Big Week for my Big Girl

Sweet Adeline started Kindergarten Camp this week and she LOVES it!!! Here she is outside of the kindergarten room on Monday the 13th
There are two of my good church friends, Charity Winsor & Jenn Young with their kindergarteners. Addie spotted her friend Boston right away but they are not in the same class. I love Alexander's face in this picture--Charity said that he bursts into tears each day when they leave his big sis at kindergarten camp. Funny...Heidi celebrates! She loves when Ad's gone, but just for an hour or so...then she gets bored, I think.
Addie was excited to find her name on her desk!

"Real" kindergarten starts on August 30th.
Here's a random picture of James on Tuesday...
Here's me (with totally red eyes from my sinus infection, and frizzy hair from not blowing it dry) with Addie--she's showing her loose tooth.

Daddy yanked it out with the pliers...
TA-DA! Her first lost tooth!
Here she is this morning with a hole in her smile, happy about the dollar the tooth fairy left in the little tooth pillow we made yesterday.



And yes, it's killing me that all of this is happening at once...my baby!!!!

Dear TJay,

We are so sorry that we keep thinking your birthday is on August 14th [it's the 13th]...will you fogive us? Gosh, you've had 4 birthday parties, you'd think Aunt Jamie would get it right by now!

Anyway, we just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY and we love you. Thanks for being such a good cousin and friend to Addie Rose, Heidi, and James Ole. We sure are glad you're part of our family, and we're glad your mom and dad gave you such a fun party! We'll try to get the date right next year!

Love, Uncle Rich, Aunt Jamie (or Uncle Jamie, as Danny calls me), Addie, Heidi, & James XOXOX

Obscurity Knocks

Here's some Scottish fun for ya this stormy Friday. Back in 1990, we sure loved us some Trashcan Sinatras (Willy's an even bigger fan than I am). This song always cheers me up (even though the lyrics are depressing). So enjoy the vid, and then go make the most of one of your last weekends of summer (we will try to do the same, all though I am laid low with sore throat and hacking chest cough!).

Come on, sing along...

"Rubbing shoulders with the sheets till two
Looking at my watch and I'm half-past caring
In the lap of luxury it comes to mind
Is this headboard hard? Am I a lap behind?
But to face doom in a sock-stenched room all by myself
Is the kind of fate I never contemplate
Lots of people would cry though none spring to mind"

(click for more)

PS: The CHERRY ON TOP (best cover of this song EVER! do you agree? I'm in luv)

Sad for us, Good for Him...

THIS news made me a a little sad this morning.

BUT...if I could plan MY last words, I hope they'd be a powerful as THIS.

Here's a thought for the day...

"Dr. Sidney Simon, a recognized authority on values realization, has provided an excellent definition of forgiveness as it applies to human relationships:
'Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves.'
"Most of us need time to work through pain and loss. We can find all manner of reasons for postponing forgiveness. One of these reasons is waiting for the wrongdoers to repent before we forgive them. Yet such a delay causes us to forfeit the peace and happiness that could be ours."
-Elder Faust

Four days before I went into the MTC, I attended conference in the Assembly Hall where he was presiding. Afterward I went to shake his hand and told him I was on my way to the MTC, and he said, "I could tell." We talked about my choice to serve a mission and how I debated whether to go now or later with my husband and he said, "You should do both...but it's better to go now because you may not get the opportunity to go with your husband. And you'll be a better wife and mother if you go now." We talked about other things, but those words stuck in my mind. I have always love Elder Faust and will miss him.

Back on Monday...

...I took these pictures of my kids. During James' morning snooze, I traced the girls with sidewalk chalk on the back patio, and they colored themselves in (except Heidi wanted me to make her face and hair--Addie did her own AND made a sunshine over them).Heidi & Addie posing with "Heidi & Addie"
Sweet Adeline coloring the sun
Addie shows off her big sun; Heidi eats uncooked Ramen (her favorite). Oh, and I think this is the first pic we have posted of her sassy new bob.
Heidi shows off her drawing and refuses to smile
A close up of the details Addie drew on her portrait.
...and we had so much fun, we woke up our sleepyhead (who also got a haircut)...
G'mornin', James Ole!


***

Also, later that night I had a movie date with Rich and we watched "Breach." It was very interesting--I remembered Hanssen's arrest but didn't understand the depth of his treason. Alos, I had heard the he was or once was LDS, but was relieved (is that wrong?) to find out he was a Catholic, a member of Opus Dei. I think Eric O'Neil had one of the scariest jobs in the world. No wonder he left the FBI to practice law! I think the FBI or CIA would be hard on a marriage--I am suprise so many folks there are married.

Anyway, I highly recommend the film and suggest you give a little listen to this interview with the REAL Eric O'Neil from NPR's "Fresh Air" show (I love that show--Terry Gross usually has great guests, but I don't like her as much as I like Robin Young on "Here & Now."). Also, here's some fun trivia: The day Hanssen was busted was the morning after our wedding: Sunday, Feb. 18, 2001. So while his life was unravelling in DC, ours was just beginning in CA--we were waking up at the La Jolla Marriott, getting some fabulous breakfast, heading to Escondido to return Rich's tux and enjoy the honeymoon. Hmmm.

Yo

Waasup, my Kramer?

I am fixin' to have a post-FHE date with my hubby, but I wanted to point you toward my new Personal History Series now playing at Framanisco (click). I'll be hangin' out there for a while with some stops here to post photos and other wacky Melin Miscellany. Do enjoy.


PS: Did anyone catch that Matthew Fox episode of SNL in December when teh Jackson/Sharpton duo appeared on Weekend Update and replaced "The N Word" with "Kramer"? It pretty much slayed me..."Kramer, please..."

Grubby

Here's a video of James on Tuesday...can you hear him try to say "Nana"?



Bananas & Nutella Facial from MelinFamily and Vimeo.

All Kinds of Mayberry Fun

Aunt Marti & Brent Mayberry came to visit us on August 25-27. They arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we ate a yummy (petersen) chicken bacon salad with red onion dressing, and then we went to The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. First we saw a planetarium show about constellations, then Heidi wanted to show them the dinosaurs and the Egyptian Discovery room. While we were sitting on a big bench building a triceratops, Addie jumped up and the bench tipped over. It dumped me, then landed on my leg. Here's what the bruise looks like today, five days after the incident. EWWWWW!!! It looks way worse than it feels. Anyway, Rich met us there after work and then we all went bargain hunting at Old Navy to pass the time until our Stake Pioneer Day celebration commenced at Bogert Park in Bozeman. The lines for food were insane, but we had a good time and got to go swimming afterward (Marti, Brent and I watched while Rich wrangled the kids). We headed home with a van full of sleepyheads around 10pm.

Ewww, a huge bruise on my calf.
Heidi, JamesO, Daddy & Ad in the Bogert Park pool
Caitlyn Stoen, state champion swimmer, giving Heidi some swimming tips.
On Thursday, I took the girls to swimming lessons and Marti and Brent stayed home with James. When I came home, we hung out for a while and then decided to go to Pickle Barrel for lunch. We had planned on floating the river that day, but it barely got up to 70-dgrees and it was cloudy all day. So instead, we decided to have a bonfire after dinner and make s'mores and homemade ice cream. We went down by the beach on the ranch and watched the sun set (at nearly 10pm). The river was higher, colder and muddier than it had been the week before, darn it. I guess we were really lucky to go when we did last week! (The International Flyfishing Federation Conclave is taking place this week in Livingston--cuz a river runs through it, doncha know--and my hotel is full of fishermen from all over the world--lots from Nova Scotia and Scotland--and they are all quite grumpy about the river being so muddy).

There was a wreck as we headed home and we couldn't see what happened. Here's an update for ya: A woman driving a Durango hit a piece of farm equipment (a wide load) going nearly 70mph on Mill Creek bridge about 2 miles from the ranch. She lived but they had to jaws-of-life her out of her truck after it rolled down the river bank. There was an environmental newsflash about toxic chemicals getting into the river from the damaged equiment the next day, too. Too bad!

Addie on Brent's lap making ice cream with our Ice Cream ball

Heidi Lynners being herself.

Smiley James Ole (who waved for the first time at Brent)

Hangin' out with Auntie M
The view of the river and our little circle.
Aunt Party roasting her marshmallows for s'mores.

Thanks for coming, Mayberrys! We LOVED having you and wish you could stay FOREVER! Come back soon and bring Ralphy on a Yellowstone adventure!

Family Night

I had to work on Monday night, so we did FHE on Tuesday this week. We talked about Baptism and Sacrament and how we behave and "REMEMBER" (think about Jesus) during Sacrament meeting. To top it all off, we played the Memory game (to practice remembering) from the June Friend Magazine. It was fun and you can make your own memory game by clicking here and loading up your color printer with cardstock. Here's the gang playing memory for the third time.
James is seriously saying "Cheese!"--it' comes out like "EEEEEZ" but he does it everytime he sees the camera. It's hilarious. He also says "Car" like "CAH"--a little New England accent.
When I say "Make a silly face," this is what I get.
My twins born five years apart--Addie & James Ole.
They even have that same little blue vein that goes across the bridge of their noses.

Guilty Pleasures

I think I may have mentioned how I used to HATE Spongebob Squarepants and now that show makes me laugh out loud. I don't know why my kids love it so much cuz they can't possibly get the jokes, but they love it and I watch it with them sometimes. Most of my friends don't allow thier kids to watch the show because the characters act like idiots, but my theory is even if your kids don't grow up to be idiots, they will probably be surrounded by them, so they may as well get familiar, ya know?

Anyway, this song was on yesterday and it made me laugh out loud. Spongebob is befriending The Villain, Plankton, who is a tiny angry creature always plotting to rule the world. SB is trying to teach Plankton what FUN is ...the words that Plankton uses for F-U-N are hilarious.... (is his name Plankton Ahmadinejad?...Enjoy!

Another Testament of Siesta (not NAFTA)

You know we live a siesta culture at our house, right? I have a testimony of naptime ("I like the night life, baby")....well, I just found this old (ca.2000) clip of Kathleen Madigan sharing her version of the history of Mexican Siesta. It starts out with some good Canada jokes, and then she gets to Mexico. Give siesta some thought, because I know without a shadow of a doubt that it's good to be a night AND morning person. Maybe you could show this to your boss. Maybe in the millenium we will all siesta--not because we NEED to, but because it feels so dang good to curl up in a patch of sunlight with a fan blowin' on ya, wake up when the temp has dropped 10 degrees, and make hay until 11pm. WARNING: This clip is rated PG-13, as it uses the word (my favorite cuss word) "A*S."