Tidbits

Today we celebrated Mia's biggest brother's birthday. We took the kids to see a movie. It was Mia's first movie theater experience. She was SO excited she couldn't stand still. She had no clue what we were talking about when we told her where we were going but she knew it must be something thrilling. I tried to take a picture of her and she could hardly stand still because she was just wanting to hurry up and go.

She was an absolute angel. We didn't even have to tell her to be quiet in the theater. She just knew. She was ALL about the popcorn, oh my goodness. I had to finally take it from her. (I HATE popcorn! uck!)

going to the movies




On a different note... I finally got a couple pics of Mia playing with Kinhly via iChat. I can't get on the computer without Mia asking to see Kinhly. She talks about her all the time now. If I tell Mia that we can't talk to her at the moment, she'll say, "maybe later, okay, mom, later?". It's really sweet.







On a third note...
Tina over at http://secondgenadoption.wordpress.com/ found this blog and we've been chatting. I told her about the DaNang Gang, and bless her sweet heart, she had more photos of Mia, and Kinhly, and Kimberlee. The youngest photos I've gotten of any of them. Madeline, my dear friend Kathy Golden's daughter was in the pics too, but I think Kathy has younger photos. It's so awesome knowing most of the families of the toddlers who were stuck in the shutdown together. I think I may go on back to the Asian festival again this May to meet up again. I was debating it, but I think I may just give it a go again. At the least so Mia can see her orphanage palls again. It was really neat seeing the even younger photos of them that Tina has. Thanks Tina!!!!

Here's probably the youngest photos I've gotten of Mia: (one I already had but the other was new to me!)

Happy Easter (with pics)

I hope all of you had a great day celebrating the most important day of the year!

Rarely are all of my kids dressed up. Outside of Mia, trying to get the rest of my motley crew in nice digs is a chore. But, today they all looked great. I took them to see my dad and got some photos of them at my parents' home. My dad was thrilled to see them. The boys had fun taking pictures in his hat. It was really cold. When we took the pictures it was about 50 degrees with a chilly breeze. Poor Mia was so mad at me making her stand in the cold in her sleeveless dress. If she has any future in modeling, she'll just have to get over that hangup! I had to bargain with her to stay out in the cold.

The Crew



The Girls



The Boys (being silly. BIG Bro in Grandpa's hat, and Not-As-Big Bro in Bigger Bro's glasses)



My Favorite Pic:


Me & My Crew

(What, you didn't know I was of hefty size? Quit starring!)

Part Two

I found my camera and got a few more of Mia's dresses. I took pics until I ran out of battery power. I won't take any more pics after this though (even though there are many more dresses). She had so much fun modeling. She really got into it. Her expressions just cracked me up. She could have done this all day long. She's such a prissy-pot.

Her latest video craze is Fantasia. Over and over and over again. At least we've moved on from the Sound of Music. Hopefully. She loves music and loves to dance and "act". She does little dialogs that she makes up in her head. She'll uses different voices. Then she'll break out into a dance, stop, do more dialog, and then dance some more. It's hilarious.

And I'd like to give a little disclaimer on the hair. I've never learned to French braid. Ever. And as you can see I still can't do it. Mia is obsessed with braids. She saw a picture of "braid with no top hairband" aka the French braid. She pointed to her temple and said, "it starts here mom and stop down there" pointing to her shoulder. It took me forever just to pull this off. I've never seen a child who will stand still for so long just for me to get her hair the exact way she wants it. She wasn't thrilled with the end results, but she was pacified. I had to tell her I'd never done braids like that. She said, "it's okay mom, you learn it". haha!


Can you tell she's eating this up!


























I'll end with this one since apparently it's quite the popular dress. This is what Mia looks like in it.

Little-Miss-Model

So, it's spring! I'm so excited it's hard to contain! And, it gives me a little bug. You know, the shopping bug. For the past few days I've been buying Mia spring dresses. Okay, I can't lie, for the past few weeks I've been buying spring dresses. I have over twenty now (way over but I won't embarrass myself or reveal too much of my addiction!). I need to stop...but honestly, I probably won't. I was going to take a photo of her in each dress so I could find matching hair bows without having to drag the dresses around. Well, I got about four photos taken and I lost my balances and fell, landing on the camera. I messed up the lens. Here's a little preview of what she's gotten. There are many many many many more. But, I can say that my whopping total for all the dresses I've gotten is around $80. I shop at a very upscale consignment store that my friend owns. Only four of her dresses are straight off the rack from the original store. However, almost ALL of the dresses I've bought her still had the tag on them! Even the Baby Lulu's and the Strasburgs!

Here's the Princess modeling in the only photos I was able to get:









AHHHHHH Spring!!!

!!WARNINGS!!

First off, if you have a daughter from the Red Cross orphanage in Danang, VN, watch out! Not only do these three girlies (Mia, Paisley, and Delila) have their orphanage in common, but apparently they have the same head banging skills. It cracked me up that they all have the same injury very close to the same place. So, if your daughter is from the RC, be aware that she may get one of these very soon.





And warning #2...she's driving! AGGGHHHHHH!!!!
Mia's big sissy got her license and now has enough driving time to be on the road, by herself! (shudder!)

Dances with Spider

Conversation:

Mia: Mommy, there's a black spider on my wall. He's a little scary.
Me: There's a little black spider on your wall?
Mia: No, there's a black spider on my wall. He's a little scary. He wants to go outside.
Me: Oh, alright, let's go see him. We'll get him outside.
Mia: Yeah, he needs to go outside.
Me: Did he tell you that? (me chuckling)
Mia: Yeah. And, he's a little scary.
Me: Well, he's probably more scared of you than you are of him.

We walk into the room and Holy Mother of Pete!
*

*
No, I'm more scared of it than it could EVER be of me!

So, I'm trying as calmly as I can to call for the spider catcher kit we store while keeping a close eye on it. Our "kit" consists of a piece of cardboard and a clear plastic bowl. I'm seriously trying not to freak out! I don't want to make Mia scared of spiders. Meanwhile, I'm having flash backs of my hospitalization and months of hives from my reaction to a wolf spider. Who knew you could have an allergic reaction to a wolf spider!

This was NOT a wolf spider. I later found out it is indeed a, very common to these parts, female Southern House Spider. He was a she.

Anywho...I knew it wasn't a black widow, which we also have had here, but it was black. It was a spider. It was big, REALLY big. It was alive. And it was too high on the wall for me to get the bowl over. And, was too large to squish! I'd have to coax her off the wall. Ha! I quickly learned that was not going to be an issue. She came down willingly...and fast!

She might have told Mia that she wanted to go outside, but apparently she wasn't too sure she wanted me to be the transportation. I'm not sure what gaping massive hole this lady crawled through to get into the house but darn she was quick. She saw me with bowl and took off! I may be out of shape, but I can still hurdle a toddler bed, move a dresser, jump a good foot off the ground, and fling stuffed animals clear across a room in record speed.

She started back up the wall and got to just the right height for me to slap the bowl over her. Great. I slid the cardboard under the bowl and got her outside. Phew!

Conversation going to bed tonight:
Mia: Spider is outside?
Me: Yes. Remember, we took her outside.
Mia: What if she's cold. It's so cold out there. What if she wants my blanket.
Me: She can spin her very own. Spiders can spin thread. She can make a blanket if she needs it.
Mia: Good. I need my blanket. She's not scary.

Yeah, right, whatever you say Mia. You keep telling yourself that and I'll keep telling myself that too! I'm really hoping Miss Southern House Spider has found a new house!

**These aren't pictures of the actual spider in our house. I got these off the internet when I finally found pictures of what the heck our visiting megathon spider was. Sorry. It didn't occur to me to ask Miss Spider to stop her marathon around the room for a photo op.

Baby Bath Bubbles

For Christmas Mia's godmother found her an "Asian" Cabbage Patch Baby. (Which btw reminds me SOOOO much of Paisley. I don't know why, but every time I look at the baby doll I think of her! Maybe it's the cheeks?) Mia LOVES this baby doll, loves her! She's named her Baby Bath Bubbles. She's a plastic CP, unlike the regular stuffed pantyhose material ones. She came with a hard plastic floaty ring that the baby doll sits in while in the bath tub. It also has a pump like a shower head attached to the ring so that you can squirt the baby.

Mia and I have had several conversations about how to properly squirt the baby. I've told her that you rinse the baby's hair by squirting from the top of her head and that you don't squirt the baby in the face. I've reminded her that she doesn't like to be squirted in the face either. And, of course, Mia agrees with all of this. Then she proceeds to squirt the baby...in the face: in the eyes, up her nose. And she thinks it's hilarious! Oh well, it's just a baby doll. I'm just hoping that she'll remember NOT to squirt in the face, in the eyes, up the nose this summer when she goes swimming with her new little cousins that are going to be just old enough to get in the pool in their swimmy rings. We'll see.

Mac'n (and new blog)

Mia LOVES the Apple store. Loves the Apple store! She asks me several times a week to go to the Apple store which, unfortunately, I've found myself in too many times seeking the guidance of The Geniuses. She usually totes along with me, hence how she's come to fall in love with the place. It's all about the BIG Mac that the kids can play games on. She really enjoys the computer. None in our house compare and she tells us this in so many words. "Fun mommy, almost like Apple store." I do have a Mac, MacBook Pro to be exact. Or, should I say, my work allows me a MacBook Pro. (great job, awesome perks!) But, she can't play games on mine. She sees the apple on the top and BEGS me to play on it but obviously I just can't let her. We have two PCs at home, but to her, it's just not the same. So, I feel bad and we go to the Apple store. She's such a Mac girl. She loves her sissy's iPod, which she's taken over since sissy got herself an iTouch. She's enamored with it too, but sissy doesn't let her play with it like she lets her play with the iPod, understandably. She also loves to iVideo with her buddy Kinhly. She and Kinhly play dolls and talk about videos and princesses via iVideo. It's really cute and so her generation!










This is just her being silly in the window. (yes I know the siding is coming off, I can't keep it on because the @*&% cable guy screwed it up) Mia has gotten into this habit of wanting her photo taken every morning in the window. She's so silly!

Oh, and I have a new blog. It's my blog, mostly about my thoughts and other stuff. The things I want to blog about sometimes just aren't appropriate for Mia's blog. If you'd like the link, email me at encke2p@yahoo.com and I'll send it to you. Just let me know who you are. Thanks.