Shoe ties

Mia helped Leigh tie his shoes today. Tying his shoes involved basically holding a string in each hand and doing the motions from "The Wheels on the Bus."

Peanut butter solution

Does this make me a bad mother?

I gave Mia some peanut butter toast for breakfast. I turned my back for just a moment, and she had smeared all of the peanut butter into a pile and picked it up with her tiny fist. She didn't even take a single bit and announced, "All done!"

Gross. How do you get that much sticky peanut butter off one of your child's hands?

Call the dogs.

Say cheese!

Mia loves holding cameras (and sometimes desk clocks) up to her eyes and shouting, "Cheese!" She thinks it's such a stitch.

The 64-cent dress - again!

There are plenty of reasons I love our church, but this week, my favorite reason was that Mia had an excuse right away to wear her 64-cent dress. Now I just need to find a cute pair of 64-cent dress shoes to match.

Ice cream with Ms. Michelle

Our wonderful pal, Michelle, dropped by our house to drop off some donations for our Vilakazi garage sale. We talked her into having supper with us. How could a super-busy, single mom of two spare this kind of time? Her kiddos were at grandma's house. It was a rare moment of free time. Then we went out for ice cream, and Leigh took this picture of Mia, who has completely stolen Michelle's spoon and ice cream. Thanks for spending your free time with us, Michelle. Your reward: losing your ice cream.

The 64-cent dress

I pride myself on getting good deals, but today was my great shopping coup d'etat yet. This dress cost 64 cents.

Leigh and I love Black Friday, and we buy more than just Christmas presents during this crazy shopping day. But this year, Black Friday was even better than usual. We got amazing deals on things we really needed, namely really good winter coats for Mia this year and next year.

But this dress was the absolutely best.

How do you get a $34 dress for 64 cents? Well, I found a $5 coupon in the paper good for any clothing at Sears, even sale items. So you better believe I found something on the sale rack. Well, it was 75 percent off normally. Then add 30 percent MORE off of that because it was Black Friday. Subtract my $5 coupon, and that comes to a grand total of 64 cents.

The cashier: "Would you like to apply for a Sears credit card today? You can save ... 6 centers."

Me: "Um, no thanks."

Booyah! Take THAT, holiday shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Mia's hands - 2011 on the right and 2010 on the left. These are all the Thanksgiving decorations we have.

Hair styling secrets

"Oh no! Busted!"


"But you're too late, mama! HA! I'm soaking wet. Change my clothes."

Mitten season

Now if only she'd allow it to also be hat season.

Jump!

She's like a little David Lee Roth ... minus the tight pants.

Sleeping without a safety net

Mia's about tall enough that she'll need to sleep in a bigger bed. We thought that while my mom was in town, we'd take the front side off Mia's crib. If she took a tumble out of bed, my mom would be right there to hear her. We also set up a little padding so the little fall would be softer. Fingers crossed!

Running errands

Lord knows if there's anything my mother loves to do, it's make a list and cross things off of it. She came to visit and, as usual, we got a billion things done. Turns out, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Mia also enjoyed running errands.

Busy body

It's a busy day for Mia. She's got her bags, her purse, her baby and her stroller. So much to do when you're 2!

Sleepover

Not only was Saturday a big night for Vilakazi, but it was a big night for Mia. We have a steady supply of grandmother babysitting options. My mom visits often and Leigh's mom lives in Oklahoma City. But during our wine tasting, my mom was in Arkansas and Leigh's mom came to the event. What would we do with Mia?

Sleepover.

She stayed the night with our wonderful friend Michelle and her adorable kiddos, Izzy and Noah. The three kids had a blast. I'm pretty sure the three of them are the trifecta of cute. I can't even handle it.

When we pulled out of the driveway, Mia cried: "No, mama!"

Too long

She's almost too long for this crib. When the heck did that happen?

Surprise!

So, I turn 30 on the 16th, and a few friends surprised me with a party! It was fabulous. And I'll be darn if Leigh didn't do a wonderful job pulling off the surprise.

Our friends Andy and Stacy Rine gave me the most hilarious presents ever. She gave me a sack full of half-finished booze bottles, and Andy gave me a cross-stitch picture of Kelli Dupuy's face. I told Kelli she couldn't have it and that I was going to attach it to a pillow. Here I am demonstrating that I'm going to sleep on the Kelli pillow. Mia appears confused.

But I eventually relented and told her she could borrow the cross-stitched artwork. Until I run out of pillows.

Wine for Wickets!

We hosted our second big wine tasting and it was a HUGE success! We are so excited! Vilakazi raised more than $2,000, which is $800 more than last time. We are so, so humbled by our friends and their generosity. It was really special. We have the best board in the world, and they work so hard for our mission. The wine pull, the auction, the tasting - it was all great. And, not to mention, it was a super fun party. To so many people, things like this aren't that big of a deal. But to the children we'll help this summer, it's a really big deal. And just for a reminder, this is what donations did for children in 2010:

The best things are free

Soon she'll want to put us to put a quarter in these things. For now, she thinks just hanging out in them is amazing.

A future architect

Pumpkin time

Fall pumpkins and a cozy sweater coat. So cuddly.

Why babies have pockets, 9

Why do babies have pockets? To keep their hands warm! Hooray!

Fashion by daddy

Thanks for the high socks, pops.

Breakfast in Fayetteville

We had a quick breakfast in Fayetteville before we headed home. It was so nice to see our family and spend time together.


Mia snapped this picture of Grandpa Dean. Not bad!


Grandma Sue cut up all the family names for the annual Christmas drawing.


Mia and Nancy discussed various facial features:

Mia and my dad enjoyed bird watching. I wonder if he had any flashbacks to my childhood.

Time to pause

Sometimes you have to stop and enjoy the clouds. There's no one better to do that with than Great-Grandma Sue.

Dance and distraction

I almost got a video of her dancing. But it was too much to ask of her attention span. And Leigh's.

Baby shark attack

It's the like the world's tiniest, most ticklish shark is sneaking up on us.


Thank goodness we know her one weakness: unstoppable giggling.

More birthday pictures

While we were in New Mexico last month, we snatched up Alfie and Carin's photos that they took while visiting Oklahoma City for Mia's birthday. There are a million good ones, and I narrowed it down to a half a million. They're in absolutely no particular order.