Even mommy tried out the hillbilly teeth--thank heaven for dentistry and preventative hygeine! 

Heidi's been teething and we were just SHOCKED to see the fruits of her labors!

MORE FUNNY FACES for Cousin Brent--UH-OH! Addie ate too much Candy! At the Halloween carnival Fishing Pond, Addie scored some hillbilly teeth and we had lots of fun with them.... 

Cousin Danny the monkey with Addie-fly. 

Heidi looks soooo scary (yeah, right) in her Lion suit! Heidilion. 

Trick or Treat! It's an Addie-Fly!

Silly Melins at the Halloween party--Shrek, Lion, Bob the Builder, and a Butterfly 

Here's Heidi the Lion guarding the treats in our trunk. 

Trunk or Treat! Kids go nuts in the church parking lot on Saturday night. 

Cousin Danny, Addie, and Uncle Mike enjoy some soup at the house.

Saturday afternoon we hosted our first family dinner in our new house! Mom Melin had the kids while we were all working, so she made soup and brought it to us and we ate it on ply wood and saw horses in the area the will be our kitchen/dining area. 

Addie the builder, hard at work...

Addie is measuring the wall of the office in our new house. She went to help daddy build on Thursday night.

Freaky

Last week we got Addie the new Care Bear movie (which is, by the way, somewhat annoying) and I was totally freaked out to hear the theme song over the opening credits. It was written and performed by Jane Siberry. Yes, Jane Siberry, the kooky, ethereal Canadian artist who wrote one of the best break up songs ever (The Walking). Favorite musicians of my youth keep popping up in the strangest places...at least it wasn't a Kerry rally.

Beautiful Roses-- My cute husband bought me roses on Jill's birthday (Monday). They are blooming so beautifully, I had to take a picture.

Sunday Snow

We got a lovely dusting of snow this morning--not much, but still pretty. I think it's such a blessing that winter is waiting til we all get our roofs on.

Last Tuesday I took Addie and her friend to the park, fearing it might be our last snow-free sunny day...here they are walking past the Lagoon. We would walk down this street, cross over that bridge you see in the background to the left, to arrive at Pompey's Playground, an all-wood, super-fun playyard for the kids.

Oops! Addie's friendd Danni got a flat tire! Here they are, putting Danni's shoe back on.

The tire swing at Pompey's is so fun!

The tube slides are fun, too! (this is the same one Aunt Marti crashed on!)

Here are my two girls at the park on Tuesday.

And finally--here is Heidi Lynn making a pretty funny face, part ONE of Cousin Brent's request for photos of the girls making faces!

Look at my cuties, snuggling in the ugly chair again. This another early morning last week, and they are probably staring at Baby Galileo or some other DVD on the TV.

Wintry Day Descending to Its Close

It looks like winter is finally upon us, having blown in on balmy 60-degree breezes last night as we slept. We took Addie to see "Shark's Tale" in Bozeman last night and we didn't even need jackets. Then we woke today and it was freezing--on with the hats and coats!

Tonight the sky is glowing--the low-lying clouds reflect the town lights back at us in a pinkish-yellow haze. It's a snow sky. Right now it is 32 degrees (21 with the wind chill) and it's misty with 100% humidity. We're just grateful fall held out so long--we've got our house all closed in except for the doors, which are coming this week, as well as plumbing and electrical. Then a porch and some siding. Then sheetrock, paint, cabinetry, flooring and appliances, then us. And probably New Year.

Lovely Sabbath today. Mom & Dad Melin are back from New Jersey/New York State, Kelli, TJay and Summer Melin are visiting form North Dakota, and all is well in our world. Had a nice Bishop's fireside with the kids at church tonight, about dating and making true friends and stuff. May I just say how awesome our Young Women are? I was afraid to serve in YW just because I worry about them 24/7, but this bunch it turning out to be just plain FUN! I love them and I love doing stuff with them and I want to thank them for striving to be such great people!

Helen, Marshall, Skylar, and Adam

I’m not sure of the spelling, but these are the four cool kids who sat near us at Flogging Molly on Thursday. They came all the way from Billings—140 miles! They are all 13, all in middle school ("we go to different schools but we’re all good friends”) and all just so cute and decent. Or so it seemed. Ellen, the only girl, had this moony, angelic face with her hair all braided back. She looked so cute and so young, she caught my attention first--she and Marshall, that is. Marshall had shaggy black hair and a white collared shirt under a Guns-N-Roses T-Shirt. Was he born when Appetite for Destruction came out? (Oh, man—I just remembered they were born in the 90’s!) Would he appreciate my classic karaoke rendition of “Patience?” Skyler (Schuylar? Skeilar?) was wearing a Flogging Molly T-Shirt and if I am not mistaken, Chuck Taylor high tops. Old school converse. Let's do the time warp again. Adam, a stocky guy with fair, spiky hair and groovy square-ish glasses, sat on the end of the row and sort of nodded, as I talked to them. They all sat on their bench, tapping their feet and clapping, politely enjoying the show. It was just amazing for so many reasons.

First, because the rest of the rink was packed with smelly, loud, ostentatious kids, most being plain ol’ teenage punks, many being flat out vulgar. Then there were these four cool kids, quiet and sometimes gawky, but obviously ready to blossom into full-on hipsters with real talents and sensibilities and stuff. A glimmer of hope for the future in a room full of …um…stinky black clouds.

Secondly, I felt some sort of kinship to them. They obviously love Flogging Molly, and yet seemed a little out of place at the show. And that’s not a bad thing. I always felt that way at shows. I passionately loved bands that attracted some scary fans (and then there’s just the whole mob mentality, the smoking and drinking and trying to show off that accompanies almost any concert), but always longed for my own private show without the sweaty masses. [Aside: this is why you should date promoters or sound technicians—you get to go to lots of great shows for free and sometimes you get to sit in the light/sound booth, sipping your diet coke and snuggling your techie boyfriend, away from the crowd]. It’s hard to be so cool and so young (they did have chaperones, by the way, lest you think they hijacked a farm vehicle or jumped a train or hitchhiked). They made me feel all time-warpy and teenage-angst-ridden. Oh, thirteen. Twenty long years ago, but some of the memories are so potent.

So Helen, Marshall, Skylar, and Adam, if you ever read this…there is an old INXS song playing in my head…"don’t change for you, don’t change a thing." Don’t become scary and rebellious. Stay decent and nice and so very cool.

Here's me as a preteen--I think I'm almost 12. I wanted to find one of my jr. high mullet when I was 13, but I'll have to keep looking.

I have been insanely busy this week--it's been bizarre. And I have much to write about with NO time whatso ever. Maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, remember that fabulous show "Freaks and Geeks"? I could have revived it and cast it and directed an all-new episode at the Flogging Molly show on Thursday night in Bozeman (yes, we found time to do something besides build our house and care for the kids--we went and it rocked, of course--the new album is so incredible--but more later). It was all-ages at the hockey rink, so there were hundreds of kids there trying way too hard to be cool, and many that just were. Next time I write I will tell you about the five truly cool kids who sat near us, and how great the show was.

Enjoy the following photo of my Heidi. I'll be back, I swear!

Look! Heidi Loves Green Beans! Yep, she really started diggin' her veggies this week. She makes this cross between a quack and a grunt and opens her mouth when I feed her. 

That's My Girl

Overheard at our house tonight during the CSpan debate replay....
Rich: "Addie, it's time for you to get in your bed."
Addie: "No, dad. I gotta watch Bush."