Here's to 2013!

Magical Christmas 2012!

We had a special Christmas with the inlaws in Bethlehem.  Mia loved the Christmas tree, the lights, the presents - it was such a magical atmosphere!

She wasn't very keen on Father Christmas - who sounded like Oupi, but didn't quite look like him!  She loved ripping the wrapping paper off her presents, and she was super spoilt with lots of wonderful prezzies.

xx

Pietersburg Weekend

We had such a special weekend with my folks in Pietersburg.  Mia is so blessed with so much love! 

We went to the garden centre - Mia LOVED the plants, water features and concrete animals!  Went to the petshop - I nearly left with a puppy.  Mia loved the lil bunnies.  We jumped on a trampoline, and ate ice cream, and looked at donkeys and tortoises.

We swam, braai'ed lots, and really just enjoyed each other's company.

Mia got to open her big Xmas prezzie - a little miniature kitchen!  She adored it, and spent the rest of the weekend "cooking in oven".  It was too big for us to bring home - my folks will bring it when they come here again.

Special times, special memories - I just love this time of year!
xx

I will kiss you forever!

My darling Mia,

You're going through a stage (well, I hope it's just a phase!!!) where you don't want us to kiss you.  You get quite agitated when we do!  If I kiss your face, you claw and scratch at your own face, and shout, "Noooo, not face! Only leg!" And then you offer your leg for me to kiss.

Or else we have to bribe you for a kiss - "Want a choccie? Kiss mommy first!" "Want blommetjie shoes on? Kissy first!" "Want to watch Barney? Kissy first!" Just so that we can get a few precious, special, priceless smooches every now and then!

The latest, if your family try and kiss you, or touch you, or rub your back - you say, "Just look!"  I love this - please always tell this to anybody that tries to kiss you or touch you - except, that is, when it's your mommy!  :-D

I have to let you know this:  I will kiss you forever.  Whether you like it or not...  I will kiss you forever!

You are so, so beautiful, special, amazing, precious, and kissable!
I will kiss you forever and ever.

xx

Yum yum, iced marie biscuits!

Mia had so much fun today, icing marie biscuits and decorating them!

I mixed three bowls of icing sugar, so that she could have different colours.  And then gave her mini marshmallows, smarties and vermicilli to decorate them with.

It's messy...  But so much fun!
Now we have something to take with on our weekend to visit Granny and Oupa!

Mia's Advent Calendar House

Mia got given this beautiful wooden house, as her first Christmas prezzie from my sister-in-law.  It has 24 little drawers, to put sweeties in, and then track the countdown to Christmas.

I'm having lots of fun this year, making a big deal out of all the festivities with Mia.  She loves it!  She loves all the decorations in the shops, she loves our "Father Christmas Tree", and if I ask her what does Father Xmas say, she says, "Ho ho! Meeeeerry Christmas!"

I wasn't sure if this little countdown would work - she'd want to open all the drawers in one go! Or she might throw a bit of a wobbly when we tell her to only have ONE each day...  But she's taken to the concept so well!!  It's our little ritual after supper time.  Wyn takes the house off the shelf, puts it infront of her, shows her which drawer to open, and then puts the house away again. 

She happily enjoys her one sweetie, and then accepts that she must wait until the next supper time!
 :-)
I love the concentration on her little face as she opens her sweetie - she insists on doing it all herself.

 

Fun times!

xx

Mia grew some grass!

Mia got a gift from my mom, from the garden centre.  It's a whole little kit with everything you need to grow some grass - the soil, the seeds, the lil pot.  Mia had lots of fun putting it all together.  She lost interest during the two weeks that the grass took to grow.  Then stared in amazement when the lil pot had "long hair"!  So we trimmed his hair - she held the scissor with two hands and I helped her control it.  So cute! :-)

Pine Lake Holiday 2012

We had a blissful week in White River.  It was so special to spend so much quality time with my hubby and lil girl!

The 3.5hour car trip went really well - thanks to the portable dvd player!  Altho the next thing we need to get Mia, is a pair of earphones - not fun for us to have to listen to Barney, Noddy and Lollos the whole way! 

We had nice weather on the Saturday, and we swam a bit - Mia just loved it.  The rest of the week was really overcast, rainy, and sometimes quite chilly - until our last day, Thursday - and we were able to swim again and enjoy the sunshine.

I packed enough "mobile-entertainment" for Mia so that we could eat out a couple of times.  Had a divine sushi lunch one day, and Mia coloured in, played with playdough, and ate her chicken strips.  Another day we went to Mugg&Bean for brekkie, and Mia was super good there too.  Yay!

Wednesday night was date night - we bathed Mia and put her to bed, and then one of the housekeepers stayed at our chalet while Wyn and I went for a special dinner, it was great to just sit and chat, relax, share a bottle of wine and enjoy delicious food.

Mia watched her first-ever movie:  Madagascar!  With a few minor interuptions here and there where she decided to play a little bit, but for the most part, she lay on the couch and snuggled with me - heavenly!  She laughed out loud at Alex the lion when he rolled out onto the beach and tried to get the sand off his tongue - so cute!

I borrowed a rain jacket for Mia from a friend, and just as well I did - we went for strolls in the rain twice!

There's a nice lil kiddies playground at the resort, so we often went there for Mia to play.

We stopped off at a farmyard, but it was really rundown and not in a great condition - but we let Mia quickly feed the bunnies, look at the horses and goats, and then we got out of there.

A highlight of our yearly holiday for me, is our visit to the chocolatier at Casterbridge in White River, Shautamy.  Oh gosh, I love that chocolate.  They have a chocolate fountain of melted chocolate - I am in heaven when I eat that!

Overall Mia was really good - she still woke up early in the mornings, around 6am, once or twice she spoilt us and slept until closer to 7 - but then we put the portable dvd player on the bedside table so that she could watch Noddy and we could have a lil lie-in!
She was a bit attached to me tho, often when Wyn wanted to help out, Mia wouldn't let him and said "mamma sal!"  But other than that, I can't complain.

The holiday went by way too fast - a week really does just pass in a flash.
xx

Christmas Tree 2012

Oh I love the festive season!

We got into the Christmas spirit today by putting up our Christmas tree.

Our Christmas Tree Traditions are:
 - Wear festive colours - red is a good choice!
 - Wear a festive hat
 - Listen to Christmas music - my favourite is Celine Dion's album, These Are Special Times
 - Nala must take part too!

Wyn is not so keen on my "funny ideas" - so he just takes piccies for us.  :-)

xx