Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas at the Zoo

Since Thanksgiving, we have hardly had an evening together as a family. We've been busy with fun things like Christmas parties, shopping, youth group events and visiting with friends. We've also been fighting Miranda's double ear infection and high fevers. Thankfully, Miranda is nearly 100% recovered. Last night was the first time in a long time we've had an evening for us. So, we went to the Wild Lights exhibit at the Zoo. We'd never been before, but Zane and I both agree that Christmas at the zoo has to become one of our Christmas traditions. Here are some of the things we saw.

It's hard to see, but Miranda is sitting on the nose of a beetle statue. We saw some older kids sitting there with their parents taking pictures of them and thought it looked cute...oops.

As we were leaving Santa, Miranda turned around, waved and said, "bye-bye, Santa." A group of ladies was walking by right when she did this, and they laughed so hard and started waving bye-bye to Santa too.

Daddy and Miranda with the light penguins. We saw real penguins too!


Throughout the zoo, they had these magnificent trees. The pictures don't capture them well. But they were beautiful.

Special Treats

Miranda does not eat a lot of sweet things, mostly because Zane and I have tried to keep sugar away from her. But during Christmas, we have relented and let her enjoy many special treats. This picture is the first time she has had chocolate. I love how satisfied she looks.

My Sweater

Today was our first snow of the winter, and it is bitter cold outside. We dressed Miranda in her warmest sweater. This sweater is also one that I wore when I was her age (the initials are mine, Elizabeth Anne Sloan). My mom saved it and gave it to me when Miranda was born. It also has a cute matching hat. Miranda loves pointing to the sheep and saying, "a sheep, baaah." Doesn't she look cute?

Flexible Pianist

A few weeks ago, we were at our friends' house for dinner, and Miranda serenaded us with lovely melodies from their piano.

Giving Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving in Northern Virginia spending time with Zane's side of the family. Here are some of the fun things we did.

We toured the Normal Rockwell exhibit at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. Miranda took in the sights from Mommy's shoulders.


Zane and Mom before we went into the exhibit. You can see Miranda walking on the bench in the background.


Miranda fell asleep in the movie about Norman Rockwell.


Thanksgiving Day: Miranda's pajamas said, "Everyone Is Thankful For Me." It's true.


Miranda loves cats, and enjoyed playing with Zsa Zsa's, Aunt Keira's and Cousin Erica's cats. Here she is throwing a ball to Buggy, Erica's cat.


Miranda was on our shoulders a lot because we didn't bring a stroller. She didn't mind. Look how happy she is on top of Daddy's shoulders.


FSU beat Florida for the first time in six years. Why the turn around for FSU football? Their new cheerleader, of course, inspired them onto victory.


Our last day, we saw an ice sculpture exhibit of the Christmas classic, How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. It was so neat. The main scenes from the book were all recreated in ice. It was 8 degrees in the exhibit, which is why we were wearing the blue parkas. We had a blast.



You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...


At the end of the exhibit, there was a Christmas tree made of Peeps (the marshmallow candy shaped like little animals).

Photo Shoot Failure

Last week, the leaves were at their peak color and the weather was in the 70s. I took advantage of such perfect conditions to take some fall pictures of Miranda, hoping for a photo worthy of a Christmas card or picture frame. Instead, the photo shoot was a complete failure. I got two smiling pictures and the rest are her pouting or running away from me. Nevertheless, I am tempted to frame one of the pictures. This picture is one of my all time favorites of Miranda. It's not very flattering. Instead, it captures a part of her personality that Zane and I don't usually put on display for admiration. But it is still Miranda. It's just Miranda at a moment where she was tired and frustrated (I quit after this one). As we are learning to parent a toddler who is throwing tantrums and starting the "terrible twos," Zane and I are falling more and more in love with our little girl. Yes, we guide and correct when Miranda throws a fit. But when she's not looking, we laugh at how cute she is when she's frustrated. We mimic her pouty face and whining voice because she's charming and beautiful and lovable even when she's not. This picture is a sweet reminder that Miranda is not perfect. But Zane and I are called to love her as she is because we're not perfect either.

Christmas Present

Miranda is getting a bike for Christmas, but there is just one problem. We already gave it to her. We couldn't help ourselves. She loves bikes so much. Every time we go for a walk, she points out the bikes and then talks about them for hours. Every time she is close enough to touch a bike, she insists upon riding it, even though she does not know how to ride a bike and even though most of the bikes she has seen are way too big for her. Joy floods her face when she just sits on a bike's seat, dangling her little legs toward the pedals. Since we gave it to her, she has woken up asking, "outside bike please." Giving her a Christmas present six weeks early was probably not our smartest parenting move, but we don't care. It's been worth every afternoon this week, sitting watching Miranda scoot around on her bike. So this is our plan. While the weather has been nice, we are going to let her ride the bike. While we are with family for Thanksgiving, we are going to hide the bike and hope that she forgets about it. Then, three weeks later on Christmas morning, we will give her the bike again.

Earning Her Keep

Hats and Play Time

Today as I was doing dishes, Miranda walked into the kitchen with her swimming shorts on her head. She proudly announced to me "it's a hat." She's been wearing her new hat all day.



I took these a few days ago while Zane and Miranda were playing. They were so happy I had to share.

Elmo

Miranda was Elmo for Halloween this year. She loves Elmo (or as she would say, "Melmo"). And she loved dressing up as Elmo. She wore her costume all week. Isn't she cute?

Elmo with her friends Lydia the Cupcake and Angel Hannah

Mommy (Christmas Present), Daddy (Geico Gecko), and Elmo

ROCKYOURFACEOFF2010

This weekend was our annual fall youth retreat, ROCKYOURFACEOFF. Our church teamed up with Covenant Presbyterian Church in St. Louis for a weekend that rocked our faces off. We had 16 middle and high school students and five adults come from our church. With all the volunteers and kids from both churches, our group was about 75. It was a fun retreat with silly games, skits about croquet, a costume dance party, lots of candy and an epic game of war ball. But it was also a wonderful time for our kids to hear about God's love for them and how it transforms our lives. We had a lot of fun bonding with the kids who came.


Our gang

The whole group: Grace Presbyterian Church and Covenant Presbyterian Church

field games: "predators" had to drag their victims across a line in the field

getting ready for the costume party

Zane and me at the costume party

Rachel, one of the leaders from Covenant and me. We told everyone we were twins separated at birthday.


Miranda stayed with our friends Dan and Ruthann. She had a great time and was well loved while we were gone.

Letters!

Miranda has been learning her letters, thanks to a little video from the library called Letter Factory. In this dvd, a little frog goes through the factory learning the sound that each letter makes. She loves this video and asks to watch her "deedee" (DVD) a lot. Now, she recognizes letters on our t-shirts or in her books. She will point them out and make their sounds.

Our Little Dancer

Miranda loves to dance. Here is a little montage of some of her best dance moves. I'm pretty sure of all the videos we have posted of her so far, this will probably be the one she will hate us for when she's 14. But it's so worth it!

Sleepy Miranda

This is a funny conversation I had with Miranda at lunch today.

Miranda Says

Miranda talks a lot. I mean a lot, and everyday I can understand more and more of what she says. She is still not quite clear enough for others to understand most of what she says, but it won't take long before that happens. She is already saying funny things too. She doesn't know they are funny. But she regularly cracks me and Zane up. Here are a few funny things she has said recently.

On Tuesday, I was keeping my friend's 5-month-old son for the day. When he arrived, I put him in our exersaucer. Miranda almost burst with the double excitement of seeing her old exersaucer and having a baby visit us. One of the toys on our exersaucer is a ball that has two frogs in it and spins around. In the midst of Miranda's hyper-excitement, she got right in Nathan's face, pointed to this toy and said with much enthusiasm, "it's a ball!!!!" Ok, so it was more like "issa ball!!!!" But still, that is her first sentence, teaching baby Nathan about her exersaucer. She's a sweet girl.

Also, on Wednesday night, I picked her up from the nursery at church after youth group. The man in charge of nursery that night asked if she could say "bed." I told him that she could. And he said that for the last half an hour, she had been wandering around the nursery saying "bed? bed? bed?...."

16 Months

Today Miranda turns 16 months old. We can't believe she is so big already, and everyday she is doing more and more on her own. Everyday we enjoy her more and more too! A few days ago, she climbed into the driver's seat of the car instead of going to her normal seat. I think she was sick of listening to NPR and wanted to put on some music.

Zoozoozoo

The weather has been absolutely amazing here with temperatures in the 60s and low 70s. Because fall lasts for about two weeks in the Midwest, we have been taking advantage of this great weather before it turns cold again. Today, we explored the great outdoors at the St. Louis Zoo. Miranda has been to the zoo a few times before and for the most part was unimpressed. But this trip was the first time she was old enough to really enjoy herself.

We rode the carousel too many times to count. Miranda was a little apprehensive during the first ride, but by the end, she was running to pick her next animal to sit on.


At the children's zoo, there was a courtyard with goats in it. Miranda kept saying, "dog, woofwoof." When I told her that they weren't dogs; they were goats and said baah like sheep. She said, "dog, baah."


Miranda only sat on the frog for about a millisecond. She was a little freaked out by it.


Also at the children's zoo, there was a miniature farm for kids to play in. This was probably Miranda's favorite part. The farmhouse had a small door on its side that Miranda would climb through, run out the front door, run around the house to the small door, and climb through again and again and again.

When we were leaving, I took Miranda out of her stroller and set her on a sidewalk so I could open the car door. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she ran back toward the zoo entrance yelling, "zoozoozoo, zoozooozoo." I think that we will have to make another trip to the zoo again soon.

Octoberfest

Yes, you read that title correctly. Last night, we went to Octoberfest in September. Apparently downtown St. Charles couldn't wait one more weekend to celebrate. We didn't let September spoil our fun. We still ate our bratwurst and had lots of fun listening to live music. Miranda loved running around, dancing to the music and being chased by Daddy.

Fashion Show

Miranda's grandparents have been spoiling her with cute things lately. ZsaZsa (Zane's mom) sent Miranda this adorable little apron to wear in the kitchen and garden. Thanks ZsaZsa!


Nana (my mom) sent Miranda this sweet little outfit with sparkly hearts and ballet shoes on it. Thanks Nana!



On a completely unrelated note, I have been experimenting with baking my own granola bars. This week, I found a recipe that was just so good I had to share it!


Mix dry ingredient:
1 & 2/3 cup of quick rolled oats
1/2 cup of sugar (I actually used less and it tasted great)
1/3 cup of milled flax seed (you can also use whole wheat flour or oat flour)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
2-3 cups of dried fruit and/or nuts (I used dried cherries and walnuts)

Whisk wet ingredients:
1/3 cup of almond or peanut butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
6 tablespoons of melted butter
1/4 cup of honey
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of water

Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Place mixture into a 8x8x2 pan lined with parchment paper and sprayed lightly. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350. Cool completely then cut into bars.

Go Dukes!

Yesterday, Zane's beloved but relatively unknown James Madison University pulled off an enormous upset against nationally ranked Virginia Tech. In honor of the victory, the Hart family wore JMU purple! Go Dukes!

Yea Forks!

For the past few weeks, Miranda has been learning how to feed herself. She can successfully land food into her mouth with a spoon, but it's such a messy process that she inevitably has to take a bath immediately after the meal. The first few times this happened, it was sweet and cute. But having to bathe Miranda every time she wants to feed herself (which is a lot!) has become a little of an inconvenience. My solution? Forks! Miranda has already started to master forking technique, and she is quite cleanly with them too. Look at her focus and determination.

When she cannot get the food directly onto the fork, she picks it up and sticks it on.

What a happy, clean baby!



Also, on Saturday, Zane took Miranda to the park in the morning. It was a chilly morning so we dressed Miranda in some of her fall clothes. It surprised me how much older Miranda looked in her sweater and pants.


And one last thing, Miranda has been showing a lot of enthusiasm lately. When we ask her questions like, do you want to go outside? Or would you like some milk? Her eyes get big and she shouts, "YEA!!!!" It's super adorable.