It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Winter

It is finally cold (or should I say was cold, now it seems to be warmer again). But the weekend was cold, very cold. We spent a lot of time indoors, and the freezing rain didn't help, as we stayed in the house most of the day Saturday to avoid icy roads. But we did get creative in our indoor adventures. A quick trip for dog food turned into an hour when we discovered an pet rescue was there. Tessa and Morgan went from one cage,
to another,

and had a great time petting the various dogs. They were cute too - but not cute enough to bring another one home!

We also went to the mall just to get out of the house for awhile. There is a new toy store in the upstairs at Kenwood, and while I wouldn't rave about it, the kids did have a great time playing with this:

Rubber mulch in a repurposed sandbox. I love it! The kids thoroughly enjoyed bulldozing their way through the rubber. And it kept them occupied for quite some time...until Morgan started throwing it. Boys...

Tu-tu Cute?

When we first started at our in-home sitter almost four years ago, there were all girl children (including Tessa) and one boy (who had an older sister also there). He always wore his sister's princess shoes and wanted his nails painted etc. And I always thought Morgan would not share those wishes. So far, he hasn't wanted his nails painted. But, he does enjoy a good princess tutu. And he sports the princess shoes just as often. In fact, he gets more wear out of this tutu shown than Tessa does. I'm not sure how I feel about it. For now, obviously it is fine. He sees his sister dress up and so he follows what she does. Does anyone else have a little boy that has done this? And do they just eventually grow out of it?

For now, I secretly think it is kind of cute. But...I don't want him to be wearing pink tutus around town when he is four or five...

But when it comes to toys, my little boy is all BOY. Cars, trucks, trains. Anything with wheels and he is all over it. Santa brought Morgan a Thomas train table and enjoys playing with it every day, especially since we configured a new and improved track :) (Monday's project on my day off work)

Have a great rest of the week!

It's Official!

Yesterday made it official - our little girl is four as of 1:24 a.m. yesterday morning. She wanted to savor every second of her birthday, and awoke before 5 a.m. and finally crashed around 9 p.m. last night, which really isn't that abnormal in our house yet still drives me a bit mad. No naps, but a fun day nevertheless! We had a low-key morning, hitting the gym and running errands for her party. Family and the Polcas came over to help celebrate the big four and Tessa thoroughly enjoyed the fiesta! We went with a rainbow theme for the food since Tessa selected a rainbow cake. Too bad I didn't take pictures of the food. I meant to, and then clearly was busy. I (bad mommy) only took pictures of the singing and candle blowing. But my mom managed to capture a few other moments.

To cap off our weekend of Tessa-related fun, the four of us ate dinner at Chick-fil-a on Friday night and enjoyed the play land (until some crazy non-supervised boys started doing karate in there...super fun when you have a 21-month-old) and an afternoon of swimming today at Lifetime. Daddy came today, so we have a few pictures from the afternoon. Morgan is now consistently wearing a lifejacket when we swim, which makes him much less of a liability/hazard to himself. He really is a wild child, but now I am at least sane when I take them swimming by myself.

Super great weekend already, and one more day to go! We managed to accomplish all our errands already, so the day is a mystery to be determined. Any suggestions for Monday family fun?

Tessarina Ballerina

Angelina Ballerina is the favorite show at our house right now, and Tessa has been asking to go to dance class for quite some time. And that time came. Last night. Mikala and I signed the girls up together, thinking it would be a fun activity for them to experience together (and fun for us too). Tessa was so excited about dance class. We put it out on giant kitchen calendar at home and she counted down the days. She donned her beautiful new leotard (thanks, Grandma Bullock), tights, and slippers. Doesn't she look adorable?

Class began with a small talk with all the girls, a high five from each as attendance was called, and some directions for the class.

Each girl was given their own blue line to stand on. And boy did our girls listen. In fact, they refused to leave their blue lines...Tessa and Anna stayed there religiously, not moving to dance, twirl, hop...or really move at all.

After class was over, the teacher (who happened to play Snow White at Tessa's birthday party last year) called them over and talked about being nervous the first night, etc. It was all really very sweet.

She also reassured Mikala and I that every girl does this the first class. She said when a new class starts she usually has every single girl just staring at her the entire class. Hopefully this is true; I'll keep you posted if our little dancer decides to actually try out her dancing shoes next time!

"Tessa's Toy"

My cousin Elissa works on the Family First Saturdays at the Cincinnati Art Museum and we finally headed down to one yesterday. Tessa had a blast, though the clear highlight of the day was the Toy Factory, where she was able to create her own toy using 7 recycled toy parts. It started by choosing and collecting your pieces on a tray.

Then a toy engineer helped you put the pieces together to create a one-of-a-kind toy.

At the end, the announcer introduced you, your toy, it's name and the magical powers. (Tessa's toy was called Tessa's toy and its superpower is that it has amazing vision.)
Morgan didn't come to the art museum, as it coincided with naptime, but maybe in the future!

To Sum It All Up

A quick picture post to sum up the rest of our break now that I am officially back at work and the kids are officially back at school.

It snowed. Daddy took the kids out to play in the very sparse amounts that stuck to the ground. Morgan wore girl snowbibs and Tessa wore boy ones - kind of funny!

We celebrated our fourth Christmas of the season with Nate's dad and his stepmom and their Aunt Mackenzie and Uncle Brandon. Our kids were showered with more gifts and great memories. Tessa loved this Barbie hair doll.

She also enjoyed a game of Trouble (that was cut short when we went out to dinner!)

Morgan enjoyed playing with some John Deere tractors. Nate is loving all the boy toys that have found their way into our house!
Nate fixed the toilet! Hooray! Good job, honey!

We spent a few afternoons with the Polcas. One at Run, Jump, and Play where the big girls had a blast but Morgan did not. Thanks to Mikala for adopting my daughter and bringing her home once they were all done running, jumping, and playing.

And we spent another afternoon at their house having a playdate. The girls (and Morgan) played). Can you spot Morgan?

And also made ice cream. Yum!

And this picture is totally out-of-order, but...Morgan enjoyed the Bullock family Christmas as well. Here he is with cousin Logan!

And now, it is January and I am back at work :( I do love my job, but that two week break was just enough of a glimpse into summer (minus the warm weather).

Bring on 2012

For someone who doesn't like change, 2011 sure brought a lot of it. We went from our house in Ohio to Minnesota, with a 2-month stay at my parents house for me and the kids (who knew we would later repeat this stay in the fall?) I left my job teaching middle schoolers for a life as a stay-at-home mom. We packed up our whole house and moved to a rental in Savage, Minnesota...

And then Nate got a job offer back in Cincinnati. And I kind of got my job back, though I did move up to high school English. We house hunted - again. Lived with my parents again. Moved again. Unpacked again. There was a lot of chaos and a lot of moving involved in this year, and I am thankful to the people who helped us through it, mostly my mom and dad. They sacrificed their basement to us for a good chunk of the year and offered lots of emotional support to me.

So my "resolutions" for 2012 are simple. 1) Live in the same house the whole year 2) Be the best mom and wife I can be 3) Appreciate everyone and everything in my life 4) Actually plan and go on a vacation (we haven't done this since our honeymoon unless you count short trips for out-of-town weddings)

We are very lucky we had the opportunity to both move away and more importantly, come back, so easily. Nate impressed Target enough to have them move us out there and he loved me enough to move us back. And for that, I am thankful. I am thankful we could afford to move back (sure, it stung a little and I don't even want to think about what our taxes will look like). But we both have good jobs, we have great, healthy kids, and a lot of love. And for me, that is all we need.
I feel like so far, I've made 2011 out as a not-so-great year, so to be fair, 2011 is also the year Morgan grew from a baby to a toddler. It is the year he started to walk, talk, and communicate. It is the year Tessa and Morgan went from just being to siblings to being playmates and best friends, as evidenced in the pictures I chose for this post.
I love their closeness. I love when Tessa wants to help Morgan do something. I love when he runs over to give her a big hug. I love when they get so excited to see each other in the morning. I love how the daycare workers at the gym tell me my kids are the only siblings who stay together the whole time they are there. I just love them.

Can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!