Wordless Wednesday: Mia and Darvey

Just What I've Always Wanted

Mia's bedroom looks like Santa's workshop blew up in it.  She must have been a very good girl this year.  She's been having lots of fun playing with her toys.  Mia's daycare has been closed this week for the Christmas holiday, so she's been home with Wesley for the last three days.  They've been having a good time, but I think that Daddy is pretty worn out.  Uncle Darvey is here to visit, and Mimi will be here all weekend.  Mia has definitely not been bored.

She insisted on wearing her coat, hat, and mittens to push her shopping cart around the house.

Frying up some goldfish crackers in a plastic skillet

 Wearing Mrs. Potato Head's glasses

 Taking a breaking from "computing" to get a swig of milk

 

Santa Stopped Here Too!

I brought Mia home on Christmas Day.  Wesley had to work earlier in the day, but Mia and I came home that evening.  The ride back to Dallas was interesting.  At one point, Mia decided that she wanted me to read her a story, so I started telling her one.  She said, "No, Mommy! Book! Read!"  She wanted me to hold it up and turn the pages as I was driving.  Fortunately, I have Goodnight Moon memorized and I had the board book version in the car.  I was able to hold it up and turn the pages with one hand, drive with the other hand, and tell her the story from memory.  It was one of those moments where I felt like SuperMom.  Unfortunately, there was nobody there but Mia to witness my awesome mommy-ness.  When it got dark, I told Mia that I couldn't read anymore books.  I guess she got bored because she started telling me a story.  She's never done that before.  This is kind of how it went: Mia, "Puppy kai! (cry)". Me,"Why is the puppy crying?" Mia, "Owie!" Me, "What happened?"  Mia, "Reese bite!" (Reese is her friend at daycare). Me, "Oh no, Reese bit the puppy and now it's crying?"  Mia, "Yes."  Then she waited a second and said, "Puppy wet!"  Me, "He is?" Mia, "Pamper!", Me, "Puppy needs a Pamper?" Mia, "Yes. Pie pipe! (baby wipe)".  It was pretty random and funny.

  We were all tired when we got home, but Mia had toys from Santa Claus waiting for her.  She love, love, loved her little kitchen.  I could barely get her to look at me for a picture because she was so interested in it.  Her baby bassinet from Santa was a big hit too.  She tried to crawl into it, so I had to explain to her that it's too little and only for her baby dolls.  She loved all of her gifts.  I was really excited to see her playing on her own.  She's usually my little shadow, so it was different to see her run off to her room to play with her new toys.  We decided to get her a little pink laptop because she won't leave our laptop alone.  Whenever she gets the chance, she runs over to our laptop and starts pushing buttons.  When we start walking toward her and telling her to stop, the little booger just types faster.  Her new computer has helped with that problem.  However, she can't say the word "computer", so she keeps calling it her "potato".

"Hey, I can take a nap!"

 "Oh yeah, that's for babies!"

Santa Was Here

Mia and I stayed the night at Mimi and Pa Pa's house on Christmas Eve.  She still doesn't understand what Santa does even though she recognizes him when she sees him.  On Christmas morning, she puttered around the living room without paying any attention to the toys sitting under the tree.  We finally pointed them out to her, and she went to inspect them.  Santa brought her some fun toys including a toaster set that came with a butter knife for her toast.  Next, she opened her gifts from Mimi and Pa Pa.  After, trying to rip the paper off, she got the butter knife that went with her toaster and started trying to cut the paper.  Smart little thing, isn't she?  I think one of her favorites was the cleaning set she got.  It came with a mop, broom, swiffer, and other cleaning stuff for kids.  She wanted the broom out and started sweeping.  That child loves to clean. 

I got all of our stuff loaded into the Jeep.  We said goodbye to Nanny and Mimi and headed out to Papaw and Nana Bev's house.  We got to visit with everyone out there and have a delicious lunch courtesy of Nana Bev.  Mia was out on the front porch with her Papaw making faces at me through the glass door.  At one point, they smooshed their faces against the door.  It was cracking me up!  Next, we went out to Mamaw's house to see my dad's side of the family.  It was great to see some family that I only see a couple times a year.  Mia was fascinated with my cousin Stacy's son, Brayden.  He was wound up and full of energy.  He's an adorable little guy.

Pa Pa opening Mia's puzzles from Santa

 Mia found her Bumbo chair that we loaned to Zoey.  She insisted on sitting in it.

 Using her plastic butter knife to try and cut off the paper.  I swear I don't stage this stuff!

 Being silly with Papaw

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Mia and I went to Heavener for Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day.  Wesley had to work, so we came back to spend some of our Christmas Day with him.  We got to see so many people while we were in town.  I love getting to visit with everyone.  On Christmas Eve morning, we went to see Uncle Larry, Aunt Denise, Cameron, and Uncle Darvey.  Mia got to eat peanuts for the first time.  She loves peanut butter, but I haven't given her any whole nuts until then.  She kept eating the salted peanuts, so we knew that she liked them.  However, her cheeks were looking mighty full after awhile.  It turned out that she was chewing them up but wasn't swallowing them for some reason.  She wouldn't spit them out, but she would stick out her tongue for me to rake them out with my finger.  I'm not sure what that was about.

Shayna, Kaylee, and I made snowmen and Christmas mice.  The mice were an homage to the Nutcracker.  I didn't get a picture of them until they had been raided, but you can see the cute little guys.  They were adorable.  The snowmen got gobbled up too, but I got a picture of one.  I like making holiday treats.  It adds to the festivities.  My mom's side of the family celebrates the holiday on Christmas Eve, so we all gathered at Nanny and Papa's house.  My niece, Zoey, and my nephew, Connor, were there.  I was happy that Mia got to spend some time with them.  We played our usual family Christmas games.  Mia won a flashlight, and I won a heating pad.  You never know what you'll end up with when you play Dirty Santa.  My brother usually wins brownie mix.  This year, he got lady's body wash and lotion.  It cracks me up to see what he wins each year.  Mia and I had one more Christmas party to go to that evening, so I thought that we would get our Dirty Santa gifts and go.  There were 28 gifts, and we drew numbers to see what order they would be chosen.  I got number 28!  Yeah, that took awhile.

I took Mia out to see Wesley's family later that evening.  Well, I didn't just go for Mia.  I wanted to go, too!  I love his family.  They are always very welcoming and so much fun.  They were all gathered at the "white house" as everyone calls it.  We slipped in while they were reading the Christmas story.  We had a good time visiting with everyone.  I'm glad that we got to see all of them.

Christmas Eve at Nanny and Papa's house

Christmas mice and snowman

 Kennedy playing the dice game

 Papaw, Mommy, and Mia

 Nanny with my cutie pie nephew, Connor

 Kaylee holding Connor and Zoey while Mia stays close to her Mimi

Mia and I with Wesley's cousin, Gwen, and her sweet Gina

Snuggling in to wait for Santa

Mia and Santa

One of the parents at Mia's daycare is a photographer.  She sent out an e-mail invitation to sign up for Santa pictures.  She decided to take the pictures at a baby boutique in the Bishop Arts district.  We love that part of Oak Cliff (and that store!).  It felt kind of weird to take Christmas pictures the weekend before Thanksgiving, but I knew I'd be happy to get it done.  Plus, that meant I wouldn't have to stand in line at a mall for an hour to get a Santa picture.  The photographer, Christy, took the fall pictures for the kids at daycare.  They were beautiful, so I knew I would like this picture, too.  Mia and I booked the last appointment of the day.  I figured that even if she had a major meltdown, at least we wouldn't be keeping the next people in line waiting.  There was no meltdown, but Mia was very suspicious of Santa at first.  She wouldn't sit in his lap until he had a stuffed toy that she wanted to look at.  Christy took a ton of pictures as we all made funny faces trying to get Mia to smile.  By the end of the picture session, Mia had decided that Santa was alright.  She was giving him high fives and giggling.  I bought the digital image of the picture I chose so that I could print off as many as I wanted.  Another successful visit with Santa!  Mia gets excited each time she sees the picture so I put one on the bookshelf in her room.  When she sees it, she says, "Mia! Ka-ka-ka Koz! (Santa Claus)".

Daycare Christmas Party

Mia's class had their Christmas party yesterday.  They drew names for presents, and Mia got her friend, Cati.  Mia and Cati are great friends and were born within a couple of weeks of each other.  As it turns out, Cati got Mia's name, too.  I took the day off from work so that I could go to the party as well as get some things done around the house while Mia was at daycare.  When I got to the party, the class was making Christmas shakers.  This consisted of plastic water bottles that the kids stuffed with yarn and pom poms.  One of the teachers then scooped some rice into it, glued the lid shut, and presto! The kids had shakers that they all immediately started shaking and making all kinds of noise with.  A couple of other parents were there as well.  We all helped the teachers get the kids lined up, then we took off down the hall singing Christmas carols.  We went to the church office and then around to some of the other classrooms.  It was really cute, and the kids all shook their shakers to the music.

Once we got back to Mia's classroom, the teachers read a couple of Christmas stories and sang some songs.  Then, it was time to open presents.  They had a little Christmas tree that the kids all sat around.  Mia got Cati a princess puzzle, and Cati got Mia a stuffed puppy and a snowman beanie baby.  Mia loved them both.  She's been carrying the puppy around the house and pushing the little snowman around in her baby stroller.

Next, it was time for lunch.  Each child was signed up to bring something for the lunch, so the kids had lots of food.  I think that was the quietest they were the whole time.  They were just chowing down on the yummy food.  Someone had brought juice boxes for them.  It was funny to watch them try to drink out of them.  They kept pulling the straws out of the boxes (both by accident and on purpose).  They seemed surprised each time they squeezed the box, and juice squirted out.  By this time, Mia and all of her classmates were tired.  The teachers announced that it was nap time.  One by one, the kids went over to their mats and laid down.  I could tell that Mia was ready to go to sleep because she didn't mind that I was leaving.  I laid down next to her to say bye.  She said, "Love you, Mommy. Night, night."  That was my cue to leave.  I was very proud that my little girl was so well behaved and happy that she had a lot of fun with her friends.

When I left, one of the teachers gave me a bag that was a gift from Mia to Wesley and I.  I opened it when I got out to the car.  It was a Christmas card that Mia had decorated, and it had a picture of her on it wearing a Santa hat.  How cute!  Also, they had made an ornament with her handprint in it.  I can guarantee that it will hang on our tree every year from now on.  I just love those ladies at daycare.  They make each holiday such fun!  Sorry that the pictures of the party are blurry.  I forgot my camera and had to use my cell phone.

Christmas party pics

Breakfast Hat and Kitty Boots

For some reason, Mia has been taking the wreath she made at daycare and putting it on her head at breakfast.  I'm not sure why it's only at breakfast.  She says, "Mia hat! Mia hat!"  Maybe her waffles taste better if she eats them while wearing a hat.  I don't know.  She gets a big kick out of it.

She's also been wanting to wear her rain boots every day.  It hasn't rained here in awhile.  She'll wear them with anything, though.  She calls them her "Hey yo Ki-ki boots" (Hello Kitty boots).  They are a little heavy and cumbersome.  After awhile she gets tired of them and takes them off.  There's no telling where they'll be at any given time.

Breakfast hat

 Showing Mommy her boots

Lucky Cupcakes

Mia and I made some lucky cupcakes on Saturday in preparation for the the Big 12 championship game of OU vs. Nebraska.  OU won the bedlam game against OSU last week, so our next big game was against the Cornhuskers.  It was a nail-biter, but OU pulled out a win.  I love my Sooners.  Next, we'll be watching the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's day.

Mia recently discovered that she has pockets in her pants.  Sometimes she likes to walk around with one or both hands tucked into her pockets.  She looks like one cool dude!  The other evening, she was pushing her baby doll in her stroller in our dining room.  As usual, her purse was on her arm.  She keeps all kinds of little things in there like her toy cell phone, her baby's bottle, plastic bracelets, and various other items.  She pushed the stroller over to her Tinkerbell chair and sat down.  She turned the stroller around so that it was facing her and pulled it close to her.  Next, Mia dug around in her purse searching for what she needed.  She expertly flipped open her cell phone, held it out in front of her, and said, "Cheese, baby!"  I was cracking up! How many times have I done that exact same thing to her while she's in her stroller?  It amazes me the things she picks up on.

Lucky cupcakes

Checking Out the Tree

I'm so excited that we have our Christmas tree up and decorated already this year.  I like having plenty of time to enjoy looking at it.  It makes the holiday season seem to last longer.  Mia was too little last year to pay attention to much of what was going on.  Having a tree in our house this year was a bit of a shock to her.  She eyed it suspiciously the first day it was up and didn't want to get too close to it.  It was pretty funny.  Now, she really likes it.  She tries to say "Christmas tree".  It comes out sounding like " ri-ri ree".  You'll just have to sound that one out in your head.  Wesley showed her that we have to be gentle with the tree.  She almost seems to be petting the tree like she does the dog.  He had to show her that, though, because within the first couple of days of having the tree up, she took a few swipes at it with one of her board books.  We decided to keep the tree decorations simple because we weren't sure if she would be trying to take them off.  She hasn't done that yet, but we only used our non-breakable ornaments just in case.  Nana sent her an ornament last year.  It's a jingle bell with an angel on top of it.  She likes to tap it lightly and giggle when it jingles.

Pointing out the Christmas tree

Playing with her jingle bell

Turkey Day in OKC

We spent our Thanksgiving in OKC with Nana and Keith.  They made a delicious Thanksgiving meal.  After lunch, every one of us took a nap.  It was great!  Wesley and I love OKC, and we really enjoy getting to visit with them.  They just bought a new house in Edmond, and they'll be all moved in the next time we go up there to visit.  Mia will have a lot of fun exploring the gigantic new yard, I'm sure.

I've never participated in "Black Friday" before, but Mia and I had to hit Walgreens to see if we could find some good deals.  We did pretty good.  I got Mia a couple of Christmas presents as well as a couple of other gifts.  My best Black Friday steals were online.  I bought a bunch of stuff from Old Navy's website.  Just about everything I got was five dollars, so I loaded up!  It's so hard to pass up a good deal.  Some of the clothes I bought were for our angel I chose from the Angel Tree at work.  It is an important tradition for us as a family to choose an angel every year.  Wesley and I have been doing Angel Tree every year since I was in college.  I think it helps to remind us how much we have to be thankful for.  It's so exciting to think of that person opening their gifts.  As soon as Mia is old enough, we'll let her start choosing an angel for herself and picking out the gifts. 

Mia had some crazy, wild hair today.  I swear, that child's hair can not be tamed.  I'm still working on it.  On the way home from OKC, we stopped in Norman for lunch.  Ah...such happy memories for me in that town.  Unfortunately, my memory became fuzzy when it came to remembering where an Arby's was.  I got us on the right street, but I could have sworn that the Arby's on Main was on the south side of the street.  I realized later that the one I was thinking of is on Lindsey.  Oh well, we made it there regardless.  Mia wanted to sample my chocolate turnover and proceeded to smear it all over her face.  I wanted to get a picture of her chocolatey face with a big grin, so I made a funny face at her to get her to smile.  As you can see in the picture below, the little turkey was mocking me by trying to mimic my silly face.  Little stinker.

Mia does pretty well on the road.  She is getting better at entertaining herself for longer periods of time.  She kept sticking her Cabbage Patch doll behind her head and wanting me to find it.  She would say, "Mommy! Baby? Baby?" I would pretend to look for it and then say, "There it is!"  Mia would giggle and say, "Baby! Mia head!" It's funny when she cracks herself up.

Both mine and Mia's first Black Friday. I actually did buy the hat.

 Such a silly girl

She had to put Daddy's sunglasses on when we got home.  Now, time to watch the OU/OSU Bedlam game!  Boomer Sooner!