All this Beauty and Brains too?!?

What can I say? My girls are smart and talented. Despite lots of coughs and sniffles, both have thoroughly enjoyed being back at school after the holidays.

Phoebe had her debut musical performance, playing the xylophone and tambourine in a school concert. Despite a mostly full auditorium, well-lit for some reason, she didn't have even a touch of stage fright. She was all smiles before, during and after.

After the concert, her teacher, Ms Jen, met us in the foyer and asked if we would mind waiting while she got her husband to come and meet Phoebe. As we all stood chatting in the hall, Jen accused Miss Devon, the aide, of having Phoebe as a favorite. They also joked that even if Phoebe could see perfectly they would lie to keep her in their school (for the blind). I guess if a teacher is going to have a pet, it might as well be your kid!Tessa enjoyed the evening in true annoying little sister fashion, by stealing the hearts of everyone around when she yelled out Hi Phoebe! when she came on stage. She also announced to the auditorium when daddy reappeared from the bathroom, Daddy! We're over here!!! Then after the show, climbed on the back of Phoebe's chair and rode it like a chariot. Tessa is a fast learner but I admit that there are some things I have not wanted her to learn, like cutting with scissors. Too bad for me that after a couple days of school she became proficient at it. There was, however, a teacher's evaluation that came home in January surprisingly off from what I would expect it to be. One example is "shows an interest in books and reading" was checked as "not yet". Huh?!? She has half the books on her shelf memorized, she "reads" (recognizes letters or shapes of entire words) everything from street signs to video jackets. I think the problem is that in the school setting she doesn't behave the same as she does at home (which can be both good and bad). The teacher reads to the class during Circle Time, so if Tessa doesn't like to sit during circle time the teacher may think she isn't interested in the book. My plan is to wait until the next evaluation, and if the same concerns are there, I will approach the teacher on how to make the classroom a more effective learning environment for her. This is exactly why I wanted her in preschool to begin with - to learn how to use her energy and intelligence to an advantage without her getting bored and consequently falling behind in grades where it will count. She does do well behaviorally, as she brings home a card with her name on it and three happy faces every time. She proudly pulls the card out of her backpack to show us. A couple of nights ago she had the card in her hand and was showing me her name. I asked her what each letter was and she read her name off the card. She then saw a pen (usually in hiding in our house) and asked to write her name. I turned the card over for her thinking she was about to scribble meaningless doodles, but she drew one line across, one line down and proudly announced she had drawn a T. (center of photo) She then drew a few more lines as she said each letter of her name. Before the T disappeared, and being a little shocked it turned out so well, I turned the card around and asked her to draw another T (appears upside down on left). She did it! My three year old is a genius! Seriously, though, the girls' got some mad fine motor skills.

Is it pure, natural giftedness, spending a few hours a week in preschool, or spending a few hours a week on her Leapster?!?She has been totally addicted to it since she got it for Christmas. It is a great bribe (after we do X you can play your game) and a major source of meltdowns (turn it off now, now, now, okay I'll turn it off - result - screams). I am relieved she actually gets the games though, because they are recommended for ages 4-8 and I was worried it would be a waste of a gift. I had to watch over her shoulder to believe it, but she really plays the games and gets the answers right most of the time. Like I said, genius! My beautiful, amazing girls!

Is it Over Yet?

December was one very long month. In the beginning it was the usual stress of the holidays, made a little more frantic because we had company for Thanksgiving and Tessa's birthday is so close. Then it became stressful in a more worrisome way, as one by one family members were sick or injured. My sister's MIL started it out by reentering the hospital for yet another complication. She's had a very rough year. My mom's cousin (a identical twin with dwarfism) was experiencing complications from a surgery that was necessary but risky. My grandmother went in for a planned knee surgery and ended up contracting pneumonia, which made her pulmonary fibrosis much harder to live with. We were quite afraid we were losing her and I spent every day wondering if I should pack my bags and be ready to travel to Utah with a moment's notice. Then my MIL was injured while babysitting her grandbaby and caring for my SIL's horses. The horses were spooked by a neighbor's dog and one knocked her over and the other stepped on her. She has a broken shoulder and crushed finger. Of course we couldn't escape injury at our own home, so Tessa got the sniffles and Phoebe ended up with a trip to the ER, a UTI and the flu. She shared the flu with us, but thankfully it was a fast moving virus and we were all functional by Christmas. There were quite a few people who didn't get cards this year (sorry!) and a few presents I have yet to send (really sorry!) but everyone is home and alive and getting well, which is the best present any of us could ask for. (Grandma is still in a rehab home but out of the ICU and the hospital). So here are a few pics from our crazy Cmas and now I'm off to shop for those last few gifts!

Photos:

My dear friend Heather came to visit us for a few days and this is the best picture I've got. I am blessed to have a few very close friends, all of whom live far away, but all make an effort to stay "close" and visit on occasion, despite the high cost of travel these days. Unfortunately I tend to enjoy their visits so much that I forget to take photos. Note to self: don't rely on husband or friend to capture the moment. This photo was taken at the "company" Christmas party from across the room, thus the red eyes, fuzziness and weird cropping. Tim and his friend Gregg avoided photos all together so I have none of them. Oh well.
We tried to visit Santa this year but it was not going to happen. This photo is when we were ready to leave the mall, since she didn't want to talk to Santa anyway and we were done. I really captured the emotions here.

Tessa decorated our tree with her dress-up jewelry. I was not in the decorating mood and we would have needed unbreakable decorations anyway. It turned out pretty cute and very low stress!

One of Tessa's favorite gifts, a three wheel Razor scooter. She also loves her new Leapster, and it's funny to see her enter a video game trance when she doesn't even know how to play most of the games.

Phoebe looks so tall standing next to Grandma Jo.

She wanted to try out Tessa's scooter.

It snowed the day after Christmas so we headed up the mountain to play a little. We had a picnic at the start of Madera Canyon, where it was slightly warmer and lower elevation. Along with lunch, Tessa got to eat an icicle. We then went a little higher and got to play a bit before Tessa was crying because her hands were numb and we all needed a nap. Another fun day with the grandparents. We went to Colossal Cave County Park and had a picnic. There were stables in the park and the girls got to enjoy a ride on Rambler, the appointed kiddie horse. Tessa does not have the same passion for horses that Phoebe does, but she has never been nervous around one. Maybe it was because she used to ride on my back while I took Phoebe for her weekly lesson in Texas. I don't remember how old she was for her first ride but it was younger than Phoebe, for sure, and that was age 2. Maybe someday we will have the time, money and energy for horses of our own. Phoebe would think she died and went to horsey heaven.Her helmet was too big and kept sliding down but it never effected her smile. Since the cave was not wheelchair friendly, Phoebe and I enjoyed the last ride of the day at the stables and watched the horses get fed. Tessa and the grandparents went on to catch the last tour of the day. Apparently Tessa was terrified to go inside and cried for a while, even though she got to ride on Grandpa Jim's shoulders. The cave looks much bigger than I expected and they spent an hour exploring it. Tessa's fears subsided slowly and by the end she was ready to get down and walk. It was an eventful day and we finished off with dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

Tessa's Three Year Portraits

People ask me why I take my kids to a studio, when I am a photographer. I enjoy taking photos of my kids, and have more than a few shots that I totaly love of them, but they are usually "lucky" shots, or moments where I was just having fun and so were they. There is something about MOM telling you to do something that is different from a photograher giving direction and it just invites defiance. My brain works chronologically, and it is important to me to have an annual photo of my kids as they are growing. I don't like to leave this event to chance. If possible, I plan the photo sessions for when my mom is visiting so that she can help entertain, or wrangle, the child in question. Even with two or more adults the sessions are typically comical to those around us. Out of 30 shots taken of Tessa here are 5 that I thought were decent (to no fault of the photographer).

And on a different day (it would have been ludicrous to think we could handle two photo sessions in one day) we tried to take photos of the girls together. I finally jumped in to try and keep Tessa in one spot and that ended up being the best one of the girls, unfortunately. When I decided to use this shot for our Cmas cards Tim was worried that people would wonder why he's not in the photo. I told him they would just have to be in suspense until next year's photo. :)

And the winner is....

(Notice the treat in Tessa's hand - I am not above bribes!)

A week of Firsts and Lasts

Firsts:
Slept (willingly) without a binky
Went to preschool (loves it...asks every day to go again)
Rode the big bus (loves it and I'm so glad, but what a difference of opinion from when Phoebe was three! Different kids = different decisions)
Shopped for Cmas presents for her family (at preschool)
Told me to say something in Spanish
Asked me what a sign says (other than STOP signs I didn't know she knew signs "said" things)
Counted to 20 on her own (no prompting)
Sang Twinkle Twinkle and ABCD on her own (no prompting)
Attended ballet class (with lots of prompting)
Left the house early one morning and rang the next door neighbor's bell without my knowing she was even gone (mother of the year award!)

Lasts:
Escape; we have the alarm back on the door (took it off when we moved)
Ballet class?...since she didn't really get into it and I have to decide next week if I want to buy a costume for the spring recital. At least I already had practice clothes, so no expense there.
Suck....on the way to get ice cream, I told her to enjoy it. She has done surprisingly well without it and hasn't even tried to hijack a binky from the one year old I tend.
Tantrum. Hahaha, just kidding. She does seem to have shorter ones though. I think there is a light at the end of the very dark, loud, tunnel.

Eating her birthday/binky sunday.

Riding the big bus for the first time. Having friends by your side makes anything better. Lina and Elsa made sure she stayed in her seat. (They didn't have a harness ready yet)

Observing the ballet class. She did better than I expected, but not as good as I hoped. She watched from the sidelines for quite a while, but at least she was watching. She eventually saw me and became clingy. She still wanted to be there, but with me attached to her at every moment. Not possible in a small, crowded dance studio, with a one year old on my hip. (Phoebe was at home with nanny Sally).

I took a few shots with my phone (not bad, actually) but there was another mom who had her camera and I begged her to take a couple of photos for me. If she did, and emails them to me as requested, I'll trade these out later. After I got home and unloaded the diaper bag I realized I did have my camera with me after all. Arghhhh! Two of the new photos below...

Ms. Lisa, her teacher, helping her follow the steps she demonstrated.

Holding her nutcracker.

Tessa Goes to School

Tessa started preschool today, which made Mommy, Daddy and Tessa very happy. We drove her there so that we could take a few pictures and deliver some paperwork to the teacher. She didn't mind at all when we left. She is in the same class as Lina, a neighborhood friend and she got to wave to Madeleine, Lina's sister, on our way in. A few weeks ago we visited the class and stayed for an hour, so she wasn't completely new to it.

Knocking on the door...(our mornings are quite cold these days)

She was acting shy when I asked to take her picture with Mrs. Lichtsinn.

Her classroom and classmates.

Her class is a mixed program that has some typical children and some with special needs. This program offers transportation to all the students. She was thrilled when I told her she could ride the bus to and from school, just like Phoebe does. The one bringing her home is a smaller bus. On Friday, she will take the big bus to school with all of the big kids. We'll see how she handles that trip, but there aren't many things in life that intimidate Tessa. She seemed like such a big girl today but she looked so small climbing off the bus!

And taking advantage of her new "big girl" status, we had a binky farewell ceremony this evening. She napped without it after she got home from school, because I told her that only big kids go to school and big kids don't need binkies. I told her if she could sleep without it we would get a "big girl" treat after dinner. She cried for it briefly, but not as bad as I imagined. We went to Cold Stone Creamery and she handed the server her binky and her free birthday coupon in exchange for her ice cream sunday (strawberry with MandMs). She asked for the binky back a few times after she got her ice cream, but she never cried for it. We high-fived her several times and complimented her on how big she was. Then we said "goodbye!" to the binky as we left. She asked for it again at bedtime, but seemed content with just her blanky. A baby no more....

Thanksgiving 2008

Taking advantage of gramma's visit to try and get a decent portrait. This was the only one.

Making....Decorating...

And then eating the gingerbread cookies.

I have no idea what we're all looking at.

The kids smiled better with gramma and papa.

Phoebe was so determined to go walking. She only held one hand.

Having fun in Madera Canyon, except for when we stopped to take pictures, apparently.

Thrilled to be Three

Happy Birthday to Tessa! We had a Princess Tea Party for her on Saturday. She was thrilled, mostly. She only ran to her room crying twice. When I let her see her new tea set that morning and told her what was going to happen, she was anxious for the next several hours. She talked about saying "surprise!" so we decided to say it to her, even though it was obviously not a surprise party. That was her first tantrum... I guess she was overwhelmed by the attention. She recovered quickly and came out to join her guests for tea. It was the perfect day for Tessa, with a tea party with all of her favorite friends, dressing up like princesses (and one prince, or cowboy which Tessa thinks is the same thing), presents, dancing, cake and candles.

Cousin James, the cowboy.

Opening all the fun presents...singing Sleeping Beauty doll and more dress up clothes from Auntie and cousins, singing card and train set from gramma Jo and papa Jim, fishing for jewels game from Meyer family, Cinderella polly pocket set from Hankins family, fuzzy bathrobe and new clothes from mom and dad, tons of princess movies from gramma Pat and papa Bob.

Madeleine, Elsa and Elizabeth fishing for jewels.

Musical chairs. Tessa didn't get the game, but had a blast running around in circles with everyone. After this, they had a dance-off. Everyone was pretty spent at the end of the party. Props to Else for coming up with the outfit for Cinderella, pre-fairy godmother. So creative!

Blowing out candles with Daddy again that night. The candles seemed to be her favorite part, so she was thrilled to do it one more time. Not to mention, one more round of cupcakes...