Hats, Baking and a Copy Cat

Even though drill weekends are rough without Malu, Sina and I get lots of mommy-daughter time.  Although it can get quite hectic at times (i.e. the crying, the running around, and the constant cleaning up of messes and dirty diapers), I can't help but keep falling in love with my little girl.  She just does the cutest things sometimes, I can't help but get all sappy.

We had some unusually warm and sunny weather (for November) yesterday. It was probably in the mid-50s.  Sina was itching to go outside.  On the way out, I told Sina to put on her hat on.  She grabbed this...

She loves this fireman's hat that she got during a fireman's visit to her school a while back.  Well, I can't say she didn't listen!  We played at the park for an hour.  I'm sure the entire neighborhood could hear her excited shrieks as she went down the slide repeatedly.

After her three-hour naps (she's still quite the napper!) we went shopping at the PX, which has somewhat become a part of our weekend routine when Malu is out of town.  We tried on Santa hats, but I'm afraid my little elf was out of sorts.  She was still waking up, I suppose.

When we got home, we set out to bake some cupcakes for the staff at Sina's school (since we found out we're not allowed to bring homemade baked goods to the kiddos--for obvious reasons).  I got the idea of making Pilgrim Hat Cupcakes from the Taste and Tell Blog.  They were so fun and so easy to make!

Sina was dying to give mommy a hand.

Okay, maybe not.  Like the vacuum (and other loud appliances), she's afraid of the mixer and squirmed as soon as I put her next to it (hence my hand on her arm, holding her in place).  She was actually dying to...

...taste the batter!  "Mmmmmmmm....," she kept saying.

She was in bed before I could get all of the cupcakes frosted and "hatted".  Although my icing skills need work, they didn't turn out so bad, eh?

Finally, my bloggy friend, Steph, recently blogged about how her beautiful little girl, Lily is now at the age where she'll imitate what she hears.  I just happened to catch a moment where Sina did the same thing, because she's at that point in her toddler-hood as well; which makes sense because she and Lily are only two weeks apart.

Sometime last week, Sina heard us say "Uh oh!" when she dropped her bottle.  She repeated it, saying "ooh ooh" with her adorable mouth and full lips forming a small "o".  Then we said "Uh oh, spaghetti-o's!"  She responded with her version, "Uh oh, dee dee dee dee!"  I like her version much better :)

Here's hoping that you got a good laugh!

In an effort to say what I'm thankful for each day of this Thanksgiving week--today, I'm thankful for the joy that our daughter brings me each and every day.  I  am thankful for the priceless moments that we continually share.  I thank God for bringing you into our lives. 

Vaiosina, I love you!

Happy Monday!