Here's Tess before (ignore the toast crumbs all over her face)...

and here she is after. (Why in the crap are Noah's feet all over my laptop?!)

I have to admit it was nice to get her hair cut because we wanted to and not because we had to. :)

Tess handed me this well folded sheet of pink construction paper after we got home from church yesterday...

Awww. Adorable.

"This is a letter for Jesus. Will you give it to him when you die?"

What?! Umm...yeah. Okay. Sure.

Tess did a wonderful job at her recital this morning. Even much better than you see in the video from the dress rehearsal. We decided to bring both of the boys to watch this year, which was a pretty funny experience. Noah tried to spend most of the time between dances scowling and complaining, but during each of the dances his eyes would light up, he would start to stand up to get a better view, and his mouth would start to hang open a little bit. That is, until he caught you looking at him, and then the scowl would come back until he thought you weren't looking anymore. Tate was good for most of the time, towards the end he started losing his patience. The Romney's were right behind us, and while Savannah was dancing, they were trying to get some pictures. Tate kept trying to stand on his chair in front of their cameras with his big goofy grin, while I kept pulling him down and keeping him out of the way.

Tess had a much better experience this year than last. For example, I didn't hear her complain even once afterward that she was done with ballet forever. She went on and on last year about quitting, so I think it's a good sign. She also got a crown-shaped cookie covered with pink frosting at the end so she's just been on cloud nine.

Way to go sweetie!

We FINALLY got Tess' birthday pictures done...

I can't believe that she's already 5...

After the boys refused to clean up and were sent to bed Tess and I sat down to have a treat, since her room was spotless. I got down her Halloween candy and she picked out a couple pieces and then I got down Tate's candy and picked a couple for myself. "Are you eating Tate's candy?" she asked me. So I clued her in. "Yeah. After the kids go to bed Mom and Dad eat their candy. Your candy too."

And she chuckled. No crying, just chuckling, "That's very sneaky Mom."

Our little city recently sent around a notice informing us that they had switched companies for the weekly garbage pickup, so we'd been expecting a new can and looking forward to having the old smelly one hauled off rather than having to hose it out in the yard. Today we rounded the corner and Tess squealed when she saw this beauty sitting in the driveway...

"Dad is going to love this!" she exclaimed! You're right honey, I'll bet that that is the highlight of his whole day.

The other night as I was getting Tess to brush her teeth, I winked at her. She winked back at me and said, "I can only wink with this eye. My other eye doesn't wink."

"That's okay, maybe if you practice you will be able to wink with your other eye."

"I think I need to go to blinking school."

"I think it's adorable that you think there is a such thing as blinking school."

While driving over the lake on Monday Tess asked, "Is this a lake?" We assured her it was. "Then where are the waterfalls?" Huh. She's right. There's no waterfall here. And no rainbows or sparkly bubbles! No friendly woodland creatures either...we got cheated!