Ice Skates and Princesses

Last night we went to Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream at the American Airlines Center. None of the three of us had ever been to a Disney on Ice performance before.  It was all about Disney princesses and highlighted the stories of Tiana, Cinderella, and Rapunzel.  Mia and I went through her dress up clothes that afternoon, and she decided to wear her Snow White dress.  It was a lot of fun to get her all decked out in her princess dress, crown, and jewelry.  She even insisted on taking her Snow White purse with additional jewelry inside.

We had great seats.  They were perfect for a three year old because nobody was behind us. That's good for a little girl who likes to get up and down fifty times.  The show was incredible.  There were bright costumes, lots of singing, and Mickey Mouse and the rest of the gang showed up a few times, too.  She chowed down on popcorn and M&Ms and thoroughly enjoyed herself.  She was worn out by the end of the evening, though.  Within five minutes of getting home, she was in her pajamas and in bed.

All dressed up and ready to go!

Eagerly waiting for the show to start

 Mickey and his pals

 Princess Tiana

 Cinderella

 Rapunzel

 She was mesmerized

This picture was actually taken this morning.  As soon as she finished her breakfast, she wanted to put her Snow White dress back on.  She's holding the horse she got last night.  She said it looks like Maximus from Tangled.

Baby #2

We are fast approaching our next prenatal appointment.  Next week we will (hopefully) get to find out the gender of baby #2.  It will be nice to say "him" or "her" instead of just a generalized "baby".  I don't like to say "it", so most of the time I call the baby "#2" for now.  I love the excitement and anticipation of these few days before receiving that knowledge.  I can't wait to find out how our family dynamic will change with the addition of a new little girl or little boy.  Mia is still insisting that it's a sister.  That would be so much fun.  However, having a boy would be a great adventure, too.  Just for fun, I did some online gender prediction tests to see what they would say.  The general consensus was "girl".  I also read up on some old wives tales.  According to the Chinese lunar calendar, it says we'll have a girl.  The wedding ring test (where you hold your ring above your belly with a string) showed "girl" as well.  Based on my cravings of salty and sour foods, though, the old wives tale suggests that we'll have a boy.  As usual when basing a prediction on gender myths, I got mixed results.  Whichever one it is, we'll be really happy.  I haven't been able to really buy anything yet without knowing the gender, but I had to buy this onesie.  It's the very first thing I've bought for this baby.  Boy or girl, the baby is sure to be a little Sooner fan...even though we live deep in Longhorn territory.

We all love books around here, so I've also bought a few books for the baby.

 Mia wanted to read the baby's books.  Like I said, we're all book lovers.

 

Stop and Smell the Flowers

We got to spend some time at the beautiful Arboretum on Saturday.  I love going there.  Just rows and rows of flowers everywhere.  Hopefully we'll get to go there more this summer.

There were a few miniature houses set up to look like the residences of famous artists.

 A few shots of Picasso's "house"

 

Spring Break in Dallas

Val and Tim brought Shayna and Kaylee down here from Arkansas to Dallas for their spring break.  Mom and Preston came too, so we made a big family weekend out of it.  I honestly can't say when the last time was that I had that much fun.  Several times they had me laughing so hard that I was crying.  Preston had me going so bad one time that I thought I was gonna have to pull the car over cuz I could barely see to drive!  It was sooo much fun.  On Thursday, we went to Dave and Buster's over in Arlington.  I ordered Mia a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner.  Apparently, she misunderstood what I'd gotten for her because when her food arrived, Wes told her it looked good and asked for a bite.  Mia said (very matter-of-fact), "Daddy, you can't have any!  It's not a BOY cheese sandwich!  It's a GIRL cheese sandwich!"  Talk about hilarious!  On Friday, we went to the Dallas World Aquarium- always a favorite.  After that, we went to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza to brush up on our Dallas JFK history from 1963. 

Mia surprised me by agreeing to let this bird eat out of her hand.

 Uncle Tim picked her up so that she could see a huge snake.

 Mia always likes looking at turtles

 She wanted to touch this one.

 The Texas School Book Depository which now houses the Sixth Floor Museum

 

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

I'm finally starting to feel better.  The nausea is greatly diminished.  Fatigue is still an issue, but that's just something I've got to deal with.  On Friday, Mia took some St. Patrick's Day treats to her teachers.  I saw the cutest idea on the Life Sweet Life blog, so I put together something similar and used her free printables.  I just added Mia's name to them.  Later that evening, we met three other families we know at a local bbq joint.  That place has a large outdoor area with a playground and lots of toys for the kids along with patio seating for the adults.  Add that to the fact that the whole outdoor space is fenced in, and I was in heaven.  Good food, good friends, and not having to worry about watching the kids every second?  Count this momma in!  We had a fantastic time.  Saturday was pretty low key, just dinner at Posado's and ordering a rug for the living room.  Today we were busy out in the yard for a good bit of the afternoon.  All in all, it was a productive weekend.  Now, it's time to relax.

I have to add a couple of funny things Mia has said recently.

While eating at a Greek restaurant last week, Wes pointed to Mia's tzatziki sauce and asked her if she liked it.  She said, "Yes!"  Wes then said, "Do you know what it's called?" to which Mia replied, "Yes."  Wes said, "Well, what is it?"  Mia smiled and said, "It's Fantastic!"

At the grocery store last week, Mia announced, "Mickey Mouse and juice and candy are great things!"  How can you argue with that?

Art Critic

Saturday was Mia's first trip to the Dallas Museum of Art.  It was her first art museum ever, actually.  Maybe we were crazy to take a three year old there, but sometimes you've just got to try things and see how it goes.  Mia liked some of it, but I don't think she liked the fact that she kept hearing us say, "Don't touch anything!  Stop running!  No shouting!"  Maybe she thought all of that stuff was toys that we were just teasing her with.  I think she enjoyed some of it, though.  Wes and I liked it, but we might go back by ourselves sometime so that we can really look at everything without worrying that a priceless sculpture is about to be smashed to bits.  Mia did pretty good, but maybe she is a little young to appreciate art yet.  In any case, it was good to have a family outing.  We're always trying to think of new things to do with Mia.

Mia said that this brown chair from the 60's looked like a Bumbo.  Haha!

 She thought this chair covered with stuffed pandas was awesome.

 Some of the art was...interesting.  However, when you consider that these particular pieces are hundreds of years old, it makes you appreciate them a little more.

 When Mia saw this one, she said, "Hey Momma!  That looks like you with a crown!"

 This was one scary looking piece of art.  I kind of stayed away from it.

 Mia said that this piece looked like her red dragon, Ivan.  Do you see a resemblance?