A "Real" Haircut

Today, after a great morning in church, then a wonderful (2 hour) lunch with a group from church at Cafe Brazil, Mira was VERY excited to get a haircut at an actual salon! Most of the followers here know that I've given Mira a few haircuts already, but this was her first by a professional.

We went to Cool Cuts 4 Kids - one of those great places that has airplanes and cars for the kids to sit in, DVD's to watch, and stickers to search for in order to get the kids to look right where they're supposed to. The stylist, Juliet, was super-fun and sweet and was magical when it came to handling a child while cutting their hair!

Mira chose Dora as her DVD and was delighted to find Word World stickers all over her bright red car chair. At the end, since it was her first trip their, she got to pick out a bow - I do believe she picked out the tackiest one available. Oh, well - she was pleased. And, the icing on the cake was a sucker on our way out the door!

We own three point-and-shoot cameras, but we didn't have a single one on us when we arrived at the salon. The pictures were taken with my phone, and although I'm not complaining about the quality - their pretty good - my phone tends to wig out when I try to snap too many pics too fast. So, it froze up on me, and refused me a final, "after" picture.

It's really not that big of a deal, since she only received a trim with some light layering to "make those curls POP!" as the stylist so energetically declared. So, it's doubtful you could even tell a difference (other than that awful, awful bow which is probably better left un-documented!).

She had so much fun, she'll be asking for another haircut before the week's up!

Potpourri

We met up with Lezlee, her sweet Sophia, and our pal Mason at the Rosemeade Rec center. It was our first time to visit this rec center, so I'm glad we got to check it out. It was fun chatting with Lezlee as much as we could with two toddlers constantly splashing off in different directions.

Break for a snack

CHEESE!

Sophia is such a pretty baby - look at those eyes! And, she was so content the whole time!

Monday morning, while Mira was still in Fairfield, I took the opportunity to rifle through all of her toys - pull out some that she hasn't played with in a while, put some in a "give-away" pile, and organize everything. I got out her tent, but by Tuesday morning, the dogs had staked their claim. We had piled all of Mira's blankets and big stuffed animals in there, so you can hardly blame them!

Mira loves her new princess nightgown (a first).

We made popsicles that were supposed to look like watermelons...I forgot I didn't have green food coloring, so they didn't really turn out exactly right. But, they sure tasted good!!! Made with strawberry and lemon sorbet, plus chocolate chip "seeds"!!

Putting the tops on!

Date Weekend/Mira's Week in Fairfield

So, Mira spent last weekend in Fairfield with Uncle Kenny, Aunt CoCo, LaLa, and Avi. She had ridiculous amounts of fun! So much that I was surprised she was so excited to see me on Monday morning!

Here is a rundown of the things that went on - well, at least the things that were reported...

Avi gave her a fab side ponytail on multiple occasions. Apparently, she would sit perfectly still for huge blocks of time (30 minutes) for these up-do's. Ha! I'm lucky if I get 5 minutes to fix her hair, and she usually wiggles and whines at me the whole time!

Bravo, Avi, Bravo! (although, it does appear that my child has been drugged...)

They played with the video monitor...

Yikes, Avi, Yikes!!

They cooked...



They went to see Winnie the Pooh at the theater. This was Mira's very first time to be in a theater! It sounds like she loved the entire experience from gazing at each and every life-sized movie cut-out, picking out her booster seat, carrying her booster seat (she refused offers of assistance), having snacks in the theater, and, of course, the movie itself. She sat quietly and watched the entire movie. I'm kind of sad that I didn't get to experience this first with her (CoCo did ask if it was okay, and I gave the go-ahead), but I think it's good for her to have these special memories with the other people that she loves and who love her.

Carrying her booster seat - big girls can do this sort of thing all by themselves!

Snacks? - check! Drink? - check! Let's get started!!

After the movie (or maybe before?), they played in the arcade for a while. This was also a big hit. They even won some tickets and got "some junk from the junk counter"! 

Avi helping her play "mini bowling"

Always the cheerleader - she MUST clap for you when you do something good! (yes, I realize we've created a monster!)

They painted toenails, and it looks like they had fun with bath time, too...



I also received a video of Avi and Mira running through the sprinkler, but I can't figure out how to post a copy...it's on Facebook.

There was swinging at the playground, running in the rain, and plenty of tickle fights, too. Who knows what else went on, but all that matters is that she was having a great time - it made it so easy to enjoy....

DATE WEEKEND!!!

I dropped Mira off in Fairfield on Friday and headed back home to my hubby and our weekend-long date!

We mostly ate out and watched movies (thanks to Jim and Sheila for the Cinemark gift card!). Nothing too crazy, but we had so much fun just hanging out, relaxing, and doing things together that we enjoy.

Friday night, we watched Killers on Netflix then went out to Barnes & Noble where we just sat and read our Nooks (you can read any book for an hour in stores!) and had Starbucks. Sounds bland, I know - but we had fun! We thought it was pretty crazy of us to be getting in the car and heading out at 7:00pm! That's usually when we're starting Mira's bath time!

Saturday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at Cafe Brazil! Those fried sweet potatoes and bottomless cups of coffee are heavenly! Chocolate-Covered Cherry coffee.....YUM!

Afterwards, we caught the matinee of Harry Potter. It was good, as usual, but, as usual, it left us a bit disappointed compared with the books.

We went home for lunch then went back to the theater for Bad Teacher. It was not so great - we were pretty let-down about that one because we had been really excited to see it and had high hopes. There were a few funny scenes, but nothing great.

We were stuffed on sodas and snacks after this, so we decided to go to the mall and walk around a bit. Nothing eventful there. Dinner was a large order of Wendy's fries - love 'em!!

Sunday morning, we went to church. I was signed up to substitute teach in Mira's regular class, and Kenny helped video the service (it was the annual "Harry Potter service" - ?). Afterwards, we had Pei Wei for lunch which was delicious as always.

Our plan was to go home so Kenny could watch the Women's soccer game, and I was going to go grocery shopping. Unfortunately, he had no luck and couldn't get it to come on. So, instead, we went grocery shopping together. We had fun perusing the aisles of Whole Foods - I'm usually in a bit of a rush to get what we need and get out.

We dropped the groceries off at the apartment and headed back to our home-away-from-home - Cinemark! The last movie of the weekend was, by far, the best out of the four. We watched Horrible Bosses and laughed until we hurt! I would love to go see that one again!! SO great!!!!

Dinner was at Whole Foods (two trips in one day!!!) - two vegan burgers with fries. They got weird and put sweet pickles on my burger which did not work for me, but otherwise, it was great.

I'm so glad Kenny and I can be such dorks together and have so much fun doing nothing together!!

Monday morning, I got a phone call from my sweet Mira: "Hello Mommy. This is Mirabelle. I'm coming to see you in Dallas, TX!!"

What a perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

Our Tadpole

Mira's coming along nicely in her swimming skills. She is able to manuever all around with her trusty noodle! She swims on her own for great lengths; a couple of days ago, she swam a full lap (the length of the pool twice) before I had to make her stop and take a little break! She LOVES to swim and play in the pool. That is definitely one perk to living in an apartment right now - a covenient and free pool without the maintenence job or safety hazard of it being in our backyard!

Here are a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure...

School

So, I finally got around to doing a structured "school day" - I've only been planning to do this for about a year now!

Last night, as I was tucking Mira into bed, I told her we were going to "do school" in the morning. She got a little worried look on her face and asked, "Welllll, Mommy, are you allowed to go to the school?" We have read a few books that involve the kid going to school, and, of course, no Mommies are present in the pictures. She always notices this when we read the books, so we have explained that Mommies don't get to go to school with kids - they go with other kids and a teacher.

I quickly assured her that we were going to do school at home, and I would be here with her. She still seemed a little concerned, but settled down for bed.

She was very excited to start school this morning  - after I reassured her a few more times that we would do school together. Mira absolutely loved it and enjoyed having lots of scheduled activities. We only spent about an hour and a half today, but the goal is to do two hours, two mornings a week.

So, today we worked in her Diego workbook - she practiced recognizing and circling upper and lower case letters. She did an amazing job - she didn't need any help with finding the letters or circling them!

Then we did worked on some Practical Life Skills: pouring, spooning, and sweeping!

Using a couple of different spoons to scoop dry rice from bowl to bowl.

Very focused!

Pouring

Cleaning up was part of the fun!

I think she would have played with the rice for at least another 20 minutes, but she was so excited to move onto the next activity that she didn't mind putting it away. She did such a great job helping to clean up!

Next, we played a Shape Relay game. We took turns racing down the hall to find a specified assortment of shapes/colors. For example, "run and get 3 squares" or "4 yellow shapes" or "find a green octagon!" It was a little too easy for her since she's known her shapes forever, but it was a good way to keep it fresh on the mind and get some exercise in at the same time. I did include parallelogram and trapezoid, which we didn't spend too much time on before, so those were "sort of" new to her. She has them down perfectly now. She and Kenny are actually playing this game as I type - I guess it was a winner. I'll add some pentagons and hexagons for the next time we play! 

Then we read Corduroy - an old favorite - and did a sequencing activity. She put some scenes from the story in chronological order and then we gave Corduroy a second button for his coveralls.

Proud of her work!

Corduroy activities

We also had snack time and worked on Paint on the computer which served as both our Art and our Technology activity for the day. She is getting better at handling the mouse, but wasn't really impressed with Paint. She kept asking when we were going to "really paint" - oh, well, couldn't win 'em all!

So, overall, it was a huge success, and I'm excited for our next "school day" on Thursday. It may get abbreviated or dissected due to a doctor's appointment, but we'll fit some good stuff in here and there!





Happy Fourth from Ohio!

So, we flew up to Ohio with PapaNui (Sheesa was already there). We got to hang out with all the different cousins and even went up to Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and catch an Indians game (unfortunately, the Yankees stomped 'em). We had a really great time and we've got the pictures to prove it!!!

Mira loved riding on the plane - on our way home, she told us her favorite part of the trip was taking off and landing in the plane.

Flying at altitude gets boring though...thank goodness for princesses!

It was nice having PapaNui right across from us!

When all else fails, it's Diego to the rescue!

Once we arrived in Ohio and made our way down to Bolivar. We went to a cemetery and spread part of Grandpa's ashes per his request amongst some of his loved ones, including his late wife, Elsie.

After that, we all went to Zoar and enjoyed some flame grilled burgers, sweet corn on the cob, and tons of other delicious food! Uncle Mike cooked, so it was fantastic, as usual!

We got to meet Matthew and Selva's little boy, Curtis for the first time, and he and Mira enjoyed riding the wagon together. They also hunted fireflies since there were thousands of them out in the field. Curtis thought it was great to hold them in his hand, but when one landed on Mira's finger (on its own volition), she screamed bloody murder!

We ended the evening with a short fireworks display. This left two toddlers and two dogs very unsettled!

Here we go!

Curtis doesn't seem too sure about this.

Two cuties in a wagon.

Later, they declared their independence and moved the wagon around without the interference of adults. Mira steered, and Curtis pushed - great teamwork!

The next day, the Mase group came over to Bolivar for a late breakfast-for-lunch, and Curtis and Mira played in the kiddie pool together for a long time while the rest of us hung out in the shade chit chatting.

Splish Splash!

Aunt Marguerite and Aunt Connie laughing it up about something.

Aunt Marguerite and Uncle Mike

What a wonderful, relaxing day!

That afternoon, we headed straight to Dover to meet up with all the Wolfe's. We had another cook-out at Aunt Paula's house and got to play with even more cousins!!

They played on the slip-n-slide, played chase and kick-ball, and just had a great time! I loved watching all the kids playing and having so much fun together!!

Sarah is due NOW! We were really hoping she would have the baby while we were there! The day after we left (July 7th), Jamey Charles Wolfe was born!

Grace is the oldest of the group, and she was so sweet with Mira. I knew Mira would like playing with her a lot.

Jack - such a funny guy! I love that red hair, and he is so animated when he gets on a roll talking about his favorite show!

Brian setting up the slip-n-slide - the kids can hardly stand the anticipation!

Gavin going for a spin - well, Flinstone's-style - his legs aren't quite long enough to reach the pedals, yet!

Evan is just asking for it!!

Megan isn't waiting for a bathing suit, she wants in the pool NOW!

And the slip-n-slide is even better!! Check out the huge smile on her face - pure joy!

Grace in action!

Megan LOVES the water!

Nathan and Jack checking it out.

Megan and Mira stop for a little drink.

Gavin cuddles up with Paula for a drink, too.

Oh, Jack - you are too cute!

Mira and Nui are running a race; Nathan's considering joining the fun.

His outfit says "I'm cute" - I have to agree!!

Kenny playing tag with the pack of Wolfe pups.

Stroller brigade. Mira and Megan decided they wanted to push strollers up and down the sidewalk, and Gavin decided he wanted to ride! They went back and forth for the longest time!

The next day, we took it pretty easy in the morning. Then after Mira's nap, we went to Tuscora Park and had a lot of fun there. It's a small amusement park, and they were having some extra festivities due to the holiday.

Mira helped Sheesa water the lillies, but they didn't open up while we were there, as she had hoped.

We took a leisurely stroll down along the tow path. This used to be a path where horses would pull boats along in the adjacent canal.

Getting a lift from Nui.

Horsey ride on Sheesa's knee (notice she's "holding the reigns").

Kenny at Lock 7 of the Ohio and Erie Canal

We went to Sheila's old elementary school and played on the playground for a bit. Mira's getting good at swinging all by herself.

Jim and Sheila look like a couple of kids hanging out on the jungle gym.

Mira and Daddy swinging together.

About to go on the carousel - Kenny is psyching himself up...

Putting on a smile for the camera....

Tell us how you really feel!

Then she rode the ponies - our pony was named Rusty.

Around and around we went - she was very serious the whole time, but she loved it.

Riding the train with Nui - looking a little sleepy.

We found a little flag. She now points out every American flag that she sees.

Stopped for a little snack - Mira had a cherry slushee.

Sheila, Kenny, and I shared some deep-fried Oreos!

Waiting for it to cool...

Jim had a deep-fried Twinkie.

He said it was pretty tasty!

We didn't expect the Oreos to be that good, but they were delicious!! The Oreo gets all soft and the cream filling is all melty - SO good! I really thought it was going to be sort of gross!

I thought this playground was so cute!

Sheesa and Mira took another turn on the train.

Wheeeee!!

Daddy got to ride, too.

A live band was playing, so we danced to some golden oldies on the way out - "Splish, Splash, I was takin' a bath!!!"

On Tuesday, we started off with a couple of Letterbox searches in Dover at the Warther Museum and the cemetery across the road. This was Jim and Sheila's first LB experience, so I'm glad they were quick and easy finds!

Following the clues...

Sometimes you have to get off the beaten path...

Sheila and Mira wait on the edge of the woods.

Stamping in - we were lucky enough to pick up a hitchhiker in our first box of the day! We moved it to the next box we found at the cemetery.

Exploring the grounds around Warther Museum.

Ringing the bell.

Tuesday afternoon, Jim, Kenny, and I headed north to Cleveland. Mira and Sheesa hung out together back in Bolivar. We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then on to an Indians game. It was a lot of fun!!

No pictures allowed in the actual museum - sorry!

I ate this WHOLE thing (minus the cherries)!!! I made myself so miserable, but it was SO delicious!!!

Go Indians!! We were surrounded by Yankees!! Made for an entertaining night...

Kenny coming back from the concession stand.

He had to get a hotdog - can you believe they have vegan hotdogs at this stadium! We were stoked!!! But, we didn't see them until we had already bought a huge bag of fries and funnel cake each, so I was too stuffed to even think about eating a hotdog - vegan or otherwise! Next time...

Slider came to see us!

Toward the end of the game (it wasn't looking too good for the Indians), a bunch of fans tried to call the "Angels in the Outfield" - but, to no avail....they got it handed to 'em!

The next morning, it was time to get back on the plane and head home. Mira loves looking out the window for the planes and watching them take off!

We had such a great time! It was so much fun getting to see everyone and hang out with all the cousins! Too bad we don't all get together more often!