September 2016

This might be the month that I look back and say my little girl grew up; although I suspect I will think this same thing like a million more times over the next 14 years.

Mila started her third year of preschool this year and absolutely loves school.  She is doing so well and learns so much, not only from the teachers but also from the other kids (both good and bad...but mostly good).

She is becoming more adventurous and even tried sushi recently and, ever so polite, kept it in her mouth until someone told her that she could spit it out.

It seems Nellie has changed quite a bit this month as well and is giving out many more hugs.  She has started saying "G" for Uncle G and won't stop blabbering but you can't understand a word that she is saying other than "Where'd daddy go?" and "Where is it?"  She has started nodding "yes" and I think she knows that "yes" gets her more than "no" does because she is doing it all of the time.

She is still doing great at Kerry's house and is starting to play with Siena, now that she is a little older (10mo) and almost walking.

She has surprised me with how in tune with her body she is in that she knows when she has gone poop and when she needs (I think) to go pee pee.  Sometimes we will find her in the bathroom, screaming for us, and she wants to go through the motions of sitting on the potty, wiping and flushing the toilet.  Therefore, I thought it would be a good time to potty train her.  This lasted about 45min because every time, EVERY time, I took her in the bathroom she would scream "No! No! NO!"  So that was very short lived....guess we will try again later.

The girls have started playing better together and are both continuing to play using their imaginations more.  It's so cute to not only see them playing together but to also see them making up stories and playing lots of "house."

We celebrated our 5th anniversary on Labor Day and spent the day together down near the beach.

A couple months ago Mila called Aunt Sissy and invited her to her birthday party, even though at that time, there wasn't even a party yet.  A couple weeks later Sissy called to say that she and William were flying out to California because she couldn't miss her oldest niece's 4th birthday!

Unfortunately right before they got here Mila came down with something and had thrown up a couple times and not gone to school.  She seemed fine Friday night when Sissy and William got here but on Saturday morning she woke up and was just feeling terrible.

We spent the day at home watching movies and before long she was feeling like her normal self again.

While they were here Robert and I got the biggest surprise from my sister one night when she asked Robert and I to be William's Godparents!!! What a great promotion this was!  We are so excited for the future and what this new title brings.  He's the little boy we never had :)

Mila was spoiled rotten on her birthday by not only her parents, but also her grandparents, aunt, uncles and friends.

Sadly, the weekend flew by in a flash and before we knew it Sissy and William had to get on a plane back home to Uncle Bret.  While it's a great feeling that we already have our next trip to see them booked, it IS a little sad it's six months away. As we know, though, time will definitely fly by!

When Mila went to school on Tuesday (and had another celebration) one of her teachers asked her, "Mila, when did you turn four?"  And, with all seriousness, she said, "After I turned three."  That's my girl <3

Just a few days after Mila's birthday we celebrated Robert's birthday as well.  Mila was almost as excited to celebrate his birthday as much as hers because there was treats involved.  The girls and I went to the bakery and Mila picked out his birthday treat and we went home to wait for him to get off work.  We all sang him happy birthday (included Nellie!), had our treats and opened cards and presents.

It was another great month.

Mila's 4th Birthday Interview

Birthday Interview

***Mila is 4 years old***

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  Allison & Lindsay

2. What is your favorite color? pink and blue

3. What is your favorite television show? Team Umizoomi

4. What is your favorite outfit? a dress

5. What sport do you like best? swimming lessons

6. What song do you love? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

7. What is your favorite cereal? Dad's (Trader Joe's Cinnamon Toast Crunch)

8. Who is your best friend? Kira, Sophie & Lexi

9. What do you want to be when your grow up? a pet doctor

10. What is your favorite book? Bedtime Prayers

11. What are you really good at? Spanish class

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation? go see Sissy and Bret

13. What us your best memory? preschool

14. What would you buy if you had $1,000? new clothes

15. What vegetable do you hate the most? broccoli

16. If you could have a wish, what would it be? to be strong

17. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? rainbow

18. Who is your biggest hero? Daddy

19. What do you like to do best with your friends?  go on a date or have a sleepover

20. What do you hope you get to do before your next birthday? play with my friends on the swing set

August 2016

What a busy month August was!  We started out the month with a trip down to Oceanside with the trailer.  We stayed at a place called Paradise By the Sea, which had great pictures and reviews so we were so excited to go there for the weekend.

We had a great time as a family but overall the place that we stayed, and the city of Oceanside in general, were very trashy.  We were sorta counting down the days until it was time to leave.  I guess all the trips can't be the best and at least we know never to go back!

By far the worst thing about the place (besides the local bums and the fact that people were actually living there for 3-6 months), was the train that ran behind the campsite at all hours of the day.

Mila is so excited to turn four and has been counting down since the first of August.  She's been to a couple of birthday parties and is so sad that she's not four yet.  I keep telling her it will be her turn soon but she just can't wait.

Look how much of a big kid she looks in this video. She's still very reserved but it also coming out of her shell and loves to try new things, even if they're a little bit scary.  Afterwards she's always so proud of herself.

She loves helping out in the kitchen and is actually very good with the stove, understanding it's hot and not trying to do too much.  Even though every thing takes longer when she's helping it's so nice to be doing it together.

Nellie has started to become more independent, if that's even possible.  The second she learned how to say "no" she wants to do everything herself and her first instinct is to say "no" even if she means yes!

Do you want to eat dinner? No.
Time for a bath. No.
Let's change your diaper. No.
Do you want me to move so you can play with that? No.

She is definitely an attention seeker and loves to be the center of attention.  It's not hard to do, though, because she is cute as a button.

She loves Teletubbies and talking to you in jibberish as if you know what she's saying.  This month she has started saying "hot," "ow," "down," "done" and many more.

She is still getting into anything and everything and climbing places where she doesn't belong (or even fit).

She definitely keeps me on my toes and drives me absolutely insane at times but then she will snuggles up to me and gives me kisses and then I forget why I was irritated in the first place. She is a definite daddy's girls and gets SO excited whenever he walks into the room, even if he only left two minutes ago.

We ended the month with another RV trip, this time to Santa Paula, CA, where we stayed at the Ventura KOA. This place was AMAZING.  It's nestled in the Los Padres National Forest above Ventura, CA and it was SO green and lush and absolutely quiet.

After we settled in to our spot we drove down into downtown Santa Paula (population: 30k) for dinner at a local pizza place.

The campsite was pretty large but it was fairly empty for the week that we were there.  One of the craziest things was the flock of peacocks that roamed wild through the area.  They were obviously not scared of people but they probably weren't used to little firecrackers like Nellie chasing them around, calling them doggies, so we had to keep an eye on her.

The first day we drove about 35min up into the mountains to Ojai and stopped at Friend's Ranch for some oranges.  I was really hoping that we would be able to tour the ranch but they said they only do that in the Spring. Instead we picked up some oranges and then drove back into downtown Ojai.

We went to the most amazing park there; if it weren't so far away I would literally drive there (I would even drive an hour!) to go there again. It had so much fun stuff for the girls and was very shaded (a must because it was 90 degrees while we were there).

After the park we had lunch before heading back to camp.

After nap time we spent the afternoon at the pool and then at this large jumping pillow, it was so fun!

The next day we drove about 30min into Ventura and visted the harbor, the pier and their downtown.

There was an arcade in the harbor that both Mila and Robert loved and Mila was so excited with all of the tickets she won so she could "buy" all kinds of junk prizes.

Glow stick movie night in the trailer:

We were actually supposed to leave on Thursday but ended up loving the place so much we stayed an extra day. The final day we mixed it up and went swimming in the morning.  Mila swam about half the length of the pool by herself and is getting so confident in the water.  It's so fun watching her swim.

Even Nellie loved the pool and would jump off the edge (from sitting) to Robert or I on her own.

After naptime we drove 45min into Santa Barbara for happy hour at Enterprise Fish Co.  The seafood was so yummy and we made it out of there before Nellie had a complete meltdown (but not before she climbed on the table 82 times).

That night we did smores in the campfire. The girls had an amazing, and very messy, time.

Such a great trip and I can't wait to go back!