Two Busy Weekends

Over President's Weekend, my Purdue roommates and I flew down to Houston to visit Divya and her new baby, Annika. (And Alex, too!) Along for the trip came the two other newest future Boilermakers, Hannah and Lucy. They were both great travelers, and it was so much fun to have all of those baby girls together. (My girls stayed home with Kyle, but I'm looking forward to watching them all play together when they're older!)

Lovable Lucy

(Amy's 5 month old)

Happy Hannah

(Martha's 3 month old)

Adorable Annika

(Divya's 3 month old)

And of course we had to do a photo shoot while they were all there together!

(Amy made these cute tutus and bows!!)

We had to get some Purdue-wear on these girls, too!

Black and Gold look good on them!!

And this was the only group shot we got of all of us...right before Martha and Hannah's early flight on Sunday morning. Wish we would have thought to take a picture before this last minute one where we had just woken up!

Gwyneth and Lillian's 1st Birthday

This past weekend, we celebrated our nieces' birthdays. They are a few weeks younger than Tessa. It's hard to believe how fast this year has gone!

The girls didn't dive right in,

so Uncle Kyle tried to get them started.

Lillian getting the hang of it.

Mmmmm...Gwyneth caught on quickly!

Ha! They weren't sure what to think of each other!

Tessa and Uncle Keith

(Or as Kyri says, "Grandpa Larry's Brother")

The older, more mature cousins

(Love Charlie's outfit...she had about 15 different wardrobe changes during the party!)

Awww

Looking forward to what this next year brings. Hopefully Tessa and the twins will grow to be good buds!

Tessa turns 1!!

Last weekend we celebrated Tessa's first birthday. Where did that year go??? People seemed to have a nice time at the party, but the one who had the most fun was the birthday girl! She laughed all night long and was the last one standing at the end of the night!

Here's our party animal!

With her cousins

More cousin love

Tess had so many fans

Deep conversation with Gwyneth...

love Gwyneth's serious look and how Tessa has her hand up to her heart like she can't believe what Gwyneth is saying.

Aubry was proud to show Tessa how to play with the picnic basket she got her.

She's one lucky girl.

Admiring her pretty new name bracelet.

I love this picture. Tessa was helping unwrap her gifts until she unwrapped her cell phone. Then she became too busy texting while the rest of the kids finished up her gifts. Ha! Good thing her cousins were there to help!

Check out this text, Ethan!

Then it was cake time. Kyle had a little help!

Our sweet girl was excited to get her hands on it!

Mmmm...frosting

She preferred to use a fork.

The cake was a hit!

And here was our little Miss February at about 9:00 at night...still going strong!

Getting to know Tessa B. this past year has been such a blessing. Anytime life gets hard, she does something silly to make us all crack up! I love how she is such a little person now. She is catching on to everything lately, and amazes us with all that she knows. Can't wait to watch her grow this next year!

One year stats.... Weight - 22 lbs. 12 oz.

Height - 30 inches

Disney Princess on Ice

We took Kyri and Aubry to go see Disney on Ice. They loved seeing all the princesses out there! Every time a new character came on the ice, Kyri would yell out their name. Her eyes were as wide as saucers the whole show!

Ready for Purdue's Marching Band

Bath time, Fun in the Snow, and Ice Skating

I've started bathing these two together to save time at night. It's pretty hysterical to watch the two of them play. (Not necessarily play together) Kyri gets lost in her own world with all of the bath toys, making them talk to each other, etc. Then, Tessa the Tidal Wave comes splashing through and disrupts her whole scene. Kyri usually is pretty accepting of her wild sister and gives her a role... "Here comes the Evil Sea Monster to attack us!!" This makes Tess get even crazier and usually there is water all over the floor by the end!

I just couldn't resist...

Gotcha!

(She thinks she's pretty cool now that she knows how to squirt the toys.)

On Thursday night Tessa was up all night with the flu, so I took off work on Friday. Luckily, Tess was feeling better by the morning and was just extra sleepy. During one of her naps, Kyri and I got to play outside in the snow for a little bit. Like most kids, she LOVES the snow and would stay out there all day if I let her.

The next day I decided to take our blizzard baby out to play in the snow for the first time. Since she is such a daredevil I really thought she'd love it.

But, this picture shows her true feelings about it. I'm not sure if it was really the snow or if she was just ready for a nap. We'll have to try again another time.

She was only happy when someone was holding her.

Also this weekend, Kyri got to tryout her new skates that she got from Santa. We went to an ice rink in Bolingbrook, and they had these little walkers for beginning skaters. It was great because Kyri was able to skate without us holding onto her. She had so much fun traveling all over the ice on her own! After our first lap around, she looked up at me with huge eyes and said, "Mommy, this place is so cool!"

When she was in the middle of the rink, with the "big" junior high skaters, she kept skating up to them and saying they were her new friends.

This place even has characters skate on Saturdays and Sundays!

Our little figure skater

And Tessa entertained everyone while she waited in the lobby!

Tessa is really getting good at walking and prefers it over crawling now. Here she was doing laps in the lobby while we got a snack. (Tess also tried to steal another skater's snack, too!)