Introducing Tuc

Meet Tuc, which is short for The Utha Cat.  Tuc showed up at our place this winter, and is a really nice young tomcat.  He's very friendly and hangs around the deck looking for scraps and affection.

 

 Miaya really gets long with him well, and says his name very clearly, a not so little feat for a 2 1/2  year old. 

 

Of the 20 of so pictures I took, this is one of my favorites with Miaya's reflection so clear, and if you look closely you can see Toby wondering why he doesn't rate that much attention.

Chinese New Year - Omaha Style!

We were invited to a Chinese New Year Celebration with the Heartland Chapter of Families with Children from China at the China Buffet restaurant in Omaha (yes, in Nebraska!) last weekend.  It was a great time, delicious food, wonderful people, and an exciting Lion Dance courtesy of the restaurant.  The dance troupe put on a great show, and afterward helped the kids to do their own Lion Dance. 

 

 

 

  

Miaya and new friend Lily

Our Girl Is Growing Up!

And faster than her Mama would prefer!  Just on the physical side, it seems like many of her "good" outfits only get worn a few times before they no longer fit (they must shrink hanging in the closet!). And, the shared looks of Huh? are exchanged between mommy and daddy more and more often as she comes with new phrases, expressions, and skills that cause bafflement.  This one will keep us on our toes for many years. 

Get Real Mom

Okay yes I like curly hair...not on me mind you, but on my daughter. So here I go to wrestle a 2 year old to put curlers in her hair and here is the results...nothing.

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Isn't always when you have curly hair ...you want straight hair. We are figuring Miaya will want to be a Sweedish blue eyed blonde....Tain't going to happen. Oh well learn to live with it! I wanted to be one, too!

Taking one for the team!

Miaya is always wanting to "go...go..go..!" We always have a great time at the ball games. We are fortunate to have Miss Ciara so close. She's been struggling the last few years with knee surgeries, but this year she finally got to play. Miaya does notice her on the court and yells for her.  Although she really likes to watch the cheerleaders the most. But this does make sense as she is always dancing and screaming at the top of her lungs most of the time. ...Haven't got that "indoor voice" down yet.

Miaya always has to get her "pretties" on to go to the game..Mama can always find an outfit from her Ebay collection. We just don't get to dress up when it's time to go to daycare. So we take one for the team and dress up! I just love watching Ciara's teammates tell Ciara that Miaya is here! They are all so sweet to her. We forget how cute and exotic Miaya is until we bring her in to a public setting...but boy do we get a lot of smiles! She constantly engages with other people with her HI! and she will keep saying HI until they say HI back! Persistent little thing...huh! I wonder where she gets that from?

Happy New Year -- The Year Of The Tiger

Happy (Chinese) New Year!  We stopped by the CNY celebration in Des Moines Saturday, and looked around for a while.  It felt a bit odd seeing so many little Chinese girls running around, after all, we are used to seeing only one!

Miaya immediately spotted a poster with a tiger and gave us her best tiger growl!  We couldn't stay too long as we had a lot of errands to run while we were in town, and had to keep moving, but really enjoyed it while we were there.  Miaya wore one of her last outfits from China that still fits.  I guess we'll have to start ordering some more.