Park date with my cutie

The weather has been awesome in the Lou!  Awesome!  My little cutie and I decided that a park day was in order.  We stopped by Einsteins so I could use the gift card I got in my Christmas stocking for a little free lunch --added bonus.  Except.....in true form, I walked right up and paid for my Tasty Turkey bagel sandwich instead of using the gift card.  Oops.  Guess I'll have to go back again.  That is soooo me.  Anywho, after dropping off several strollers, baby toys, and our wagon off at a consignment sale (yep, that means the end of the babies around here) Teal and I headed to the park.  We ate, talked and took in the sunshine and fresh air.  After the SEVERAL field trips cleared out of the playground, little girl ran around for a good hour going down every slide and hitting every ladder and monkey bar that the playground had to offer.  Like every good DSLR toting Mama, I may have forgotten to mention that I would also be holding a photo session.  This particular park has a section of old houses and barns. The perfect backdrop for good pictures while still offering up enough fun to make Tealie feel like she is still playing.  Score 1 for me!  Here is a sneak peak of some of the pics that I took.  I call this her Holly Hobbie dress.  Since the houses took us back in time, she also needed to be sporting these Laura Ingalls Wilder braids.

On the way home, this little girl chatted the whole way.  She was full of questions and comments, mostly about the sky. I love how a 4 year old's brain works.  Her line of questioning went a little like this:

"Mama, why is the sun following us?  You know the clouds look a lot like marshmallows.  Why is the sun so big?" and the kicker....."Which cloud is God sitting on?" 

To the fire station we go!

Preschool fieldtrips rock!  The chaos, the silly questions they ask, watching the teachers trying to enforce rules off-campus.....I love it all!  Here is a pic of my beautiful girl on her very first fieldtrip! 

The Lions Class



in the fire truck!



And.......the Tooth Fairy Wins!!!

We had a little bet going in our house before Christmas.  Rino had a loose tooth for almost a month!  It was REALLY loose for two of those weeks! Our little first grader wondered who would make it to our house first, The Tooth Fairy or Santa?  She thought Santa.

Fast forward to December 22.  It was the last day of school before Christmas Break.  I was in charge of running her school Winter Party (oy!) so I arrived at school about 1:30.  As I walked the familiar halls of her school, I passed my sweet little girl who was holding a tissue to her tooth and was on her way to the nurse's office. She was back to her classroom within 5 minutes with her tooth still intact.  Barely! Just. hanging. on.  Throughout the party, she kept coming up to me to show me how close it was to falling out.  "Look Mama" she would say each time.  The loose tooth thing kinda gives me the heebie jeebies.  Even on my cute little girl.  So I would say, "Yep, we're really close" each time while also reminding her NOT to put her germ ridden hands in her mouth for the 140th time.  Germaphobe here.  Especially in an elementary school classroom in December right before the holidays.  Let's stay healthy, k?

We wrapped up the party, packed up our boxes of party supplies and headed home where Papa was watching Tealie Bear so I could be at the party.  Papa is well versed in this loose tooth thing and this tooth had to go!  He said his typical, "Let me see that for a second" that I heard many times as a child and then pluck, it was out!  Now, here's where it gets tricky.  Rino and Tealie were planning on heading out to Grandma Nan and Papa's for a sleepover so hubby and I could  go out for a holiday fondue dinner with our neighbors. 

The poor Tooth Fairy was so confused.  Luckily, she diverted her route to G-Nan and Papa's and was able to remember the address of the previous 3 girls who lost many a tooth there (well, 2, I think I was beyond losing teeth when we moved there). 

Her pillow that G-Nan made for her long ago.

The Note - she was so worried about being able to keep her first tooth.

She looked at herself in the mirror for 15 minutes!

The goods

even got a note back from the Tooth Fairy!

So fun!  What an exciting part of childhood!  Oh, and since then, she's lost another!  Here's a picture of my toothless wonder! 

doppelganger....



Look at those perfect tiger stripes on her nose!





Tealie's doppelganger!







  

Rino Moments



Precious Moments Sleeping Beauty



Tom the comedian

Jimmy Kimmel





Me and Tealie Cat








Teri Polo





So recently, we discovered that our Tealie Bear has perfect little tiger stripes on her nose when she scrunches it all up. It's so cute! This may explain her crazy obsession with cats and why we have now dubbed her "Crazy Cat Lady"!!!  Anyway, this got me thinking about a fun little doppelganger post.  Ever since Rino was a baby, I have had several people tell me that she looks "just like a Precious Moments."  I know they are an outdated collectors item, but I kind of have to agree.  That fair skin and those pink cheeks and big eyes get me every time.  And that combo works even better on Daddy!  And Tom, his doppelganger is so right on, that he changed his facebook profile to Jimmy Kimmel's picture and nobody noticed!  Even the girls thought it looked just like him.  And mine, well that's another story.  I don't really have one.  I was told once by a waitress at Houlihan's that I look like Teri Polo from "Meet the Parents".  I was also told that I look like Meryl Streep by a strange man at the Dierbergs salad bar.  Uh, whaaaaa???  Thanks but I am not that old (and this was 6 or 7 years ago)!!!  Really, I look nothing like either one of them. While it's fun having a doppelganger,  I am fine being just me!  Oh, and props to Picnic on the "special effects" on my pictures.  The girls always have fun on that site!













Reeeepunzel, Reeeepunzel!!!! Let down your Hair!

This year Tealie wanted a Rapunzel themed birthday party and that's just what she got!!! 

The birthday girl with her blinged out braid

Bling your braid station

Some of the food (served in frying pans - Rapunzel's weapon of choice)

Apples for Maximus the Horse





Jello boats

LB demonstrating how to make a food tower

braided bread

excited 4 year old

pin the nose on Flynn Rider

more braid blinging action

They're singing to me!