Addie and Heidi always get the giggles at bedtime! Here they are laughing at Daddy as we got ready for bed after a nice Christmas Enrichment meeting at church Tuesday night. 

This is Heidi wearing the cute fleece hoodie her Nana sent her. 

Addie tried to look into the camera when it was set up on a tripod to photograph things sitting on the table. She craned her neck underneath and we got this picture! (Monday)

I Am Glad For Many Things

That's the title of a Primary song I sang with Addie earlier--and I am glad for many things today, like a breadmaker, two delightful (& I mean delightful--sparkly, cute, funny) daughters, sunshine and 40+ degree-weather, an awesome hard-working husband.

One thing I am grateful for that has really been on my mind lately is this, the 11th Article of Faith (11th of 13 statements of my LDS religious beliefs):

"We claim the privilege of worshiping the Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege--let them worship how, where, or what they may."

The world would be a beautiful place and our current conflicts would melt away if this were an article of every faith. How grateful I am for revelation! I am so looking forward to the Christmas Broadcast tonight--it's like the Christmas Kickoff!

In closing, an Addie-ism: Great Grandpa Bill gave her a recorder, which she calls her "FLOOP." Not flute--FLOOP. Also, any brass or woodwind is a floop, including ones made of cardboard giftwrap tubes.

Hey--by the way--you can see most of these photos enlarged if you double click them. And if you want to save them on your own computer, you can right click and choose "Save As." Just so you know :)

More Dinner Chat

At dinner time, Addie told Rich, "My mommy is cute all day long." Later, Rich told her she has chicken in her teeth and she said, "Oh, I gotta get some soffs." She meant "FLOSS."

She's a riot.

This morning Addie and I set up our nativity sets on one side of our bookshelves. Addie's arrived in the mail today from Fisher Price and mine was dug out of storage. Since the set up, Baby Jesus has been fussing, has eaten pudding, and taken several naps (including with Addie from 4-5pm on the couch). 

Here's what one of our bookshelves looked like after we set up our creches. The top one is mine (it has 10 more pieces, but we don't have a good place to set them up this year), the middle shelf is Christmas books and the bottom one is Addie's (well, it's for all the kids eventually--I highly recommend it! We could only find it on FisherPrice.com, but I bet in real towns they have toy stores and you can find them there.)

The Best Baby in the World: Tonight at dinner I was reporting on my day, and I told Rich Heidi was the best baby in the world. Addie chimed in and said, "No, Baby Jesus is the best baby in the world." (here's the baby Jesus from her set). 

MomE-mail

In my inbox (from parentcenter.com) on 11/21: Congratulations - your little one is now 3! More fun is in store for you now that she's no longer a baby: She's probably holding her own in conversations and running and jumping like an athlete, and will soon write her full name. She's developing more sophisticated social skills, too, such as taking part in structured games with others, like tag or go-fish. Before you know it, she'll be cracking jokes (though she may not always know how to deliver a punch line), remembering entire songs, and even reading. Although she'll soon be saying goodbye to toddlerhood, rest assured that life won't be boring with her around.

So true. Sounds like Addie is right on schedule.

A Decade Already

This is an entry I never posted, written November 18th.

Man. Lots of stuff goin’ down today.

First, the fun Melin Girls Update—Heidi was weighed and measured today, and boy is she huge: 28” long and 20 lbs! There was a one-year-old boy right behind her who only weighed 2 ounces more and was ½ inch longer! Pobrecita is only 7 months old. We are amazons. Addie will be three on Sunday and she’s having a princess party on Saturday. She helped me make the goody bags last night, decorating brown lunch bags with glitter-glue crowns. Today she informed me that she named her favorite baby dolls Erika and Hattie. Actually, Erika was first called “Eris.” Her imagination is really developing, which provides us endless entertainment.

My little brother and his wife celebrate their 10th anniversary today. WOW. That makes us feel old. I am really grateful for my sister in law—the way she loves my brother and keeps his antics in check, and the way she is such a good mother. Willy really got lucky (especially considering his previous track record--ugh!), though he's a pretty great person, too. They have a beautiful family and I am so happy for them.

I am really busy today with visit teaching, WIC, playgroup, party prep, and of course, the house (actually, the houses --the old and the new). Ad’s birthday and the holidays always seem to sneak up on me and pounce! So more later.