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