Happy Birthday Extravaganza!

Today my baby turned 3 years old!  I just can't believe that she is not a baby anymore.  All weekend, I have been reflecting on how our lives changed when this little girl came into our home.  We have learned so much from watching this little girl grow and trying to help her be the best that she can be. Mirian is such a joy in our lives.

Mirian is such a big girl, literally!  She is as tall or taller than some of her friends that are 4 years old.  She is in 4T clothes and she is just growing like a weed!  She has a silly sense of humor and she always knows how to make her Mommy and Daddy laugh.  She is very sweet and compassionate.  We watch a little boy, Carter, frequently and she can be so kind and gentle to him.  She is also very rambunctious and I have found her pinning Carter to the floor as he is kicking and screaming to get away.  Mirian loves the gospel.  She loves going to church, she loves to say prayers, she loves reading scriptures, she loves seeing pictures of Jesus.  We watched General Conference this weekend and every time the Holy Ghost was mentioned, Mirian would perk up and say "Holy Ghost!"

Mirian talks so much now (finally), and she has an opinion about everything.  She absolutely loves Disney Princesses and Dora the Explorer.  When we put her to bed at night, she asks us to tell her a Cinderella story or a Belle story, where Mirian is actually the character.  If I ever say "Cinderella" instead of  "Mirian," she quickly corrects me.  Mirian goes to preschool two days a week and she loves it!  She loves spending time with her friends and she loves to learn.  She is just an awesome kid and I love her so much!

On Saturday, we had a party with all of her friends over.  Mirian wanted a Princess/Dora party, so I made a map and told the kids that Swiper had taken all of the presents and hid them in his cave.  The kids had to follow the map to get the presents.  To start out, they had to walk across the "stones" to the kitchen.  Some of the stones were missing and so they had to find the missing stones.  When they got to the kitchen, all the kids had to make a pizza (we just did the English muffin pizzas).  From there, they had to go into the basement and crawl through the spiderweb and then they found the cave (tent) filled with her presents.  The kids had fun following the map,and when we were all done "rescuing" the presents, they asked if they could follow the map again.  Afterwards, we had a Cinderella cake and ice cream.

Crossing the stones to the kitchen

Climbing through the spiderweb

They found the presents!

 




 

Russ was there briefly

The Princess with her Cake

Sunday was my birthday (yippee), so we had another little shin dig Sunday evening after conference.  Russ' family came over for sloppy joes, veggies and angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream (my favorite cake).  It was fun to have everyone over and Mirian loved getting to play with her cousins.

Snuggling with Daddy during Conference

Trying to burn down the house!

I almost caught my hair on fire!

Russ got me 7 pairs of toe socks!?!?!?

Even though we already celebrated her birthday, I wanted today to be a special day for Mirian too.  This morning, we played games together (at her request), then we went to Kids Castle (a giant indoor play place) with her buddy Carter.  She had so much fun climbing around, going down slides and playing in the ball pits.  She was so worn out by the end of it that she took a nice long nap when we got home.  It has been a fun few days, but I think we are now ready for life to get back to normal.

The Queen of Kids Castle!

Mirian and Carter on the swing in the backyard

Happy Birthday Mirian!  We love you!