Time for Fall

Fall has been pretty busy for us, Tess started Pre-K this year and it’s been pretty different for her. She has gone from a fun all the time experience at daycare to a very structured learning experience at school. I wanted to take a first day of school picture but the only way she would let me take a picture of her was if I let her take a picture of me also, so we both had a first day of school picture.

We had a couple more Astros’ games 
to go to and Tess was disappointed a couple times because they had the kids play area closed. They had the area closed for a long time this year because they were waiting on a part, one afternoon we consoled her by letting her sit on the Astros Pig and taking a picture. She was a little apprehensive at first but by the end of it she didn’t want to get down. She loves stopping by Astros Mickey and always remembers him and wants to stop by and say hello, now if mom and I can remember which end of the ballpark he is at we wouldn’t have to walk so much. We are looking forward to another season of baseball and teaching Tess more about America’s favorite pastime.

One afternoon on my way home from work I noticed a huge column of smoke and wondered to myself what could that be and then thought hmm that sucks for the people it impacts. Little did I know those “people” would be me. There was a Power Plant that caught on fire which means they had to cut the power until they put the fire out. Clayton was at work so it was just Tess and I, and we had power for all of 15 minutes when I got home. I looked through the pantry for something to eat and we had a little picnic. We played some games and I realized that it was starting to get dark and the power was still not on so we needed to start getting ready for bed or we were going to be doing it in the dark. Tess was excited because she carried the lantern around after the house started to get dark. Right after Tess went to bed the power came back on and I had to walk around the house and turn off all the lights that we had left on. It was a nice quiet evening without the modern comforts we are used it. It’s about as close to camping as this girl is going to get.

We took a trip up to Bedford to visit the family in September and took Tess on her first Putt Putt experience. She was not that thrilled with the golfing part but was super pumped about the games afterwards.

She did pretty well, except she likes to swing the club around once she is done putting.

One night when I was getting ready for bed I looked in the monitor and I realized that Tess had fallen asleep while petting Lexi. Lexi started sleeping with Tess awhile back and it works well for both of them, Lexi likes to sleep on the bed and Tess likes a companion. Some nights when I am putting both of them in bed Tess tells me she is not tired and doesn’t want to go to bed and I will tell her she can pet Lexi for a minute but she needs to get back under the sheets and lay on her pillow so both her and Lexi can go to bed. I guess this night she was a little more tired than she originally thought.

Tess is doing great at school, we get these little picture updates from her teacher sometimes showing us what they are working on. I can’t believe my baby is going to be in kindergarten next year. 

Rosy

We have a really cute new member of our family… Rosy Harris. We were running errands and had to make a quick stop at the pet store. Clayton ran over to the fish section to pick up a couple things and Tess and I went to see the puppies and kitties, it was adoption day. Tess likes to tell all the animals’ hello and then goodbye and we usually leave the pet store without a new pet. This time I saw a puppy that looks like a puppy version of Lexi and I showed Clayton, big mistake. He couldn’t leave, we got in the car and we were pulling out but he could not leave the parking lot. I went back in and started the paperwork. We brought her home that day and we now have 3 puppies.

Rosy has actually been wonderful for our family. Lexi isn’t quite sure she wanted a puppy but Toby who was looking old plays with her constantly. Rosy has done really well with potty training, the only thing that she loves to do that I wish she wouldn’t is bring all her toys outside. It’s not like she plays with the toys outside, she just brings them in and out and then leaves them outside. We have to do a sweep every night and bring in all the toys.

We are done with animals in the Harris Family, 3 dogs and 1 fish is my limit.

Keeping Busy

Back in September we went to Anthony’s birthday party at this trampoline park. We had seen this place in passing and kept meaning to stop by but never had the time. The kids had so much fun playing in the ball pit, jumping on the trampolines, and running the obstacle course.

There was this really cool slide that lead into the ball pit, once the kids found this slide you couldn’t get them off of it.

Tess took a good nap after this outing, we have been back when Tess has had some extra energy that we need her to jump out.

Grandparent Visit

Back in July Nana and PawPaw came to town and visited. Granny came also but she stayed in Houston with some family. Saturday night the boys went to the Astros game and the girls went to the movies. We saw the new Ice Age movie, it was like all the other Ice Age movies but Tess enjoyed it.

After the Movie we stopped for a quick Ice Cream Treat. Our Family loves Ice Cream, we usually have some sort of ice cream in the freezer but it’s a special treat to go to an ice cream shop. Tess always picks out Chocolate Ice Cream and some sort of Chocolate mix in, this child loves her chocolate.

On Sunday we ventured out to the Children’s Museum. The outside of the museum hasn’t changed much since I have been but the inside has completely changed. We got there when the museum opened so we missed most of the crowds. Tess has a ton of fun running around looking at everything and trying everything out.

There was this one section where you could build things and knock them down, I think her daddy, PawPaw and Tess enjoyed this room the most.

Overall the museum was a nice outing for the family and we had a fun weekend with family. 

Built-in Shelving

Clayton and I realized after Tess’s birthday that we needed a lot more storage upstairs for all her toys and nick knacks. We looked around and I could not decide on anything that I really wanted and one night he looked at me and said well I could build you something, I think he regretted saying it right after it came out of his mouth. My simple shelving unit morphed into a built-in that took up most of one wall in our upstairs play room.

I took a week off from work and Clayton and I started the process of building our built-in shelving unit. The whole process took about 3 days and it was nice because we had the Olympics on the whole time. We also painted the playroom and decided to rearrange things while we were up there.

I still have some knick-knacks to buy for the top shelves but I am pretty pleased with how the unit turned out. Tess loved it, she kept wanting to go upstairs and play in her pretty room. She thanked Clayton and I so many times for making her play room so pretty for her. 

A goalkeeper cannot win a game, he can only save it.

For the second year in a row the Texas Fire Fighter Games was in Conroe. Tess hung out with my parents while I hung out with Clayton. 

It was a hot couple of days. There were 3 Houston teams again this year and they had to combine the Division 1 and Division 2 because they made an over 35 Division. This caused some confusion for day 2 when games were changed and led to Houston playing Houston for 3rd place in Division 1 even though there was only 1 Houston Division 1 Team.

The last game was not a good game for Houston but the two days overall were fun. Clayton and I had fun on our mini vaca in Conroe. 

Summer...

We have had a pretty busy summer, it seemed to pass us by and in no time it was time for school to start again. Tess had to go to the Doctor for her 4 year old check-up. We really like her Doctor and the nursing staff. She had a lot of energy that day and was bouncing off the walls and the nurse didn’t miss a beat. I am pretty sure everyone could hear her outside our room and the doctor walked in and got her to calm down a little bit but not much. We had to get shots this year and she was not happy, we got ice cream after and everything was fine. These shots must have hurt because she walked a little funny for a couple of days after but she never complained.

One of the things that filled our time was field trips at school, in Tess’s new class they take trips outside of the school. She went on her first field trip this summer, it was to CiCi’s Pizza but she thought it was the coolest thing ever.

We have played Dress-up, she randomly comes downstairs in different outfits and wants me to either take pictures of her or to help her complete her outfit. She loves her dress up clothes and we sometimes add different items like wands and tiaras to the pile.

We also have spent time playing around the house dancing and singing. I try to be sneaky and record Tess without her knowledge but she always catches me. She doesn't shy away from the camera when she catches me, she always performs more and asks me to either record her and then show her or take a picture and then show her. I don't think we will have to worry about her being shy. 

One evening our little girl had some extra energy and we were looking for something to do so we and some friends took our little girls to visit Chuck e Cheese for the first time. When they walked in and realized they could play all the games it was like Christmas morning. Ivonne and I also had some fun playing some of the adult games. We will definitely have to go back and let the kids and adults play more games.

Clayton and I went to a concert one night and Tess spent the night at her Oma and PawPaw’s house. She was ready to go and took her back and started walking to the car. She now constantly asks when she will be able to spend the night at her grandparent’s house. This is something that I really never did so I am glad that Tess has the opportunity to do often with both sets.

We also did some fishing with Tess’s new fishing pole. We did more avoiding turtles than catching fish but Tess enjoyed the time spent with her Daddy and eventually she will catch a fish on her pole.

We have also rode our bikes, Clayton and I gave Tess a new bike for her birthday. We have spent some time teaching Tess how to ride the new bike. We did not have the best luck the first couple of times but we realized she liked riding her bike more if we were riding ours so we made it a family event.

And last but not least we of course of gone to some Astros games. Tess has started to learn the game of baseball, and she can instantly recognize the Astros logo. She likes to walk around the stadium and play in the kid area. We will have to wait another season to root on our boys.

This summer was fun and exhausting at the same time.