May

It's only June 2nd and I'm getting the post done for May!  Is anyone else as surprised as I am??
This month Mia has learned how to ride a Big Girl Bike.  She's now cruising around the neighborhood on 4 wheels instead of 3.  Occasionally she'll still ride her tricycle but most the time she gets in the garage and tells me she wants to ride her "Big Bike."  Initially she had some trouble getting started from the stopped position if she wasn't headed down the drive way but she has gotten pretty good and needs very few pushes now.

 We've even had a couple days warm enough to run in the sprinkler with friends.

 I thought this was hilarious. I was doing laundry one day and Mia was watching "Buzz" (her favorite movie, or I guess movies because we get away with switching between the 3 of them). I came out of the laundry room and she'd dumped the clothes out of the basket and had climbed in to watch the movie.  It doesn't look very comfortable but she enjoyed herself.

 The March for Babies was in May and I was a walker for our unit at the hospital.  Of course the weather was cold and rainy the day of the walk but we all bundled up and faced the elements together.  May 15th was our wedding anniversary so we had stayed in Salt Lake the night before the walk.  Mia spent the night at home with Aunt Trina and then Trina brought her to Salt Lake before the walk.  It worked out well because Trina had to be in Salt Lake the morning too.  Because we headed down to Salt Lake the night before, I didn't know it was supposed to rain, and we had no umbrella.  We all ended up a bit soggy but we had a good time.

 They handed out Creamies half way through...Mia and I shared one.  Monty was too cold for one...They should have done hot chocolate.

 The walk was at This Is The Place Heritage Park so after the walk we went to see the animals.
Mia thought the little horse was pretty cool (it was a donkey but hey I figure a little horse is good for a 2 year old).

 They had a whole bunch of baby chicks.  They were huddled together trying to keep warm.

 We even got to hold one of the chicks and Mia got to pet it.

 Mia chased this poor duck all over until he took off into the cage with the donkey.  I guess he thought it was safer with the donkey than with Mia.

 We even got to see some of Santa's Reindeer.

 We stopped in at the school house to learn about what life was like for kids when Utah was being settled.  Mia liked being able to color on the chalk boards.

 Of course we had to take a ride on the train.  However, as we were sitting on the train we realized we could see our breath so decided it was time to head home after the train ride.  Maybe next year the weather will be better so we can do some more exploring.

 One evening in May the power went out and ended up being out for about 5 hours.  We went to Subway for dinner and had a picnic with our sandwiched on the front lawn and then hung out outside until it was about bedtime.  After spending all evening outside Mia was in desperate need of a bath.  We were getting ready to do a bath by candle light when I remembered that we have a big window in our bathroom.  There was just enough sunlight left that with the blinds open we could see.  Mia was pretty excited to take a bath in Mom's tub.

I don't remember how it happened but somehow we discovered Mia loves the song Drive By by Train.  She dances all around the living room and sings to it.

Memorial Day weekend my mom and brother came down from Idaho.  Mia definitely loves her Uncle Shawn, and the fact that he rides a bike with one wheel made him even cooler!  Shawn actually has about a dozen unicycles ranging from little ones to one that the seat is about 18ft tall.

 He even let her take a turn on one of his unicycles.

 This one has a big wheel and is made for speed so it had handle bars to hold on to.

On Memorial Day we went out to Simpson Springs and went 4-wheeling with Monty's family.

 We all had a great time.

 Mia loved it and would go on a ride with whoever was willing to take her.

 Mia's cousins brought tents and sand toys.  They were a good distraction from the 4-wheelers at times.

 We roasted hot dogs and made S'mores.

 The 4 grand kids with Grandma and Grandpa.  The 5th grand kid was there too but she's still in her mamma's belly.  Only another month and we get to meet her!

 Mia got to try out both 4-wheelers.

 

 While we were there Lucy tried to teach Mia how to climb the tree.  Luckily they couldn't get very high and Mia refused to take her helmet off the whole time we were there.  You never know when you might get to go for another ride.

 Once again Mia managed to snag a ride.  This time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Our last ride

 Us with the desert as our background.

A few other random pictures from the month.
Mia had decided she'd rather put the potato head pieces on her than the potatoes.  The hat is cute...

 But the mustache is a little gross.

April

It's hard to believe May is already almost half over.  I usually update the blog while I'm at work and this is only my 3rd shift in May and the first two were BUSY!  April was another good month for us.  For the most part we spent more time outside and enjoyed our spring weather.
When we come in from playing outside Mia will very rarely take her jacket off. I think she thinks if she leaves it on maybe she'll get to go back outside.  This particular day Mia refused to taker her jacket off and instead sat coloring in her pop up tent.  She loves her tent.  It takes up most of the living room when we put it up but she will sit and there and color or watch movies and simply be in heaven.

The second weekend in April was "Guys Weekend" at the cabin so Mia and I headed up to Idaho for a long weekend with my family.  I had a great time and Mia had a blast!
We went to this AWESOME playground up in Idaho. There was so much to do and the best part was it had a rubber ground to it so no dirt or scrapes.  Mia showed off her dare devil side on one of the slides.

 She thought the Tee Pee was pretty cool

 As well as the train. She explored it with her uncle Shawn.

 There were drums to beat on and chimes too.

I told you she was a dare devil. She climbed all the way up the rope net all by herself. 

 No playground is complete without swings.

 Mia loved the spinning cups.  They were just off balance enough that when the kids move in them they spin around. What's really hilarious is watching the kids get out of the cups and try to walk away.

 Uncle Shawn also showed Mia how cool the poof pillow is.  He would throw her into it over and over. Mia never got tired but poor Uncle Shawn did.

 The day we went to the playground was the only nice day we had.  The rest of the days were cold and kinda rainy.  Mia didn't let that stop her though, she convinced Grandpa to come brave the cold to push her on the neighbor's swing set.

 Grandma was nice and got up with Mia in the morning and let me sleep in. One morning I came out to the kitchen to find this.  Mia, in her pajamas, riding around the island in the kitchen on her trike. Grandma said it was too cold to ride outside so she just had to ride in the house.  I've since had to convince her that we only ride bikes inside at Grandma's house....Silly Grandma.

 On Saturday I went to the spring book club lunch with my mom and Uncle Shawn babysat.  He took her to Wendy's for lunch and then they came home and made a massive fort.  Mia thought it was the coolest thing ever.

 Mia and her Buddy, Uncle Shawn.

 After a busy weekend, this is what Mia looked like less than 20 minutes into our drive home. It was a busy weekend for such a little girl.

Mia is quite the big helper these days.  Her favorite thing to do is help cook. As soon as she sees anyone start putting stuff on the stove she is right there with her bar stool to help.

 Netflix has become our friend and there are a few shows Mia just can't get enough of. One of them is Shaun the Sheep. She likes to dance to the theme song too.

 We've spent more time playing outside and playing with friends now that it's warmer.

 Mia cruises all over the cult-a-sac on her little tricycle.

 She just really cracks me up some days.  It was at her insistence that she wore her hat under her helmet and have her sunglasses too.

My goal for May is to get some pictures with Monty in them...we'll see how successful I am. :-)

March

March was a nice and relaxing month for us for the most part.  The weather is starting to get nicer which we love!  We've made some good progress on potty training, and Mia's growing more and more into a little girl instead of a baby. 
This was just the perfect photo op.  Mia was happy as could be on the potty so I had to snap some pictures.

 One of Mia's favorite toys is her laundry hamper.  She climbs in it and tries to hide.

 And of course blocks are still a favorite

 Lately Mia has been a double fisted drinker.  I don't think that juice and milk mix well together but she likes drinking two at a time.

 With it getting warmer we've spent more time outside.  Mia loves being outside and now the snow is all gone so we get to spend even more time outside.  She's getting pretty good at riding the neighbor's scooter.

Such a cute little girl!

 Mia loves the camera and lately has wanted to take pictures by herself.  She's not too good at it yet but she likes trying.  We might have to put the bug in Santa's ear that she needs her own camera.

 Mia's picture of Daddy.

 Since I'm always doing Mia's hair, one evening she decided that it was her turn to do mine.

 It didn't turn out so well...for me.

 With the warmer weather we've started having picnics outside again.

 And of course playing with sidewalk chalk.  I think she usually ends up wearing most of her artwork.

 She's helped Daddy mow the lawn this year.  That was lots of fun...for her.

 Mia's excited to have her "playground" back.  I don't quite know where she got the word playground from but whenever she sees a park or a school or any kind of swingset she begs to go play on the playground.

The Saturday before Easter we went to Monty's parents house for an Easter egg hunt and lunch.  Mia loved hunting for the eggs.

She needed some help with the high ones.

 She managed quite the haul.

 Playing with cousins is always lots of fun too.

 Mia's Easter basket on Easter morning.  The little book is a book for church with pictures of Jesus, a bunch of Temples, and some pictures of family. 

 Waking Mia up Easter morning.  She was less than thrilled.

 She was happier once she saw her basket.  She loves her alphabet puzzle and can recognize over half her letters with the puzzle.

 She had to put on her hat, "Elmo shoes," and sunglasses all at once.  It made for a pretty cute picture in her Easter dress.

 After church came the big surprise. We decided to wait until after church because it can be difficult to get her out the door for 9:00 church even without extra distractions.

 The Easter Bunny brought her her very own trampoline.

 Mia absolutely LOVES to jump. On the bed, on the couch, on the ground, where ever she can.  She was so excited to see her tramp and just started yelling Jump Jump!

Until next month friends!