Engaged

My cousin Ryan got engaged this afternoon. His new fiance is Brittany. Congrats Ryan and Brittany!!! Way to bring in the new year.

9 months

Tessa turned 9 months old last weekend. It's amazing how fast she's growing and much she has learned in the last few months.

She is almost 27.5 inches tall.
She weighs in at a whopping 16.6lbs. She's on the tiny side, but so was I at her age.....
She is crawling and pulling herself up onto everthing
She is walking with the help of furniture and standing on her own for a few seconds at a time
She says dadada, mamama, bababa, nanana
She loves to eat what mommy and daddy eat....she tries to eat anything she can find on the floor
She's full of smiles and is such a happy little girl
Her new favorite things are dogs and dancing to music....she loves music

This year has flown by! Tim and I couldn't be more happy with the new addition to our family! Tess has added so much joy to our lives. Every day she does something new and exciting. We are looking forward to the new year and all the many memories it will bring. God has blessed us in so many ways this year, and we are so very grateful for all of our friends and family.

May God bless each one of you this new year!

Tessa's first Christmas

This year for Christmas we went to Wenatchee. I grew up in Wenatchee and love to go back every chance I get.....and to my benefit Tim has also fallen in love with the town. This was such an extra special Christmas with our new addition. Tess had a blast opening presents, being spoiled by her aunts and uncle, playing with her new favorite dog, getting into everything, eating cookies, playing with new toys, and of course hanging out with grandma and grandpa. I know Tess won't remember her first Christmas, but Tim and I will....and what a wonderful memory!!


Even Lucy was tired after all the presents were opened

My beautiful sisters and too many presents to count

Tess with her new doll

Trying to open her new music book

Having fun with the wrapping paper

more fun trying to open her presents

Tessa's stocking from Santa

Tess with her grandma.....she loves to play with grandma!

The museum

On Christmas Eve morning we took a trip to the museum in Wenatchee. I always loved going to the museum when I was young. I hadn't been in years, and thought it would be fun to go. We had a great time...even Tess.

Playing with the dog

Tess LOVES dogs. She couldn't get enough of my parents dog during Christmas!

Standing by herself on Christmas Eve

Tess stood for the first time by herself on Christmas Eve. She stands all the time with the help of chairs, the couch, tables, toys, etc.....but this time, it was by herself. Tim was behind her waiting to play catch just in case.

All ready for church

My New Hat

Neighborhood get together

Every year our neighborhood has a fun holiday event. They have a live nativity with a Camel, sheep, and a few other small animals. They also have cookie decorating, crafts, story time with Mrs, Clause, hayrides, and of course Santa Clause. We had fun, but didn't stay too long this year because it was a balmy 16 degrees outside.

The hayride...which we didn't go because it was too cold.


Tess with her daddy all bundled up

A little unsure about Santa Clause

Tessa and her friends

Tessa and Grady sharing a book

My girlfriends Kim and Robyn came over today. Kim has two boys, and this is Lukas who just turned 10 weeks.

This last weekend Tim and I went over to our friends house. This is Anna who loved playing with Tess.

busy, busy, busy

During the holidays I love to bake more than normal. This last week Tess has helped me make bread, pies, cookies, rolls..... She loves to sit and watch the mixer. She also loves to chew on the spoons.

Her favorite spatula

This picture was taken over at my parents house. They have two dogs. Tessa loves animals...especially dogs.

Tess has been pulling herself up on anything she can. This is her new favorite toy.

More Thanksgiving pictures

hanging out with grandpa
This is Tim's favorite picture....I can't imagine why. :-)

Tess with a whip cream goatee

Thanksgiving....I know...real original title

Yum.....
The fam....
Tessa and her cousins Jayden and Ashton

Tessa and Ashton sharing a toy

Too cute!

After having mastered the art of crawling, Tess is starting to pull herself up on everything. I couldn't resist taking this picture tonight during bath time.

She will be 8 months old tomorrow. It's hard to believe how fast she's growing up. She seems more like a little person now instead of a baby.....she'll always be our baby though!!

We survived the H1N1.......

After spending a week stuck inside due to being sick, we are all on the mend. We didn't want to have the vaccine, due to the lack of studies, so we ended up getting sick. Thank goodness we got sick before the holidays!! We managed to make the most out of being at home for 7 days.

Tessa even got a present from her aunt Amy....

She likes her Oreo

Tess tried an Oreo cookie for the first time the other night....needless to say....she loved it!


After having a few snacks, Tess put some behind her ear for later.

Bath time

Tess loves her bath time!!! She can't get enough of the water. We're going to have to take her swimming a lot this next summer.

Peek a boo

Tessa's favorite new game is peek a boo.....She gets so excited when she covers her face with a blanket and we pull it off to say peek a boo.

Halloween

So, we didn't really get into the whole Halloween thing this year. I had to take at least one picture of Tess in some sort of a Halloween outfit though. Here's our little pumpkin!

7 months old already

Funny and cute facies.....

Last night I thought we'd have some fun with the camera.....

So close.....

Tess has been trying to crawl. She hasn't figured out she needs to move her legs to go forward. She just stairs at the carpet like it's going to do the work....it's pretty cute!

Port Townsend....

We took a short trip to Port Townsend last week. It was a beautiful time to go. The leaves on the trees were just starting to change color. We had a fun and relaxing time. Tess also decided she wanted to drive while we were waiting in line for the ferry..... :-)

Salmon Days

Issaquah has a weekend ever fall called Salmon Days. This is when the fish begin their journey back up the river to spawn. It's pretty fun to go and watch all of them headed up the river. There are lots of vendors and food too. Tess had fun looking at all of the fish in the fish ladder.