Never Grow Up!

This weekend was all about Valentines and PETER PAN! I went to all three shows and it was super fun!Here's the program...

...and the inside.

The play was held in the brand new Dulcie Theatre--it's SO NICE!
Here's the audience at the Saturday 2pm show.

The PTO manned the ticket booth...

...and the concessions stand where we sold tons of homemade treats donated by parents.

Here's a picture of Addie on stage as a Mermaid. She's third from the left.

Here's Tigerlily and all the Mermaids, plus a few Lost Boys after the last show.

(Tigerlily-Ellie, Mermaids- Hannah, Brylea, Erin, Madison, Aurora, Azalea, Izzy, and Addie;

Lost Boys- August, Jimmy, and Ivan)

Our Little Mermaid!

Our whole extended family came to the last show--Grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncle--and Heidi gave Addie a bouquet of tulips. She was so happy!

***

GREAT JOB, Winans & Crazy Mountain!

A Crash Course in Drama

Our winter months are usually pretty ho-hum, low-key and inert by design. I kind of like hibernating and watching winter through the window (and there is a lot of "winter" this year! Holy cow, it's snowing AGAIN! it's like all the snow of all my 8 winters here COMBINED!). But some how life got kinda busy these months--we're breaking with tradition doing lots of new things this winter. Here's an update:

Last week at the girls' school they held drama workshops with the local theatre company. The week culminated Friday afternoon in auditions for a production of Peter Pan. I didn't think the girls would want to try out again (they didn't get parts in Alice in Wonderland last year), but they stuck it out. Heidi--our very own drama queen--didn't get a part this time, but Addie was cast as a mermaid. If you're local, please plan to come cheer her on this weekend, and support the PTO!




So all this week the kids are rehearsing for the play, and then they do three shows over the weekend. That's going to be a marathon. Before we knew we'd be doing the play this week, the girls and I thought it would be fun to have a little Valentines Party. These are the invitations we made (and of course the girls have to be different from eachother, so Addie had 5 blue invitations and Heidi had 5 white invitations)...

Also, I don't think I mentioned her that while I was in Arizona, Heidi lost both of her front teeth AND started Tae Kwon Do classes.

That's the first tooth lost...she lost the other one (on the left) the next day. I need to take a picture of her missing her 2 front teeth cuz it's priceless.

Here she is in her uniform at Tae Kwon Do

She goes to class on Monday & Tuesday nights. She's loving it!


Most of the kids are 5-6, she is almost 7 and much taller.

***

James decided today that he wants a Valentines Party, too, so we are inviting "his girls" (Ashley and Lydia, and Lydia's little sister Suzy) over for lunch on Friday. It will also count for visiting teaching, so yay. Also, today Rich twisted his ankle in the snow and thought he may have broken it. He spent the morning at the orthopedic clinic to learn that it's a gnarley sprain. He's laid up with ibuprofen & is trying to take a nap (he deserves it after working at the ranch every morning from 5am-7am!). So much for hibernating, huh?

Retro: January Photos

I just realized I never posted these pictures of Mark's and Jared's visit from Texas last month.James & Jared playing trains
On Jan 15th, all the Melin boys took the kids up for some snow fun at Pine Creek

Addie by the car

Heidi, Jared, and James playing in the snow

Jess & Mark making hot cocoa

Mark & Jared

Addie

Jared & Heidi making a snowman

Heidi's Snowbaby

Heidi, James, Jared & Addie warm up with a story from Uncle Mark.

Daughters and Bodies and Breaking Mama Heart

I have a lot of little things to write about today and in coming days, some pictures to post, etc., but right now I am getting ready to take my daughter to the doctor. She has been having tummy aches that sound a lot to me like lactose intolerance, but I've noticed she started worrying about what she eats besides the dairy products and I don't want her to be one of those dieting 9-year-olds. Alarm bells have sounded in my mind and I have begun rifling through my own comments and attitudes. Am I sticking to my committment to focus on hygeine, health and happiness and to avoid comments about size and appearance? Where is she getting the idea that she shouldn't eat certain things? Man, I hate this part of parenting, the part when you are reminded that your own influence is starting to shrink and the kids are picking up ideas from God-knows-where and you're on 24/7 alert to protect and defend what's true and what's right.

Reading Courtney's blog this morning brought tears to my eyes. I consider this post an answer to my mama prayers today. Have a gander:

I cannot nor should I keep my children in a bubble. I cannot keep them from the messages that bombard them. But I can teach them to think critically. I can arm them with truth. I can model self acceptance and I can create a safe haven—a place where they can talk and be heard, a place where they can question, scrutinize and still find acceptance.

You can too.

Encourage balanced eating of all types of foods in moderation; encourage eating in response to body hunger.
Get active as a family (not to lose weight but to use and enjoy your body—moderate exercise increases self-esteem and helps to lift depression).

Speak up when you hear family members making comments about a person’s body shape or weight—don’t allow this kind of talk in your home (even from grandparents).

Encourage and model critical thinking of messages we are exposed to.

Do not dismiss comments from your children about their bodies. Allow them to talk about it; ask questions; have conversations. Simply telling someone they “look great” or “don’t need to lose weight” will not change how they feel about themselves. But it will encourage them to stop talking to you about it.

Examine and if necessary, modify the appearance expectations you have about your own child.

Work toward openly loving and accepting your own body. In doing this, you will give your children permission to do the same. On the other hand, if you refuse to accept your own body, your children will receive the message that they must look a certain way to be loveable.

Here's something to think about as well: "You can't control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn't try. You also can't control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn't try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her." --Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter

So there's my to do list. And it's your to-do list, too if you have contact with my family. Don't make my mama bear come out and get you--no weight or appearance comments for me and my house.

I'll be back with an update later, after the doctor and lunch. XO

Our Arizona Trip

I didn't do a very good job taking photos on my trip to AZ 1/21-1/28, but here's what I got...The kids built this snowman as we were getting ready to leave for the airport. Even though it's snowy, it was a very warm day.
James thought Owen would be excited to see the snowman.

At 5:30 pm, James and I boarded our airplane to fly to AZ. James was super excited!

Ready for take-off!

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Aunt Lisa picked us up in Mesa and drive us to Grandma's house in Sierra Vista. I am sad that I didn't take any pictures with Lisa or her boys, but we had a super fun time! Love you, Leees!

On Saturday night (Grandma's birthday eve) Sam brought over Grandma's big 80th birthday gift...

...a new hp computer so she can keep up with all her kids and grandkids!

(if you haven't contributed to the gift but want to, I am sure Sam & Gram would appreciate it).

On Sunday we gathered at the Layton's (formerly Aunt Marti's--Aunt Marti & Uncle Ralph are now on a mission in Ukraine and Sam & Kris are taking care of their house) for Grandma's 80th birthday (and Cousin Scott's 23rd and little Travis' 3rd, and in spirit, Cousin Kevin's 33rd).

Uncle Matt & Cousin Jeff S.

Scott giving James a typewriter.

Owen and Uncle Matt Elrey

Owen and James

James and Penelope Mayberry

Cousins Pearl & Elise with the buffet--

soup in bread bowls with green and fruit salads--YUM!

The gang at dinner time

My cute SIL Kristen & Owen
(Kristen is expecting a baby boy 6 days before me!)

Uncle Matt & Aunt Lorelyn

The birthday girl and her oldest son

(Grandma Lyn and Uncle Sam)

Cousin Maren with Cooper and Kristen with Owen

James & Cousin Robby

Penelope & Morgan eyeing the birthday cake

(Penelope aka Peeps belongs to my cousin Dave & Lacy, Morgan belongs to my cousin Maren & Matt Allred)

Sam with the boys' birthday cake--time for singing and wishes!

Scott & Travis after blowing out their candles

Travis opening his cool nerf guns

(James, Travis, Morgan, & Penelope)

***

Later in the week, James and Owen enjoyed some cantaloupe at dinner time

On Thursday--our last day in town--Kristen and Owen came and took us to the park. James took his dinosaurs and made some new friends.

Owen got brave and mastered the slides!

Owen & Kristen on the slides

The fun park by Grandma Lyn's house

After the park, we picked up Grandma and met Lacy and her girls for pizza at Vinny's.
(Lucy, Lacy, Peeps, Gram, and James)

The pizza was so good and we had such a good time with our AZ family! Thanks for the fun visits, Kristen & Lacy!!!

***

On Friday, Sam picked us up at 9:30am and we headed to Mesa to catch our plane. I tried really hard not to cry saying good bye to my Gram! It was fun to visit with Sam on our drive...it's never long enough! Our trip home was smooth and we were so happy to see Rich adn the girls at the airport. We went to dinner at Baja Fresh in Bozeman then came home and I hit the hay before 9pm. I was so dang tired! On Saturday morning, I went to the doctor and found out my sinuses and ears are infected, but the trip was totally worth it! Grammy, I miss you already, but I am so glad you have a new computer on which to keep up with us! HUGS!

Sunday Night

Happy Birthday Dear Grandma... from MelinFamily on Vimeo.

HoHum

Sorry I have been away so long. Not much is going on so it's not like you're missing much. We just spent a week focused on the ranch house. Hopefully all the decisions we made will keep the project rolling along. I am now the webmaster for Diamond Bar Seven, which means I now have a part time job setting up our vacation rental website as well as maintaining the new RANCH BLOG and getting all our marketing stuff and contracts together. No big deal, right? Yeah.

So if you get bored here, you can prolly find something new over at the ranch blog. This week I'll be working on the ranch history and some construction "Before and After" Posts. I can't wait to show you how the guys moved the stairs from the laundry room to the living room. It's kind of awesome, and so is the new huge picture window/ sliding glass door facing the river.

On Friday, James and I are heading south for a little sunshine and love with Grandma Lyn and the rest of our AZ family in Sierra Vista (If you are an Elrey relative in AZ, you should plan to come down to Grandma's 80th birthday dinner next Sunday at the Mayberry home/ Sam& Kristen's house!!). We look forward to it, although I am always a little nervous to travel when pregnant. I hope my hubs and girls will be happy and loved in my absence. Sniffle.

Anyway, all is well as far as I know. I'll update soon with a few snow-fun photos.

For The Melin Girls in Texas

Playing with Cousin Jared from MelinFamily on Vimeo.

Elvis Everywhere, and an update.

I've been having a bit of an Elvis revival since I saw him on Colbert a couple of months ago, then he popped up hosting Piano Jazz on npr (and I never listen to THAT show), so indulge me as I post the first Elvis video I ever saw, back in 1983. I've been thinking of this particular video ever since Will & Kate got engaged. I am so enamoured of the clever lyrics (typical of Elvis) and the snarky (fortelling?) video, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that this music all happened nearly 30 years ago. WHAT? I know I sound elderly when I say it but I must: in many ways, it seems like yesterday. I swear. Dig if you will:



Favorite lines:
"Your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote"

"Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel"

Ah, so fun.
***

So this has been a pretty ho-hum, post-holiday week. It was exciting and & comforting to see our baby boy on Tuesday, then I did the Young Women's Personal Progress activity on Wednesday, PTO on Thursday, and went out to check on the ranch house remodel on Friday night (the upstairs s already gutted and so. much. BETTER!). Also this week, our friends The Claar's lost their Grandma's house in a huge fire. I blabbed about it on facebook, but you can click HERE to go to Jen's blog to read the story and see the pictures.

I've been thinking a lot about my auntie and uncle (Marti & Ralph Mayberry) who entered the MTC on Monday to go to Ukraine Kiev and other Balkan states as Missionary Medical directors. I can't wait to hear how it's going. James and I bought tickets to fly to Arizona and visit with Aunt Lisa, Grandma Lyn, Uncle Sam, Aunt Kristen, and cousin Owen for a week (1/21-1/28). This coming week, Uncle Mark & cousin Jared are coming to visit us from Texas and work on the ranch house, and Uncle Jess will pop in from Florida for a bit, too, so we only had a short post-holiday lull.

The ranch house is going to be a fantastic project over the spring...I may start a remodeling blog just to keep the rest of the fam posted on our progress (I thought making decisions between the two of us was tough when we built our house---try doing it with 10 people all over the country, a few of whom are not quite on the same page--this otta be fun!)

So more soon, k? Have a peaceful sabbath, y'all!