4th of July Festivities

For the 4th of July this year, we were definitely low-key.  The fact that it was 100 + degrees with the heat index didn't make it very enticing to go anywhere too far from home.  It was nice to have a day to just relax though, and enjoy being with each other.

As if I haven't mentioned it 400 other times in previous blog posts, we are so lucky to have the coolest neighbors ever.  So it was no surprise that we spent the evening at one of our neighbors house (inside for most of the time, unfortunately, due to the heat!).  It was great to be with good friends, have good food, and celebrate this wonderful country that we live in!

We were able to go outside for a few minutes to let the kids play with some snappers that Cameron and I had brought over.  Some of the smaller kids (and the moms!) decided to stay inside and let the guys take care of the kids outside.  They were all heading back into the air conditioning after not too long!

We all braved the heat for a few minutes as we made our way home, stopping every couple of houses to let kids play.  All in all, it was a great evening!  We didn't think we were going to see nay fireworks, as our kids are still a little young to keep up and make the trek into Minneapolis to see them, but as a pleasant surprise, some other families in our neighborhood had quite the fireworks show!  We woke Miley up and let her watch them from the comfort of our office.  Can't complain about that.  Maybe next year we will do some of our own...  :)

My Little Firecrackers

Happy 4th of July!

Miley's 4 Year Stats

With the fun of birthdays comes along the not-so-fun well child visits.  Miley has managed to stay pretty healthy for the past year, so actually is not that afraid of doctors anymore.  That, coupled with the fact that Doc McStuffins on the Disney channel is one of her favorite shows right now, made this a pretty easy check-up.

Here are Miley's 4-year stats:

Height:  38 1/4 inches - 20.15 %

Weight:  32 1/2 pounds - 29.21 %

BMI:  15.62 - 59.77 %

At the check up she got her eyes and ears checked, and everything looked good there.  Overall, she is doing great!  

Unfortunately, she had to get 4 shots.  These are the shots she needs before kindergarten, so we could have waited another year, but my doctor recommended just getting them over this year so she wouldn't know they were coming next year.  She was really brave, and didn't cry during any of them.

Poor girl that night though had a fever of 102-103, and threw up.  I am sure it was from the shots, but she was 100% better the next morning, besides just having sore legs.

We are happy to have this behind us, now let's just hope for another healthy year!

  

27???

Yup.  That's how old I am.  Can I go back to 25?

No really, I don't mind the sound of 27.  I think it's going to be a good year.  :)

Due to all the celebrations of Miley's birthday a few days prior, Cameron being in school on Monday and Wednesday nights, playing softball on Thursday, and golf on Friday, we didn't have too much of a chance to celebrate my birthday, but that is fine with me.  We got to open presents as a family, and go out for frozen yogurt, which is just what I wanted!  I definitely got spoiled this year...I lucked out with a new Coach purse, some Toms wedges, new Nike Free running shoes, some Under Armour running shirts, a Gap shirt, some iTunes gift cards, and some money.  I was so excited by all of my new goodies!

Even though my birthday was pretty low key, I did get to go out to a Twins game with three of the girls from my neighborhood.  I love these ladies!

Here's to 27!  Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Happy Birthday to Miley (Part 2)!

Even though we celebrated a lot on Miley's actual birthday, we wanted to have a little get together with our neighbors to celebrate as well.  We have been so blessed to have the most wonderful families as our neighbors.  I truly consider them to be my best friends up here, and I know Miley feels the same way about their kids.

So, on Saturday, we hosted a little get together to have lunch and just to have an excuse to hang out and let kids play together.  I am definitely not my sister when it comes to cakes, so we let Miley pick out a cake at Target...it was actually really cute and just the right size, and she seemed excited enough...

Our friends came over for a lunch of pizza, veggies, and watermelon, and the kids immediately got to playing and the adults for to visiting.  The guys were hooping to play some bocce ball, but that came to a halt when all the kids started interfering, so they were resigned to visiting like the rest of us!

Despite a specific request in the invitation to not bring gifts, all of our neighbors showed up with presents for Miley anyway.  She was so excited to get a new Fancy Nancy book, a Merida doll from "Brave" (kind of perfect, considering that is what we did on her birthday!), and a little Merida doll and a coloring set.  After opening presents, we brought out the cake.  Now for the past two years, Miley has cried when everyone starts singing Happy Birthday to her.  We thought this year she would love being the center of attention and not even think twice about it.  However, she still hid behind dad during the song.  No tears though, so I guess that is progress, right?

After cake, we just let the kids run around and play some more.  Everyone started making their way home at about 2:30 or 3:00...we couldn't believe how fast the time went!  It was such a fun way to spend  Saturday, and we are so glad that we were able to celebrate Miley's birthday with such fun people!

Happy Birthday to Miley (Part 1)!

Can't believe I am saying that Miley is FOUR!  We had lots of birthday fun this year.  First with Grammy and Poppa, then today, on her actual birthday we let her choose what she wanted to do.

*Warning*  Picture overload in this post!

Miley invited one of her favorite friends, Kayla, over to have lunch and to go watch the new Disney movie, "Brave," with us.  Since the day was all about Miley, we let her pick out what she wanted to have for lunch, and she chose macaroni and cheese, applesauce, and juice.  We let the kids eat, play around for a little while, and the open Miley's present from Kayla - some My Little Ponies!

After, we let each girl have a cupcake before we left for the movie.  During the movie, both girls seemed to be a little scared but afterwards, they said they loved it, so I guess we can count that as a success??

That evening, we let Miley choose where to go for dinner and she decided she wanted Taco Bell (fancy, right?).  After dinner we came home, and Miley opened presents from family.  She was thrilled with all of her new goodies - a Rapunzel doll, clothes, a doctor kit, some play food for her kitchen, a LeapFrog Scribble Writer, a princess game for her Leapster Explorer, and some money.  She and Landon didn't waste any time playing with all of the new stuff!

It was a perfect day.  Miley got to have some fun with a friend, but we got to have a nice, relaxing evening with our family.  I don't think we could have asked for a better day, or a better 4 year old, for the matter!  Happy birthday to Miley!

Stay tuned for part 2!