A lot has happened since I've last been on. Over Memorial Day weekend Tia met her Grandpa and Grandma Wellman who drove all the way from Bloomville, OH to meet their long awaited granddaughter and to witness her baptism. During their all too brief visit, they toured the lakes and parts of the black Hills. On their last day here, we all went to Storybook Island. I've been dreaming of doing that for many, many years and it finally came true! Tia, on the other hand was a little over whelmed with the park. So many things to do, she didn't know where to start. She loved the swings, slides and little houses. She really enjoyed the 101 Dalmatians and was climbing and playing hide-and-seek with us.
In June I signed Tia and I up for 6 week Mommy and Me swim class. Tia loves the water and she did really well and enjoyed it except for the dreaded "dolphin dip" that she did not like at all. It broke my heart when we had to do that because she would just cry and cry. Strangely enough she loved jumping into the pool from the edge, but of course she wasn't going underwater and more importantly I was catching her! We are planning on continuing the swimming lessons as she is a "fish" like the rest of the family!
July she experienced her first 4th of July and the fireworks that come along with it. We had a block party in my sister, Debbie's court and Tia was not the least bit afraid of the firecrackers. More often than not she gave us all heart attacks because she would run out into the court at the least inopportune time! I thought for sure the loud noises would scare her and upset her, but it didn't bother her in the slightest. Hooray!!!
Tia learned to climb on top of the couch and get into the bay widow where Bandit and Sadie usually are at looking out the window. She has learned that if she stands on top of the couch and falls forward she lands on the cushions below and bounces. First time daddy saw that, I think he lost at least 10 years from shock! She is a little dare devil of a monkey for sure!! Of course it doesn't help that her older cousins are that way too and she is a very quick to mimic or you could say "fast learner" too. Either way, she keeps us on our toes! (Tia in the bay window with Honey, my sister's bassett - Sadie is in the bad.)
A couple of weeks ago I just happen to get a picture of Tia holding her baby doll and feeding her milk cup (or sippie cup). So imagine how delighted I was to find a baby doll that has a milk bottle where the milk disappears when tipped upside down (I had one when I was a little girl too) and then we found a baby doll stroller set by Graco. That cause a little impromtu Christmas shopping over the weekend and of course we'll be picking other odds and ends for her as we get closer to the season as well as a stocking for Santa to put his goodies in too. We have waited 10 very long years to have our precious baby girl and I'm certain that I'll be going overboard on the presents. But then I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy over buying for their children at Christmas!
I love this time of the year! The beautiful fall colors, the weather cool enough to have your entire house open, Halloween and the smell of wood stoves burning....
In elementary school I loved singing the Halloween song in music class. I remember holding a letter and turning around when it to me in the song. Then going home and my mom making our Halloween costumes and taking us tick-or-treating. We would go around the entire block and oh the candy treats we would get! Of course when you got home, you had to dump your bag and go through the candy and throw out any that were open or looked suspicious. Of course it wasn't until much later in life we learned that our dad would go through our candy again when were asleep and take out his favorites!
Halloween has changed a lot since then. Not the "going through the candy" part as that is just a necessity. But the way trick-or-treating is done. Today there is not much of the trick-or-treating in the neighborhoods as there are big events for it. In our community alot of the local businesses offer trick-or-treating and the churches put on a bizarre with oodles of activities for the kids of all ages - cake walks, dunking for apples and things of that nature. However, in the neighborhood I grew up in there is still a lot of trick-or-treating that goes on. I am looking forward to dressing up Tia (in I have no idea what yet) and joinging my sisters, neices and nephews in going around to the neighbors that I trick-or-treated at when I was a little girl.
I have such fond memories of my childhood, especially during the holidays. This year and every year after, are going to make those memories more and more precious now that we are blessed with our daughter Tia. She makes everything better!!
