Always a Day Late and a Dollar Short

Man, time can get away from you so fast - especially in November and December between the holidays! I downloaded some new photos from my phone and camera and realized that I've been lax at posting quite a few of the fun things we've been up to. We'll see how much I can get down before little Miss Mia wakes up!  :)

Mia got her first "trim" a few weeks ago on December 2nd.  

It was just a few straggle bang hairs, but papa was really sad that I did it when he was at work - he's such a good dad and hates to miss out on anything!

Zeus picked up an electric popper since our microwave died and the one we borrowed from his sister before she moves back doesn't pop popcorn very well. Mia thought it was SUPER cool to watch the kernels pop and jump and couldn't wait to dive in with both hands and much down on the pop corn!

On Saturday, December 3, Carrie and Mia and I braved the rainy weather to head to Gruene Christmas Market down in Geuene (pronounced "Green"), Texas.

Luckily it only sprinkled for a minute or two while we were down there. He's one of the cool old trees with some HUGE wind chimes. Of course I had to pull them to see what they sounded like - way worth it, they were gorgeous sounding!

We ate in the Old Gristmill Restaurant that had a decorated Christmas tree hanging upside down as you walked in. It's kind of hard to see in this photo, but it looked really cool.

We had a blast, but it was a LONG day for Mia who hardly napped. I had to snap a photo of her just laying there on the floor when we got home.  lol  Of course, she had enough energy to take a photo to send to papa who was out of town that weekend.

We had a cold front come in near the beginning of the month, so I've been taking along an extra blanket to tuck around Mia. She LOVES getting tucked into to car seat and gets this HUGE grin on her face as I tuck it around the edges. Luckily I was actually able to snap a picture of it!  :)

I needed to trim my toenails so tried to quick get it done before running errands. Monkey see, monkey do - need I say more?  :)

Mia in a winter coat and mittens by our mail box. Thank you Jan Vargas for passing along the darling warm coat set!

Shopping with mama - can't help but try on the cute headbands!

Narwhal, unicorn, or Hershey's Kiss?  Mia's hair is getting SO long!

Gotta wear those holiday shirts while you can!  :)

Mia LOVED the stairs at Eddie and Olivia's house. Mia and I went to have a girls night this last weekend and had such a nice time until Eddie ran out to run some errands and got in an accident when someone ran a red light. Thankfully he's okay, but his car was totaled. So scary!

While Eddie was out running errands, all the girls (Olivia and her daughter Adelina, as well as Olivia's mom, cousin and sister and her daughter) went on a walk through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. This one was  a favorite in green, blue and purple. Christmas lights are one of my most favorite things!

Mia's other winter coat from Aunt Nikki - thanks Sara and Fia for passing it down! We think of you guys every time Mia wears it!!! 

Mia's growing entirely too fast!  She's 18 months old at the end of the month and we can hardly wrap our minds around the idea that she's only been in our lives for the last year and a half! We can hardly remember our lives without this little bundle of joy!  :) In my church, they have a nursery class for kids that start at 18 months, so we've decided to drop in a few times this month to get her use to the class. This past Sunday was our first week. Unfortunately Zeus had to work his part time job so he missed out on the first of her in Nursery. She did pretty good, but definitely needs to hone her sharing skills as she wanted to play with whatever someone else was playing with!  The baby strollers were one of the hot items in the class, so we've added that to her Christmas list.  :)

Mia with her name written on a piece of tape on her back.  :) Aren't her tights the cutest?!?!  She was SO styling! Thank you Aunt Nikki for the dress and Tia Hilda for the tights and shoes!

Checking out the toys and other kids.

The tiny chairs were a big hit, but mama was NOT such a fan of the climbing ON the chairs!

Well, my little big-girl is waking up. On to start our day! We have a cookie decorating party out in Elgin to head to, as well as some Christmas shopping to do, so we've got a busy day and lots to do before making it back home for Mia's nap and tutoring.  :)  Tis the season for busy days!

Lame-O

I have been horridly lame lately about blogging and I apologizes to my one loyal reader about being sadly remiss in this area.  So, for a horridly quick blog (since it's after 11pm) update, a few quick uploaded phone photos and captions:

The new haircut. (not sure why the top of the pic is fuzzy)

My sweet little Mia enjoying the wind through her hair and the sunny day in the swing - isn't she lovely!

Checking out the ground and surrounding areas - little investigator.

Riding on mommy's shoulders for the first time = great fun!

First bicycle helmet!  I can't wait to get a bike seat now so I can go riding with her!

Kind of front-heavy with the packaging still attached.

Not so thrilled about the bike helmet.

Papa taking Mia for a ride in the cart around the isles while we wait for the oil to get changed in his car.

And they're off!  (No, Zeus isn't handicapped, well, not certifiably (lol) but the cart was left abandoned in the oil change section and had a comfy seat, so one thing led to another and Mia and him were off for a trip around the isle.  :)

Painted Mia's toes for the first time today!  She actually held still for it - I think she was mesmerized.

Mommy got a matching paint job.

No, that is not a cadaver foot - it's my lily white foot with Mia's little light caramel foot on top.

Enough for today.  I'll try to get up early tomorrow to update more.  I have Mia's 10 month photos to upload as well as photos from our trip to El Paso this weekend for Zeus's mom's birthday memorial mass and to spend time with family.

Too much fun!

Mia and I have been having too much fun.  Well, other than that Mia got sick and was congested and had a cough for most of the trip.  We were able to spend oodles of time with grandma and grandpa and Tiffany, as well as many other friends and family.  We can hardly believe our time here is quickly coming to an end.  Only three more sleeps until we head back to papa and Texas. We can't wait to be back in his arms, but man are we going to miss all the family (and friends that are like family) that are up here in Utah.  Zeus is worried that Mia won't remember him.  She's been so good with all the people she's met up here and we've skyped nearly every day, so I'm hoping she'll go right to him just as she always has so he's not all sadness when we get back!


Here are a few photos from our visit.  Unfortunately I've been horrible at taking photos unless it's of Mia and/or other family or kiddos with Mia. 

Mia and my friend Aleece's three darling kiddos sharing Mia's puff snacks.  My friend's Erin and Jaclyn were there as well, along with Jaclyn's little boy.  Somehow we didn't end up getting a grown-up shots.

Mia and my friend Sandy's two youngest girls.  Our good friend Mary was there along with her two darling boys and when Sandy's three other kids got home from school we went and got the infamous Farr's ice cream.  Man, I stink at group photos! 

Sandy's little Camilla sharing her toys with Mia who's hair'd come out of it's ponytail, but still stuck straight up!!!

Sandy got this one of Mary and I, but other than that, we sure stunk at being sure to get group photos!

Got a cool shot of the snow-capped mountain peek though - gorgeous Utah scenery.  Man, I miss the mountains!

We went and got Mia's photo taken in her pretty dress.  Got one of Mia and I as we waited for them to get ready.  :)  They turned out great - can't wait to get them in the mail!

Here's a silly preview of what Mia thought of photo time.  :)  

For a link to all of the portraits (even ones we didn't particularly love or order), click below:

https://viewimages.targetportraits.com/sharealbum/sharealbumlist?rndId=CAcIBAk=&uId=CQYJBwlO

and then this one for one's I've put in montages/templates:

https://viewimages.targetportraits.com/giftmaker/index?rndId=CAcDBQI=&uId=CQYJBwlO

Afterwards, we wandered the store and did some "window shopping".  We found this cute shirt and had to get a photo of Mia and her Auntie Tiff.

My mom went to get her hair cut on Friday and talked me into going and getting my hair cut as well.  It'd gotten pretty long - I honestly don't know how long ago I got it cut, probably before I was pregnant with Mia, so forever ago.  Zeus called while we were driving to the salon, and when I told him I was going to get my hair cut, he replied, "Great!  Chop it off!  Chop off at least 3 or 4 inches!"  Oh my.  I had no idea he felt that strongly about it.  Usually significant others WANT you to keep it long, so it caught me a little by surprise.  Not totally by surprise though, because it  had gotten so long that it weighed itself down.  I have pretty thin hair anyhow and tons of it has fallen out since I had Mia.   Zeus once commented that when I let it dry loose, I looked like a "flower child" and should pull it back in a pony tail.  Schnikeys!  

APPARENTLY it had gotten pretty bad, and I was more than ready to have it shorter again, so in we went, and off came the hair.  I knew what I wanted because I've been thinking about it for forever and also because when I skyped with my sister Michelle last week, she had a new haircut similar to what I'd been wanting that looked FABULOUS on her.  I wasn't sure if I'd be able to describe it though to the stylist, but I guess I did because she did a great job.

Here's the main chunk of hair I got cut off.  

Yeah, that's it.  All of it.  ALL. OF. IT.  It looks impressively long, but that's the whole thickness of it as well.  PITIFUL!  The rest of the cutting was the layering of it.  It's now layered and totally NON-flower-child looking, I'm proud to say.  Stay tuned for photos of the new haircut.  Oh yeah, and as I drove home with my mom she said, "Wow, your hair looks SO much better.  It use to be this thin long pony tail that did NOT look good.  It was so long and thin.  I can't get over how much BETTER it looks!"  Yeah, the truth hurts sometimes.