Whats new with Miriam

A few highlights of Miriam's over the last while so everyone gets an update.June 27 she was drawing with chalk and lately she done more than just scribbling. She told me she drew Rachel here.One of the biggest things Miriam has been working on the last while is potty training! I knew I did not want 3 kids in diapers so we got down to business on April 27. For well over a year we had been having her sit on her princess potty (maybe even before she was 2) but she didn't seem to connect when she needed to go. For the mere handful of times that she actually went in that time frame we lavished praise on her and gave her big girl snacks (fruit snacks), but it didn't seem to help.We spent a lot of time there as I would have her sit whenever we changed diapers or when I needed to go and we read lots of potty books. A friend lent me a book that she used with her son quite successfully called "Toilet Training in Less than a Day" by Nathan Azrin and richard Foxx which finally gave me the confidence to move forward. I think she could have been trained much earlier but I didn't have clear ideas of what to do. I've decided I really need to read something instead of just hear it for it to make viable sense to me (probably a good indication to read the conference talks). This picture is April 22 after we got a new dolly that goes potty that Miriam "taught" how to go potty. It is still an ongoing process here in January with not trying at all to work on staying dry through the night and still having accidents, but definitely better than 3 kids in diapers.

August 2 modeling the pioneer dress Grandma Delta made her. She seems to have a penchant for long dresses to twirl in. She told us the other night that only girls could dance, not boys.

Miriam still loves being with her sister and helping her. Though when I see her carrying her my heart stops as Miriam is not that much bigger. Miriam still loves stories and we've been working on learning the A,B,C's with great stories like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. She is sharing both with Rachel on Sept 17 when both were 3 (Miriam years and Rachel months). Below was an unique bedtime experience on October 4. We were getting ready for bed and I asked Miriam something about her and Rachel's sizes which she said they were the same or she was asking why so I decided to show her. I put one of Rachel's sleep gowns on (that Miriam also wore at that size) and asked if it fit. Of course it didn't proving that Miriam was bigger and she thought it was funny too.She has a most unique way of phrasing things any more. We went to the theater to watch Cars 2 and Miriam was excited to watch a movie at the 'popcorn store'. Ever since she wants to go watch movies at the popcorn store. So called because on the front of the theater is a lighted popcorn box. She likes watching movies and has started watching "The Incredibles" surprising us with random quotes like saying her back hurt like Mr Incredible (how she says incredible is really funny too). We were commenting on how fast Dash ran across the water and she turned excitedly to us "yah he's like Jesus walking on the water!" More and more I hear myself coming out of her mouth and it is scary.

Aaron's Second Birthday

The night before Aaron's second birthday was spent driving to Idaho for a family reunion. It was stressful getting everything packed and on top of that Eric and I stayed up late the night before wrapping Aaron's birthday presents and packing them carefully in the car. At some point the kids ended up playing in the car and when I finally went to go see what they were doing (not thinking any harm could come from it-ha ha) they had opened pretty much every present. I was livid, in fact the only other time I was so mad was when they dumped every article of clothing in Aaron's room in his crib. It was the hard work of wrapping and then missing out on his reactions to his presents that I had been anticipating that made it so bad. We finally left after Eric was done with work getting into my parents late.First thing Aaron got was strawberry ice cream waffles for a birthday breakfast, standard breakfast for our family of strawberry lovers. We commemorated his birthday by wearing his birthday onesie. He spent the rest of the day playing at Grandma Nicee's and then driving to Lake Alturus for the Briscoe family reunion. Unfortunately, the night before as we were driving the van developed a loud vibration around Blackfoot that increased till we discovered in Idaho Falls that the bolts hadn't been screwed on all the way when the van was in the shop. Eric thought tightening the rest besides one sheared bolt would be ok, but it wasn't. After stopping to tighten them to find more bolts sheared we started looking for a repair shop. By the time we found a Les Schwab in Hailey it was late and we were hungry so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant. After dinner we decided Eric would stay with the van, get it fixed in the morning and come up while the rest of us hitched a ride with my cousin Emily. We really appreciated them stopping by for us because my parents vehicle was stuffed full. As one of Aaron's presents was a sleeping bag that we needed that night we let Aaron open a couple of presents which both of the kids were quite gleeful about. This is a clip of Aaron opening presents in the restaurant.By Friday we were enjoying the reunion, the cabins and the forest around. Grandma and Aaron went to work decorating Aaron's birthday cake- Lightning McQueen!

We got to share the cake with all the family Friday night. Upper left my family. Upper right Grandma Nicee with Aaron and Miriam. Lower left our little family and lower right all the Briscoes that were at the reunion. My grandparents are on the far right sitting down. It was kind of funny because I have a cousin named Aaron who when he saw the cake didn't know it was his second birthday (he has turned in his mission papers!).

 

My cousin Anna's little boy was much interested in everything because he also is a Cars fanatic. He loved Aaron's new Mack truck, we had to figure out some sharing and insisted on having a wheel from the cake. I'm afraid this won't be the first time Aaron has his birthday in conjunction with a reunion. Saturday we packed up, had lunch at the lake which is where the picture of them eating cake is from, then went on to my cousin Melissa's farewell (us Sisters have to stick together!)All the Briscoe sister missionaries with the exception of my grandma who served in Nauvoo with grandpa. We figured Rachel could be in the picture too, especially since Eric specifically mentioned a mission in her blessing. When we got back to Rigby we sort of wrapped the rest of his presents and let him open them. Aaron enjoyed all his Cars stuff among other things. Happy Birthday!