Miles Smiles

Our little Miles turned 4! He is thoughtful and perceptive in nature. He's generally a quiet child but has found his loud and silly side, especially when Charlie isn't around. He loves to make people laugh and he is quite observant to his surroundings. For his photos we jumped out of the car at a park by my grandma's house on our way to Easter Dinner.

 And it may have been raining

 Miles is all about the potty words and thinking that they are the highest form of humor.

 Miles has attended Joy School with 5 other kids this year and really loved it. (rotating houses each week) We are both looking forward to him starting at a co-op preschool in the fall and getting more into a consistent routine before he starts kindergarten.

 I thought that Miles would get bored without his big brother here but he was thoroughly enjoyed free reign over all the toys and fun activities he gets to do with me.

He really does get along with Charlie the majority of the time. They have some intense fights but they also love playing together and wouldn't know what to do without each other.

Miles has recently started swim lessons and has loved being in the water and has a hard time leaving the pool when it's time to go. He's been practicing being a better listener to his teacher and feeling safe in the water.

Miles has been learning his letters and can spell (and write) his name and he can spell Edwin, Mom, Dad, Bob and possibly some others I can't think of.

 Miles is convinced that he's a real ninja. Charlie came in the house while playing a ninja game with Miles. He explained some cool trick that Miles did...I don't know what it was and I didn't really want to know. I mumbled the comment (while busy with a couple other things) that "maybe Miles is a real Ninja" Miles was just walking in the house and heard me and started glowing....and ever since he has told people he is a real ninja.

 Miles continues to be quite the gracious child. He often remembers to say thank you. He occasionally thanks me for making dinner and helping him with other things. He is often complimenting others as well.

 Miles likes to have his peace and quiet time. Maybe it's because we have a wild family circus and he just needs time to check out occasionally.

 Miles is strong, coordinated and agile. He is small for his age so I believe people are always assuming he is younger than he is when he is swinging, climbing, hanging, and balancing at the park. 

 Something funny about Miles is that he almost always blurts something random out when he is awoken.  I always think I will remember them but then forget. Oftentimes it's him whining and saying "CHARLIEEEEE..." other ones have been "Mater's melting!" and "Edwin's wearing my underwear!"We enjoy this. once he's all the way awake, we tell him what he said and he laughs about it

Miles has perfect vision so he gets to be my little one without glasses. He and Max get to share this bond!

Some fun things from this last year are viewing the solar eclipse, swim lessons, joy school, figuring out the roll as a big brother, riding his new bike, camping, doing a whole lot of walking to and from Charlie's school, zoo trips, and Children's museum trips.

  These are some Mispronounced words that I don't want to correct because I think it's cute.

Namplewood (Maplewood, a property that Max has been working on)
Minja-(Ninja)
Toisin (Poisin)
Fwam-uh-lee (Family)
Exter (extra)
Constructions (instructions)

I believe I had some good Miles quotes to share but I saved them in texts to Max and my phone was reset so I don't have them right now.

For his birthday, he wanted a beach trip, doughnuts, and to bring lollipops to preschool. So that is how we celebrated. When he woke up, he showed me that he was growing out of his pajama pants...(I didn't tell them they were 2T pants)

 He got a quick breakfast because we had to rush Charlie off to school. Then we got Miles all ready for preschool, while he was at preschool, Edwin and I did a little more shopping to get the lollipops and balloons we were going to share with his preschool class. We went a little early to pick up Miles and shared the balloons and lollipops (tootsie pops). After that we met with Max and ran a little errand then it was time to pick up Charlie. We spent the rest of the afternoon putting together his doughnut cake. When Daddy got home there was pineapple pizza for dinner and a doughnut cake for dessert.

 

Edwin had this balloon tied onto his pants all day and it was hilarious. 

 He kept it nice and simple for me and I love that! He opened his gifts and we even had a little time to play with his new magna-tiles before bed.

And here is his Birthday Interview

Name: Miles

Nicknames: Spencer Baertlein

How old are you? "am i three again? No I'm 4"

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite animal? "Cheetah, ask me what my favorite dinosaur is?"  "Whats your favorite dinosaur?" "Triceratops"

What is your favorite book?"Uhh....ummm...Nibbles"

What is your favorite TV show? Little Einsteins

What is your favorite movie? PJ Masks

What is your favorite song? "Balloons Balloons head"

What is your favorite food? "Mangoes"

What is your favorite drink? "Orange Juice"

What is your favorite snack? "Applesauce"

What is your favorite treat? "Doughnuts for my birthday"

What is your favorite outfit? "Dinosaur costume"

What is your favorite game?"Do we have Candy land?...candy land is my favorite game"

What is your favorite toy? "Blaze"

Who is your best friend? "Gwenevere and Grace"

What is your favorite thing to do? "Hugging my dad"

What is your favorite thing to do outside? "Look at the tree branches"

What is your favorite holiday? "Winter"

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? "My little monkey"

Where is your favorite place to go? "Gwenevere and Gra----to Grandma Sharolee's house"

What is your favorite restaurant? "Disneyland restaurant"

Where do you want to go on vacation? "Disneyland"

What do you love?  "I love you!"
 What did you do on your birthday? "eat doughnuts"

What do you do really well? "Eating doughnuts"

What makes you laugh? "If someone says knock knock who's there banana face who boo boo...that makes me laugh"

What are you afraid of?"mmm...uh...if any monsters come here"

What do you like to do with your family? "Going...being in a big crowd...a crowd is lots of people right?"

What do you love to learn about? "I like learning how to cut hair." (yikes)

What is your mom good at? "Ummm...what are you good at? doing your computer"

What is your dad good at? “My dad's good at giving me paw patrol balloons"

What is Charlie good at? "Hitting"

What is Edwin good at? "Crawling"

Tell me a joke? "who's there banana face who boo boo bum"
 What is something you learned this year? "I learned how to blow bubbles in the bath"
  What makes mommy laugh? "Umm....what makes you laugh, just tell me one of the things that make you laugh mom...ummm....if you had one eye?"
  What's a nice thing you have done for someone? "Hugging someone when they're sad"

And there's a whole lot about our dear Miles...but stay tuned because he got his annual birthday beach trip...which turned into a memorable camping trip. So that should be coming up on the blog!

Spring Break Photo Dump

Newsflash....I'm totally up to date with my blog and photos! What?!?!?! That means I can bring you blog posts that are even more mundane. You're welcome! Haha, I'm just kidding! Nothing mundane over here! This week was Spring break and we've been keeping our selves busy by taking care of our friends' 11 chickens, (and gobbling up all their eggs) going to the park, going on nature walks, library, time, setting up our vegetable garden, a special date night, and going to the children's museum. And a whole lot of playing in the backyard...rain or shine...because we've had both.
Anyway...I'll let the blurry photos tell the story.

My hair is growing back...or should I say...Max's hair.

Totally blurry but the week before Easter, the Primary children sang "Gethsemane" a song both Miles and Charlie love. It was beautiful. Anyway, I got Miles to his primary class before Charlie got there and he didn't want to sit down without Charlie so he was invited to be the reverent child at the front...it was kind of adorable. I left then Max brought Charlie in and Miles went to sit on his lap and Charlie sat still for once to hold his brother and it was quite adorable.

And a sunny Sunday afternoon when Max was still at meetings...all the boys in the plaid ended up in the sand box. 

Monday...we finally did our long awaited family bowling night. Once the boys figured out how to NOT pinch their fingers when picking up the ball...it was a lot of fun! Edwin liked to book it for the stairs...but we all survived.

 Charlie alternated between the ramp and no ramp. When he used the ramp...he still kind of threw the ball...

 Edwin had a couple turns but wanted to follow the ball down the alley.

When Miles didn't use the ramp...the ball went at snail pace.

 I like the woman in the back ground...haha

  As promised, we got some time for air hockey. Charlie was a great opponent. Maybe because i was taking pictures.

 It was a good night and the boys didn't go to bed until 10:30.

The next day was a drizzly day, so we spent our time at the library, where I got a little puppet show.
 

Wednesday was Children's museum day! We were planning on meeting my cousins there, one of which came into town from Maryland. We got there just as the parking lot was filling up (Spring Break crowd) and my cousins got there a couple minutes later and couldn't find parking anywhere so they didn't end up coming. We had fun playing and Charlie was excited that he got to go too. Also, major breakthrough: Charlie has always been the child to run off...oblivious to where his parents are. But he was amazing on this outing...every time he wanted to go to a different section of the museum, he would come and ask me then if was quite a bit farther, and I told him yes if Miles agreed to it, he would go ask Miles if he wanted to go to the new area. this may seem so simple and silly but it is monumental growth for Charlie. And Edwin of course got lugged to wherever big brothers wanted to play.  And more blurry photos...(I'm getting my camera on my phone fixed this week)

 In the afternoon, My boys always want to play with the neighbors and they are not old enough to play unsupervised and I didn't want a whole bunch of extra kids to watch. I started weeding our garden patch with my boys and of course the neighbors saw them outside and came running...so we put them to work weeding and they were actually helpful.

  A couple nights during Spring Break the Young Men from church came over to film a horror movie in one of our vacant properties. So all the wigs and masks came out. They boys had fun with that.

 Deck play time and  brother bonding.

 On Thursday we made our way on a nature walk with our great friends, the weather was starting to get better and it just makes Heather and me so happy that our kids get along so great. 

 

Friday was also great weather so we made it a park day with the same friends

 

 And for some reason...Edwin wasn't a fan of the swings. He's liked the swings the other times he's tried them.

My big boys spent pretty much the whole time on the merry-go-round. Miles flew off and had a bloody mouth...but he was back on in no time. 

 Max's best friend sent him a game in the mail called..."Don't step in it" where you make poo piles out of playdough and walk blindfolded and try not to step in it...so that was a fun family night.

 On Friday night, Max has planned a fun group date for us at an escape room. I was a little worried to try an escape room. Max had done a couple with the youth and had a lot of fun. He invited a group of friends so we could all do it together. Our super successful Questival team was reunited and ended up beating the standing record...good premonitions for Questival 2018!

That's our time on the chalk board

 The date ended with ice cream...then a trip to winco!

Then it was General Conference and Easter! Easter morning the boys came down to check out their baskets of sand toys and candy. The big boys immediately started to hunt for eggs...Edwin plopped down and started shoving candy in his mouth.

 We got to celebrate Easter in our home hearing from our church apostles and prophet. It was a beautiful way to keep the holiday centered on Christ. We've had lots of discussions on the resurrection of Christ which has helped the boys get a better understanding of the Savior. Its been great to see their blossoming testimonies. After the last session of conference we made out way to Red Grandma's house for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt!

 

It ended up being indoors since it was raining but still a fun time for all the kids. We loved spending time with cousins. And overall, I really liked Spring Break. Even though we were more of a circus, trying to go anywhere with 3 kids, it was fun to have Charlie home and the boys slept in great because I didn't have to pull them out of bed early in the morning to get Charlie to school. Hooray!