Getting Ready for Christmas

I love getting ready for Christmas. I love the music, the feeling, the excitement, the shopping (bargain of course), the parties, and the food. Having Mia has taken it to a whole new level this year. All of these things are amplified and Dave and I have a renewed sense of the Christmas spirit because of our little Mia. We visited Santa, got all "gussied up" to go to a few holiday parties, and are dreaming about Christmas dinner when we get to go off our diets for a day and hog on. Can't wait. Seriously. Doesn't Mimi look beautiful in her little holiday dress? I couldn't pass up it's $3.00 price along with $6.00 red one for Christmas Day. Ahhh this recession is actually working in our favor...

The Happy Baby

Mia is such a happy baby. It takes no effort to get her to smile and interact with ANYONE!!! She especially loves to be held while you dance around and sing. Her latest accomplishment is "trying" to hum/sing along with me when I rock her. It is hilariously cute and I love it. After her morning feeding this morning I wanted to sit and hold her a little before putting her back down to sleep, so I started rocking her and humming Christmas songs. She was so tired, but still tried little hums with an occasional "dada" in a very exhausted attempt. It is ad.or.able. I love being a mommy.

Thanksgiving 2008

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Texas to spend the holiday with Becky's family. We got to stay with Aunt Heather and Justin, play with cousin Katy, went fishing of course, and oh yeah...eat tons and tons of food. Dave made a late night run to the store one night and came home with donuts, soda, sausages, and tons of junk food. It was fun but gross as we all sat around at midnight and binged. Needless to say, as soon as we got home from the trip we started our 1200 calorie diet. Mainly out of disgust.


One of the days we went down to Brackenridge Park by the Zoo downtown and fished. It was a gorgeous day and felt like Fall!! I couldn't capture the colors with the camera, but it smelled crisp and Autumn-like, and I just knew Mia was fully enjoying herself as she kicked back and let the boys do the work. Good girl.

Becky Invents a New Word!!! -CORPY (Kor' pee), n., adj, pronoun, verb, and the word PARADIDE (par' a dide)n., 11.26.2008

Becky invented two words yesterday, the first one is Corpy, pronounced Kor'pee. It basically can be used in any grammatical fashion one wants to, as long as it is negative. example usages:

1. Stop being so corpy.
2. Man, that's hard corpy.
3. You corpy.
4. That's habius corpy!!
5. Corpy, come here!

Hopefully this will be in Webster's in our lifetime.

How it started: We were about to enter the Wal Mart in San Antonio, and I was in a mood (surprisingly) and Becky goes, "Why are you so grumpy" and I go, "What is corpy?" So my misunderstanding her came into an invention of a new word. Please Feel Free to use it!!!



Also, last night when Becky stole my pillow to nurse a crying Mia, and I got upset, Becky goes: "Welcome to Parenting!!!" And I go, "What is PARADIDE?!! STOP MAKING UP WORDS!" So my misunderstanding her well, she invented another word...and after some pondering, I concluded that it was a mixture of the words parenting and paradise, with a splash of the word made famous by S. Covey, "Paradigm."

Is my wife a genius or what? She birthed two words within 16 hours, Corpy and Paradide! I love you baby!

Long live Corpy, and Paradide! World, feel free to use 'em. Your welcome Mister Webster.

love,
Davey Baby

I'll tell you, there is nothing sexier than when I saw my Baby handling firearms! I'm so proud of you Becky!! Love, Dave xoxoxo




Pistol Packin' Mamma - Becky Schoen from David Filhart on Vimeo.

My Dad was so kind as to share with us his expertise in fire arms and give us some lessons.
My Dad is a very wise man, and told me "Guns are like fire extinguishers, maybe you'll never need to use one, but when you do need to use one, you really need to use one!"
Thanks pappy, I love you, -Dave
(above is a little video of my Dad schooling Becky Boo in the fine art of smokin' a sucka! It was on this past Veteran's Day at Four Peaks, Wes, Mary, Steele, Gideon and Mia were there too. It was fuuun!) p.s. Aren't Arizona winters absolutely beautiful? I love the Desert this time of year!!!!



Isn't MiMi so cute with her little ear plugs? I thought this picture of her and her mother was absolutely adorable!

Love,
Dave

It all started with a cough...

Last Wednesday morning I woke up with a cough...you know, the kind that feels like there's something in your throat. Crap. I knew I was getting sick. So Wednesday, Thursday, and into Friday I was coughing, sneezing, and feeling a little feverish. Then Mia started teething again (she already has four teeth, and I think I can see two more coming in on top. Cute little 8 month old, I think she's going for an award.). Needless to say, we all haven't been sleeping good and so we decided to...REDO THE FLOORS IN OUR KITCHEN!!! Isn't that the best idea??!!!? So after the weekly garage sales Saturday morning, Dave started in on the floors. I'll leave all the details out, but let's just say it's Monday afternoon at 2:30 and I'm listening to the buzz of a sander as I'm typing this. Don't ask.
ANYWAY...we're totally exhausted last night going to sleep, and I'm enjoying that Mia is sleeping better and I get a break. Dave and I are laying there holding hands, talking and laughing right before we drift off to sleep. When all of the sudden Dave flicks his hand (the one I'm holding) and goes "Was that a bug, what was that?" Then I feel something on my wrist and jump out of bed while Dave is yelling "Turn on the light! Turn on the light!" I turn on the lamp and to our horror and immediate eebie-jibbies, we saw a bug slithering around the bed BY OUR HEADS that looked something like this:
OH MY GOSH...we're both totally grossed out and start itching all over. We pull all the bedding off and look all over the room to see where this little pest decided to come from. Then the imaginations start going, and of course we have to say everything out loud. Dave starts talking about the bugs going in our ears, noses, etc. while we're sleeping. We laid there laughing and itching trying to fall asleep for a while. I can't even start to name all the morals to this story, but that's the latest in our adventures.
p.s.-are you itching yet?

Halloween 2008

For Halloween Mia was a little Chick-literally and figuratively:). She was a typical kid, screaming every time we put her in her costume, but she did great for the rest of the time. (p.s.-for those of you that have been asking, yes this is one of the chairs I redid from DI. I will never recover chairs again.)

Dave had his Bruce Lee fix for Halloween-good thing I kept my Flapper wig from Halloween '01.

Yummy. Yeah-I can't resist. These are Dave's karate pants from before his mission. They are a size 28 and they wouldn't lace up, but he squeezed them on for that night and actually wore them out. It was so freakin hilarious, it felt great to laugh really hard. I love you, Dave.

Okay...he really wanted to be Tom Cruise from Risky Business, but I just couldn't be seen with him at a church function this way. So I made sure to put it on the worldwide web instead.??!!? Hey-it gave me a laugh especially because I didn't know what he was up to so quiet in the bedroom putting this together.

Pumpkin patch-well sort of

Dave, Mia, and I went to Schnepf Farms on Thursday to experience a real Fall pumpkin patch. Mia loved it-she thought the traveling performer and dog show from San Francisco was interesting, a little desperate, and sort of sad. This guy had some fun tricks, but his props were sub-par and I guess dropping his flaming sticks while juggling wasn't in his routine necessarily. We started sweating a few minutes later on our way to the pig races in the 95 degree heat, and found a scrap of shade to sit under while we watched the pigs and goats race around an old track yelling "suuu-weee!" From there we headed over to the petting zoo that had "germ" signs posted all over it, so we cautiously walked Mia through for experience sake and noticed that she was ready to fall asleep, so we hurried over to the "pumpkin patch." There were hardly any pumpkins there (take a look at the background of Mia's pumpkin picture), so we gathered a few together for a photo-op with Mimi and took a few pics while she was falling asleep. Oh well, I guess this isn't Roloff Farms in Oregon, it's Arizona.

The glamorous life of a Stay-at-home Mom

Every morning I awake with renewed vigor to workout, cook amazing award winning meals, clean the house top to bottom, look extra hot for my husband (i.e. take a shower), feed the hungry, volunteer, help a friend in need, and basically be a model citizen. However my glamorous life somehow takes a turn for the worse everyday without fail. Instead of the above mentioned intentions, my day usually turns into something like this:
1. Wake up to Mia crying or goofing around in her crib and me not being able to move because I didn't get uninterrupted sleep.
2. Working out gets pushed to the "later today" category that usually gets pushed to the "I'll do it tomorrow category."
3. Cooking turns into whatever's easiest/fastest between "Mia neediness."
4. Cleaning the house usually turns into a little here/a little there and never quite comes all together so that I have an impeccable house.
5. I have intentions of looking extra cute for Dave when he gets home, but he usually arrives right when I'm all sweaty from cleaning or I have Mia spit up/drool/pee/poop somewhere lingering on me. I never thought I'd look like this.
So you can guess by now that feeding the hungry, volunteering, helping anyone, or being a model citizen are out the window. G-l-a-m-o-r-ous I tell you.

Little Pieces of Heaven on Earth

So lately I've been enjoying little glimpses of heaven on earth and thought I'd share a few...

Dave's delish shakes whenever I request them. They are WAY better than those $7 ones at Cheesecake Factory.

Mia finally holding her own bottle. Parents, you know what I'm talkin' bout.

My ninja husband karate kicking my college armoire to shreds to make room for my $15 garage sale dresser find. (Note the well-fed tummy...say what???!!?)

For all these and more, I'm truly thankful. I don't think life can get much better...ever.

Mimi's 1st Art Show -SLC Oct. 10th, 2008

*
*
*

On Oct. 10th, 2008, Me, Beckster, and Mimi flew up to Salt Lake City, Ut., for my buddy Jon Baker's 1st exclusive showing of his work, at the Momentum Cafe. Jon is not only one of my bestest hommies, he is also a very capable,


up and coming Low-Brow artist. As you can see from his work, it will trip you out (with or without ingesting additional chemicals/stimulants)!!! Needless to say, we had a blast! We ran into the Chris, Beth, and Baby Sophia (Don't mess with me, my Daddy's a lawyer and will Sue your butt), Jones Family


(C., is my hommie, and whether he admits it or not one of my best friends), The Holly and Quinton "I'm going to Austraila in a month" McKell's,


and the possibly Soon to be Dave and Allie Allen Family (Ooh Hoo Hoo)!!!?! It was cool, the Momentum Cafe, (where the show was held), is inside of REI- and therein one could find an indoor rock climbing gym, with coffee shop babes serving raspberry hot chocolate (heaven) and everything!! Also featured that evening was a band - we were hoping they would be a screamo band influenced by devo and metallica (for mocking/comedy/entertainment purposes), but we had no such luck...they were actually a good band!! Before the show, Me, Becks and Mia went to Temple Square and met some


sweet sisters from Philippines, and New Zealand, and we took a tour of the Conference Center...maybe our little Mimi will go on a mission someday!!
We also got to stop in to see Robster and Kaelene family, sans Bobby Boy, but we saw all of the nieces and nephews, so that was cool.

One thing that we will have to say, is that although we had fun in Utah, we felt this eerie vibe there (not cool), and we were very irritated with all of the greedy drivers, I mean, that place spooked us out! Needless to say, we were glad to be the heck out of that state and proud to be living in AZ!! Does anyone out there know what I'm talking about? I don't mean to offend anyone from Utah, but if I did... (I'm actually not really too worried about it, because there isn't anyone from Utah that can kick my butt).

We love you all,

Love, Dave, Beck, and Mimi

p.s. The first painting of the guy and the girl, is a painting that Jon made for us as our wedding present. Thanks Jon!!! We love you...and keep killing it, bro!!! xoxo-Dave, Becky, and Baby Mia

Angela Made it to Med-School!! -Tulane, Look Out!!

You go girl!! The Tulane School of Medicine is about to get schooled!! Angela is my O-chem partner in crime, and close friend, and she has the coolest family!! There are many a fond memory with the Filhart Family and Mitchell Family Holiday Get-togethers! We Love You All!!! Give 'em Heck, Angela!!! Dave, Becky, and Baby Mia, and all of the Filhart's send you our Love, Luck, Good Vibes, and Kisses!!! xoxo ;)

Two Roads

With 12 weeks to go until Dave takes the MCAT, we can now register for the test. Dave gets major anxiety with this whole thing, so he comes and plops down on the couch tonight after I put Mia to bed and sighs a big sigh. I look over at him and he says "Well this is it. This is the deciding factor. I'll either be playing golf with the Senator or hanging at the bowling alley on Friday nights. " I am completely confused as I am sitting looking at my disgusting outfit that is covered in Mia-ness (i.e. rice crackers, baby food, slobber, and who knows what else) thinking "Oh crap, he's been talking for a long time and I had no idea he was even in here. I'm exhausted." I then ask him what the heck he's talking about and he mentions the MCAT and how our lives will hopefully be changing in the next few years. I just thought it was so adorable how his mind works and how he expresses himself. I feel so lucky to married to a great guy that is fun, lively, and tries to make me smile and laugh everyday. I love you sweetie, you're going to do AMAZING on the test!!! I know you can do it!

Love it

As many of you know, we are the poor not-so-newlyweds trying to make it. While Dave is studying for the MCAT, we are just trying to make our dollars stretch until we can move onto bigger and better things in life. So I caught the garage sale fever with my cousin Becca this weekend, and let me tell you...you can be DIRT POOR and still live very nice...if you are willing to be creative, patient, and diligent in your bargain hunting. We went out to some community garage sales in very affluent areas of town this past Saturday (thanks to Daddy watching Mia until noon so that I could go...isn't he the BEST!!!??!!!). Here's the proof that for almost nothing, you can really get something!
Babytrend jogger stroller (barely used, WITH swivel front wheel) $15
Kolcraft Umbrella Stroller $3
Leap Frog Learning Drum $.50
Playschool Bus $1.00
Six Drawer Wood Dresser w/ new Hardware $15 (I will have to restain it)
8 Brand New gorgeous outfits for Mimi $5

So I paid less than $40 for all of this!! I did some research and found that I would have paid somewhere in the area of $500-$600 (With $300 for the dresser alone)!!! AND I am selling my old washer and dryer for $50, so it looks like I'll have $10 left over to spend on the next sale.
LESSON? You can be dirt poor, and still be very happy (with a GORGEOUS daughter and HOT husband) with a beautiful cozy home...while still living within your means. Love it!
(p.s. Thanks Becca for letting me tag along for shopping! You and your momma are the queens!!)

Get Inspired

So this morning I got serious. Real serious. I committed to run this freaking 1/2 marathon in February, and let me tell you...I am not cut out for this stuff. Imagine a chubby almost 30 year old girl trying to be an athlete when she just had a kid, and yes still LOOKS like she just had a kid for crying out loud, even though Mia is already 7 months old. (Yeah, I know J Lo. just did a triathlon and she had TWINS the same time I had Mia, so what). So Dave agreed to be supportive and do some of the workout/eating with me. Soooo we got up early this morning and went to hike A Mountain.
The weather switch finally flipped here, so the morning was gorgeous and it felt great to be out. We started up the mountain with me in the front and Dave carrying little Mimi in the bjorn. We started passing a bunch of ASU athletes running down the mountain and I immediately start thinking, yeah, that will never be me, uuuggghhh! Then we pass another group of athletes, and I catch a glimpse of one actually wearing a shirt...but he had his tighty blackies on. (Yes, like tighty whities, but they were black). Who knows, maybe the poor guy got up late and didn't want to get in trouble for being 3 seconds late for putting on a pair of shorts. So I forge ahead and about 1 minute later I see a guy with one leg and crutches coming down the mountain. It was actually Anthony Robles from the ASU Wrestling team.













He was so nice, and Dave stopped to talk to him for a minute. Dave knew him from Golden's Gym back in the day. He is totally inspiring. He can finish a mile in 8 minutes (with a goal to get it under 6 minutes), was undefeated in high school at Mesa High for wrestling, and he currently gives guys a run for their money in the college wrestling circuit. I included a link with some stories on him...he totally motivated me and heck...it's only 13 miles for the 1/2 marathon...I can do it!

Check him out at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3159645

SPEARHEAD!!!

For Dave's birthday we went to Sedona and Flagstaff last weekend. Although we didn't run into McCain or Palin rehearsing for upcoming debates, it was still worth the trip. He said it was one of his life goals to see Michael Franti and Spearhead in concert. We saw him in Vegas at a Reggae Festival two summers ago, so I don't know why this is still a life goal of his, but oh well. So in true Dave fashion, we had to make a whole trip of it. Wes, Mary and the boys joined us in Sedona (where Dave hooked up a $400/night condo for $75!!!!) for a couple of nights, then we all went to Flagstaff for the concert. It was so much fun, awesome weather, and the kids were all troopers. The concert was fantastic with tons of kids and families, and hippies of course. Power to the peaceful...

Just for fun

Here are a few recent pics of our Mia just goofing around the house.

Our little one is growin' up

The middle of August brought a huge surprise...teeth! We were at church and Dave was watching Mia during Sunday School. The second counselor came over and looked at Mia and said "My, teeth already?" Of course Dave replied.."No, not yet, she's only 5 months old." However, upon further investigation, yep...there were two little teeth coming up right behind her bottom gums. Yikes. These are the best shots I could get. You might have to look close. Needless to say, nursing hasn't been the same. Let's just say that Mia and her mom are really learning to communicate these days.

Mia and her Ninja Moves

Okay...I know. I've been a bad blogger. I can tell you plenty of excuses, but I'll save it and just update for now and call it good.
Here's Mia with her cousin Katy and friend Ty in Texas. I think she got her fighting talent from her Dad. Just wish I would have caught this on video.

Blast from the past!!

My homegirl Holly emailed me this one from back in the day when I used to time-travel, ...this one is from back in '78

Just to make your day

Ahhh. There are so many joys of marriage. We'll just name this one for now. So the other day I was cleaning and sorting around the house and I hear Dave in the other room going "Hhealow. Haloo. Heelluo." (Or something to that effect). I stop in the doorway expecting to see him on the phone with someone, but he's just sitting on the couch in the family room with not even the t.v. on. So I ask him what he's doing and he says "I'm practicing my new way of answering the phone." Hum. (For those of you who've called in the last week or so, you know what I'm talking about). I asked him why and he said, "Oh just to make people smile I guess." Oh the effort...

Come on, Mia

So every new parent feels the pain of sleep deprivation. You never know when you're going to get it...and you definitely DON'T get it when you want it. So Mia has determined her own schedule-and what Mia wants, Mia gets. (For now anyway). So she likes to sleep in...big time. Usually at least until 9:oo or 10:00, and sometimes until 11:00. Now this is frustrating for a few reasons.
1. She likes to wake up for a early morning snack way before I'm ready to get up, so I just pull her into bed with us and coax her back to sleep while she nurses. She usually goofs around, talks, babbles, and razzes (that wet hissing noise). She will then proceed to hit, bump, and kick me as I'm trying desperately to get a few more seconds of sleep in. Mia-1 Mommy-0
2. Right around the time I finally give up on anymore sleep and start to wake up and get going with the day, she inevitably decides to fall back asleep. Mia-2 Mommy-0
3. Now I'm lying awake in bed with Dave snoring and Mia pressed right up against me passed out. The room is blazing hot (our bedroom is on the East side of the house) and I'm annoyed. Mia (and Dave for that matter)-3 Mommy-still 0
4. I am now up and going, but several of my friends like to do stuff in the morning...but when I wake Mia up to go and meet up, she usually doesn't take a nap. So do I go have fun and sacrifice any time to get stuff done around my house, or just let her sleep? Mia-4 Mommy-0
Who's in charge around here?