Tessa - October 2012

Tessa Dear, what a silly girl you are.  One of your favorite things to do lately is to "help" me in the kitchen.  If I go over the stove, sink, cupboards, fridge for even 15 seconds you are right next to me already using the drawers to start to climb up on to the counters so you can help.  You help stir and cook and, if I'm feeling particularly generous or frazzled, wash dishes.  I gave up on our crummy dishwasher months ago and wash the dishes by hand instead.  I'm pretty sure this ended up with water all over the counter and floor, but I'm hoping if I let you help me wash dishes now that you'll want to help me when you are a little bit more help than you are now.

We may not have gotten you into preschool this year, but I did get you into a Kindermusik class, and you seem like you really enjoy it.  The day before your first class you talked to your dad on the phone (he was in Idaho on a fire), and you just about broke his eardrum when he asked you about it, and you said, "I'm SO EXCITED!"  Now every time he asks you about it he makes you tell him that you are so excited.  We get to do fun activities that go along with what you did in your class for the week, and I think you really do enjoy the time you get to go and play away from your mom and brothers.  When you got home from your first class you were so excited to share some of the fun things you had with Logan though.

We went to Panguitch for Aunt Bre's baby shower for Tinsley, and you and the boys had a fun time jumping on the trampoline.  I had to hurry and get this picture of you and Bosten jumping because Bosten didn't want ANYONE on there with him when he was jumping.  I finally did convince him to let you just sit on the tramp while he jumped, and that worked for a little while.

You are still a bit of a diva when it comes to helping clean up (anything but the kitchen I guess).  I've caught on to the fact that when I ask you and Logan to clean up the toy room that you will walk around the room carrying the same toy so it looks like you are doing something while Logan picks up the entire room pretty much by himself.  One day while Logan was at school I told you that I would help you and the two of us would pick up the toy room.  Oh my, I think both of us would have rather pulled all your teeth, but in the end we got it done!  I told you that when it was done we would take a picture of the clean room and send it to dad, and this is what I got.  Yes, you are definitely a diva.

Your dad and I love to see how you end up falling asleep each night.  It usually looks something like this...

I also love your imagination and how you can "play" anything that you happen to have stashed in your room throughout the day.  One night I had to laugh at what I found.  Earlier this night I had told you to move your things off the bed so you could get up there to sleep and you refused, so you actually curled up on teh floor to sleep so that your things would be able to stay on the bed.  On the bed are shoes, 2 spray bottles, a pair of tongs, and a couple stuffed animals.  No doubt there was a mom, dad, and at least a few brothers and sisters in those items.

We spent a weekend in Hurricane toward the end of the month, and I finally got your baby clothes quilt done.  I've had the top done for over a year (I started working on it when we found out Tyson was a boy last August).  I didn't want to tie the quilt with yarn, but because I did such a crummy job sewing straight lines, it seemed like the only way to go, and in the end I'm just so glad it is done.  I'm not sure I will ever be able to let YOU actually have it though.  It was hard to cut up some of those clothes, and it's not like you remember wearing them, right?

We love you Tessa girl, you are so much fun and bring such a huge presence and personality everywhere you go.  That big (DIVA?) personality gets you in trouble sometimes, but mostly it just makes life around here a lot more fun and a lot more interesting.

Love you Tess,
Mom