and off she goes . . . . Mia is loving her new bicycle Santa brought her this year. There are times she needs a little push to get going, but after that she hauling booty down the street. She really starts to pick up speed so I have to tell her to slow down, she is such a little dare devil!

FRIENDSthis weekend was busy as usual and since I am trying out my new camera, it was with me the entire time. Friday night we spent some time with friends and ended up at a chicken wing/sports bar type of place and Mia was attempting to play pool with us. Hysterical !

Above is Mia with "her" Stephanie as she says. She loves her so much and sometimes doesn't like to share Stephy with me. Stephanie is like my little sister and has been a part of my family since birth. She is the one who is going to keep and eye on Mia when Mike and I are long gone.

Saturday after gymnastics we had lunch at a beach side restaurant because the weather was just too good to not be outside! Evidently there was a gymnastics competition in our area and the restaurant was packed. While we were waiting for our table, a family with 2 girls from China walked in. They were here from Orlando for the competition, and Mia immediately said to me, "Look Mommy some of my China friends are over there, Can I say Hi to them?" I said of course and she ran over immediately and said Hi and started giving hugs. It was too precious. We chatted while waiting for our table and Mia said her goodbyes when we were ready to be seated. A few minutes later, they were seated just a couple of tables away from us. When Mia was finished with lunch she remembered I had a small bag of Skittles in my purse and she asked if she could share them with her China friends, so I told her to ask their Mommy. Mommy said yes and they visited some more. The youngest daughter was named Mia too and to see these 3 girls together, seemed liked they have known each other for years

Now that Mia is getting older and is starting to realize that she looks different then most of her school friends, I get a warm feeling in my heart when she recognizes other Asian girls and feels compelled to go over and be xtra friendly to them. I truly feel that although she doesn't really understand the entire story, she feels and recognizes that they are all sooooo special.

Can you see the love????? this weekend Titi Deanna was in town for business, so we had a chance to visit with her for a short time. These photos were taken with my phone and Mia just kept on squeezing her! It was soo funny, we took about 3 shots and this is the best we could come up with!!!!

I finally bit the bullet and got a digital SLR camera. I have been eyeballing them for a while, I love photography and now that I have a personal subject, I decided to just get it. I decided on the Canon Rebel XSi with the basic lense to start. Once I have mastered the settings and different options, I am sure I'll get the fancy lenses and filters. Today was my first day to use it and I decided to shoot Mia while she was in the tub tonight. It is so awesome to capture a picture as it is happening and not after the typical delay my previous camera did. I will still keep my Nikon 7mp point and shoot camera, because it fits so snug in my purse and I can whip it out whenever I need to. Here are my first 3 keeper shots, I love the one of her on her back laying in the water. Look for more shots as I get more familiar with my new toy!!!

Dress up

Friday night my 2 friends Tami and Tamara came over for some scrapbooking and the girls had a dress up play date. It was soo cute. They all played so well and before you knew it, Mike got home from his boys Jai-Alai evening and it was 11:30, time flies when your having fun!!

My little bundle of joy leaving for school this morning.

The temp was 34 degrees and 25 with windchill. I know many of my northern family and friends have no sympathy for us, but we aren't accustomed to this chilly weather for so long. Normally we get it for a couple of days here and there during the winter, but this winter it was unusually cold.

Curly Hair
Mia said she wanted curly hair, "Just like Mommy", so I tried to create the 'curly ' look. It all worked out great until it was time to go to bed and the knots bothered her, so we took it out. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she said "No Mommy , I don't like curly hair".