Santa came!

We must have been good this year because Santa came! He brought all sorts of goodies! Of course there were books,

and toothbrushes in their stockings. Some noise makers, play dough, clothes, cars and other fun stuff.

Tessa is especially enamored with the puppy Bell that he brought. It comes with a book and responds to certain phrases when you read it. Like I read "I love you, Bell" and Bell barks back! Tessa thinks it's amazing =) Luca got another dog Jingle a couple years ago, and so Santa brought a book that is for the both of them. I read "Jingle even loved to sing" and Jingle starts barking out the beginning of Jingle Bells, and then Bell finishes the song! It's great!

Luca started leaving messages on Santa's voicemail in August. Yes, we called Santa in August. And he always asks for a vacuum (because Daddy doesn't share his.) About November he added a shopping cart and a big basket to put his toys in to his list. Wouldn't you know it, Santa delivered!

After we opened everything at our house we went to Oma and Pa's to see if Santa visited there too. He did! And left the kids a little shopping cart and a sled! Then we traveled over to Grammie and Poppie's for even more festivities!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of family and friends and love and cookies. And vacuums, if that's your thing. =)

Christmas Eve

We mixed things up this year and for Christmas Eve my family came to our house to celebrate and open presents. And man were there a lot of presents!

Luca enjoyed helping pass out the presents to everyone and hardly ever stopped when he got one with his name to open it right away. After everything was opened, and the Lego things were built, Luca and Josh went outside to sprinkle some reindeer food that he got at preschool.

Then it was back inside to set out cookies and carrots for our midnight visitors. Luca wanted to make sure Santa got a variety, so he even asked Pa to share the springlele he had just gotten as a gift. We counted out nine carrots for the nine reindeer, and it was off to bed.

It was one year ago tonight that Tessa slept for 8 hours straight at night. Hoping they aren't too excited to sleep all night again this year!

Preschool Program

Luca's preschool had a school wide holiday program and it was, like all events requiring kiddos to sing, amazing. Terrible pictures and video, but wonderful memories.

That's one of his teachers, Miss Kellie

There are five classes total, 3 of three year olds and two four year old groups. Each class sang a song of their own, each age group sang a song together, and then the whole school sang one. Unfortunately the acoustics in the building we were in were terrible, so it was hard to hear and the video turned out pretty lousy. So, I'll help.

(To the tune of I'm a little teapot)
I'm a little pine tree, tall and straight
Here are my branches for you to decorate
Don't forget to put the star on top
Just be careful the balls don't drop.

It was a fun morning, I love kid's programs! When we got home we tried to take family pictures while everyone was looking handsome. It kind of worked.

About an hour after we got home Josh and I got slammed with that lovely flu virus that's going around. Kiddo's took a round of it too. Glad if it had to happen it was at least after the program, I would have been so bummed to miss it! Luca's other teacher had to miss the program because her husband and three kids all had it.

Luca's class song was the Reindeer Pokey. They wore reindeer masks and sang about putting their hooves in. Adorable. See?

15 Months

When someone asks me how old Tessa is, I sometimes forget that she's a year old. It just doesn't seem like it's been that long. Of course at the same time it's hard to remember a time without her. But now she is not only a year, she's a year and a quarter! Whoa.

She has the cutest curls in the back of her hair. That she loves to twist when she's sleepy. Most times after nap I have to work a knot out. Thankfully she doesn't seem to be tender headed, so it's not a huge deal. But the first time she puts such a knot in that it has to be cut out will be a very sad day!

She has four teeth on top in the front and two on the bottom. I think she also has two top molars and one bottom one, but when I stick my finger in her mouth to check she bites so fast and so hard I can't tell where the pain is specifically coming from, only that it hurts. ;)

We think she could walk, she's pretty steady standing on her own and walking holding onto our fingers. If she's got something in one hand we can sometimes get her to walk holding on to just one of our hands. Mostly she'd rather crawl though.

She seems to have learned that if I'm not near her and she and Luca are playing together, she can scream and Luca gets in trouble. I'm not saying that was something I ever did, but I may or may not remember Alex yelling while he was in his room, and Alan getting in trouble even though he was in his room. Generation after generation, kids are stinkers.

We are excited for Christmas! Both kids are mostly excited to open presents, and we are eager to find out what Santa brings. Luca has been leaving him voicemails since August! =)

Mommy's Little Helpers

I like having help in the things I do, whether that's making dinner or cleaning up the house. Sometimes, I should be careful what I ask for. Luca has long been  helping me in the kitchen, and now that Tessa has learned to climb up on the step stool, she wants to help too. Which is how I now have two sous chefs.

Mmm... cookies

Their help does not end there! With all the talk of Christmas and presents and such, Luca has decided it's great fun to wrap presents. So he helps to cut the paper and hold it in place and put on pieces of tape. Tessa loves how sticky tape is.

It's okay to be jealous of my sense of style ;)

Everyone should be so lucky to have helpers like mine!