Happy Birthday, Tessa

Tomorrow is Tessa Mary's 7th birthday.

(Yep, 2 1/2 weeks after I got a namesake (Mary Addison), I got another one - Tessa Mary.  It just doesn't get any better than that).

Anyway, Tessa lives in Colorado Springs with her Mom Teresa, and her big brother Evan.  Her biggest brother, Grant, is in his second year of college in Boulder and her dad, Dan, is currently deployed.  It's important to get her post up extra early on her birthday so that her daddy who is in Afghanistan can see it before he goes to bed.  (I think he is about 10 1/2 hours ahead of us.)

 So earlier this evening I called Tessa for our phone interview.

Here's how it went.

Hi Tessa.  Hi Grandma.

I hear you have a big day tomorrow.  Umm hmm, tomorrow is my birthday.

Are you excited?  Umm hmm, but I have a cold.

Oh no!  Where'd you get that?  I don't know.  Maybe from school.  Maybe.

I pulled another tooth out.  How?  I pulled out my tooth and it didn't even hurt a bit because it was really loose.

Do you have any special plans for tomorrow?  My friend Maddie is having a birthday party.  Are you going to that?  Yes, and tomorrow's my birthday.  After Maddie's party we're going to have dinner.  Do you get to pick where you'll eat?   Yeah I get to pick.  I want to go to Red Robin.

And will you get to talk to Daddy tomorrow?  Umm hmm  How do you do that?  Skype.  You can see him them right?  Umm hmm.  I like skyping with Daddy.

And how is school going?  Good and I made some new friends.  And one friend is named Grant.  What grade are you in?  2nd.  Wow that's getting big.  Do you feel bigger?  Umm hmm  What do you like best about school?  Recess.  And second I like books because I like to read.
I know you like to plan things like the picnic you planned when we visited you.  Have you planned anything lately?  Mommy and I went to a fancy hotel and I planned it.  Was it fun?  Yes and at the pool I could reach the ground with my feet.

Are you hoping for any special presents for your birthday?  Yeah, I want a Stuffy and you're supposed to stuff things in it.  Like what?  Toys, cars, and food.

Grandpa wants to know if you have a boyfriend.    No!

Do you like having two big brothers?  Yes.
Why?  Grant and Evan sometimes take me to the park and they play with me at the park.

What do you like best about coming to Indiana at Christmas time?  I like to see my cousins and play with them.  Which ones?  Mary, Anna and Jenna, and Jack.

What else can I write about you?  I take ballet classes and I have a best friend at dance.

Anything else?  I'm an artist.  Oh, you like to draw?   Yes, I'm drawing a story right now.  It's about seasons.

Then I told her that we'd sent her some presents that should get there tomorrow and that we hoped she'd have a wonderful day.  Her parting words:   Thank you for the presents so much!

Because she is sweet and poised like that.  There are so many things I could say about Tessa but first let me talk about Tessa with regards to her family.  They all adore her.  And they are all unfailingly kind and sweet with her and I think that's why she's so kind and sweet with everybody she meets.  When we visited last summer, she wanted to play with sidewalk chalk.  Here's an idea of how that played out.

 

 

And look at these patient and loving guys when Tessa wants to play Frisbie with them.

 

 

And although Mom is probably the only one who keeps her from being hopelessly spoiled, she also understands when a girl needs somebody to swing with.

Of course Tessa has many more wonderful attributes.  She's amazingly generous, patient, kind, loving, smart, and sweet.  She'll wait for hours for us to get up when we visit and then gift us with notes and pictures and love.  She is such a joy and we're wishing her a wonderful birthday and a year full of happiness.

Happy Birthday, Grant

Today is our grandson, Grant's 19th birthday (which really doesn't seem possible).  He was our third grandchild and our second grandson.  He lives in Colorado Springs with his mom and dad, Teresa and Dan and younger brother and sister, Evan and Tessa.  I spoke with him earlier and conducted this phone interview:

Happy Birthday, Grant.  I hope you're having a great day.  Yeah, it's been alright.  I just got off work a few minutes ago.

Do you have any special plans for tonight?  We're going to Red Robin where they'll sing me the birthday song and I'll get the whole shebang there.

Does it feel any different to be 19?  I mean you're getting up in the big leagues now.   Actually it doesn't.  I've made a lot of friends at school of different ages and now it seems like all the ages kind of mesh together. 

How soon will you be going back to school?  I'm going to move into our apartment on August 17th.

Are you looking forward to an apartment as opposed to a dorm?  Yes, very much so because I'll be rooming with people I like instead of a roommate I didn't care for.

Are you looking forward to school starting then?  Yes, I'm primed and fired up and ready to go!

Why?  Just so I can get back in the swing of things, back into ROTC which I really like, and seeing all my friends that I haven't seen over summer.

What course of study are you pursuing?  It was Psychology but this semester I'll be changing to biochemistry.  Why are you changing?  Psychology wasn't that challenging and biochemistry will be.  Also switching will better prepare me for med school after college which is what I hope to do.

I know you earned an ROTC scholarship.  Does that mean when you finish school you'll owe some time to the Army?  Yes, eight years.  But I plan to stay in for twenty-one anyway so I can get the retirement.
Have you had a good summer?  It's been alright.  It's my first one with a real job so that was new but I think it's prepared me a lot for different parts of college and I might even get a job in Boulder. I knew you were working part time at Wal-Mart.  How do you like it?  Actually I'm working full time now and I can say it's better than fast food.  I like cashiering but some of the other jobs not so much.

How many hours do you work?  40  What departments have you worked in?  I've worked in Lawn and Garden, Home Department, Sporting Goods, and as a front end cashier.  What do you like best about your job?  Definitely my co-workers.  All the other temporary workers are about my age and everybody's going to either CSU or UNC.  We all plan to get together once we're back in school.

It must be hard having your dad deployed again.  I know your mom always depends on you a lot during these times.  Are you able to help out as much when you're working full time?  Not as much around the house as I have before.  Mostly on my days off, I take care of the lawn and a couple of things around the house.  On work days, it's just daily duties like cleaning up the kitchen, doing laundry, and keeping up my room.

She told me that last night you made dinner and cleaned up afterwards.  I thought that was awesome.  Do you enjoy cooking?  I think it's fun when I do it right.  I haven't cooked that much but I'm working on it so that when I go to school, I can make a few different things.
Is there a significant other right now?  I'm kind of bouncing between a couple of relationships right now.

Tell us some things about yourself that most people might not know?  I really like going to concerts like the festival last weekend called Global Dance.  It was at Red Rocks amphitheater and they had 16 or 18 electronic artists, a laser light show, and pyrotechnics.  We danced and had a great time.  I went to a few at Boulder and those were always fun too.  (Here's Grant being such a good sport with his younger cousins on New Year's Eve)

What else?  I haven't really been spinning much lately.  But last year weren't you on the ROTC drill team?  Yes  Didn't you compete at a pretty high level?  My friend and I went to the Nationals in Florida and placed in the upper 10%.

 

 

I played the guitar quite a bit in college.  And just the last couple of days I've picked it up again and I'm trying to learn some new songs. I've really tried to open up to different kinds of music lately like Michael Jackson and some of the older bands like AC/DC, the Beatles and some of the other bands from the 60s and 70s.

Anything else?  My friend Issac taught me how to play racquetball and now we play a couple of times a week on a court at the Air Force Academy.  I like it a lot and feel like I've picked it up pretty quickly. 
 (Grant is very athletic.  Here he's making an almost impossible catch on a recent picnic in Colorado Springs) 
And that was pretty much all I could coax out of him tonight.  There are other things that should be mentioned though.  Grant is a wonderful son to his dad and mom,

A responsible and loving big brother to Evan

and Tessa,

and a wonderful grandson.  He's kind, smart, sweet, hard-working, and loving to his entire extended family.  We're so glad he's part of our family and we're proud of his many accomplishment.  And, we're looking forward to what the future will hold for this excellent young man.  We love you, Grant, and hope that your birthday was awesome but only a sample of the many wonderful years to come.