Hailey turns 10, Clayton turns 7, and Miles turns 12!

March 23, 2018:

Hailey turned 10 this spring. I can't believe she's getting so old! She had her heard set on a birthday party at Classic Fun Center. The girls had a great time skating, eating pizza, jumping on the bouncy houses, and playing at the arcade.

Dear Hailey,
You are a delight and we love you and are so grateful you are a part of our family.

You love gymnastics and this year you are always standing on your head. You got amazing 'straight As' at school, and I never ever have to worry about you and school. You are so intrinsically motivated.

You're very athletic and are currently playing softball. You love to go outside with Dad and practice your pitching. You love to pitch for your team. You love to read books and play with your beenie boos and other toys. You have never minded playing by yourself.

You are an amazing big sister and a great friend to all your siblings. You're a wonderful babysitter, and we are so blessed to have you each day in our lives.

I love you! Happy 10,

Mom

April 25th, 2018 Clay turns 7!

A month after Hailey's birthday Clay had his own birthday, a surprise party! We decorated with the pasture fence with balloons and crepe streemers while he was at school.

We had lots of friends from the neighborhood come over to party with us. Clay was super surprised! We played all kinds of outside games, had pizza and cupcakes and opened presents.

Dear Clay,

You have a heart of gold! You want to read your scriptures and you try hard to choose the right. You are such a light to our family. We are so thankful for you!

You love all things sports! You love to play with friends. You love Legos and have become such an amazing reader this year. You are a great friend to Paige, she always wants to do what you are doing. She loves being your little sis.

I am thankful for you!

Love,

Moma

On May 12th Miles turned the BIG 12!!

This was a really special birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Hancock came all the way from Arizona to see Miles receive the priesthood. On May 12, it was a Saturday, we spent the day celebrating with chocolate cake, presents, grandma and grandpa in town. At night we went to a wonderful dinner at Olive Garden. It was so delicious and the servers treated us SO GREAT! Miles was sung to by the staff and got a free dessert. On Sunday May 13th we watched Miles receive the priesthood and become a deacon. 

Dear Miles,

You are truly becoming a great young man. You have learned so much in 6th grade, about responsibility and working hard and always doing your best. You have a great attitude and are a great worker. You are growing taller and faster! 

You are thoughtful and kind. You are a good big brother and such a great babysitter! Watching you learn and grow is such a wonderful blessing!

I love ya!

Mom

November 2017 Friend Magazine

Today at church a friend said he had seen the boys in the Friend. I had no idea! I remember taking this picture for Miles because he wanted to e-mail it to the Friend. I guess he did!! So when we got home I check the current issue online, and lo and behold there they are. Live it up boys, this is your 15 minutes of fame!

Now I'm anxiously awaiting our copy so I can keep it forever! 

Miles turns 11 May 12, 2017

Dear Miles,

I can't believe you're in 6th grade! Your teacher is Mrs. Jenkins, she seems really nice. You told me yesterday that you love to play football at recess. This morning you called me from school to tell me that you think that you sprained your wrist while playing at recess. You didn't need to come home, but I thought it was cute that you wanted to call and let me know, I guess you were looking for a sympathetic ear. That's what moms are for :).

Mint brownies are your favorite treat so on your birthday for two years now that what we get. You are such a great big brother to all your siblings. You were chatting and laughing with Hailey last night before bed. You walk home with Clay from church each Sunday. You are so loving to Paige.

You'd love to learn how to ride a dirt bike. You're interested in joining student council this year. Out of all my kids you're the one who will come to me and talk and talk and talk and talk about everything on your mind. You'll tell me about facts you've heard about Africa, or what kind of snacks you traded at lunch with friends, or what your teacher said about late work, or how you think the US will someday get to Mars...and I love it. I love being your listening ear.

You are smart, and you are VERY motivated and full of tons of energy. When you were younger that was a challenge for me but now it's a huge blessing.

I love you Miles!

Love,

Mom

Miles and Mrs. Jenkins, his 6th grade teacher

August 21, 2017, Solar Eclipse time!

I hope they call me on a mission, when I've matured A LOT! Ha! 

Cove Fort, UT August 2017

This kid can down A TON of pizza. Probably an entire half pizza all on his own. I think it's funny how he's already found a plate and put a pizza on it while the rest of us haven't even passed out plates yet. He's a hungry growing boy!!

Nickles and Cream Cheese

Joseph hears me tell these stories from years ago and then he wants me to record them. Here's one I told the kids tonight that had them laughing.

When Miles was a little guy, maybe around 2 or 3 years old he got a patch of small warts on the backside of his knee. A little random, sounds a little gross too, but it wasn't a big deal. I asked the doctor about it and he said they would eventually go away on their own.

Here are the cute photos of Miles at about the time he had these warts on the back of his leg:

Now, Miles called his warts "Nickles". He found his nickles to be bothersome and sometimes they itched. He always wanted to put medicine on them! But, according to good old Dr. Bean (our pediatrician) there was no need to put medicine on them.

One day I was changing Hailey's diaper and Miles came into the room scratching the back of his knee and saying, "Mom!! My nickles HURT! Help me!" So I said, "Should we put some cream on them?" I couldn't help Miles right away as I was in the middle of changing a diaper.

Miles ran out of the room. A minute later he came back in with a box of cream cheese and said, "Put this on them!"

Miles felt so strongly about medicating his nickles so that they'd go away that I filled up a spray bottle with water and told Miles that I had medicine called "PLACEBO" and everyday we'd spray "PLACEBO" onto his nickles and then eventually they'd go away. 

And, they did go away. I guess you could say it was the placebo effect. ;)

Miles' 10th birthday

The EASIEST friend party in the world!! Miles wanted a Nerf Gun war in the backyard. His friends all brought their Nerf guns and Miles took it from there. They spent HOURS out in the back shooting each other. Then when they were exhausted with that they came in for mint brownies and ice cream and we ended the night with a movie, "Shaun the Sheep".

Is he really 10 years old?? Closer to leaving the nest than he is to the baby years now...

There are so many nice boys who live around here, I feel that it's a great blessing for you to have many good friends! In the background here is Bryson and Hayden.

Shooting Nerf guns for hours!

Tons of running and yelling and shooting!

Dear Miles,

You have grown so much this summer, your 10th summer. You've mellowed out a lot, so has your mom ;) and I think you're a pretty happy kid. You are a great babysitter and I even started feeling comfortable putting you in charge during date nights! I appreciate how you read to Clay and tuck him in when we are on dates. I also appreciate how kind you are to him, and how you help him build Legos. You are going through a Harry Potter phase right now and are currently reading book #5. I endured an entire summer of hearing you plunk out the Harry Potter theme song on the piano, it got old for me that's for sure--but I never told you to stop playing it because it pleases me that you find playing the piano fun and you do it for fun now! So I'm willing to listen to Harry Potter music for the 100th time for that :).

You're also great at taking responsibility for chores each morning and you've had a great attitude. You are a fun kid to have around and you're constantly surprising me with your thoughts, you're a thoughtful one for sure. I treasure when you talk with me in your excited way--telling me all the little things in your life, those are the big things I've been told so I try to always listen well.

I love reading our little books together at night, the stories are fun and it's a way I feel like we can bond. I'm trying to keep those bonding moments alive the older you and I get.

I love you Miles! Love, Mom

Dear Miles,

I love you!

Run with your team. Open doors for your family and friends and total strangers too. Brush your gums! Turn in all your work at school!

Dream beautiful dreams and then work really hard to make your dreams come true. It's worth it!!

Love,

Mom

Miles turns 9!

Spring is "birthday season" at our house. The three oldest children all have birthdays squished into an 7 week time frame. Miles' birthday is the caboose in our train of birthdays. 

When I asked Miles what he wanted for his birthday he had many ideas. One idea really made me smile. He asked if we could go through the Payson Temple (for the open house) on his birthday! I was pleased as punch. So we made a day of it.

He opened birthday presents first thing in the morning. 

Then we took a tour of the beautiful temple. 


Miles had Pack Meeting the night of his birthday. Which of course was a great way to end the day because this boy LOVES cub scouts. So we had a cake before pack meeting and then walked over to the Komiya's house for a backyard pack meeting where the boys sang him happy birthday. 
I think birthday 9 was a success!

Dear Miles,

You are true to yourself. You are so smart. You figure out what you want to have happen and then you do what you can to make it happen. You are the 'social butterfly' of our family. You are outspoken. Meeting new people, speaking in front of others, seems to come naturally to you. In fact, you seek out to be in the spotlight! You are not afraid to ask questions about why things are the way they are. You ask hard questions too. You want to try new things--actually you yearn and beg to try new things! From the moment you wake until you go to bed you are constantly using your brain. You seem to have boundless energy. This makes for a fantastic leader, buddy. It also makes for a tired mother sometimes! 

 This morning you decided you wanted biscuits for breakfast. So what did you do? You found a recipe online, you got out all the ingredients yourself, you followed the recipe all by yourself, (including putting the pan in and out of the oven, which scared me a bit) and you made biscuits. All by yourself! I haven't even shown you how to use the oven before, but you figured it all out. They tasted great, thanks for sharing with the whole family. :) 

Sometimes your strong will and my strong will come head to head. I'm sorry about that. I'm definitely working on it, and I think I've gotten better. The truth is Miles, I love who you are--so don't change. You've got an amazing purpose here on earth, so keep on developing those leadership qualities. I love you and am a better person for having learned how to be a mom to such an energetic, inquisitive, and strong willed kid. You are so important to me!

Love,

Mom

Miles age 8 1/2

Miles is our most social kid so far. He loves to invite friends over, every Friday right when he comes home from school he already has planned out which friend he is going to call (Friday is the day he is able to have friends over). His buddies these days include Brett, Brady, Dallin, Jackson, Cassie, and Luke. He also loves to play with the neighbors Brielle, Sadie, and Ashton. He loves to play legos, and he is getting into sports a little more too. Right now he's interested in football. He and Joey went to a BYU football game recently, which he liked.

Reading to Clay September 2014

BYU Football with Dad October 2014

He is a whiz at school. He aces everything with little effort. I never have to help him with homework, he just comes home and does it. I am not saying this to brag, it's just the truth. He loves computers. He's fast at typing. He likes to practice his signature, he's enjoying cursive which he picked up and attempted to use before this year, just by reading cursive I assume. Math is a piece of cake for him, so is spelling and he wants to be in the spelling bee this year. He reads chapter books in one sitting! Piano is easy for him too; he is our most academic child so far too.

Miles enjoys being independent. He wants to be able to walk to cub scouts each week instead of me driving him to the church (which is a 5 minute drive away, probably a 15 minute walk though.) He doesn't like to be TOLD what to do either, so I have had to try to learn some new parenting approaches to try not to engage in power struggles!! I find that statements like, "When you practice piano then you can play outside" are the way to go with him. He complies best when I ask kindly and have a "when...then" statement.

A little to small to fill firefighter shoes at this point ;) Maybe in another decade that will fit! (September 2014)

Miles and I are STILL reading the Book of Mormon together, I know it has been a LONG time at this point and we should probably be done, but I'm not racing--I just want to share the gospel with him in the best way I can and if that means we go slowly through the BoM together and we at least feel the Holy Ghost as we do then that's what it means. My main goal is that when we sit down together we focus on what is being read, we understand it together, and most importantly we can be open to feeling the spirit while we read. We are finally in Helaman now, almost to page 400. We usually do this right before bedtime, after our family scriptures. He reads one column and I read one column. We just finished the story of Nephi and Lehi (the sons of Helaman) when the prison walls fell around them and they were in the midst of a fire but it did not burn them.

First time holding Paige August 2014

Miles is such a great brother. He's very sweet to all his siblings. He helps Clay make his bed. He will go wait by Hailey's classroom door after school. He loves to talk to Paige and wiggle her legs for her. He loves his siblings.

I am grateful for Miles and continue to learn how to be a better mom from being his mom. It is a process and hopefully I can look back someday and know that I did my absolute best with this stewardship. I'm a better person for having Miles in my family and life and I love this boy!

Miles' 8th birthday and baptism

Miles' favorite gift for his 8th birthday was the wonder loom my mom sent him. He loved it! Oh, and he got 8 dollars from two different people so he felt really RICH! :)

On May 31st he was able to be baptized. It was a great day! I just loved watching Joey baptize Miles and I teared up at the confirmation because I was so happy.

We were super happy that my mom and dad and brother, Grandma and Grandpa Jones and Uncle Josh drove up from Gilbert! We were also super happy Joey's sister, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Aaron and their kids drove up from Las Vegas! Miles' Great-Aunt Jacque and Great Grandma Jones came too. Our favorite babysitter (Addie Simpson) and her mom, his best friend (Brady Komiya) and his mom, the Bezzant Family (some of our closest friends here), his primary teacher, Sis. Groberg (she is the sweetest 78 year old lady!) and Joey's aunt, Deanne, and uncle, Steve, and their son, Adam, all came as well.

I am thankful for teachers

I am thankful for the great teachers who impact my kids' lives. I am thankful for the time and effort they put into their work. I love it when I can open up with a teacher about my concerns for my children and feel that they understand and want to help. I love seeing my kids come home from school happy. I love seeing them progress cognitively, socially, and emotionally as they attend school and learn.

This has been a great school year when it comes to teachers. Hailey had an awesome kindergarten teacher! Hailey learned so much and had the greatest attitude about school! I loved Mrs. Gillies! Hailey loved Mrs. Gillies too. She was constantly writing little notes for her and drawing her pictures. Miles had an awesome teacher too. She was laid back, but on the ball at the same time, if that makes sense. She was willing to go the extra mile when I brought up concerns about Miles. Thanks Miss Mathews!

Now, onto SUMMER!!

Staples in the head!

When the home phone or cell rings I always do a quick check, even if I am too busy and don't intend to answer, to see if it is the elementary school calling. And that is for good reason, because I have gotten a wide variety of calls from the elementary school in the last few years. I would say on average I get a call about once a month from the school for random, various miscellaneous situations.

ALL of these calls have been for ONE of my school aged children :). Let me just preface that I love this kid with my whole heart. He just happens to be a little, OK a lot, more active, curious, spontaneous, mischievous, and accident prone than my other school aged child, so I have learned to check caller ID!

Well, a couple of weeks ago I got a new call. It went something like this, "Hi! This is Sherri from Sierra Bonita Elementary. Is this Tiffany? Well, we have Miles here in the nurse's office. He bumped his head in the library and it's bleeding. It looks like he's going to need some stitches." 

Miles says he was bending over looking at a book about fishing and then as he was standing up and running to catch up with his class (all at the same time) he bonked his head on a bookshelf. (I can believe this. It was about a month ago that I watched him walk right into a wall! I tried to warn him before it happened...)

So, fast forward a couple hours and 4 staples later everything was fixed. Miles was excited to show his classmates and teacher the staples, and I was thankful that Joey had gone to school to help Miles so I could stay home with Clay.

Joey says Miles was great when he got the staples. It was apparently not busy at all at the urgent care. Joey said Miles was chatting quite a bit with the doctor and nurse who helped him. 

His head healed great and his little cut is completely unnoticeable now.

We couldn't wash his hair for a few days until the cut was healed more so that was kind of yucky, and we were told to put lots of neosporin on it, which made it look even more goopy and yucky too. Boy was I glad when we could finally give his head a nice scrub down with shampoo and get him all cleaned up!

I'm just happy we have gotten this far into parenthood without a broken bone! (Knock on wood!) 

Our Miles

I will start by adding these following cute conversations/sayings by Miles in the last couple of years:

Miles: "Could you wash my shoes for me?"Me: "Why are they so muddy?"Miles: "There were a lot of puddles at school today. I couldn't tell which ones were muddy and which ones were not so I walked through all of them." (August 2012)

Hailey: "Can I play that?"
Miles: (Holding a Checkers game box) "It says 'ages 6 and up.' I'm almost 6 so it's ok, but you're just out of luck." (February 2012)

Miles (singing): "We believe the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, second repentance, third baptism by emergency for the remission of sins..." (January 2012)

Me: "I think you have a little cold."
Miles: (feeling the back of his hand to his forehead) "No, actually I think I have a little hot." (October 2011)

Miles: "Zoey said BYU is a college. I told her that it's actually football."(October 2011)

Recently I sat down with Miles to play Monopoly (his choice of game these days). I really wanted to make sure to spend some time with him so even though I was dying for a nap we sat down together to play. He and I played for a few minutes but then he looked at me with a little smile and said, "I know you want to spend time with me mom, but can I just go play with Hailey please?" I was more than happy to comply because I was soooooo tired. Well, we cleaned up the game and he gave me a little smile and said thanks and ran off to play with his sister. I could tell he appreciated what I was trying to do and I was grateful and just knowing that he realized I wanted to sit down and spend time with him (despite wanting to do something else) and that he sat down to spend time with me (despite wanting to do something else himself) was nice. We both made an effort to show each other love and that's what I loved about that experience. Oh, how I want to have those "connect moments" with Miles.

Miles has grown a lot in the last year. He has a best friend named Brady who lives in the subdivision behind our house. They are in the same class at church and at school. Today he went to another friend, Sam's, house. He's in Miles' primary class too. His teacher this year is Miss Mathews. The class theme is "Hawaii"--the classroom is decorated with Hawaiian decor and there is a little picture of each child on their own surf board on the wall. So far, school has always been easy for Miles and this year seems to continue this trend. 

 Miles is doing great with his chores and responsibilities at home. He sure isn't always that happy when he finds out he has to fold his laundry before playing or clean the toilets before going outside, but for the most part he will accept his "fate" and do it. :) Someday, hopefully, he will be grateful his mommy made him do chores!

 He is taking piano and doing a little fall swim team that starts in October. He LOVES to play the Wii and the computer and the ipad. He will do ANYTHING to earn screen time. I have definitely used this to my advantage! 

Pagosa Springs, CO (July)

Camping in the backyard with Hailey. They came in about 5am when the sprinklers turned on.

Cute picture of our little fam I thought. In CO with my family.(July)

Miles LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to pose for the camera. :) Here he is with my 17 year old brother Josh, and Joey ready to go river rafting. I made Joey promise me he would be SO careful with Miles and that they'd share a raft--because you know me ;). 

With his sister at the Logan Temple.

The most exciting thing about Miles this year for me is our study of the Book of Mormon together. He used to struggle with sitting down and reading with me each night. Now, he he reads effortlessly through his column. It is a nice surprise when he pauses to make a comment or ask a question as we read. I changed things around to make it easier for both of us (instead of reading a page each we both read a column each now) and we watch the scripture stories on friend.lds.org when we are done reading one that is on the website.  I love this time with him.  I love our Miles.

Second try for a first day of 2nd grade

For the first day of 2nd grade (22nd of August) Miles had to stay at home because he had thrown up during the night. He spent the first day of school at home eating saltine crackers and mashed potatoes.. He was disappointed that he couldn't go to school...and so was I!

I have to eat my words from a post about how sad I feel when the kids go to school, because even though I do have moments where letting them go makes me feel sad, I feel ready for them to get going to school now.

The last couple of weeks the kids have had boundless energy while my own energy has bit the dust. By Clay's nap time Miles and Hailey still want to ride bikes, do elaborate art projects, reorganize their room, or do some other big thing and all I want to do is take a nap myself!! So a lot my sadness has worn off with the anticipation of it being much quieter around here for a few hours each day!

It's education week and Reed and Sheryl are in town for this whole week! We have had so much fun with them!! Having them here has been awesome and it's going to be sad for us when they head home tomorrow morning. I'll have to share more from their trip.

Here is Miles ready for 2nd grade. He has picked out his own clothes since he was about three years old and I enjoy his often mismatched styles--it's cute to me.

Oh, and a side note, Hailey's official first day of kindergarten is August 29th. So her big day is just around the corner!

Miles turns 7

We had a birthday party for Miles this year. We thought it would be nice to do a party with some of the new friends he has made in Utah. We played lots of games in the backyard: freeze tag, soccer, outdoor bowling, and an indoor game of laundry basket basketball. The boys were energetic! It was great.

At his party were: Brady, Luke, Brett, Trent, Johnathon, Bryson (all primary friends) and David and Tyler (from his 1st grade class), as well as Brielle and Kallon, neighbors.

We had baseball cupcakes that Miles helped decorate them night before.

Dear Miles,

I love you! You are a good-hearted person. You are kind and really friendly to everybody. You are so fun loving--playing outside, playing inside, just playing anywhere and with anybody is your favorite thing to do.

It's fun to see you mature and become more grown up!

Has it only been 7 years? It seems like you've always been a part of my life. I guess life just got 100% more exciting after you came along so that's maybe why it's hard to remember the "before you years" anymore!

I hope we can always find way to have fun and strengthen our relationship. Happy year 7!

Growing up again

Exciting news! A new Milestone to report! Miles lost his first tooth in the middle of July!

One evening he was jumping on the trampoline with Hailey and some friends (Luke and Kate; we were babysitting while their mom and dad attended the temple). They were playing crack the egg and he was the egg and had curled his knees close to his chest. Anyway, as the kids jumped his knee knocked into his very loose tooth! I thought it would finally pop out--it was a little bloody and even more loose. But he was too nervous to tug on it...

The next day he was at his grandma's house playing when he said he leaned over and his tooth fell right out!!

The tooth fairy left him a half dollar and a piece of gum. He still has his half dollar. And lucky for me, the tooth fairy let me keep his cute little tooth as a keepsake :).

 ****************************************************************************

I sometimes play board games with our kids during baby nap times to keep the house quiet for the sleeping child.

Well, for years Miles has wanted to play Ticket to Ride one of our "big kid/adult" board games. He loved trains as a little boy, and this game has trains in it. However, in the past he couldn't comprehend the rules of the game and the math associated with it. So when we did "play" that game it was just to play with the train pieces, and most of the time we stuck to the preschool level games. Well, Miles has finally graduated to the big kid/adult games! He and I played Ticket to Ride for the first time in a long time on Saturday and he completely understood all of the rules for the first time!! He also LOVES Boggle which I love too because I figure it's great for his literacy. It's kind of fun for me to be able to pull out our stash of games for older kids/adults with him because, honestly, it's a little more fun for me to play than Candy Land was for all those years (although I probably have several, several, several more years of Candy Land ahead of me with the other kids!!)

There's a Chess Club night at the library once a month open for all ages, and I'm wondering if Miles and I (or Joey) should mosey on over and check it out. That would be another big kid game he might like :).

It's so fun to watch Miles grow up in these ways!

P.S., just for fun here's a picture I took on Sunday of Miles and Hailey. They played all summer and I love seeing what a great friendship they have.

6th birthday!

Miles had his 6th birthday recently.

We decided to have a birthday party at our house--water games, water balloons, cake, ice cream, presents, pinata, the whole shebang! When I asked Miles who he wanted to invite he said he wanted to invite all his cousins (he has more than 20), all  the kids in his class (there are 24), and all the kids from primary (we have a huge primary)! (Can you tell that kid loves everybody?!) We pared it down to the cousins who are the same age as him who live in the state, his four favorite buddies from his class, and we let him pick about 10 kids from primary,--I thought about half the kids would come, but almost all of the kids came so our house was PACKED. The party was on his birthday (Saturday May 12th) from 2-4pm. Never did two hours fly by so fast!

I am very grateful for the help that Joey, Sheryl, and Kiersten gave throughout the party. They were awesome! I think the kids' favorite thing was spraying each other with the hose (the game was called "white shark') and jumping on the trampoline while Joey sprayed them with the hose (Joey made that "game" up spur of the moment and it was probably their favorite!). We also played a water relay race that got everybody soaking. The cake was completely gone within about 10 minutes and I'm sure all the moms were happy that we sent their kids home with loads of pinata candy. The kids had fun and it was a memory!

Starting at left corner, clockwise: Linden, Miles, Braden, Zach (Linden's head's blocking him), Tyler, Riley, Kate, Hailey, Mckenzie, Julia, Wesley, Booker, Noah (not pictured but sitting at another table was even more children! Yes, there were even more guests than those in this picture!!)

Let's see I see Logan, and Zoey, and Stephanie, and Bella in this picture and I don't think they were in the other one...did I mention our house was PACKED? How do elementary school teachers take this many kids and ORGANIZE and TEACH them every day? Mrs. Wilson, you are our hero :). 

Although I really don't like to throw birthday parties, Joey and I figured a handful of birthday parties would be a fun part of any childhood so there you have it. Maybe we can eek out one more (smaller) birthday party for Miles sometime down the road before he's all grown up. :) I am truly grateful that we are surrounded by so many great families in this area and that our children have a boatload of other children in our ward, community, and school to interact with. We are truly blessed...and this crazy, chaotic party is a good example of that.

Post script: Miles is 6! He has grown up a lot this year and as I rejoice in seeing him learn and do more "grown up" things although it's also a reminder that he's not always going to be (and already isn't) the little boy and baby I had memorized by heart in years past. I love Miles for who he is, and in the last six years I have learned that Miles and I don't often think the same way (what little boy and grown woman do though?) but that's not important to me. I love that he has his own views and thoughts and isn't just borrowing mine. I love that his best friend is Hailey! I love that he dotes on Clay! I love seeing him do chores because I know deep down they will make him feel good about himself :). I love watching him reach his goals (just learned to tie his shoes and worked on that every day for over a month) and learn from his mistakes. I love seeing the progress he has made as he gets older. And I am super excited to do my best to teach him, spend time with him, and love him this next year--year six!!

Love you Miles!

Miles got sick recently and it took EVERYTHING out of him. He was napping almost every day for about two weeks (even after he recovered). It was cute to walk into my bedroom and find this little surprise sleeping on my bed :).

Joey took Miles to a Tucson Padres game recently. He texted me this picture. It made my heart melt! I love it when these two spend one-on-one time together!

Miles' new pictures