Holiday Potpourri

Since we had planned to be at Ita's house on Christmas, The Gleinsers all met at Nana and Pawpaws the Saturday before for some love and gift exchange. Shortly into the visit, Nana took a nasty spill and ended up being taken away by an ambulance..thankfully Melissa was in the back room with girls...so they didn't see all the pain Nana went through while being put on the stretcher. It ended up she had torn her hamstring in THREE places! She's much better now, but our celebration was put on hold until later. I got about three pictures before she fell.

For Mia's main Christmas gift, we got her a doll house that Daddy got to assemble. He did it with such loving care and it was ready for her when she woke up Sunday morning (Christmas in the Valley, so we did our Christmas on Sunday morning)

ohhhh yes. We decided on a gag gift for Mia's dear teacher, Ms Andrea. She's all about children having very healthy snacks and lunches, so we thought a Lunchable would be funny. We supplemented it with a wonderful massage gift certificate from the talented and loving Sara Ballard.

While Mia was in school that day, I was able to hop down to the annual Armadillo Bazaar downtown. Amongst all the wonderfulness, was the super fab live music of The Band of Heathens. I bought myself a cd...and one for my BIL, Joe.

ok, I also bought myself ( I actually got them as gifts, but changed my mind..all MINE!) some chocolate from the local chocolatier Arte y Chocolate. Mmmm my new favorite chocolates. They actually taste better than they look!

Mia sporting one of the many caps I purchased from a vendor at the bazaar. She recycles sweaters into super cute hats and scarves.

Well, due to a cold with a 103 degree fever, we were unable to travel down to the Valley for Christmas. The wonderful this is that Ita jumped a plane and was here the day after Christmas until the following Monday! So, when we got back together with the Gleinsers for our holiday do-over, Mia got BOTH of her grandmas!!!! She was delighted, as were her Nana and Ita.

Mia finally got to try out the sandbox that Pawpaw had built for the girls. Ita helped her find some oh so pretty rocks.

She was more than upset when she couldn't go for a swing. It was toooo cold out and we'd forgotten her sweater at home. Poor thing.

Luckily Aunt Janice was in town and captivated Mia with her watch. It never occurred to me that since Daryl and I both use our cell phones for the time, she'd never really messed with a watch.

Mia got some super quality time with her Memaw. Memaw showed her some pictures and helped her open some gifts she'd made. Memaw, with a little help, made some fancy shmancy barrettes for Mia and knitted a cap and two pairs of booties for baby Lily...Lily is the name we decided on for our new little one.

I whipped up some calendars of Mia for everyone. Nana's fave was the shot of Mia picking her nose!

super sweet Pawpaw putting a barrette in Mia's hair.

ahhh some more pictures of our Christmas morning. Mia is in LOVE with her camera!

I usually don't pick favorites, but this year my favorite gift was from my darling Mia. She'd gone shopping with her daddy, and picked out a beautiful snow globe for me. The scene was of Santa delivering gifts while two little girl figures were asleep on the sofa. I asked Mia if they were her and me. No. Her and a doll. No. She said it was 'Mama holding baby Lily'. *sniff* That's one moment I'll never forget. Ever.

Mia digs her first piggy bank and kept asking her daddy for 'more coins, please'

So, I super spoiled my darling husband this year. One of his gifts was the Wii Fit. I LOVE this shot of Mia standing on a box so she could be 'just like daddy'

The best Wii fit moment so far has to be when I came downstairs to catch him doing the tree pose! Daryl, doing yoga?!?! He said he always thought it was a laugh, but it ended up being pretty challenging :)

Cookie Family

I've been wanting to post about these cookies for a couple of weeks...now that everyone has their cookies, I can! It all started when Daryl, Mia and I sat down to ice some gingerbread cookies. They started out like random gingerbread men...then Daryl made one with a UT shirt on...I made one of Daryl...in the end, every family member got a cookie of themselves for Christmas :)

Daryl posing with the cookie I'd iced in his image

Mia HAD to show off her cookie just like Daddy did
Mia quite intent on icing a cookie that she'd already sampled!

(from top left) Daryl with UT shirt and Blackberry in hand, Me with camera, Mia with kitty cat

(from bottom left) Pawpaw with is Ron Paul shirt on, Nana with her glass of red wine, Joe in suit and holding his blackberry, Melissa with a book in hand (I added a set of knitting needles and scarf later), Gwen with messy hands from painting :) (I'd also made one of Memaw, but it didn't make the photo shoot)

Mike the fisherman, Tia Mae who's pregnant, and Ita with her beloved dog, Max even our sweet Ms. Andrea from Casa T got a cookie with an Om symbol on her shirt, a paintbrush and painting

Baby Mia and her family

Around this time last year, the McGuire's had a baby...baby Mia. Through our O'Mama mother's group, I signed up to bring them a meal. That was our first and incredibly fun meeting. I feel a kinship to them, well because, they named their beautiful daughter, Mia...just like ours. So, a year later, I found myself on a little photo shoot with this lovely family in their warm home and at a chilly park. To say it was fun would be a HUGE understatement! I adore this family and loved taking their pictures :) Here are a few of my favorites.

Another Merry Winter Solstice Time

Joe, Melissa and Gwen had us and some friends over for a Solstice get together. It started in the kitchen where we peeled sun-hued oranges. I love the smell of a peel fresh off an orange. Then as more and more families arrived, we all just did our own thang. Kids played, mamas visited and daddies stood around talking and drinking beer :) A super fun time was had by all....especially Ava and Orion...I think she has a crush on that younger man.

More shots can be found here :)

this shot of me with Mia was taken by my loving husband (who now, and rightfully, wants credit for his shots)