Happy birthday Mia Joy

This is one of Mia's 3 most common facial expressions, the other two being a hungry face which is NOT good, and a determined face which depending on the situation is either destructive to my house or funny.


Oh to be so snug and cozy.


"You better watch out, I'm watching you."

WOW if you want to have a year go by fast...have a baby. This year has gone so fast for me. We have a sweet little one year old toddling around our house. She has been such a joy in our home. She is learning all kinds of new tricks like giving kisses, waving goodbye, clapping, WALKING, emptying everything (did you just move? She can help unpack, she may not put it where you want it to go) and she also laughs heartily. She also has a fake laugh, which she inserts in conversations whenever she feels the need of a little attention, mostly at the dinner table.

She is the only one of my kids to pull out the outlet "child proof" protectors in the wall. The only one to walk this early. She looks very similar to what Emma did as a baby, but she has her own curiosity and Marshall's street smarts. She loves Zachary and giggles most freely with him. In fact I think he was the first one to get her to belly laugh.

She loves to climb on the dishwasher door when Im doing dishes, we used to play a game where I take her back to her bedroom and I run out to put as many dishes as I can until she reaches it again then we do the process over until they are done. She is way too fast now and so I get to do dishes when she is napping. She is learning to dance to Christmas music. She loves to play on the piano, in fact I can't sit down at the piano bench without her coming strait over wanting up to play too. It is really fun to hear her plucking on it throughout the day. She prefers the high notes of course, so I'll hear PLING PLING PLING. It has been a great year for our family to see her grow, and for the older children to ask questions about when they were a baby and see her growth.

Now what to do about a Christmas tree this year with a curious little darling.....I have a few options, put a 12 inch tree on the table, put one inside a portable crib, or hang one from the ceiling!