Vintage Mia at Halloween

An old picture from Wesley's phone of my baby girl trying on hats at Halloween at Hobby Lobby.

Madeline

Wednesday night was Trunk or Treat at the church where Mia goes to daycare.  Wes had to work overtime, so he couldn't go with us.  I decided not to hand out candy from our trunk because it seemed like asking for trouble since I knew Mia would be running around.  Instead Mia and I hung out with friends and helped pass out candy at their car.  Mia was all business about handing out the candy.  She was really focused on making sure each kid got a piece as they came by.  However, her attention did stray at times.  It's always the most fun to play with friends, and Mia kept going to see what her friend, Reese, was up to.  They are in the same class, and I doubt they can even remember life before they met each other.  They've been in daycare together since they were infants.  They were funny because they both kept getting candy from Reese's dad and wanting Holly (Reese's mom) and I to open them.  I finally had to cut Mia off.  Her teeth will thank me later!

The clue for Mia's Halloween costume was a madeleine.  It is a French dessert that is basically a small sponge cake-like treat that is baked in a pan with shell-shaped molds.  Thus, Mia's costume was Madeline.  Mia loves to watch the cartoon on Netflix.  It is based on the Madeline children's books by Ludwig Bemelmans.  The very first Madeline book came out in 1939!  Madeline is a little girl who lives in a boarding house in Paris with several other girls.  She's very outgoing and gets into lots of adventures.  It's nostalgic to watch it with Mia and become reaquainted with Madeline, Miss Clavel, and the other girls.  I love hearing the first line of each episode "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines ...".  Ah memories...Mia was an adorable Madeline, but it was difficult to keep the hat on her head.  The daycare is having pumpkin parties on Monday, so she'll get to wear it one more time.

Hijinx at the Mouse House

First thing on Saturday, we went to Southern Maid for some breakfast.  Mia insisted on wearing her purple tutu.  When we got there, she requesting her Southern Maid "usual", a pink glazed donut with a Capri Sun.  She also asked for a donut with "sparkles" (sprinkles).  Thankfully, they had some chocolate glazed donut holes with sprinkles, so we got her one.  She'd have a gigantic stomach ache if she ate two whole donuts.

 

Mia had her first trip to Chuck E. Cheese later that afternoon.  Her friend from daycare was having a birthday party there.  One of the first things she wanted to do was climb up into the tunnels that were up at the level of the ceiling.  To get there, there were a series of ledges that she had to climb up.  They were almost too tall for her.  Rather than go down the slide, she decided to come back down the ledges.  Somehow, she got situated so that she was stuck dangling one hand from the ledge above and hanging onto the one below.  She started squealing, "I'm stuck! Help!"  really loud.  It was loud in there, so nobody else was really paying attention.  Praying that no one would see me, it was Mommy to the rescue.  I slithered through the low opening and weaved my way up three levels before I could reach her.  Little stinker!  Haha!  Wes said that nobody saw me do that, but he may have just wanted to spare me embarrassment.  Oh well, that's what moms do, right?  At one point, Chuck E. Cheese came out and started walking toward Mia.  Her smile turned to a frown as she backed away saying, "Noooo!  No!"  She was fine, though, as long as Chuck E. kept his distance.  She was happy to smile and wave at him from afar.  I told my mom about it later, and she told Preston.  Pa Pa said, "What do you expect?  It's a big rat!"  He has a point.  I hadn't thought of it that way.  Hehe!  Mia loved the games.  She wasn't sure how to play them, but they had some simple ones for the little kids.  She liked putting in her tokens and getting the tickets.  Before we left, she used her tickets to get a mini box of pink Nerds candy and a small purple fish.  She loved it!

On Sunday, Mia worked on her swing.  She talks about baseball a lot ever since we took her to see the Rangers.  I found this set at a consignment shop for just a few bucks.  It looks brand new.  Can't beat that.  Consignment shops can be hit or miss, but sometimes they have great finds.

Walking to the donut shop

Gotta eat the "sparkles" first

She was too short to reach the pedal, so Daddy helped out.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Mia's Halloween Costume Clue

Wordless Wednesday: October Cuteness

Pumpkin Patch '11

Today we went to the pumpkin patch for some autumn fun.  Mia was really excited about the pony rides.  She wanted to do that first.  She liked it at first, but it's a good thing the ride was short.  She wanted to get off pretty quickly.  A snow cone, some games, and a petting zoo later we headed home to take a nap.  Mia even got her first (temporary) tattoo.  It was nice to be outside milling around in the pumpkins.

She's so little that her foot came nowhere near the stirrup!

Mia chose a butterfly for her tattoo.

 

 

Halloween Spirit

Mia picked out a pumpkin last weekend, so tonight we decided to carve it.  I bought her some Disney princess stencils to choose from.  She wanted Princess Aurora.  It turned out that our pumpkin wasn't tall enough to accommodate her long hair, so she went with Snow White.  She helped Wesley scoop out the insides with her little pink scoop.  Each time one of the pumpkin seeds got stuck to her hand, she wanted it off immediately.  It was too slimy I guess.  It's been a couple of years since I've used a stencil on a pumpkin, and I'd forgotten how time consuming it is.  In the end, I like how it turned out.  Mia was so sweet when we put the candle in it.  She said, "It's Snow White!  Oh, thank you!  Thank you!"  I'm glad she liked it, but next time we might do a simpler design.

Tried to get a better pic of Snow White, but it's really red.

 

Choo Choo Rain

Wesley took Mia on her first real train ride last weekend.  I had to work, but the two of them took the train from Ft. Worth to Oklahoma City to visit his mom.  It was strange to be home by myself for a few days.  It was way too quiet.  Wesley sent me some pictures while they were gone.  I missed both of them like crazy. 

Watching a movie on the way to OKC

Mia and Rapunzel

Chowing down at Chick-fil-a

 Fun at the OKC Zoo

Jack-o-lantern masterpieces

Train ride home

  When Mia got off of the train and saw me, she shrieked, "Mommy!" and ran at me full speed.  I sure did miss them.  I asked her if she liked riding the train.  She said, "Yes, I ride the choo choo rain!  I said 'All aboard'!"  Haha!  I guess she remembered that from the circus train on Dumbo.  Mia was really clingy for the next couple of days.  She's never been away from me for that long.  She had a really fun trip and enjoyed visiting with her Nana! 

We baked cookies when she got home.  She loves licking the mixers.

 

Papaw's 50th Bday

My dad turned 50 years old on Friday.  Fifty just doesn't seem as old to me now as it did as a kid.  It's the new forty, right?  Mia and I went to Dad's party on Saturday.  It was also a surprise 40th birthday party for my Aunt Valerie even though she wasn't too surprised.  It was an awesome day.  Any time that I get to spend with my family gets an "awesome" rating, so it's to be expected.  I don't get to see my brother very often because he works away from home a lot.  He was there with my SIL Shawnna and my adorable nephew, Connor.  That little Connor is cuteness personified.  I'm so glad we got to see them.  Mia had a blast.  She wanted to get in the swimming pool so bad and couldn't understand why we hadn't brought her bathing suit.  The swimming season is over for the year for us.  The weather is amazing right now, just as autumn should be.  I'm so excited for pumpkins and football and all of the great things that go along with fall.

Zoey was so excited to see Mia.  The girls kept hugging each other over and over.

 These two were having so much fun that they refused to go to bed on Friday night.  Here they are at 10:30, and they're wide awake!

 It's hard to get three little ones to all look at the camera at the same time.  Here's Rachel and Zoey, my Mamaw (just turned 91 in July!), Mia and I, Tyler and Connor, and my dad

 A certain someone decided she wanted to go head-first down the slide.

Sweet cousins