How old are you? TWO!

My little girl turned two today. It was so much fun talking to her about her birthday this year. We kept asking her how old she is. She responded exactly right by holding up two fingers and saying "TWO". I can't believe how much she has changed since we have moved to Virginia. It seems like when we left Utah she was still such a baby. Now she is a growing toddler and such a little girl.

She has taken a huge interest in her ABC's this past month. Some of the letters she can recognize are M, D, V, S, and B. Since she is so excited about letters I decided I would go ahead and teach her some of the signs for letters. She really likes E, B, Q, G, and Y. She has a magnet alphabet on the fridge that she loves to play with. Whenever I am in the kitchen, Miriam likes to be close by. She is very interested in cooking. Stirring is her favorite thing to do. She even likes to watch Food Network with me and comments on what they are cooking. Ever since we moved in and unpacked her toys she has started playing with her dolls again. She loves to feed them, kiss them, and put them to bed. She is going to be a great big sister. For a long time Miriam wasn't interested in any movies except Signing Time. However, after a visit from her cousin Nathan she loves watching 101 Dalmatians. It also seems like all of a sudden she is really interested in the Disney princesses. Her favorite is definitely Sleeping Beauty. She has only watched it a couple of times at Grandma's house. Miriam is hoping Santa brings her the Sleeping Beauty movie.

Miriam talks up a storm. She loves to chat away. She always wants to talk to people on the phone. It cracks me up to hear her talking to herself. Miriam definitely doesn't lack in the personality department. This morning I was trying to get her to sit still for a few pictures, but she had already made up her mind to be uncooperative. She was so excited to wear a cute dress for her birthday so I thought she wouldn't mind a few pictures. This is all I got.


Here are some pictures of Miriam opening her birthday presents and eating cupcakes and ice cream. She was so excited about getting to open all of the presents. After each one she asked about opening one more. It took a while because she had to stop and look at each one, but it was so fun to watch her excitement. She helped me make the cupcakes and dumped the sprinkles on top.

Happy 2nd Birthday my dear sweet Miriam!

NO! (SNOW!)

Miriam has a pink snowsuit, a pink coat, a pink hat, pink gloves, and pink snow boots. Every time she has seen her boots (since she got them weeks ago) she asks to put them on. I have told her that the pink snow boots are for wearing out when it snows. I wasn't sure she really understood what I meant. When I got out of the shower on Wednesday and peeked out the window I noticed it had started snowing pretty hard. I called to Miriam to come look outside and immediately she started yelling NO NO NO (SNOW SNOW SNOW). She was so excited she ran straight to her room and grabbed her pink boots and brought them right to me. I guess she understood after all. She wanted to call her dad right away to tell him about the snow. It has been hard to keep the boots off her the past couple of days. I have to remind her that when we come back inside they are wet and she needs to wait until they are dry to put them back on.

Tonight we had our ward Christmas party. Michael couldn't come with us and although we have only been here for two weeks and I don't know anyone, I decided to venture out with Miriam to the church building. They had a Polar Express theme and served breakfast foods for dinner. They asked all the kids to come in their pajamas. Miriam was so excited when I told her she could wear her pig pajamas out. Of course the pink snow boots came too.

smiling, but not looking (you take what you can get)

a night on the town

Michael and I don't get very many opportunities to go out alone. It is mostly my fault because I hate leaving Miriam. When he told me about his work Christmas party I was less than excited to go. I felt that if we were going to go out we should do something fun (like see Harry Potter). However, I knew it was important that we go. Michael's sister came over after we put Miriam to bed and basically sat on the couch (this was before we had TV and internet). Thanks again Rebecca! It was really nice to get out together, even though I always worry about Miriam most of the time. I got to meet some people that Michael has been working with and it is always nice to put faces to names. Much to my relief, Miriam was just fine when we got home. Hopefully we can get out a little bit more before the baby comes. Am I the only mother that still can't leave her two year old?

December 11, 2010
(Once again I look so blah once I see the picture.
I don't feel like I look that bad when I look in the mirror.)

Up and Running

We finally have internet in our new place. We are alive and I have some pictures to post. Just wanted you to have something to look forward to!

20 Week Pregnancy Update

I am half-way through this pregnancy and feeling great. Since my sisters live so far away they asked for some pregnancy pictures. Since I am not a glamorous pregnant lady I am only posting one, and it isn't great. I took a couple of others by myself (those that get my blog emails had the unfortunate opportunity to see them), but I can't bring myself to post them. I can't believe how fast my belly has grown this time around. The baby and I are measuring a week ahead of schedule. It looks like we have a big baby boy on our hands.

20 weeks

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

Michael came home early on Wednesday so we could start the weekend off early. After an easy dinner of delivery pizza, we helped make the Thanksgiving pies. Miriam had such a blast rolling out the crust with Grandpa. All she could talk about that night was pie. She even said she was grateful for pie in her prayer.

Thanksgiving day was nice and relaxing. We enjoyed the time spent with family and all the food we were able to eat! We watched a little bit of football and took a few pictures outside. (Although I didn't ever get a family one taken.) Here are a few pictures of the day.

Playing a game on the IPad

Miriam was so excited to help set the table (as usual).

Centerpiece (courtesy of Elizabeth and Rebecca)

Ready for the feast

Friday morning was a bit of a shock for me. Michael got up and braved the Black Friday crowd, alone. He hates shopping, but was up by about 3:15 am and ready to be at Best Buy before 4:00 am. We were able to get a new desktop computer at a great price thanks to Michael's sacrifice. He didn't get home until after nine o'clock... hmmm, I wonder what else he was doing while he was out and about? We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday shopping and hanging out. We got a few things for the baby. I am done Christmas shopping and from the sound of it Michael is too.

Sunday afternoon we got the keys to our new apartment. We are now free to move in when we please. Although we will wait until Saturday to move everything in, I plan on going over a couple of times this week to clean and get things ready. It was a wonderful relaxing weekend spent together. Miriam was so excited every morning to find out that her Dad was home (instead of at work or on the airplane... she asks every day). We are definitely looking forward to more family time over Christmas break. I hope you are too.

A Big Surprise (for you)

Miriam got new pajamas for this spring. What do you think?

We are so excited to be adding to our family in April. I am already 20 weeks (half-way there) along. We wanted to hold off telling our family and friends until we knew the gender of the baby. Now that we know, do you want to know too?