"but I still feel like I'm 3!"

I still can't believe it, but Monday was Miriam's 4th birthday.  When she woke up, I asked her what day it was...and she shouted, "my birthday!  But I still feel like I'm 3!"

Since we're going to celebrate with friends in a week, we decided to do a few things as a family per Miriam's request.  We went to a local park/zoo and looked at the animals and played on the park for awhile.  

Matt also had the great idea of surprising Miriam with a "slug bug" to ride around in on her birthday.  He called a family from church and they graciously let us borrow their Beetle convertible for the afternoon!  She has been pointing out Beetles and PT Cruisers for the past few months every time she sees them, so we knew she would be thrilled.  However, she was still a little unsure about the convertible part...it was "too windy."

We opened up a few presents at home...this one was her favorite.  

After going out for dinner at one of her favorite restaurants, we stopped for a dilly bar at Dairy Queen.  She got a ride on the horse while we waited for our ice cream.

We had a fabulous day celebrating our little girl's 4th birthday.  She's growing up so fast!

the latest in pictures

Once again, I have no idea where the past few weeks went.  How is it even possible that the end of August is here?  I wanted to give a quick update of pictures from our recent happenings...

We always spend a week in August at my parents' house to go to the county fair there.  It was fun to take both girls this year and go on a few rides (even with Abbie!).

Miriam got to ride a pony at the fair.  She was thrilled!

Both girls sat on a little Busytown car at the fair.  

Miriam insisted on this picture...poor Matt had to be the pig.

Matt has been taking Miriam out for walks at night after Abbie goes to bed.  It has been a sweet time for the two of them to enjoy some time together!

And here we are all smiles at home....

We've spent plenty of time outside enjoying the summer weather.  Both girls seem to gravitate toward any dirt we have in the yard and get plenty dirty in the process (obviously).  Abbie is also still in an "I like to put everything in my mouth" phase.

So that's the latest... and Baby3 is still growing along well--we find out what we're having at our next appointment in a few weeks!  We're definitely looking forward to that!  

beauty

My extreme absence in blogging has a reason:

We were a little preoccupied over the last part of July.  Matt and I, along with my aunt and uncle and college roommate and her husband, drove a total of 3,886 miles across 8 states to visit here:

Lake Tahoe.  It is absolutely one of the most beautiful places in the world.  Matt and I went there on our honeymoon and jumped at the chance to travel with my aunt and uncle this summer when they asked.  Because my college roommate is a teacher, I asked if she and her hubby would like to join us and was so glad that they could!  We had a great time seeing the beautiful scenery, enjoying the *perfect* weather, laying on the beach, going out for walks, and just spending time together.  We didn't take our kiddos along (which was definitely hard!), but really enjoyed having time for each other.  It was a lovely vacation and we can't wait to go back again someday.  

Yes, this place is a bit of heaven.