Tessa's 4th Birthday

I can't believe my Tessa Girl is 4!!

I will always think of Tessa as my baby girl. She is super cuddly, a smart little cookie, and she makes us all laugh every day. She absolutely loves stuffed animals, real animals, and her brothers. She wants to take her stuffed animals everywhere we go, and every one is her favorite animal ever!

She loves to watch tv, and asks if she can all day long. She loves treats. She loves reading books. She can't go to bed or say goodbye without giving us "ballet hugs," which is where she lifts her leg in a ballet pose while she hugs us. We sure love you Tessa!

She started her birthday celebrations by going on a special date with Dad Friday night. He took her to a Ballroom Fest he was supervising at his school.  She loved watching all the dances.

While the dancers were taking a break for dinner, Tessa and Paul played games in the library and gym.

They found wolves all over the school and practiced their growls and howls.

  

And they "worked" in Daddy's office. I sure loved my call from Tessa letting me know she was having so much fun!

This morning Paul made crepes for her birthday breakfast. Then I took her and Rockwell to see Finding Dory. We opened presents after that.

She was thrilled to finally get her barking doggy that she has talked and prayed about for a couple months. She named him Fox. He really is a cute dog.

  

She also loved her nightgown, nail polish, slippers from Rockwell, and chapstick from Damon. After presents, we went outside to play and try out her new swing. She wasn't so sure about the swing at first with how wobbly it is, but she was enjoying it more by the time the day was over.

  

How cute are they watching the clouds move?!?

After dinner at Cafe Rio, we made a fire on the deck, and then had cake and ice cream.

  

We're so happy you're our daughter Tessa Girl! You make life fun and help us appreciate the small, beautiful things about life.

Life Lately

The weather has been so warm this fall, and we have loved being able to play outside.

  

The kids and I had fun raking the leaves one day. We have so many leaves, it didn't take much to make a giant pile. They loved jumping in it.
   


Rockwell is loving his soccer league. Indoor is definitely different, but he's getting the hang of it. He's just happy as can be to be playing again.


Damon is just the cutest thing right now, and he knows it.

I usually get Damon out of bed while the older kids are eating breakfast. When I bring him downstairs, he wants to get down in the hall. Then he peeks around the corner and says, "Hi!" He totally acts like he's decided to grace us all with his presence by waking up. It's hilarious. And we all play right into it. When he says hi, the kids get so excited and run over and give him 3 hugs each. He's still so naughty right now, but luckily he's as cute and sweet as he is naughty!




It's fun that Damon is old enough to play with Rockwell and Tessa now. One day Damon was holding both their hands and making them run all over the house. They were all laughing hysterically.

They love to play in the basement. When the kids want Damon to go play down there with them, they say, "Damon, go go!" That's what he says every time he goes down the slide, so he gets all excited and runs down there with them.

Paul and I were watching a movie one night, and Tessa came down all sad from a scary dream. She cuddled with me for the rest of the movie. I just love cuddling with my kids!

I helped in Rockwell's classroom again last week. Tessa thought it was so cool to stamp the homework.

I took a squirt bottle to entertain Damon. It's one of his favorite things. While I was helping each kid in the class put a sticker in their community scrapbook, Tessa used the squirt bottle to comb Damon's hair. If you look closely you can see water dripping off his nose. She got a little carried away. :)

We wrote letters to Santa this week. We're getting so excited for the holiday season.

Marmie stopped by one night with Tessa's birthday present. It was fun to see her and visit for a while.

Damon started nursery on Sunday. He didn't shed a tear. The leader said he got nervous a couple times, but was just fine. Let's hope next week goes as smoothly!

We love when Al, Mel, and Grandma Ham come to play on Wednesdays.

Rockwell's primary teacher texted the other day and said this week's lesson is on service. She asked me to watch for ways Rockwell serves others throughout the week and let her know of an example. That was so easy. Just that day he cleaned up Damon's breakfast dishes, threw away his cousins' garbage he noticed on the floor, and held Tessa's hand and comforted her when she was afraid of the dark. I also included the sweet note he wrote me a couple days before when I wasn't feeling well. 

He is a genuinely sweet and caring boy. I'm so proud of the person he chooses to be.

Everyday Adventures

Our babysitter, Rebecca, was laughing pretty hard when I took her home the other day. She said last time she babysat the kids, Tessa told her that she's becoming a mom. (She talks about that all the time.) So Rebecca asked her this time if she's still becoming a mom. Rockwell jumped in and said, "I'm becoming a man! Because I have hair on my toes!" Haha!

The next morning Tessa came running up to me, started rubbing the hair on her arm, and said, "Mom, I'm becoming a lady! Look!" These kids crack me up!

Rockwell started fall indoor soccer. Wyatt is on his team, along with Lydia and Kaijah from school. He's so excited to be playing again!

He asked if we could go to a park to practice soccer, so I took the kids to the lawn at our church. 

It was so funny to watch Damon run all over, yelling "Go go go!" the whole time.

  

These two make my heart happy every day. They just adore each other. On a run one day, they spent the whole time holding hands and laughing their heads off.

They loved playing in the bath together this week. It was quite the mess to clean up afterward, but I loved watching them have so much fun.

Damon has always LOVED when the kids are in their animal towels. They lay on the floor until they warm up enough to dry off and get dressed. Damon squeals with delight when they do that and plays peek-a-boo with them the whole time. After he and Tessa got out of the bath, Tessa wanted to lay in Damon's room while I got him ready. He was so excited to run over and lay in his towel by Tessa. 

Another day they both climbed into Tessa's bed and hung out there for a while. When I saw them and pulled out my camera, Damon said, "Na-night. Cheese!" 

It was 50s day in Rockwell's class at school. They had a sock hop to celebrate the 50th day of school. 

We love when Wyatt and Hallee come over to play.

Rockwell and Wyatt made a haunted house in the basement for Al and me this week. It was spooky!

  

Paul made Rock's bike into a balance bike today by taking the pedals and training wheels off. He was hesitant to try it, but picked up on it real quick. Hopefully he'll be riding on his own soon!