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.

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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!

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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:

Southern Idaho Crusade

I was feeling brave earlier this month, and hauled my girls to southern Idaho for a great-grandparent visit.  I am one of the lucky few with four very alive and fabulous grandparents, 

and my girls get the privilege of multi-generational love!

My great-grandpa's farm belonged to his father who had settled here from Germany.  He built the little house on it where his son and grandson were both born (literally) and raised. I have fond memories here of my dear great-grandparents who were both worthy of lots of praise.  They were hard-working and frugal, devoted to family and the gospel, and really smart. Mia's (Amelia's) name landed on her because, more than it's inherent niceness, it was my great-grandma's middle name and it is filled with good connotation.  I guess it's etymology is also (appropriately) associated with the German word for "industrious."

Rather than using a sprinkler to water their expanse of grassy yard, they and their children (i.e. my grandfather) have always watered with the local canal (which runs along their property line) by "flooding" the yard once a week.  As a little girl, it was a treat for me to be in town while the flooding was going on--like a giant wading pool.  Mia got to experience it while we were visiting! 

The prop she's holding is a piece of rhubarb she'd stolen from her cousin, Eli...

Great Gma Heinz in her new kitchen & girls

on the local merry-go-round:

June getting to know her great-gpa:

Eli gets to have this fun paved path along the canal in his Idaho town.  

Here he is with Mia cruising the strip.

One cannot go to Gma & Gpa Harmon's  house without getting a good dose of literature.  

Gpa Harmon gifted these bubbles to help entertain Mia during our visit. Good choice!  

Our adventure was challenging (8+ hours of lonely mom & girls in the car is not what I consider vacation), but the trek was well-worth it!