Finally

I don't have cakes to make this week and E's party is over so I'm going to ignore the huge pile of dishes in the sink and pretend that my house isn't a wreck and do a few blog posts! Putting off housework is the kind of sacrifice I'm willing to make for anyone who still reads this.

I was tempted to blog about other topics but have decided that a few family members might give up on me if I don't post about our Christmas trip soon. (I know people, I realize it is already February and I'm just now getting to Christmas.-- I swear I'll do better at keeping up). This year my sisters and their families all met up with us in Florida to spend Christmas together. Yes I know, the Meltons do Disney A LOT, but surprisingly we'd never done it at Christmas time and never with my family. E especially loved having his "friends" there to share the fun with. I mean even standing in line isn't all that bad when you are with fabulous people. (fun fact, at this moment, and for a little over a week after, this these kids are ages 5,4,3,2, and 1)

At the beginning of the trip, the Melton's and the Shepherds gorged themselves on sugar cookies and hot chocolate at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. Cinderella's castle is gorgeous all lit up for the holidays. We danced with Woody (the love of A's life) and his friends and watched some shows, fireworks, and a parade. We didn't really take pictures.

After the Goodsons arrived in Florida our first stop was Animal Kingdom in the rain. Nobody was there. I mean NOBODY. I'm not saying it just wasn't crowded, I mean the place felt almost empty. The kids had fun playing boardwalk games and the adults had fun conquering Everest and getting face to face with the Yeti. The most noteworthy event of the day (aside from the churros which I'll post about later) was on the safari. The safari is cool because you drive through real animal enclosures. There were rhinos crossing the street, a lion lazily sleeping under a tree, and hippos that were doing that big jaw opening thing you only see in movies. After traveling through the Savannah our fantastic tour guide (I'm being serious-- he was one of the best ones we ever had until...) crashed our jeep. Yup. He drove it up and over some fake hot spring thing I actually felt bad for our driver and was a little upset with all of the management who came to help because not one of them apologized to us. Seriously people. And the supervisor who took over our "tour" after dislodging us from the hot springs could have at least finished the story. Instead, those of us who have been on that ride a fair share of times ended up narrating for the first time safari-goers. On the flip side, as we were leaving the park for the night, my older Sister J, E and I were straggling behind the rest of the group when a random dance party broke out. It was fun to watch E join the show. By the end, my sis and I joined in. There is nothing like ending the day with a spontaneous conga line.

Over the course of the trip we went to every park (most a couple times).
At Epcot we enjoyed yummy food. If you've never been to the little pastry shop in France you are missing out. It was actually our first time there. I can't believe it took me that long to find the napoleon. Seriously people, it is one of the tastiest desserts, if not the tastiest I've ever had-- and I eat A LOT of dessert. We also had fun "visiting" other countries, pretending to be astronauts and crash test dummies, talking to Crush under the sea and visited with Santa.
We had a good time at Hollywood Studios seeing shows, riding my favorite ride ever-- Rockin' Rollercoaster, playing games with the Toy Story crew, pretending to be shrunk in the backyard, and watching the dancing Christmas Lights. The kids spent a lot of time waiting for the adults to get done with rides. Yes, that is my daughter on the ground. I'm not sure what she is doing. I'm pretty sure Daddy was watching her when this picture was taken. E's favorite thing is the "Yee-Haw" show -- known to the rest of us as Indiana Jones. I think he thinks Indiana is a cowboy. In any event, E dressed the part to watch the show and then stayed in character the whole rest of the day. E however did not want to watch the Beauty and Beast show. He said it was too scary, although he had no problem riding Tower of Terror. (Maybe the Beast reminds him too much of his mom when she hasn't eaten--that is pretty scary). While E and I were waiting for the rest of the group to finish with the show, I turned around and realized that I was standing right next to Brad Garrett--You know the brother from Everybody Loves Raymond, voice of the blowfish in Finding Nemo, and the gym teacher in the Pacifier (admit it- you've seen it too). I desperately tried to come up with something cool and not annoying to say to him, but alas my coolness factor was at a low and all I ended up doing was snapping this picture as he walked away from me. I know, I'm lame. Oh well.

We has a nice time at the Magic Kingdom too (aside from my infuriating experience when I lost my phone on Space Mountain- but I'm not going to go into that right now). My favorite things there is of course Dole Whip which quickly became Miss A's favorite thing too.Magic Kingdom is the place to feel the real Disney Magic, ride the classic rides, see lots of characters and of course is home to lots of pirates. It's the place E can be the closest he'll ever come to being a real pirate. Misses enjoys the adventure too and doesn't even need to be dressed in a bandana.

After MANY fun days at the parks we had a nice calm Christmas morning in the hotel before we all went our separate ways. Don't the cousins all look cute in their pjs G'ma Tori made them?
Turns out Santa can find you even when you are far from home. Thank you Br and Sisters for going with my crazy dream and making the sacrifices necessary to make it happen! It was good times! Love you all!

Where we last left off

The other day Br pointed out that I'm probably 10 posts behind. I think he's wrong, it's more like 30 posts behind. My posting stall was actually initiated by some exciting news... no, I'm not pregnant...The Meltons have a video camera! Watch out world and brace yourself for posts of videos that probably only I will love. We've been talking about getting one for a long time but finally found a reason for one--E's first school performance. Our seats weren't all that great so I was nervous that we wouldn't be able to get a good video of our favorite performer. Turns out it didn't matter what seat we had in the place, we would have noticed E.

Two note about the movie, first is I love that he gives his teacher a hug just so he can look at her necklace better. Then, as soon as he is done being sweet to her, he turns around and sticks his tongue out at his friend. During the performance, his teacher suddenly pops onto the stage because apparently he was standing at the edge of the stage and she was convinced he was going to bounce right off. She wasn't necessarily trying to keep him from falling off, she was trying to save all the kids he would have taken down with him.

Excuses excuses

I know, I know. You are sick of seeing the picture of my little girl with unruly hair hunched over her tiny little book. I swear I haven't given up on this whole blog thing, I've just been a little busy with life in general and ran into a little technical trouble. I'm going to try to play catch up as quickly as possible but until I get to it... this is what the Melton's have been up to for the past few weeks ummm I mean months.

We were out of town with these people, here. Then came back and just chilled out a little until I suddenly got an influx of cake requests. And then I got a little caught up in planning this.

Well I guess that's not all that much. Looking back at it, maybe I've just been lazy. Hmmm. I guess I don't really have good excuses. In any event, I've posted again and hopefully, the next post will follow shortly.

A little light reading

The other day Miss A decided to pass the time with a little reading. Her book of choice-- an English to Spanish Dictionary or I guess since she was reading it upside down, a Spanish to English Dictionary.

Years in review

In anticipation of making a blog book, today I've spent the day reading every post I've made over the last 33ish past months. It was really fun to read stuff I had completely forgotten. I mean I didn't realize how much A and E have in common. I've been meaning to post about how I nearly wreck my car every time I look in the rearview mirror and see A dancing and lip-syncing to her favorite songs but I'd completely forgotten about how E used to do the same thing. The two of them are so different but then there are things like how they have the same exact shriek and mannerisms when they are really really excited or how they are both so independent that they'd rather drown attempting to swim than have me help them in deep water. I can't believe how fast the past few years have flown by. I'm so glad for whoever came up with this whole blogging thing. It's tricked me into essentially journaling and has helped me capture things I would have long forgotten. Thanks to those few people who actually read this because, for some weird reason, I don't know if I'd write if I didn't have at least someone who cared what we are up to. Thanks to my crazy family for giving me something worth documenting. Love you all!

Capturing the moment

E right now--

He is still as energetic as ever. I doubt he'll ever grow out of it. He is also super animated. He is a living caricature.
I still think his eyes light when he smiles.
One of his favorite things to do is recount things that have happened. He'll recount entire conversations complete with actions. About an hour ago he came in and described how he rode the "elevator ride" and how his legs kept flying out. His eyes got big as he explained how he went up and down.
Along those same lines, he can quote entire movies.

More and more it is obvious that he really does have a tender heart. Just last week he found a grub of some sort in the backyard. He brought it in and said "oh, Mommy, look. A baby caterpillar. How cute. Awww". I told him he should take it back outside so that it's mommy and daddy could find it. He went out for about two minutes and came back in saying with his bottom lip sort of sticking out, "His mommy and daddy can't find him. E Melton take care of him". He took him back outside and built it a little house and then gave him a little leaf blanket so he could take a nap. One of my other favorite things is his crazy imagination. Today he came in dressed as my knight in shining armor and called me princess all day. He went off and slew a couple dragons for me. It's nice to be called a princess, especially at moments when you are still in your pajamas and haven't showered for the day. Misses right now-

She is super girly. She loves pretty things and loves dressing nice.

That little girl came out being independent and acts at least double her age.
She can bust a move with the best of them. I love it when she shakes her little hips but love it even more when she starts mixing up the moves in a sort of Elaine from Seinfeld approach to dancing.
I love that she can follow directions-- of course only when she chooses to.
I love her little voice. It still makes me smile to hear her little "peas", "ank you", "hi" and "bye" with her tiny little wave.
Miss A cracks me up when we go shopping because she insists on carrying the bags using her little elbow as a hook. It looks ridiculous since the bags are usually about her same size.
The little one is extremely coordinated and adventurous. She'll climb anything she thinks is worth it. Fortunately, she hasn't decided to climb out of bed yet.She loves being a little mommy to her dolls and always cuddles with and gives little kisses to her stuffed animal.
She gives the best little kisses and the biggest hugs.
Just like her brother, she is very energetic and very animated as well. Her expressions say a lot. The little girl is almost always singing. Every now and then I can actually tell what she is trying to sing, but for the most part, it's just a song from her heart.

Giving thanks 2010

For Thanksgiving this year we headed down to visit Br's family in Houston. I couldn't believe it had been over a year since we'd made it down there. The kids LOVED spending time with JoJo and Auntie Beth. After having the feast JoJo cooked up for us we headed out to the "country" to visit the extended family.
The kids loved running around. Both kids loved the cows, although the cows didn't like them much. They stared at all of us and actually ran for their lives when E came running towards them. I think what E enjoyed most while we were in town was putting up Christmas decorations for JoJo. For weeks now he's been saying "Mommy, E Melton doesn't have a Christmas tree". Hopefully this gets it out of his system for a while since we aren't really on the ball around here about getting decorations up this year. Misses really enjoyed playing the piano and insisted that she had to press the foot pedals while she played the keys. Actually, I take it all back. What I think the kids liked most was just spending time with the family. I guess you don't really have to be doing anything when you are around loved ones. Thank you for having us ladies!

Just in case you wanted to see it

The Let's Make a Deal episode we went to finally aired last week. Just by chance I checked the schedule the night before it aired after giving up over a month ago on figuring out when it was going to be on. Here is the link to the show. We are just in the audience and only appear a couple times since we are sitting on the far right (for sure when he picks a guy for the second game I think, and for sure at the end when they are doing quickie deals).

E wanted to watch the show. He was able to pick us out of the audience. Every time they would play a game E would say, "Mommy didn't win yet". Your right E, mommy didn't win. Maybe I should make a video of him saying that and send it to the producers to make them feel bad for not picking me. It guess I still got like 10 full seconds of fame.

Our first bit of holiday cheer

I swear I haven't given up on posting with pictures. I'll break the camera out again some day.

So my son almost made me cry in the middle of Target last night-- and not for the reasons he typically evokes strong emotion from me while we are shopping. As a group at church we've filled Christmas stockings for the Salvation Army for a couple years now. Since E is never at a loss to point out all the things he'd like for Christmas, this year I wanted him to make most of the decisions about what to put in the one we were filling for a little girl. We had a nice little talk about what we were going to do and why we were going to do it then headed out on our quest to fill the stocking.

First we picked up a few little essentials at Dollar Tree. He was cracking me up as he's walk from thing to thing saying "His would lub this!" (no he doesn't have the pronouns down) and "Oh sooo cute" and "get that one cuz it's sparkly and hers would like it".

After the dollar store, we headed to Target to get a few more toys. As I stopped in the clothing to pick up some gloves, E wandered off a little ways to the decor department. He then came back with a purple unicorn pillow pal. So sweetly he said "Hers would Lub this mommy" and showed it to me. For months now he's been consistently asking for a pillow pal and he must have figured that if he wanted one so badly she must want one too. I felt horrible when I had to tell him that it was too big and wouldn't fit in the stocking. He looked bummed, said "oh, cuz her would lub it", then walked back over and put it back. Shockingly he didn't ask for one for himself and then continued on to the toy department to find something smaller that "her will lub".

I was so proud of my little dude. He really does have a heart of gold, you just have to dig around a little sometimes to find it.

Nothing like words of correction/encouragement

I write this mostly in hopes that I'll remember.

It was actually only yesterday that I was thinking that I'm often finding myself just making it through the day rather than trying to make the most of it. I'm not saying that I'm miserable every day-- it's more of just letting the time pass until... (Br gets home, until it's time for the kids to go to bed, until our next family vacation, until our next party, until the next big thing).

Don't get me wrong, I have MANY moments of "can't we just be done with this stage" or "I'm really not enjoying this". I actually had one of those moments this morning. Misses got up an hour and a half earlier then usual and we all know how much I LOVE getting up before I want to (this is when I need a sarcasm font). We were okay for a while until she thought it would be fun to see what big brother was doing. He loves being woken up before he's ready about as much as I do. This resulted in a less than enthusiastic mom trying to deal with a grumpy boy. Now comes one of those moments where I hand everyone a sippy cup, turned on Super Why and in a semi-comatose state tried to get the time to pass until playgroup.

Our attempt to get dressed, shoes one, and in the car was a rocky, rocky, rocky road. Although we only live minutes from the mall where we were supposed to meet up with our friends, it took us 50 minutes from the time I said "let's go" to arrive at our destination. Once we were there it only took about 2 minutes before E started asking to go to the toy store that is right next to the play area (I DESPISE YOU TOY STORE). This was rapidly followed by an outright tantrum about not being able to go into the store. The little one only took about 45 more seconds to remember that there is nothing to keep the kids in the play area and started the whole "run out of the play area and into the rest of the mall laughing at the top of my lungs while mom chases me" game. I'd bring her back and she's play for about 90 seconds then head for the hills again. AHHHH! Meanwhile E is alternating tantrums about the toy store and wanting apple candy (yeah I have no idea what that is). After about the millionth (that's just an approximate count) time running after Miss A and after watching him attempt to kick another child during one of his episodes I picked E up, put him in the baby's stroller and then ran after A who had run out again, so we could make a very loud and dramatic exit from the mall less than 30 minutes after arriving. I will admit I had less than Christ-like thoughts in my mind as I drove away.

After some down time at home allowing everyone's mood to even out a little, I decided to look over the lesson I'd be teaching this Sunday. I decided to skip to the lesson about gratitude and appreciation. I was reading through everything with the perspective of the 12-15-year-old girls I'd be teaching not realizing that I needed to be applying what I was reading to my own life. That was of course until the words on the page sort of jumped up and game me the slap in the face I needed. I couldn't deny the following words in an address by President Thomas S. Monson (the man I consider a modern-day Prophet of the Lord) called Finding Joy in the Journey were directed at me--

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly."

There couldn't be more perfect words to read on a day like today.

He also said
"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now."

"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love." We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us."

"The ancient Roman philosopher Horace admonished, “Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily.”

and

"Despite the changes which come into our lives and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days—as much as we can—with those things which matter most. May we cherish those we hold dear and express our love to them in word and in deed."

Like I said, I'm writing this so that I remember. No I don't want to remember my horrible reactions to life, I just want to remember the words I read from a divinely inspired source about how I should really be viewing this (and all) time(s) in my life. It was a good reminder that I should be trying to make the most of each day that I'm given, especially those with my kids.
Despite the less than exciting times in life, when I actually think about it, I wouldn't change the choices that lead me to where I am today.

I don't have a picture...

...so I'll have to use 1000 words.

MODIFIED 11-18-2010

I'm really just writing this up because I want to remember it. I don't expect anyone to find it as amusing as I do.

For who knows how long we've had a squirrel living in our fireplace. Around 12:30 everyday I'd hear "thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, clonk, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle." Coming from the fireplace. I'd been trying to convince Br to get it out since I was too weirded out to just look at the thing let alone try to get it out. Br assured me he didn't want to deal with the thing as much as I didn't.

A couple nights ago we/he rigged up a complex system of tunnels and barriers in hopes that when we opened the fireplace it would run right out the door. We opened the screen and it was nowhere to be found--until of course around 12:30 the next afternoon when I heard the thunk, rattle, rattle again.

We thought about turning the fireplace on and smoking the thing out, but I was afraid it would catch on fire and I didn't really want to know what burning squirrel looks or smells like. Plus E expressed that he wanted his squirrel alive not dead.

Fast forward to yesterday right after church. A friend came over to drop some stuff off. He looked into the fireplace and said we should just get it out. He accepted our offer of gloves but at first insisted he didn't need a jacket to cover his arms. Well skip through a little more planning, actually looking at the squirrel and then some rethinking, to two men standing in front of the fireplace with their wives sitting on the other side of the room holding the dog (to use as a backup plan). Despite seeming like he was just going to reach in with his bare hands and grab the thing just a few minutes earlier, our friend now stood there with a winter coat and leather gloves on holding a flashlight "deferring to the man of the house" while he spotlighted the squirrel. Also covered as much as possible, Br reached in with a pair of tongs and his hand and with crazy good skill/luck grabbed the thing on his first attempt. I'm not going to be able to describe what happened next with the justice it deserves but Br immediately ran to the back yard semi screaming, had a failed launch because the squirrel grabbed onto his glove as it tried to bite him, then the squirrel went flying through the air after a little shaking and second launch attempt. The long furry mass went one way, landed and ran off to the trees while Brad quickly turned around and ran towards the house. The rest of us (who were too chicken to face the beast ourselves) stood laughing harder than we have in a long time. There has never been a moment in my life that I wish I'd had a video camera as much as right then.
(Br wanted me to make the following two corrections. It was not a scream. It was a war cry and he was only running back to the house to close the door to make sure it didn't have a chance to get in again).

A big shout out to my studly husband who freed our home from the furry invader! I think we're all glad we no longer have a hairy squatter in our fireplace.

The other 7 days of Halloween

We finished our month long Halloween celebration with a weeks worth of festivities. Our friends came over for a playgroup party. The kids made mummies and ate donuts while the adults had a minute to win it.



Later in the week we made some tasty treats for our friends in E's preschool class then headed over to watch the schools costume parade.
Miss A and I stuck around to help out with the carnival. Miss A danced, stole candy from our prize basket, bowled and couldn't get enough of the duck game. Mr. E really enjoyed the haunted house and getting his face painted (BTW there is nothing wrong with his forehead).

My mom headed up to spend the weekend with us. After a soccer game and some shopping we took advantage of the amazingly beautiful day and hit the golf course.

After golf we made a quick wardrobe change and met up with some friends for trick-or-treating, sliding, bouncing and posing. Miss A has trick-or-treating down. She'd get some candy, find a place to sit and eat it, then go get more when she ran out. The most amusing part of the night was when I took a little candy from her basket. She growled at me then horded all the rest of the candy in her hands. I think we had a successful October 2010. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Confessions

I have a harder time with the childproof locks in the kitchen cabinets than my baby does.

I often find myself going outside the house feeling like I'm only dressed well enough to go to Walmart or Dollar Tree. If I have to go anywhere other than that I put athletic shoes to try to make it look like the reason I'm dressed so scraggly is because I just worked out. Don't be fooled.

I buy the whole wheat gold fish rather than the regular ones just because it makes me feel less guilty when that is all my kid eats all day.

I'm pretty convinced that it would be easier to mobilize an army than get my kids out the door.

I'm that lady at the grocery store that you can hear all over the store because I'm either yelling at my son to stay by me or am letting my daughter scream at the top of her lungs because I won't let her eat the produce or throw the rest of my purchases out of the cart. You know the lady who is pushing one of the huge car carts with no kids actually sitting in it because I end up holding one child while attempting to track down the other who is running like a crazy man through the store. Oh and the lady who leaves a trail of coupons up and down the aisle. Yes I am THAT woman. I'm sorry if you hate me but I will let you know that I don't want to be there as much as you wish I would leave.

I love coming home to and waking up to a clean house. Unfortunately that doesn't happen anywhere close to as often as I want.

I usually stay up WAY too late just because the time between when the kids go to bed and when I go to bed is ME time and I just can't get enough of it.

I don't cook dinner all that often. Keep in mind I consider it cooking if I have to turn on an oven or stove.

My greatest recent discoveries are that you can get the large smoothie at the mall for just a little more than the small and they'll put it in multiple little cups. The dude at the Target food court will split my $1 bag of popcorn into two bags. My kids only need one happy meal. The little one eats the nuggets and the big one eats the apples. Oh, and I just discovered that they'll also split one cheeseburger-- the baby eats the meat and the boy eats the "cheese sandwich".

I often wonder what people really think about my kids.

I find myself having to say the weirdest things like "We have to keep our pants on during church", "why are you going outside to pee? The bathroom is closer than the backyard", "We don't show that to our friends", "Sweetheart, we don't really stab our friends", "If it's not food, don't put it in your mouth", "E, please don't smash my pots all over the backyard" and many many many other random things I would never have imagined needing to utter.

I went off sugar again today. Things were so much better for me when I didn't eat it for three months at the beginning of the year. Since I started eating sugar again at Easter I've gained back every pound I lost since I had Miss A. AHHHHHHHH. Sugar is like a drug to me- No lie. Be warned that I'm going to be a little moody for the next little while.

I think that's plenty of information for now.

The Making of the Largest Fondant Edible Scene (Tableau)

This is a video that was made of the cake class I posted about a couple weeks ago.

Check it out.