No Coffee for You

Teagan stared at her Grandpa Nyman's iced-coffee, "Everyone has coffee but me. Surely they just forgot to take my order."

Sadly Mom said, "No coffee for you."

As Teagan pouted, she contemplated whether that iced drink truly counted as coffee.

Teagan began feeling better when her aunt Julie (Dan's sister-in-law) suggested a coffee date when she's older.

By the time they were at the restaurant, the joy of ceiling fans with Grandma Nyman chased the thoughts of coffee far away.

Jolly Old St Nicholas

Each year the church remembers St Nicholas on December 6th. In recent years he has remembered our church's children by filling their shoes with goodies.

St Nicholas, known for helping the poor, brings a large sack for food donations so the children can also participate in helping the poor.

During their honeymoon, Dan and Andrea stumbled upon the tomb of St Nicholas in Bari, Italy. It was the first stop of their cruise and rather than taking any tours, they decided to explore some of Bari's churches at a leisurely pace.

After his visit, Anna shared the story of St Lucia (see post: Some Things Just Go Together).

The story time provided an excellent opportunity for Godmothers to hold their Godchildren.

Teagan didn't have any shoes to leave for St Nicholas to fill, but she was happy to have the Copa family help fill her house.

Time with the Pentecosts

Teagan loves spending time at her Godparents' house. With two God-sisters and two God-brothers, there is no shortage of activities for her to observe.

Teagan sat quietly with her God-sister while her Dad read a book to them.

Then Teagan enjoyed practicing her smiles with her Godmother and her other God-sister.

Finally, the evening concluded with some serious contemplation time with her Godfather.

Teagan says you can read more about her visit on her Godparents' blog: Our Youngest God-daughter. "Besides," Teagan adds, "They post much faster than my Dad does."

Bottle of Brew

Teagan looked forward to a mid-November Saturday of brewing beer with the Rahberg family (see post: Old Friends, New Children). On tap: two batches of Nut Brown ale, a 'forgiving brew,' that combined will produce over a one hundred 12 ounce bottles of beer. Not bad for a few hours work.

As self-appointed brew-meister, Teagan tried to coach Sam: "Okay, that was the third photo-op attempt... Let's focus on getting this spoon into that pot."

Next Teagan instructed her Dad, "We have 10 more degrees to reach boil, is the extract ready?"

With the realization that bottling was 4 weeks away, Teagan tossed aside her role as brew-meister and decided to get her own bottle of home-brew from Mom.

"Now down to business," Teagan was excited to catch up with Beth, Zoe, and Nate. But soon sleepiness started settling in, "A bottle will do that to you."

Teagan, resting on Beth's shoulder, supervised Sam and her Dad through her eyelids as they finalized the batches for fermentation.

Make Be-leaf

Ryan Gunderson stopped over on Halloween to see Teagan (see post: There's Always Time for Friends). Teagan didn't have a costume, but with Ryan's assistance she did her best toad-faced impression of Dolores Umbridge (from Harry Potter).

Ryan and Kate gave Teagan the leaves in her bedroom. Now if only her parents would put up some more decorations...

Seattle's Best

October 24th - Teagan had been eagerly waiting most of her life for this big day, the day of Uncle Jeff and Aunt Michelle's wedding.

Teagan was delighted to meet Jeff's twin nephews who were born just three days before her and they looked quite handsome in their tuxedo-onesies. But her delight turned to sorrow when her parents explained that the legal dating age in Minnesota is 30 years.

Contemplating this new information, Teagan began searching for loopholes, "After all, Jeff and Michelle aren't 30 yet."

Teagan was well chaperoned at the wedding and reception by her Great-aunts and Great-uncle, "I guess waiting to 30 isn't all bad."

As the evening drew to a close, Teagan congratulated her Aunt and Uncle and said that she was honored to have this as her first trip outside of Minnesota. Then she thought with a big smile, "I bet those boys don't live in Minnesota..."

Heading out West

In late October the Bassett Family packed up and traveled west to Seattle for Michelle (Andrea's sister) and Jeff's wedding (see post: Hanging out with Family). The trip was one of many firsts: Teagan's first time in an airplane and first time out of the Twin Cities, Mom's first time packing for Teagan, and Dad's first time changing a diaper in a tiny airplane bathroom during turbulence.

Teagan happily found Grandma and Grandpa Crago waiting for her at the airport. At three months old, Teagan couldn't wait to try out her cooing phrases with them. (See post: Double Time)

Later that night Grandpa Crago tried to extend Teagan's cooing vocabulary to include: boom, bang, and NRA. Teagan replied with a big smile, "Silly Grandpa, it's pronounced NPR."

With all the travel excitement, Teagan was happy to spend some quiet time with Grandma: "Look how big I am and all the latest clothes I fit into."

Teagan was also excited to meet Jeff and to see Michelle, especially in that fabulous dress. The dress caused Teagan to rethink her conversation with Grandma, "Maybe I shouldn't have shown her that I had all those clothes."

Great-Godparents

Meeting both her Godmother's and Godfather's parents was very exciting for Teagan. She wasn't sure how far baptismal relations extended, but she's confident that they extend at least to the Great-Godparent level.

Then Teagan began to wonder where Ohio was. She wasn't sure of that either, but she knew there were a lot of nice people there.

Linnea's Baptism

Dan and Andrea are honored to be the Godparents of Linnea Rowland and Teagan is elated to have the special connection of being Linnea's God-sister. The Rowland Family has made many appearances on the blog, such as: Home Improvements, Protect and Serve, and Birthday Barbecue.

Even with all the excitement, Teagan was a little disappointed to discover that we would not be having homemade deep-dish pizza for lunch.

Not Now Dad

Each Saturday morning Teagan and her Dad watch the New Yankee Workshop together. Teagan is a big fan of Norm Abram.

Teagan's Dad tried to break the news of Norm's retirement to her gently, but Teagan merely replied, "Not now Dad, he's about to say the line about safety glasses."

Frequent Flying Grandparents

Teagan often remarks that it must be tough being a grandparent in the 21st century, especially when the grandchildren span two hemispheres. A few days after Teagan's baptism, Grandpa and Grandma Nyman traveled to Norway to see Teagan's cousins Alexandra and Cecilie. (See posts: Made with Love and From Norway with Love)

Teagan was excited to see her Grandparents again and learn about her cousins. Overhearing her parents talk about traveling to Norway, Teagan immediately began to pack - that is until she tried to figure out what size clothes to bring: "These labels don't make any sense."

A Cold Harvest

Each fall our church community gathers at a local apple orchard for food and fellowship, but this year we decided to try the Carpenter Nature Center. While many on this cold October afternoon braved the center's miles of hiking trails and large apple orchard, Teagan was thankful her parents went straight to the visitor center and camped out in front of the warm, roaring fireplace.

Eventually we made our way to the orchard to join the group and get some apples.

Why brave the cold when you get buy fresh picked apples from the center's store?