New Gymnastics Class

We joined ASI Gymnastics here in Dallas about four weeks ago, and we really love it!

jump, jump, jump!

waiting her turn to jump again

jump, jump, jump some more!

tuck jump - she's improving so quickly!

having fun on the trampoline - following directions most of the time

soccer was the theme of the week

when they are supposed to be running back and forth, she is the little mother hen - concerned about everyone else doing what they're supposed to be doing

i don't know where she gets this trait....

...or this one! Ha ha ha ha!

waiting patiently for some stamps

stamps on our tootsies!! thanks coach jason!

Avi Grace, Ballerina

Mira and I had the pleasure of attending Avi's first dance recital! She was such a beauty and did so great on the stage! Mira (who thought it was only appropriate for her to wear her "Sleeping Beauty dress" and her "dancing shoes" to the recital) presented Avi with a bouquet of roses after the show.

Congratulations, Avi Grace!! You did great!!

Another Garden Update

I insisted on salvaging as many of the potted vegetable plants as possible, so I loaded up the car and drove them to Dallas! I managed to fit all but one pot of bell peppers and one pot of tomatoes, but they were both duplicates, so no big deal. I gave them to our neighbor - hope they thrived!

The ones we brought with us are doing great on our tiny patio here at the apartment!

Lots of bright red grape tomatoes!

We've already gathered two handfuls and it looks like we'll have enough for our salad this weekend!

Three big, beautiful bell peppers! We're going to make fajitas this weekend!

The potatoes and onions. I haven't checked the potatoes yet, but soon - very soon!!

The mint survived! We made the best mojitos last weekend with or fresh, organic mint!

The jalapenos are doing well - these little flowers have already turned into little peppers, so we'll be enjoying those soon!

Our first tomato harvest - Mira was very excited! Jeter and Shatzie were wondering what all the fuss was about.

Washing our bounty...

2 1/2 Years Old!!

Well, it's been a long time since I've done a "Mira Update", and she is growing in leaps and bounds, so I don't know how comprehensive this is going to be.....

As usual, this will be long and full of "mundane" (to some) details - but that's because this post is more for our keepsake than for anything else. So, peruse, skim, or skip it all together!

• Weight is about 28 pounds. Height is just below 3 feet. Wearing size 2T clothes and 5 or 5 1/2 in shoes.
• Potty training is going great. Can't even remember the last accident. She is now waking up from naps and in the mornings with a dry pull-up about 95% of the time. We are going to switch to some sort of washable because we hate wasting so many pull-ups! We really didn't do anything to cause the overnight/naptime dryness - it has just occurred on its own and now we are encouraging the trend by making potty time a part of pre-sleep routines.
• Gross motor: Mira is doing a phenomenal job in gymnastics and is able to do so many amazing things! She can walk across the balance beam flat-footed and on tip-toe (even sideways and backwards with a little help!), stand on one foot, hold herself up in a leaning handstand (against a wall), do a front roll, walk up and down over-sized steps without holding onto anything, tuck jump (pull her knees up and hit them with her palms), straddle jump (jump and spread legs then back together), jump and turn around, bear crawl (on hands and feet), climb, and skip. She is starting to work on throwing over-hand - for now, it's more of a sideways fling. She is practicing more and therefore getting very good at undressing (especially bottoms), but is still not very interested in or advanced at putting clothes on - other than her underwear.
• Fine motor: we have been working on using a mouse at the computer for the past two days. She already has the clicking part down - waiting until the mouse is pointed to the right thing before clicking. But, she hasn't figured out how to maneuver the mouse to make it point where she wants it to. I have a feeling she'll have it in about a week or so! She continues to do very well with fine motor - manipulating tiny doll dresses, placing small stickers in the right square on a chart, coloring/writing (she can draw a circle, vertical line, horizontal line, and tonight we practiced doing both to make a cross then turned it into a stick figure), picking up small items, putting coins in her piggy bank, tracing various lines (straight, curved, zig zag) with her finger, etc.
• Language: she continues to amaze us with her vocabulary and syntax! She speaks in very complex sentences complete with exclamations of all kinds. Some favorite phrases: oy vey! - complete with finger tips smacking the forehead (thanks Sheesa); hallelujah! - pronounced "hallaguga" (thanks Coco); where in the world is......!?! (no clue where she got this one); well, actually....; I'm kinda freakin' out a little bit. (I'll take credit for this one); hmmmm....there may be more that I can't think of right now.....
• Emotional: she is really doing a fantastic job when it comes to the whole tantrum thing. About a month or two ago the tantrums started full-throttle and practically overnight then came at rapid-fire intervals for about two weeks maybe. I feel like Kenny and I handled them pretty well and made it clear that they weren't going to be productive for her. We are consistent and firm, but also keep in mind that it's a part of toddler-hood (they are going to have tantrums, it's a matter of how you react). And she has had only one real tantrum in the past few weeks (which we totally brought on ourselves - she was a very, very sleep-deprived little girl that night). So, I guess I'm saying that I'm pretty proud of all three of us. Of course, it helps tremendously that she is so verbal and able to tell us, in great detail, exactly what's on her mind!
• She has started to make up names for her dolls and stuffed animals. Before, she would say she wanted to name something, but ask one of us to give it a name. Now, she is making up names on her own. She doesn't just say names that she's heard somewhere, she just pulls them out of nowhere! The first thing she named all by herself was a stuffed Easter bunny - she named him Dydel - that's the best way I can think to spell it...pronounced "die-dull". Another one is "Soccer Bunny" - it has nothing to do with soccer...
• She loves to play games. Right now, our collection includes Candyland, BusyTown, Memory, Bingo, and Elefun.
• She loves to sing and make up songs. She will sing a familiar song (such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star), but then, the second or third time through, she'll change some of the words! I find this pretty impressive since she keeps it in rhythm! Other times, she just makes up her own songs completely!
• She has hit the princess phase full-on. She loves the Disney Princesses and has a collection of 7 princess dolls with a billion tiny outfits and accessories for them all. She loves to dress up in her "Sleeping Beauty dress" that CoCo and Uncle Kenny got her for her birthday, and she has to wear her "dancing shoes" with it (silver glittery ballet flats). She has worn this get-up in public a few times already. She knows and recognizes all of the princesses and will point them out anywhere she finds them. We have been watching the song sequences from the Disney movies on youtube (I was surprised that they are on there!) - it's a great way for her to get to see the good parts of the movies without all the scary junk. Her favorite is "Beauty and the Beast" - when they dance together in the movie and Mrs. Potts sings the song. She wants to watch it over and over.
• She still loves books and to be read to. She is so good at reciting all her books. We only have to read one or two words on each page, and she will fill in the rest of the words. We read longer books these days - not just the board books with one sentence per page! She has a great attention span when it comes to books!
• Another favorite game is to doctor her stuffed animals, Jeter or Shatzie, or whoever will let her. She has a new doctor's kit with stethoscope, syringe, etc. and loves to use it! Most often, ear infection is the diagnosis and a shot is the cure.
• She can count to about 13. We sort of stopped working on the whole counting thing - I plan on getting back on that. I know she's capable of doing it, it's just a matter of practicing.
• She can count to 5 in Spanish and knows the difference between Spanish and English. For example, we have a couple of books that are in both languages, and if I start to read it in Spanish, she will usually let me go a while, then ask, "Mommy, can you please read it in English?"
• She is still taking a nap - and they have gotten longer. She usually goes down around 2-ish and sleeps for a good three hours. She has been going to bed closer to 8:30 lately since Kenny gets home later now that we're in the Big D, and we actually have rush hour traffic to deal with.
• She has slowed down on her milk consumption - she just stopped asking for it as often and got more accepting when I didn't have it, but still loves it - almond or soy. She also still loves cheese pizza, turkey slices, hotdogs, hamburger patties, spaghetti, toast with butter, peanut butter, Wheat Thin Sticks, chocolate bunnies (little chocolate cookies), Cocoa Snaps (cookies from Whole Foods), Pringles (plain and buffalo wild wing flavor), chocolate pudding, bacon, sorbet, bananas, apples (whole with "handles"), fruit cups (strawberry applesauce), chocolate, cookies of any kind, Skittles, and has finally decided she really likes cake and chocolate milk! (all vegan versions, of course)

Mirabelle - you continue to delight everyone around you - family and strangers alike! You are so beautiful - that is the first thing that strikes people - those big blue eyes, that curly hair, and all your perfect little features. Then you begin to talk in your big girl way, which dazzles them even more, or you sing every word of "You are My Sunshine" in your sweet little voice and melt their hearts. You say the funniest things which tickles their funny bones, and you amaze them with your "tricks"! We are so very thankful that we get to be a part of all this - soaking in all of your beauty and dazzle and sweetness and silliness! You are such a joy!!!

Arboretum

So, this was our first weekend to be at home since we moved back to Texas. We decided we should do something "Dallas" to celebrate. The Dallas Arboretum still has it's Princess Castle exhibit going on, so we figured Mira would enjoy that!

The parking lot was closed when we arrived, so we had to park down the road and take the bus in. Mira enjoyed that almost as much as the arboretum!

We saw all the castles and all had fun playing chase on the lawns. At one point, Mira insisted I carry her upside-down and run - totally her idea! Great workout for Mommy! I should have worn tennis shoes though.

First stop, The Little Mermaid's Castle 

Ariel's throne

She just happen to have Ariel and Cinderella with her!

Say Cheeeeeeeeese!!!

Peek-a-Boo!

This girl LOVES to run!! 

 

Trying to lick me - YUCK! Her father's idea....

We were both cracking up - I was having a hard time hanging on to her I was laughing so hard!

Looking forward to so many more fun days like this with our beautiful, hilarious daughter!

Random Acts of Cuteness II

More random pics that just need to be shared!

She loves watching and "helping" Daddy shave in the mornings.

I made her some peanut butter and crackers. Turned my back and when I looked back - she had helped herself to the peanut butter and had been dipping her hand into the jar and licking it off!! We won't offer that jar to guests!

Getting some good use out of the apron I made her for Hanukkah! We made pizza and she was helping roll the dough and "decorate" them.

Took a break from cooking to dance with Shatzie. He's such a sweet puppy to put up with all her antics.

April 2011 - Reader's Digest Version

There are about a bazillion things to blog, but I just haven't found the time!! It's getting to that point of snowballing, and I think I'm going to have to just cut my losses and move on or I'll never get back on track!

What slows things down majorly is adding pictures, so maybe I'll just do a quick run-down of some things that happened in April? Okay, I couldn't resist adding a few pictures! But, this is still definitely an abridged version of my ideal blog for these events!

April 6th - Sesame Street Live: We took Mira to her first live performance. She loved it! She dressed up in her Abby Cadabby t-shirt, purple tutu, tights, and twinkle toes. During the show, she was totally star-struck and watched the whole performance in silent amazement - totally enthralled!

All dressed up Abby Cadabby style!

Can't believe her eyes!

Stood this way the whole time!

April 7th - Bounce House! We finally got Mira a bounce house. She loved it, of course, and jumped from the time she woke up from nap until it was bath time. She only took one, very quick, break to eat dinner. Too bad she only got to jump on it once! We found out the next day that we were moving back to TX and would be in a temporary apartment for a while. No where to set up the bounce house here (unless we want the whole "neighborhood" coming to jum)! Oh, well, it'll keep and we have Pump It Up! across the street from the apartment!

April 9th - Kenny attended the LA State Sons of the American Revolution meeting - he had to wear a tux, so I thought this was blog-worthy!

I demanded that he take a picture of himself in his tux since I wouldn't be there to see him!

Meanwhile, Mira and I went to Waco to watch LaLa perform at the Regionals OAP meet, then LaLa and I did a tour of Waco and Baylor on Sunday, while Mira stayed with Uncle Kenny and Aunt CoCo. We all had a great time doing our things!

Mira always claps when the audience claps - she stops whatever she's doing and instantly starts clapping enthusiastically!

Mira with LaLa who's all dressed up for the award ceremony after the play.

April 15th - Fort Worth Zoo Run: Kenny ran the 10K then turned right around and ran the 5K with Avi

Got this same shot of Mira a couple of years ago when we did the Zoo Run!

Amazing face paintings - FREE!

Kenny and Avi after the 5K

April 22-23rd - Easter Weekend in Fairfield: we had a blast. Kenny, LaLa, and I went to see Water for Elephants while Mira hung out with Avi and CoCo and colored eggs. They had a lot of fun and colored a lot of eggs! I painted mine and Mira's toes to match (as is our Easter tradition)! And, Mira and Avi had fun hunting Easter eggs at the egg hunt on the square while LaLa painted faces (including Mira's).

Ta Daaaaa!

Avi's eggs

Somebunny brought you something!

She had eyed up that catapillar weeks ago at the store!

Toes-ies! (Toes-ies 2010 and 2009)

I thought this was a nice pic of us!!

Waiting patiently for the horn to blow announcing the begining of the hunt!

The word "hunt" is used loosely....Mira was much more aggresive this year in seeking out the eggs!

Traded in the plastic eggs for a prize bag full of candy!

Avi hunts with the big kids - this is serious!

LaLa painted a flower on her cheek.

Nothing like a cold Icee from Nanny after a hot Easter morning in the sun!

April 29th & 30th - Kenny flew up to Omaha, NE to hang out with Craig, attend the Annual Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting, and see his idol Warren Buffet! He also drove over to Lincoln to have lunch with the Balms (this part I was jealous about - not so much the other).

He swears he hadn't been drinking, but I think this pictures says otherwise....(it was about 6 in the morning!)

THE man!

Ben and Ethan - SO big!!! Can't wait to see them in a couple of weeks!!!!

Meanwhile, Mira and I went to Fairfield for the annual Pilgrimage and Style Show. LaLa STARRED in the melodrama (totally stole the show) and Avi and Mira STARRED in the style show (the most beautiful girls, by far!)! Sheesa and PapaNui drove down to enjoy the day, too. We all had a really nice time!

Dancing the Virginia Reel

Style Show Beauties!

Now, for a drink....

And a dance!

So, there you have our April 2011 in a nutshell!!! Phew! Glad that's dealt with! Now, on to May.....