Mylie's 7th Birthday~Valentine's Day

We celebrated Mylie's 7th birthday on Valentine's Day. Seven. I still can't believe it. Where does the time go? Mylie is the sweetest, kindest, little girl with such a big heart. It is very fitting that she is our Valentine's girl. The weather was absolutely warm and beautiful on her birthday this year! She chose to go to Chuck-a-Rama (she loves the salad bar), then we headed to my mom's to open presents and eat cake. She was beyond surprised and excited to get a real American Girl Doll!

At seven years old, Mylie loves to play, sing, dance, read, imagine, color, draw, create, jump rope, hula hoop, and play with her siblings. She is a very loving sister and daughter. She is so tenderhearted and tends to be the peacemaker. She loves chicken gravy on rice and green salads. She is currently losing teeth and growing in big huge ones that don't fit in her tiny mouth. One permanent tooth usually takes out 2 baby teeth on its way in.

As usual, here is the day in pictures:

Morning present and Valentine's gifts. (And can I just say, I don't miss that apartment at all?!)


She is just too grown up!
This little Coy just cracks me up. Him and those rain boots.  
I am so blessed to be the mommy of these four beautiful children!  
Mylie's choice for her seventh birthday: Pink Kitty Cake.  
Biggest surprise ever:  the American Girl Doll!

Nora's First Pigtail

Nora hated every second of me giving her a little pigtail. She screamed and cried and acted as though I was killing her. This was back in February. As of now (it is May as I am writing this), she is so good when I do it and loves to be pretty. Thank goodness!

Rewind a few years. Here was Mylie's first pigtail. She had a lot more hair a lot earlier on. She was about 5 months in this picture.  
And here Mylie is at the same age as Nora was in these pictures. I was slicking Mylie's hair into little pigtails. Little girls are so fun :) These two look a lot alike to me, just not the hair color and amount.

January 2015

January is always a slow month. We had a lot of lazy days hanging around the apartment. We tried to have excuses to go somewhere as much as possible, even if it was just my parents' so we could stretch out and enjoy some window light.

Nora woke up from a nap, and found a visitor in her crib :)

She must have been very tired.

Christmas Day 2014

Christmas Morning at Grandma and Grandpa Monson's:
Bennett wanted most: Books and Perplexus Twist.  
Mylie wanted most: Frozen Barbies and and American Girl Doll bunk bed.   Coy wanted most: A Nerf Gun   Nora wanted most: Wrapping Paper and whatever someone else had.  
The kids planned and put on a show Christmas day. They spent a lot of time prior to Christmas choosing favorite Christmas songs, making up dances and actions, gathering props, making a program, and getting ready to perform. They are so funny. I love their creativity and the ideas they just come up with on their own.
Here are some photos of the show!
This is Bennett as "Santa Granny" (performed to Santa Baby).

Christmas Eve 2014

Christmas was a bit of a bummer this year. A couple days before, we all came down with Influenza. All of us, that is, except Nora--which is extremely surprising considering our living conditions. We were quite a sight, all cooped up in our tiny apartment as sick as can be. Nora just ran around crazy as always wondering, what was wrong with all of us? (I was still nursing her, so maybe she got antibodies?) So come Christmas Eve, we were lucky enough to have all finally gotten rid of our fevers at least. I had taken all of  "Christmas" to my parents, and we were planning on sleeping there since we didn't have a true home of our own. (We didn't even get to put up our Christmas tree this year. We just got a teeny one from Walmart that we shoved in a corner.) So getting sick was quite a nuisance. Of course we had to still go to my parents'! So, we all ate in exile (we had a bedroom with a table all to ourselves away from everyone else), and then tried to keep on masks while we were gathered. We didn't want to share our germs, and we did our best. Here are some pics of the night: We played a fun white elephant game. Franklin was really excited to get some big, silky, purple, old lady underwear.   Bennett really wanted a pet mouse (which someone had brought as a gift), but I insisted on him trading for something else (after all, no pets in the apartment). He chose an old bowling ball, instead with finger holes that would probably never fit any person ever in the history of time.   Awesome matching robes! And awesome matching pullovers. Thanks Grandma! Cute matching jammies!