Backyard Fun

We decided to make a tradition of an end of year camp out in the backyard around Labor Day. That way we can have one last camp and get all our gear cleaned really well and put away for the winter properly. So we have fun and check for problems to be taken care of before we put it away for an extended period. We meant to do it labor day weekend but we ended up in Delta instead so we did it Sept 10. The kids loved running around the yard and "helping" Daddy put up the tent. Aaron's got his trusty tools!

We had camp food for dinner and it was easier being in the backyard instead of out in the "wilderness". Here is our usual tent set up-our big queen sleeping bag on an air mattress, Miriam's pillow/sleeping bag (that somehow she never has stayed in long anytime we've camped) and Aaron's pack and play. We dressed as warm as we could but we didn't make it between being cold and Aaron sleeping really restless which doesn't work well when all 4 of us is squished in a sleeping bag so I took the kids in at some middle of the night hour. Eric finished the night alone and much more comfortable.

Sat we scrubbed the tent down good and said good-bye till summer. We thought we should submit this picture of Miriam to the Kodiak company to use as advertisement. :)
The other bit of fun we added to our backyard was this slide on Sept 24. We had been looking for a used one that I liked for a long time and finally found it for apx $20. Hooray, maybe they will stay in the yard better. Just their size, for a little while at least.

3 Year Checkup

Its so nice just to go to the doctor once a year. It was just the usual with the addition of checking her eyes. It was not a detailed check, but figured approximately has 20/40 vision. She also got her blood pressure checked, she didn't like that much at all even though I kept telling her that it was just like Mommy when we go to the baby doctor; it came out 92 over 60. Miriam weighs 29 lbs and 15 oz putting her in the 43% having gained 4.19 lbs in the last year. So this means we could move to booster car seat and I got a child life jacket for her. She is 36 1/4 in tall putting her in the 32% having grown 3 1/4 in over the last year. The doctor office surprised me by giving me a BMI chart as well. It says she is 16.04 and last year was 16.65- though I'm not really sure what that means and it also gives a percentile for that putting her in the 60%. She had a hard time with her immunization shot this time. After the visit we went on an outing with Eric and to lunch. She then fell asleep when she woke up her leg hurt her and she didn't want to walk for a good day after that. I found it odd because we've never had trouble before. In the last year she really hasn't changed sizes much. Up to 7-8 shoe (still wearing same shoes as last year in most cases), 18/2T clothes besides some 3T for dresses and pj's (even that is a fairly recent development), and size 5 diaper. I hated that last change buying 2 sizes and still no closer to potty training. We're really going to work on it now because she has to be out of diapers before the baby comes.

Miriam is chattering constantly now whether it is to us, her toys or nobody as far as I can see. She is starting to tell stories using the pictures as cues and filling in the rest. She will also recite along with me stories and sing with her movies. She is getting to sing quite well. For primary this year they gave a scripture challenge with 7 different goals. We decided to try and do simplified version with Miriam, one of the goals is to learn a new song. At beginning of FHE we've been working on learning "I Know my Father Lives" and now she can sing it herself and we use it as a reverence song before family prayer. Typical family home evening is song, prayer and then using the gospel art to tell a scripture story. One FHE we used "Finding Faith In Christ" to show the story and ever since she wants to watch the stories and is more interested in watching the "Jesus" movie. I'm glad she loves and knows about Jesus and the temple.

Happy Third Birthday!

Miriam's birthday got spread out over a week and she enjoyed every minute. She has grown up so so much, I asked her the other day where my baby Miriam went.On the Friday before the kids helped me make her a strawberry cake which they enjoyed sampling the batter. She also is always right there to help Grandma frost and decorate the cake

My family came down late Friday to spend the weekend celebrating her birthday. So on Saturday we had our traditional strawberry waffles and then mom and I took Miriam to get her 3 yr pictures at Target (it was so much easier without Aaron). Dad took the kids to the park when we came back because she always associates Baca (as she calls him) with parks. They lured her home with promises to open presents. She sure got a lot of fun things and had a great time opening all of them.

Here are a few of the bigger presents- a dress up trunk full f clothes and accessories from Grandma, a trike from us, and princess story books. Aaron really likes her McQueen toys too.

Sunday we sang happy birthday and had her Cinderella cake. I even got special princess plates for this princess' birthday.

Our family with the birthday princess. Thanks for coming everyone!

Grandma eating with the kids at the princess table. Miriam managed to blow her candles out this year after many attempts and loved eating her cake (she hasn't much in the past) and eice cream (as she says).

Then on her actual birthday which when anyone said anything to her about it she just gave them blank looks we made strawberry pancakes, went VT where she got to play with some friends, had Mac n' cheese for lunch (one of her favorites), and finished up her birthday cake.
We let her blow candles out again on her birthday.

Aaron's 12 month checkup

Aaron visited the doctor the day after his birthday. He weighed in at 21.1 lbs putting him in the 25% gaining 1.28 lbs in 3 mon (slowing down a little). He measured 30.9 in tall putting him in the 84% growing 1.9 in in 3 mon (pretty tall!). Finally, his head circumference is 18.8 in putting him in the 86% growing only .3 in in 3 mon (good thing slowed down- we have hard enough time getting shirts on). We were told his height and head circumference were in pretty good proportion though. Asked if he points as that is apparently a big milestone and I just laughed because he is always pointing. He currently wears a size 4 diaper and shoe. He is wearing 3-6 mon pants and onesies and is in 6-9 shirts and one piece things moving into 12 mon. I thought we would be done nursing by now since he never howled to eat and could go awhile without it, but I found as I started trying to cut nursing feedings he still wanted to at night and early morning. We finished up September 16 (or so). He started waving in July by waving to Grandaddy over the web cam. Otherwise we are working on sleeping all night- I didn't even try very hard till we were down to the last nursing. He made me anxious trying to escape the crib, I hate going through the crying though he doesn't howl as much as Miriam did/does. He said his first word right by his birthday "up" when he was in the bathtub but of course didn't hear it much since.

Top pictures is Aaron 'helping' Daddy mow the lawn, Miriam still likes getting her turn on Daddy's back. We haven't used the snuggly near as much with Aaron over all. He is also getting to be a big helper as seen in the top college bottom right sweeping under his high chair on Aug 17. I love his adorable grin as he looks up to me. He loves his big sister and is always ready to get into things with her and follow her around. Bottom college is when they were emptying the fridge and Aaron though the whipping cream looked pretty good on Aug 31.