Merry Christmas!!

To all our friends and family, far and near, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, The Elkington's

'Tis the Season

Wow - cannot believe my last blog was on Halloween, but this is partially due to the fact that my camera was MIA for the past month and I feel like blog posts just are not as exciting without the pictures. So, I will make an attempt to make up for the missing posts with this one.

Christmas season is upon us and the Elkington Clan has started gearing up. This past weekend the Cooney's and the Elkington's went on their second annual tree cutting expedition to Petaluma. We went to Little Hills Christmas Tree Farm and Mia got to see Santa Claus (although she was not brave enough to sit on his lap) and we cut down our trees. The rule this year was that the tree should not be taller than Ryan ... the Cooney's followed this rule, the Elkington's did not. I think this was mainly due to the fact that Daniel was too hungover to argue with me when I found the tree that I liked. From the picture below, you can see that Daniel was not the only one hurting - Ryan was soaking up his knee injury and had Daniel drive him around the tree farm in the cart.

Today, Mia and I went to Boba's house to decorate a Gingerbread House. Mia had a ball! She LOVED all the candy, icing and sprinkles as you can tell from the pictures below.

Thank you Boba for a great morning and a beautiful Gingerbread House! Sorry we made such a mess :-)

Happy Holidays everybody!

Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Mia dressed up as a skunk, Daniel as an Animal Control Officer who had been sprayed by the skunk and I of course had the last minute costume of Starbucks Barista! We went to our friends Sheila & Connor's house for a great Halloween Party and parade ... we had great food and lots of delicious desserts. After Sheila's we stopped by my dads house for a second dinner (delicious Transylvanian Goulash) and some trick or treaters. Below are some pictures of our little skunk ... she LOVED halloween and was so disappointed this morning when we drove by where the pumpking patch was and all the pumpkins and jumpy houses were gone. This can only mean Christmas Tree lots are around the corner ...
Mia & a little fireman checking out the fire truck!
Cutest skunk ever!
Connor, Sheila, Mia & Daniel
PU SKUNK!

Johnny & Mia

Tennessee Valley Hiking with "Carlie-Boy"

Today Mia and I met up with Mimi and "Carlie" and hiked the beautiful Tennesse Valley. Well, I am not really sure you would call what we did a hike - more like a leisurely stroll at the pace of Mia and Charlie. This meant, stopping for bugs, leaves and even poop piles that were found all over the trail. In the hour that we "hiked" we also had to make numerous snack stops so the little ones could share their apricots, grapes and strawberries.

Below are a few of my favorite pictures of the two little "buddies".

Fairyland

Some of you may be wondering "What in the !@#%& is Fairyland?". Well, to answer your question it is a 10-acre "amusement park" centered around fairytale themes and is a place that Mia and I have now been twice. She LOVES it and its the perfect place for kids her age. They have carousels, train rides, mazes, a ferris wheel, petting zoo, various playgrounds centered around different themes and they even have a puppet theatre (which of course Mia did not have the patience for)!

Last Friday, Mia and I joined our friends Sheila and Connor for our second trip to Fairyland. The kids had a blast and we hope did not pick up Swine Flu or any other bugs in the process. Below are some pictures from their adventures in Fairyland.

Mia riding the "HOSEY" on the carousel!

Connor and Mia trying to break into the home of the Seven Dwarves (Above)

Buddies strolling the lanes of Fairyland (Below)

Mia & Connor riding the Train

Connor is NOT wanting to ride the Ferris Wheel! So, Mia ends up riding it alone!

Busy Times!

Its been a while since I last posted (and it seems I have been starting a lot of my posts this way), but I do promise to get better and at least post once a week about the adventures in our little world.

The past few weeks have been busy ones and even included a 10-day trip to Germany where we held a memorial for both my mother, who passed away on July 8th and her father (my grandfather) who passed away less than three weeks later on July 30th. It was an emotional trip, but at the same time it was good to see friends and family and celebrate their lives in such a way. Mia was a trooper on the trip - adjusted quickly to the time difference, sat still at almost every meal (which we ate out) and was super flexible about where she took her naps (in the car, on the plane, at my grandmothers, at a friends). She also enjoyed her daily morning walk around the quarter with Boba (my dad) to buy fresh bread, cold cuts (a typical german breakfast food) and of course KOKLATE (chocolate)!

Though I did not take too many pictures on my camera (I left that to my brother), below are a few of my favorites!

Mia and her cousin Sophie hanging out at dinner.

Mia loves blowing out the candles at restaurants.

Mia walking in Maastricht (a beautiful town in the Netherlands) with

my grandmother, her great-grandmother.

Eating dinner at my families bar in Cologne.

Fall is here...

Fall is here and that means a visit to the Pumpkin Patch! Yesterday, Mia and I joined Mimi and Charlie for some fall festivities at the Nicasio Pumpkin Patch - the kids had a blast! Pictures below as proof!

Good Girl

Mia's taken to calling me "Good Girl" - especially when I give her something she wants. Its quite humorous actually. It first started when I was holding a bunch of receipts in my hand and was going through them and Mia decided she wanted to take a look at one so she kept pointing at my hand and saying "Dis, Dis" (aka "This). Did not really know why she wanted the receipt but I handed it to her and she said "Good Girl". Classic. It definitely made me laugh!! Below are a few recent pictures of the little trouble maker! Enjoy!

All the animals in her crib & her new Easel!

PIZZA!!!!!!!

Mia in her pearls, posing with her "cat"

Mia & Charlie on the train at Fairyland

Learning how to hold the rope - Daniel hopes she will be wakeboarding by next year! Ha!

Mia's first time driving the boat

Mia and her Monkey (AKA Mukey)

Yesterday Mia woke up with a fever but no other symptoms which I thought was kind of strange. So, I chalked it up to teething, gave her some Ibuprofen and plopped her on the couch with her "Mukey" and an Elmo movie. She loved it and by the end of the day was already feeling much better! Below are some pictures.

This past weekend our very good friends Kristin and Ryan got married in Mill Valley - it was a beautiful wedding and Mia "performed" as flower girl. I say performed because the day of the rehearsal and wedding was extremeley hot (high 90's) and Mia was miserable and letting everyone know it. I was pretty sure there was no way she would walk down the aisle when it was time to make her debut - pictures below from the rehearsal show you what we were dealing with. But, when it was time for her to walk down the aisle, she did it with such confidence and enthusiasm that people were coming up to Daniel and I all night complimenting us on what a great job she did. Go Mia! Way to make Mom and Dad look good ;-)

A big thanks to Nina who helped us at the wedding by pushing Mia down the aisle towards us and CONGRATULATIONS to the new Mr. & Mrs. Cooney on a fabulous wedding weekend! You guys make a beautiful couple and we are blessed to be a part of your lives.

I did not take any pictures of Mia in her flower girl dress, but once I get them from others will definitley post them!