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!

Fun with Tupperware

Tessa figured out at Oma's house if she takes all the chips out of her cabinet she can fit in it. Which is not so bad, half a dozen bags of chips are easily cleaned. Especially because if you're standing there when she does it, she hands each bag to you. Then she figured out she could do the same at our house. In the tupperware cabinet.

Of course Luca didn't want to be left out of the fun.

The perfect little chair, with just a few adjustments.

Hair Cut!

I was letting Tessa's bangs grow, because they are easier to clip back when they're longer. But I finally admitted to myself that while she is super cute with a clip in, and while the longer bangs makes it easier, Tessa would not leave them in. She ended up with bangs in her eyes well more often than not. So, it was time for a hair cut.

She was about as amused as Luca was the first time, but at least she doesn't have hair in her eyes anymore!

Around the house

Just some pictures for things we've been doing recently.

Last year we accidentally decided that the fallen leaves would make a good cover for the grass during the winter. Because it snowed before we had a chance to rake them all up. This was not the best decision, and this year Josh made a real effort to keep the leaves raked. Which meant lots of jumping in leaf piles.

I'm pretty sure that this is what people were talking about when they say in Illinois you should "vote early, vote often." Just doing our civic duty!

Tessa likes to read all the books. Or at least take all of the books of the shelf. All. Of. The. Books.