Miriam's 4th Birthday

I can't believe my Miri baby is FOUR years old! Because she was the youngest for so long I still think of her as my baby girl. 

She started out the day with a mouse pancake.

And then we did a little photo shoot outside.

 It is kind of hard to get a normal smile from her sometimes.

I just love her big, dark eyes and red curly hair. I love her giggle and how much she adores on her baby sister. I love how tough she is. She is strong and determined. At her four year check up she weighed 31 lbs  (10-25%) and was 39 in tall (25-50%).

Miriam is so playful and funny. She is at the perfect stage to ask funny questions about everything. I love her little comments and questions. She is still weirdly obsessed with talking about death and how we are going to die. The other day she told me that we are going to have to die on the cross like Jesus. This sparked a good teaching moment. I am always a little surprised about the false doctrine my kids believe. :)

There are so many of her quotes that I have written down from her. I don't know if they will be as funny out of that moment but here we go:

"There is so much in my head I can't even tell you, but its not real."  She also often tells us, "Once I hear something it is just in my head and I can never ever forget."

The money shot!

We had a friend come watch the girls while I went to a doctor appointment. The friend is a very petite woman whose husband is quite overweight. Of course Miriam asked, "Her big, fat daddy coming too?"

Another good one: "I don't like Primary because I don't get a snack. I like food." (In class time she gets surprisingly hearty/fancy snacks like sausage and pancakes.)

"If you can't see very good, you need to open your eyes more."

She still says the sweetest prayers. "Thank thee that we know each other and we love each other." "Thank that our family is so great." "Thank thee that we know each other and love each other and that we will die and see Heavenly Father after we are resurrected." "Thank thee that I will turn five soon like I turned four soon."

"I like reading stories because they are fun and interesting."

She often asks us, "How do you know?' She asks us this when we say any fact: when our anniversary is, how to spell something, when we see something. "How do you know?"

It isn't always so sweet. "Mommy, you always make us unhappy." "How come you don't want to be nice more often, Mommy?"

"I am sad you are going to cut off my head some day"

"Girls are better than boys because they don't have to dust the bathrooms"

When we were making the brownies, she said "I want to add chocolate chips and a little bit more butter."

For dinner she had watermelon and pizza. She said she wanted mac and cheese pizza. She got a combo. :)

"Even though the laws aren't ours Mommy and Daddy we still have to obey them."

"We are fighting about how much we love each other."

"Only three people get to tell us what to do: Mommy, Daddy, and Jesus."

"The last place is the goodest."

I love this expression!

One day she started a sentence with "I presume..." I can't remember what she completed it with, but I thought it was so funny.

This expression too!

I love, love, love this wonderful girl! She is such a delight in our life. Ever since Eliza started back in school Miriam is my little at home buddy. It is a great opportunity to spend so much quality time together. She still really loves preschool, which we do almost every day. She is learning how to read, write, add, and subtract. Occasionally we'll do a craft. So it is pretty remarkable that she likes it so much.

She says her favorite food is chocolate. She says to write down that her favorite cereal is corn pops. She is still a pretty big fan of Mommy and tries to get Holland to say mama and only smile for mommy. She loves holding her baby sister, reading stories, watching a movie from the library, doing tricks, eating yogurt and bread. She is high energy and exuberant.

This video gives a little glimpse into her birthday evening:

We love you Miriam! We are so lucky to have you in our family!!