Guess Who's Here?!...

...My Grandparents! Gram & Gramp Elrey DROVE the 1300 miles from Tucson to Livingston (stopping in SLC for conference & mission reunion) to visit us and meet James. They arrived Monday at about 2pm when I was just getting out of the shower (after a whirlwind of house work--thanks for coming thru for me, Mom M!), the baby was at the doctor with Rich, and the girls were across the street visiting Cousin Danny. Everyone was home within a few minutes and we were so happy to be together again... Look at all the love! James snuggles with his Great Grandma Lyn...
...awwww!
The girls loved on Papa Bill (look at Heidi's face! I looove it!)
They played "show-and-tell" for a while...
...and shared more kisses...
...and more hugs, while watching Baby Einstein's "Baby Neptune" video (Heidi's current obsession). I don't have to tell you how great it is to have them here, just for the love and the company, but also because it brings me JOY to see this first and fourth generation together! It's such a blessing to watch Grandpa giggle with Addie and Heidi or to see Grandma snuggle James (etc...). These are days I always envisioned but feared I might never experience because I didn't have kids til I was 30!

Conference Weekend

We had a fun visit with the Lehmans (my sister, Laura, and her husband, Darrin, and their boys, Gabriel & Jared) over the weekend. They came from Helena to join in our General Conference weekend festivities. This photo is of everyone (except Rich & Darrin--I was taking the photo) eating hot fudge sundaes after we had taken a walk to enjoy the fall foliage between sessions.

Thanks for coming, Lehmans!

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY...1971

Susie & Jamie (in Paul's Red Car)- Tucson, 1988

Happy Birthday, Susan!

(and Happy Conference, all you Mormons!)

PS: I just noticed (at 10:30pm),

THIS IS MY 1,000th POST TO THIS BLOG!!

"Celebrate good times, come on... There's a party goin' on right here..." Okay, that was totally unplanned, but how cool is that? And on Su's birthday! And while I am post-scripting, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW to my dear friends, Kurt & Debbie...it's one of those "special" birthdays that ends with a zero for Debbie, so LIVE IT UP! You don't look a day over 29, girl, plus you get to hear from GBH on your big day! Woo-hoo!

(knowing so many cool people born this week--like LISA ROBBINS ANDERSON-9/25--makes me wonder about astrology--hmmm, maybe Libras really DO rule!)

Some Photos

This is James, asleep in his car seat today (9/28).
This is hilarious Heidi running around in Rich's dress socks on Sunday night. As "spirited" as she is, she sure does make us laugh and keeps us all on our toes!
...This is about 15 seconds after that last photo...she's obviously "pushing Addie's buttons" in this photo (this is a scene we see often at our house: Addie crying, Heidi in the background giggling, "mwahahahaha!"). Thanks to Aunt Marti for an insightful parenting conversation last night...she once had a Heidi in boy form (Steven) who is now a fairly normal, nice, productive almost-adult. She gives me hope! ;)

(PS: too bad they didn't have blogs when Steven was growing up because, man, that woulda been a good read!!!!!)

Bubble Fun

Last night, Addie wanted to take a bath by herself upstairs, which made Heidi sad, so I invited her to take a soak with me. I got some great Bath & Body Works bubble bath for my birthday (thanks, Mom M!)...look how good it works!

Heidi kept going under the water, then popping up like this...

...look at her bubble-fro!

Strike a Bubble Pose!

(She reminded me of a Dr. Seuss character, or someone in a powdered wig)

Old News

Last night (Wed. 9.27) I happened to have the TV on CBS Nightly News with Katie Couric while I made dinner. I hardly ever watch real news anymore, now that I am a Fake News junkie, so I was surprised to hear that THE LEAD STORY on the NATIONAL EVENING news was something that was covered (and of course, made fun of) on The Daily Show the night before! HA!

On Tuesday 9.26, Jon Stewart welcomed Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan (no less) and they talked about his new book and about Pakistan's politics, etc. Musharraf mentioned that after 9/11/2001, Colin Powell called him and told him, basically, "You are either with us or against us," and after weighing his options, Musharraf figured it would be best for the Pakistani people in the long run to cooperate with the US invading Afghanistan. The next night (9.27), Katie Couric was sounding all sober and serious about how Colin Powell and Richard Armitage THREATENED and COERCED Pakistan into cooperating with the invasion--not exactly what Musharraf said. But I just thought it was cool that the evening news was YESTERDAY's NEWS for us fake news junkies!

Here's MSNBC's commentary on my fake news boyfriend, Jon Stewart.

Behold the Cuteness

James doing "bug-eye", wearing his Auntie Jen sweater
I know, I know...the sweetness is killing you!...

He can raise his eye brows and stick out his tongue, too!

Addie Playing Legos

Last night Addie spent a really long time upstairs after dinner building castles and towers and stuff with the Princess Mega Blocks...
Look how cool it turned out!

Oops! Forgot to rotate this one, but you get the idea--the crazy bus!

Half Awake

I just fed the boy and decided to post before I go to "real sleep" (until 3:00am-ish). My sister-in-law gave me a lovely baby shower last night at which NO ONE--not a soul--took pictures! Can you believe it?? I have no photos to blog nor to scrapbook! Shucks!

It was a lovely Fall-themed party with nice decorations and yummy food (fruits a veggies with dip, pumpkin bread, punch). We played one "get-to-know-you" game because there were so many "new" people there (church people, neighbors, cousins, etc). There were 18 guests and 4 babies there and the invitation said that it was a "frozen dinner" shower--everyone brought dinners to stock my freezer for nights when I am too tired to cook (I know what you're thinking--we should have had this shower in July when I was feeling REALLY crappy!!) There is a plethora of food in our spare freezer now--homemade casseroles, Costco frozen favorites, homemade breads, cookies, applesauce, freezer jam, crock pot stews and soups, and even a gift card to Pizza Hut! Almost everyone broke the rules and brought a baby gift, too (who can resist buying baby stuff?? Not me!), so James has several darling new outfits in various sizes, as well as onesies, diapers, and wipes and a Creative Memories "It's a Boy" scrapbooking kit. We had a really fun time and I came home with this warm fuzzy sisterly feeling-- like I really love all the women who were there and appreciate all the things they do for me and my family. I am really blessed on all sides, you know?

So tonight we had Lori Prinkki's Chicken & Rice casserole for dinner and it was delicious (a huge hit with the husband, so good thing she gave me the recipe, too). I LOOOOVE food I didn't cook!

Also, midweek update: we totally missed out on Stake Conference this past Sunday, but in retrospect it was a good day of rest for all of us. On Monday for Family Night we took a ride out toward Clyde Park to visit with Sister Cotant and taker her some of our peanut butter Rice Krispy Treats. She got to meet Baby James and we got to sing Articles of Faith songs all the way home. Tuesday was the Baby Shower and tonight was just a chill-out night (after I made a brief appearance at Young Women). Tomorrow we have to miss most of pre-school because of check-ups, but I am hoping to make it up to Addie. She has been practicing her "B's" all week! We are still struggling with telling the difference between lower case b's and d's (she writes her name "abbie" a lot of the time).

I am really sorry about the lack of pictures. But I'll post some of James in the cute sweater he got from Auntie Jen Claar last night. Thanks to Angie for the nice party and to all the girls who came (if you're reading this)--y'all are FABULOUS!

"Kim Deal's So Groovy, I Want You To Know..."

Last night we happened upon a re-run of The Pixies on Austin City Limits. We had lots of fun watching and singing along (Debaser...so funny!) and I felt like an Old Person. I was watching one of my favorite bands from 20 years ago on PBS--how could I NOT feel like an Old Person. Rich even said, "I miss good bands like this. Why are there no good bands like this?" I pointed out that there ARE good new bands like this, we are just to busy to discover them. And it's totally true. If I had the time to listen to music and watch videos, I am quite certain I could be mad about Arctic Monkies and the Killers and OK Go. But I don't have time to fall in love with new bands, so I rely on the high of listening to old music and remembering when I DID have time to be obsessive. Ah, yesssss....

Speaking of obsessions, R.E.M. reunited this weekend. Still love 'em, but haven't listened to any new music by them for about 10 years (I'm busy, y'all). But check out THIS performance of "Begin the Begin." It brought tears to my eyes. They are good ol' goats. And while you're at it, check out THIS clip...it's the clip that started my R.E.M. addiction back in the day.

Oops! Time to live in the now...2/3 of the Melin children are crying!

PS: Just one more little YouTube flashback for you...oh, 1991!

My Three Babies

Just as I was uploading these pictures, cmhl left a comment asking for baby pictures of all three kids. I read your mind! Actually, yesterday after I bathed the baby, I noticed how much he reminded me of his sisters, so I snapped a photo of him fresh from the bath at one week old, just like these other photos I had taken of the girls. I think he matches...what do you think? This is Addie at about 8 days old in November 2001.
This is Heidi around 1 week old in April 2004.
And here is Sweet Baby James at 8 days old, yesterday.

"Each of these

My babies

Have brought you closer to me

No longer mad like a horse

I'm still wild but not lost

From the thing that I've chosen to be

And it's `cause you've thrilled me

Silenced me

Stilled me

Proved things I never believed

The face of you

The smell of you

Will always be with me

Each of these

My three babies

I will carry with me

For myself

I ask no one else will be

Mother to these three"

-Sinead O'Connor

from "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" (a great album)