It's Official We Have 4

4 Years Old that is! Yes she finally had her birthday celebration this past Sunday. Surrounded by the ones who love her is always very very precious to me. She was sporting her new birthday dress that Aunt Katie helped pick out ...she helped me to get out of the pink and apple green rut with a beautiful halter dress with orange peonies scatter amongst the big skirt that she loved to twirl in. Never had her in orange before..should of sooner, looked great with her already tan. I swear this girl can tan under 20 blankets...lucky girl. She had a great time opening gifts and having daisy cupcakes and strawberries. After the last guest had left we saw her "eyeing" another cupcake and informed her that 2 was enough for the day. Turning around she had a bit of a sad face which we thought was because of our rationing of the sugar for the day....but alas our sweety said, "But grandpa didn't get his cupcake"....My dad who has been recuperating in the hospital after a valve replacement was still in Omaha. We knew that dad would be back to the hospital near us to finish his recuperation, so we told her that she could bring him one tomorrow. I love that my daughter knows what makes her family complete. She did take the cupcake to grandpa the next day which in her amazement grandpa downed it in two bites.....she just said WOW...grandpa needs another cupcake!

After that all was good and she went to jam with her new Dora guitar. BTW McCarty Family (Karl's) THANKS SO MUCH  FOR THE GUITAR.....WITH NO VOLUME CONTROL.....AAAA.RRRR.GGGG..HHHH

NEW PICTURES!

Check out the new pics in the slideshow!

A Spot of Tea?

Well it was actually strawberry breeze juice, but we did have some beautiful sun on Miaya's birthday to have our annual birthday tea party. We cleaned up the Cinderella plastic tea set and set out to find a dry spot to lay our blanket out. No dry spot to be found, so we roughed it.
We were so tickled that Miaya remembered it from last year...you know you always hope that your children will remember what you consider special. So I suppose we will whip out those fairy wings every year and enjoy a spot of tea on her birthday. Hopefully we will have a lot of years with those wings....because they do carry us to a simple time when you can enjoy watching your daddy with his little pinky sticking out just to hear his daughter giggle. Fairy wings and tea parties...it's a good thing!

Sprinkles in Life

Everyone knows that cupcakes are always better with sprinkles. In our life we are also lucky to get those "sprinkles" in our life, too. My sprinkles are my family. This Saturday Katie (my sister) helped out one frantic mom by helping take care of Miaya while my husband were hustling to scan pictures and put them together for Ciara's graduation videos. Mia adores her aunts so much...they are those special "sprinkles" in my daughter's life.  Thanks Katie!

Rocket Scientist?

Rusty, Katie (Mom) and Grandma

Rusty and Grandma 

I have a nephew who is a rocket scientist. Hhhmmm never thought I would say that! Rusty just graduated from Iowa State (Go Cyclones!) as a Aerospace Engineer with a minor in math and astronomy. I guess my sister never thought this would be what would come from all those late nights helping Rusty with his various projects in elementary school. I guess a little glue and duct tape makes anyones dream come true if they have the parents behind them to reach the stars...literally!  Great job Rusty!!

BIG DAY

Big Day today....let me see, we have a new 4 year old in our house! She has grown 6 inches from last year! We try to measurer her every year.
We're right now making her favorite meal....pancakes!!! Wish my dad could be here to enjoy them with her...they are pancake buddies. Dad is hopefully going to be able to come home this week from his lengthy and horribly boring stay in the hospital (heart surgery)

Besides our little ones birthday my nieces graduation is today also. Miss Ciara has been mentioned many times in this blog along with my other nieces and nephews. But little Miss C has been the smile I've seen most in my life, as I was her second grade teacher and her daycare for a few summers.... So she helped me out a lot of times when I was missing something in my life.  Miaya thanks you Ciara for helping her mommy to wait for her, the daughter that made her complete.

Chinese New Year

Thanks Mr. Peabody for the use of the Wayback Machine, today we're traveling back to late January 2011 for some of the pictures of our adventures in Kansas when we visited the Hisles for Chinese New Year.

We had a great visit, got a chance to catch up on happenings, and have some fun. Plus, the weather was a lot milder than we had been having in Iowa.

We went to a very nice celebration at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, which included a shadow puppet performance.  A really neat traditional way of telling a story.

Arts and crafts for the kids.

Miaya playing with a Chinese yo-yo, the performers were truly amazing in the tricks they performed.

Super neat!

The next night, we had a truly great meal at a local Chinese restaurant in Topeka.

The "less mess" method of eating egg drop soup!  The straw is good for more than just beverages, what a concept.

Zia Joy putting the cheater chopsticks to good use.

Both girls did really well with the cheaters.  It was Miaya's first real time eating with chopsticks.

"My Best Friend Buddy"  as Miaya describes Zia Joy.

The yummy kind of arts and crafts -- icing sugar cookies at the Hisles.

Look at that concentration!

Time to add the sprinkles! Now, we EAT!

Spring Blooms

The McCarty Easter was enjoyed by all, I hope! We had a great time with all of the kids. Miaya enjoyed taking her John Deere around to find her eggs! When they finished emptying their eggs it filled Miaya's little wagon...quite a haul for the Easter Bunny!

Time is ticking

Time is ticking away for Ciara's days in High School. We've watched her grow into beautiful woman. These are a few of the pictures we have taken just in the last two months, to include her starring role in "Anne Get Your Gun" to her Senior Program...  Time does fly! My little Ciara...I will miss you!

Buddies

Buddies come in all sizes. Miaya has a little of my sister (Karen) in her. She was always able to make "buddies" with the cats and kittens before anyone. I guess she was the cat whisperer in the family. Grandpa Charlie use to do it...kind of skipped a generation though....although my dad wouldn't probably admit it, but I would see him pet the kittens when we were kids. He would come in the house and tell us that he had a surprise and expose the hiding place of the newest batch of kittens. 

This cat was a stray that adopted us. We named in Tuck. Tuck has been her patio friend for quite awhile. He would really like to be a house cat....but we are ready for a no pet zone as soon as Toby goes back with Lyla. Toby unfortunately loves my dried flowers....plays hockey with them...and thinks our remaining carpet needs to be thinned out. Thank goodness he doesn't claw the furniture....otherwise he would be taking a one way trip to South Dakota.!

Did this work?

Checking out google Chrome blogger tool

Winter's last hurrah?

Well the groundhog was teasing us with an early spring...Cruel I know... But we have had the luxury of enjoying a few warm days. We haven't let Miaya out too much as her skin tends to dry out very easily in the cold wind. But the main reason might be that Mommy and Daddy get too cold! So this weekend Miaya and Michael enjoyed a few hours outside. Items on their list: 1. Make snowman ...check....done  2. play on Miaya's Playground (this is what she calls her swingset)...check....done 3. Play with Petie....check...done 4. Make snow angel "How To" video....check..done

Stars come out tonight?

We were lucky enough to spring a couple of tickets to Antiques Road Show in Des Moines last summer. Was a lot of fun...but feet still hurt thinking of the 3 hours waiting in line. Well tonight we see if by any chance we are "background". No we didn't get appraised on the air, but there were a few times we were behind the filming. So take a look...see if you can see Michael and I as our greatest role ever...."background"! The next three Mondays the Roadshow will be featuring Des Moines....so if not tonight ....maybe next week.  PS I actually shook hands and talked with the host while my husband stands there with a camera in hand NOT taking a picture....guess he was star struck! :)

The Kind Of Help You Really Don't Need!

We've been doing some remodeling/redecorating, and Toby really wants to help with everything.

Why Is Petie's Tail Cold?

Oh, he's sitting in the snow!

Christmas Memories -- Michael

When I began putting the Holiday Music channel on the stereo a few weeks ago, hearing the old familiar songs as performed by the artists I heard as a child brought back a lot of memories and feelings from many years ago.  Especially as Miaya is getting old enough to perceive music as more than just background noise.  With her sitting on my lap, I wondered at the long and circuitous route I took to be holding this oh so precious child, and how it must have felt for my parents to see us experience our first Holiday times.  I often think of the year our main gifts were toy trucks and tractors, for myself and my two sisters, which probably came from the local implement dealership.  To see the home movies of some of those years with the fireplace burning and the tree in the corner looks so like the perfect Christmas scene from a magazine, and for us kids it was certainly a magical time.  A simpler time it was in many ways, we had a television that got TWO channels reliably and sometimes a third, a party line phone, toted in coal for the stoves, carried in water from the well, and braved the cold to visit the privy.  Of course, as children we were really a bit too young to realize the amount of work it took to just meet the basics -- which were about what we had.

The the later years as we moved to a better farmhouse and more siblings arrived saw a similar though much less spartan setting.  It's strange the things that really stick with us, like the big bag of mixed nuts, in the shell of course, that arrived each holiday season and occupied us for hours cracking nuts and picking out the meats.  It was a very social thing and seemed that every house had a bowl of nuts that became the focus of most socializing.  Of course, the favorite and easy to shell nuts disappeared first, leaving the tough brazil nuts fighting a rear guard action against the onslaught. 

Yes, that music brought out a lot of emotions that alarmed Miaya a bit and she kept asking if I was sad, no dear, Daddy is really happy, and you're the reason.  I must remember to be a little better about building the memories that she will have to hold dear when we are gone. The holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas are about family and remembering what is really important.  What is really important is not the packages under the tree, it's the little girl who crawls up on my lap and declares "I love you so much Daddy!" and gives me a big hug, it's the wonderful woman who for some reason consented to be my bride those years ago, rescuing us both from our lonely lives. 

I now understand a little better the smiles on my parents faces as we tore into those presents on those magical mornings, the contentment and joy that is timeless.  And, we never really noticed how little they gave each other so we could have more.....

Miaya's Christmas

Christmas with Michael's family in Illinois.

Miaya playing with cousin Jennifer.

 Miaya with Jennifer and Grandma Shirley (Michael's mother).

Grandma with all the grandchildren together for the first time.

Miaya's pile is outgrowing her!!


Christmas Eve at the Foster's

Christmas morning at home....

Kim's parents, her sister Katie and husband Tim and their son Rusty came over for brunch.

 Hard at work.....

"I can practice my word writing now".

 Is there another present for me?

 The wrapping paper is getting deeper, and it's all form Miaya!

 Kai Lan Dino Dreams, this one got a lot of play.

A nice soft fluffy blanket and pillow from Aunt Katie, this one was big hit with Miaya, she insisted on using it for her nap.