Wheee! Miley's Three!

Three??  Seriously?  How is it that Miley is already three?  Well, I guess if you know her you know that she totally SCREAMS "three"...at least in attitude.  :)

I now have a full blown "kid" on my hands.  I feel like 3 is the line between toddler and kid, and we just crossed it.  It is a little bittersweet.  Sweet, because I love how fun Miley is right now.  She says so many funny things, she is much more independant, and is really my little buddy.  But bitter because I miss the little baby.

Since we did her small party on Saturday, we kept today even more low key.  Unfortunately, it was kind of a cool, rainy day so we didn't get to spend any time outside on the trike or anything, but we still had some fun this evening as a family.  When we asked Miley what she wanted for dinner tonight, she decided on McDonald's (ummmm...OK?  Hopefully her tastes change in the near future and we can have some better birthday dinners!).  So Cameron and I got some McDonald's for her, then went to 5 Guys to get ourselves some dinner.  Afterwards, we took her out for some ice cream at Coldstone.

"Ummm...hello guys?  Where is my ice cream??"

Once we were done with that, we got to come home and open presents!  Miley has been chomping at the bit to open these all day, and ripped through them so fast that I couldn't even catch it on camera...but we did get some shots of her after!  Thank you to all of our family...you all were so kind and generous!

I wish time would slow down and Miley would just stay little forever (just you know, maybe fully potty trained and such).  :) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILEY!  We love you so much and can't imagine what life would be like without you!

Bon Voyage!

This weekend was sad, because it was the last weekend we got to spend with the Minnesota Clark Clan 1.0 before they made the big move to India.  We made sure to steal them every moment we could, so that Miley could enjoy all the time she had left with her cousins, and so we could hang out with them, since we won't get to see them for two whole years!

On Friday, we met at their hotel (they sold their house, and moved into a hotel for the week before they left) and went out to Famous Dave's for dinner.  The older two kids, Kayla and Collin, were out with friends, so we had a little bit smaller of a group, but had lots of fun.  I think Don and Cindy were savoring every bite of beef since that is going to be a hard find over in India!

On Saturday, we got to spend the evening with them celebrating Miley's birthday (see post below).  I am so glad that the timing worked out so we were able to do this.  Miley would have been devastated if she hadn't been able to have her cousins with her for her birthday (techincally, they won't be here for her real birthday, but she was so excited to have a little party with them beforehand!).

Since Sunday was Father's Day, we had them over for dinner, and I took on the dinner for everyone.  We had taco stackers, and I made an angel lush cake for dessert.  We spent the evening Skyping with some family members, for them to be able to say good-bye (and Don and Cameron were also very caught up watching the PGA).  It was fun to be able to celebrate Father's Day with them, but sad that it was their last night. 

I think they were all a little worn out after their long week of packing and saying goodbyes to friends!

Nathan didn't get too much of a break with Miley around though!

Cameron had to go with them and do some car duties that night, and had to say his good-byes since he had work the next day.  Fortunately, they didn't leave till about 11:00 am this morning, so I was able to take Miley and Landon over to their hotel and say good-bye.

We are so sad to see them go.  Cameron and I moved up here three and a half weeks after getting married, and they totally took us under their wing and have really taken care of us for the past four years.  We have done holidays, weekly dinners, road trips, birthdays, and double dates with them.  They have been there through three moves and two babies.  Don picked Cameron up for work every day when he worked at Target for two and a half years, and never expected anything in return.  I can't even count how many times they have baby-sat for us so we could go out, and can't even begin to calculate how much money that has saved us.  We have sat together in church every week for four years.  We have been to their kids baseball games, soccer games, musicals, dance recitals, and award ceremonies.  Miley would rather be with those kids than anyone (and that is including Cameron and me!).  I definitely feel a little empty with them gone. 

But, we are SOOO excited for them and their adventures.  They are going to get to travel to so many fun places, and it is going to be the experience of a lifetime.  It is probably going to be good for us, too, as we learn to do some new things on our own (anyone want to come for Thanksgiving this year, when I try to make my first turkey?!).  But we certainly hope these next two years go by quickly so they can be back here again!

Bon Voyage, Don, Cindy, Kayla, Collin, Nathan, and Ben!  We will miss you guys like crazy and are looking forward to our weekly Skype dates!

A Birthday Celebration

Miley's 3rd bithday is coming up on the 22nd, but we wanted to do a little celebration with her cousins before they left for India, so we had a little party today.

Miley helped me make cupcakes in the morning to get ready... 

We kept her party super low key.  We were trying to spend a lot of time with Don and Cindy and their family this weekend, so we just had them over for some pizza, watermelon and cupcakes.  Miley was thrilled just to have them there. 

Waiting for her cousins to show up...

We are going to have her open most of her presents on her actual birthday, but we thought we would let her open a couple at her party.  She got a cute dress, and a skirt/jacket set from Grammy and Papa (and somehow I got pictures of her opening the present, but not the actual present?!)...

...and Cameron and I gave her a trike (Funny story...a lot of you may remember that we got this trike for her about a year and a half ago.  Well, she was WAY too small for it then, so we hid it away, and pulled it out again for her birthday this year!  Ha ha!  Kind of lame, but she honestly didn't remember that we had it!).  She LOVED her trike, and it fit her perfectly this time.  :)  She picked up how to ride it right away, and totally has the hang of pedaling and steering.

Covering her eyes while we brought it out...

Miley had been so excited for the cupcakes all day, and was practically bouncing out of her seat when we lit the candles.  But then when we all started singing she covered her face and looked like she was about to cry (I guess it is an improvement from  last year when she really did cry the whole time we were singing!).  But once all of that was done, she didn't waste any time digging into a cupcake!

We spent a little time playing some games with cousins...

...and then the family had to head out to say some goodbyes to friends.  Like I said, a very low key celebration, but Miley was so happy to have her cousins around and have her cupcakes and a couple presents.  Think that will fly in a couple more years?  :)

I can't believe that Miley is *almost* 3!

4 Months Old!

Landon is 4 months old today!  I can hardly believe it.  It is so true what they say...the time seems to go so much faster with your second kid.

So what has Landon been up to?

• He gave me about 4 days straight of basically sleeping through the night (and I am not talking about the 5-hour time span that is "technically" considered sleeping through the night...who came up with that one anyway?!).  He would sleep from about 7 pm, till 5 am.  Wow!  However, he is now sleeping worse than ever.  He has been waking up every couple hours, and wake up at about 5:30 am for the morning.  This mama is feeling a little sleep deprived.
• He loves doing the "Happy Baby Pose." 

• The debate is still out on thumb sucking vs. pacifier.  Part of the time he only wants his pacifier.  Another part he wants nothing to do with it OR his thumb.  The other part he will spit out his pacifer and pop that thumb in his mouth.  
• He is SUPER ticklish.  It is pretty much a guarantee laugh out of him if you tickle his belly, his neck, or his armpits.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

• He is starting to get on some sort of nap schedule.  I feel like it should be a little better at this point, but I don't really know when babies really start having a solid schedule.  He will take a short morning nap around 9:00 or 9:30 am, and afternoon nap sometime between 12:00 and 1:00pm, and an evening nap sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 pm.  However, they are only lasting about half an hour.  I think part of the problem is that he is still in our room, and we sometimes have to come in and out, and I think that may occasionally disturb him.  I am eager to get him in his own room once we move into the house! 
• He tuckers out for the night between 6:00 and 7:00 pm.  If we try to go past that 7:00 mark, it is almost a sure bet that he is out, wherever we may be.

• He has rolled over a couple of times, both from front to back and back to front.  But he hates tummy time, and we can't seem to get him to do it more.  He seems like he will be doing it more often soon, as he is often rolling over onto his side.
• He loves his Lamaze elephant toy.
• He is starting to chew on everything...his toys, blankets, my hand. 
• Landon rarely cries.  Usually only when he is tired or hungry.  Seriously...he is such a happy baby.
• He is getting more and more curious everyday.  He loves to be upright, and his eyes get huge while he is looking at everything around him.
• He loves to "stand."

Our family has been so blessed to have this sweet baby.  We feel so lucky everyday to have him, and while these four months have gone by too fast, it also seems like he has been here forever.  We sure love little Landon.

We have his 4-month well child visit on the 24th, so I will update with his stats then.