All About Mikey

Can you believe this little buddy is almost 3? It blows my mind. He walks, he talks (ish), he climbs, he pees in the toilet, he carries his 6 month old sister around (that's not necessarily the safest but we stay real close), he gets his own water, he mimics me all the time (my favorite is when he goes one! two! three! Fold your arms Baby Adam- it's adorable but I hope I don't really sound like that)

I went a little nuts with the pictures because every time I blog I put up a bunch of pictures and then I go through and delete some of them. Well not this time friends! 28 pictures for you to feast on with your eyes (they are from the last 5 months except for the first one obviously)

I am just so proud of this little guy. He made me a mom and we are trucking along together, learning how to do this whole parenting/child thing. I remember once my dad telling me that parents are new at this stuff too. I think about that sometimes when I do something that just devastates my kids. I am still learning too, so I just pick up the pieces, learn from it, and keep on going!

He is really weird though. An example: he has started to climb onto my lap, grab my face, pry my mouth open and yell, "Hey you bad guys! Get out here!" What? Really? I don't get it. He used to say "Hey new baby! Get out here!" I had to explain to him that we aren't having a new baby yet and when we do, he/she won't be coming out of my mouth. He was pretty concerned and when he asked where it comes from, I just turned on Mickey Mouse. Kudos to parents who want to tackle that early, but not this girl.

Mikey is such a happy little dude. He is so sweet to his little sister, a bully to his little brother but sometimes, when he is really bad I take Adam "away" and Mikey can't play with him and it's pretty clear how much he really loves Adam. He gives so much love and affection and he is so smart and kind. He loves superheroes, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse. He likes to help us cook, listen to music and we have dance parties all the time. Plus, he is like the cutest almost 3 year old around ;) Care for some evidence? Scroll down!

sometimes Mikey just wants to clean. we are working to encourage that haha

not a great example of the happy I was referring to earlier 

I promise he wears more than pjs and a hat. Really. I swear.

One day Mikey is going to hate this picture. I think I'll put it in his wedding slideshow. What could be better!

I'm not sure what is going on here but I love it.

Yes my counters are always that cluttered. It's a personal problem.
Mikey just loves to cook.

He wanted to play with water in the kitchen. I said no. He was not pleased.

I love when I come into the kitchen and they are sitting like this. Mikey can be such a bully sometimes but most of the time him and Adam are just best friends.

Mikey did not want to do this but he trusts his grandpa so here he is, on a pig head.

This is a pose. How he decided he should react to the flash.

I did not tell him to pose like this. I don't know where he gets this stuff but seriously, how cute!

This is the oven to the kitchen we built them for Christmas. (they broke the handle off) Mikey insists that Adam sits with him in there. It's pretty cute.

I realize the Mikey is not in this picture but these are the babies. The green dog is Mikey's baby Scout, the teddy bear is Adam's baby Polar and Natalie is my baby. And Jake does not have a baby haha. How little Mikey knows. He makes me line them up all the time. Isn't that so cute? He brings Scout to me and is like Oh no mama! my baby cries! So I ask him how to fix it and he alternates between food, a toy, a cuddle, and pat his back. Cute.

Oh man. Mikey and Adam just loved this motorbike. (it's not ours, it's a friends) And now every time a bike goes by our house Mikey freaks out and is like It's Sean's bike!

Mikey needed to be safe while showing off his motorbike to Sean. Shout out to Grandma Colleen for the bike. Mikey loves it. (the helmet is not his, it's Sean's)

After we made brownies, Mikey wanted to take pictures while we waited for them to cook.

I just love him. I can't believe that I am a mom. I can't believe that Mikey is almost 3. And I can't believe I have 3 kids. But it's pretty great. I didn't have any idea where my life was going to take me but I sure am glad that it is where it is.

Thanks for reading!

More than 1-in-1

Oh my word. Can you folks believe it? After having this blog for almost 4 years, I am finally hitting my 100th post. Excellent. Thanks to any of you that have read all 100... I'm fairly positive that my grandmas will fall into that category... as for anyone else, who knows! But shout out to my grandmas! My most loyal followers. :D
So I've been meaning to blog for a while now but I don't like to do multiple blog posts in one day. Why you ask? Who knows, so we get a more than 1-in-1  post today. First things first, a little update.

Natalie is just a little doll. And I do mean little. She is growing, just much slower than our boys did but honestly, it's so sweet. We love having such a cute little peanut. The big news with her is that she is cutting her first tooth (we think, either that or she is incredibly saliva-y) and she can sit by herself. Still a little shaky but she is doing very well.

Our chunky monkey. Oh man. He has a nasty black eye. This picture actually makes it look better than it really is. The bruise goes all the way up to his forehead. We aren't sure exactly what happened but I am pretty sure Mikey said that he hit him with Jake's belt. Awesome. So proud. Man. (fyi, that was sarcastic ;) 

He is also starting to talk a little bit and since Mikey was so delayed me and Jake are like Man he's amazing! But in reality, while amazing for so many reasons, probably fairly on course in this regard. 

My little bully. And poser. Man this morning he made me take like 50 pictures of him. Look at him, just working it for the camera. He is doing great. He is almost 3! What! I cannot believe it. It's weird but 3 years is a long time and sometimes I just can't believe he is almost 3 and then other times it just seems weird that he has only been in my life for 3 years. He is doing pretty good though. He has turned into quite the bully which is so frustrating because no matter what I do, he just turns around and does the same thing over again. But he talking well, and is doing great with the toilet training so we are happy.

Jake is doing great, still just chugging away at his job. He is such a good guy. He gets up and leaves by 7 in the morning, gets home around 5 or 6 and then plays with the kids or makes dinner, depending on my mood/energy level and then puts the kids to bed, helps me clean the kitchen (also depending on my mood/energy level haha) and then hangs out with me until I fall asleep around 11 and then he finally gets to do what he wants. Amazing. I am much more selfish than that I think

And me. I am doing good. Not much to report honestly. I take care of my kids, make pancakes about 5 days a week, do lots of laundry. Oh man, speaking of laundry. my whole life I have heard women talk about how they just do laundry all day every day and I never believed that they weren't exaggerating but oh man. It's possible I have never been more wrong about something in my entire life. Just for the record. When I was little, one time I was watching this tv show and a girl said that she threw her clothes out at the end of the day so that she never wore the same thing twice. My goal- to be rich enough to do that haha. No more laundry!

Okay, what else to talk about.

Hawaii.

I barely took any pictures while we were there. We were all busy the whole time so pictures took a back seat. I am so sad but sometimes it happens. We went for Liz's wedding which was beautiful and I totally flaked on all pictures. My kids were all decked out in their adorable outfits and instead of taking a picture, I spent the whole time trying to get Mikey to not pull up his ie and Adam to stop crying for a sucker, thanks to Alisi for that one haha. But it was still wonderful.

For the wedding, Jake's dad's friend gave them a massive sow and this is Mikey and Adam sitting on it's head. It was gross but kind of awesome.

They made emu for the wedding and I do not like smoked meat but man oh man, this was delicious. I didn't get to eat much because of the before mentioned crazy kids but I did like it. And I have never seen them take one out before so this was really cool for me. 

I just love this guy. :D

 Then the next week, we went to ward camp. It was pretty fun. It was different from last year because the family was so busy this year but still enjoyable. Everyone was there which is pretty incredible and honestly, here are the three pictures I took that week. What the heck man.

Also, note the shirts. Hannah made all the littles cute tie dye shirts. Mikey's says Bite Me on it I think it's hilarious. Potentially my favorite part of camp was explaining to some people in the ward what bite me means. That is not an easy task.

Next! 4th of July!

We of course went to the block party in Provo on the 3rd which was delightful. It was fun to see everyone and so crazy to realize that we have been in EM for almost a year. Crazy. Then on the 4th we went to a ward breakfast and that night we had a little block party of our own out here and it was so fun. James and Arianne came down for the evening and it was great to see them and their cutey little buddy.  We all just sat around and ate and then we shot off some fireworks. Yay for the Hibberts and the Harveys for bringing some. (And by some, I mean lots) We brought some little ones but nothing like what they had.

This what holidays are all about. Sitting around and eating too much haha

Mikey kept turning my head towards the camera. Like literally grabbing it and forcing me to look at the camera. Also, shout out to James for the photo bomb.

For the record, Mikey loves fireworks. Like cries when they are finished, stop and watch and clap while they are going on and talk about them for days kind of love. It's in their blood. Adam also stops and watches. At  one point, I saw him put down food- big deal. And Natalie. Yeah you'd think that she'd cry because of the loud sounds but nope, just stares at them. It makes their dad so proud.

And last, just some pictures of yesterday because Shelly bought a pool and we played in it yesterday. It was so cute and fun. She bought the boys goggles which was adorable. Check it out. 

Thanks for reading!

Superhero Day!

AKA Father's Day.

Okay first things first. A little Mike Merrill tribute.
Did you know I have a great dad? Truly. He is pretty smart dude- I honestly quote him all the time. And the rest of the time I feel like I hear his voice in my head. He has been a great dad and I am glad that he got to teach me how to be a parent. Not many people would be able to do what he did with the skill that he did it. So shout out to my Pops. You rock. We all love you over here.

Next, Vonn Logan.

Did you know that Jake also has a great dad? Honestly. How lucky are we, right? Not only were we raised by great men but our grandkids get some seriously kick-a grandpas (and yes, I am sure that both of them are so pleased to hear/read me use that term to describe them) Jake's dad is so good to us. We are so grateful that we can go to him at any time and he will do anything to help us. Plus, he's a great cook. Everybody loves good food, right? Love you Dad Logan. Excited to see you in a few days.

Now the main event! We love opening acts but everyone knows you go to events to see the main one. You know, the trailers are good but we are all in it for the movie? Which of course is Jake! 

There is a saying that goes something like Don't marry a man that you wouldn't want to have as a son. (I know, it sounds a little weird but the sentiment is great) I can honestly say that I will be beyond thrilled if my little boys grow up to be just like their dad. Jake is a great husband, provider, father, comforter, and everything else. Plus, I think he's nice to look at. ;)

 Okay, so I know that those pictures make it look like he doesn't really hold Natalie which is kind of true but I promise he is actively involved in her life too. She is just a little mama obsessed. :D

Did you know that my kids love super heroes? Like an impossible amount. Mikey can barely say his own name but he's got Iron Man, Hulk, Superman, Batman, Flash, Thor, and Captain America down. (well only Captain America sometimes) Priorities huh? When I pick out their clothes in the morning, if there is only one superhero shirt, one child will have a breakdown. So naturally, we (I use we rather liberally in this case) did a Super Hero themed Father's Day.
I made the banner that you can see in the background- I don't have a great picture of that though, and the sign in the middle says Happy Father's Day to our favorite Super Hero. Love Mikey, Adam, and Natalie. It is probably going to end up in the boys room but I told Jake he could take it to his office too.

Look at these cuties. All of em. Man I love these four.

 For his presents I got him a Zelda poster for his office, which I know is not a super hero but he loves it. Also, a classic Marvel poster with all the marvel heroes but Jake wants that to go in the boys room too so high five Meredith! Two birds with one stone. Boys room check, father's day check. I also got him three shirts- a green lantern one, a superman one, and a captain america one (in theory one from each kid). Mikey picked out the most expensive card in walmart I think. Seriously this one little card was more than those giant singing ones. Geez. But it had Batman on it so it worked kind of perfect. And I made him a poster and a Super Hero kit.

His presents!

 Here is the poster! At the bottom, I traced the kids hands and man oh man was that difficult. It looks awful... because well it is awful. Some things you just have to accept and move on. Jake loved it though. It's at his office already but it's almost for sure leaning against the wall, potentially even facing the wrong direction. Also possible- it's still in the car. :D he's awesome, just a little forgetful.

 This is the super hero kit that I found on Alpha Mom. It was so much fun. It just has a bunch of snacks with silly labels, like JERKY- in case there is nothing around to eat in the fortress of solitude, or Freshens Breath- 4 out of 5 damsels in distress agree. It was fun to pick out the different snacks to put inside. This I am sure is at his office, well, what's left of it anyways.

 Then, because it's a holiday we had a big breakfast. Every holiday we do it and it's almost always the exact same but still delicious. Although the fruit we have is different every time. Jake wanted cherries and I wanted grapes. (because even though I don't think I've ever tried fresh cherries, I am 100% sure that I don't like them haha)

Look at how excited Adam and Jake are. Mikey already has food in his mouth though. He takes one bite before prayer every meal. Whatever.  

Jake wanted rice, eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, toast, grapes, cherries, and pork and beans.

And then for dinner we had sushi. No pictures, just delicious memories.

And for that part at the end of the movie, you know after the trailers I want to give a shout out to all my brothers/brothers in law. Jeff, Jord, Mal, James, Gid, and Saili- you are all great dads and I am so glad that you are all in my life. I am excited that my kids have so many great strong examples in their lives... lifes... hmm... interesting. (way to ruin a perfectly nice tribute Mere) Lives. I decided.

Thanks for reading!