Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day. I PROMISE I will post pictures and get caught up with lots of Christmas pictures in the next couple of days. Merry Christmas!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

This weekend was a good opportunity to get in the holiday spirit. On Saturday we went to my mom's and had a little get together with my aunt, uncle, and great-aunt (my dad's sister and aunt). It was a really visit, but of course my camera battery ran out, so I have no pictures of that!

That night we went over to Sarah and Ian's for dinner. We were in the basement and everyone ended up going upstairs for some reason or another so that I was just down there with my niece and nephew, Ava and Aidan. All of a sudden I hear Sarah yelling for me to get upstairs with the kids. I ran the stairs with Aidan and Ava and there were a bunch of carolers at the door. The neatest things was that in front of them was a donkey. It was snowing and just perfect with the caroling and the donkey. :) Unfortunately, Cort and Mia missed it because he was changing her, and Aidan wanted to see more of the donkey. So, we all quickly put on coats, hats, scarves, boots, etc. and headed out to go see the carolers and donkey again. We met up with them about a block down. It turns out that they were from a local church and we actually knew one of them. They were so nice and said Mia could even ride the donkey. Between the snow, the singing, all the people, and a donkey, Mia was a little unsure and was happier just to see it and give it a pet. It was really just the coolest thing. Of course-no pictures!!!

Sunday night, we got together with Cort's high school friends for a white elephant party. Sarah had the fun idea of dressing up in really obnoxious holiday wear. Sarah had some bad sweatshirts for us to wear and picked up some reindeer and Santa pants for the guys. We went over to Shannon and Andy's and had a great time! Shannon and Andy shared the exciting news that Sam will be a big sister in June. The white elephant exchange was funny as usual and we ended up with a bar set and an OLD bottle of vodka that apparently had to be dusted off. I have some pictures, but I will add those tomorrow. There is a very funny one of all of the kids sitting on the coach where most of them are not looking too happy!

Pictures to come....

Lindsey

On Sunday I went over to my friend Jen's house to take a couple Christmas pictures of her daughter Lindsey. She is such a cutie! It was a little challenging since she was on the move, but we managed to get a couple Jen liked. :) How cute is she???

What's Mia Been Up To?

So Miss Mia has been a busy lady lately. What has she been up to? See for yourself...

Working on her walking

(don't mind the hat in all these pictures-it is one of her winter hats that she was actually keeping on and it made me laugh)

Helping Mom and Dad put up the Christmas tree (along with Zip)

I should add that between Mia and Zip pulling ornaments off the tree, I am about to go crazy!


Watching the first snow (with Zip)

Celebrating Thanksgiving

(This little blue dress was mine when I was a baby. It fit Mia perfectly!)

Sneaking up on Zip


Starting BAD habits!!!
And looking cute!

Mia has been a busy girl! After about 2 weeks of sickness circulating throughout our house, I think we are finally in the clear. Mia has some congestion when she coughs, but the Dr. thinks it will just go away on its own. We hope everyone is doing well!

Update-Mia's 15 months

Sorry it has been a little while since I have updated, but I have caught up with some posts below. Mia just turned 15 months, and is doing more and more each day. At her 15 month check-up she weighed 21 pounds, 15 ounces and was 30 3/4 inches long. She actually went down on the growth chart with her weight, but the doctor said that is pretty normal with her being more active. We can certainly tell our little baby is losing her baby fat and growing up.

Mia also has also had a big first-her first steps!!! At 15 months she has been a bit stubborn and disinterested in walking, but on Sunday she took her first steps and has been taking 5-6 steps at a time fairly frequently. I was at my old coworker Jen's house and Mia just walked over to Jen like she had done it a million times before. It is so funny how when children finally decide to do something they just do it. Mia had Cort and I laughing so hard today because she was cracking up as she was walking. She would then clap for herself when she was done. :) I will try to post some pictures when I get some good ones.

Mia has been a busy bee lately. She has become better at playing by herself for longer periods of time. She continues to be chatty. Her words include mom, dad, uh-oh, duck, and up, and a bunch of babbling I don't quite understand. :) If you ask her what a cow says she says "mooo." She is very good at shaking her head no. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse these days and has really taken to the Mickey and Minnie dolls that Marina gave her for her birthday-thanks Marina! Every morning when she wakes up and we go in her room she is in her crib playing with her little glow worm that Aunt Pammy gave her-thanks Pam! Mia continues to love books and to be read to. She is a master at scooting up and down the stairs. She likes to tickle our feet and stomaches and likes to be tickled. She continues to be a good eater and loves bananas and McDonalds french fries (I promise I give her the bananas more often!). Mia also spends a good part of her day riding on or pushing her ride-on toy-Thanks Melissa!

That's about it for now, check out the post below for what we've been up to. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mia's Christmas Photos

The other night we took Mia for some Christmas photos at the Picture People. We had not done any professional photos since last Christmas, but we had a portrait club membership which still had some free photos on it, so we figured we'd finish it out. I thought it would be nice to have someone else take Mia's picture for a change, but it was rather exhausting trying to chase her as she kept trying to crawl off the backdrop. :) Here are some of the pictures (sorry, they're watermarked), and 2 from last year so you can see how she's changed.

My little runaway

And a year ago...

Visiting with Santa

Recently Burr Ridge opened a new town center literally walking distance away from where my mom lives. My mom, aunt, sister, Noah and Mia and I went to their grand opening where the kids got to meet Santa and his elf.

Mia with Santa (she looks VERY bundled, huh?)

The kids with Santa Noah and Santa

Museum of Science and Industry

Last weekend we took Mia along to the Museum of Science and Industry along with Cort, his brother and Aidan, and Cort's dad. The museum has a big Star Wars exhibit going on and Cort's family are big Star Wars fans. I had not been to the museum in so long, but it was a lot of fun and while a lot of the exhibits are for people older than Mia, she had a good time checking things out. The highlight for her was a really cool children's area that they had with a lot of hands-on activities kind of like a children's museum. Shee also enjoyed the baby chicks of course!

Playing in the water

Checking out the chicks
Aidan in a giant tractor wheel
In the combine
With some Star Wars characters
My favorite-look at her face!

Winter's Coming

With the time change, it getting dark earlier and the cooler temperatures, it is obvious that winter is on its way. Those who know me know I love to put Mia in hats, so this winter will be no different. What is different though is the fact that she hasn't really worn many hats lately and is no longer the cooperative (helpless) infant that she was last year. What I am trying to say is Mia is not so keen on being bundled up. Despite that, I think her new winter hat looks pretty darn cute. Notice you do not even see a hint of a smile in these pictures. :)

Joey's Birthday Party

This weekend we went to Joey's birthday party. It was a Mickey Mouse theme, and Melissa went all out with the decorations, even making a giant "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." It was such a beautiful day that the kids actually got to be outside for a good part of the party. We had a great time!

Mia wouldn't keep her Mickey Mouse ears onThe Birthday Boy

Balloons come a close second to pumpkins of things Mia lovesPlaying in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

On Sunday, we went to church with my mom, sister and her family to a special All Saints service they were having that honored my dad. Afterwards, we headed over to my aunt's for a nice pizza lunch. Mia was in heaven as she got to also have brownie and icecream! I know she loves getting together with my family because she always gets special treats I wouldn't normally give her. :)

In this picture Mia is holding a doll called Tiny Tears. This doll was well-loved by my mom and her sisters when they were kids. She was so loved that all her hair was worn off of her. My grandparents replaced her hair with a swatch from my grandma's fur coat many years ago. It was really cute to see Mia snuggling Tiny Tears.

More Fall Pictures

First off, thank you for all of you who left nice comments about our family pictures. Andy was so great to take them, but it was so cold and Mia was under the weather, so we didn't get a ton of her by herself that day. Plus, I wanted to get some pictures of her on the ground and that morning it was frosty and wet!

I decided it would be a better idea to do the pictures around sunset instead, so it wouldn't be so chilly. So Cort and I headed to the Morton Arboretum this evening. Here are some of those pictures. I had to laugh as these dowloaded, she is such a little ham!

Playing with a stick

You take it mom!