Happy New Years!!!

Happy 2012!!

We had a small gathering with some friends for NYE this year.  We ate tons of food, and played and had a grand time.  Then we played with glow-in-dark bracelets and the Muffin got to try out Sparklers for the very first time! 

At first she was a bit apprehensive, but she quickly caught on to the fun and I think really enjoyed playing with them, and even lighting them in the big candle.

The Muffin had a great time ringing in the New Year with her pal, but at this point the two of them were about as blinded by a thousand camera flashes (trying to find them in the view finder since it was so dark!) as could be!

And then of course Momma and Daddy had to get in on the action and take their yearly photo together!

Christmas with the Muffin

The Christmas season around here is pretty chaotic.  So here is a slide show of Christmas highlights for the Muffin.  The newborn in the photos is the Muffin's newest cousin.  The photo's span from decorating the tree, to making (and then eating) Gingerbread Houses at our friends house, to the Lights Before Christmas at the Zoo, to Christmas Eve with Momma's family to Christmas day with Daddy's family to Christmas evening here at our home.  This has been a very busy few weeks!  Enjoy the slide show.

This video is of the Muffin on Christmas morning.  Daddy and I decided we had to wake her up (Hey, it was gonna be a full day!) so we thought it would be fun to video tape her reaction to the news that Santa visited our house last night while she was asleep.

The Muffin also got a fishing pole for Christmas, so Daddy took her outside to learn how to cast.  She is a natural!

She seemed so excited opening this present (a ballerina doll named Tess) that I thought I would share it.  The funny part was that she didn't really react to the doll, much to our surprise and dismay...but she sure had fun opening the gift!

A short snippet of her opening some really sparkly shoes!

 

 

Hope you enjoyed all of the fun Christmas moments brought to you by the Muffin!!

The Muffin and Santa Claus

The Muffin gets to sit on Santa's lap...And then of course I left in a little shameless plug of my wee new nephew...

The Muffins Christmas Play - Our little star!!

The Muffin's preschool class put on a small Christmas Play for the parents on their last day of school.  The Muffin had the honor of playing the Star of Bethlehem (although begrudgingly because she wanted to sit down, lol).

The Muffin's First Program

Don't forget to pause the music in the player at the bottom of the blog before you try to watch the video.

Otherwise you'll hear music and the video.

Oh what a day!  The Muffin had her very first Christmas program just before Christmas.  Momma, proud as ever, video taped every movement the Muffin made!  You'll be able to see her in the bottom left hand of the screen during the program, and she is also the last one in line as they are entering the auditorium.  The Muffin was so happy to have her grandparents and even her Great Aunt M at her program with Momma and Daddy.  She was proud as a peacock and did a fantastic job singing, we were all so proud!

Official Preschool Photos

Well, its about time!  The Muffins official preschool pictures (taken back in October) have finally arrived.  Sheesh!  BUT, they were worth the wait because she is so doggone cute!!  Here she is at 3 years and 9 months old.

You are sew cute!

The muffin, making a little Ginger Bread Girl ornament and getting her first sewing lesson.

Hey Santa Baby

Here is my Santa baby!  She looked so precious in this hat!

Deck the halls!

The muffin and I put up our Christmas Tree and decked the halls this afternoon.  Here she is putting on her ornament from her very first Christmas in 2009.

Making scones!

Thanks to Mrs. R, and her plethora of homemade pumpkin goo, we are making pumpkin scones!

Turkey crafts

The muffin, doing some turkey crafts today.

Sing-a-long

The muffin, mesmerized, at this mornings sing-a-long at the library.  She really enjoyed singing, and playing during the fun.  She really has a love for music.

PJ Day

Today is PJ Day at school.  I get to wear my PJ's, slippers and bring a teddy bear to school.  Its also momma's turn to help out, so she is coming with me, dressed in her PJ's and bunny slippers.  I also get to do show and tell, and I am taking my singing Barbie.  For snack the helping mommies are making us breakfast, so I get to bring in sausage links and orange juice.  I have been real excited for this day for a long time!

Such a big helper!

The muffin its always so much help! She was determined to help me get the clothes out of the washer!  Like I could argue with this form of entertainment!

Digging for seeds

At first I was grossed out by the gook, but eventually I got into this whole pumpkin carving business. I picked out the funny face I wanted to have on my pumpkin, and then after momma cut the top off, I scooped out the seeds (that momma later cooked up). I even helped momma and daddy carve my pumpkin's face!

Momma had to switch off with daddy because she was getting a cramp in her hand.

Daddy still has to carve his pumpkin, but momma and I finished ours.  We put them out on the front porch and they look really cool!

Driving them crazy!!

So here I am driving. We were in the safari, so it was safe, don't panic! I did a pretty good job keeping us on the road...until I got distracted looking at the animals!

Safari (We're having fun!)

We went to the drive through Safari in Ohio! How cool is that? We got to feed Bison (Momma's favorite) and Giraffes (Daddy's favorite) and alpacas and deer and some weird moose looking thing with out horns, zebras, some weird beastly looking thing, and my favorite; the longhorns! They were all so big, and so close (putting their mouths in the car to eat pellets and carrots out of a cup) and I freaked out a bit, but I loved it! We took along all of my friends too. It was some great fun! I even got to sit up front while we drove through, and shhh...don't tell anyone....Daddy let me drive the car!!! So here are some fun photos from our trip a couple of weekends ago.

The bison were nuts! This one is small, but there was a really big one who's head barely fit through the window, and at one point he tried to get to the carrots that were in the console when I was sitting on Momma's lap. Momma lost her cool and we were both practically laying down to get away from the bison and momma was hollering at daddy to go!!

This car has some of my friends in it!

Daddy LOVED feeding the giraffes. The second time we went through they weren't hungry anymore, so he was the lucky one, momma and I didn't get to feed them!

This longhorn was small compared to the other two we got to see! Momma and daddy were freaking out a little because his horns kept bumping the car!

The view up here was way better!

All three families rode in their own car so that we could all fit and get good views!

I sat in the middle, on the console. I didn't really want to feed any of the animals, but I did once or twice. The Alpacas were real gentle and not greedy like the Bison!

Daddy had a ball, don't let him fool ya! The bison, though large and eager, were surprisingly gentle and slow. But boy were their heads HUGE!!

There were a lot of small deer, and other deer like animals. Really they just got in the way and we had to throw food out the window off to the side to get them to move outta the way!

And like I said, Daddy let me drive!!

Look at me go!

The muffin has been practicing riding her bike this fall. We took the peddles off so that her bike became a balance bike. This way she learns to balance and then when she's got that down she'll be able to ride her bike with out training wheels. She loves it. She's gotten very good at pushing her self and then gliding for several feet! She's pretty fast too. This is a video I took on my phone earlier this month, so the quality isn't real good, but you'll get the idea!

Put a lid on it!

Momma's friend made me a new hat for this winter.  Its made from alpaca fur, so its really super warm!  Carla makes the most beautiful hats, and sells them on Etsy, in her store.  She also makes custom hats.   If you are interested you can check her out at sahm2threegirls.etsy.com and tell her muffin sent ya!

Punkin pickin'

Today we went to the turkey farm to get pumpkins for halloween.  I got a cute little pumpkin, momma got a big pumpkin and daddy picked out a huge pumpkin!  There were other things to do there also. I fed some chickens, saw turkeys and goat and a pig, rode a big horse, played in a bounce house (though really the loud noise of the blower freaked me out and I didn't really like it), walked through a maze, went into a castle and a ship, and played at the park!  I had a really great time!

Oh the wonders of it all!

Wow!  I really liked watching the supplies for our new roof being delivered today!  They went up this neat thing that looked like a slide and dropped onto the roof of our house, bang!  The truck was so big and boy was out noisy!

More and more frogs...and a toad too!

How lucky did we get?! After my field trip was over momma and I walked on one of the nature trails. After we came out of the exit momma and I walked under a tree right by our car and momma almost stepped on a baby toad! It was so cool looking at it and touching it after momma picked it up. I tried to pick it up, I really did, but the toad kept jumping away from me and I couldn't catch him (plus I was a little freaked out)! After momma let him go the last time she took a step towards the marsh and this giant frog jumped right out from under her foot! It was huge!!! It was as big as a maple leaf! Momma tried to catch it, but it was fast and jumped really far! But she took a picture for me! Then we went and enjoyed this really cool play ground and hung out near the shore of the lake! I had such a great time and momma and I are excited to return!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Feelin' Froggy!

Today my school went on a field trip to a nature park where we learned all about frogs that live by my house! We got to see a bullfrog and I even touched it, very quickly...with one finger. At the end we got to cut out frog masks to wear. I'm not much for wearing masks, but I humored momma long enough to let her get a picture.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Hula Hoopin'

My aunt L got me a nifty new green hula hoop and I was showin' off this morning for momma when she took me over to grandma's house.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

I live for this!

The muffin enjoying some autumn chores with momma!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Look out Jeremy McGrath!

The muffin has really taken to this whole balance bike thing! She's amazing! We have so much fun and I feel like we can really enjoy our walks these days as her speed has really improved! She is so proud of her balancing ability and the sound that her tires make when she gets going fast!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Enjoying the night

The muffin and her daddy enjoying a little fire pit on a gorgeous evening.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile