Daddy Daughter Campout

On Friday night, our church ward had their annual Daddy-Daughter Camp out.  This is something that Cameron really looks forward to every year, and Miley loves doing.  We actually had her cousins staying with us this year, before driving their oldest daughter out to college.  She loves being around these cousins, so we gave her the option if she wanted to stay home and play with them, or go to the camp out.  She said "I want to go to the camp out because I am so excited to have some Daddy and Miley time."  I thought it was so cute that she was so excited to go spend the time with her dad.

Obviously, I wasn't there, but from what I hear there were s'mores, playing and chasing "ghosts" with other girls, and staying up till 11:00 pm.  Definitely sounds like a party!  I know Cameron and Miley both had a great time, and the location looks BEAUTIFUL!

Staying up till 11:00 pm will definitely take a toll, and it showed the next day.  Our spunky girl, who has not napped in a LONG time, fell asleep right in the middle of the living room floor.  Definitely a sign of fun times.  

I love this little tradition, and I can't wait for next year, and for Landon to have his turn at the Father Son Camp out!

Preschool Reunion

Today we were able to get together for one last hurrah with our preschool buddies from this last year.  A sweet mother of one of Miley's classmates planned a park playdate and ice cream party for the kids.  Both of their preschool teachers came, too.  It was really fun to get to see everyone.  Miley really loves all these kids, and surprisingly enough will not be in kindergarten with a single one of them this year, which is kind of sad.  Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch and see them in the future!

 

Sitting Pretty

A few days ago, Cameron and Miley were enjoying some time outside.  Cam was so great and thought to take some pictures with the real camera (something I have been not so great at lately!), and I just love how perfectly these show Miley's personality.  Girly girl through and through from the dress, to the crown, and loving to pose for the camera.  I can't believe how old she is looking!

Summer Snapshots

Summer is rapidly approaching its end, and I can't even believe what  terrible blogger I have been for the past few months.  I am caught up on most of the big stuff, but I have really been awful about posting the little everyday things.  This post is my catch all for that, so bear with me!

Our summer has been incredibly busy with traveling, and lots of family in town.  In between that, though, we have been hopping!  Miley has been in swimming and dance most of the summer.  Her swimming has really improved.  the difference between the beginning of the summer and now is incredible.  We were lucky enough to have a few of her sessions with our good friends, the Cunninghams.  It was completely by coincidence that they ended up in the same class, but I loved that Miley had some friends there, and we loved being able to hang out before their big move to Canada.

I didn't get any pictures of Miley doing her dance things this summer, but she loved it!  She ended up making a little pre-competition team for this next year, so that will be quite the adventure.

In between all the family time and the activities we have been spending a lot of time with friends...neighbor friends, preschool friends, and friends that were here for the summer for an internship.

Miley is at the age where she doesn't take naps, but she will usually have some kind of quiet time while Landon is having his afternoon nap.  I have been trying to fill the time with coloring, some crafts, and reading lessons.  

Like swimming, Miley's reading has really taken off this summer.  With the hope of having her a little prepared for kindergarten, I bought a book called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" (thanks to a recommendation by my friend Becca) and it has been so helpful.  As of today, we are on lesson 87 out of 100.  It is fun to have the one on one time with her every day and to actually see her recognizing words.

Miley did another little Kids Camp with the girls from our church that she had attended with her cousins.  Her cousins weren't here for the last one, but Miley still had a ball.  Hey, anytime there are princess dresses around, she is in heaven!

Landon is just my little buddy these days.  I seriously cannot get enough of his killer smile, as you can tell from all the pictures!  And you gotta love little white trash babies running around in diapers outside!

Of course, in between all this we have a had a LITTLE bit of time to relax and just hang out with our little family.

The summer has flown by, and while I am sad that the time went too quickly, I am also looking forward to the fall and having a more established routine.  I just hope that the warm weather sticks around for a while!

Cousin Piercing Party!

Technically, this took place while Rachel was still here (I summed up the rest of her trip here, here, and here), but I thought this deserved a post of its own!

Miley got her ears pierced!  It was a little bit of a spontaneous decision, but we have been thinking about doing it for some time now.  Miley has been asking for earrings since she was about two (seriously).  Last year, when she was four, I made a deal with her that if she stopped sucking her two fingers, I would let her get her ears pierced.  Much to my surprise, she stopped immediately (I actually remember my parents making the same deal with me when I used to suck my thumb...they probably don't remember that, but I do.  I just wasn't as good as Miley and I didn't do it!  They must have known they would get me on that one... ).  But when I asked her about piercing her ear, she said maybe she would wait till she was older.  I didn't want to push her to do it, so I just let it go.

So, while Rachel was in town, I randomly asked her one day what age she wanted Hailey to be before she pierced her ears.  She didn't really care, and through talking about it some more, we thought it would be fun to ask the girls if they wanted to get it done together while they were in town.  We asked them that day, and gave them a couple of days to think about it, and they really wanted to do it!

On Friday, August 2nd, Cindy was kind enough to come over with a couple of her kids to watch the 3 younger boys while we took the girls to get their ears pierced.  Kayla came with us, which made it a fun, girl cousin outing.  :)  Both girls were a little nervous, but Miley didn't hesitate to be the first one to jump up in the chair.  She had Kayla hold her hand, and didn't shed a tear.

Hailey went next, and also no tears.  The girls were so excited when they were both done.  It was so cute, and we think it is so fun that they were able to do this big thing together.

Since they were so brave, we took them out for cupcakes afterwards.  Such cute girls!

It was a fun way to end a great week with Rachel!