It's a marshmallow world

Mia has now been in dance class for four months. It's just the cutest darn thing you've ever seen. This half of the year, her class learned lots of basic dance moves and even put together a routine. They performed to "Marshmallow World" by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, who I now realize was probably drunk every single time he was on television. It was impossible to find a video of that song on YouTube where Dean Martin wasn't drunk. But whatever. Leigh and I didn't know it, but it turns out that the last class of the fall semester is the day when the children put on their performance for the parents. I was so unprepared! I would have taken the Canon and the zoom lens to shoot photos from, you know, across the room. Damn it! That's OK. We snapped some photos on our phones, and I shot a short video of a bit of the performance. It was so darn cute. My word. 

Below, Mia is to the right of the little boy in the gold jacket. She was in a make-up class, so she wasn't with her normal group of kiddos. She was feeling a bit shy.

Mia is that little face next to the girl in the back who has her arms out.

And here is Mia performing an arabesque with her teacher, Shannon Calderon Primeau, who is a super impressive woman and an incredible teacher. Mia adores her, and even though she looks totally miserable in this photo, she was quite excited when it was her turn to do a move with Ms. Shannon.

And here's a little snippet. Mia is standing to the left of Ms. Shannon. 

Skye Bojangles

This took this photo of Skye in the backyard, and it is the perfect illustration of that dog for so many reasons. The main ones:

- Whenever we let her outside, her first order of business is to relieve herself, obviously. But her second order of business every time is to take a flying leap onto her back to roll around on the ground. She covers herself in as much dirt and grass as possible and then brings it all inside. Every. Single. Time.

- Her tongue is slightly out. She's always sticking her tongue out at least a little.

- She looks suspicious of me. She is usually suspicious of you because she thinks you're keeping snacks from her.

- She looks totally submissive because she is. From the first day she met Deter, she always embraced her role as the beta dog. Most of the time, Deter didn't even really seem to care. I don't think he was socially advanced enough to know he was the alpha dog; she just reminded him all the time, as if he cared.

Teeny tiny foot

Mia is growing every day, but this morning I spotted something that made me feel like she's still so small. Her teeny tiny foot was sticking out of the blankets on our bed. She still crawls in with us if she's feeling scared or lonely. She's so big, but she really is still so small.

A tiny astronaut

Mia may become an astronaut some day. Let's hope there isn't a height minimum.

Storage

I'd just like to point out that I can't ever just have a box empty for more than 30 seconds.

I bought this to store some artwork we have, and Mia immediately confiscated it. She and Scout found a new use for it the other night: crib. In this picture, Mia is the baby while Scout is off somewhere being the mommy. I think it's safe to say that neither of them are ready to be mothers.

Sign from the Kiwi gods?

So the Thunder drafted Steven Adams, a native of New Zealand. Then we discovered this in our kitchen! WHAT!

Sweet, quacky victory!

This is the second summer that we've done the Metro Library's summer reading program. (For kids like Mia who are too young to read, you track how much time you spend reading with them.) Mia met the first goal, which was to read for 3 hours. The prize: a squeaky duck. Jackpot!

You've got a little something there

 

We went to supper with our lovely friends Lauren and Marc and tried out a new restaurant. The review? The wait was long (above) but the food was tasty (below). Um, Mia: you've got a little something right over, uh, there.

The chop

 I took a couple days off work, so I decided it was time for my once-every-three-years haircut. I donated 10 inches of my hair to Locks of Love. This was my fifth time to chop it off and give it away. Every time my heart feels so big. I absolutely love this. This time I did it in honor of my Aunt Barb, who is a breast cancer survivor. My hair will go to make wigs for ill children whose families can't afford wigs. I hope there's a sweet kiddo out there somewhere who will enjoy it.

Slug hug

Mia and I joined some friends to see Monsters University. (Leigh had softball in 100-degree heat. Who got the better end of that deal?) The movie was great, and Mia especially loved this giant plastic snail in the lobby. Apparently there's a movie coming out about racing snails. So there's that.

A quick trip to the park

Whenever we go to the library, there's a little park right nearby that just can't be ignored. Plus, there are some crazy looking ducks that poke around the pond.

This has lead me to the conclusion that there is never a quick trip to the library.

Swinging

After work, we popped over to the sprayground water park to let Mia play. Oklahoma City has a bunch of them all over the city, and the one we went to this time also happened to have a park. Here's a recap of what happened:

- Splash around in the water park.
- Scurry to the park.
- Go down the slide.
- Scurry to the water park.
- Repeat a million times.

Leigh and I eventually acquiesced and sat at a picnic table in the middle. Then before we left, Leigh taught her how to twist a swing around and around and then let go. Weee!

Go Bokke!

Mia got up early with Leigh to watch some rugby. She's outgrown her last rugby shirt, so he had to outfit her with one of his own.

Go Hogs?

I love the Hogs as much as anybody, but I saw something the other day that made no sense. There is this Razorback sitting in the executive parking lot at my office. What? I mean, like ...? I'm guessing this means that there is an executive from Hogland. I'm determined to find this person and make fun of Bobby Petrino with him/her.

Happy birthday, Uncle Jason!

Leigh did the writing. Mia did the drawing. This is how you send birthday love all the way from Oklahoma to South Africa.

Hope still lives here

I went down to Moore for work and came across this house at the edge of the tornado's path. There's a tarp blocking the damaged side of this home with a spray-painted message: HOPE STILL LIVES HERE.

Mia "sings" in the mirror

And then she makes me smell her stinky feet.

Parties and babies

We went over to our friends' house to celebrate Jay Marks's birthday. But let's be honest: it's really about looking at everybody's adorable kids. (Sorry, Jay.) My favorite part was when Mia drew pictures with our friends' little girl, Millie. Mia showed her how to hold the crayons and Millie celebrated.

Goslings!

Do you know what makes coming to work a little bit easier? Goslings! The flock of geese that hang out on our property have spawned adorable goslings.

Father's Day

For the first time ever, we got it together for a holiday. We managed to mail out Father's Day cards on time. To honor such a spectacular feat, I took Mia into the post office to drop the cards off instead of just clipping them to the mailbox.

Leigh is 32

Leigh's Uncle Alan posted this photo on Facebook for his birthday. He's 3 years old here. Could he be any cuter? Doubtful.

Cupcake wars

Sometimes ideas are better in theory.

I decided that Mia and I should make cupcakes for Leigh's birthday. Wouldn't this be adorable? Wouldn't we take the cutest pictures? Wouldn't it all turn out lovely?

Please. Let's be honest. Mia was basically taking a bath in the batter once she realized how delicious it was. (Sometimes I don't teach her the best life skills ever. Like the time I taught her how to snap up popcorn with her tongue.)

And lesson learned: 3-year-old don't have the motor skills to fill the baking cups.

The only photo we have is this, and Leigh's smile cracks me up. He is totally pretending like this wasn't a giant ordeal that ended with cleaning the kitchen and giving Mia a bath.

Storm party

Once again, the weather is attacking Oklahoma. We're seeking shelter with some of our favorite people - Scout and her moms! Here is Maggie buried under a pile of girls. Keep in mind, they aren't scared. They're, as Mia would say, "so super excited" to be hanging out. By the end of the night, we weren't the only one to show up at our friends' house because of their basement. There were 11 dogs, 9 adults, 3 children and a cat.

Devastation in Moore

There's so much that's unclear, but one thing we do know is that a tornado that was a mile or two wide demolished hundreds of homes and tore through two schools in Moore. Children have died. It was all south of us, thankfully, but the scope of the pain is unbelievable.

The photo above was taken outside one of the schools that was hit. The photo below is of Mia and her best friend, Scout, in the safety of Scout's house. Our friends Maggie and Christine picked up Mia when they got Scouty from school. They have a basement; we don't. They also protected them from hearing about all the horrible things that happened.

We are so grateful for our safety and especially thankful that Mia was protected through it all. My heart breaks for the parents who cannot say the same for their sweet babies tonight.