Busy times...

We have had a busy week. Wrapping up gymnastics for the fall session.

This past Wednesday, Tessa had her 4 year check up. She had a physical for the first time and she did very well. She is still in her 25% for her age. She weighted 34lbs and 39in. tall. I totally thought she would have been much bigger. She sure does seem like it. All her babyness has gone away ;(

Then yesterday I had my teeth taken care of. I had oral surgery removing 3 wisdom teeth and one molar tooth. Other than looking like a blowfish, I feel ok. Very sore but that should go away soon, I hope. It's good for my figure haha liquid diet always does a body good ;)

Here is a photo of my funny cheeks...looking kinda rough




Then today Tessa had her 1st dentist appointment. This was our 2nd try. 1st time didn't go so well. Tears and all. But she had all 10 of her teeth that she is suppose to have and her molars will be coming in within the next year or two. They said they could tell she brushes her teeth because there wasn't any tarter on the teeth. The only thing they said is that we really need to start flossing her teeth. I was kinda shocked that they actually clean their teeth when they are that little but they did, along with a fluoride treatment.

Anyway this has been a busy week...I am heading back to bed to get some more rest. As my mouth starts to throb the minute I lift my head off the pillow.

Sneak Peek at our Christmas photos

We went and had our photos taken today. We had the best photographer. She knew exactly what to do to get Tessa to smile and even giggle alittle which gave us such a great turn out. I was super excited that these turned out. I was a little worried because Tessa was a little cranky on the way there, due to no NAP. Oh I figured it was going to be a disaster...but here is a sample of some of the pictures.

November

I haven’t been neglecting our blog just been busy…

This month Tessa turned 4! I can hardly believe it. It feels like yesterday when we got the phone call that our birthmother was in labor. She had a great birthday despite me having terrible toothache. I will get to that in a moment. She received TONS of gifts from our parents(clothes, games, stuffed animal she has now names Betsy, barbies, and movies). I think she thinks this is her birthday month! It takes so long to get mail here that we were recieving a package everyother day for a week! We bought her the Leapfrog computer. It is WONDERFUL, I can’t believe how fast she caught on. She loves playing the memory games on it. Thanks to everyone for all the gifts and birthday wishes. She enjoyed her birthday!

My tooth. OMG I don’t think I have ever had this bad of a toothache in my life. It is terrible. It took 2 weeks to get into the dentist but I went and found out the reason why I am in so much pain is that my wisdom teeth are coming in sideways and is cutting into the nearves of my molars!! It feels like I am being electrocuted, seriously it feels like shocks going thru my body!! No joke. WHAT!?! Is what I thought, I mean come on I am 33 years old! I swear I never had any problems with anything growing up and within the past few years I had to have my tonsils removed and now my wisdom teeth. JJJJJJJEEEEZZZZZ Hopefully when I get them removed in December I will not have any more adolescent problems. ;)

On to the funny things Tessa has said & done lately:

Last night Chris was in the shower and the conversation went like this:

Tessa ask me “Is daddy in shower?”

I said “Yes”

She then marched off opened up the door and yelled “Daddy you’re not supposed to take a shower in the dark, your suppose to take one in the morning when it’s light out”
Where that came from I have no clue!!

Tessa told me that because her and I are girls we will be getting Dora toys from Santa, and daddy will be getting Diego toys because he’s a boy.

I don’t know why I am sharing this because it’s quite embarrassing…but here it goes. We went to pick up Tessa from daycare and Tammy our babysitter was laughing as she tells us that Tessa informed her today that my mommy and daddy have big bums and I have a small one! Tammy thought it was quite humorous, Chris and I just looked at each other with embarrassment!!

Usually at the grocery store Tessa wants to still ride in the cart. But last night she wanted to walk, totally fine with me. So she is walking down the aisle and singing & dancing and some Christmas song came on over the loud speaker. Tessa yells in front of a TON of people “Come on mommy shake your booty with me!!” OMG I think I turned every shade of RED!!

I will post some pics soon....

Pumpkin Carving

Dracula and Smiley Face

Tessa being silly

Instead of Tessa carving a pumpkin with a knife she gets to color with markers, glue & glitter.

Random things that have happen lately...

• We were driving down the road and I had a little road rage and Tessa says "Mom, don't be so angry"
• We have tried to teach Tessa manners such as please, thank you, no thank you and so forth. She will say excuse me when she has something to say and when you are not listening to her, when she finally gets our attention she will say "Your not listening to my words".
• This is bad....I was giving Tessa a bath the other night and she was splashing and having a good ol' time. I accidentally got a few bubbles on the bathroom floor and Tessa says "Mom don't do that dad will get pissed!!" You know we are usually really careful with what we say around her but it was so funny I couldn't help but laugh because she said it exactly the way Chris always does.
• Tessa still carries a blanket, matter of fact I believe it's the blanket that co-worker(Lissa Drummond) bought for her shower gift. This thing looks like it has been ran over a hundred times. It was such a soft pretty pink color, and it just doesn't keep the lovely downy smell anymore!! I guess one day Tessa told Tammy(daycare provider) that she loves her blanket because it smells just like my mommy. I was kinda embarrassed at first, because if I smell that bad OMG!!! Then of course Chris reminded me that I carry it every morning right after I put my perfume on. ;)
• Tessa has several imaginary friends...something like 4. She plays with them, reads them stories, tells them that Harley(our dog) is an alligator and if they don't hurry to the couch they will get eaten. I don't ever remember having imaginary friends, could be I had little brothers that I would dress up in girls' clothing!! Ha Ha they will kill me for telling people that. Remember boys, I have pictures in my possession!! Blackmail someday;)
• Tessa has it made up in her mind that my mom is Uncle Casey's mom. If I say grandma is on the phone, she will go "Uncle Casey's mom?" Back in May my mom came to visit us in Austin before we moved to Canada and Casey kept telling her that was his mom...I guess it has stuck!
• We have a conceded child she will say "I am as pretty as a princess"

Well hopefully I gave you a little chuckle about what everyday life is like in the Prilipp house.

Jasper...

Great time had by all!! Friday night we checked into our cabin, ate dinner, hung out with Jason, Ally and Quinn. Saturday we got up and headed to Columbia Icefields. It was so windy...on the way we passed several falls and lots of great scenery. Then stopped in the city Jasper, to do some shopping and eat dinner at the famous Jasper Brewery Company. Sunday we headed home...sad to return to the real world. Here are some of our favorite pictures.

Athabasca Mountains:



Cheers to a GREAT DAY!!!


Chris finished his sampler beers...

The view from our cabin:

Columbia Icefields:

FUN with FLOUR...

Tessa LOVES playing with flour, this is what it looks like ;) Am I CRAZY?

Thanksgiving weekend...

Well it's Thanksgiving here in Canada on Monday. Strange to have Thanksgiving before Halloween but that is the part we deal with living in a different country...even though it's STILL North America ;) Yesterday we took the day and headed to Praire Garden's What fun we had. It was the Haunted Pumpkin Festival. Lot's of great things to do with the kids and we had some awesome Banana Garlic Potatoes. They were so good. Here are some fun photos... Of course Chris being silly Tessa making pumpkin art ;) Tessa, Quinn and Ally in the petting zoo. Jason, Ally, & Quinn just moved here from San Antonio. Thanks to Jen Hopkins for intruducing us we are having fun together exploring Canada. Our families are heading to Jasper Mountains this coming weekend together to maybe check out the glaciers or even the hot springs. FUN - FUN!!

Tessa is also really enjoying gymnastics and of course the trampoline is her FAVORITE. She is actually getting pretty good ;) Here is a little video for you all:

Oh Sarah...

This is funny!!

It's been so long

Sorry it's been so long and since I've had several complaints that I haven't been keeping the family up to date...I thought I better give an update...

We are pretty much settled in to Edmonton. Although it is getting cold, we are enjoying it. It's defiantly been a nice break from the Texas heat.

Tessa started gymnastics several weeks ago, and is LOVING it. My mom bought her a few leotards back home because I couldn't find any here except for the $60 ones that they sell at the studio...I didn't want to spend the $ on something I don't even know if she would like it. She is such a little ham...

We have been to the Edmonton Zoo, lots of parks, and a few gatherings with some new friends...
was a little homesick lately, don't really know what triggered it but I'm over it again. HA

This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving...we are thinking that we will go to the pumpkin patch on Saturday and then have Turkey on Monday...it just seems to early. It's funny that I say that because when we moved to Texas I always thought it was strange to be wearing shorts on Thanksgiving!! Gotta love all weather.

We are looking forward to the snow that is forested for next week!! Wonder if the weathermen are as accurate as the ones in Iowa!! Can you sense my sarcasm?!?

Well that is it for now...hope everyone is well.

Back to the grind...

Well after having a FABULOUS 8 weeks off from work (stressing for 4 weeks because we had no where to live, 2 weeks on vacation, and the rest planting my butt on the couch catching up with soaps -haha) I am back to work. I started working for my husband's employer a week ago as the Administrative Assistant to the Community Infrastructure Department...it has been interesting coming from my employer in Texas. It's just different not in a bad or good way...Lots of pros and cons ;)



What's been going on with us? Well really, not a whole lot. Tessa started daycare and that has been very difficult for her, after being home with me 24/7. But she will adjust just like she did before. She was in tears the 2nd day because she wanted to go to work with us. And I thought she didn't really like being with us 24/7. I often wondered if she was bored with me. I always felt like I couldn't keep her occupied long enough.

The weather you ask...

OMG it's much cooler than we are use to for sure. Today I woke up and was wondering what that humming sound was, come to find out our FURNACE kicked on because it had dropped down to 48 degrees last night! Oh I know you are all saying what the heck did you move to Canada for then if you don't like the cold. It's not that I don't like the cold I just thought we would have a few more weeks. I'm not prepared yet. We don't really have any warm clothing yet.

Well back to life...I will try to post some recent funny video's of Tessa.

888

Happy 888 day!!

Trip to Iowa

After traveling almost 3500 miles in 10 day's we are EXHAUSTED!!!

We left for Iowa at 5:30pm on Thursday and arrived in Davenport about 12:30am on Saturday!! We drove straight thru so you add the hours up and it was a LONG trip.

It was a VERY full schedule of events as it always is when we are in the quadcities. With Chris and I from the same city it makes it hard on us to visit all our family and friends. We try as hard as we can to spend equal amounts of time but it just doesn't always work out...

The whole reason we headed home was for Chris grandmother's 80th Birthday!! She is a wonderful lady! She is just one of those people who you are blessed to have in your life. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!

We had such a great time at the farm as we always do. Chris is always at home when he is there. It's always great to see your husband being a character with his family. He makes his uncles laugh...sometimes I just think they think he is nuts!

Here are a bunch of photos from our trip(zoo, farm, and my dad's)


Hope y'all had a great 2 weeks!!

Heading to Iowa...

We are heading to Iowa today, for Chris' grandmothers 80th Birthday Party!! Should be fun visiting with family and friends. I will add lots of photos ;) Have a great couple of weeks, we sure will!!

Stopped raining...

Today it wasn't raining so I thought I would get my bike out and head to the park. Funny story...Chris bought me this $500 bike before we were even married(10 years ago) and I can count on one hand how many times I have ridden this bike. I don't know why I haven't ever ridden it...maybe because when we moved to Texas 5 years ago Chris sold his, so I didn't have a riding partner ;) Sounds good to me...although I'm sure Chris would beg to differ.

Anyway I bought a used childseat for the back of my bike and attached it today so Tessa could just sit back and relax while I took us to the park. Well we were down the road and she was having a great time but when I came to a stop she screamed "Mom, this is re-duc-ulous" She says that so funny that I couldn't help but start laughing and she was really mad at me. I asked her what was wrong and she said "It's re-duc-ulous that there are so many bumps in the road"

She was very upset that it wasn't a smooth ride...oh I tell ya some of the things that come out of her mouth...!! I really don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

Friday we headed out to the Capital EX festival here in Edmonton. We were told this was the biggest festival in Alberta. It was pretty cool. Here are some photos...



Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Today is my mom's birthday!! This is also a really awesome day as today 4 years ago, was the day we found out that we were going to be adopting Tessa!! Mom have a wonderful day and I will see you in a week

The Zoo and a little dance video

This weekend was pretty busy.... Friday Chris Golfed allday... Saturday we woke up had some breakfast and headed to the zoo only to find out the zoo is very small. It took us a total of about 1 hour to walk thru the whole thing, but it was enough for a 3 yr old!! Here are a few photos:

























Then on Sunday, we woke up and did our normal routine...Starbucks for our coffee and Tessa's pumpkin bread. Then off to church. We checked out a church that we really think is going to be a great chuch. Unfortunatly they are going thru some changes with loosing their pastor after 14 years. But things seemed great and everyone was very nice. After that we headed home to work on unpacking MORE boxes, I don't think it's ever going to end. And I caught this video of Tessa. She stands on our coffee table where she can see herself in a mirror and sings. At this particualar moment she is intermixing 2 songs...Santa Claus is coming to town and some song from Snow White. I will let the video speak for itself

Celebrating Forever Families

As most of you know Adoption is very close to our hearts. Tessa has been the greatest blessing to Chris and I. I get so many questions from people about the adoption I just thought I would share our thoughts with you...

1. Do you talk to Tessa about it?
Defiantly YES. We have purchased several children's books that we read quite often. I understand some of the folks out there that think it should be a private thing, but I don't want to hit that point in Tessa's life where she starts asking me questions about her grandparents and why she doesn't look like us(I know she looks identical to me now, but that could change;)). I don't want her history to be a lie. Chris and I were really concerned about this at one point but after talking to our social worker he said it is best for everyone to not keep it as a secret. She is only 3.5 but she understands that she didn't grow in my belly.

2. Will you allow her to see her biological mother and father?
ABSOLUTELY. She is more than welcome to visit with them. They are apart of her life, after all they are the ones who gave us the greatest gift anyone could ever give. We thank them everyday.

3. Do you feel like she is your child since you were not the one who gave birth?
Yes, I actually get this question... 150% feel like she is our child. Only a adopted mother or father can understand. From the time we saw Tessa in the birthing room we have bonded the same way a bio mother/father and child does. It's a awesome feeling knowing you were able to give this child a home, love, and support.

Those are the main questions Chris and I get anytime someone finds out that we have an adopted child. I was browsing the books store and I of course always look at the parenting books. Not that any parenting book can tell me how to raise my child, or tell me what to do when she is throwing a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store because I won't buy her that sugar filled cereal! I found the new book "Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul." I read a few stories standing there and had to stop if I actually can get thru this book without crying it will be a miracle. It's a very cute book and I'm looking forward to reading it! It's filled with inspirational stories about all aspects of adoption. Includes stories from birth parents, adopted people, and adoptive parents. You should pick it up!!


I also just finished another book that may peek your intrest...
"Another Place at the Table" by Kathy Harrison. GREAT BOOK if you have ever thought about doing foster care, this book will make you want to start tomorrow. It's about a family who has almost a hundred children thru her home.

FINALLY!!!

Oh, how I am so HAPPY!! This is a long time coming.
First it was when we were getting married "I will stop", didn't happen. Second when we were trying to get pregnant...didn't happen then either. Many time's I heard him say "When this starts costing me $4.00 a can I will quit", that came and went. Then when we adopted Tessa he was going to quit, that lasted about 3 weeks. Needless to say we have been together for 12 years and there have been many occasions that he says I think I'm going to quit chewing. But it hasn't happened. I do have to admit that when he is in the middle of another attempt, he gets so cranky that its almost unbearable.
Well today it happened again..."I have got to stop buying this stuff." The real reason behind all this is because as you know the cost of living in Canada is a little bit more expensive than the US. Chris for the past 2 weeks hasn't said much about the can's he has been buying, but I have noticed that the can's are about half the size of the cans they sell in the states. So out of curiosity I asked how much that cost, thinking he was going to tell me a few bucks...no he said $7.36. Can you believe that? That is outrageous. Now I have never been a smoker, so I really don't have a clue how expensive this habit is but now that I know...



Yes, my friend this is his breaking point(I hope). I figure he goes thru at least 4 of these a week at a total cost of $29.44. That's almost $1500.00 a year on this crap that may cause CANCER!! So keep your fingers crossed that he will FINALLY quit!!!

Feilds of Yellow flowers

I don't know what these flowers are but there are fields and fields of these flowers around the city of Edmonton. It's really beautiful...

Canada...

Well where do I begin...We decided that Chris should take a job transfer with his current employer this past May and we have now made our journey to EDMONTON, Alberta Canada. We thought this was going to be a great adventure, what we didn't know was all the trouble we would run into.

So let's start with our move it all went good we were packed and ready to go by Friday night(June 6th). Spent the night down at Casey's and then left the following day and headed to Colorado to see Nathan and Meghan and the kids. We arrived in Denver on Sunday around noon, hung out with them. It was lots of fun, kids played, we went to dinner and drank a few beers.

When we woke up on Monday morning and headed out...we knew we were heading to Jackson Hole, WY. It was a great drive thru the mountains. Went out to dinner and had a wonderful meal. Went to the resort and we all crashed. We were so tired.


On Tuesday morning woke up rode a gondola to the top of the mountain. Funny story here...a few weeks ago Tessa told Casey that she was going to poop at the top of a mountain. By this time I had totally forgot about the whole story. And when we got to the top of the mountain sure enough she had to go to the bathroom!! NICE right!!!

We drove to Ol' Faithful and Monmouth Hot Springs. But it was snowing so bad that we really didn't get out.


Wednesday we drove to the boarder and spent the night at a hotel because we didn't realize the boarder was open 24 hours. We had to get our working Visa's. Which we did the following day. It was amazing to me how easy it is to cross a boarder. I don't know why but I envisioned that they would search our car and so forth. But they didn't do anything. Basically Thursday was a driving day. We only had about 8 hours to Edmonton so we wanted to get it over with. We were excited to get our new place. And go have some fun in the new city...little did we know.

So here it goes...
We met our realtor on Friday at noon...oh wait he didn't show up til 2. Chris was FURIOUS!! We all know his patience. All was well we got our keys moved what we had with us in and everything was good. Our stuff was to arrive on Wednesday so that's fine we can sleep on the floor...well we ended up going and buying a blow up mattress. Hardwood floors suck to camp on.
Saturday...opened a checking account, got a cell phone...and that's about it.
Sunday...just hung out, drove around
Monday Chris went to work, Tessa and I had a few errands to run and so forth. So about 1ish Harley made a growl like someone was at the door. I go to the door and there are 2 people in our little yard. I was like, very nicely I will add, asked may I help you. Yes, I am in a foreign country and it makes me nervous that someone is in the yard...what the hell, in any American city the cops would have been called. HAHAHA
Well needless to say they didn't say anything to me so I just locked the door...weirdos I thought.
So that night when Chris got home the lady came back and was pulling the weeds in our yard. Strange right. Well I guess the HOA(home owners association) takes care of the yards and we don't have to PERFECT I thought right. NO...she was not a very nice lady questioned us about our dog and who told us we could have him here and so forth. People are not really that pet friendly here...I have gathered over the past week. So Chris and I were just blown away at how rude this lady was and really didn't think much. Of course I went straight in the house and was sure to look at our lease agreement to make sure I did tell them we had a dog.

Tuesday morning...
Chris goes to work, comes home at like 10:30am because we have to get our SIN # which is similar to SS# in the US. Well we were having some problems with our toilets so we called the landlords. And they were like we actually we are glad you called. We are really sorry but your going to have to find another place to live you can't have your dog there. WHAT THE HECK. They knew we had a dog, it was on our application. How can you kick us out when you told us it was ok. Well sorry it was an over site. OVER SITE my ASS. Nobody would take any blame and we didn't know what we were going to do.

Tuesday afternoon....we scramble to find somewhere to live....where do we go...we don't know a sole in this town. We searched all day TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, and THURSDAY...and finally about when we were ready to give up a very nice man called about a condo he has and he doesn't mind us having Harley there. Perfect we will take it. Only bad thing is that they have gutted the place so its in the process of being redone and wont be ready til the 1st of July. Ok we can deal with that. Surely we can stay where we are until we can move in...Nope another slap in the face. The home association wants us out immediately. So we have less than 24 hours to get out. Where the hell are we going to go...how can they do that? Don't they have to give us 30 day's or so? It just doesn't make sense.

Friday...we head to a hotel. Fine if that's what we have to do that is what we have to do right. Well we were graciously invited to a work function with Chris' work. We went had a great time, rode a quad, played on the trampoline and so forth. We get back to our hotel at 10:30p. Chris goes to bed and is fast asleep til about 11:45 when the FIRE ALARMS in hotel are going off. At first I was like what is that noise? It wasn't a normal fire alarm. But having gone thru a house fire with my parents we don't take ANY chances when an alarm goes off. And that smell stays with you for the rest of your life. I woke Chris up he looked out in the hall and sure enough it was a REAL fire, on our FLOOR!! Could this get any worse. Grabbed our child thru on a coat and shoes, grabbed the dog and well the cat just had to stay behind he was hiding under the bed and I couldn't get him. At this point we didn't know how bad the fire was we could just see the smoke. So down the stairs we went. Now you can only imagine a 3 year old wanting to know what the hell is going on...poor thing has been traumatized. Every time a firetruck goes by she asks us if its going to our home. Long story short, it was a fairly small fire but they did move our whole floor to another area of the hotel and we ended up in a GREAT suite. We sleep like a king,queen, and little princess.
Well we really couldn't stay at this hotel because it was too expensive so we are now staying at a hotel 20 mins outside of the city still spending 80 dollars a night(2 queen beds, 2 adults, 1 3yr old, a cat and a dog.
Good news is we did sign our new lease today and will hopefully be moving in by the 1st. This has been a move from HELL. If anyone can top this one I would like them to try.

I can't even tell you if I like this city...we haven't had time to do anything but stress out like you wouldn't believe. I bet my blood pressure is out of this orbit. I'm starting to wonder is god punishing us for all the crap I did as a kid. My god please give us some good luck this week...it can't get any worse right?!?

 

Christmas, January, Moving, Valentines...

Yes I know its been a really LONG time since I have posted. Lots have been going on.
The in-laws were in town for Christmas and then Jan came and FLEW by so fast then Feb 1st we moved closer to work. It's been a very busy past few months for the Prilipp's.

On to T-Bird. For those of you who don't know Chris has nicknamed Tessa, T-bird. Sometimes if you ask her what her name is she will respond with "T-Bird". It's quite cute. Where do I start she is such a ham. She is definatly full of spunk. I find it really hard that when she gets in trouble and she has to sit in the "naughty chair" she will instantly say "Mommy, I stopped crying" and then she will melt your heart by saying "Mommy, I love you" of course still with tears running down her face. I don't know if your 3 year old does that buy man that will break my heart instantly!!! She often sits in the chair because she is going thur some phase right now where she crys about EVERYTHING!! Someone could just look at her wrong and she will start to wimper. I don't know what to do with her except sit her down and explain there isn't anything to get upset about. I think she is just on the sensitive side.

Stats of Tessa: 28.5lbs, 33 inches tall. And until this past weekend her hair was about to her waist but I cut 3 inches off.

It's been beautiful here in Austin lately...warm weather. Matter of fact today it's suppose to be 87!! Oh how I wish I could be out there enjoying it instead of sitting here at work with no window in site.

Since we have moved into the new place we have been sitting in the hot tub ALOT, going to the park up the street or down to Uncle Casey and CJ's place downtown. Below are lots of fun photos from the past few months.

Anyway things are going good....I will add lots of photos!!!