Merry Christmas

Needless to say, Christmas was most excellent for Nia. Thank you all our family - especially Grammy & Poppy, and Ibu and Pak, Auntie's Kay, Vicky and Renee, and Uncle's Donnie, Che, and Jay for contributing to her happiness. She was blown away as you can see in one of those photos. She particularly loves her bicycle and when I see her on it, I can't believe how big she looks. She didn't get one thing she wanted - a dolly that pees. But, she got some money from Papoo and Nanna so we'll probably go buy that tomorrow. Christmas is about children, and she made ours really fun.

Photographic Memories

I really love having professional photos taken. It's well worth every penny. Personally, I don't care for the Walmart-type posed photos (not knocking anyone who gets those and I have seen some good ones), but I really like what a professional can do by really capturing the personality of the people - especially little people. These photos were done by Kiralisa Photography here in Memphis (and I'm posting with her permission). She's an interesting and kind person, mother, and excellent photographer. We love how our photos turned out!

Holiday Program

Nia had her school holiday program today. They started with the pledge of allegiance and we were amazed that all the kids had actually memorized it! Then they sang 4 songs with a few little dances and bells thrown in. I realize maybe it's the type of thing only a parent can appreciate, and I must say, we really did! What a bunch of little cuties.

Nia loves Santa....now

That photo from when she was one year old is pretty funny, huh? I look at these 3 and realize what a big girl she is now. Very cute, kind of sad, and definitely heartwarming. I wonder how many more years we'll be able to do these Santa photos? And then I wonder how long she'll be happy for us to display them, and when she'll say, "Oh Mom, stop putting those up!" She's now interested in Santa like never before...... very intrigued about how he flies with the reindeer, concerned about him getting hurt when he goes through the chimney, and excited for when we'll put out cookies and milk for him. Having a kid is definitely tough sometimes, but it makes this time of year the BEST! Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful weekend in Atlanta with my brother, Che and his wife Vicki. Nia is the only niece on Ian's side, and also on some of my families sides so she should be thankful to have so much love and for being the center of attention

I am especially thankful to be happily married 8 1/2 years in, to have a healthy amazing little girl, to have not just one set of wonderful parents, but 2 other sets of biological parents in my life. I am thankful that Ian doesn't deploy any more, and that we still enjoy each other as friends. I am very thankful for such a big, great group of friends in Memphis which make it a place I'm happy living in and I'm thankful for the wonderful job I have which is so flexible and only requires me working in an office twice a week. Cheers!

Nia's parents are rock stars

Or so we'd like to think anyway! These shots are from our time in Atlanta over Thanksgiving. My brother and his wife have the "Rock Band" gaming system. If you haven't played before, you are truly missing out! It is sooooo fun! It's amazing how people act once they get the feeling of jammin' on stage!

I'm tired

And I've been lagging on the blog (I know Melissa! I'm glad you follow us just as I do you guys:)
Life has been busy. But we're still managing fun and the 3 of us even managed to getaway with family to Jamaica for a few days. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff, making arrangements and getting things in order for my back surgery, and just living life in general, this has gotten away from me. But, since I'll be laid up for at least 3 weeks post surgery (1/7/09), I will have plenty of time to clean up my inboxes, and catch up on photos and blogging. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanuka my loved ones!

Do A Little Dance, Make a Little Love, Get Down Tonight

What can I say to explain these photos that I haven't previously said in other posts? As per usual, Nia is the dancin' queen. If she's not dancing, then she's jumping or doing gymnastics. Honestly.... she does this continuously. I'm actually having trouble deciding where to focus her interest and energies since she really does love both so much. I guess for now though we'll stick with gymnastics because for a 3 1/2 year old that type of class is much more fun than learning foot positions. Zoe's (from Sesame Street) dance DVD has taught her about all different types of dancing including salsa, African, Hip-Hop, ballet, etc. So when Nia decides to dance she usually picks one of the specific styles and sticks with it throughout her "routine." However, these pictures capture her mixin' it all up.

Trick or Treat!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Our Family

Yep, that's us. All that's missing is Sasha. Nia's on the right with me in the the middle and Ian on the left. We didn't realize how far her drawing had come since most of the time at home we color in either color-books, or do abstract paint art. All of the sudden recently Nia's decided to draw people. Hope you like her first portrait masterpiece!

Gotta Love the Self-Made Outfits of a 3-yr-old!

Sometimes Nia disappears for a few minutes and then shows back up dressed in a completely different outfit. This was one of those days...

Princess Nia

One of the nicest things about having a young child is *almost* remembering what it feels like to run, dance, sing and live a happy simple life. And for me specifically I love watching Nia and remembering what it was like to be a little girl. Nia (and I dunno, maybe all 3 years olds) has such an eager, interested creative personality - it's such fun to see the world through her eyes.

Good Ol Sasha

One of Nia's games is to pretend she's a dog. We'll catch her sitting right next to Sasha, following her around, and pretending to do everything she does - from licking/bathing herself, to panting, to asking if she can eat her food in a bowl on the floor. Silly girl.

Another trip to Cedar Hill Farm

We just love it here. It's only open 2 times of the year - Halloween and Easter. With perfect weather this past weekend, we did a bit of an early trip for pumpkins. Farm animals to pet, pony rides, corn maze, and pumpkin patch.... we had a blast.

Gotta love Bob

...Marley that is (notice our matching shirts). Nia has one of those baby lullaby Bob Marley CD's that she listens to every night so she clearly knows who he is. Here we are feeling irie.

Best Buds

Nia and Sydney are the only two kids who were in the same class last year and this year. So this year, they've become the best of friends. And fortunately Sydney's mom is a cool one so we can have happy play dates!

Big Girl

Is it just me or does this face look like it's matured a lot? While she is her regular ol' happy 3 1/2 year old self, she really has also grown up quite a bit this summer. It makes me kinda sad. I always tell her "Stop growing so fast! Slow down and be my little girl for a while" to which she excitedly replies, "But I AM growing mommy. Look at me. Can you see it!?!?!" And yes, I think I almost can.

September 2008

These photos pretty much sum Nia up. Busy girl who loves music, dancing, and gymnastic "routines." If you catch her at home, she's likely dancing and somersaulting her way around the house (Thank you for the dress from Panama Mr. Hans & Mrs. Suli!).

"Mommy, how do I write THOMPSON?"

So the other day while we were driving Nia asked me how to spell Thompson. I started out and Nia asked me how to make an H. I tried to explain - "2 lines with one across in the middle." I didn't think she would get it since she hasn't conquered even tracing letters in her workbooks. But, lo and behold - she wrote the first 3 letters perfectly before running out of room on her doodle pad! I don't know about you, but we were impressed! :-)