I think I finally found a kitty I like

Saturday Tessa experienced her very first trunk-or-treat. I was planning on making her a cat for Halloween but wasn't really sure how to go about it, especially since I didn't want to spend any money on a costume. We cut some ears out of an old black folder, cut up one of daddy's old socks, zipped up our leopard footy pajamas and voila! We had ourself a little wild cat. I'm glad it worked out because we were literally putting the whole thing together minutes before we had to leave. For the most part she seemed to enjoy it. Ok, so she really didn't know what was going on but she sure liked grabbing candy out of people's buckets. The whole thing ran rather smoothly until Tessa saw a family dressed as Angry Birds (a popular game for your phone). Man, they really freaked her out. When we got her to calm down Daddy took her out a second time only to bring her back crying minutes after. You know those candy buckets that you can hide your hand in? Well the person popped his hand out while she was grabbing candy and scared her. Poor girl. Hopefully trick-ot-treating on Thursday will be full of a little less birds and scary hands and a little more candy!   

^Are you surprised she let me draw on her face? Me, too.^

 ^Trunk-or-treat.^

 ^I imagine for the next couple of days this girl is always going to have some kind of candy in her mouth.^

 ^Hard to choose.^

 ^Finally noticed she had a tail.^

 ^Caught her red handed. Just like a cat! Goes straight for the milk.^

^Sporting her killer rain boots.^

^The after math.^

^Candy hangover.^

Ponies and pigs

Lately I've been really in to doing Tessa's hair. The only problem is it makes her look so old! When it's just down and curly she looks like such a little baby but when it's in pigtails or a ponytail she looks like a little toddler! Speaking of grown-up behavior, Tessa wanted to wear mommy's shoes around the house and so she slipped her feet into my flats and scooted as best she could. So cute! She's also really into feeding herself with a spoon or a fork these days. She's actually really good at it, too! She likes to do chores with mommy and yesterday daddy helped her put away all of the utensils. She knows where her hand is and loves to wave "hello" and "goodbye." She says "ball" and "hi" and we're currently working on "more" and "drink". She loves to sit down and look at books by herself and sings along when mommy sings "Papa bought me a candy pig." She's finally gotten used to wearing her big girl shoes, which happen to be pink with sparkles (in case you wanted to know). If I'd let her she'd wear my blush every day (sometimes I let her. shhh don't tell dad).    

A 28" freshman

Yesterday we took a trip to the university's campus. Daddy wasn't able to join us like he was back here but we still had a really great time! Tessa loved being able to explore and slowly she got more and more brave and was able to venture farther and farther away from mom. She's learned how to wave and say "Hi" and so practically everyone on campus got a very special greeting from a very special girl. Once again she decided to brave the weather and rocky cement in socks. Sigh. The shoes we ordered for her came yesterday but were way too big. That's strike two for us because the ones we first ordered were too small. I think we'll just keep these and let her grow into them. As you can see from the pictures below Tessa had a hoot-of-a-time and the only way mom could get her to come back was to lure her with some snacks. Happy Thursday!

Seattle is beautiful this time of year and I'm loving every second of it.

Ode to pumpkins

Ok so I know this post doesn't have anything to do with poems, let alone poems about pumpkins. I just really liked the title so I decided I'd just use it anyway. As you can see in the picture above Tessa had a hard time finding a pumpkin she could lift. I really wanted her to have one she could carry around the house so we ended up heading to the nearest QFC and getting her a "fun sized" pumpkin. She loves it! Yesterday Tessa and I played with the pumpkins in our backyard. We also had a lot of fun playing with the camera... mom did, at least. I can definitely see why Brady loves taking pictures so much!

^Just right.^

^Our little pumpkin "patch".^

^Tessa's "fall harvest" pants.^

^Can I introduce you to my new boots? Every time I put them on I just want to go gather eggs or milk a cow. They're the best! Also, be impressed with the picture above because I took it all by myself.^

To see our trip to The Farm click Part I and Part II.
We are halfway through the week everybody! That's definitely something to celebrate.

The Farm: the BIG slide and a pumpkin or two

 Looking for pumpkins may have been my favorite part of our family adventure on Saturday. I always forget how overwhelming it can be for an OCD perfectionist to pick a pumpkin in a pumpkin patch. I have to find the perfect color and size and shape. If I get two or more then those have to be the same shape, color... you see what I mean? Ok, I'm really not that bad. Don't let me fool you though, I definitely cycled through my fair share of "perfect pumpkin" candidates. Brady will testify because he was the one that had to do the heavy lifting.  As promised from the post yesterday, here are our pictures of the pumpkin patch. Click here if you missed Part I of our trip to The Farm.

 ^Wanted to touch and lift them all.^

 ^Trying to figure out if these "balls" are like the soccer ball on our back porch. Nope.^

 ^I love this picture because it kind of looks like they're holding hands. They sure do like each other a whole lot. And get a load of my girls dusty bum!^

 ^Brady really is a fabulous photographer.^ 

 ^I'll take them all!^

 ^She was too busy trying to sit on pumpkins to take a picture with her mom.^ 

Ok, remember in this post how I said that despite the cold weather Tessa insists on being outside as long as possible and the process is always the same? I wasn't kidding folks. Every time it's like clock work. Let me show you:

 ^Outside! Yahoo!^

 ^Play. Paly. Play.^

 ^Her "Hmmm-is-it-just-me-or-is-it-kind-of-cold?" face.^

 ^ Her "Ok-Mom-I'm-really-cold-why-did-you-let-me-come-out-here!" face.^

Have you ever seen a sadder, snottier face?

 ^Miserable. Just miserable.^

And to wrap up our trip to The Farm here is a little clip of the girls and their daddies going down the big slide:

The Farm: a wheel barrel, hay ride and three little pigs

Like I mentioned in this post, we finally got to take Tessa to her first pumpkin patch on Saturday. We were so lucky to have our neighbors and friends, the Bushmans, join us for a day filled with Fall fun. I can't tell you how much Tessa loves her little friend Emma. If you ever find yourself in the Snohomish, Washington area during autumn you should definitely take a trip to The Farm at Swan's Trail. We loved it because there were so many free things to do for little kids and no admissions fee. 

Tessa wasn't too interested in the little farm animals they had to pet. Kittens? Who cares? Chickens? Meh. Goats? Boring. Donkey? Yikes! She cried when it came up to her. I'm pretty sure it was because it sneezed in her face. Then she saw the bunnies and she was like, "What are those magnificent balls of fluff!" I'm not kidding folks. She was mesmerized. She'd hold on really tight to the bar so you couldn't pull her away and just stare. Too bad bunnies are the one animal mom cannot stand as a pet. 

We watched the cute reenactment they had of the three little pigs but didn't get to see the duck race. Emma loved the big slide but Tessa wasn't sure if she should laugh or be terrified. The result? A pained look on her face every time she went down. She'll learn to love it, I'm sure. Here are a couple of pictures from the first part of our day: 

 ^I could not get those girls to look at the camera at the same time^

 ^I think I may have found the best pumpkin in the patch.^

 ^This is Kamie with her sweet Emma. We've had people tell us that we look like sisters, even twins. We don't really see it. What do ya think?^

 ^Walking in her "big girl" shoes^

^Trying to keep up with Emma, who has been walking since 9 months.^

^What usually happens when she can't keep up. Don't worry baby girl! You'll get there!^

 ^Bushman Family: Kamie, Nate and Emma^

 ^Wouldn't hold still for a picture!^

 ^Maybe Tessa and Emma shouldn't hang out so much. They're making me desperate for twins!^

 ^Hay ride^

^We were supposed to keep our "tails" nailed to the hay bells but for some reason these girls nails kept coming loose.^ 

^My sweet little family^

Can't wait to show you the pumpkin patch pictures tomorrow! I have to find some way to get you to keep coming back, don't I? :) 

Happy Monday!