Mia got to go to Ely, Nevada to go to the Polar Express

Train with Rick and her grandma and grandpa M while

I was at work doing parent teacher conferences. This is a brick

that Mia's grandparents got her that says our names.

Here's Mia on the train very excited. And yes it was very cold outside,

she does have jammies on, but they are on underneath

Mia and her dad

Mia with Grandma M and Grandpa M

inside of the train

The North Pole

Mia with Santa and his Elves

looking out the train

very happy

Her favorite part- her own big hotel bed, she was super

excited about it.

drinking her milk out of her sippy- yes she still LOVES

milk, 16 oz a day, I hope she always loves milk.

Snowy, perfect for the Polar Express train, they had a great time and

want to continue it every year. Even though I was at work, I thought it was

great that Mia could do something with her dad and grandparents without

mom there, she loved telling me all about it when they got home

(yes I did get to go out with friends and eat sushi/go to a movie,

it was weird to be in my house for a night by myself though)

A week ago, our friends Julia and Rob had

a Christmas party with Santa and fun crafts.

Mia had a blast.

He even had gifts for each of the kids, she was

very excited about getting hers as you can see,

and she even did a dance for him, too cute.

Here she is with her Strawberry Shortcake movies that Santa

brought her.

So we had to change time out into going in the corner and she

has to face the corner because she just thinks it's so funny to stand there and face

us. Rick and I were cracking up last Sunday because she was throwing a fit so

Rick put her in the corner and she had her face so smushed to the wall that she was

saying, " Am I done guys" but we couldn't hear her with her little nose that close, we were

hysterically laughing ( without her seeing us laugh of course) She is really good 99.9% of the time,

but that little 0.1% can make for an interesting day. :)

So Mia told me to come in her room last week to show me

how she drew our family. I freaked out! I couldn't believe

my eyes, she even put eyeballs inside the eyes and then the

classic legs attached to the head. Cuttest thing ever! I remember

my nephew Scott doing this too , but I was still just shocked that Mia is already doing it!

I showed my friend at school and she said some of her 1st

graders are barely drawing people like this, I just think it's precious.

Oh and I'm the one on the left by the way, Rick's is the grouchy one

and she said, "He has small ears mom."

Opportunity Village- we have to do this every year, it's a

super great cause, Mia got to ride the train, go on the Merry Go Round,

through a maze, and she even went down the big huge slide on her own,

but as soon as she made it to the bottom, she started crying like I can't

believe I just did that. Maybe she just held her breath the whole time!

Mom and Mia

Dad and Mia on the train

I can't even explain how sick I get on these things :(

walking around looking at fun stuff

going through the maze

On to the church Christmas breakfast. Here's Mia and

Grandma B.

After that we went to Floyd Lamb state park for a fun Santa/

cowboy day. It was all free and super fun. I thought this

Santa was really great!

I love his face here

While we were standing in line to ride Reindeer (ponies)

I took these pics of Mia

she was very excited that she got to ride on a "pink" pony

She even got to go in a Firetruck

moment of pout, I just love her bowtie lips from her dad!

standing by the firetruck, so Mia has been singing Christmas

songs ( she even did the whole Jingle Bells to an elderly couple

at the grocery store and they literally wanted to take her home)

She has also been singing that she's on Santa's naughty list, apparently

Rick told her about it when she wasn't being a good listener but forgot to

also talk about the "good " list, so we've been backtracking that one ever since!

More holiday fun to come!!

Mia and I went to the Yo Gabba Gabba Concert last

Thursday. We had back stage passes and seats in the 4th

row. It was awesome. Mia was a little freaked at how loud

it was at the beginning, and I forgot that it might be since we were

so close, but she soon forgot when she saw Toodee, Plex, Foofa,

Muno, and her fav Brobee

They gave everyone DJ Lance glasses to wear. Here

we are ready for the show to start!

Outside next to Muno before the concert- Rick

wanted to go but we couldn't afford to spend that much

with the REALLY good seats and back stage so he was bummed.

It was actually sad how excited I was, ha ha !

Mia had to wear her Brobee hoodie to show support!

She was actually pretty shy when it came to

dancing and singing, she knows EVERY song

but sang them very quietly, it was pretty funny.

Right before intermission, they let down a million Gabba balloons from

the ceiling. It was frustrating because all the kids wanted all the colors and

so parents were trying to hold their kids, balloons, purses, food, etc.

I could definitely have used Rick's help :)

It was amazing how the concert was EXACTLY like the

show. It was very entertaining. Plus they let the kids

dance and sing the whole time.

Happy girl- I probably won't do this again til she's a teenager

 and has a crush on some cute boy singer but it was a really fun

mom/daughter date and it was a once in a lifetime thing, it was worth it

This is the aftershow, it was pretty much a huge

room with dancing, a dj, food, Gabba characters

to take pictures with, etc. It was a wild time!

Biz Markee was even there doing his beats and

letting the kids come up on the stage at the concert

and do beats with him. Of course he also did his

song, You say he's just a friend.

Little glimpse of the craziness of the aftershow,

Mia is sporting a Brobee backpack that I paid way too

much for but she was petting the girl next to her's the entire

concert and I just have a problem with collecting Gabba stuff.

He is now sleeping with her along with all the other Gabba's and Blues Clues.

It was a great time. There were some crazy parents there (no not me) but I'm glad we got to go!!

Forgot to add this one- Mia and Laith got

to sit on Santa's lap at the mall in Twin, no lines

or anything, which I realized why once I actually saw him

up close and heard the accent, the kids thought he was the real

deal, so that's all that matters :)

We went to my mom's house in Idaho for Thanksgiving.

This is what was waiting for us-tons of snow, we also

slid on the runway from the ice which was not my idea of fun.

It was -2 degrees when we arrived. This picture was taken after

we were outside for about an hour. Mia was cold but she LOVED it!

Ready to play!

Mia had to make a snow angel for Grandma M

Since it was Thanksgiving day, nothing was open so my dad

had to improvise with the sled, using a blow up pool. Mia loved it.

Here she is inside, just giggling away

cute little red nose

dad and Mia

Here we are in the field trying to sled- Rick went and

bought the only one they had at Walmart.

hanging out inside grandma's cozy, WARM house

It's fun to stay in pjs all day.

Mia next to her snowman and with bear of course!

We found the most AMAZING hill to sled down right next

to the river, it was a blast. She loved it, until...

grandpa took her down a different hill that was not so

much fun

Grandma and Mia- we had a great time, we even

went swimming at the indoor pool- brr, but it was actually

really fun. Mia loved spending time with Laith. She has been saying how

"frustrated" she is lately whenever she's in a bad mood. It's pretty funny.

Last night my mom and I were having a serious conversation and she said,

"mom why are you being so frustrated at grandma?" Man she doesn't miss a beat,

I can NEVER have a bad day or a moment to myself Ha Ha!