More family, another Christmas, having fun!

Grandpa and Grandma are visiting for the holidays this year and Tessa is really enjoying the company. Grandpa quickly found the way to her heart by pulling out the tablet and looking at pictures.

Then Tessa decided to check her stocking (prematurely). Nothing in there, yet...

Unfortunately, she was not quite able to put the stocking back up.

But that's what Grandpas are for, right?

Christmas morning brought a new dollhouse! You can't see her face, but this is a look of complete bewilderment.

Thanking Grandma for her new dress. (Tessa has been handing out the hugs like Santa hands out presents to good little girls.)

Emma got a new stroller!

And Daddy got a new hat!

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Why Not?

 

 

 

Stability testing

Now that Zoe is standing up, we decided we'd do some stability testing to see how well she can hold up under extreme conditions. Of course, we had no problem eliciting some help from our resident "use tester."

As you can see, Zoe already has some skills. The makings of a surfer? A skier? A good subway rider?

Happy Thanksgiving

It's been far too long since we posted anything on Tessa's World or Zoe's World.  It's not because we don't have lots to say.  To the contrary, we've been doing so many fun things that it's been hard to find time to sit down at the computer and write about them!  Tessa has been enjoying her activities, including Tavern Toddlers, library story time, and dance class.  And she's had a visit from Mimi and PopPop, as well as Bethany and Nathaniel (who proved that our house might be pseudo-Tessa and Zoe proofed but is not Nathaniel proofed!).  We had a wonderful long weekend together and we enjoyed a trip to the Zoo, a play date with one of Tessa's new friends, and lots of time in the kitchen cooking and baking.  We also had a visit from a professional photographer, who took these shots: 

 

 

 

Elmo's Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!  We had a special visit from Papa and Nani about a week-and-a-half ago and Tessa visited the White House gardens and, more importantly, carved pumpkins!  

Ta da!  Three artistic pumpkins.  They didn't quite make it to Halloween between the humidity, the squirrels, and the hurricane, but they were fun while they lasted.  

Tessa picked out her own costume this year and it was no contest:  Elmo was the clear winner.  After practicing and prepping all afternoon, Tessa was ready to knock on doors and say "Trick or Treat."  

It turns out that she didn't have to do much knocking, since Lee Street was overflowing with trick-or-treaters and candy for the taking.  

First time seeing a lollipop:  

Pumpkin picking

We went pumpkin picking this weekend, much to Tessa's delight. The farm that we went to had SO MANY pumpkins that some of us were quite overwhelmed. Luckily, Tessa has the concentration of someone ten times her age and was able to immediately find her favorite. 

 

After the pumpking picking, we toured the farm and got to see all the great farm animals. And the goat even let us pet her!

 

 

 

Finally, we had some time to sit in a pile of hay and reflect on the great day.

 

 

A trip to Mount Vernon

We only live 8 miles from the great GW's estate and mansion so we took a trip down today. We were very impressed with the mansion and the gigantic bowling green out in front of it. We got some cute pictures of Daddy and his girls.

And of Tessa by herself with the mansion in the background.

Tessa is such a big girl now that she likes to run ahead and check out what's around the corner. There she goes...

 

Tessa's Having A Blast

There are so many activities to do in the DC area.  Last weekend, we went to the National Book Festival.  Tessa had so much fun at the children's pavilion listening to books being read and dancing to the Not Yet Ready For Naptime Players.  But the highlight of the book fair was a ride on the merry-go-round.  Tessa was a little skeptical about the merry-go-round at first, but she loved her horse, whom we named "Smokey," and she talked about the ride for days afterwards.  

Tessa has also started dance class at the Tiny Dancers studio in Old Town.  She's in the Wiggle Toes class for ages 2-3.  Her wonderful nanny, Ashley, has been taking her to dance class for a few weeks now and Tessa has really warmed up to it.  Last week, they heard the story of Cinderella and they all dressed up in costumes.  The base layer, of course, is a leotard and tights.  What could be cuter?

Hobbies and sports

We firmly believe that our children should be allowed to pursue whatever careers, hobbies, and sports they like (within reason, of course - mixed martial arts will require some serious convincing on their part). 

That being said, we love it when Tessa shows an affinity for something that we already like...

Or something that we do frequently...

Weekend Away

We had a "forced" vacation this weekend due to some work being done on our place.  Before we left, we squeezed in a quick trip to the playground, where Tessa has mastered the kiddie climbing wall.  

We stayed at a Hyatt with an indoor and outdoor swimming pool as well as a beach.  Tessa modeled her curls for me in the room after the chlorine in the pool and some hair scissors did their work.

We also spent some time on the beach, where Tessa built and smashed sand castles.  

Smashing...

Tessa: Aspiring Videographer

I had no idea Tessa was recording a video with my smart phone while I put Zoe down for a nap. 

Where did we go this morning?

Teacher, Teacher

The Zoo As Seen From The Top Of Two Pigtails

Today Tessa went to the National Zoo for the second time, but this time we did everything right.  We reserved parking, arrived early, and had a plan focused on charismatic megafauna.  Since the zoo is about viewing the animals -- not the kids -- we thought we'd bring you the view from atop two pigtails.  

Here we are arriving at the zoo.  Tessa is eating some crackers and Zoe is eating the stroller:

First stop, crackers still in hand, we spent some time looking at the zebras -- also known as "Look, Mommy, the horses!"  

One of the major highlights of our trip to the zoo was the panda bear exhibit.  (The cheetah cubs were pretty great, too!)  This panda was very busy eating bamboo.  Tessa was most concerned about his eyes -- the black fur really threw her off.  

Tessa had been talking about the elephants for a couple of days.  We had a great view of them from the sky bridge.  One of the elephants did a poop and Tessa really wanted us to bag it up and throw it away (just like we do with Aly's poops).  We managed to beg off.  We'll leave that job to the professionals.  

Finally, we had to include at least one picture of the pigtails from the front.  

 

I want to see!

On the move

The last couple of weeks have brought lots of changes.  Mommy went back to work.  The most exciting part about Mommy's job is that she takes a bus to work!  Every morning, Tessa asks "You go on the bus, Mommy?" What happens after the bus is clearly of less moment.  Tessa and Zoe's new nanny also started work.  Tessa is so excited about her nanny and all of the fun activities she has planned (including homemade sidewalk paint!).  Every morning, Tessa asks whether we are going to have "more Ashley."  

Tessa has also been on the move.  She's found a few good ways to travel.  

Daddy's shoulders: 

 

A balance bicycle: 

And good old-fashioned running (made more fun by a chalk track painted on the patio):