Tess on skis!

Today, Dad's lifelong dream came true as he took his girl (Tess for now, Nora soon to follow!) skiing for the first time. We're in mountainous Maryland (who knew?!) to ring in the New Year with Papa Art, Grandma and Uncle Mark. Tess hit the slopes with the boys (ok, and me too) this afternoon. She was a trooper, especially given that we went during what should have been nap time. Nothing that a few M&Ms couldn't fix.  By the end, she was skiing by herself!*
*Well, for a few seconds anyway.  You'll see below.

Getting her fitted for her ski boots

With Dad 

With Papa and Uncle Mark... ready to go! 

On the escalator lift 

Uncle Mark 

Learning how to slow down 

So good now, she can get tricky 

Can you tell that it's time to leave?

Now for the real thing!

This time with Papa...

Getting better...

Now by herself!

And now she falls.

Practically Perfect in Every Way

Last night, Tess, Meena and I went to see Mary Poppins at the Detroit Opera House.  It was wonderful!  Tess was in heaven.  She reported that her favorite parts were "Step in Time, when the little bird flew away, and Let's Go Fly a Kite."  It was a long show, but she was riveted the whole time. 

With her new Mary Poppins doll 

Reading the program waiting for the show to start 

Just to give you an idea, here is a snippet of "Step in Time" from the Mary Poppins cast as they appeared on Dancing With the Stars a few months ago:

Nora's Birthday Recap

Now that Christmas is over, we have time to go back and revisit Nora's birthday extravaganza... and make sure you've allotted yourself enough time to read this post, as you're going to need it.  It's a long one.

Nora was a lucky girl to have so many people come to help celebrate her birthday.  Not only did Grandma Muriel and Papa Art come to town, but so did Uncle Mark and Aunt Sally and Uncle Mike (from Chicago) and all of our family and friends from closer to home.

We had her party on December 11 and she LOVED her cake, not to mention all of the fabulous gifts she received!

Pretty girl in her party dress

With Dad

And Mom too 

With Meena and Papa 

With Grandma and Papa 

With Great Grandma 

With Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

With Uncle Mark

With Uncle Brendan and Debie 

With her Godparents, Uncle Brendan and Aunt Sally

With Mary 

Chris and Baby Ellen

Uncle Bill and Aunt Jane 

With her BFF Charlie! 

Nikki and Will 

Miss. Mackenzie

Kate and Ben enjoying their cake 

With Papa 

The BFFs are reunited once again 

Ready for cake! 

Tess is helping to blow out the candle 

Sticky hands in the eyes and hair.  Perfect. 

Gift time.  Check out her face when she saw Minnie.  True love. 

Such a fun party! 

Now here are the last of the Birthday Bear pictures for a while.  For her grand finale, we really had to work for it. She certainly didn't make it easy. Let me show you what I mean...

The final product:

And for the outtakes: 

It wasn't until I saw these that I realized she was still wearing half of her dinner (likely squash) on her face.  And up her nose.

Now for her professional one year pictures:

And last but not least, her one year stats:

• Weight:  22 lbs 1 oz (60th percentile)
• Length:  30" (90th percentile)
• Head:  48 cm (off the charts!) 

Currently, her favorite things are:

• Walking, walking everywhere
• Climbing the stairs, preferably when no one is looking
• Playing with her sister
• Bath time and splashing
• Swim lessons with Dad - and more splashing
• Pulling her sister's hair
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!
• Eating, eating, eating

What a fast and exciting year its been.  It's so unbelievable and bittersweet that Nora is already one!