Too cute for words...

Tabs and Prince Charming (aka daddy) enjoying a little Strawberry Shortcake on the TV.

On Monday we were watching the inaugural ball after dinner. As Alicia Keys began to play, Tabitha was mesmerized and though she was really cool. So it was then I encouraged her to get over to her piano and play.

While she did not serenade us, she did play a beautiful song.

Saturday...warm enough (40 degrees or so) for a wagon ride.

Monday...well we do live in Minnesota

Sesame Street Live!

I saw the ads on TV.  There's was no denying this one...I just had to take Tabitha to see Sesame Street Live.  I passed up Disney on Ice in late 2012 thinking she wasn't old enough for a show, but then I remembered how well she sits for performances and how her teachers said she listens so well at story time and during chapel.  So, I did it.

Patiently waiting for the live characters

Since James was gone for the weekend, I invited my parents, sister and niece to come with.  All agreed to coming and so I ordered the tickets.  I didn't tell Tabitha until the week of.  I knew she still doesn't understand the concept of time yet and so I didn't want her thinking that we were going then and there.  As I told her about it she got really excited...saying how she was going to see Elmo, Abby, Grover, and Big Bird.

We arrived a little early knowing that there were some live character appearances before the shown and opportunities to take pictures.  We got in just in time to see the last character appearance.  Tabs was facing away from me, so I didn't get to see her face as Ernie, Zoe and Cookie Monster walked in, but based upon her smile afterwards she was excited.  Tabs had a great time going around and taking pictures at different stations and along with her cousin.

Next came the performance.  Tabitha was excited as I explained the stage and that Elmo would be down there dancing and singing.  Throughout the performance she happily laughed, clapped and danced with her arms to the music.  She also kept trying to tell Abby Cadabby (not her auntie Abby) that Elmo had her wand.  Tabitha was a star at keeping still and paying attention.  I guess we'll be attending more of these in the future :)

Here are some photos from the day:

Zoe--up close and personal!

Having' fun!

Abby and Emma!

Happy Emma!

In Big Bird's nest

Hands in the pockets

Tabitha was soooooo excited this morning when she saw her pants had pockets in them. She proceeded to walk throughout the house with her hands in them. She also had to tell her teachers all about it, too.

I must admit....it was pretty cute.

The mustache

I'm not sure where Tabitha picked this up from (my answer is school) but now she thinks its funny to put her finger under her nose and say mustache. It's pretty amusing and sometimes we will just be driving along when all of a sudden from the back seat she will shout out "mustache"!

Tabitha also enjoys doing this on other people. For example, we were in church on Sunday and during prayers she pulled my hair into my face and put it under my nose and said "mustache". Luckily it wasn't too loud.

Here's her best imitation of a mustache.

A picture a day

I decided that I would try something this year to see how Tabitha grows and changes.  This idea came after I saw the huge difference in how she looked from early 2012 to the end of the year.  The change was really noticeable when I looked at her one year photos and her two year photos.

Each day this year I am going to take a picture of her.  Other than on January 1 I've done great at remembering.  I think sometimes I get so caught up in the daily routine that I forget to see how Tabitha changes.  I've been good at keeping up her baby book with her big milestones, and I am hoping this blog will help remind me of everything else, but just watching her change is totally different.

I don't know what I'll do with the pictures at the end of the year, but I have a little while to think about it!

January 2

January 3

January 4

January 5

January 6

January 7

January 8

January 9

January 10

January 11

No longer a toddler

This week was the big move. Tabitha is no longer considered a toddler at daycare, and she has now entered the young preschool room.  It's hard to believe that her time at daycare is nearly half over already.  She's been there a little over two years and has a little over two and a half left before she starts kindergarten (that's assuming she starts when she's five, but I'll leave that to another post).

Tabitha seemed happy and excited about the move up.  She now gets M&Ms for going potty like a big girl, gets to play on the big playground outside and now eats in the big lunch room.  Tabitha moved up with some of her friends from her toddler room and she also knows a lot of the kids already in the room, so it wasn't foreign.

One of my big concerns was for her reaction to a male teacher.  In general she's been more shy with men than she has with women.  Once she gets to know them, then it's fine, so I wasn't completely sure how she would be with this teacher.  Tabs has seen him in the hallway, but that is different than having him for a teacher.  Earlier in the week she had been spending an increasing amount of hours in her new classroom, but Thursday was the big day where drop off and pick up were in the "Cricket" room.  On Thursday I dropped her off with the male teacher there...a little worried about her reaction to him, the fact that she was the first one there, and the thought of me leaving for work worried me more than I should have.  We walked in and he asked her a question, and to my amazement she answered right away and was not shy.  As I left the two of them were off to play.  Pickup yesterday calmed by nervousness even more, as the first person she hugged goodbye was him.

James and I have said that we can no longer call Tabitha a baby, and now we can no longer call her a toddler.  She's growing up way too fast....

A picture emailed  to me yesterday from one of her teachers.  Playing dress up is one of her favorites!

As I walked into daycare tonight I was reminded (jokingly) that my daughter attends a Christian based daycare. As soon as I was told this I knew exactly why this was being told to me (again jokingly).

See...Tabitha is obsessed with Cinderella. When I say obsessed, I mean obsessed. We've watched the movie that she got for Christmas at least 10 times. In fact we are watching it right now. As she's trying to better understand the story, Tabs keeps asking who is who. As you may recall one of the supporting actors is the cat. And can you remember the cat's name? Yep...that's right....Lucifer. Tabs asked me on the way to daycare today what the cat's name was. Not thinking about it I replied Lucifer. As soon as I said it I knew it was a bad idea. And I was right...she repeated the name Lucifer all day long. Of course the entire staff knows her obsession so they knew exactly what she was referring to.

Oh...just another funny story to add to Tabitha's list!

The strange things that Fred-the-cat does....

Fred is strange...just look at these pictures

He lays in the dryer (yes, that is why we always have fur on our clothing

Crams himself into a shoebox

Licks curtains

Hides under tables

Sits in manly poses

Sits in the Diet Coke box

Manages to get himself into the cabinets

Sleeps in strange positions

Hum...

Goes to Army with daddy (okay, sits in his bag)

Stares at the fish screensaver

More boxes

Jumps on the ledge

Dresses up for Christmas

Baskets

Climbs Mt. St. Helens (haha...just kidding, I inserted Fred's image into the photo to satisfy my uncle's question if Fred climbed with us)

A busy (but very merry) Christmas

Since Tabitha's been born, we've been pretty laid back when it came to Christmas.  There hasn't been much hustle or bustle in the past, but this year we decided to go all out!

Our 2012 Christmas adventures started on December 23.

James and Tabitha started the day out with some yummy cinnamon rolls!

Then, James opened his gift from Tabitha.

Tabs then took a nap (an early nap in an unusual location) before it was time to head over to grandma and grandpa's house.

We spent the rest of the day at my parents house meeting our new niece, Emma, and eating yummy food and opening lots of gifts (more pictures of that to come soon).

On Christmas Eve we braved the airport, which to our surprise there weren't many people flying, and headed off to Indiana to see James' parents.  Tabitha once again proved that she is a super-star flyer.

It always helps of course to dress her up in a tutu and in a cute hairbow.  She loved having her own seat this time!

Once we got to Indiana, lots of time was spent reading books and acting silly!

Tabs practiced her photography skills and learned what ham salad was!

She saw all of her aunts, uncles and cousins (but was partial to her Uncle Steve!).

On the 26th Indiana saw lots of snow, so James donned "King" and snowblowed the driveway.  Once that was complete, we went out shopping only to learn all of the stores, but the grocery store were closed due to the snow.  So, we took it in stride and made the best out of finding things to do at the grocery store.

We headed home on the 27th, and came to find that Santa visited while we were away.  The look on Tabitha's face was priceless!  We went to work and daycare on the 28th, and rested for part II of our Christmas adventures.

I love the thumbs up (and yes, she did pose pink baby there)

On Saturday we headed back to the airport and got on a plane...this time to St. Louis where our niece was getting baptized!

We enjoyed lunch at Steak 'n Shake, dinner at Outback and a peaceful evening.  Sunday we were up and ready to head to the church for an enjoyable morning with family!

Can you see the look in their eyes...these two spell trouble in the future!

After brunch on Sunday we headed back to the airport and finally made it home after a forgotten carseat on the jetway (don't worry...we retrieved it).  

Finally we made it home where we enjoyed our new toys and just relaxed!  

It was a crazy, busy Christmas, but one we will never forget!