Cousins

Mia had fun playing with her cousins at the beach. They don't get to spend a lot of time together since everyone is so busy and live in different places, but it's fun when they do get together. I didn't get pictures of Ellen or John, but got the rest of the cousins.

Michael sharing his boogie board with Mia

Mia and Robert playing in the sand

Out in the ocean with Daddy and Sarah

Kristin, Madison, Brandon, Great-Aunt Sissy, and Great-Uncle Bob's sister Annette

Jacob

Mia and Madison

Brad, Kristen, and Colin

Ocean Isle Beach

We spent a few days at Ocean Isle Beach over the Fourth of July week with family. Mia had a great time with MeMaw, Paw Paw, Aunt Jen, Unkie, Oscar, and her great aunts, great uncles, and cousins. She loved everything about it! She went out in the ocean, played in the sand, and jumped in and out of the pool. She was so good with everything until she got some water in her eyes. Then she would say, "I need a towel! I got water in my eyes!" Such a drama queen! We took so many pictures and I couldn't choose, so I made them small. Just click on the picture to see full size.

Daddy took her out in the ocean....

Running wild chasing bubbles our last night there.

Black Eye-2 weeks later

Here is Mia's boo boo 2 weeks later.......

Big Shiner Boo Boo

Well, Mia got her first really big boo boo on June 12. I was ironing and she was pulling on my pants trying to get me to come play with her. I was wearing stretchy pants and she was tugging hard. Well, she let go and fell and hit the foot board of our bed. She cried, but no more than she does when she scrapes a knee and was more mad that I was putting ice on it. It must have hit just the right place, because this is what it looked like a couple days later. It makes me want to cry every time I see it! I'm so glad it's finally going away! I think I've had to explain what happened about a million times! The good thing is that she says it does not hurt. It sure looks like it does though! Poor baby!

This was 3 days after it happened.

This was exactly one week after.

Funny Video

Mia likes to put plastic balls in her trampoline and jump and pretend she is popping popcorn. It's so funny because the balls will shoot all the way to the ceiling! In the video she is saying, "Pop that corn, pop that corn....."

June Pictures

Mia and I decorated cupcakes for Daddy's birthday. I think Mia ate more icing and candy than she did decorating!

Bathtime--Mia likes taking baths in Mommy and Daddy's tub now because it is bigger than hers and will fit her turtle float!

May Pictures

Mia got to ride a pony for the first time at her friend Maelyn's birthday party. We were afraid she wasn't going to do it, but she did great. She still talks about "Patches" the pony.

She also enjoys helping Daddy wash the car. They did this one evening while I was at a meeting and he said she had a ball and didn't have a dry stitch of clothing on her! If she and Mommy wash the car, we just take it to the carwash!

More April Pictures

These pictures are from our day at Pullen Park. We started out the day at Dunkin Donuts and then headed to the park. Mia rode the boats, train, carousel, paddle boats, and the swings. We all had a great family day!

Mia had to wave every time she came around on the boats. It was so cute!

Here we are on the train. Mia liked it, but kept saying it was too loud when it would blow the whistle.

This is a picture from later that day. Mia loves to feed Aunt Jen and Unkie's dog Oskar. She lays it out on the floor for him and he eats it all. Sometimes she dips it in water first, which he really loves.

Play Date

We have a play group that we try to meet with every other Friday. Sometimes we rotate houses, sometimes we meet at the park and have a picnic, and sometimes we meet other places. Recently, we met at a place called Child Space and the kids had a blast! There are basically different stations and the kids can just rotate around. Mia's favorite was the supermarket and theatre. It's pretty cool because when you come in, they stamp you and your child with a matching letter. As you leave, they check to make sure that you match. That's a nice safety feature!

Mia tried out the little boat. A little girl wanted to ride too, and Mia wasn't sure about that, but then obliged.

Mia was shopping in the supermarket.

Then she had to scan all the groceries.

The little theatre was so cute! Mia kept going behind the curtain and coming out with stuff to play with! She found some dolls and accessories.

Then she found some dress-up clothes and had to try them all on!

Easter

Easter was a whirlwind for us this year......We got a call the Saturday before Easter and found out that Mia's great-grandfather (Grandma's father) was not doing well and not expected to make it. Mia had been staying with Grandma and Grandpa, and they took her to MeMaw and Paw Paw's, so we could all be at the hospital with him. Unfortunately, Great-Grandpa Ed passed away early Easter morning, right after Grandma's sister, her husband, and daughter got there from Michigan. I can't think of a better time to go be with the Lord than Easter, even though it was a sad day for us. I took Mia to MeMaw and Paw Paw's church Easter Sunday, so she could have some sense of normal. The services were Monday night and Tuesday, and she was a trooper the entire time. Here are some pictures of us dyeing Easter eggs the week before Easter since we didn't take any other pictures.

Mia was interested in dyeing eggs for about 10 minutes and then she was ready to do something else. This picture cracks me up because Daddy ended up finishing the eggs by himself, which I don't think he minded!

Here is the finished product. I think Mia enjoyed putting stickers on the eggs more than dyeing them!

As a side note, I had never heard of eating your dyed Easter eggs until Chris asked me why I didn't refrigerate them after we dyed them. Apparently, they used to eat theirs, but we always displayed ours. He can eat them if he wants, but I think I'll just look at them! I'll try to update more tomorrow.....

Gymnastics Party

Okay, I know I got behind again, so I'm going to catch up now. Mia went to her friend Riley's 5th birthday party in April and had so much fun. It was a gymnastics party and the theme was Disney Princess, which are all Mia's favorites! We were wondering how well she would do since it was mostly five year olds and the party was very structured, but she did great! She especially loved the long trampoline, and wanted to do that over and over.

Mia crawling through a tunnel.

You can see just how much she enjoyed the trampoline. Look at the big smile on her face!

At the end of the party, they gave all the kids medals and it was so adorable. The birthday girl Riley is in the middle with the blue medal.