I suppose a person ought to say something intelligent and thought provoking in a blog... so Tess proposes that a person think about all the joy that can be found in a large cardboard box with a "window" cut in the side. Apparently if a person is in the right frame of mind, such a thing can provide hours of entertainment, although Tess found that it only provided about 15 minutes each of entertainment for the adults in her life.

I know I have said this before, but it seems like she learns a new word or concept everyday. She now says "shhhh" and puts her finger by her mouth. She likes to have her toys (and grandpa) go "night-night" and once she gets them covered up with a blankie, she "shhhhh's" everyone else. Animal noises are also high on the list - when she spoke with Grandma Ann on the phone, all she would say is "woof, woof, woof"

It is finally beginning to look like spring around here and we have seen hints of green grass on our walks and some wild strawberry vines peeking up in the wildflower bed. Tess is looking forward to the arrival of "be-be" calves and even a "be-be" horse this year.

I will dust off the camera again, as I owe everyone some photos.

Time flies, I can't believe it is more than 1/2 way through Feburary already. I have been lazy with the camera recently so I don't have any new pictures, and at this point, a person needs to take a picture of Tess almost everyday she changes so much.
So, what have we been up to? Tess likes to talk on the phone now, but only if no one is actually on the other end. But, she likes to push the buttons, so if you get a call and no one is there, its probably Tess playing with speed dial. Since it has been a tad bit warmer, she can go outside again and she is getting braver and braver about going for walks and exploring the outside. But, she is also beginning to believe that she can just walk right under horses and such.
Eric and I both had sentencings for federal cases on Valentines day, not very romantic, and always hard. We went to a wine tasting this weekend and that was fun. The more wine I drink, the more I discover I know absolutely nothing about it. Eric was out riding horses today and my dad delivered a new one, so if the weather holds, Eric will be busy. I used the holiday to catch up on my mystery quilt group project.

Ride 'em cowgirl

A common activity in our household... If she is not riding her rocking horse "woody", she is riding dad's saddle, or her saddle, or grandpa's saddle or looking out the window at the horses, or helping dad feed the horse, or thinking about horses.
Tess got to go visit her friend Cole in Laramie this weekend and go to the 4-H carnival. Cole walked right up to her to say hi and Tess just started crying real tears. I guess dad had always told her to watch out for boys. But, by the evening her and Cole were sharing Thomas the train toys and she decided that he wasn't so bad after all.

Look at these extravagant prizes! Fabulous merchandise just waiting to be won today on "Wheeeeeellll of Fortune". A white coral & diamond pendant! A holiday in Mallorca, Spain! A barbecue! Total retail value: over $44,000!.

The whole fam-damily

As promised, finally, here is the picture of the gang. It is hard to get us all to smile at once.

We had a very nice Christmas. We had stew and presents at the Curtis house on Christmas eve and Tess got tons of presents. Grandma and Grandpa Palen got snowed and iced in but braved the roads Christmas morning and made it in time for lunch at Herb and Phyllis's with family and neighbors. Tess really got into ripping wrapping paper, so it was a fun Christmas, and we were lucky to get to spend it with family and friends.

Tess is learning new words and actions. She surprises us every day. She now knows one-two-three, Up-Down, and loves to open and shut doors. We spent ALOT of time closing the door, knocking on it, coming in and saying hi, then saying bye and going out and shutting the door. OVER and OVER. She also loves to feed the dogs and tell them to "dit" or "down." I think Spike thinks life has hit a new low when he has to get bossed by a 1.5 year old to get a treat.

Happy new year!

Bronco's excitement

For sale: One slightly used Bronco cheerleader type jumper size 18 mo. Also used as sleeper since sleeping is more exciting and less aggravating than actually watching the game.

Survivor

Tess and Grandma and Grandpa Curtis have survived four days together and I haven't seen any bruises. Everyone has memorized 13 minutes of Thomas the Train and had their fill of imaginary tea. In the mornings Grandpa and Tess checked the cows and the perimeter of the ranch, and no one got voted off the island. Eric and I went to Vegas where they still have enough money to keep the neon lights on and now can probably afford to build some more.

Tess is growing faster and faster. She is learning new words and things all the time. Currently she is working on her "EEZ" suc as Cheese, Please, and Peas. She is also learing more animal sounds like Moo and Woof. Also I am running out of body parts to teach her, she knows knees and elbows and chin along with all her face parts. She loves her shoes and taking baths -- although baths are a great drama at either of her Grandma's houses.

I have found some of my Christmas decorations from the move, and the fed ex man brought me some cards today. Tess had her picture taken at Thanksgiving and a have a new scanner so next post I will try to put in some of her Christmas pictures.

Dyn-O-Mite

Tess had a very nice Thanksgiving in Saratoga, although she didn't eat anything but grapes and tried her best to keep her mom from enjoying any turkey either. But she found lots of horses and puppies at her grandparents house in Saratoga, as well as deer out the windows.

Eric and I have been very busy these past few weeks, as it seems everyone is trying to get things done before the end of the year. Eric went to Charlottesville with the guard for a week earlier this month. I went to a quilt retreat down the road for a day and a half. WE've both been traveling for federal cases. As Kermit de frog would say---Times fun when you're having flys.

Boo!

Tess was either a ghost, a nun, or a KKK knight for Halloween. We prefer ghost.

Tess would like to remind all her friends to vote early and often for the canidates of your choice. Your vote counts, after all, the mayoral election in Glendo this spring was decided by one vote.

Proof

Eric has been spreading a rumor around Cheyenne that Tess does not have a Halloween costume. This of course is not true and the following is proof that Halloween preparations are happening at our house.



Pumpkin carving.....

You will note the oraange envelope in the hands. This is in fact one of two Halloween cards Tess has received from both sets of her loving Grandparents. She is delighted!

And yes, she has a costume, a home made costume, but it is a costume. She will be trick-or-treating for Unicef and has her box ready to go. Pictures will surely follow.

What's for Dinner?

Examining the Silver Palate Desserts cookbook after dinner, although hot dogs are always her favorite food.
She is learning, or at least mimicing new words every day. But the latest additional word that she know is NO. It usually follows the question "Shall we put your Jammie's on?" or "I think its time for night-o night-o." Those statements will for sure generate a "No." I would prefer the addition, of "Yes please, mother dear" to her vocabulary, but I guess I will have to wait awhile for that.
She loves to put on her shoes and socks and loves the outdoors. It was a beautiful fall day yesterday so we were able to spend some time playing on her slide (Thanks Gena!), in the sandbox (Thanks Uncle Herb) and with the horses and dogs. She is walking along with us on our dog walks rather than ride in her stroller a little more each evening.
I read somewhere that blogs were as excruciating as a year-long Christmas letter, but I guess you can always click somewhere else.

Only 16 months later, I've finished one of the baby quilts I started working on before Tess was born. I have added some pictures for my quilting buddies. It has embroidery in the center of each block with animals, blocks, rattles etc. in the border it has her name and birthday. It was fun to work on, the color is prettier than it seems in the photos.

Tess went to her developmental screening last week. She passed with flying colors, although just as soon as she was showing them her perfection of one skill they wanted to move on to the next. She wished they could have spent more time on the eating cheerios skill check. She had her hearing tested and pictures taken of her eyes. She is learning more words each day and loves to go outside. Her favorite toy now is a ball and her dad brought her two balls from the National Guard last weekend.

Baby's Best Friend

Spike is just to busy to stop and get his picture taken, and he is smart enough to get out of Tess's way. Cooper on the other hand, is delighted to have someone with as many toys as he does. Although he looks a little suspicious in this photo.
Tess got to spend the first of this week with her grandparents Curtis while mom and dad went to Estes Park for a CLE class and a little R&R. We saw plenty of elk in Estes and the crowds weren't so bad this time of year. Eric had just been in Evanston all of last week for the public defender seminar, and is off to national guard drill this weekend, all this on top of his "normal" travel to Wheatland and Douglas will make him happy to stay in one place for a while I imagine.

Child emerges from cabinet after 10 seconds in captivity...

Please don't call DFS, she actually LIKES getting in the cabinet.

No pictures, just words this week. Fitting because Tess spent last weekend at the Mountains and Plains booksellers trade show in Denver, helping (?) Grandma Curtis. While in Denver, she pretty much perfected use of a spoon or fork, although she used the utensil to carefully remove from her plate what she didn't want (hamburger) and her fingers to eat what she did want (watermelon.) She also was the highlight of the party when she kicked it up on the dance floor to the honky tonk music of Ethyl and the Regulars. She picked out a tonka truck and other toys while she was in the big city. Her and dad like to play ball and all else is well .

Busy as a Bee

Tess has been busy! Over Labor Day weekend, she went to the Denver Zoo with mom and Grammy Curtis. She enjoyed looking at all the wild critters and the wilder people. She understood to find the animals, but almost every animal is a "cow" in her book. She also got to ride on the "choo" train and the carousel. She rode the hyena, and was impressed.

This weekend she was able to attend the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame induction and honor her Great Grandfather Doc Palen who not only was a lifelong supporter of Frontier Days, but was also the resident vet and vital to the acquisition of many of the carriages and other items within the Old West Musuem. Afterwards she shared some blueberry pie and apple brown betty with her Grumpa and Grandma Palen.

While in Cheyenne, she visited Dr. Yost who confirmed she is the perfect 15 month old, weighing in at 23 pounds and 31 inches, she is in the 50% percentile. Her head circumference, however, is the 90th percentile, which surely means she has lots of brains.

The Grass is Always Greener

We have confirmed that Tess says "hot." Normally it takes a few days for me to verify that she really does understand that she is using a certain word properly and "hot" has now passed the test. Actually, "hot" is a pretty good word for a baby to understand. "Hot" and "Hi" are the words that she consistently uses. This is likely good news for "Horse" and Uncle "Herb."

Legos in, Legos out

Uncle Brian came to visit and Tess schooled him on taking Legos out of the bucket and then putting them back in the bucket. Tess didn't really appreciate the beauty of Brian's lego art and delighted in tearing it down - but he forgave her. We were happy to have Brian and Maggie visit for a day or two.
Tess also got to see her Wisconsin friends Alex, Jackson, Peyton and Christian. This was the week for visiting.
Tess is walking quite a bit now on her own, or should I say, she strolls around like she owns the place.

Emu's and Wallabys and Heifers, oh my!

Tess went to the state fair today. The highlight for her was the petting zoo and especially the pot bellied pig. She held dad's hand and walked around and pointed at all the animals. As we drive, she points out all the cows and horses she sees, although she normally says "choo" which is also the word for train. She also checked out the quilts with mom and the hay show with dad, and visited gramma at authors day. We had a little bbq with our dirt for lunch, catered by our friend who also did the food at our wedding. We enjoyed the lamb chops so much we decided next time we get married we will have lamb.

Birthdays!

Sunday was Shane's 2nd birthday in Cheyenne and Tess was very happy to try chocolate cake. What is a birthday party (or wedding) without pictures of messy cake? Shane's momma Gena was Tess's babysitter when we were in Cheyenne and was GREAT.
If you look carefully in the picture at the bottom, you can barely see the two new top teeth that have recently appeared.