Stella is 3!!

So... we kind of forgot that we had this little blog. Not really.  It was just that our old computer was such a pain to write on; it took f...o...r...e...v...e...r to turn on and to get on the internet. I tried to do a little blogging from my smartphone, but that was just a headache. Anyhow, new computer = new resolve to blog again. I spent some time yesterday afternoon reading through our old posts and reminiscing and I'm sad to think of all the memories from this past year that will be lost because of our blogging blackout. We'll see how much catch-up we can do.

Stella turned 3 last Thursday. Here's how she celebrated:

She woke up at the crack of dawn to open presents and see the decorations that her brothers had set up for her the night before. They hung red and pink streamers from the ceiling and the door between her bedroom and the living room, hung the birthday banner over the mirror, and made an pathway to her presents out of streamers that they filled with balloons she had to kick out of the way to get to her gifts.

She had to change immediately into our traditional birthday crown and birthday shirt and a new cute skirt and tights from Aunt Mandy. She changed into about 9 different outfits, which normally drives mama crazy, but we humored the birthday girl.

She opted out of our traditional chocolate cake with caramel icing and instead asked for a purple cake with sprinkles. This is what we ended up with. It wasn't very pretty, but it was sure tasty. She asked for hot dogs and french fries for lunch and pizza for dinner.

She spent the entire day playing with her new toys: a Polly Pocket (from Nana and Grandpa) and some Disney Princess Fashion Dolls. And she's wearing her swimsuit in this photo, because she chose to go swimming for her birthday activity, she just got dressed early. Also, note that Jack is wearing a purple shirt--  he chose to wear Stella's favorite color to help celebrate.

And this photo wasn't taken on Stella's birthday, it's from family night a few days before, but it's one of my favorites and perfectly illustrates what she's all about these days. She spends about 85% of her waking hours either singing or conducting an imaginary choir. Gosh, we are smitten with her.

Here are some other things we'd like to remember about our birthday girl this year:

1. Her favorite color is purple
2. She is FIERCE. Nobody pushes Stella around.  If you try, she'll growl at you and you might get a stiff-arm to the chest.3. She spends most of her day sing-narrating what she's doing. It's almost like a constant preschool opera.4. She LOVES to conduct imaginary choirs. She'll set herself up with a hymnbook, a makeshift music stand, and her imaginary choir many times a day.5. She adores babies.6. She is as independent as they come. She insists on dressing herself, doing her own hair and even making her own peanut butter sandwiches.7. She is already a dedicated bookworm, and can't fall asleep unless she has a stack of at least 10 books tucked in bed with her.

Book worm...er...racoon

This girl loves books. And her racoon costume. A couple of months ago (before her 2nd birthday), she looked up from her book and said in her most petulant voice, "Dad, I can't read!"

Hold your horses, little lady. You've got plenty of time.

new family photos

We are trying to be better about getting regular family photos taken. There was a pretty long drought there between 2006 and 2010, which shall be known from here on out as the Great Memory Drought (sorry mom).

Hanna Caldwell took these and she did a wonderful job, don't you agree?

More photos here.

magic tricks

Jack recently discovered the 25 cent soda pop vending machine at our neighborhood grocery store. Whenever he finds a coin, he begs to "go to the store and turn [his] monies into soda pop." I can't tell which is more exciting to him: the soda pop or the magic trick of turning a quarter into something tasty.

pillow talk

I love eavesdropping on the conversations Lincoln and Daniel have after they've been put to bed. Here's the gem we overheard tonight.

Daniel: Venus is hot.

Lincoln: Hot? Really hot?

Daniel: Yeah, hot.

{In the next room, Joe and I are looking at each other with raised eyebrows. We are very curious to see where this conversation is headed}

Lincoln: Like, stylish hot? Is she stylish?

Daniel: No. Temperature hot, like a hundred degrees. Even her winters are hot.

{At this point, we parents realize with a sigh of relief that he's talking about Venus the planet and love that Lincoln used the word stylish)


Also, Jack was on an airplane kick this evening. We went for a Sunday evening drive, which he decided was an airplane trip. Joe was the pilot, and he quickly realized that Jack would obey anything daddy said in his pilot's voice. But the best part of all came at bedtime. Jack was busy being an airplane mechanic doing a little before-bed airplane maintenance, but found he needed to get deeper into character.

Jack: I'm not Jack. What's my name?

Joe: I don't know, what is it?

Jack: Ummm... Miyogi.

Joe: Miyogi? What's that?

Jack: A woman.

Joe (confused): Roman?

Jack (disgusted): No. Morning...no... vvvvvwoman.

Joe: You're a woman airplane mechanic?

Jack: Yeah.

for the quote board

I forgot to record this little gem from Jack:

In the lead-up to his birthday, Jack wanted us all to know that when he turned three he'd be really big ("wee big") like his brothers, and not little. 

He sounded pretty distressed when he went to get dressed the morning after his birthday.

"Mom", he called from his bedroom, "I can't wear of these tiny pants. I'm too huge!"  He would only be satisfied when I claimed that his pants had also had a birthday and weren't little kid pants anymore.

Bird is the Word

 Long-Billed Curlew, photo via Flickr

Okay, so Mr. Joe and I may have jumped on the birding bandwagon after reading (and loving) The Big Year.  Is there a birding bandwagon? I dunno. Whatever the case, everyone in this family (even Jack and Stella) has gotten really excited about birding (or bird-watching) lately. We've now got a (very amateur) family life list, and have started spending most of our family fun time looking for birds.

We've long been aware of the Pigeons, robins and quail in our neighborhood, but had no idea until recently that we had a Downy Woodpecker living in our yard, that House Finches and Northern Flickers have been regular visitors to our bird feeder, that the flock of pretty little birds in the trees outside Joe's office are Cedar Waxwings, and that a few of the birds we thought were pigeons are actually Eurasian Collared Doves.

It's been amazing to see the variety of birds that surround us on a regular basis. They've always been there, but we're just now starting to appreciate them. It kind of makes me wonder what else we're missing out on because we're not paying attention...

We spent a little time yesterday at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on our way home from Nana's house, where we got an up-close look at a Long-Billed Curlew (pictured above) and a Blue Heron, along with about 10 other birds we hadn't seen yet.  

Very Exciting.

And yes, without a doubt, very nerdy.  But in a world where where it seems to get harder and harder for kids to develop any sort of real relationship with nature, I'll take nerdy any day if it means my kids are excited about being outside and looking around.

As far a bird guides go, we've really loved Stan Tekiela's bird field guides. Our copy is Birds of Utah, but he's published one for every state (Birds of Alaska, Birds of Alabama, etc.). We love them because they are so user (and even kid) -friendly. The birds are organized by color and then size, so you don't have to know a bird's name to look it up. The field guides also include only birds you're likely to find in your State, so you don't have to shuffle through pages and pages of unrelated birds. They've been perfect for beginners like us.