Happy Birthday Nana!

Today is Nana's birthday. For those of you who are not in the know...Nana is Daryl's mama...aka Diane, but those close to her call her Dee. I just love her to pieces...so does everyone else who meets and gets to know her. She's amazingly warm, loving and generous. She hugs like she means it. Daryl got his superb hugging abilities from her. When you're hugged by Dee, you know it....and it lingers.

I honestly couldn't ask for a more cool, loving, awesomely wonderful mother in law. I didn't know they came this good! I feel for a lot of my friends who didn't score a MIL like I did, but I'm not giving her to anyone...I may share a little...well, I HAVE to share...especially with Mia.


Mia adores her Nana and it's wholly reciprocated. They have a love that I've never seen. They're silly and playful and loving and sweet and and and ...everything nice in the world that there is between a Nana and her granddaughter. Nana has a little joke that whatever Mia asks of her Pawpaw, he'll say 'yes'. Hmmmm I think the same thing can be said for her.

When Mia spends weekends with them, Mia is the center of their world. Works stops. Everything else can wait. She's so attentive and understanding of our little snapper....and me. Whenever we're trying something new...in regards to eating, discipline...anything...Dee is open to it and follows our lead. She really respects Daryl and me as parents and tries to keep things even for Mia....not to say that Mia doesn't come home a little 'broken'...spoiled after a couple of days with Nana and Pawpaw...but that's their job and they do it well!

This woman works hard and plays harder! She and her honey, Tom/Pawpaw, travel all over the world and live life the way it was meant to. Their family means everything to them, and pretty much nothing else matters. Devoted.

Anyway....I LOVE that Dee was born...not only to we get her, but I get her wonderful son. Oh, don't even get me started on how damn great of a mama she is!

Dee, I love you! Happy Birthday!

*all of these shots are from our wonderful weekend in Port O'Connor...our home away from home

Best Shot Monday - He loves me

We were down at the coast this weekend...Port O' Connor. While at the beach, Daryl started writing something in the sand with his toes. Mia was very attentive and interested in what her daddy was doing. It turns out he was showing her how to write in the sand. Daryl *hearts* me!....he added Mia's name, too. Awwwww I love that left it for the whole world to see.

I'm picking this first super sweet shot for my Best Shot

Tracey at Mother May I is on vacation, so Melody is hosting BSM for a few weeks. Head on over to Slurping Life for some more fab best shots.

my Djembaby

I've recently taken up African drumming with some dear friends. I'm loving it so, that I bought my own djembe. It's been SO awesome to practice on. Usually Mia dances while I practice, but a lot of the time she wants to jump in or she'll want to play it on her own.

This is the conversation that happens before she's able to play:

Mia: can I play it mama?

Me: what is it?

Mia: it's a DJEMBE !!!! (with great enthusiasm!)

Me: what goes on a djembe?

Mia: my clean hands (as she proudly displays her hands)

Follows the inspection of her hands, and washing if necessary (she once tried to sneak some oatmeal covered hands by me!)

Then we drum drum drum! Mia prefers a drumming song she learns in her Music Together class...as she drums, she sings 'listen, listen everyone. listen to me playyyy my drum....a boom boom boom boom....'

magnify your life

Mia's totally into magnifying glasses. They had one in the Heartsong Music lobby that she played with every week. That was her go to. Her Memaw has one that she plays with on her visits to Nana and Pawpaw's house. Ita has one, too. Well, she HAD one. While unpacking from our last trip, I noticed Ita's MG in Mia's toy bag. Mia probably put it in there during clean up time...regardless, it's here. She checks EVERYTHING out with it. Her legs and arms, our legs and arms...our eyes, too...Niles, rocks, books, her dinner....EVERYTHING. She actually says 'let's check this out'...'big..small...big...small'

Sarah's Water Wonderland

Allison, DH Jesse, Sarah and newish lil bro, Kristopher hosted a FUN FUN FUN playdate at their place yesterday...they had 3 pools (one HUGEMONGOUS), a slip n slide, playscape and we even made our own lava lamps...which we LOVED, and so glad Alli offered this craft b/c we were unable to make Stephanie's Lava Lamp playdate. It was SO great hanging with friends :)

Oh, I got to hold Courtney's new little Emerson...barely over a week old

Best Shot Monday - Strawberry Shortcake

Our dear friend Bonnie is turning a year older, so we got together to celebrate the fabulous occasion. Strawberry shortcake was the dessert of choice, and she told me just where to buy it...the shortcake part...Daryl inspired me to make the whipped cream...no Cool Whip for our gal! I also added sugar to some strawberries...and viola! Strawberry shortcake!


There were several awesome shots, but my Best Shot Monday HAS to be this shot of Bonnie's husband, Josh, going to TOWN!



I'll post the rest of the story with more pics later.


To see what else is making the world smile, hop on over to Mother May I

Horseshoe Bay

What a wonderful time spent with family this weekend. I can't remember the last time Nana, Pawpaw, Unca Joe, Auntie M, Gwen and our family of three all spent so much time together. It was such a much needed trip. Daryl and I took full advantage of Nana and Pawpaw....we left Mia in their wonderful care while we tooled around the lake on some fabulous jet skis...twice. We shared a nice family dinner together, then celebrated Nana's birthday with some yummy cheesecake. Joe used candles to spell out the word 'love'...awwwww.

Mia and Gwen had a great time together, and only had a few disputes over the Nana. Nana promptly solved the problem by tucking Mia behind her and having Gwen on her lap. Everyone was happy. In need of a laugh? Throw sofa pillows at the toddlers...they aren't called throw pillows for nothing! Throw some beaded necklaces into the mix...and you've got a party!

Ava's Park

This morning was gorgeously overcast...perfect for a playdate at the park. O'Mamas Dawn and Sharon co-hosted an awesome time at Ava's Park. It's actually Millrun Park, but it's Dawn's little Ava's neighborhood park...Ava calls it her park, so it shall be :) It was obviously her park..she was so happy and free. So were the other kids. Mia had a great time playing with friends, and I, of course, enjoyed the time spent with my wonderful friends.

Looooooooooooooook what we got today!!!!!

this shot was taken across the room, 1/2 way down the stairs and doesn't to the photograph or Bonnie much justice

It was SO awesome when Bonnie put that gorgeous picture of our family on our mantle. I piled some cushions on the floor and just lay there staring at it for a LONG time. Daryl couldn't believe how amazing that shot looked on that big ole canvas!!!

Yay!!! Happiness!!!! 24 x 36 inches of HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!

Unplugged Project - plastic

One of my fav blogs, Unplug Your Kids, has a weekly Unplugged Project. This week's was Plastic. Plastic was the medium, but you could use it anyway you liked. Unplugged Mom and her children created homemade Shrinky Dinks, and we followed suit.

While at Central Market this morning for Storytime with Mel, Mia and I grabbed a bite. The plastic container my lunch came in was a '6'...perfect for the SD project. After Mia's nap, I cut out pieces of plastic and punched holes in them. Mia went to town with her permanent markers. We popped them in the oven and 2 minutes later, out came the shrunken dinks...Daryl already has one on his key chain :) This is a PERFECT craft for people with instant gratification issues.

random video of me opening and closing the oven (ok, I'M the one with instant gratification issues!):