The Thing About Parks....

Last Saturday, we made our first trip to the park of the summer (it is summer, right??)....oh, wait, Brandon just told me it's only spring, that I'm on Spring Break....not Summer Break.....huge bummer! 

The thing about parks is this....
You can't go on rainy days (enough said).
You can't go the day after it's rained....there are puddles at the bottom of the slides and in the rocks by the swings.
You can't go in the winter because everything is buried under the snow.
You can't go in the heat of summer because your poor kids burn their little bottoms and legs on the equipment.
So....there are really only a few days in a year that are really perfect for the park.  They tend to be in March, April, May, and October.
My girls really do love going the park.  Their favorite part is the swings, which totally defeats the purpose of going because I like to take my kids to the park to tire them out, but they absolutely LOVE the activity that makes Brandon and I do all the work...huh, go figure!
Last year, Mylie was too little to go to the park.  She loved every minute of it on Saturday.....have a look for yourself.

Lovin' the slide

Do we dare introduce her to the swings??

As long as the sisters are willing to push her :)

Good Teamwork, girls!

Maysen can do it all by herself this year!!

Wearing out daddy...underdogs take a lot of work

Hope we continue to have nice days like this!

She's One!

Mylie Bear turned one today.  Where did the year go?  This first year was way faster than Myah and Maysen's first year.....no one warned me about that!

We celebrated Mylie's birthday last weekend on Saturday, March 3.  Ironically, I had planned to have her party the weekend before her birthday because my sister was due to have her baby on March 12.  We thought it was going to be less likely for her to have her baby that weekend than the weekend that would be after Mylie's birthday.  As chance would have it, Rooney Jane arrived on Friday, March 2.  We missed having Uncle Ric and Aunt Kiki at the party, but we are so excited to have a new little girl cousin.  She looks a lot like Mylie....almost like twins born a year apart.

The party's theme was Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."  My friend Jennifer's mother-in-law, Cindi, made these adorable cake pops.  I put them on a cake with green frosting to look like a caterpillar crawling through the grass....I think they turned out pretty cute!

Birthday Girl!!

Mylie started with a piece of cake.

Of course she had to test one of the cake pops, too!

Time to get cleaned up.

 She got a lot of wonderful presents.  Her main "toy" present was the Fisher Price ZooTalkers Zoo from Grandma and Grandpa Smith.  Myah and Maysen gave her all of the animals to go with it!

Outfit #2 (after the bath) for opening presents

 

Neighbor friend, William, playing with the Zoo

She also got her very own chair (or Throne) just like her sisters have.  She thinks she's pretty big stuff when she sits in it!

Mylie's favorite part of the whole party was the balloons.....who can blame her?!?! 

Here are a few stats from the past year:

First smile: 5 1/2 weeks
First time rolling over: 4 months 1 week (July 14, 2011)
First time sitting up: 6 months (September 10, 2011)
First Tooth appeared: 6 1/2 months (September 22, 2011--mommy's birthday)
First time crawling: 8 1/2 months (November 13, 2011)
First time clapping: 9 months
First time standing: 9 months (December 17, 2011)
First time walking: 12 months (about a week before your first birthday)

She takes up to 6 steps at a time and does best when she thinks no one is paying attention to her.  Once we make a big deal about it, she drops to the floor to crawl.  She's a little stinker like that!  She also has this very cheesy grin/smile that I hope to share with you soon!

Mylie,
I love you so very much.  My eyes fill with tears as I think about how quickly you are growing up.  Your smile lights up our household from the minute you wake up in the morning until the second you go to sleep at night.  My heart holds so much love for you and your sisters, and I am so happy about the way the three of you love each other.  They want to teach you and help you grow, and the way you look at them lets me know that you think the world of them and you want to be just like them.  I want you to know that you are capable of doing anything you set your heart to.  I will be there for you as your strive for your dreams and I will be there when you might stumble or fall along the way.  There are no words for how much I love you.....and that love is unconditional.  I am so proud to call you mine.
Love,
Mommy

Collectors and A (soon to be) Walker

You may or may not know that B is an avid Basketball Card collector.  He has an entire room in the basement specifically for this hobby.  It needs some TLC to get organized again, but it's there.  He had been talking to the girls about how there is a WNBA--girls professional basketball-- and they were intrigued.  When you grow up as a coach's daughter, it's hard not to get sucked in!  For Valentine's Day, Brandon ordered them a box of WNBA playing cards.  They had a hayday opening up the packs to see what cards they got.  Luckily there was a brand that is kind to people with twins--there are two autographed cards in the box as well as two game-worn jersey cards--one of each of the girls.  Brandon even gave each of them a binder with sheet protectors to keep their cards in.  They take pretty good care of their loot, however, the lucky dogs that they are got the #1 Rookie Card possible (Candace Parker) that values at $100+ so Brandon is taking good care of that one!  Not too bad for a $25 box.

 

The first birthday of my baby is sneaking up on us!  In just 2 1/2 weeks, she'll be one.  AND I think she'll be walking by then also!  Last week, she started pushing around the chairs in our kitchen--the same way my other girls learned to walk.  She's becoming quite the pro.  She'll stand firmly without holding on to anything--then she panics and sits right down.  We'll be working with her, but I know she'll take off one of these days very soon.

 

 

11 months

Mylie VS Alfredo

Alfredo VS Mylie

No worries, mom....nothing a bath can't take care of!

yeah, I'm big!

Squeaky clean

Ready for bed

This girl is going to be 11 months this week!

Daddy Love

Do you know how to spot a good daddy?
Just look for one of these:

Yep!  A Hello Kitty band-aid (or Dora, Princess, Tinkerbell, etc would do just fine also!).  5 years ago, Brandon wouldn't have been caught dead wearing a pretty pink band-aid on his boo-boo, but yesterday, he put one on (choosing it from the drawer on his own).  He says it makes him think about the girls every time he looks at his hand....pretty sweet, huh!

What does the husband/daddy in your life do to make him pretty great??

Girls only...

Reason #8107 it's great to be a mother of girls....dance parties in the kitchen without boys around thinking you've absolutely lost it!  If you get motion sick, you may not want to watch it (though it is short)....mom had to bust a move, too :)  Tip: pause the music in the playlist at the bottom of the page before viewing the video in order to get the full effect.

Playing Catch-up

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted (pretty sure I say that everytime!).  We were very busy over winter break, but we are all back to work/school.
Christmas was so much fun.  Myah and Maysen are really into it now.  Mylie tore some paper and ate it, and played with the boxes. 

Our "big" Christmas gift to the girls was getting their ears pierced.  They had been asking for it for quite sometime and they seriously needed nothing else (not that they needed their ears pierced). 

Maysen Before

Maysen After

Myah Before

Myah After

Is anyone else noticing that the "After" smile isn't as big as the "before" smile?  They are really loving their earrings now, though!  They each also got a new outfit and Myah and Maysen got their own 31 Littles Carry-all bag.

Did I mention that they got matching outfits?  Mylie doesn't know what to think about that--M&M are used to it!!

I took the girls ice skating for the first time over break.  We had a play date with our friend Nate and his mom, Stacy.  It was interesting and right away, I was sort of thinking we wouldn't last long (that it would be too hard for the girls), but they loved it and we were there for about 2 hours.  It was colder inside the Ice Arena than it was outside that day....crazy for Iowa at the end of December!!

Mylie is finding new reasons everyday for why she should love having older sisters.  This might have been one of her favorites--they know where the really good toys (aka-pots and pans) are located and will get out the play food and "cook" with her!

Happy 2012 everyone!