Mia Rosa

Last Friday night, we went to a restaurant solely based on its name: Mia Rosa. We really didn't know much about this place, but since our daughter is named Mia Rose, we felt that it was our obligation to go there. The restaurant was a little more fancy than we would normally attempt with Mia, but she was an angel. In fact several of the other patrons stopped by our table to tell us how cute Mia is and how impressed they were by how good she was. We sat in the bar area and the live entertainment was acoustic guitar. As soon as the music started, Mia was enthralled and spent a majority of the time just watching the performer, who I must admit was pretty amazing.

Mia Rosa is basically an Italian tapas restaurant. We tried several excellent dishes, but our favorite (and Mia's too!!) was the pancetta wrapped asparagus. Delicious! The waitstaff at Mia Rosa was great too. They thought it was so neat that we had a Mia Rose and told us to send in a picture of her to their website. If it does get posted, I'll be sure to include it in an upcoming blog. If you are interested in checking out the restaurant, here's the website:

Here's the review from Sauce Magazine.

Mia Rose outside of Mia Rosa

Movie Star

You know when something triggers a memory that you haven't thought of in ages and it makes you a little sentimental? That happened the other night when Mia was trying on her sunglasses. The instant she put them on, I immediately said "Oh look at the movie star!" It was one of those times when the phrase just popped out. All of a sudden I remembered a time when I was little and came strutting into the living room with my big red sunglasses on and my mom saying to me "Oh look at the movie star!" I haven't thought about that in years, but now the memory is as clear as it happened yesterday. Maybe one day Mia will look at her little girl wearing sunglasses and call her a movie star?

Here's my little Movie Star!

Official Potluck Taster

Two weeks ago, our church celebrated its 140th anniversary. Its a well known fact that we Lutherans love our potlucks! For the celebration, we actually had a catered meal, but our little Mia was dressed to impress in her "Official Potluck Taster" bib. So cute!

Dawn and Dave's Wedding

This past weekend our good friends Dawn and Dave got married in sunny Ft. Myers, Florida! Jake and I had the pleasure of joining them for their beach wedding. This was our first "vacation" without Mia. It was hard to be away from her, but we knew she was in good hands while we were gone. Friday she stayed with Grandma Randa and Papa Art, Saturday she was with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Bob and Sunday she visited with Uncle Terry and Aunt Beth. This way everyone got some extra one-on-one time with Mia. While IL/MO weather was cold, rainy and 40 degrees, Jake and I were enjoying 80+ degree weather and lots of sun! Except when the rain rolled in during the outdoor reception. I have to hand it to Dave and Dawn - they totally rolled with it and didn't let a little rain ruin the fun. Here's a few pictures from our trip.

Fall is here!

Over the years, my favorite time of year has changed from summertime to springtime and now in the past few years I've finally decided that I like fall the best! I love the chill in the air, pulling out my sweaters and enjoying all the fun "fall" things like playing in the leaves. Here's a few of my favorite picks of Mia this fall.

On one of the warmer days this fall, Mia and I went to a park by our house. She squeals when she sees the park coming and claps her hands once we get there. Usually her favorite is the slide, but this day she was loving the swing.


Jake had just raked a big pile of leaves so we decided to let Mia have some fun!

Vote for Mia

In the spirit of the election, Mia wore her "Future President" shirt today. Who knows...maybe one day...

I hope everyone got out and voted today! Enjoy democracy!

Baby Talk

Every day it seems that Mia is picking up more and more verbal skills. It really is amazing to see her try to mimic the sounds that she hears. Her latest is when something drops on the floor (more like she purposefully throws it to the floor), she'll look at it and say "uh-oh". It's cute...the first few times at least. :)

Here's a video clip of some of Mia's first words. Enjoy our little talker! (I can only imagine of what is to come!)

The 3 Little Pigs

For Halloween, the 3 cousins dressed up as the 3 Little Pigs. And what cute little piggies they were! The group caravanned around town making stops to show off the girls to the relatives. Thanks to Lisa for making the adorable costumes!








Terry"s awesome pumpkin carving!