Look What I Got

So I was standing at the register at Michael's buying a candle. I looked over and they had a table of grab bags for $2. I've never seen these before. The clerk said I could look inside before I bought it, but I thought that would kill the fun!

Here's what was inside:

Some good supplies for crafts with Mia.

Lots of notepads with initials, two of which happen to be mine! And a box that says seeds. I'll probably give that to my brother's girlfriend as she has a big garden.

Some black frosting and football cupcake wrappers. Don't know if those will ever get used!

Some wind-up toys, balls and stickers. Some of this made it into the Christmas closet when Mia wasn't looking.

A pop-up hamper, charms and decals. The pop-up hamper has been quite the hit and will probably live in the playroom for awhile.

Father Daughter Dance

Mia and Daddy went to their first father daughter dance last night. And mom got one more use out of the adoption dress!

She got to eat mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, and ice cream. All the older girls danced with her and the balloon man made her a doggie balloon. She did not need to share Daddy's attention with anyone else. This must have been the perfect night for Miss Mia.

BFF

It's good to have a best friend.

And it's great when the best friend has a mom that takes awesome pictures!

Colorado Sand

Joey and Brittany!

This weekend Joey and Brittany (and Avery) came to visit us. They wanted to relax as their lives are so busy right now. There is only so much relaxing you can do with a two year old in the mix!

The current "game of the week" is duck duck goose. And if you are chosen as the lucky one you get to be the goose. Every. Single. Time. She seems to prefer males for this job so Joey was it.

Saturday afternoon we drove up to the Ice Castles. I heard amazing things about it from several people so I was a little disappointed in the size to tell the truth. But it is amazing that all these icicles are made in a separate place and then attached every night (3000 of them) by hand.

We went to dinner and then came back to see them all lit up. It was actually easier to see all the definition when they were alight. So we were glad we chose to get out of the car, put on all our gear again, and brave the elements. Some of us might have mentioned just "driving by" a couple of times.

Sunday morning we took a quick trip over to the Wildlife Experience. Both Joey and Dan had colds so we didn't stay too long. Everyone but me came home and took naps.

Look how well this brother and sister play together.

In the middle of the visit Mia went to her first ever little kid birthday party. Here she is with the birthday girl, Sophia, who loves to make funny faces for the camera.

Later that night we went to our favorite Greek restaurant for dinner. Tomorrow morning Brittany and Joey will have to leave. We will all be disappointed!

Ballet

Before.

During.

After.

First day of ballet class. The black slippers were borrowed. She loved it so we'll be back next week. With some new shoes.

Valentine's Day

Today we headed over to Sheri's for a little Valentine party with Logan. Here they are with their treats.

Why would we want to play house with the new play food when we can play throw and fetch?

When Daddy got home we opened gifts. Doesn't Mia look great in her new Wonder Pets cape?

For dinner we went to a fabulous restaurant. It wasn't crowded. They didn't jack up the prices on the menu just for Valentine's Day. It was very kid-friendly. We go there every year and order the most wonderful...breakfast. Have you guessed? Yes, we have spent almost every Valentine's Day for the last seven years or so at IHOP! You should try it. Oh...and never ever order dinner there. Not good.

San Marcos

This weekend we went to San Marcos. We decided to go and help with Grossie's (Dan's mom) transition to an assisted living facility for persons with dementia. Before going up to San Marcos, we had dinner with Becky in San Diego. I didn't have a chance to take a pic in the restaurant as it was 9:00 Colorado time and someone, I'm not naming names, was up way past her bedtime, and tired of sitting still in a car, then a plane, then a bus, then a car again, and then a restaurant. Let's just say she was glad to get outside and run around, until she fell down and scraped her hands.

The next morning we went to visit Grossie in her new home for a couple of hours.

Mia loved eating a snack with all the women and they all gave her a good amount of attention. Many of them remembered her when we went back the next day and were quite proud of themselves for that.

There were two birds there that Mia had fun with. One of them would put its little head up to the bars so you could rub it. So cute.

We had dinner Saturday night with Paul, Maureen, Shelia and Ernie. I took some pictures but they came out blurry. The iPhone, or more likely the iPhone operator, is not great with low-light pictures.

Although the trip was not meant to be a "fun" trip, we still had a good time. And we didn't miss the twenty degree weather in Denver!

Engagement Photos!

Just got Beth and Greg's engagement photos. There are so many to choose from, but these are my favorites. They look so happy!

This is my favorite because he looks so protective of her. Just what every parent hopes for their daughter!

Art Museum

Today we went to the Denver Art Museum. It is housed in buildings built in 2006. It was so clean and modern. Again, Denver did a great job of making things interesting for all ages. We only made it through two of the ten or so exhibits so we'll be back many more times.

Our first stop was Kids' Korner. Here you could build with blocks, dress up in Chinese costumes, draw and climb. Mia insisted she was a cowboy.

This is Mud Woman. She is part of the Native American exhibit. She was created during the temporary Marvelous Mud exhibit last summer. Mia and I were both fascinated by her size. We watched a video of how it was made and talked to the docent about it too.

Mia asked a lot of questions about what things were. She's never seen a tipi or a Indian baby carrier.

Love this sign!

Here we put stones on numbered circles to make a picture.

Ours turned out to be a thunderbird!

The next exhibit we went to was the Pre-Columbian South America one. Mia is holding pictures of feet which you had to try and locate on different statues throughout the exhibit. We found two and then she was pretty much done with that!

It's finally losing a little air. What do you expect for a four month old latex balloon!

Downtown

Mia and I had some time today after church and before a few friends came over for the Superbowl. We decided to take advantage of a Free Day. The city of Denver promotes free days at the museums throughout the city. Today, and every first Sunday, was free day at the Museum of Miniatures. I wasn't sure Mia would like it, but we decided to give it a try.

We got to the museum at 11:00 and it was closed! I should have checked the hours as it didn't open until 1:00. Mia was asleep so I decided to drive a round a bit. When she woke up we got some lunch downtown and then decided to go over to REI's flagship store because I heard they had a playground.

When you walk into the store there is a humongous climbing rock. We sat on some steps and watched someone climb to the very top. Mia was intently watching him and kept saying, "He's going to fall!" You can see him in the picture.

Next we had to check out the tents in the clearance section.

Then it was over to the little forest playground. We played there for awhile and then shopped for some mittens. I ended up paying $35 for snow mittens (gulp), but I know they will be used by her little sister after her.

Do you like my new mittens?

By now the museum was open so we headed over there. Since it was a free day, they had a craft available. Today it was Valentine cards and so we made one for Daddy.

This museum turned to be amazingly kid-friendly. It was in an old Victorian house and every room had a play area for children. So parents could show their kids the exhibits and then let the kids play while the parents look more in depth at the exhibits.

This was an entire miniature circus down to the smallest details, including trailers.

When toys your kids played with are in a museum, you are old!

I love this. The switches to turn the trains off are on a place down really low for children. This turned out to be an awesome museum for kids...and grown-ups too!