Miley's Birthday Celebrations

We started out celebrating Miley's birthday at Yuba Lake.  Since we were there the morning of her birthday, we put balloons in her room the morning before her birthday.  We didn't get a picture of it but she liked them after she had a few minutes to warm up to them.  It is a good thing she has sisters to show her that she should be excited for those types of things.

We sang to her when we had breakfast at Yuba and she had no idea what was going on, as most two year olds don't.  When we got back from camping we got ready to have my siblings over for cake and ice cream and my parents joined us via FaceTime to watch her open her presents. Miley had LOTS of helpers to open her gifts, it was a little chaotic.

We hope you had a great birthday, Miley! We really love you!

Yuba Lake

Todd has been wanting to go camping for a while but we have had a hard time making it happen.  I thought that if we were going to do it this year we needed to do it before I got too big and it got too hot.  We took our little family down to Yuba Lake for the night and we all had a good time.  We realized that we are amateur campers, mostly me, because I forgot a bunch of things that we needed but it was still a fun experience.

It was less than a two hour drive but all of the girls look forward to being able to watch movies when we go on road trips so we didn't want to disappoint them!

Emma and Katelyn loved playing in the lake when we were at Yuba last year, so they couldn't wait to get down there.  They walked back and forth from our camp site to the lake while we attempted to get dinner going and our tent set up.  

Miley preferred to sit  in the shade and eat while she was waiting for the rest of her dinner.  This girl loves her food.

Katelyn knows how to camp in style.  We don't do anything at our house, unless it can be done in a dress.

I was checking on the dinner and Todd was finishing up with the tent and then we looked over to see that Miley had gotten into the ketchup.  She is always keeping us on our toes!

Emma was probably the most excited for it to get dark.  She was so excited to be able to see the stars!  They are always easier to see when you are in the middle of nowhere, especially for our girls.  It was fun to see them get so excited about it.  Sleeping went better than we expected it to.  Todd and I must have fallen asleep before Miley because she woke me up at about 12:30 saying "Mommy, Miley's crib?" She finally fell back asleep in Todd's sleeping bag and the rest of the night went great!

Surprisingly, I was the only one that woke up when the sun came up so I took pictures of everyone else sleeping while I was waiting for them to wake up.

After breakfast we all headed down to the lake and spent the rest of the morning playing!  It was fun to be out with our little family! Todd and the girls love to go out on the raft.  One of our better $17 purchases.

Again, Miley decided to stay back with me and sit in the shade and eat treats.

Todd is such a fun Dad!  All three of the girls just really love to be with him.  He is always finding little ways to make everything that much more fun for them!

We had grand plans for our sand castle but Miley was knocking our towers down faster than we could build them, so we decided to just quit while we still had something standing.

It was a fun night away and we all had a great time.  Camping is a lot of work, but it was worth it!

Emma Graduation and Dance Recitals

At the beginning of June, Emma had her second preschool graduation.  She has been going to Miss Kelley since she turned three so it will be weird for her to not go back next year.  She had fun at their program and loved that Dad got to come again!

Katelyn was having her last day of school party next door with Miss Lacie.  She had a great first year of school and can't wait to go back next year!

On the 13th of June, Emma and Katelyn had their year end recital.  They always love when they get to put on their fancy costumes and perform on the big stage! Kimberly and Jace were so nice to come sit through the whole thing so the girls could have fans in the audience! Of course their favorite part was getting flowers from their Dad when it was all over.  They are such girly-girls!

It was a great year in dance, Emma improved so much and Katelyn was just the cutest thing to watch twirling around every week.  

Miley is 2!!

Today, Miley turns 2! She is such a fun, happy, energetic little girl.  We just love her so much.  It has been a little weird for me to not already have a newborn by this time so she probably gets treated more like a baby than her sisters did at this age but I really love it!

She is 100% a momma's girl.  She loves to be next to me, and talk to me, and cuddle with me, and yell "mommy" all day and I think it is the greatest.  She loves to play with Todd when he gets home from work but if she is sad or needs something she almost always comes to me.

Miley has finally decided that talking is something that will be helpful in life.  Over the last month or so she has started talking so much and it is really fun to hear her cute little voice.  She is the best at asking for treats, candy, ice cream, and juice, so basically all of life's necessities. Besides sugar, Miley's favorite foods are fruit snacks, any fruit, yogurt, and cheese.

She lost interest in her binky about three months ago so that has been a really nice thing for us to not have to deal with.  She had a phase where she was really attached to a pink stuffed bunny that played music but now just mostly just needs her blanket and a book to sleep with.  We have to make sure it is not a library book, because sometimes they have seen better days by the time she is done with them.

Miley loves anything that has to do with technology.  She is OBSESSED with phones, especially mine.  She knows how to work my phone better than Katelyn does and can usually get to exactly what she wants.  She loves to "watcha beedio" (watch videos) of herself on my phone and also likes to take about 50 pictures of her feet.  She also loves to listen to music on my phone, but unlike her sisters, she does not really like to listen to princess music.  Everytime i try to take a picture of her with my phone, she either starts whining because she wants to hold it and I won't give it to her, or after she says "cheese" she will yell, "I see it!"

Miley thinks that it is really fun to take her diaper off all of the time.  It is hard to stay mad at her when she looks like this after.  We have tried just about everything to keep it on, having her sleep in footy pajamas, putter her diaper on backwards, duct tape, you name it.  Sometimes they work but if she is really determined, she can still get it off.  She she does she at least yells and tells me "mom, diaper off, naany (naughty)" so I know to come put one back on her before things get too out of hand.

She loves to FaceTime with my parents and that is usually her first request after she wakes up from her nap and has had a snack "call Gam!" she says but she is always looking for my Dad to talk to. Spencer is her current favorite among my siblings.

Miley is fearless, she is always jumping off of something.  She loves to be outside riding her bike or swinging. One of her most commonly used phrases is "need help, swing, hold your hand" because she needs help getting on the swing and feels like she needs to hold my hand to make sure I don't get distracted and start doing something else before she gets on that swing!

She has the best laugh ever.  She laughs at just about everything but will laugh the hardest if she is being tickled or if her sisters are playing with her.  She adores her older sisters but I think she has a special place in her heart for Katelyn.  No one can make Miley happy the way that Katelyn can.

Miley loves to pray before our meals and when she is finished, she ends with the most enthusiastic Amen I have ever heard.  I think she is always just really excited to be able to finally eat, that girl loves her food.

We have loved watching Miley's little personality grow over the last year.  She brings so much into our lives and we can't imagine life without her.  We find ourselves saying things like "gosh, she is the cutest." or "I really just love her so much" or "she is the best ever" multiple times throughout the day, everyday.

We love you so much, Miley! Here is to an amazing 3rd year.