Heidi is two!!! (on the 21st)

Two Minutes

Two Hours

Two Days

Two Weeks

Two Months

Two Years!!! (She took treats to Michaela's class)

Sometimes I think parenting is a big mean joke. Heavenly Father gives us these special babies, and makes them so sweet and perfect and wonderful, and makes us think it will last forever....(not including the Eternal perspective) and then He grows them up so fast we don't even know where the time went! How is it possible that Heidi is already two? On the other hand though, it just seems as if she has always been a part of our lives. She is truly such a blessing and we love her so, SO much. Such a sweet little doll baby, she is the peacemaker in our home. If we ask her to do something, her response is, "Ok mommy, I do it." Or, "Yes, I can!" She is such a joy, very quick to snuggle or ask for a huggie, she adores her big sister, and looks for her all day. I just can't say enough about how essential Heidi is to our family, we love her so much and are to grateful to have her!

I tried to do a little birthday survey for Heidi this year and it went like this....

Mommy: Heidi, what is your favorite food?

Heidi: Yes, I want to eat.....

Mommy: Heidi, who do you love?

Heidi: Daddy home?

So we gave up for now! Below is a funny that Heidi said.....I hope to keep track of hers like I did Michaela's!

Heidi got in trouble for putting toys in the fridge....after I scolded her she came up to me with a very deep scowl and said, ""HEY. You be nice at Heidi Michelle Fife!"

I failed to post on Ericka's birthday, but we love her as much as our own daughters and are so proud of her too. She is truly one of my best friends and I love our relationship! Happy Birthday Ericka and we can't wait for your annual visit!!!

Sleep Study

So you know how I complain a lot that Michaela never sleeps? And that I swear I am not exaggerating when I say she still gets up EVERY night at least five or six times? Well, folks - I am not crazy! We finally took her in for a sleep study where the dr confirmed to me that normal kids do not wake up more than once a night, and even once a night consistently is not alright. Even going to the bathroom at night every night is not normal! Anyway. I took her in for an actual sleep study. I bribed her with new jammies, and a stuffed animal. She HATED that they put all the sensors on her, and pretty much screamed the entire twenty minutes it took the guy to get them on her. He took her out to the middle area where they watched us sleep and showed her to computer monitors and what they did when she moved or held her breath or anything like that. She thought that was pretty interesting. So we get into bed, and I got her to sleep with my fantastic singing after about ten minutes. I sang all primary songs and held none of my skills back ;) As soon as I drifted off to sleep, the guy came in and said since she was deeply sleeping he was going to put the nose sensor in. I told him he is crazy if he thought she would just stay sleeping and let him do that! He did anyway and duh- she woke up and freaked. It took me another 45 minutes of singing to get her back to sleep with that thing up her nose! This time though, I sang a little Taylor Swift, some Praise to the Man, all the Primary songs I knew and then I even threw in a little Gaga :) Yes, Seriously - Lady Gaga.

Anyway, she woke up her normal amount of times and it took me the normal amount of time to coax her back to sleep. The next morning she screamed again to get the sensors off but was very happy to get her complimenentary chocolate muffin (Me too!) and get the heck out of there! The best/worst part? On the way out, the sleep technician told us to have a great day and told me I had a very wonderful singing voice - because he can hear us all night!!!!!!!!! I didn't think about that!!! I was very careful to sleep modestly because I knew he could see me, but I didn't realize he could hear me singing LADY GAGA!!!!

Our follow up was today and the dr was semi surprised to read that over the coarse of the night she woke herself up 21 times, and at least one or twice of that EACH HOUR was because she was not getting enough oxygen. 21 times folks!!!! The solution? Watch her weight as she gets older so she doesn't become overweight, and wait it out. OR - we could try to wrestle a sleep mask on her each night. He said that they don't even attempt that anymore though because this age group just doesn't cooperate with that. I could have told him that! Anyway, there is a problem, but since she has already had her tonsils and adenoids out, there really isn't anything we can do about it right now. At least I know that I am not crazy! And that locking her in her room which I have never been able to bring myself to do, or punishing her in any other way won't work because there is something clinically wrong. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am not ruining her or bringing this on myself by letting her get away with it. I am so, SO, grateful that I have listened to the Spirit when I felt like she wasn't too spoiled or doing this to be mean. I feel so relieved that I am not guilt ridden today after finding out that it is not her fault she wakes up so frequently. So, blessings is disguise! Tired, bloodshot eyes, impatient disguise, but blessings in disguise nonetheless!! Here are a few pictures. Mostly for my own documentation, they aren't fun to look at because she is sad, but she will want to see them someday.

Twice in a week!!!!

This is a record lately!!! I also wanted to journal about early September activities and since I only meet the bare minimum requirements for Heaven, I use this as my only journal :) The beginning of September was so beautiful! We went to an outdoor resort near our house almost every day and Michaela learned to swim! (Doggy paddle.....) She was so excited and I am so proud of her! But the best part? Michelle and Shannon came to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had so much fun and Shannon makes me so baby hungry I can hardly stand it! Of course, I took Michelle out by my parents house - Forks WA to visit our dear friend Edward Cullen ;) Our girls stayed with my parents and it was just a mommy date! I love Michelle!!! Wish we lived closer but the distance makes our visits that much sweeter. It's weird that we didn't really take the camera out too often as we are such avid scrapbookers - but there aren't that many pictures to document the trip! All the pictures of the girls are on her camera and the Forks trip is on mine. Shannon is DELICIOUS!

Of course we went to Forks!! PS - we are not twilight diehards, but we saw the first movies together and we thought it would be fun to go here together - and it WAS!

Makes sense that we bought scrapbook stuff right?!

Hello Jacob :)

Bella's House

Grandpa Jon and Shawnie at Alderbrook Resort

Learning to Swim!

Scrumptious!

Rock Star anyone?!

What? Can't you tell that the broom is the microphone stand and the purple playspoon is the microphone? I could :)

Time for an Update!

Another wonderful month at Sunnyside! (Yeah, we named our house....get it? It's yellow and has a cool view of the sunny side of the hill.....? Go with us here!) We had some beautiful visitors (Winn Girls) and the most handsome Winn guy I know - Miles! I loved having my sister here for four days. Sister's are so wonderful and I really miss mine sometimes. I'm so glad she lives closer so I can see her and her sweet babies more! My parents joined the fun too of course and while it was crowded, it was priceless! During the Relief Society Broadcast, we left Jordan and my dad with the four girls and we took Miles. My dad's big idea? Finger painting with four girls ages four and under! Mission accomplished and they had a blast! Those pictures must be on my phone......

We have lots going on at our house! Getting ready for mine and Heidi's birthday, anticipating another visit from Ericka, whose birthday is just two weeks before Heidi's. And then there is mine.....eight days after Heidi's! Also, I hope Davea is out there somewhere reading this - WE MISS YOU and hope you are ok! (Can't find her right now....Prayers please!) We love having Shawnie living with us, she got to go to her homecoming dance last week and looked beautiful! We feel very blessed this month, and our new saying that I will be framing is - "In our family we do not say lucky, we say Blessed!" How true it is at the Fife house!

Below are pictures, what you all really come here for. Thanks for reading my monthly update.

Shawnie and her friends at Homecoming. They had a Disney theme so she and her friend went as Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. His costume was the easiest costume I have made!!! I need some boys next!!

Winn and Fife girls going crazy when Grandpa walked in the door!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Lucy!

Slumber party in Michaela's Room! Heidi and Miles crashed long before this, but these three stuck it out in with Grandma and Grandpa - brave grandparents!!

Reagan and Michaela

The main women in my life! Jordan was a little uneasy with all the estrogen floating around!!

Capes! Or dresses, depending on the game :)

Trying so hard for a picture of all four of them.....we bagged the attempt and took them to Penny's!

Sweet, kissable Miles - I miss you so!!!! (We are soulmates!)

And what post would be complete without a picture of Jordan doing what he has become recently obsessed with - Frog catching?!?!

First Day of Preschool! (2nd Year)

Michaela is sort of at a weird age with her birthday and school starting. It's fine with me - I am not ready for her to be in kindergarten yet anyway! Today was the firsts day of preschool for the second year! She is going to the same school as last year, but it's for older kids and they do more school type of stuff, rather than socialization. She had a blast and we are so happy to be in this program, we love the location, the teachers and all her friends! Every year I do a little survey for their scrapbooks, and who knows why, I have never thought to put it on the blog! I saw a few more questions from friends blogs so it was fun to add to my list! Anyway, below is this year's survey of Michaela :)

This is my beautiful, well mannered, girly, princess, ready for her first day of school......

This is more like the Michaela we know and love on a regular basis.......

Did her own hair today

Daddy came home to join us in dropping her off!

When Michaela was done showing us around, Heidi was very, VERY sad (and loud) about leaving :(

Heidi spotted her coming out, down the sidewalk!

Here she comes with all her friends

September 6th, 2011. First day of Preschool

Favorite thing about Mommy: She washes my hair and plays with me

Favorite thing about Daddy: He gives good hugs

Favorite thing about Heidi: Playing with her

Favorite Book: All the ones we read at bedtime

Color: Green mixed with pink

Song: Baby I like it

Movie: Dinasour Train (we don't have cable - just netflix)

Food: Chocolate, peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches

Treat: N&M's (Not a type-0)

Friends: Tikla, Austin, Reagan and Shannon

Ice-Cream: Chocolate Chip

Sport: The ones with balls

Toy: Strawberry shortcake dolls

Place to go: Gym and road trips

How much do you weigh? 20 lbs

How tall are you? Like this tall (Holds hands up in the air)

IF you could be an animal, what would it be? A Zebra

Tell me the funniest joke you know. Bippity Boppity, BACON!

Would you rather be a princess, a fairy or one of the strawberry shortcake girls? A fairy, they have wings, but strawberry shortcake girls are more modest. Get back to me on that.

What do you hope to learn at school today? Some funny jokes

DO you like girls of boys better? Well, girls use lotion, so they are softer

What makes you happy? My church teacher

What makes you sad? When I miss mommy, or need a bandaid

How do babies get here? At an adoption, the birthmom gets it out of her tummy and gives it to the you kind of mommy

What do you like to wear? Pink shirts, and skirts, and glitter or wings sometimes

What do you want to be when you grow up? A fairy, or a zoo helper

What do you like best about yourself? My great buns, and my wonderful manners

What is your favorite thing to do? Wash my feet and sometimes paint

What does daddy do at work? Does the budget and go to Frisco on a plane

What does mommy do during the day? Stuff like this and make dinner

Who is your favorite person? Tikla, or the President

Who is Davea? My birthmom who let me be a Fife, and she knows Ericka

What is Heaven like? Children sitting on Jesus's lap, suffering and singing.

Why do you think I asked you all these questions? I don't know, maybe you forgot all of them during your dreams last night.

End of Summer

We have sure enjoyed our summer!! We have been to California, Idaho and Utah, and had so many visitors I can't even mane them all! We have been on so many afternoon road trips, park days and front yard swimming dates that August just flew by. Below are some highlights :)

This is Michaela, but she calls herself, "Dr. Mc Dream-it." Here she is performing a new surgery that has not ever been done in the states before.....don't worry, I came out of it alright!

Our ward had a service project cleaning up the elementary school, and Michaela and were in charge of the windows. Needless to say, it took us double time because we did them together :)

Michaela and her Great Grammy Ginny

Tongue Rolling!!!

BAD hair day!!!

Love my baby and her size six-12 month swimming suit!

New bike!

My sweet Heidi, and her first day of nursery at Church! I can't believe she is almost two already! She is wonderful, such a nice girl and she is starting to talk so much now! I wish time would slow down!

Happy, Happy Summer

We have had so many visitors this summer! We love having company, and hope that more and more of you come :) Over memorial day, we were graced with the presence of the most Handsome of the Fife Men - AND THEIR DAD! (Sorry, Dustin, but that was too easy :)) Corban and Ethan came to play with us! We did lots of fun things, including a trip to Great Wolf Lodge, but for the first time ever I was playing instead of taking pictures! We had a little scare when Dustin and Ethan fell down and had a quick trip to the ER, but everyone was ok and we had a great time! So glad you came Fife boys and we missed you Amber!

Couldn't you just get lost in these baby blues?

Bounce House Fun! (Don't worry mom, it was indoors)
Corban loves Trains - maybe even more than Michaela!!!
A very brave and patient grandpa taking a nap with his 4 year olds
Movie Time!

Our Fourth of July Party! We hope this will be a tradition, so you are all invited next year! Our yard is perfect for a slip and slide but those 8 foot store bought ones just weren't cutting it......so I made this one! 50 Feet of slippery, slidey, soapy fun! We also have some ice blocks and the racing was super fun!! See you next year family! We had Jordan's parents, Shawnie, my parents, Austin and Tikla, and the sister missionaries.

Aunt Tikla and Heidi
Michaela went down at least 100 times :)
Even my dad couldn't resist! Jon was there helping to keep the slide wet with hose water and plenty of *biodegradeable* dish soap!
Grandma and Michaela
Aunt Shawnie
Our property is PERFECT for firework viewing! We are high enough up that we have about a 40 mile stretch where we saw shows fromabout 9 different cities. Loved every minute of it!