Mia's party

What a fun time we had celebrating the big 5! On Saturday we invited Mia's friends and cousins to a Paint your own Pottery Party at Art 4 Soul in our town. Her guests were: Mark, Jacob, Ben, Jonah, Aiden, Lilliana, Lilly, Moira, Emily, Rachel, Sophie, Mady, Christopher, Chloe and Annie of course! It was great, the kids picked out a ceramic object and painted them. We had snacks, opened gifts then had cupcakes. After all the kiddos were picked up our immediate family went to the Flossmoor Station Brewery (Mia's choice) for dinner; Papa, Aunt Gayle, Aunt Sue, Aunt Christie, Uncle Jason, Aunt Kelly, Christopher, Patrick, Papo, Grandma, Uncle Brian, Mia, Annie and Mom and Dad. They do a train whistle song for the birthday girl and Annie ended up eating the ice cream treat! After watching her sister opening gifts all day and getting all the attention she was ready for some treats herself!Then everyone headed back to our house to hang out and let the kids play with Mia's new toys (lots of lego's, some cool art stuff, games, polly pockets, lots of fun stuff). We had a champagne toast for Aunt Kelly's birthday since it's the next one up!

 Mia and Christopher are like two peas in a pod. All the family headed to their hotel rooms around 10/1030 and Christopher and Mia had a sleep over in their sleeping bags in Mia's room. Annie went to bed in her room per her request. Mia actually read Christopher two books and put him to sleep :) Everyone stopped by Sunday morning on their way home to say good-bye. It was a great celebration and Mia had a BLAST!

being different is alright :)

Mia went on her field trip today to see a play with her friend Sophie (her dad took them, we switch taking the kiddos to different field trips). He took them out to lunch afterwards along with other one of our parent/kid friends. I had told Mia earlier in the day to make a good choice about what she eats, she said she was afraid she'd forget and I told her I trusted her to make the right choice.

When she returned home later today so told me this

M "Mom S and B had lollipops, but I didn't have one because I know that it's not healthy for me, their tongues were all blue, it was gross"

Me "Thats great Mia, I knew you'd make the right choice"

M "I also drank white milk, S and B had chocolate but I knew that you would want me to drink just white milk "

Me "Honey that is so great, I knew you'd make the right choice"

Love her! What a great kid to make those choices on her own and not follow the crowd (peer pressure) hope this lasts :)

Happy Birthday, Mia!

Today was a great day - celebrating Mia turning 5! Last night I decorated the dining room so when she woke up she was surprised!Dad went out late late last night to get balloons since I forgot to get them! She opened one gift this morning (a new Hello Kitty hair brush and clips) and Annie's gift (an easy reader Brave book, she picked out) with Dad before he left for work. Then I made her bacon and waffles with blueberry sauce and whipped cream on top (homemade). We went to storyhour and some of her friends where there...they sang Happy Birthday to Mia too :) Then we went to Twisted Q for lunch with our friend Carol and the kids she sits for that are a few of Mia's classmates and friends (Annie has become friends with a few kids her age too). It was so cute! We all had cupcakes and sang happy birthday.
We came home and we baked Mia's birthday cake, our traditional triple chocolate cake. Mia requested Grandma Caporale's spaghetti and meatballs for dinner so I started making the sauce early on too. Then finally when Dad came home we ate and opened the rest of the presents then had cake.
Mia was so sweet opening the gifts. She kept saying "no I don't like this gift, I LOVE it". Then she told us that it was her best birthday EVER and that she will remember this day forever :) We bought her a Barbie house which her, Dad and Annie set up right away, a new Calico Critter family, two dresses and a pair of shoes and her FIRST Breyer pony (so excited for her to start the tradition of collecting Breyer models like I did as a little girl). Dad also gave Mia a coupon for a date at any restaurant of Mia's choice. It was a great day! Mia is so appreciative and loving, I am thankful for that. What an amazing 5 years it's been and incredible to see her become such a wonderful person. I said it before, if I were a little girl I would want Mia as my friend, sister, etc. etc. :) Love you Mia!!

5 year old check ups!

Today daddy took the day off to spend with Mia and take her to her several appointments. First they went to the dentist, Mia did great! Then after lunch they went to Mia's 5 year old check-up. Mia got four shots (for Kindergarten!) and Dad said she did GREAT! Dr. Roome says she looks great and is growing perfectly. She is 43" tall and 38 1/2 lbs. Daddy then took her to her ice skating lessons after dinner. Mia passed her class to the next level of Pre-Alpha. She will do one more session of lessons before Soccer starts up again. Annie and I were able to spend a nice day together too.

We are super proud of Mia and what a talented, sweet, caring, loving and smart girl she is becoming. We are excited to start celebrating her birthday this Thursday then her party on Saturday :) We love you Mia!!! And are SO proud to be your mom and dad!

Today is Bosco's 9th birthday! Last night we got hot dogs from our local hot dog shop (it's our once a year splurg as we rarely eat that kinda food) for the girls and the beagles....daddy and I chose some other fast food goodies. The girls loved giving the doggies their treats and Annie kept saying Bosco you are the Birthday dog! I am glad my girls are learning how to take GOOD care of dogs: walk them, feed them quality food, pet them, play with them, love them, brush them, etc. Too many animals are abused, neglected then given to shelters for being "bad dogs". We have two examples of great dogs that were rescued and have been loving and best friends to my girls. They have comforted them on stormy nights, cuddled with them at bedtime and been great learning tools of being responsible.
Tonight we made Bosco and Charlie a Doggie Cake that we will enjoy after dinner :) We celebrate Charlie' bday too as we don't know his real birthday. Happy Birthday Beagles!!





Sunday School crazies today! I really enjoy teaching Sunday School for Mia's class. I love that I am there for her and am her teacher. You can tell she gets all happy when the kids say to her "Mia is that your mom?". Annie is doing really great in her class too, she has two very sweet, loving teachers that adore her!

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baby

I seriously feel like we have a third child. Annie takes this baby everywhere, feeds her and treats her like a real baby. She tells me often she wants to do certain things b/c "my baby loves this" or she will insist on eating something because 'my baby loves it' It's cute...but creepy at times haha

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Happy Valentine's Day

The girls received their valentine's from Dad this morning. Mia received a heart bracelet and Annie received a Hello Kitty necklace and each a heart of chocolates. We had a fun heart shaped toast and cheesy eggs breakfast then heart shaped cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch. The girls gave Tillie a little valentine goodie bag and we have been enjoying lots of sweets today - which is a rare thing so when they have sweets they REALLY enjoy it. Annie actually had her first lollipop yesterday ever....and yes she is almost 3!






Great Grandma Caporale has been making these Valentine's for years! So adorable and the girls LOVED that Hello Kitty were the stickers this year. So sweet. They also received a bunch of Valentine cards and gifts in the mail too :)

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