Birthday Beauty

I don't often get very emotional about this blog, but today! Today ... for some reason, maybe because this is the last first birthday we'll be celebrating until we have grandchildren (and please God, let that be a good 25 years from now) ... because the sun is shining and everyone we've seen out and about has been so sweet to my baby girl (the checkout lady at Target even sang Happy Birthday and none of the waiting customers seemed to mind) ... because I looked at her hair when we were on the swings this morning and she looked back at me just so ... well, this birthday is making me a little sentimental.

The day she was born, the nurses and hospital photographer told us she was one of the most alert babies they had ever seen. Sweet as sugar from the start!

This photo of when they first met never fails to make me teary (and smiley).

At her birthday party on Sunday after digging into that delicious Aunt Heather-made cake!

(More photos from that party to come.)

Happy FIRST Birthday to our lovely and sweet baby girl!

WE LOVE YOU, TESS!!

T minus 1

Desperate for a change of scenery on yet another rainy day, we headed up to Ithaca today for a stop at my *favorite* baby/cloth diaper store and lunch at Moosewood. Pretty much my favorite kind of day with my favorite almost-1-year old.

(Please note the tongue in above photo if you have not already.)

Tess isn't usually the easiest baby to dine out with but today she was a dream. She was flirting with all of the dude customers and the hostess brought several waitresses to our table to meet her and she smiled for all of them. This general goodwill and distribution of smiles to complete strangers on Tess's part was a rarity. Then of course I had to let it spill that tomorrow is her birthday and of course they gave her some free vanilla and lemon/gingersnap ice cream which we proceeded to eat with gusto. Yep, pretty much the perfect afternoon - the sun was even shining and the tulips were in bloom! Even though we would not want to live there, we love Ithaca!

Happy Easter

Today was Tess's first Easter. It was also the first Easter that Finn was cognizant of his basket, and the chocolatey goodness and presents residing in and around said basket. It was a great day and we are all worn out and full of yummy food!

Tess's bunny is her new favorite toy.

Chocolate rush RED ALERT

Sometimes their heads are so yummy I can HARDLY STAND IT

Preppy and ready for church!

I wuv him so much.

Wuv this picture too.

Miss Princess-puss.

Our sweet baby doll - she turns 1 the day after tomorrow!

(I'm admittedly getting a little emo about this.)

not quite getting it.

Me: Finn, Tess's birthday is next week.

Finn: (blank stare)

M: What would you like to get her for her birthday? Do you think she'd like a tea set?

F: I'd like a tea set.

We don't need fancy vacations

You know why? Because Finn is in perfectly content sitting in a gas station parking lot watching a bulldozer, excavator and dump truck moving dirt around while it's flurrying outside! (Note scone crumbs on coat.)

With that said, I would like a fancy vacation.

long day

When it's 40 damn degrees and raining and my children don't take afternoon naps, it's important to find humor wherever one is able.

[This morning]

Finn was standing at his kitchen. He went to the cupboard and got the rice cooker out. I asked him what he was making at "cooking class." (I've had cooking class for 7 of the past 10 Saturdays.) "Japanese pancakes," he said. "I'll add some flour, salt, and syrup. Perfect." Mick and Sue, maybe he's going to work on this recipe for you ... I'm not sure, but he was rather proud of himself.

[Late morning, Wegmans]

I took Finn to the store so that we could get out the house. Usually he eats his way through Nature's Marketplace all the way to the checkout and is then totally worn out. Of course today this didn't work. Anyway, I was shucking corn and this older gentleman said to Finn, "Hi partner." He walked away and Finn looked at me and whispered, "Is he a cowboy?" (This is a day after we saw a REALLY old guy with a cane leaving church and Finn asked me if he was a shepherd.)

[Naptime]

Heard from his crib: "Get me out of here. GET ME OUT OF HERE! BABY CAT IS MAD. Baby Cat wants to play with Mama Cat and Daddy Cat and Tess Cat." And so it went.

And now it's bedtime!

moo! baa!

Finn spent the night at Mimi and Papa's this week so Tess took the opportunity to play in "his" kitchen without any flack! She is learning new words every day. It just blows me away.

12 days til ONE!

It's not too soon to start counting down to her birthday, is it? WOW!

The other day, someone told me that Tess looks like a doll. Sometimes looking at photos of her, I have to agree. In person she's not exactly as sedate as she looks in photos, but she's definitely a sweetie pie.

Pantera Bread

Tess loves coming to Panera while Finn is at school because it's full of senior citizens who stop to fuss over her cuteness. Also, bagel.

my favorite things

Finn has a knack for lyrics (must get it from his dad). I started singing songs from the Sound of Music at bedtime a couple of weeks ago and recently he surprised me by singing all three verses himself. I was amazed that he agreed to be filmed singing this morning - I asked him if we could show Granddad what a beautiful voice he has!

tourney time

Tess wore her Duke jumper (thanks Aunt Sue!) faithfully throughout the conference until the day we lost - she was under the weather and slept through the game in pajamas. Aww. Don't blame us, though - it just wasn't Duke's year. We are SOOO excited for the game tonight. Go Butler Bulldogs! They probably deserved to win last year so we're really pulling for them now.

I've been slacking lately due to various sicknesses - Finn had sniffles for about a month and Tess had a double ear infection/cold/teething - gah! - so sleep was hard to come by for most of March. I'm happy to report that everyone is now well, it's 62 degrees outside and the tulips appear to be coming up. Hooray for real spring.