Fall Farm Festval 2011

On Saturday my sister and I took our kids (our kids.... I just love saying that) to a local farm. We've gone to this festival for years and I've always dreamed of the day I could take Mia.

Of course, you have to get the traditional "kid in the pumpkin patch" shots.

Mia and her cousin, Teagan.

It was an absolutely gorgeous perfect fall weather kind of day.

Mia and cousin Tess got to take it easy riding in the wagon.

Mia adores her cousins. And the feeling is mutual.

It's funny to watch Tatum try to cart Mia around. She's such a skinny beanpole and Mia is such a chunk.

From front to back: Teagan, Travis, some random kids, Tess and Tatum's friend, Emma, Tatum and Mia.

Checking out the bunnies.

The kids insisted on taking turns pulling the wagon. It was fine with me if they wanted to do the manual labor. LOL!

Tess squeezed her eyes closed going down the slide. She wasn't so sure about it.

I love this photo of my happy girl.

Should I eat this? She tried...

The tongue cracks me up.

Finally... my baby's face joins our annual photo.

From the left: Teagan, Mia, Tess, Travis, and Tatum. 

Tanner took the photo. So all my sister's T's were accounted for. LOL! But seeing as he's a teenager who was forced to accompany his family to someplace that he said was "totally boring" he managed to avoid the camera all day. 

We had a really great time. It was an amazing day. One I'd looked forward to for a very long time. Finally taking my girl did not disappoint. And she loved it as much as her momma does.

Favorite Photo Friday

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A Few Firsts

Mia is teething. On Saturday morning I found a new little bottom tooth had broken through. Unfortunately, neither one of us has gotten much sleep all weekend because of it.

So this is gonna be quick cuz mommy's exhausted. But I just wanted to get a few things down so when I look back some day...  I'll know when they happened.

In spite of the lack of sleep, Mia was a trooper and held it together during my hair appt Saturday morning. I can't get over how much older she looks in this photo.

She had a few straggly hairs that hung in her eyes so my hairdresser, Jessica, evened out her bangs as she napped in her stroller. Technically, I guess that makes this Mia's first hair cut...even though it was only maybe 4 little hairs. LOL!

After we got home Saturday afternoon, we hung out on the floor of the living room while we played. Three different times Mia stood herself completely up from the floor without assistance. I couldn't believe it. She didn't stay up for long. But it's progress. The few other times she's stood on her own it was from simply letting go of whatever she was using to steady herself.  

Of course, I wasn't fast enough to get photos. These are from earlier in the week. Mia's wooden blocks are in that basket on the bookcase. She's figured out how to reach in and grab them.

She's also suddenly gotten tall enough to reach the top of the dining room table and kitchen counter... if she really stretches and gets on her tippy toes. Now I have to be careful to push everything away from the edge or it'll come crashing to the floor.

A few other things:

• Mia loves to sing and dance. Her favorite song is "Itsy Bitsy Spider". I'm not ashamed to admit that I sing it a lot. It's always guaranteed to grab her attention. And sometimes... like when she's thrashing around refusing to let me change her diaper... I need the distraction. She's now doing some hand motions (her own interpretation of the spider climbing the spout, of course) and literally "singing" along. Her voice is so precious. I'll have to try to get it on video. 

• She ate her first piece of pizza Friday night. To say she loved it would be an understatement. She demolished it! After polishing off an entire adult sized piece (shredded very small by mommy), she kept signing "more". I only gave her a few more bites for fear she'd make herself sick. 

• Every time she or I drop something, knock something over, or any other general boo boo type thing I always do the typical baby sing song version of "Uh oh". This weekend she started repeating it. Except her version is a sing song "Uh uh oh". Yeah... she doubles it up for some reason. 

• She has mastered the sippy cup. Although we're still doing bottles for naps and bedtime. We're also slowly transitioning from formula to real milk. So far no complaints from my little garbage disposal. 

• She's using signs more consistently. But I have to be really vigilant and pay attention or sometimes I'll miss them. Because most of them are her own version of the correct sign. But she's doing "more", "eat", "all done", sometimes I think she's doing "drink" and tonight when I asked if she was ready for her bath and signed "bath"... she also did.

That's it for now. I must sleep. And soon...

Birthday Party Re-cap

 * Click on any photo to enlarge it. *

The food table

Note the penguin shaped pineapple juice ice cubes.

I was told they were a little over the top... but I didn't care. LOL!

Cupcakes!

My brother took the penguin hat photo about a month ago with the plan to somehow incorporate it into the party.

Mia's hot pink and black with white polka dots penguin birthday ensemble to go along with our theme.

We took the presents to the deck since it was a beautiful, sunshiney 75 degree day.

I love how cousin Tess has her arm around Mia. These two are so cute together.

Griffey had to get in on the action, too.

Aunt Carla and Mia

I couldn't help myself. There was also an adorable headband to match but Mia is going through a "I won't wear anything in my hair" phase. So it was tossed to the floor within .02 seconds of being put on her head.

One of my besties, Lisa, and her daughter, Peyton

Livi who came with her mom, Kendra

My other bestie, Dominique, slaving away in the kitchen

Most of the boys thought they'd have a better vantage point  from a 2nd floor window.

In case I'd have to literally hose her down, we took the cake outside, too.

The girls assisted with blowing out the candles.

Mia eyeballing the cake and formulating a plan of attack.

And immediately dove in as soon as it was placed in front of her.

Notice the look of concentration..

Once she got a little taste...

things got crazy!

It was a great day spent with family and friends.

In spite of a slightly hectic, behind schedule start and a birthday girl who refused her afternoon nap, everything turned out beautifully. I was once again reminded how much the little village I've built means to me and my daughter. 

Thanks to everyone who helped pull it together and pitched in to clean up after. I was so thankful to be able to relax after putting Mia to bed. And miraculously, she slept really good even with the sugar overload.

Although Mia likely won't remember this, it'll be a wonderful memory for me and one that I'll tell her all about some day. Thanks to all those who came to celebrate with us. It meant a lot. 

I'll always be eternally grateful that I got to experience this first birthday with Mia. But I still can't believe my baby is 1 year old already! Time really does fly on the other side of The Wait.