Someone likes cake

I like cake, but I think someone else likes cake more than me.  I love this pictures because it shows a smile we rarely see on camera.  And I love it.  I hope you do, too.

Happy Sunday!

Father's Day Gift

Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's out there!  I got an idea for a Father's Day gift for Scott a couple of weeks ago from Apartment Therapy.  It was a great way to display a collection.  Scott has collected comic books since he was little, and we have boxes of them stashed away in a closet.  He tells me they are worth a lot and also they are worth nothing because he will never sell them.  So I asked him to chose 9 of his favorites for a project I had in mind (I had to promise to take excellent care of them).  So here is the end result.  Happy Father's Day Scott!

(The 11x14 print will be framed and placed in the hallway his office at work)

Peach Farm 2010 (Then and Now)

2009

2010

I am excited to get see how we change in yet another year!

Daddy's Home

words

(random, but cute, picture)

Tessa can say -

Dada
Dog (da)
Cat (dat)
Hi (Hiiiiiiiiii)
Eat
Moo (mmmmmmmm - but she does this consistently when we ask her what a cow says... and what a horse says)
Book
and her newest Shoes! (shhhs)

See something missing?  No?  How about Mama?  This is what I get:

Me: Tessa, say Mama
Tessa: Dada!
Me: No, Mama
Tessa: Dada!
Me: Mama
Tessa: Dada!

I give up.

Need pictures, ASAP

I took a photo of Tessa every day her first year (missing a day here and there)... but I do have a coffee table  book of 365 photos in the works.  I am glad that I don't have the pressure of getting the camera out every day, but I am finding less things to blog about!  So here are some more pictures from her birthday weekend, enjoying her new water table from Grandma and Grandpa McMillan -

A Late Birthday Present

My birthday was yesterday, although I have only received one birthday present so far (Thanks Katie!).  Scott told me that he would take me shopping.  Tessa scribbled in a card, and I was assured yesterday I would get more gifts by this weekend.  But I did receive an e-mail today letting me know that our backyard was to be featured on Ohdeedoh.com today.  I am so excited that they love our outdoor space as much as we do.  Thanks ohdeedoh for a great birthday gift.  You have made my day!

Check it out here.

Mindless Summer TV is Back!

I won't lie - I like love TV.  Even though you are supposed to be outside during the summer, Phoenix is just too hot (105 at 10pm hot), so we are glad to have some new shows airing to keep us entertained inside.  My personal favorite is Wipeout.  You can't have enough of the big balls!  We also began watching America's Got Talent which we used to call America's Got Nothing Better To Watch... but again, it is pretty funny!  And finally there is Last Comic Standing.  The best part is about these shows is that every time we laugh, Tessa laughs, too.  

More One Year Photos

I am so happy with all these "sneak peeks" I keep on getting from our photo shoot last week.  Every picture I love more and more!

Check them out at: http://tamiproffitt.blogspot.com/2010/06/bit-more-chandler-family-photographer.html

Splash Pad

In order to fully exhaust Tessa during the Memorial Day/Birthday weekend, we took her to the local mall where they have a splash pad running all summer.  She thought the water was pretty cool, but the stairs that lead down to the splash pad were the big hit.  (we live in a one story house)  At least she had fun, and we had fun watching!  Some good news is that Grandma and Grandpa McMillan's new neighborhood is opening their pool this weekend which will also include a splash pad for us to play in, and it is much closer!

Where does she get her height from?

Tessa has grown!

Here are her 12 month stats:

Height - 31 inches (95th Percentile!)
Weight - 19 pounds 5 ounces
Head - 17.9 inches

I transfered her care over to my office, and at our visit today Dr. Mickey asked "Where did she get that height from?  She's off the charts!"  We even double-checked the height, and came up with 31 inches both times.

She has also become much heavier in the past month.  Two pounds really make a difference when you are constantly picking her up all the time.

She is a great eater and we haven't given her baby food for the past month probably.  She even had peanut butter by accident the other day.

We are so blessed to have such a healthy, happy baby.  During this whole year she only had one real illness (a cold/ear infection which I am sure was a gift from cousin James 2 weeks ago).  I am excited to put all her girraffe pictures together to compare her change from month to month.  You've come a long way baby!

And because I am such a math/science nerd, here are her growth charts to date:

Birthday Party - 2

After all the decorations were in place it was time to party!  Tessa's tutu was made by another Etsy shop, based here out of Queen Creek!  And she wore some personalized bloomers made by Scott's neighbor's in St. Louis.  (Thanks Cheryl!)

We set up a "photo booth", complete with clown noses for the guests to take pictures.

The James' Family

The Barker's

Papa and Honey

Grandma and Grandpa McMillan

Aunt Katie

and of course Mom and Dad!

There were lots of presents - 

including this from Scott and me.

Then there was the cake!

Tessa and Jaxson closed down the party playing on the slide (after a bath for Miss T, hence the outfit change).

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  You are so special, and even though you won't remember this day, I know that you were surrounded by love and that you DID have a great time.

Birthday Party - 1

I did put some work into Tessa's first birthday party, and since the majority of you were not there, I want you to see every detail!

Although I wanted to keep it simple, I still wanted something special for our special girl.  I was inspired by some plastic popcorn tins in the $1 section at target, and decided to throw a circus party.  The next step was trying to find an invitation.  I LOVE the website Etsy, and was really happy to how our Christmas card turned out which I found on there (and I love supporting local, and usually stay-at-home Moms).  I found the perfect invite at the store Announcing You.

And yes, I took the photo as well.  I wanted to do this for a long time, and to make sure I got it right, I practiced on some of Tessa's friends during this past year.  (Thanks Jaxson, Jake and Chase)

The invitation gave me a color scheme to go off of as well.  I headed over to Joann's to pick some fabrics to accent the party.  I made several length of bunting with it to hang up, as well as accent the table.

I also found some cute foam animals at Joanns that I made into cupcake toppers.  We made the cupcakes the night before, and frosted them the day of.

I also made a custom silhouette from her cake smash photo session that I hung on the wreath on the front door, so everyone knew they were at the right place.

I found party hats at Party City, and customized them with pom-poms on top.  Tessa's hat was special in that I hot glued pom-poms all the way around the bottom, too!

Staying with the circus theme, we had hamburgers and hot dogs for the main meal, and had nachos, popcorn, peanuts, cotton candy and animal crackers. (we gave the cotton candy and animal crackers to the kids a favors, as well as a giant animal balloon).

The morning of, Scott picked up our balloons.  I didn't get a picture of all of them, but if anyone else did, send it to me!  (Scott's mad I didn't document his great selection of helium products).  I also didn't take any pictures of the front windows, where I hung photo's of Tessa taken throughout the year.

For entertainment, we brought all of Tessa's "big toys" into the backyard for everyone to play on.

It was a great success.  And the best part is that I can reuse everything!  Anyone else want to throw a circus party soon?

8 Things You Didn't Know About My Dad

1. He hardly ever sits still.  (okay, maybe some of you did know that)
2. He is an awesome public speaker.  The toasts he gave for both Katie and mine's wedding were phenomonal.
3. He is so proud to be a Grandpa.  And James LOVES him, and calles him Papa.  Tessa loves him too, but calls him Da (Da is also dog, cat, Dad, Mom and Zebra)
4. He has a dream of visiting Alaska one day. (I worry it will turn out to be like Into The Wild - read the book or watch the movie, it's great.)
5. He is the hardest worker I know (and probably will ever know).
6. He is good at golf (and every other sport he tries)
7. He is frugal, which is paying off since he is able to retire soon.
8. Today is his 60th Birthday, and I get to spend it with him, and I couldn't be happier.  I hope he is pretty happy, too.

Happy Birthday Dad!

12

I have a TON to share... but we've had such a busy, but great weekend which included - walks with Addie, an awesome circus party, a surprise from chicago, a visit to the peach orchard, hanging out will all the grandparents, playing at the park, going to a splash pad and having our photos taken.  Baby Little girl was worn out!

Here is the link to Tami Proffitt's blog.  She broke her rule and posted two pictures for us.  There should be more in a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday Tessa!

http://tamiproffitt.blogspot.com/2010/05/ohto-be-this-cute-chandler-family.html