My Little Mimi.....

So, it's official!! Mia has taken her first steps!!! We are so excited!!! Another walker. Here comes our time to stop being the carriers of Mia. Hhhhmmmmm...... Maybe we should baby proof? :-)

Here's Mia enjoying herself - feeding herself. And yes... I am channelling Austin Powers.

Mia finding new things to taste and explore.

And away she goes!!

Another Bake-off....

Claudia and I, at work, have been trash-talking each other about our baking skills. We had a cookie bake-off and Claudia won, but only because she fixed the contest. :-)

We are going to have an apple pie bake-off, IF I can find a recipe and a make a good pie. I tried with this one below today. The top crust was great....but, I think that there was too much apple and not enough dry ingredients in the filling. There were apples swimming in liquid when I opened it up. Oh well....I will try again. At least I won with the crust - now to perfect the filling.

Taking a cue....

Taking a cue from Emily, I wanted to commemorate Mia's first year with pictures over the year. Thank your for the idea, Emily! And thank you, Mia, for choosing us as your family! We love you!
Yep...we need some coffee as we begin the next year. :-)

Pumpkin Farm....

Today we went to the Pumpkin Farm. We took in the corn maze, fed the fat animals at the petting zoo, Olivia rode some rides, Tony saw his pig races, we went through the haunted barn and the fun barn, took some pictures and picked up some pumpkins. Enjoy the pictures!

Olivia looking at the belly next to her..
Olivia found the only princess at the pumpkin farm.The best picture I could get of Olivia feeding the animals. She moved at exactly the wrong moment.Getting off of the Frog Hopper. She seemed to like it...Olivia, Daddy, and Brandi's Dad shooting the breeze.Apparently, milking cows makes Olivia angry and evil.Mia enjoying herself even though it was chilly.Farmer Tony - my what big ears you have!Farmer Olivia...This is what happens when 5-year-old attitude rears it's ugly head.All she wants to do is dance, dance. Yeah - it was chilly and we didn't bring enough warm clothes, so Olivia wore my hoodie.Mommy and Mia time. The bunny village - notice how they have congregated and passed out in front of the saloon.Olivia in the weird barn, or is this an outhouse???Pumpkins of a feather picture together.Look - Mia's just over 2 feet tall!But daddy, I want to CRAWL!! Let me GO!!Olivia having way too good of a time pumping dirty water.The pumpkin says - Olivia's almost four feet tall!The first ride of the day - Olivia on the train.More train for the poopy-head.

Did I tell you....

Did I tell you about our road trip to Kansas a month ago? So...we left real early - like 4 am. We did real well and were trying to figure out what we had forgotten, if anything. Just as we merged onto I-80, we figured out that Tony had forgotten his sunglasses and I forgot my makeup! To remedy this, we stopped in West Des Moines, at Target, and went shopping. After we were back on the road, I tried to fall asleep. However, as my car started to get smelly, then smellier, I was unable to fall asleep. I looked up and tried to figure out where this strange smell was coming from. I looked outside and made a mental note about Tony's wussy driving as we came to merge to one lane for construction. Instead of speeding up (he had room) to get around a truck, he slowed down (actually braked) to get behind the truck. As we are driving along, the smell is getting curiouser and curiouser. I noticed that in the holes of this truck, were some pink ears, and pink curly tails. The source of the smell!!! We were behind a truckload of pigs!! As we are celebrating that we figured out the smell, we remember that we are behind this truck for about 18 miles. Then, suddenly, liquid is streaming out of the truck and onto my windshield!!! Those damn little pink piggies peed on my car!!! These are the hazards of road trips.

Here are some pics of the girls....

Olivia lounging on Mema and Pop-pop's bed. She was watching TV while the rest of us chased Mia around.

Mia found a way to get food on the go. Mema gave her this carrot and she crawled around and chewed on it for about an hour and a half.Olivia practicing for Halloween.Olivia and Daddy enjoying some simultaneous lounge time.Olivia got these barretts last weekend from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. She has worn them every day since.

Mia's Milestone....

So yesterday was Mia's first birthday. It's hard to believe, but she is officially a one year old. I really don't know where the time went. It seems like we just brought her home a couple of months ago.

We had a little party, just some friends of Mia's parents. Brandi and Joe were the first to arrive. I don't think we've had a party where they weren't the first. Then we had Erica and Wally, Jen and Jason, Liz and her daughter, Julia. Auntie Lynn arrived with salad. Eric and Mandy with their daughter Layla and Stacey and Victor with little Max. We all had a good time - Mia kept making Layla cry when Mia would crawl over to her. The guys watched some college football and we had some good conversations over pizza, beer, chips and pop. We had an Oreo cake for the grown-ups (thanks Jewel Bakery) and little cake all for Mia. She wasn't overly interested in the cake but took the time to smash her cup into the cake and throw the icing around. Mia wasn't interested in opening her presents, so Olivia happily took up the task. Mia has been playing with her new and noisy toys this morning, while also sleeping off her sugar high from last night.

Happy Birthday, Mia!! We love you!!!

This is early in the morning. Mia has had her breakfast and has embarked on one of her favorite missions - DVD chewing.

Here is Mia taking a secondary swig from her bottle. Of course, Olivia needed to join in the picture festivities.Mia's cake. She wanted to touch the flame, so Olivia blew out the candle instead.Mia enjoying her own personal cake.Mmmmmm.....colorful AND tasty!!Yep....Daddy's freaking out about how to clean this up. Mia finds this to be amusing.While Olivia opened her presents, Mia enjoyed this sticker from Auntie Lynn's card. I put it on her cleaned up high chair. The morocca was yummy and good for chewing as well. Did I tell you that she has four teeth coming in on top?Julia, Mia, and Olivia while Olivia opened the presents.After the festivities were over, Mia indulged in her favorite sleeping position - with her hands behind her head.