Yes, we still have internet......

So, after nearly 9 months we have an update. No, it did not take that long to unpack. Actually, we nearly killed ourselves to be able to have Mia's 3rd birthday party at the new house just three weeks after we moved. Mia's party had a face painter and bounce house. Mia also got an Escalade to cruise the neighborhood in, just like Mackenzie's (except pink of course). Her other favorite present was a large M&M that she wrestles with.

Mia's 3 Year Pictures

Mia's 3 Year pictures were taken October 31, 2009...It happened to rain that day and our pictures were outside, but we still did it. It turned out to be so much fun! The photographer just followed us around while we played and had a good time. We were happy with how they turned out, especially because of the rain. Here are a few:

Moving

We moved at the end of September so it's been very hectic! We only moved about 8 miles away, so it's working out well. Daddy is a little closer to work and doesn't have to deal with RTP traffic and we are the same distance to church/preschool, so that's good. We really like our new neighborhood and our new house! Mia has adjusted well so far, which was a big worry of ours. I think kids do better than we do sometimes! Anyway, here are some pictures from the move and our new house.

Packing up....

Everything is almost loaded!

New house!

Ohio Trip

Daddy's cousin Jennifer got married recently, so we made the trip to Ohio for the wedding. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Greg, Aunt Nancy, and Mackenzie went as well and it was fun spending time with family that we don't get to see very often. Mia did great during the long ride, thanks to our friends Thom and Sue letting us borrow their portable dvd player. It was a lifesaver! Friday we went to the rehearsal dinner and then the wedding was Saturday outdoors. Mia had a good time and especially loved dancing with everyone at the reception! She still talks about "Aunt Jennifer," Sophie, and Abby all the time.

Mia and Mackenzie right after the ceremony.

Having fun dancing at the reception. Yes her baby doll "Castle" had to go too.
With the bride "Aunt Jennifer."

On Sunday, everyone else headed back but we decided to drive the hour and a half to go to the Columbus zoo. We had a great time, but we were worn out by the afternoon! We drove back to WV and stayed the night there and headed back Monday. Mia still talks about our trip to Ohio!

Checking out the manatees. I like how you can see Mia's reflection in the glass.

Getting ready to ride the carousel.

The kangaroos. This was the best part! You could walk in and they were right there. There was nothing keeping you from them.

Daddy and Mia were trying to feed some birds. I got this picture just as the bird bit Daddy's finger. If you look closely, you can see the nectar spilling and see his mouth wide open.

Soccer

Back in September, Mia took a soccer class. They ended up putting her in a class that was too old for her....she did ok at the beginning when they would play games like "red light, green light," but she didn't like any of the fundamental drills they did. By the next to last class she decided that she just wanted to sit on the bench and wait until the end of the class so she could "get a stamp." I think we'll have to try soccer again in a year or two......

First day of class

Mia's First Day at Preschool

I know I am really late on these posts, but I promise I am going to try to do better! Mia started preschool in September and she loves it! She was so cute on the first day of school. When we were driving there, she said, "You can just drop me off Mommy!" I walked her to her class and she walked right in....I was so proud of her!

Winston

We went to Winston recently to meet up with our friends: Wendy, Riley, Berkley, Jamie, Will, and Lindy. None of us got to go to Will and Lindy's birthday party in July because of sickness, so we decided to have a little belated gathering for them. I can't believe they are 2 already! And I can't believe Mia will be 3 before long. Where does the time go?

Burn That Note!

God has really blessed our church and allowed us to pay off the $2.5 million debt that we had on our Family Life Center (FLC) in just 7 years! Daddy was head of the FLC team which worked on campaigns to pay it off and then planned a big celebration to burn that note once it was paid off. Everyone had so much fun and it was a great family day. There was so much for everyone to do, and then there was a catered meal after the festivities.

Mia wouldn't get her face painted, but wanted to have her arm painted. She was so excited about it!

Of course it had to be princess-related!

Someone from our church took the kids for a tractor ride all around the church. It was adorable and made to look like it was pulling cows. The kids loved it!

Burning the note.....it started pouring right before they lit it. I was thankful because I was scared more than just the paper would catch fire!

Museum

My best friend, Wendy, her girls, and her dad met us at the Museum of Life and Sciences recently. It was super hot, but the girls had a ball. Mia said her favorite thing was running around, as usual. Here are a couple pictures of the girls having fun.

Mia, Riley, and Berkley sitting on a dinosaur.

Getting ready to go in the butterfly house. I think Mia and Riley were trying to tell us that their bottoms were burning!

Mia and Riley were so funny. They would stop at every dinosaur to pose for a picture. Berkley didn't care for having her picture taken!

Myrtle Beach

At the end of July, we went to Myrtle Beach with Grandma and Grandpa, and stayed in their trailer at Ocean Lakes Campground. We all had fun, and Mia thought it was cool riding around in the golf cart. Of course, her favorites were the pool and playground, so we didn't spend much time on the beach. We also took her back to Broadway so she could ride the "wild cars" and other rides. Now she is telling us that she wants a "wild car" for her birthday!

Feeding the ducks at the campground.

July 4th at Carter-Finley

The city of Raleigh puts on a great fireworks show at the fairgrounds every year. For the past couple of years, our church has had a get together over at Carter-Finley Stadium to eat and watch the show (it's a great view from there). We went last year and had a great time, so we made sure we were back from the beach so we could go again this year. There were about 200 people there from our church. Grandma, Grandpa, MeMaw, Paw Paw, Aunt Jen, and Unkie were all there too. Mia really enjoyed it, except she thought the fireworks were too loud. Here are some pics.

Mia eating a huge cookie. And yes, that was pretty much her dinner that day because it's all she would eat.

When the fireworks started. She didn't really like them because they were too loud.

Mia and her friend Joella (they are only a few days apart) thought it would be better to watch the fireworks from the car. They pretty much played and ate cheerios more than they watched fireworks, but they had fun.

On a side note, Mia is doing really well going potty. She is wearing big girl underwear most of the time now (except naptime and bedtime), and staying dry! She still won't poop in the potty, and pretty much times it when she's wearing a pull-up. I haven't figured out how we are going to change that yet. We have gotten brave and gone out places with her big girl underwear on and she hasn't had an accident yet. She still wears a pull-up to church and on long car rides, but hopefully that will change soon.

Rides

While we were at the beach, we decided to take Mia to ride some rides. When we were younger, we used to go to the Grand Prix at Myrtle since it wasn't too far from Ocean Isle, so we thought we would take Mia there since she had never been. Well, we drove and drove and never saw the Grand Prix! We ended up all the way at Broadway and Unkie used his Blackberry to look it up and we found out that the Grand Prix closed in 2006! I guess we should have thought about that before we drove so much.....we stopped at Broadway and thankfully, they had some rides. We had already told Mia she could ride rides so it would have been awful if we couldn't find any. I think it was the highlight of her trip because she is still talking about the rides, especially the "little red car that slings us around." She loved all of them, even the ones that we weren't sure she was big enough for......Here are some pictures. She also rode the airplane, boats, and carousel.

The red car that slings us around. It was on a little track, and when it got to the turn, it would sling you around really fast.

There were a ton of rides, but of course Mia had to sit in a shopping cart.

Motorcycle

Riding tea cups with Aunt Jen. She really liked that one and rode it with MeMaw too.