Happy Birthday Jared!

For Jared's birthday this year I had a cute little gift planned for him. I was going to get him a meat branding iron, he LOVES to grill! And a basket full of all the ingredients for his rub and his BBQ sauce along with a personalized shaker and a bottle for the sauce. I was also going to make him an apron (he's been asking for one for over a year), make little Jared a matching apron, and a whole bunch of other grilling goodies. I got an email from a sweet friend that has just started doing photography. She was offering her services for a STEAL! So I ditched the grilling idea and took her up on her generous deal. I couldn't be HAPPIER! We have never had photos done as a family, ever. Jared wasn't in these pictures BUT, all 3 of our beautiful babies are...I even make an appearance or two :) Jared was a little model right from the start. As soon as he saw the camera he would pose, say cheeeeeese, and then as soon as she snapped one he would change his pose, smile big, and then repeat the process. There was no shortage of baby Jared photos. Wylee on the other hand would bury her head in my lap anytime Erika so much as said her name. She warmed up though....right after the camera was put away. We agreed to call her Jill during the shoot so she wouldn't shut down at the very mention of her own name. Russell did great too! He only got fussy towards the very end of it. I can't believe how many great shots she got out of such a crazy morning, I would have bet money that there was one...maybe two, good pictures out of them. I was so wrong....Enjoy!

Thank you Erika for sharing your amazing talent with our family, it means more to me than you will ever know to have this special time in our lives captured so beautifully.

I'm sooo completely a MOM...

I'm sooo completely a MOM...I say this with a smile on my face and tear in my eye, because while I am so thankful for these little souls that our Heavenly Father has entrusted me with, I have also forgotten what it's like to still be a GIRL. Two days ago I loaded the kids up and went to Wal-Mart because I decided that I'm finally going to buy myself some new shirts. Yes Wal-Mart. I can't believe that I am shopping for new clothes at Wal-Mart. Not cause it's a crappy place to shop, but because I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would let these words come out of my mouth. Wal-mart is cheap, I have to buy sizes that are bigger than I want to admit that I have to buy which means I'm hoping to not wear them for long, and OP and Miley Cyrus/Max Azria have some cute affordable clothes. With that being said I treated myself to 3 tops and a scarf. Today I went BACK to Wal-Mart and returned the 3 shirts (I kept the scarf because it was on sale for a whopping $3.00) and bought formula and diapers instead. Get it? I'm so TOTALLY a mom. I have been feeling so guilty for the past 2 days about those 3 stinkin shirts. How stupid is that? It's not like in order to buy the formula and diapers I needed to return the shirts, that wasn't the case at all. I just couldn't do it. My brain keeps calculating the cost of formula and the fact that we have 2 in diapers and it won't allow me to treat myself to WAL-MART CLOTHES. Maybe it'll allow me a lovely trip to the local Helping Hands, or Goodwill...there is a BIG Goodwill here in Paris. Oh my gosh...I wish I could take those sentences and cram them back into mouth, but its the truth. I'm a mom of 3 and it shows. Not only a mom of 3, but a mom of 3 who has already decided that our 4th and final baby should be born around October of 2011. So I'm calling myself a mom of 3.5 because I think my plans for #4 are pretty set in stone, he/she may as well already be here. As I write this I am watching Russell gag a few times, spit up formula, gag a little more, spit up some more and I can't help but picture him spitting up a new $7.00 clearance top :) Just kidding. Sort of. Happy Friday :)

My Personal Challenge update

I know it isn't QUITE halfway through the month yet, but the kids are "napping" and Russell is enjoying his bouncy seat right now so it's a pretty good time to blog. Alrighty, time to unveil the grocery cost to-date...as of Monday, September 13th we have $55.58 left in our budget. I'm actually REALLY happy about this and here's why:

• The kids and I spent an unexpected week at the Fate House, which meant all my menu plans for last week didn't get made because we weren't at the Paris House but all of the groceries were.
• I sent Jared to the store for formula, milk, and bread.....he came home with that plus about $15 worth of extra items that I did NOT send him out for (he wanted to make banana splits)
• We were in charge of snacks at church last week.
• Jared also made a trip to Wal-Mart and came home with 2 half gallons of Blue Bell
• Ruth and James and our nieces and nephew (8 total) came for a visit last weekend and we got to cook for them on Sunday! I had originally planned on not counting the groceries for that meal against our budget but then thought, what the heck...I can do it! Then Jared decided to cook ribs, lol! Not a cheap meal but still I can do it!

So all of these little "extras" that I wasn't planning on for the month DID in fact get counted toward the grocery budget, and now you can see why I'm happy to announce that we still somehow have $55.58 to spend. I currently have the items needed for at least 10 meals, which will take us into the 26th of September. All I have on my list for this week is a gallon of milk, fruit snacks, and a bag of brown sugar which should be less than $10.00 :)
Dare I say that we may end September not only meeting our $200 budget, but actually having a bit left over? The possibilities are looking good :)

Menu for September

Jennifer requested that I share my menu for September....I'm a bit embarrassed to do it because it's so plain and boring BUT, I'll do it anyways! A lot these are repeated so I'm only going to list them once. I'll include about how much each meal costs me to make, not including condiments because that would be about impossible for me to figure out. These numbers are pretty dang close though! If the Great Value brand is available then that's what I buy. Here goes, starting on Wednesday September 1st:

• Chicken breasts cooked in olive oil (I only have to cook two chicken breasts for a meal because I split mine with the kids), family size can of green beans (I put a chicken and herb bouillon cube in the pot for extra flavor) and white rice-- $3.16
• Chicken thighs baked in the oven, cream corn mixed with whole corn and white rice-- $4.10
• Tacos (inc. lettuce & cheese) and re fried beans-- $4.74
• Chicken Breasts, fresh sauteed carrot slices, family size can of green beans-- $3.28
• Chicken thighs, half a bag of  frozen mixed veggies, can of sliced potatoes-- $4.04
• Casserole: layers of ground turkey, french style green beans x2, mashed potatoes topped with the shredded Velveeta cheese--$5.22
• Chicken breasts, can of corn, mashed potatoes-- $2.59
• Hot dogs & fries-- $3.25
• Chicken thighs, white rice, family size can of green beans-- $3.94
• Taco salad (left over taco shells, lettuce, cheese)-- $3.18
• Grilled cheeses and soup-- $1.90
• Meat loaf, family size can of green beans, mashed potatoes-- $4.09

So there ya have it. I imagine as the weeks go by I will get more creative with my meals, but this is a good start! Only one meal is over $5.00 :) Happy Monday!

First 16 days...

So I made my menu out for the first 16 days in September and then made my grocery list. Russell was a little fussy (extra early) this morning, the bigger babies were still sleeping, and Jared was working at home for a bit so I loaded Russell up and went to the store at about 6:30. I refuse to go on Saturday morning just to avoid taking the kids, so this worked out. I really stuck to my list which is hard for me to do, I only added 3 things to my basket, and honestly they should have been on my list to begin with. So now for the grand total: $69.23! This is for lunch and dinner through September 16th. I'll probably have to go back for more milk, but hopefully that will be it. I have pretty much all the breakfast stuff that I need here already. The menu is pretty boring, lots of chicken, lots of vegetables...but don't forget that we are trying to lose a little weight as well! Time to nap the babies so I'll have a more interesting post later today :)

My personal challenge

I am challenging myself to feed our family on $200 worth of groceries for the month of September. FOOD ONLY, and formula isn't included in this $200 limit. I know it sounds ridiculous but I have done my homework. I know how much milk, bread, chicken, cans of veggies, etc. that we go through in a week. I've done lots of calculating. $200 isn't as crazy as it sounds, and I'm going to prove it. I'm doing this for a lot of reasons:

• We want to have one last baby at some point next year, so if I can start cutting back now then we will be THAT much more prepared to bring our last bundle of joy into this world.
• Jared and I both want to shed a few unwanted pounds. I'm giving up a few guilty pleasures not only to save on groceries but to help lose some weight as well. See ya later Dr. Pepper...thanks for helping me stay awake through the day. So long Blue Bell, I love you more than I love my husband sometimes.
• I want to see just how little our family can survive on. I don't mean little amounts of food, just how little can we make our grocery bill. If I feel like I have cut back everywhere that I can and there just isn't enough to go around then I'm tossing that $200 limit out the window and we will just see how much is realistic for our family. But $200 is a start.
• I don't work, I am so fortunate to be a stay at home mom. I'm not lucky, luck has nothing to do with me getting to stay home. We sacrifice a lot for me to raise our kids here at home and not send them to day care, and I wouldn't have it any other way! Since I don't bring home a pay check every two weeks I can do my part by saving our family as much money as I can, however I can.
• Formula is NOT cheap, even the cheap kind isn't cheap. Russell is gonna cost us about $120 a month in formula. And that's just the start of it...once he starts eating more, that number obviously will go up.

If you have any tips for me, I'm all ears. Don't tell me to go to Aldi...there isn't one anywhere near Paris. My plan is buy the basics and keep the menu simple, which will help our wallets and our waistlines!...Right?

And just because a blog is stupidly boring without a picture....here are a few photos that are in no way relevant to my post but who cares because kids are fun to look at!

I don't where she would have learned to multitask like that...

Yeah, she's ready to be a stay at home mom for sure :)

Looks like someone has a future at NASA...and it also looks like someone else has a bit of a "phone problem"...I see a trend in these pictures.

Really? Its been 22 days since my last post?

I guess 3 kids have made me a little busier than I had thought....who would have guessed? I do have LOTS to update you one though since the 3rd.

1. I quit nursing Russell last Monday because despite the Dr saying that he is perfectly healthy and to stick with it...a momma just knows ;) I took Russy-poo back to the Dr last Monday to be weighed again and he was still 6 lbs 8 oz. He didn't gain (or lose) a single ounce in a whole week. Our goal was to put on an ounce a day. So I said to heck with nursing, lets get this baby some formula! And I am PROUD to announce that when I took him to be weighed again on the 23rd (my birthday) he was a gigantic 7 lbs 3 oz!!!! We are finally heading in the right direction. If you recall, his birth weight was 6 lbs 15 oz.....and after 5 weeks he finally caught back up to that weight. He looks so much better...finally getting some meat on his scrawny little preemie bones :)

2. Poor, sweet, adorable little Wylee girl had to get a tooth pulled....on my birthday (so far that's 2 different Dr.'s offices on my birthday if you're counting). She's only 20 months old and her front left tooth is missing, and not because it hasn't come in yet :( Her and her big brother were "playing" on our bed in Paris and all the sudden I heard a "smack" and a bunch of crying. I turned around and Wylee's mouth was bleeding and Jared kept saying "I'm just really sorry". She somehow hit her mouth on the porta crib. Lovely. I finally got her mouth somewhat cleaned up (I couldn't get the bleeding to stop long enough to see what damage had actually been done) and I hoped and prayed that it was just a cut on her gums. Wrong. I called Jared and had him come home (he was coming home for lunch anyways) and the first thing he said was "Oh yeah, that tooth is gonna fall out". I was SO upset! Partly because my first thought was "Great, now shes gonna have all these baby teeth and one GIANT permanent tooth till shes like 7!" just picture that for a moment. Haha, ok. That's not how it works. Instead, that adult tooth will take even longer to come in so she will be toothless until shes about 8 or 9. Talk about one depressed momma over here!

3. I had my 6 weeks check up (after having Russell) on MY BIRTHDAY (that makes 3 now). Basically Dr. Nelson said "Do you even want to bother with birth control?" to which I replied, "Nope. Not really", to which he replied, "Great, see ya in January!" I can't tell you how great it is to have an OB that respects the fact that yes I have 3 kids and I want more. The OBGYN Place (the Dr office that I went to with Wylee) asked me at every SINGLE visit if I was going to tie my tubes. And every single time I said no, we want to have more kids. And they ALWAYS replied with, "Why, you have a boy and your about to have a girl?". So annoying, believe it or not our goal isn't to just have a boy and a girl, we want more kids to love and take care of no matter sex they are. So thank you Dr. Nelson! After allllllll the doctor visits were over we ran home and grabbed our stuff and our dogs and we headed back to Paris for a two week stretch. Jared made me a birthday cake and we went and got Taco Bell, took it to the park and had a picnic and played for a little while, then Jared took us for sno cones (my FAVORITE treat) and then back to the house for some birthday cake!!

I can't really think of any other updates for now...so how about some pictures to look at!!

This is Russell a few weeks ago, you can't tell how skinny he really was...

This is Russell on my birthday (the 23rd), hes the biggest that he has been so far and look how small he still is!

We love our Sonic drinks :)

I wish this had turned out better....but still cute!

I don't know why this picture is sideways...It won't rotate and that isn't how it looked when I uploaded it :)

3 of my 4 loves

Yep, that's a choke collar around his head.

Nap time is the best (for me) :)

Jared's forehead also wanted a taste of my birthday cake...

There it is....the toothless wonder.

She is still a cutie pie no matter how many teeth she's missing :)

Baby Feet

Little Russell is more like "tiny-premie Russell". I think he's lost about a pound since the hospital...a pound that he really couldn't afford to lose. BUT we'll see if we can't fix that. He would just rather be sleeping most of the time and isn't real interested in nursing, he'll do it but he'd rather eat from a bottle...it's easier for him, he doesn't have to do so much "work" I think lol. Lazy little baby. Other than that he's doing great! His nights and days are kind of mixed up I think, but we're sort of working on that too.

I attempted to take all 3 kids to Hobby Lobby by myself this morning...I may not be doing that again for a LONG time, at least not without the double stroller! LOL! That was a little bit much. Especially in Hobby Lobby, Jared and Wylee have NO business WALKING around in that store. Yikes. It had to happen sooner or later though, maybe I just should have waited for the later...oh well. I survived, and they did too.

This is a short one, all 3 kids are napping so this mama needs a nap too! Night night!

Russell Owen Ricker

Our sweet Russell Owen is here! I had a c-section early Friday morning and got to go home by Sunday afternoon!! They estimated Russell to actually have been about 36 weeks at birth, but his lungs were fine and other than having a bit of trouble nursing, he's doing great. I think he sleeps even more than a typical newborn, but its OK by me. The kids are adjusting so well to the baby. Jared is always wanting to hold him and count his fingers, and Wylee just LAUGHS her head off at him. I don't think she gets it yet, I think in her little mind he's just a baby doll that does a little more than the ones she usually plays with, not much more, because like I said, he sleeps ALL the time. They are so proud of their sweet little brother, its adorable. And we are happy to announce that my doctor gave us the thumbs up for just ONE MORE baby :) And that's it, BUT that's one more, and we couldn't be happier. Jared told all the nurses and doctors that we would see them again in about 18 months, lol. We'll see ;) Anyways, back to Russell! Here are his stats:

Born at 7:59 am Friday morning (July 16th, 2010)
6 pounds 15 ounces
18.5 inches long
36 cm head
33 cm chest
Dirty blond hair that's long in the back and short up top! But not like a mullet...

I see both Jared and Wylee in Russell. He's a wonderful mix of his big brother and big sister (and mommy and daddy too). We love him so much and we are SO relieved to have him here with us and out of my belly!! Now on to the good part...the PICTURES!! Enjoy :)

Sweet baby Russell <3

The proud big brother and big sister seeing their new baby for the first time :)

Okay, normally I would NOT put this picture up for some reason I went ahead and did it...yes I look swollen...yes at this time I do not care to hide it from the world :) so there!

Wylee had a pink dress on that said Big Sister Wylee, and Jared had a shirt on that said Big Brother Jared, it was so sweet! Thanks Christina and Leslie ;)

Getting ready to go HOME!

I just love this one, maybe because I'm hiding behind the baby thing.

There were VERY touchy touchy once Russell was reachable lol

All snuggled up and just moments away from a lovely car ride home...

where Jared insisted on holding Russell's hand the entire way home so that he could "keep him safe while he was in the car". Wylee let go not long after this, and then took her shoe off an popped Russell in the face with it and laughed. Russell didn't laugh. Neither did I.

The end. For now anyways :)

We're still alive....just uncomfortable

So here I am....37 weeks pregnant with sweet (hopefully) baby Russell. Why am I uncomfortable? Because I have been having contractions for the last 2.5 weeks. My dr says that if I hadn't have had the last 2 c-sections that I would probably have myself a little NICU baby. But my cervix won't open more than 1.5 cm so far. And that's being nice. Again, I'm 37 weeks but this morning at my appt. I was measuring 43 weeks. Monday at my appt. I was measuring 40 weeks. You do the math. I have been to the hospital about 5 times in the last 3 weeks to get the good stuff to help with the contractions and the pain and finally, FINALLY, my dr is putting me out of my misery and we are going in at 7:30 tomorrow morning for my c-section. THANK GOODNESS!!!! It's over! And so is this post :)

"A" is for my Apple Tree!

I have to start this post with some EXCITING news!! My apple tree has two tiny little apples growing on it! I had a Relief Society retreat this weekend and when I got home yesterday afternoon Jared said he had a surprise for me. So, he took me to the back yard and I saw these little beauties.....

I was SO excited about these apples, I thought it would be a few years before we ever saw any fruit...and it only took a year! It's a Gala Apple Tree by the way :)

Friday Jared had to go to Paris to meet some workers at the new job site that he'll be working on. Since that was going to take most of the day, the kids and I went along for the ride! It was slightly boring while he was working with the guys, but that only lasted about 2 hours, and it was worth getting to spend all that time with him. The kids did pretty well considering we were in the car from 9-almost 3 :) Thanks kids!

kay, now on to the reTREAT. And a treat it was! Our RS Presidency did such an amazing job this weekend. Truely amazing. We had wonderful speakers, a super fun craft, and GREAT food. Not to mention the bishopric served us dinner friday night, prepared by the AMAZING Bruce White. We did a service project for Stand Up for Kids, and had one of their volunteers speak to us and give us all the facts. Some of which (okay MOST of which) make you cringe and wish that there was more that you could do to help. It's so sad what these kids go through. It reminds me of how blessed I am, and how lucky we are to be able to raise our family in the Gospel. On Friday night it started at 6:30 and went till around 10 (12 if you wanted to stay and play games, but I was exhausted)...and then again on Saturday from 10-2. So Jared thought he would take the kids to Lake Lavon and have a little camping trip! All was going well until Wylee woke up at about 2:15 and was ready to play....and then Caine chased a skunk around that same time, and needless to say I got a phone call at 4ish asking me to come outside and help get the kids inside. :) It was a sweet idea either way, lol.

Doesn't that look YUMMY?!?!

Before this course, there was a lobster bisque that was brought out after the fresh fruit and salad....I fogot to take a picture of it, but it was so good! And I HATE seafood :)

This steak was amazing. I don't what kind of sauce he made for it but I've never had anything like it! And yes those are grilled peaches on top. Brother White SPOILED us!...and little red cup has homemade macaroni and cheese in it! YUM!

Don't even get me started on this dessert.....it was just as amazing as the rest of the meal. Homemade cheesecake :)

This is the craft that we did!! We made gratitude journals, and it was SO much fun! They started out plain black and we picked ou tthe paper we wanted to cover the front with and then added the little flowers and the centers and ribbon, etc. I LOVED IT!!! I can't wait to use mine...I have a lot to be grateful for :)

After I got home Saturday afternoon the kids, Jared, and I hung out in the backyard and Jared grilled us some chicken, potatoes from the farmer's market, and corn on the cob for dinner! It was SOOOO good!! I ate like a queen all weekend long :)

Yes, I know, she's choking him....she usually does, she dropped him shortly after this too.

She may end up being a little cheerleader if her daddy isn't careful!!!!! And check out the grillmaster at work!!!