We Are Family

So much for getting the next post up within a few days. Whoops. Well, as I mentioned, we had some family in town to visit a few weeks ago to help celebrate my mom's birthday. The party included a potluck dinner, live music and folk dancing. Before Mira and working nights/weekends/holidays and nursing school, I lived and breathed dancing. Trying to work it into my life the last several years has been near impossible and I definitely miss it, so it was great to get some turns in. Plus, Mira had a ton of space to run around and lots of people willing to chase her and keep her occupied so I could have a bit of a break, finally. Here are some pictures from the party.

L to R: My Aunt Betty, family friend Bonnie, Mira and my sister Sara.

My Aunt Ellen on the far L. Mira fell through the opening in the back of the chair right after I took this picture.

My sister Penny striking a pose.

Mira "helping" the band set up.

Mark and I had a really hard time convincing Mira she couldn't play with the instruments...

...but she got excited when I told her she'd get to dance to music.

This has got to be one of the funniest pictures we've ever gotten of Mira.

Mark and Mira.

By the time the potluck supper was over and the music was about to get started, it was already Mira's bedtime and she was definitely getting really wound up and frustrated and was about 7 seconds away from a meltdown. I hated to cover her face with a pacifier but it was either that or leaving early so sorry everyone, she has a pacifier in her mouth for the rest of the pictures.

Swishing her skirt.

And of course I got some fun videos. For some reason I'm suddenly not able to post the YouTube videos directly to the blog so here are the links to the videos for now. Hopefully I can get this sorted out soon.

Folk Dance Party 1
Folk Dance Party 2
Folk Dance Party 3
Folk Dance Party 4

For those of you who were at the party, I tried to get a few pictures of Zivio dancing the Russian Quadrille but I only got a couple worth sharing. Job well done though!

A cute picture of my mom holding Mira, who insisted on being part of the speech.

Even though it can be rough to deal with such an active child, the bonus is that she sleeps very well. Once we left we were only driving for a couple of minutes before Mira was completely out like a lightbulb.

The next day Mira and I went to my mom's for brunch with the family. Mira also got to wear a pretty new dress from her Great Aunt Ellen. Growing up my Aunt Ellen would always bring gorgeous dresses for my sisters and me when she came to visit and so it's only appropriate that she continues the tradition with Mira.

Reading a story with Great Aunt Betty

Ellen, David and Sara

Penny and Ellen, and I think those hands belong to my mom

Sara is laughing because Mira tried to stuff her bib into her glass of water.

And here is what happens when Mira gets a big girl cup of water. They just figure it out without being taught.

Mira Blowing Bubbles

A wonderful family picture.

I wish it could have been a longer visit but I was so happy to get the chance to spend time with family! I wish it wasn't so long in between visits. That's what happens when everyone literally lives on opposite ends of the country.

This is Mira in the other dress from Aunt Ellen. She threw a massive fit when I tried to get her dressed in something else - she is determined to wear this dress all the time. Yep, she's two.

Springtime and Some Cute Animal Pictures

It's been a busy couple of weeks! Mira is continuing with her Terrible Twos and sometimes it seems like the only thing that can keep both of us sane is going outside. Luckily it's been gorgeous weather and Mira is finally at the age where she can play on playgrounds by herself and she's actually pretty adventurous.

Beautiful spring days

Investigating the garden hose.

Eating strawberries - between the two of us we could eat a couple pounds at a time.

This next picture needs some explaining. Mira loves to draw with sidewalk chalk, except it always turns into her directing me what to draw. So because she's learning different parts of the face I drew a face. Her embellishment (which she had no idea she was doing) was to grab the green chalk and draw a large booger coming out of the nose. I personally found this absolutely hilarious, especially since she had no idea that boogers are green and come from your nose. (Hey, what can I say, I'm a nurse and no bodily fluid is off-limits!)

 Here are some pictures of various other animals of ours enjoying the weather.

You may have to zoom in to see there's a white kitty sitting in the storage box on the back of the ATV.

The new chicks are at the awkward gawky "teenager" stage.

They like to sit on your lap any time you give them a chance.

I took Mira out for a walk and our neighbor's sprinklers were on. Mira ran back and forth through them on the sidewalk a few times and then leaned over to investigate one that wasn't spraying the water correctly. Suddenly the whole sprinkler head popped off and a huge geyser of water shot up out of the ground right at Mira. She was more startled than anything but I sure got a laugh out of it.

Of course what goes along with the few quiet moments is she likes to dig in her heels and refuse to come inside/leave the park/etc. which turns into another tantrum. Some days I feel like I'm just going tantrum to tantrum and I'm desperately trying to figure out ways to prevent another one from happening. In fact, a few days ago I dropped Mira off at the daycare at the gym for an hour and when I came back to get her I was informed that she had spent the entire hour going up to kids and hitting and punching them. Even after a few time-outs she would go right back to beating up the other kids so eventually they made her stand by herself away from everyone else. I was absolutely mortified at the time and told Mira as we were driving home that hitting is not okay, and feeling in general like a pretty crappy mom. But the more I talked about it the funnier it seemed. Now I laugh when I tell the story. At least I don't have to worry about her not being able to fend for herself!

I have to give her credit for being smart - or rather a smartie-pants. At dinner I told her if she wanted a brownie she had to empty her plate. So, she did what I told her. She took all the food off her plate.

I have to put in some pictures of Wally just because I find him in the most ridiculous places and it makes me giggle.

 And finally:

This girl might be busy and nonstop and make me want to pull my hair out most days but it's the super cute moments like these that make it all worth it.

Some family recently came into town and that's a whole blog post by itself - which will be up in a couple of days. I was going to add them into this post but that would be a rreeeaaaalllllyyyy long post so I'll be nice and break it up.