Entries Tagged as 'tessa'

Family Visit to Chicago

August 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment

This past weekend we had a bunch of my family down from Wisconsin for a visit to Chicago. My cousin Kelly, Jeff, Tessa and Charlotte came on Friday night and stayed over til Saturday. My parents and my Aunt Sue arrived on Saturday and stayed over til Sunday. My brother Richard, Amanda, Jessica, and Stephanie came down for the day on Saturday. We hung around on the roof deck, played bags, had a barbecue, and went to Palmer Square park. After a lot of people left, my dad and I played Mario Karts on the Wii and my mom and I and Dallas played Tetris on the Wii. Sunday morning my parents and my aunt and I went to brunch at Dunlay’s on the Square and then walked through the Logan Square Farmers Market. It was fun to have everyone down for a visit!

These photos are from Palmer Square. Except the last one of Charlotte, who didn’t go to the park. She wasn’t feeling well on Saturday but we did manage to get a few smiles out of her.

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Tessa

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Jessica

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Tessa

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Tessa and Jessica

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Dads trying to look cool.

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Jessica and Tessa

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Mom, Dad. Think dad is giving the finger on purpose. Kelly was trying to pose them & make them kiss. Not sure why.

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Kelly (due for baby #3 in a month!) and Rachelle. We kind of have WTF faces. My brother was taking the photo.

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Tessa

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Jessica

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Tessa

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Charlotte

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A Few Early Gifts

December 18th, 2008 · 1 Comment


Rachelle, Jessica, Tessa


Rachelle


Tessa & Chex Mix


Jessica


Tessa

I can never resist buying gifts for the children of our friends and close family. I get lost in a toy store, but love to pick out little outfits. I won’t see Kelly and Tessa again before Christmas so after the cookie party I gave Tessa a gift from Dallas and I. It was a surprise, but Tessa had a gift for us too. She is so cute about opening gifts this year. Of course, Jess wanted in on that action too, so even though I will see her this weekend to open gifts, I let her open a small present. Steph had to tough it out. She’s going to be 13 and is able to understand why not everyone gets to open their presents that day.

Of course, just opening a couple presents got Tessa and Jess so excited that they started looking at all the gifts under the tree and asking to open them too. Jess surprised me by not only knowing which ones were for her, but also being able to pick out Stephanie’s name and give gifts to her sister. I told her that this weekend when we open gifts she can pass them all out to people. She got really excited about that. When she was leaving I said, “I’ll see you next weekend and we’ll open all of the presents.” She said “And I get to pass them all out!” I think she was even more excited about looking at them all and passing them out than opening the gifts.. excited to the point that she actually said something to me! :) I think she’s kind of at a stage where she’s really inquisitive? Maybe? She really liked going through all of the Christmas ornaments when decorating the tree too.

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Jessica & Tessa

December 17th, 2008 · 2 Comments


Jessica


Jessica & Tessa


Jessica & Tessa


Jessica & Rachelle


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Jessica


Tessa & Jessica


Tessa & Jessica snuggling on the couch watching a cartoon

When my niece Jessica and my cousin’s daughter Tessa get together they are inseparable best friends. And both so cute! These photos were taken of them at the cookie party where the loved sampling all the treats, especially Caroline’s wreath cookies, and decorating the Christmas tree.

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Trimming the Tree

December 16th, 2008 · 3 Comments


Amanda & Jess getting the ornaments out


Jessica and Tessa


Jessica


Mom & Jess trying to reach the top of the tree


Amanda gets a chair


Jill, Tessa, Amanda, Jess, Kelly, Rachelle


Stephanie


O Christmas Treeeeee

Jessica and Tessa did a good job decorating the Christmas tree at the cookie party on Saturday. They only had help with the taller branches. It looks great. I think Jess had fun looking at all of the ornaments. She kept showing them to me to take a photo. They also made sure they put all the Packers ornaments in the front and hid all the Cowboys ornaments in the back.

Jess sure is still shy. It’s only when she is in the other room with playing with Tessa and my mom or Aunt Sue that she actually was talking. I have to keep reminding myself that even though she’s not talking it’s not that she’s not thinking or caring. Her brain is still going a thousand miles an hour, you can tell my her actions, even if she’s not saying anything. Hopefully someday she’ll snap out of it.

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2nd Annual Cookie and Tree Trimming Party

December 15th, 2008 · 13 Comments

On Saturday I hosted a cookie and tree trimming party. It was nearly ruined because I stayed out so late the night before at the Roundarch holiday party and I felt so sick on Saturday morning. It didn’t help that I got a call at 8:30 a.m. from our developer saying that the tile contractor was outside my door. Surprise! OMG. So, no sleep and a hangover. Luckily, my mom and my aunt Sue got to my house early and helped me clean and make appetizers and get everything ready. Otherwise, I’d have been laying there moaning on the couch unshowered in the middle of my messy house when my guests arrived. I could barely eat a cracker that my mom forced me to eat. I was so mad at myself for being such an idiot the night before. Luckily around 1 p.m. or so when everyone arrived at the party I started feeling better. I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to eat cookies at the cookie party, but it all worked out fine. I owe my mom and my aunt big time!

Anyway, on to the party – many of my friends and family came over and each brought a few dozen cookies. We laid all of the cookies out and sampled them over the course of a few hours.


Front: Amanda, Caroline, Jessica, Rachelle, Cory, Auntie Glenna, Auntie Laura
Back: Auntie Gail, Aunt Sue, Tessa, Kelly, Stephanie, Jill, Heather, Jen, Jessica
Not pictured: Mom, Kate


Dallas’ Family: Auntie Laura, Cousin Heather, Auntie Glenna, Cousin Cory, Cousin (sort of) Caroline, Auntie Gail


Cookies!


Jess & Kate

I also served a cheese plate and a mix of crackers, Lit’l Smokies (cooked in chili sauce and grape jelly – don’t knock it til you try it!), and tortilla wraps to counter-balance all the sweets. To drink we had hot apple cider (spiked or not) which I still make from Julene’s Chicagoist recipe.


Rachelle & Cory


Jen & Jill


Aunt Sue helping out the whole time (thanks!)

We passed time talking and eating. Tessa and Jess were playing around and so cute, they were sources of entertainment. Jess and Tessa had fun trimming the tree (I’ll have separate posts on that). I had “It’s a Wonderful Life” playing on the TV. Most people know that movie by heart, so I just played holiday music while the movie was muted. Last year I commented on how I only took a few photos of the cookies and didn’t take any photos of people. This year Stephanie was using my camera and really getting into it. I was helping to give her tips on basic photography like how to frame photos better and what to take photos of. She did a really good job and this year we have a ton of photos of the party. There will be several posts after this one.


Stephanie


Rachelle & Stephanie


More Cookies!

These are all the tasty treats we sampled:

  • Buckeyes (Jill)
  • Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies (Amanda)
  • Cashew Toffee Bars (Rachelle)
  • Chewy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (Heather)
  • Chocolate Covered Shortbread (Cory)
  • Cinnamon & Sugar Cookies (Auntie Glenna)
  • Coconut Joys (Mary/Mom)
  • Emma Cookies – cherries, chocolate chips, oatmeal (Jen)
  • Gingerbread Cookies (Rachelle)
  • Macadamia Cookies (Aunt Sue)
  • Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Aunt Sue)
  • Oatmeal Carmelita (Jess)
  • Peanut Butter Blossoms (Auntie Laura)
  • Peanut Butter Cookies (Auntie Gail)
  • Peanut Butter Cracker Dips (Mary/Mom)
  • Polish Cookies (Kelly)
  • Pumpkin Chip Cookies (Amanda)
  • Raspberry Cream Cheese Thumbprints (Amanda)
  • Rum Balls (Kelly)
  • Toffee Bars (Kate)
  • White Chocolate Covered Cranberries (Mary/Mom)
  • Wreath Cookies (Caroline)

The votes were really close last year so this year we did the voting a little differently. Instead of writing down the cookie you like best, everyone ranked their top 3 cookies. Steph and I tallied up the votes by giving a 1st place vote 5 points, a 2nd place vote 3 points and a 3rd place vote 1 point.


Jill carefully making her vote


Amanda helping Jess vote. Jess is pointing at her favorite cookie (the wreaths)


Some suspicious votes. Handwriting analysis is needed.


Vote tally

The results? In 3rd place were Jen’s Emma Cookies. In 2nd place was Jill’s Buckeyes. And the winner was Heather’s Chewy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. For winning Heather got a holiday spatula and oven mitt as well as Marth Stewart’s cookie cookbook.


Tessa helping Heather open her gift


Heather, Tessa, Jessica


Heather’s gifts

I think my cookie party was a success. It seemed like everyone had a great time. I’m already looking forward to next year’s party!

- Photos from the 1st Annual Cookie and Tree Trimming Party

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