Five years old!

Can you even believe it?  Tess is 5 years old!  What happened to my little baby?

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Four

Baby no more - instead she's enrolled in full day kindergarten in the fall.  She never ceases to amaze us with her creativity, her complex thought process which usually results in excellent questions, her generous nature most typically displayed when interacting with Nora, and most of all, her humor.  For instance, while in church today, I overheard her whisper to Nora in a not-so-quiet whisper, while holding a note pad and a crayon... "Nora, we need to do your picks... Michigan State or Florida?" (In case you're wondering, Nora chose Florida.  And then I quickly but the kibosh on this as the people around us don't need to know that we're betting on basketball at home... and our five year old is actively involved.)

Last Sunday was Tess' birthday party for her school friends.  We had it at A Step Outside the Box, a girlie party place that is like a little slice of heaven if you're five years old.  (Or the parent of a five year old that doesn't have to host the party at home!)  The theme was Pinkalicious!

Grandpa Art and Grandma Muriel even came to celebrate!

Tess and her friend, Addisyn (who came decked out in pink hair!)

Tess and Maxie getting manicures

Nora too!

Pinkalicious galore

Pinky cupcakes with custom designed Tess-alicious fairies

Reading Pinkalicous!

Craft time

This party wasn't fun at all

Snack time.  

Snacks included nutritious cotton candy, healthy nachos and cheese, a protein packed chocolate fountain and wholesome pink cupcakes!

Dance time

Nora's cotton candy rejection face.  Are you kidding me?!

Present time!

Saying thank you to BFF Kadie for the best birthday presents ever!

Finally, a BFF reunion!

Now, for her REAL birthday!

Tess and her beloved Birthday Bear are five today!  (as is this blog!)

We had a bowling party after school on her birthday, with Meena, Papa, Grandma Mary and Uncle Michael.

Victory strut

New Tinker Bell earrings from Meena!

Tiger jackets from Meena and Papa.  The funniest things ever.

Candle time

Success!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Florida vacation

So, we're back after a long hiatus!  Sorry for the blogging sabbatical... we went to Florida in February and somewhere between France and Morocco (at Epcot, of course), I learned that upon my return from Florida, I was going to be leaving my law firm of 11 years and opening up a new, my own firm.  Long story, but needless to say, the over 800 pictures we took on our trip didn't get any love until now!  So here they are!  And there are a bunch more posts in the hopper to be posted soon to help bring us up to date.

Over President's week, we went on a trip to Florida with Papa, Meena and Uncle Michael.  And Michael's friend, Stacey, even joined us halfway through.  So fun! 

Nap time on the way to the airport

Nora was obsessed with pulling her Dora bag around the airport.

DAY ONE

Sunshine at last!

Hitting balls with Papa (yes, Papa is prepared no matter where we are)

At the Disney Boardwalk

Uncle Michael (who learned to shoot from me) was lucky to win the girls some basketballs

DAY TWO:  The Magic Kingdom
  
Tourists?  What tourists?

Sleeping Beauty

Belle

Cindy

Minnie and Mickey!

New hats!

During the street parade, one of the dancers came up and stood next to Tess for a while, even grabbing her hand.  Tess never noticed.

Carousel

One of the highlights of my life thus far... Mary Poppins!

Larry Poppins with Mary Poppins

Where in the world?

With Meena on the boat ride

Don't ask

Teacups!

Tess being a stick-in-the-mud, turned Astro Dale down for a dance

Nora has taught Meena how to do "the face"

Magical!

 DAY THREE:  Putt-putt

Ok, so I must set this up...
This is Nora's first time playing putt-putt in her life.  And this is her first hole.

And here she goes...

And no I am not kidding -- hole in one.
The only one that any of us got all day.

Nora's reaction:

My attempt at real photography on the golf, er putt-putt course.

Little Chi-Chi

That night we went to Downtown Disney.  At the little amphitheater, there was a DJ playing music and tons of people were dancing, including Tess and Nora.  At some point, he came over and told us that they were selected to come up on stage.  Here they are with the other "selectees."

He called each group up one by one and talked to them and had them dance as part of a contest.  The audience voted at the end.  Out of all the groups, he left Tess and Nora for last... which means they waited about 20 minutes until their turn.  It was just long enough that they were spent by the time it was their turn.  Nora fizzled out just before he called them.  Here is where she is realizing it is almost their turn...

Then he called them up to dance.

DAY FOUR:  Blizzard Beach Water Park

This is Summit Plummet, a 12-story slide that goes up between 50-60 mph.
No, I didn't ride it. But Daddy did!

And Michael too!

After Summit Plummet, Uncle Michael decided to stick to the slides in Tike's Peak.

This is one that we rode a lot, along with Tess.  In this picture, Tess is all the way to the left, then there is Dad and Michael.

Sorry Uncle Michael, I don't have any pictures of the one time you won the race.

Here comes Tess!

DAY FIVE:  Boardwalk

Oh, Nora's Florida hair, I love you.

DAY SIX:  Epcot and Princess Breakfast at Akershus (in Norway)

And look who's here!

Overlooking the Eiffel Tower

Revving up for the face...

Bam!

There was a grand march through the restaurant and Nora had the honor of holding Cinderella's hand.

Nora and Cinderella must have become good buddies, as Cindy even let Nora cop a feel a bit later.

AND she went in for a kiss!

With Ariel

Nora needs to find a new hand placement.  These poor princesses must get this all day long.

Marie in France

Jasmine and Aladdin in Morocco

Uncle Michael was looking for a picture with Jasmine, but Aladdin screwed it up.

Mulan in China

Goofy

Tess officially started a pin collection at Epcot, courtesy of Papa.  Stacey and Uncle Michael really helped to build her collection too.  Just don't try to discuss the whole "pin trading" concept with her.  She's a little too attached to her pins at this point.

DAY SEVEN:  Going home.  Boo.

Future Flight Attendant Extraordinaire

The Three Stooges

Such a fun trip!