On September 24th, Mikayla turned 2 years old and she is becoming quite the little girl---running and playing and talking and singing. My mom says that she reminds her of a little Sharon....I'm sure much of that has to do with the light brown curly hair which is what I had at her age. The nice thing about her hair is that I don't have to spend much time on it and even if it gets messy it still looks cute. Here are some other favorite things about Mikayla....
She is discovering new words everyday. Some of her favorite phrases are "I want some" and "I did it" and "Come on Mommy" which she says while motioning with her hand for me to follow. And although she is able to communicate some, it is still frustrating for her and us because many times she knows exactly what she wants but is unable to communicate it to us.
She loves to read books and several times during the day she will be found sitting on the floor looking at books all on her own initiative. She also likes to take a few books to bed with her and reads them to Elmo before going to sleep. Because of her interest in books at such an early age, I have enjoyed taking her to Library story time while Austin is at Joy School.
She also loves to sing. Her favorite songs are: If your Happy And You Know It, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam, We Are a Happy Family, and ABC's. We have also caught her singing the Super Mario Galaxy Theme Song!!
She loves to color....with markers!! Crayons don't capture her attention much but if I hand her a handful of markers she will draw on her paper with every single one (and it has to be every one before she will stop).
She runs on her tiptoes and bounces as she runs. The joke is---when she runs, she moves up just as much as she moves forward. It is super cute!
She likes to watch TV but her attention span in limited....however, I can count on her to sit the entire 25 mintues watching Little Einsteins.
She loves to put on clothes and cocks and shoes. It's a girl thing.
She is very good at folding her arms during the prayers and will try to occasionally mutter a word or two.
She likes to ride bikes with Austin in the garage and jump on the trampoline.
Do I even need to talk about her sleeping habits?? Well, they are getting better and we are back to taking afternoon naps again....HURRAY!!
She gives a sweet hug and kiss (with her mouth open).
She loves apple juice and "pink" milk (milk mixed stawberry Nesquick).
She loves her blanket (which is actually Austin's baby blanket made by Craig's Aunt Linda) and Elmo (which she got on her 1st birthday from Grandpa Dave). These 2 things are a MUST if you want her to go to sleep.
We had a great time celebrating her birthday with family. I made her this Elmo birthday cake and even though their were a couple issues while putting it together, it actually turned out pretty well.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKAYLA!!
We love you and are so glad to have you in our family!!
Yes, another run--Miles For Mammogram 5K back in September. This run was fun because there were lots of friends and family participating. I finished with a time of 29:24 which I was happy about. It is slightly slower than my last run but 5 days before the race I was running at night (in the dark) through my neighborhood and of course tripped and fell. My back hurt really bad for several days. Even the day before the run my back was hurting so I didn't think I would be able to participate. However, I said a prayer and the next day I woke up with no pain. It's nice to know that God cares about the "little things."
And of course I couldn't let this race pass me by without giving it an attempt---The Woolaroc 8K Run (5 miles!!) It was actually a very nice run. The weather was perfect and the run was out in nature so the scenery was much nicer than running the streets in the city. This run is known for its hills and it definately did not dissapoint.....actually a few LESS hills would have been just fine with me :) But I made it through, running the whole time, and finished with a time of 54:16....I am definately planning to do this one again next year!! 
