NASCAR and more

Mia has been waiting for NASCAR day for a year now,

Rick finally got to take her last Friday. She was grinning

like this from 10am til about 6pm when Rick had to literally

drag her out of the stadium. It really baffles us just how "into" cars

she is. I mean it's a serious obsession. Even on Saturdays, she wants to look

in our engines of our cars?? She even made my mom open her jeep engine up

and look at it for an hour. Who knows, maybe she'll be a mechanical engineer

like her Uncle Kevin. She even said to me the other day, "Mom, am I the only girl

in the world who thinks cars are beautiful?" We had a toy drive for church so I asked

if she had any toys she could give away, so a few days later, she came to me and said,

"Ya mom, I would like to give away all my dolls and girl stuff." Wow did that backfire

on mom!!! I refuse to give away the TWO girl things she owns. Absolutely not! Haha:)

Anyway, this pic, Mia actually got an autograph from Jimmy Johnson, she was in heaven

and now blushes when she talks about him.

Mia and Grandpa M

We were smart and got earphones on her right at the beginning, since

she is very sensitive to sound. She was good to go!

When I talked to Rick at about 1pm, he said she wouldn't budge,

not even to pee or get a hamburger, she wanted to watch each car

go by and of course impress everyone around her with, Oh that's a Ford, that's a

Chevy, etc. Rick said people were amazed!

Taking a break in the shade

We were hoping to get in the garage for free, but Rick ended

up buying tixs but he said it was soooo worth it. She had a blast

and couldn't get her to leave. She ended up with about 6 autographs

and even a lug nut (all the adults were mad about that)

watching the cars from the garage

And this is how she stood for almost 4 hours Rick said and

didn't want to budge!

Even got a pic with the Sprint girl who asked Rick if she

was holding her right since she didn't have kids.

She wasn't looking on this one, but I guess this guy is

a really famous driver...

Mia's Jimmy Johnson autograph

All the autographs signed on the back of her shirt ( one of my favs

oh well)

Race car lug nut

Rick finally peeled her out of the race and she didn't even

make it out of the parking lot without zonking out, she

told me that she would stay there all year if she could

because she didn't want to leave.

Rick of course absolutely loved the time with her and has

a life long racing buddy. On Sunday she even wanted to

order pizza and watch the race. She's too funny!

Besides wanting to be a race car driver, she also

wants to be a doctor and usually practices on either

bear or Spock

On Saturday, she got some ladybugs and we

finally have a yard to let them go into

Mia looking at the ladybugs

Unfortunately we found some on us from the outside and

I felt like I had bugs on me the rest of the night, but it was fun

nevertheless. Mia is still going to preschool but unfortunately

has a little boy in her class who is a bully that's new and she has

anxiety about it every Monday ( because she knows he comes on Mondays)

Rick says he looks like a little sumo wrestler and Mia told me his belly

is this biggggggg. Tonight she told me his dad's belly is big too. Kids are funny.

This is the same kid who she said makes her a little bit nervous, I guess her detective

intuitions were right, but we are trying to teach her that she can't be scared of anyone,

even if he's a pushing little sumo wrestler :)

My Grandpa

My grandpa and Mia's great grandpa passed away today

at 89 years old. It was almost one year exactly that I lost my other

grandpa, which is strange, because they knew eachother for over 60 years and

only lived a few miles apart.  Mia only met him a few times and was a little afraid because she thought he was a pirate. :) My grandpa survived stomach cancer over 20 years ago

when I was maybe 13. He has lived without a stomach for this long only able to eat soups,

liquids, and very few other foods. He was so stubborn and lived with pain every day,

but he just never gave up. He was always up at the crack of dawn working til the day's end.

He raised 10 kids and had a zillion grandkids and who knows how many great grandkids.

Every single year, he sent EVERY single one of his children and grandkids a package for

Christmas that included random items of household tools, coins, and of course CANDY.

He must have spent every single day getting those packages ready for Christmas, being ill and everything,

it's amazing that he ALWAYS sent them. My grandpa LOVED candy, which is probably why he lost all his teeth, that and he didn't believe in toothbrushes :)  His entire office was filled from top to bottom with every kind of candy known to man. You could ask for anything, and he would have it. He also had a food storage

out in his garage that could feed most of Idaho. He always had the strangest jokes to tell and he was known for writing to VERY important people in the church and government and give them a piece of his mind! I have no doubt that he is arguing with God right now! (tell him to send me a baby will ya?)

He won awards for farming, was a professor and honestly one of the smartest, most stubborn, funniest,

and at the same time awnry SOBs I've ever known. (sorry grandpa) But he was my grandpa and he always

had hugs, kisses, and nice words to say to me. I love you and I hope you are enjoying your feast in heaven

right now! NO MORE SOUP :)

Aunt Nicole told us about Lowe's having a program

where you can build things so Rick and Mia went last

Saturday and since they got to build a car, she was beyond excited!

She is soooo proud of what she made! We are planning on doing this once a month.

They give you an apron, goggles, and you get little patches to sew on your apron each

time you build something. Too adorable!

Mia very determined to build her car,

taking her time

So before church on Sunday, Mia decided to make bathroom signs

to show Rick and I which bathrooms we are "allowed" to use.

She's been only wanting me to use certain ones and calling the other one's

"boys"bathrooms. It was so cute, because she did it all on her own even down to the

tape. We were cracking up!!

This one is for boys and as you can see, there is a little

girl next to the boy with an X meaning that she can't use this bathroom

This one is by her bedroom and I guess Mia and I can use these ones,

but dad can't

This one is by the guest bathroom and girls are allowed to use this one too

but not boys

Of course she won't take them down, I think it's pretty

cute and creative. Too funny!!

And of course in every picture, there's bear.

This poor thing. I hope he makes it for another 5 years. Besides her cat,

he's her best friend in the world. So tonight, we were at grandma and

grandpa B's and Mia said, " Hey guys when am I going to get married? Followed by,

"When do I get to go on a date?" It was sooo out of the blue and she was dead serious.

We just said, ummm when you are about 30 haha. Love this kid!!

Fresh Beat Band Concert and 50's Dance

My friend at work told me that the Fresh Beat Band was

coming for a concert tonight so I hurried and got tickets

since it was their first tour and Mia loves their songs. We had a

blast! We actually had Rick drop us off since it was at Planet Hollywood

and he just hung out until it was over. Then we went to Maggiano's for

dinner since I had a gift card. Mia was so cute, because when we walked in

the restaurant, she said, "I've never been somewhere this fancy before." It was pretty

cute and she was on her best behavior. We had a fun night! She kept hugging and

kissing me through the concert telling me thanks, so it was definitely worth the 2 Excedrin I took

prior to the show because I knew I would have a headache, but it's amazing how much fun moms

have at kid concerts, kind of scary that we know all the words and enjoy ourselves :) I guess we are

just glad to get out and have some fun too!! In case you've never heard of the Fresh Beat Band,

here's a little video for you enjoyment :)

And of course Bear is right next to her enjoying the concert too!

look how cute her little side shot is...

My school hada 50s dance so I borrowed a poodle skirt

from our babysitter Kirstin...

She hada great time!

Dancing with dad, rootbeer floats, popcorn,

hamburger drive through and more!

with Rick's goatie, he looks more like a

mexican gangster to me..

happy girl!!

Doing the YMCA, apparently my shirt was see through,

Rick said it wasn't and he usually catches that stuff so I'm hoping

it was the flash on my camera. Otherwise, that's pretty embarassing!!

So this morning before preschool, Mia says to me,

"Mom, do you REALIZE how much pushing goes on in preschool?

sometimes I just have to stand there and wait for a break in the line and then

I just JUMP in." hahahahaha! I didn't think being almost 4 was so hard.

She cracks us up!! And so does her new word "realize"

Valentine's day and more

A funny story: Mia's preschool teacher pulled Rick

aside to tell him that there's this new boy in the class and

Mia acts very strange around him, she won't go near him or anything.

So they asked her and she said, "Miss Debbie, do you remember when

he tried to sneak out of the classroom that one day? I'm still just trying to figure

this kid out, he makes me a little bit nervous." haha! She's got the cop intuition already?

OMG we were dying :)

Mia started Valentine's day delivering a valentine to Grandpa M

She sat and made valentines for all her cousins and grandparents. Then she helped

me with my card to Rick and we were trying to think of what why we are thankful for him.

It was so funny, she's like thanks for going to COSTCO (really loudly), cleaning up Bent's poop, making

mom eggs in the mornin, doing the dishes,protecting the living room,

 it was sooo cute!

Off to her Valentine party! Even though she doesn't normally go

to preschool on Tuesday, she could go to the party as long as dad took

her, so he did and she was so happy about that. She kept telling him thanks a hundred

times. I'm sure you can guess the kind of cards she brought the kids- Yep Cars ones

and we made some tasty homemade sugar cookies too. On Monday, she could

bring in a special snack, so we did chocolate covered strawberries with sprinkles and it

was a hit.

Mia with her Valentine box ready to do her exchange

Playing with dinosaurs before the party. I guess she was teaching

the other kids what the names of the dinosaurs were. 

a little heart activity

Always very proud. I guess her teacher Miss Debbie

told Rick today during the party that Mia is her little teacher's pet when she's there.

That definitely doesn't surprise us, my sister Bre even said,

"Like mother like daughter." haha :)

Outside playing

Mia with her little friend Lucy

Rick took a picture of her planet she had to do for homework.

Of course it was called Planet Red and it was made up of 

mostly dinosaurs and cars

Time for pizza and fruit!

She had a blast and Rick made it without a headache.

After her nap, she had to show me each valentine card.

It was pretty fun!

For dinner tonight, Mia wanted heart shaped spaghetti so

that's what we did. I set it up all fancy like she was at a restaurant

since it's always just Mia and I at night, we made it fun :)

And of course Mater juice box ( is this phase ever going to end)

and for dessert

End of the day: Mia listening to a Cars book that her dad

recorded for Valentine's day. She LOVED it! I always remember

my dad giving me something for Valentine's day every year until

I was married. It was very special to know that your dad is always your

valentine no matter what is going on in your life and I think it's

important for Mia to feel that same love from her dad. She was

so funny making him his Valentine card and wouldn't write "dad" on it.

She wanted me to help her write "Rick." Too cute!

On Saturday we went to the Children's museum to

their new Curious George exhibit and Curious was

there! She was very excited, and of course I didn't have

my camera so the pic didn't turn out very good.

This weekend we are going to the Fresh Beat Band concert so

stay tuned :)

Mia learns so many songs in preschool that I had to share

one of them. It's called Teeny Bay. Enjoy :)

It goes like this if you can't hear:

I had a little turtle, his name is Teeny Bay,

I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim

he drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap

Now he's home safe in bed  with bubbles down his throat

Bubbles bubbles bubbles

bubbles bubbles bubbles

bubbles bubbles bubbles

POP!