Easter 2015

We had a fun time this Easter with Mia finally being old enough to participate in activities. She wasn't ready to dye eggs yet, as the cups would just get dumped, but maybe next year.

This is how Mia was when she woke up. She was tired and just wanted breakfast. She didn't want to go on a hunt for anything.

But after breakfast she thought it would be OK to look for her "surprise" that was waiting for her.  

This is her when she had found it. I love her surprised and excited look.  

She went right to work emptying out her basket and finding all the treats in the eggs inside. The toys got pushed to the side 

Then the paper itself became a great toy. 

The Easter bunny left me a treat too.

And didn't leave Dee out either 

We went to Grandma and Grandpas house and tried to take pictures, which was difficult due to the wind. Mia didn't want to sit for pictures, she would rather run around. But we did our best, and I think some of them were pretty cute even with Mia looking distracted. 

Mia loves the flowers at their house.  

She wanted to share them with all of us. 

We took a break from pictures and had a musical interlude with the clay birds. She just recently learned to blow on them to make noise. before she would hum to mimic the noise we made when we blew on them. she is getting better at her breath control.  

Grandpa was showing her all the tricks, and they played a duet.  

Then we were off to the Easter egg hunt.  

Mia didn't want to just collect them, but she wanted to each one to see what was inside before trying to find the next. It was so cute seeing her little face when she found each egg.  

With a little help she managed to find the more hidden eggs too.  

Here is her excited, I found something face. A big high pitched "ooo." 

It really was a beautiful day. Easter time is generally so lovely in Tucson, especially this year. 

Visiting Idaho- Christmas Day

We spent Christmas in Idaho with Dee's parents and brother and sister-in-law this year. We were "blessed" with a cold week filled with snow and even a White Christmas! Mia loved the snow, at least for a few minutes until she got too cold. I was probably more worried about the cold than she was. Fortunately Dee's brother lent us some snow pants for her which made it much better.

 We ate a lot, played a lot, and snuggled a lot to keep warm.

Mia had a lot more fun this year with Christmas. She could actually participate with the festivities. Since we were traveling there were only a few gifts for her on Christmas, but she didn't mind. Hangers and wrapping paper are always fun and entertaining.

Many, many pictures to follow. We will start with Christmas morning:






I actually had time to get dressed before Mia woke up. She didn't know what she was missing by sleeping in.










Mia enjoyed reaching in to explore what was in her stocking. Not so much candy, but lots of other fun stuff.

 Grandma helping Mia eat her stocking treat. Pretzel sticks with cheese. 

Grandpa played "Elf" and delivered presents in his own unique way.

 YAY Presents!!

 Mia loved her gift! A new pretty dress from grandma. She carried it around for quite a while.

 She also liked helping open grandma and grandpa's gifts.

Grandpa was bad and just got coal for Christmas...  :)









Later on Dee's brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Julia, along with their 2 kids came over to unwrap more presents and play. Yay cousin time!

Dee's parents wrapped Craig's gift in a special box. Yum, orange chicken that has been out all night.

 Mia eating her Christmas orange. 

The prettiest present of all!

AND THEN THERE WAS SNOW! A White Christmas. It started late Christmas Eve and continued on through Christmas morning.  How fun, especially for Mia!

 She went out in the morning but we weren't fully prepared. We only stayed out a few minutes. Mia loved it though. She didn't know what to do with it

 Later on when Craig and Julia came over, they brought snow pants. Mia felt totally prepared for the snow. See how confident she is. 

 But a few minutes out she realized that it is still cold in the snow. 

But soon she forgot the cold and really got into it.

Dee really got into the snow too.

Take Note: None of the Idaho people went out in the snow. Just us crazy Arizonans that see snow once every 5-10 years. 

The Friday after Christmas, we drove on icy roads and made it to the Idaho Falls Temple, which is beautiful.

We had fun on Christmas. It was a long day filled with family and fun.