God All Mighty

Yes, I knew that would grab your attention. Here is a picture of Tessa's door. Notice the "no boys allowed in my room". Now the thing is this, when you enter Tessa's room, get prepared for the questions. Because she always has one for you.
Her latest question? "What is God's last name?". I'm thinking quietly in my mind....hmmmmm......all mighty? A vision flashes through my head of the kids jumping on the couches and me yelling "quit jumping on the couches fer gawdawmighty!" yep...I tell her...."His last name is All Mighty".
Tessa's interpretation of hearing someone exclaiming "Jesus Christ oh-my-knee" which we do not correct.

Christmas Day 2005

So we all took turns getting sick. First Jared got sick on Monday with a fever for 2 days. Then Tessa's turn on Christmas eve day/night. Then me on Christmas day, and Johnny the day after Christmas. We all had fevers and coughing with aches and pains. Poor Tessa gets it the worst with a fever of 103/104. As you can tell by the picture on Christmas Day with her favorite present of the moment "elefun' her eyes look a little droopy and sad. Jared says "it's the best Christmas ever" as always and Tessa wonders why Santa didn't get her the "floam" she asked for. If you don't know what that is, it's the "as seen on T.V." latest. This gooey stuff that you can form into different shapes. She asked Santa for it, (5 days before Christmas), and wondered why she didn't get it, so she's going to ask him next year when she sees him. She told me she heard Santa using the bathroom and walking around. I'm like "yep, I guess Santa has to use the bathroom too".

rresserrffffrrresssser,rrressserrffferrressser!

That's what you say when you are trying to open up the presents your kids opened up in lieu of swearing. It came from the cartoons you watched as a kid. If you don't have kids you may not what I'm talking about. But toys today are like getting into "Fort Knox". First there is a box where everything is taped down, wired up and twisted around. But you just can't go to the back. It's in the middle so you have to rip open the box to get to the middle and start cutting away tape and untwisting those @@#@$%$@**# plastic wires. Sometimes you have to twist one way and then halfway through you have to start twisting the other way.
And forget about your fingernails. They will be all broken by the third box. So you get to to spend the better part of the day trying to open up all those cuddly little bears and any other little microscopic toy taped down.
Now I'm sure the company's were tired of either little kids or shoplifters opening boxes and taking something out in the stores so solved the problem by making our lives miserable undoing every..........rresssserrrrffffrresssser, rrressserffferrresser!!!

My little helper.

So I was making my annual "Christmas Cookies" that I go pass out to all my neighbors and friends. I had just got done with the first batch and told Tessa to put 2 cookies on each plate. So a few minutes later I go to see if she did and I see that she put 2 cookies on each plate covering their eyes. Cute. Sometimes it's more work when your kids are trying to help you. But at least they try, with their own creativity.

Santa Baby!!

Yes we went to the mall to see Santa and Tessa was upset that she forgot her list. Jared looks petrified, or does Santa look petrified. Just what were you asking for Jared? Tessa looks like she is trying to figure out how she can sound convincing that "Really, I was a good girl!".
Jared being so tall looks like a 6th grader and Santa's got a lot of weight there on his lap. Jared told me "Mom, that was a real beard. I saw the whiskers coming out of his face" Whew!
They have a new carousel at this mall. A double decker one!! So the kids went to the top first time around and Tessa decided to go on the spinning teacup second time around. Someone behind me asked, "Are you going on there with her?" All that was going through my mind was, feeling ill and my head spinning around after getting off and having to walk through a noisy, busy mall and feeling like keeling over. "No, I'm sure she'll be o.k. by herself" I politely said. Jared had met a new friend so went on some horse , and horsed around with him. No pun intended. O.K. pun intended. blah.
Some little girl got on and sat next to Tessa and they spun around like crazy laughing their heads off. So I did videotape their screams. That was worth it.
It doesn't take much to amuse these kids.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

O.K. so it never snows in Southern California. Though it feels like it's cold enough to!!

So the annual picture of the tree with Tessa posing. She likes her picture taken, Jared doesn't. She knows how to stop and pose just right. So easy. Jared, I have to tickle him and then of course he starts moving around and I get like half his body in.

Here are there wish lists. Jared's obviously is the "PS2" list with all the games. Pretty simple.
Tessa's includes "Furby" (yes, they're baaackkk), a tree topper, (because we still have never found one that quite matches our style, it's always some cheap, las vegas, sparkly, ugly ones we find), a Polly Pocket set, (nooooo! not those little microscopic dolls with little itty bitty outfits that always wind up all over the house), the littlest pet shop, (O.K. now that's good because everyone knows Tessa is allergic to real cats and dogs), jumbo care bear, care bear with dvd, rings, bracelets and a picture frame. It's cute how she writes everything out how it sounds and then we have to phonetically sound it out.

Last she went to Vons to build her "Gingerbread House" . I especially like the "Frosted Mini Wheats" snow roof and "Pretzel fence". So much better than those at home kits that just never stay up no matter how much frosting you put on.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and you get everything on your wish lists. Whew!!

Woohoo! another family picture.

I like this first picture. You know when they have no idea you are taking a picture of them? We were starting our hike and I just liked how all the trees were there and this paticular one just arched over them.

Then of course, another rare family picture. You know, you ask someone to take your picture and hope they don't crop off your body and it's mostly sky, or they get so far away you are just a speck, or even , I don't how they do this, out of focus because it's on automaic and foolproof. I'm guessing camera shake. And you just hope it comes out halfway decent.

Some of these pictures at the Grand Canyon are almost Flinstone like with all those rock formations.
The Indian dwellings are so cool. I can't believe they stay intact. O.K. I think that's about it for the Sedona pictures.
We go back every other year so we'll go on different hikes and new views. By then the kids will be able to do tougher hikes. Mwah haaahaaa.

More Sedona Pictures

As we were coming back home from my in-laws house this last weekend which is about an hour away, Tessa asks , "Are we still in California?"
I guess she thought maybe we were in Arizona.
It's amazing how beautiful and peaceful looking it is there. So many different angles of scenery.

Jared's 8th Birthday

And yes, a couple pics from Jared's party. He invited his crazy, hyperactive, loud friends for a day of "lazer tag, miniature golfing, and video games" at Mountasia. Top it off with pizza, ice cream, and caffeinated soda and you have the making of "I need a drink" or "zoloft' or both.
Jared had a "hurricane sundae' hence the sparkler on the ice cream at Farrell's. I think he was more apprehensive than excited.
After all the sugar, you can see the group picture of the after effects.

Tessa's 5th Birthday.

I know, you're thinking, wasn't that a while ago? Yes is was. April to be exact. You know how you wait till you have like 3 or 4 rolls of film before you send it in and you totally forget what is on them?
Well, I forgot what was on them.
Tessa had a "build a bear" party, but in true Tessa form she didn't build a bear, but a "monkey" who she named Roxy. No one can say that she isn't original. Or boring. Yep, that's Tessa with a "monkey on her back" - I mean- "monkey on her head".
One of the pictures is all her birthday friends. You know how you over invite thinking, "O.K" only 1/2 will show up". No, lucky me, everyone but one showed up. Oh well, it was a lot of fun.
And what's a party without a pinata?
I remember the one year Johnny put it in the garage the day before a party and when the kids cracked it open, ants were crawling all over the candy. You could hear a lot of "ewwwwsss!!!"
So Tip #1. Be sure to wait till just before the party to fill up the pinata with candy. Otherwise, ant candy.

Reflections

O.K. I'm backtracking here a little bit for my family. In November there was a program called "Reflections" where you can enter art, photography, literature or music. The title this year was "I Wonder Why"...
Now If you remember last year, Jared won for his literature entry titled "A different kind of Hero" and his was about Chico Mendes. A poor Brazillian farmer who died trying to save the rain forest.
Tessa had been to the school many times and seen Jared win his awards, etc. and could hardly wait to start so she could do all this stuff. So this year, Jared entered literature once again, and Tessa did photography. She took the digital camera to the back yard and didn't want to listen to me at all try to help her with the camera i.e. like how to zoom etc. It was Tessa "I know!!" in her typical bossy voice. So I let her take pictures and when she was done, I downloaded them to see what we got.
So I entered the two pictures that you see. The "pretty purple flowers" and the "artsy yellow swing". Johnny tried to convince me not to enter the "yellow swing" picture. He thought, "they won't get it , it's too artsy" etc.
Tessa was so excited just to go to the ceremony. I told her , "they call you up and you have to have your picture taken with the principle, Mrs. Von Beulow". She said" Oh, I've never touched her before". "I bet she's soft".
So when we got there, she found out she won!! Not for the "pretty purple flowers" but for the "I wonder why....the swing is empty". Someone from the art college judged it. Whew!!
So she was the first one called up and got her award and wasn't shy at all.
This was Tessa's first award ever and was so happy to get it.