Going Out of Style

It seems to me that most of my friends who were once avid bloggers have become infrequent to non-existent bloggers, much like myself. So, it begs the question: is blogging going out of style?  I remember a certain college class in the year 2005. My professor had just gotten back from some conference of some sort or another. He was SO excited about the new thing he had just learned about called "blogging".   I thought it was the dumbest sounding word in the world.  Anyway, I do love the idea of blogs, and I love reading other people's blogs, so I hope that they don't stop, or that they start again. 

It's been a few months since my last post, so here are a few pictures to recap the randomness of our lives.

 I have cute kids don't I?  Logan looks especially cute with a baby hat on his head.

 Logan and Lizzy spend the most time with these cousins, Eva and Mallory. They can often be found on the couch eating popcorn and watching a show. That grandma of their's can also often be found on the couch sewing.

 Siri is still the most popular member of the family. She gets the most hugs and kisses. Today Logan started calling her his "bestest trophy".

 Like most babies, she is fond of toothbrushes.

 Ummm....I don't remember why this picture was taken.

 As you can see, Lizzy got into make-up one day. She thought foundation was lipstick I guess. I kind of think it's a good look for her.

 Beautiful girls.  Siri is giving you her bugged out eyes look that is still common on her.

 Cowboy and cowgirl. Logan found a holster that belonged to/was made by my dad.  He uses it to carry his rifle. In his regular toy holster he is carrying a church shoe with Iron Man inside the shoe. I wish you could see it in the picture.

 And these two pictures just demonstrate the basics of us.

 I'm notorious for being incapable of making a normal face for a picture. I start out with a normal face, but I can sense when the picture taker is about to take the picture, and some how I end up with a  strange look on my face for the picture.

Only 3ish good snows for the season and we finally got around to building a snowman after the last one. He's pretty tall too, but it was no match for the hot sun next day. Poor Frosty was a gonner only 24 hours later.

Maybe I'll update again soon. Maybe I won't...

Maybe you don't care.

Our 3 Year Old

I am a little alarmed that I have somehow become the mother to a 5 and 3 year old, and a new(ish) baby.  Of the three children, I think the 3 year old is the most challenging. I feel comfort in thinking that most mother's of 3 year olds would probably agree with me. Despite her attitude, we still love her to pieces. 

We celebrated Mickelsen/Ward style. That's code for it was very low key. James and I both grew up with low key birthdays, so that's how we celebrate with our kids!  We invited cousins over to help us celebrate. The birthday girl, Lizzy is in front. We got the kids a pizza (always a favorite) and soda! to drink. I'm pretty sure Lizzy didn't wholly grasp the birthday concept at first. She was just happy to see her cousins and eat pizza.

 Around present opening time I could tell she thought the day was pretty cool because she got to open presents.

 However, her day wasn't super special until we sang happy birthday to her. I SO badly wish I had recorded it on video. The song started and she thought it was all normal, but then she realized we were singing to her! The smile in this next picture shows how happy she was.  Her happy smile was SO SO CUTE!  I know she felt really special, and I'm glad she got to experience that feeling, because I think all to often she feels like the classic middle child.

Siri enjoyed the aftermath of the party. Balloons.

So, my little Lizzy girl. What should I say about you? I fear there would be too much to say. You are a bossy, sassy girl who loves unconditionally, loves to give hugs, be held, and give crazy kisses. I'll admit that your sass is so bad, that this next year might be a long one. However, when you are happy, your dad and I can't get enough of you.  Your smile is absolutely infectious.

Some quick facts about you.
-Lizzy, you are a tall girl. I'm sorry about that. When I took you in for your 3 year well check, the doctor thought you were 4 because you are so tall. At nearly 40 inches tall, that makes you taller than 97% of the other girls your age.
-You can count to 12, a trick that took us by surprise because we've never tried to teach you how to count.
-You only recognize a few letters, "W" being the one you are most comfortable with. Random.
-You know your shapes and colors.
-You are addicted to you thumb. We have broken the habit numerous times, but after about a month of not sucking your thumb, you suddenly start again.
-You love pink and purple.
-After I do your hair every day, you quickly find somebody to show off too and then tell them that you are pretty.
-You will NOT wear socks. You agree to wear them while you have shoes on, but once the opportunity presents itself, you will promptly take them off. You would rather play outside on a winter day with no socks and shoes on.
-You talk a lot, but you are hard to understand. Your speech isn't clear, but it's coming along just the same.
-You are my beautiful little girl, and I love you to bits and pieces. Thank you for being you. Sass and all.

Interesting Phone Conversation

On Saturday my sister called me to see our mom owned the Janice Kapp Perry music book called Just One Little Light.  She was searching for one song in particular.  I was able to find it in the music collection and we got talking about what it would take to legally make copies of the song for my sister's purposes. The book was published in 1988, and it included a phone number to call if you were inquiring about making photocopies. I called it and a very tired old woman answered with a simple hello. I explained what I was calling about, thinking that the book was so old that this number could no longer be valid especially after the simple hello greeting; as opposed to an official business of sorts that would handle copyright issues. Anyway, after explaining what I was after, the tired sounding old lady said, "Well, this is Janice.  What you need to do is go to janicekapppery.com and click on photocopies".  I thanked her and then hung up.

So now the question is, did I really talk to Janice Kapp Perry?

Sorry Pam

In high school I had a good friend named Pam. Pam had the most beautiful extra long hair I've ever seen. Down past her bum kind of long. It was healthy, shiny, and super fantastic to look at on the random occasion that she would wear it down. All through high school my hair was short. Really short most of the time. I somehow talked Pam into cutting her hair with the condition that I would grown my hair out to a certain length. Pam went through with the hair cut (don't worry, she still left it plenty long) but I, however, have never managed to grow my hair out to that specified length we agreed on.

Giving a point of reference.

 The specified length would be to where my finger is pointing. I really thought I might get there this go around with growing out my hair. But, alas, my hair has been falling out at quite an alarming rate since Siri's birth and James was pretty insistent that I cut it before I go bald. (Only two more inches and I would have done it!)

Now I look like me again. I thought I might be sad to lose those few years of effort in growing out my hair, but not so! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, having short hair again!!!  Makes me wonder why I waited so long to cut it.

Sorry Pam. Maybe, one day.

New Technique

Lizzy's birthday is in a few days, but we are celebrating early. Of course I made her a cake, and I was excited to try something new!

James gives me a hard time because I can never smile normally for a picture.

The birthday girl's cake. 

 Ok, so the new (to me) technique I used is called a frozen butter cream transfer. If you'll refer to the picture below, you will have a better understanding of what I did.

I found a picture of mickey and minnie, printed it out and, put wax paper on top of it, then traced it out with frosting. That's it in a nutshell. If I could do it over again, I would only change one thing. I would make sure I taped down the wax paper super tight on all sides. You can see the waves in the frosting because my wax paper wasn't secured tightly. Oh well. Overall, I'm super pleased with this first time effort. 

On to the next cake.

I made this one for my nephew's cousin. I threw it together in literally a couple of hours from baking to finished. I've seen a lot of pictures of shirt cakes and I've been wanting to try one. There are a few extra things I could have done, but time was short.

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. We'll see if my attendance here improves.

Sweet Siri Monster

James likes to call her the Siri Monster. Nice term of endearment, no?

 Well, everybody says how hard three kids is.  I haven't really thought so, but my blog is showing signs of neglect since I've had #3, which must be proof that 3 is harder than 2.  But if this cute little munchkin is what's keeping me from doing other things, that is just fine with me.

 Clearly she is the center of attention around here.

 We blessed this cute little baby on September 4th. Siri is showing off her beautiful slip that my Mom went overboard sewing and embroidering.

 This is her actual blessing dress which is a miniature version of my wedding dress. I think my mom took a little too much pleasure in cutting up such an expensive gown. It turned out so pretty that I don't regret it for a second.

 Siri hit her two month "birthday" on September 6th.  I've been willing her to stay 1 week old, but it just isn't happening. She is staying smaller longer than my other two babies though. That's a plus for me!

 Logan and Lizzy were both thumb suckers, but I attributed it to the fact that I was stingy giving them a pacifier. (I have nothing against pacifiers other than they NEVER stay in the mouth, therefore I just didn't offer them a lot.) Anyway, Logan broke his thumb sucking habit fairly easily, but Lizzy can't be stopped. I determined to make Siri a pacifier baby, offering it even when she didn't want/need it. Well, guess what happened?

 She prefers her thumb anyway. See the rejected pacifier?  Yeah, she won't suck on them anymore. Gah. Oh well.

Isn't she the cutest? We think so. Really. We can't get enough of her.

Some quick facts about our 12 week old angel.

Turns out she has a slight allergy to milk. I'm hoping this goes away before she's a year old.

She weighed in at 10 lbs 15 oz at her 2 month appointment. That puts her in the 60% for weight. She is 75% in height and her head was 95%.

Siri takes 4 naps a day, eats 6 times and sleeps from 9:45PM until 7:15ishAM. The middle of the night feedings ended completely when she was 10 weeks old. Yay!

She is a pretty happy baby, but she lets us know when it's nap time. She starts to get fussy.

She happily lies on the ground observing everything around her. Don't hold her in your arms cradle style. She doesn't like that. But she is happy to be held over your shoulder.

She tolerates me and her sibling just fine, but she has a definite favorite person in the house and that is Daddy. She LOVES her daddy, and he loves her right back. It's really very sweet. I would be jealous, but how can I be?  Their bond is just too precious.

Hopefully I find the motivation to update more. I know you've all been missing my updates. ;)

Time Flies

I'm not sure I've ever gone so long with out a post. My brain feels like mush, but life has been wonderful for the last 6 weeks. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not a big picture taker. The following pictures are nearly all of the pics I've taken in the last 6 weeks. 

3 weeks ago we drove to Idaho to show off Siri to James' side of the family. James took the kids on multiple 4-wheeler rides along with spending a day out on the boat. 

 This is Logan, Lizzy, James and our niece Taylor.

 James spent some time working in the greenhouse. He took Logan with him too. This is Logan, Dalton and Morgan, our nephews. Dalton just got his mission call to the Marshall Islands. Woohoo! We are SO excited for him!!!

 These are my three sweet angels. They don't always act so angelic, but we love them to pieces anyway.

 Siri is 6 weeks old this week. It's hard to get a cute picture of her, especially because she hasn't started smiling yet.

 Logan did Lizzy's hair for her one day. Do you think he did a good job?

 This little girl makes lots of funny faces.

Last week we said hello and then goodbye to our family visiting from Maryland. My sister and her family lives there, but Logan had a blast playing with his cousins for the week they were here.

So now you are pretty much up to snuff on what has happened in our lives for the past 6 weeks. People have been asking me how it has been to adjust to 3 kids, so I'll tell you what I think.

I've been tired. But I was tired before I had Siri, so what's new? Actually, I've been less tired lately, due to a sweet little girl that allows me to get some sleep. For the last week Siri has made it a habit to sleep anywhere from 6-8 hours at a time at night.  I realize some babies learn how to sleep through the night very fast, but I attribute her skills to applying the principles I learned from the book On Becoming Babywise. I've done it with all three kids and I am a TRUE believer.

Let me start this next paragraph by saying that I am a whiner. Everything seems hard to me, and I'm quick to complain about the easiest of tasks. However, the transition to child number 3 has probably been the easiest one. Logan was our first kid, and the hardest in my opinion. But I think that is just because I had NO clue what I was doing or what to expect. Lizzy would have/should have been the easiest to transition to. She was a perfect baby during the day but as soon as 10:00 PM hit she would cry. And cry. And cry. Until she was 12 weeks old. That's when she stopped crying and starting sleeping. Siri would have been an extremely difficult baby for me if she had been my first baby. Luckily, I really know what to expect this time, and I won't be thrown off by her curve balls. She had a very difficult time learning how to nurse, and we've dealt a lot with some major tummy gas issues, but we seem to be past that for the most part. I've never felt overwhelmed with having the three kids, and for that I am SO grateful. After the birth of the older two kids I felt completely and totally done having kids. No more, thank you very much. But, three has been easy enough that I am readily admitting to wanting more kids. (Just give us 1-2 years please.)

The main message I am trying to convey is that I feel SO blessed. Heavenly Father has held my hand through this transition and has made it very easy. Logan and Lizzy have made the adjustment well and without a doubt, James and I are closer and more in love with each other than ever before. It truly baffles my mind that you can love a person more and more the longer you spend with them. (Seems like you should get more and more tired of them.) There has never been another person in my life (besides my parents, but that's a given) who has loved me so thoroughly, given so much of themselves to ensure my happiness, and told me multiple times on a daily basis that they love me than James has and does. I am a lucky, lucky girl and my kids are lucky, lucky kids. I'm not sure there is a better daddy or husband out there.