Headache

Tamsen's quote of the day....

"My head's full of too many songs. It's called a headache."

Happily Ever After.... August 9, 2008

Matthew and Hailey were married on Saturday. Tamsen was so excited to get to go to the temple and see her cousin Matthew come out with his new wife, Hailey. It was awesome being with them in the temple and feeling the Spirit there. The sealer said some really neat things and I was glad Matthew invited me to be there.

Tamsen was excited to get to go into the temple and be in the waiting room. That and she got to be with her cousin, Shaylie while we were in the temple.

Tamsen just loves Matthew. Whenever we're at a family party and he's there, she'll stick to him like glue. It's so funny that she likes him so much! Since today, she couldn't follow Matthew everywhere, she adopted his brother, Jared.

By the time we got done at the temple, it was nap-time, so instead of going to the luncheon, we went home to bed. I don't know if it was the heat or all the excitement and late night the night before with the family barbeque, but I finally had to wake Tamsen up to go the reception. It was at Hailey's parents' house. Everything was gorgeous. It was a beautiful reception and it was lots of fun to visit with the Mosses. Tamsen loved running around the backyard and spent lots of time on the swing. When it was time to go, she wanted to stay and watch the video of Matt and Hailey at the temple.

As we were walking to the car to leave the temple, Matthew and Hailey were just outside the gate of the temple grounds having pictures taken. Tamsen turned to me and said, "Now they'll live happily ever after..."

I hope they do!

CRASH!!

On our way home from the dedication of our new chapel, Tamsen had her first major crash on her trike. Her friend, Carley, accidentally bumped into the back of her and Tams went face first onto the sidewalk. She skinned up her forehead and nose pretty good. She was such a little trooper, she only cried for a minute, then hopped back on her trike and rode the rest of the way home. She loved telling everyone about her crash when they asked about her scrapes.

Swimming Lessons

Tamsen has love, love, loved swimming lessons this summer. Although she's still a little nervous about learning to float (yes, we've done level two, twice and we'll do it again next time...) she loves to be in the water. Her favorite part of swimming lessons is free time, when they get 5-10 minutes to do whatever they want. She loves getting a water noodle and paddling all over the pool. She also loves to jump off the side of the pool into the water. When she's waiting for her turn to "swim" with the teacher, she likes to hang onto the side and push herself under the water. She's really good at holding her breath and blowing bubbles. I think once she gets brave enough to float, she's going to be a like a little fish!

Everyone Loves a Parade....

..... especially Tamsen. I don't know of anyone else who gets so excited about parades! We went to her great-grandpa and grandma's house for the annual fourth of July parade. Tamsen was ready with her chair, her bag, some juice. No amount of coaxing could make her move away from that chair, even though it was probably 15-20 minutes before the parade was going to be to where we were.

She was so funny on the way to the parade. She said she wanted to ride on the float and throw candy. I guess she really did have fun on the float at the last parade. But once the parade started, she forgot all about riding on floats and had a great time getting candy, waving at the princesses, yelling "Go Aggies" and dancing to the music. This year, she even liked getting squirted by the water trucks! We had a fun time at the parade and left with about five pounds of candy!

Riding on the Float

Tamsen was so excited (and a little nervous) to get to ride on the float for her pre-school in one of the local parades. She was really excited to get to throw candy to everyone. I found out later that she ate about as much candy as she threw!

She had tons of fun and was so cute when she saw Nana and me toward the end of the parade. She threw lots of candy to us and her friends Summer and Stockton. And all the way home told us about all the friends she had seen along the parade route.

Tams Turns 4!

Tamsen got to celebrate her birthday four times. "Four parties because I'm four!" The first party was while her cousins and grandma and grandpa were here. The second party was actually a joint party with her uncle Lynn. He had a slip and slide and she and her cousins Halle and Riley had tons of fun playing on that and having a water balloon fight.


The third party was on her actual birthday. Her dad, grandma and nana came for dinner, then she opened presents and had cake. The cake was supposed to be Dora the Explorer in her fairytale-land princess dress, but Tamsen's Dora
doll accidentally went to California with Lexie. So we had to improvise and I attemped to make Dora's head. I guess I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon to become a cake decorator! Oh well, everyone gets a good laugh at the picture of the cake anyway!






Tamsen got roller skates from her grandma and grandpa and was SO excited to try them out. It's a good thing they came with knee and elbow pads! Her legs were going every which way! I guess we'll have to work on that!!
















Tamsen had a great time opening her presents -- and there was no shortage of those! She got some cute clothes, tons of princess toys and some books.

The last party was her party at school. She was happy because everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and she got to wear a crown all day! She's so excited to finally be four!!

Rain, Rain Go Away

When we got home from school, Tamsen begged to be able to go outside and jump in puddles. So, she went and got her boots and headed outside. She loved running up and down the gutter and jumping and splashing in the water. There was a really big puddle on the corner that she really liked wading in too.

After she came in and got dried off, she said, "Mom, I sure do love puddles!"

Beauty and the Beast

Eric, Lexie, Tamsen and I had front row seats for Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't quite sure how the girls would like would do, but they loved it. They were mesmerized from the start! They watched the whole thing, clapped whenever a song was sung. It was a pretty long play, almost 3 hours long, and they were so good for the whole thing.

When the play was finished, they wanted to get up on the stage, so here's Tams and Lex on the stage at the theatre. The characters were out in the foyer after the play, so Tamsen and Lexie waited patiently to get to see Belle and have her sign their programs.

After we had pictures with Belle, I asked if there was anyone else they wanted to get pictures with or talk to. They said no. When we got out to the car, Tamsen started crying and said that she didn't get to talk to any of the people from the play. I asked who she wanted to talk to, and she said "The Beast." So we hopped in the car, drove around the block and went back in the theatre. Luckily, the Beast was still there. So was Lumiere, so we got to have pictures with him too. Lumiere was my favorite in the play. He was so funny -- when the girls went to have their picture with him, he said, "Oh! It's my front row princesses!"
Luckily, we got to see the Prince/Beast too! And everyone went home happy. It was a really fun day!
I can't wait to see what the next one is. Hopefully, it will be something fun that Tamsen will like! I've really enjoyed taking her to the theatre and I'm glad she's enjoyed it too!

Tam's and Lex's Birthday Party -- April 2008

Eric, Lexie and Josh came to visit for a few days at the end of April. Since Tamsen and Lexie's birthdays are so close, we decided to have a birthday party for them. They were going to go see the play "Beauty and the Beast" on Saturday, so I decided to "attempt" to make a Belle princess cake. It turned out ok, but the frosting was a little soft and started to melt after about an hour. We had to hurry and sing "Happy Birthday" and light the candles before her skirt completely melted off!





It wasn't the prettiest cake, but it sure tasted good! Next time, I'll have to make my own frosting so it's a little stiffer!



Here's those cute girls with their beautiful lipstick and the Belle cake.



After doing cake and ice cream, we got to open presents. They each had presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and then their presents for each other. Tamsen was SO excited when she opened her gift from Eric, Meg, Lex and Josh. It was a Giselle barbie doll from her favorite movie "Enchanted".

Both Tamsen and Lexie got tons of stuff from Grandma and Grandpa -- and so Josh wouldn't feel left out, he got to open some presents too! The gift of the night was Lexie's cash register. They had so much fun "buying" all of their new birthday presents. It kept them busy until it was time for bed!