Birthday Month

After a whirlwind DIY moving marathon in Columbus with Laura and Brian we made our way to the lake this weekend. I have no pictures to share of Aunt Lola's and Brian's house because I was too busy working my hiney off painting, sanding and staining! It's a very nice casa and we're excited for them. Tessa has been celebrating her birthday Lisa Abell-style and we've managed to drag it out with a big and final finale this past Memorial Weekend. Papa Kenny is getting used to sharing a birthday cake with Miss T as his birthday trails hers by 11 days. This year we celebrated Boz's 50th too (even though she is already 50 and a half!)! They were thrilled to have a Little Mermaid cake! And, don't you worry, a little old tornado and 70 mph winds and thunderstorms will not keep us from partying! Our code black plan was to stuff a mere 25 adults and children into a small bathroom but it never really came that...thankfully. Instead we just kept eating and drinking and singing Happy Birthday!

Aaaahh! Aaaaah! Aahhaahh Aahha ahhh! That's the Ariel singing. The cake lady got a little confused and thought that Papa and Kenny were two different people. Oh well.

Singing Happy Birthday. Tessa is wearing a jammie shirt that is backwards. Fashionista.

The birthday kids...Papa Kenny (old), Boz (50.5), Tessa (4). Molly and Kendall helped with the candle blowing!

Our Twinkling Star!

So this is totally a picture of a picture, but I wanted to share. This is Tessa's class picture for preschool. I'm sure it will be no time that she'll be leaning on a tree for her senior snap shot!

Feisty and Four.

Can I tell you something about a four year old little girl? Independence. It's a very frustrating and exciting thing. Tessa served herself a snack of left over chocolate chip pancakes, decided to strip down nekked and crashed out. So, I'm proud that she took off her wet and dirty clothes from playing outside to spare the couch because I'm sure that I have barked at her a gazillion times about something of the sort. I'm proud that she was able to get herself something to eat when she was hungry and even used a paper towel or napkin! But she is only four. She was too lazy and care free to go get another change of clothes. She clearly hasn't a care in the world about being neat or eating like a lady. And, after all of this, she still needs a nap...even though she doesn't always want to!

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Wow! Tessa is FOUR! Yikes! She awoke on her birthday to Rapunzel cupcakes...for breakfast, of course! We took Allie with us to Build-A-Bear and went out for a birthday lunch. She got lots of loot including some Ariel dolls for the tub, sand toys, a basket and pom poms for her bike, magnatiles and a slew of clothes and other toys. Despite it being very wet and rainy we had a spectacular and special day!

Tessa is FOUR!

She got three new boxes of band aids for her birthday. It's the little things, you know.

Tessa is kissing her Ariel dolls.

Tessa and Mommy. If you're wondering why I look tired it's because I usually am...and it's really only about 7:15am in this picture.

Nate and Tessa at Build-A-Bear.

Stuffing their 'bears'...although Tessa and Allie both chose bunnies.

Allie stuffing her bunny she named Tessa! Also giving on of her classic "if looks could kill" glares!

Tessa bathing her bunny she named Jenny...and has already changed it to Vinny. She has this thing about naming all of her babies and animals boy names.

Tessa and Allie dressing their bunnies.

That's Jenny all dolled up in her princess tank top and Detroit Tigers gym shorts.

Nate made a camouflage bear, named him Hunter and decked him in safari and fishing gear.

All smiles. Troy with a hole in his wallet!

Sitting waiting for the car to pull up. What a bunch of divas! Yes that is a tutu dress that Tessa is wearing. It's her birthday! We didn't argue.

Our big girl enjoying her birthday sundae!

More Mothers Day...

Not sure that Nate's future includes winning any spelling bees or becoming an artist of any sort. Regardless I am and will be quite proud of him. Another finish-the-sentence-with-related-drawing from school. I love these things! In case you are having difficulty, let me translate and explain. It reads, "On mother's day I made breakfast for my mom." That is me laying in bed...looking kind of scary, maybe even dead and sliding out of bed. That's Nate and Troy bringing me the breakfast tray. I love the little details that he doesn't forget though. I mean, he put a ceiling fan in there! Love it.

Muffins for Mom

Tessa's preschool hosted their Mommies and Grandma's for muffins for a Mother's Day celebration at school. Gramma Char AND Gramma Gayla came to surprise Tessa! She was so proud and excited! She sang a song with her class and then they took us all out to the playground. It was a really nice day...so we decided to let Tessa play hooky for the rest of the day with the Grammas in town. We even went and got Nate out of school for lunch. A very special day!

Tessa sitting like a little lady with her fellow Twinkling Stars.

Gramma Char, Tessa, Gramma GaylaTessa and her Grammas (cute pic...I'm sure the Gramma's are loving the rear-end view!)

Mommy and Tessa

Tessa and her teachers. Miss Mary on the Left, Miss Jessica on the Right.

Gramma Char reverted into school teacher mode and was swinging all the kids on the playground!

Tessa and Cullen enjoying their muffins...and needing some sunglasses!

Surprising Nate at school!Post lunch activities had us enjoying the nice weather. This is Nate's latest obsession...climbing. He straps bungee cords all around his chest for a harness and ties ropes all over the place. Please notice Mr. Safety is wearing his helmet and also has on his fingerless winter gloves to help him grip. There is an actual climbing wall on this jungle gym but apparently that isn't enough of a challenge. Tessa looking on with reservation.My Muffins.

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day 2011! I've been doing this gig for nearly 6 years now and still haven't mastered it. I was lucky enough to be home for the special day though. I got my usual breakfast in bed. This year's feast prepared by Nate consisted of cinnamon bread bought specially for me from the Dexter bakery, a bowl of cereal and chocolate milk all garnished with a small vase of daffodils from picked from our yard. I was showered with cards and drawings and hugs and kisses. Tessa made me a card with flowers on it. Nate made me a clay sculpture of himself and also wrote me a book. It was one of those fill in the sentences creations from school. I cringed a little bit each time he read a page wondering what he'd chosen to fill in because what mother wouldn't be a little self conscious and worried about her image as her son speaks of what she likes to do and eat?! Yikes.

M for Michigan and for Mom. What a wonder. His two favorite things!

Scary mommy? He was very proud he got my eye color right. He wasn't sure if they were green or purple? What? Purple?

This is a picture of me at the grocery store check out. The red thing on the side is the gum ball machine.

Nate wrote that his mom likes to eat Chocolate (his phonetic spelling was a bit off, but I was pleased that he didn't say McDonalds or beer!) Apparently I politely eat my chocolate at the kitchen table all by myself.

And, I'm special because I help him. Awwh. Tear.
(That's me with a barrel chest and huge thighs in all black helping Nate on the swing set. That brown thing that looks like it's on a leash is a squirrel or Tessa. He couldn't remember.)

I had a great day. The kids were good for about twenty minutes. As Tessa was crying before bedtime she grabbed my face and asked me "Is mudders day over?" I said almost. She told me she was gonna have a better day tomorrow.

Wiggly Neighbor Tooth...out.

Today Nate lost another tooth! That wiggly neighbor friend on the bottom row didn't take long to come out especially with Nate prying and twisting on it on a regular basis. He now has the quintessential toothless smile of a nearly 6 year old!


He dutifully set out his candle for the tooth fairy. He safely tucked his pearly-ish-white tooth inside the tooth pouch and neatly tucked it under his pillow in hopes of gainful return. And, he kindly left the tooth fairy a teeny tiny little snack of pieces of cheese in a medicine cup. How sweet?!

What do you call a person that cracks a safe?

Safe cracker? Locksmith? Secret agent? Whatever it is and however cute Tessa may look in camouflage, she does not have a promising future in this line of work. I was working around the house and heard an eery silence from the the toy room. And this is what I found...


Tessa trying to get money out of the college fund piggy bank. She had used all of the butter knives (that is the glare inside the bank) from the silverware drawer (let's not focus on the fact that my child was playing with knives) to try to pry open the bank. She didn't get a single dime out. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied, "I was trying to get that money." I asked, "why?" She says, "because everything isn't free, Mom." So true, my dear. So true.

Another installment of When Mom's Away...

As mentioned many times before, I'm a relaxed mother and pretty supportive of whatever as long as everyone remains intact (and uses their manners but here this is besides the point.). I don't stress about all organic food or baths every day. The latest installment of When Mom's Away though is coming home to an indoor batting cage and pitching target. Yes, indoor. We do not have a coliseum gymnasium or even a pole barn here at the Baughman camp. Indoors is in the house. Baseball season is in full swing. Nate is loving every minute of it all. The weather hasn't been too cooperative as it has been quite rainy and cold. So, clearing out what little furniture we have in one of the rooms in the toy wing and making a pitching target seemed nothing but ingenious for Troy and his 5 year old son. Clearly Troy is the dad.

The picture doesn't even really do their construction any justice. I decided to take the picture after I had cleared out the 19 pillows surrounding the target, the additional tape on the walls giving pitching instruction and the 5 gallon bucket of tballs (that Troy insisted were the "soft ones").