Mia's Three!

I can hardly believe that Mia's three. Her birthday was Friday, which also happened to be the last day before Christmas vacation. She and I went to Boondocks (yes, by ourselves) and then to Jolie's school where we helped with her class party. Mia played in the Kiddie Cove and ate a kids meal from McDonalds (her choice).

Mia loves going to the kids' schools. When we go to Jolie's class she sits with Jolie at her desk and acts like a fourth grader. That is, unless something doesn't go her way in which case she has a huge tantrum and draws attention to herself.

We were fortunate enough to get lottery tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert for Friday night. David Archuleta and Michael York were the guest performers this year. These are the hottest tickets in town! Although they were free to those who were fortunate enough to get them, they've been going for upwards of $100 per ticket online. Lisa's the one who encouraged us to register for the lottery, so we decided to invite her to use one of our four tickets. She and I took Tristan and Jolie to dinner and to the concert. It was amazing! We felt fortunate to be there. We rode light rail after the concert and stopped at a coffee shop for hot chocolate and cider.

Saturday night we had a combined birthday party for Tristan and Mia. We had
Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Lisa for a steak dinner (Tristan's choice), a new game called Wits and Wagers, gifts, cake, balloons, etc. It would be easy to take the easy road for a birthday party this time of year but I'm determined not to let that happen. Tristan was thrilled to get a new Wii game (Metroid) and a beautiful red and white zip-up tie and new slacks from Grandpa and Grandma. We know that it was probably hard for Grandpa to buy anything in red and white after watching the Utah-BYU game with Tristan.

Mia received all five of her favorite friends: Pablo, Tasha, Uniqua, Austin and Tyrone (the Backyardigans), a jacket and purse filled with lots of surprises, and spending money from Nana and Papa.

Mia is growing up much more quickly than I would like but there is absolutely no holding her back! She wants to be big. The worst insult for those wishing to get her worked up (three people in particular) is to call her a baby or tell her she's too little to do something. Her reaction is unmistakeable. The provoker is usually punished severely. Mia has a very strong will. One could spend their whole day fighting battles with her over insignificant things. Lets just say that we choose not to go there most of the time. I've become used to taking her to the grocery store in mismatched clothes, leotards, princess get ups and the like simply becuase it's not worth the battle to get her to change. The hour that it would take and the strain on my back to physically force her to do so just isn't worth it.

Other than being strong willed, quick to provoke, prone to melt downs and tantrums that can go on for hours, Mia is a joy. When she's happy she's over the moon. She's loving and affectionate and wants to be involved in everything. I can't tell you how many times I've had the opportunity to go somewhere by myself (yes, it does happen occasionally) and I've ended up taking her along because she wanted to go so badly and would be so devastated if I said no. We spend two hours of church together in the nursery because she can't live without me. I've actually not minded it but I'm wondering how things will go in two weeks when she moves on to Sunbeams. I have a feeling she thinks I'm going to be sitting right there next to her. In some ways, I'd like to be.