Fun with Mommy

I took these pictures last Sunday after getting back from Epcot. Michaela was having a blast playing in the guest room with the bedspread. She saw Duncan go under the blanket and pop out the other side and thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Of course she decided she had to try it as well. She was cracking herself up.

I love Michaela's mischievous smile in these next two pictures.

Weee! It's super baby!

Peek-a-boo!

Michaela loves writing. We're not sure if she's a lefty or righty yet, but Craig's hoping for a lefty. For right now, she's pretty ambidextrous.

Her hair is getting so long these days. I wish she would let me pull it back, but barrettes and pony tail holders just get pulled right out.

Monday, 10/20 - Beach day

Craig and I both had Monday off, so we decided to take Michaela to Jacksonville and go to the beach. It was a beautiful day out and we had so much fun exploring the beach. Michaela was in heaven!

We asked her "Where are the birdies?" and Michaela happily pointed them out to us.

She tried getting close to them, but eventually they flew away.

Michaela had a blast running on the beach. It was just windy enough to keep cool, but not too much that the sand was blowing in your face. I love this picture. Her hair is flying wildly and she has a look of pure joy on her face.

I managed to snap some great pictures of Michaela and Craig walking together.


I love Michaela's little feet. She inherited my wide feet, but they look much cuter on her. I love how she squished her little toes into the sand.


Michaela loved watching the waves, but wasn't a fan of getting her feet wet. I think it surprised her.

What a beautiful family shot. The sky is so blue!

Michaela found a few shells to carry around. She found a perfect clam shell that was her favorite. It is now sitting on a shelf in her room. It's the first shell she ever picked out all by herself.

At one point I was taking pictures of her footprints in the sand while Craig watched Michaela. When I turned around I caught her sitting down watching the waves. She turned to me and just laughed and laughed! It was a perfect moment and I managed to catch it on film. What a dream my little girl is!

I love so many things about this picture. The sea foam in the distance, the flow of her dress in the wind. But my favorite thing is her perfectly pointed toe. My tiny ballerina - so beautiful, so perfect.

There are about a hundred more pictures from this beach day. If you are interested in seeing them, click here: 2008_10_20'>.

Epcot's Food and Wine Festival

Yesterday Michaela and I met up with my mom at Epcot for the food and wine festival. We had lots of fun eating our way around the world. Between the three of us we sampled spanakopita from Greece, meze from Turkey, escargot and chocolate creme brulee from France, crawfish etoufee from Louisiana, baked ziti (for Michaela) from Italy, and chilaquiles, quesadilla con chorizo, and capirotada (Mexican bread pudding) from Mexico. Oh yeah, and Michaela had a Bartlett pear from Pearville Fair. Wow! That's a lot of food, but luckily they were small samples. Everything was delicious! My favorite was the creme brulee, and my mom's was the escargot.

Anyway, we got to Epcot first thing in the morning and headed to the living seas while we waited for the world showcase to open up. As always, Michaela loved looking at the fish.

Michaela wasn't really fond of being in a shark's mouth.
Next we went on Figment's ride. Michaela really loves that ride. Afterwards we had fun playing and making music. Of course, you exit through the gift shop. Michaela ran up and grabbed a stuffed Figment doll off the shelf and decided that he was hers. Her Nana was so nice to purchase it for her.

Finally we headed over to the world showcase. I thought this year's festival was better than past years. We had fun in Louisiana - they were giving out Mardi Gras beads and had fun music playing.
Michaela's favorite part was the Pearville Fair. She got to be a dragon pear and a pirate pear.

She also had fun playing the match the pear game.

We bought Michaela a yummy juicy pear. She ate the whole thing and managed to get juice all over her. She was such a sticky little girl. Her sweater was making her very hot so we took it off, which ended up being a good move, because next she grabbed her water cup and dumped it all over herself. I guess it wasn't so bad, because not only did it cool her down but it rinsed the pear juice off of her.

Michaela was cracking us up walking around in her little plaid skirt with no shirt on. She looked like she was ready to go compete in some Scottish games.

When we got home Michaela finally got to play with the big balloon my mom got her for Halloween.

Michaela loves her ghosty balloon!

The Retirement Home for Horses

Craig had to work today, so Michaela and I decided to head over to the retirement home for horses. We haven't been since she was just a little baby, but I figured she would enjoy seeing the horses. Michaela was SO excited when she got out of the car and saw the big animals. She kept pointing at them and screaming "doggy" (which actually sounds like "daga" but we know what she means). She also tried calling them "kitty" (again, sounding more like kiki). I kept telling her they were horses, but she didn't understand that word so much. Anyway, I gave her a carrot and we headed over to a very excited horse named Watermelon. Michaela held the carrot out to her, but was just out of reach for Watermelon. That probably wasn't a bad thing, because Watermelon was a little over enthusiastic when she took the carrot out of my hand.

Michaela was happy to see the real doggies there. She kept trying to feed them carrots as well, but only one of the dogs took one.
This dog was happy to walk with us for awhile.
I tried giving Michaela long carrots so she could safely feed the horses without getting her fingers chomped. Michaela was very happy to run up and show the carrots to the horses, but she never got close enough for them to take it from her. She was actually a little scared when they took the carrots from me. It made her cry when the carrots disappeared.

This poor horse tried so hard to reach Michaela's carrot, but it just wasn't going to happen. Luckily I had a bag of spare carrots to feed him.

A Lovely Day

Today Michaela and I had a lovely day together. After a nice breakfast and playtime we headed to the library for story hour. Michaela loved the dancing time and found a little boy that was about 4 years old to hold hands with while dancing. She was so cute - she just went right up to him and grabbed his hands and started dancing. After the song was over she followed him to his seat and tried to get him to dance some more. He was sitting patiently trying to listen to the story and she just stood in front of him shaking her hips. All the moms in the room couldn't help but laugh. What can I say - Michaela knows what she wants and goes for it. Craig is not really looking forward to the dating years.

This afternoon we went out and did a little shopping (Michaela got warm fleece pajamas for the coming winter), then headed home to play outside with the dogs.

Michaela has so much fun exploring the yard, picking up pine needles and leaves. I have to watch her carefully though, since we have fire ants in a couple of spots. So far she's been lucky and hasn't been bit.
Michaela also loves playing ball with Sony. She tries to throw it to her, but it doesn't go very far. Sony is patient and waits while Michaela tosses her the ball. The adorable part is that Michaela will clap every time she lets go of the ball. It's a huge accomplishment to her.


Michaela will also try and engage Duncan and Riley with different toys.

As always, we have to take some portraits of my pretty girl.

What's that in the tree Duncan? Oh yeah, the stick Mommy took away from me so I wouldn't poke my eye out.

Best Buddies

Headband

Michaela still isn't fond of putting things on her head, but if you make a big enough deal of it she will give it a try. She watched me put this headband on my own head and decided it might be all right to wear. Of course she wanted to do it herself (no big surprise there). I think she looked adorable. If only I could convince her to keep it on for longer than 10 seconds....

Tiny Dancer

Michaela LOVES to dance. It's just about her favorite thing to do of all times. I know this video is dark, but you can still see her shake her booty. I'm working on collecting fun songs for her to dance to, and this is one of her favorites.

Pumpkin time!

It's that time of the year again! Michaela was a much more willing participant in pumpkin picking this year. We had lots of fun checking out all the colorful pumpkins.

Michaela was more fascinated by the hay at times.

All the pumpkins outside the tent were pretty large, so we headed in to find one more Michaela sized.

Out of all the bright orange pumpkins, Michaela picked this gourd. She picked it up and decided it was hers. I will admit, it is beautiful.

Oct 4 - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Saturday night Craig, Michaela, and I headed to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Michaela got all dressed up as the world's cutest pirate. The hat did not stay on for very long!

Michaela got her Mickey Mouse pumpkin treat bucket and was ready to roll!

It was beautiful out and the park looked amazing all decorated in fall colors. Michaela had so much fun walking down Main Street and saying hi to all the Disney cast members. She was eating up all the attention she was getting.

We got there just in time to catch the stage show. Michaela loves watching the characters on stage.

All ready to trick or treat!

It didn't take her long to figure out that there was something good in the bottom of her pumpkin.
Michaela was a little tired by the time we got to meet Minnie. It's the first time she was ever scared by the characters, but I think it was mostly from exhaustion.
She wasn't a fan of the mad hatter either. I can't blame her though. He was pretty weird.
There is no line for any of the rides when you go to the Halloween party. Craig sat in the car in front of us on Buzz Lightyear and snapped this cute picture.

The absolute best part of the night was the dance party. Michaela had so much fun dancing and worked up quite the fan club. Check out her awesome moves below.

The special Halloween themed fireworks were amazing. Michaela danced to all the songs and everyone around us was having a blast watching her.


Timon was the only character that wasn't scary. I guess it's hard to be scared of a meerkat.

Here we are about to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean. Michaela loves this ride and laughs at all the pirates.

All of the characters were dressed up for Halloween. Tigger was a pirate too!

The parade was great! It seriously is so much better than the other parades. Michaela was excited to see a real doggy walking around (a bloodhound), and I liked seeing Capt. Jack Sparrow.

After the parade Michaela passed out. It was a long night, but she was able to stay up until close to 11:00. We let her rest while her daddy rode Space Mountain. What a great evening we had!

Friday Oct 3 - Disney with Nana

This past weekend I had a conference in Orlando, so my mom took Friday off to babysit Michaela. They went over to Magic Kingdom for the day. I headed over to meet up with them at lunch time, then spent the rest of the day with them. We had so much fun doing Michaela sized activities. I convinced my mom that they had to ride the race cars. She enjoyed it more than she expected. Michaela, of course, had a blast.

We checked out Minnie Mouse's house. Michaela looks like a little princess on her throne.
Michaela helped Minnie sew a quilt for Mickey.
The whole park is decorated for Halloween. Michaela's trick or treat bucket looks just like this pumpkin.
Here we are in Mickey's pumpkin patch. My mom was excited to see that these pumpkins are the "Pumpkin Pie Are Squared Variety".
Then we let Michaela burn off some energy in the play area by Mickey's house. She had lots of fun playing with another little girl there.
Michaela loved the slide. She kept trying to climb back up it though, and would get mad when I would take her around to the stairs instead.
My mom was able to spend the night with us so we could enjoy the nighttime parade and fireworks. The park wasn't too crowded, so we got great seats for both. Michaela loved all the colors.



Here are just a few pictures from the fireworks show. The first two were taken with my camera, which has a fireworks setting. It takes a series of pictures then blends them together to get these really crazy images. The other pictures were taken with my mom's digital SLR. I love how they all came out.