"I want chicken and fries!"

We live with a conundrum. Her name is Mia.

She can tell you she loves you and hates you in the same breath.

She can focus so hard she crosses her eyes and shakes, and yet she is so distractable she'll get out of the van and walk down the street five houses before she realizes she's passed our house.

She is a makeup, dressup, wedding obsessed princess one minute, and a swashbuckling, light saber wielding rebel the next.

She is my diligent helper, ready to grab anything I need, and promptly letting me know when her sister is throwing food on the floor or shredding the toilet paper. Turn around and she's drawn all over her sister's face with marker, used the toilet as a splash park, and painted the floor with body lotion (no these are not metaphors). 

She builds towers out of books and DVDs so carefully and precisely, but spills or drops things every time she sits down at the table.

Aside from her quirkiness she is a real showman. She loves performing for people-dancing, singing, you name it. She has a great memory for songs, and loves to sing to herself and others. She is so animated when she sings, she could probably win a lip sync battle. She loves to make people laugh.

She can count to 30 and print her name. She loves to learn, and is like a little sponge whenever we are reading.

She can do monkey bars on her own.

Funny stories to tell at her wedding

We drove down to Silverwood theme park this summer (in Idaho). We stopped at the border and rolled down the window so the border guard could talk to us. Mia leans forward in her car seat and yells "I want chicken and fries!". Gordon and I weren't really paying attention to her until she said it about three times. That's when I realized she thought we were at a drive thru.

Mia has already planned her wedding. She's going to have flowers and wear a princess crown. She has already picked her groom, which she has been set on marrying for the last four months now. I'll leave him unnamed to spare them future embarrassment haha! But according to her "he's so beautiful and kind". 

Her big brother used to get pretty upset when she would start her wedding planning, and I never understood why. One day he said to me "Mum what if Mia marries him, and he's mean to her? I don't want her to marry him if he's mean?" Melted my mama heart into a puddle. Mia must've thought Isaac was just jealous, because she came up with this solution after several weeks. "Isaac, I marry *** on Friday, and I marry you on Sunday". I was about to explain the whole you-can't-marry-your-brother thing, but before I had a chance Isaac explained the problem with this solution "No Mia, you can only choose one of us." 

She got to be a flower girl for her Auntie's wedding. She practiced with her basket at home and executed her task of flower sprinkling perfectly. On the big day, nerves got the best of her and she was basically herded by Auntie Becky and Uncle Michael across the room, with all the petals remaining safely in her basket. I said "Mia, you forgot to throw your petals!". She facepalms and exclaims "Oops! Sowwy!"

One night when she was supposed to be going to bed, I felt like I should check on her. I opened the door to find her lying in bed, one leg propped up while she's calmly painting her toenails (along with her pjs, stuffed toys, and bed) in what looked like three coats thick of dark purple nail polish. After a momentary panic, I plucked her from her bed and gave her to her father. While he scrubbed off the results of her over zealous pedicure, she explained "I want do my makeup!". I promptly called my mother and banned her from buying her further nail polish until she was 12. To this day I still don't know how she got it.

Once I found her in the bathroom generously applying my cream blush...all over her face. She walked around looking like she sunburned herself for the entire day.

One day she strode out of her room and boldly announced "I want fwip fwops, eawwings, and a horse." She got the flip flops.

Thanks for making our life so full of laughs and teaching us about the simple joys!