, 2007!

(Read it here.  The newspaper clipping I scanned is a little hard to read.)

In case you can't read the tiny print in the newspaper clipping I scanned , it says…

"7. McKay

COACH: Jim Wiens, 22nd year.

LAST YEAR'S league placing: Seventh place.

KEY ATHLETES

Braden Larson, jr.: The team's best hope for a placer at the district level."

Braden won 1st place in the 500m Freestyle on December 13, 2007.

Go Braden!

Dear Emma,

Every week day we drop Tessa off at school and do errands together.  You are such a trooper and don't mind shopping at all.  Even grocery shopping, which makes your sister wail "HOW MANY ITEMS DO WE HAVE TO GET?" if we even so much as turn the car towards a grocery store parking lot. 

I'm glad we get to spend this uninterrupted time together, since you've been splitting your mommy time with Tessa since the day you were born.  You like to snuggle up with me in the rocking chair and read a book, watch Elmo or just look at pictures on the computer.  We cover up with an Elmo "binket" to keep warm.  

My favorite thing about you right now is how cuddly you are.  You love hugs and kisses and like to be held and rocked.  You say "huckgz!" and if I walk into another room you follow me yelling "Mama, are you?" which is your way of saying, "Mama, where are you?"

You also say "I hold you" when you want to be picked up and carried.  You walk all the way to Tessa's classroom in the morning, but after we drop her off it is "I hold you" all the way back to the car.

Daddy calls you Little Moon Pie and I call you Lovely Bear or Sweet Girl.  Fuss Budget is a popular favorite nickname as well.  Oh, and Runty (smallest in the family).  Also, Elmoid.

Still in love with Elmo?  Check. 

Nap time is really fun these days.  All I have to say to you is "Are you ready for your nap?" and you run to the carpet and flop down, calling out for "tickles".  Since we added tickling to the before nap routine, suddenly naps seem like a good idea to you.   I feel so lucky to have stumbled on this idea.  A true golden mothering moment.

There was a little girl who had a little curl

right in the middle of her forehead. 

And when she was good she was very, very good. 

And when she was bad she was… oh, never mind.

You've been having less temper tantrums lately, and for that we are grateful.  However, last night when we got into the car to go to a party you decided that would be a perfect time to see if you could make a noise with your mouth that is even louder than a leaf blower.  You know, to see if my ears would actually bleed.  I've been trying to get a tantrum on video, to laugh at in future years.  Also, as proof of the loudness you were capable of producing at such a young age and without the aid of a megaphone.  When you are having a tantrum we like to refer to your mouth as the "pie hole of doom". 

Thanks for helping me unload the dishwasher every day.  I appreciate the help.  If you'd refrain from licking the dishes before handing them to me, I'd appreciate that also.

Ah, sleeping girl.  How precious you are.

I love you just the way you are.

Love,

Mama

P.S.  I'm six months behind on these letters to you, but never fear… I have plans to catch up on them soon and also post about your Elmo birthday party and the Elmo cake I made for you.

On January 16, 2008 my niece Kiara was nominated by her math teacher for The United States Achievement Academy Yearbook for Math.  Go Kiara!

(Kiara is on the right)

I wanted the peanut butter that comes with the bottom of the glass jar still attached. 

(P.S.  Don't walk in the garage without shoes for a while!)

My sister's kids and my family had a Gingerbread House competition.  (My dad bought two Gingerbread house kits from Costco for us to make.)  I had planned to win… but the roof of our house fell in had structural problems, so my sister's kids won.

My house started out okay…

then disaster struck.  Apparently the contractor who put the roof on this house needs to be fired!

Braden and Kiara did a great job!

Wow!

Emma was mad that Braden won, so she sat on him.