June's Top 10

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This sweet disposition combined with this darling age makes for easy smiles and arm flapping.

We wholly abuse this fact!

3

While taking inventory of my mom's Halloween costume stash, June got involved...  

She looked like an American Girl doll.  

It was a little creepy and Mia didn't like it, but I was in tears--so funny!

4

June prefers to feed herself.  She stubbornly seals her lips to adult-powered spoon feeding. 

It makes things complicated for mom, but her manual dexterity is highly advanced from all the exercise!

Whew! Too much hand to mouth exertion.

 5

Mia always feels very protective of June while at her frequent check-ups.  

This one was her first blood draw--  June was way tougher during the process than Mom and sis.

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Mia has a fetish with comparing feet.  She often expresses her pleasure over matching her

"brown-skin-chocolate" with June's "brown-skin-chocolate."  It makes mom happy too.

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 9

June was born with much more hair than she has now.  Her head has grown, but her hair has not.  It is a new experience for us to deal with baby baldness.  (Mia's hair was visible in her ultrasound picture.) We didn't have a sun hat in this circumstance, but as always,

June was obliging and wore Mom's sweatshirt instead. 

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June has graduated to sitting in the BOB like a real girl...no more carseat modification = much more to see!

Mia's Top 10 + Post Script

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Painting:  

Most projects of this nature are productive and fun for about five minutes...until something goes wrong (in this case, the painting utensil bends slightly), frustration ensues, 

otherwise white walls become debauched, and developing artwork receives some extra texture.  

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The air suddenly became still and world was quiet... 

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5

Even though Dad & cousins were absent, 

Gpa R took Mia to the fair in an effort to maintain our annual tradition.

She stepped into her star-studded role with little effort.  

Fair fare:

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Living up her small-ness:

7

Mia is taking a gymnastics class this year.  

Win-win: She is ecstatic about it, and it provides high-quality entertainment for Mom.

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9

All my effort teaching Mia to pump has been hopeless.  

I have exerted way too much energy with lots of exaggerated movement and countless "out & bend" demos. 

So, Dad still helps Mia achieve her "high-in-the-sky" goals.

 10
Feeding koi at a lovely little nursery by our house: 

P.S.

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Our weekly library story time...we love it when the parachute makes an appearance!

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Ta-dah!

13

Mia takes her "studying" very seriously.  

Everyone around here seems to be busy with homework.

14

During a classical concert from Aunt Arianna's symphony in the park, 

Mia decided to BUST her moves in an effort to liven up the Brahms. It worked!

B & B 4 Eva'

We have been elated this month over the wedding celebrations of our sweet cousin, Brittany.  

She is a pro at putting together a lovely and economic party, and was so gracious to let the ladies in our family be part of it all.  Here's a peek at the shower we planned:

Wedding Day!

 Mia was ecstatic about being present for "Bit-me's" wedding and grinned her heart out--  except for the duration of three major tantrums she flung over Mom's imposed clothing choice.  When she realized where we were, she was furious to be wearing a pink dress that "doesn't spin."  She associates the temple with white dresses.  She screamed, "I want to look so pretty in my white dress like Bit-me!!"  ...yikes.

Our darling Brittany bride & new husband, Bradley, with the fam:

The reception was carnival themed with a lemonade stand, candy bar, brown paper bags of popcorn, and fun, fair-like games for kiddos. June has learned that eyeballing the path of approach from food source to mouth usually yields a reward.  Mia had an overwhelming sugar-high by the end of the night which exaggerated all underlying toddler tendencies.  

I developed a broad spectrum sound mask that evening...otherwise known as extreme selective hearing.

June and Aunt Lexi: