James Ole's First Birthday

To celebrate James' actual birthday on 9/5, we had a simple dinner at our house with Cowboy beans and Cornbread, followed by an ice cream cake that Zuzi and Peter made for James. Here's James finishing off his cowboy dinner
Grandma Rosalie helps him open his new Brainy Baby books (he loves them!)
Here is the cute cake that Zuzana and Peter made for James (it was in the freezer for a couple of days, and then it started to melt when we thawed it, so some of the decorations smeared, but it was a very cute cowboy cake).
The Grays gave james cute new cars
Grandma gave James lots of diapers and some cute outfits
We gave James a little stackable wooden lighthouse from Ikea
He likes to chew the rings---I also got him a REAL cowboy hat to wear to the ranch when he gets bigger.
Happy Birthday to our Little Buckaroo!

Guess where we'll be for the next 48 hours?...

see ya later!

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY...

...Tuesday, September 5, 2006,

our Sweet Baby James

(aka Roly Poly Ole or Bubby) was born!

Here's a little photographic walk down memory lane:

Look at that big healthy boy weighing in at 9 lb-11 oz!


Sleepy little sweetheart on 9/7/06
Snuggling with Dad on 9/6/06
Big Yawn Oct. 2006
Sweet Smile November 2006

*****

James, you have been the sunshine of our lives this past year! You are sweet and snuggly and you love to do all your baby jobs: eat and sleep and play. Your sisters adore you and your parents are grateful you came to bless our family and carry on the Melin name. Today you are crawling, pulling yourself up on things tentatively; you can climb the first stair but you don't dare go further yet. You just cut your fifth and sixth teeth this week, so you have that cute snaggly one-year-old grin with the two teeth on bottom and 4 across the top. Your favorite toys are the See-n-Say Farm and the Farm Animal cards Aunt Lisa bought for you. You are still most interested in people and love to play pat-a-cake, peek-a-boo, and almost any silly, giggly game your sisters make up. You are very snuggly except when you're tired--I always want to rock you, but you want to lay in your bed and watch your fishies (Fisher Price Aquarium) and drift off to sleep to their music with no one bothering you. Today, though, you gave ME the birthday present when you fell asleep for your morning nap on my chest while I was consoling you after you pulled the trash can over on yourself. Awww, poor Ole Boy! Bubby, we love you and wish you many more happy healthy years like this one!

Love, Mom

HOORAY!

I am at work and wishing so much that I could be in Missouri--JUST for TODAY--to welcome my little brother Michael home from his mission!

CONGRATULATIONS, MIKEY!!!! We are SOOOO proud of you and wish we were there to show you how much we love and miss you!

Michael has served for two years in the Washington Tacoma Mission and has done such an excellent job (50-something baptisms or something like that, and lots of personal growth, too)! I am so excited that he will be going to school at BYU Provo so we can go terrorize him periodically, restock his cupboards and home office at Costco once in a while, and be the Good College Fairies I always wished I'd had!

I am so calling you when I get home, Elder Drews! Hope you had a great trip home (TRIP--yeah, it is a trip, huh?). LOVE YA!!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Monday was spent recovering from the weekend's fun...perfect, just liek last year, except this year I am not going in to labor and having a baby on Tuesday (but we will celebrate that baby's first birthday tomorrow!). Here's how the weekend played out:

Late Saturday morning we arrived at the ranch to pick and press apples with our Melin family.

Here's James on a quilt at the ranch...
...and here he is beggin Matthew Melin to teach him how to walk.
Here's Matthew's Dad, Uncle Jess, washing apples fo the press.
Here's Addie cranking the press and Heidi being silly.
Heidi, Dad, Jess, and Addie:
That's how you make apple cider, y'all!

Heidi in the ranch police boat sandbox looking for bad guys...

Summer's the captain...

Cousins in the sand!
Later, we floated the Yellowstone again, kids in the raft, and Rich & I tried out our new deluxe tubes--AWESOME! Very fun, very cold.

Uncle Jess & Matthew
Heidi at dinner eating dutch oven meatloaf (I was already at work).
Ahhh...the ranch at sunset!

Sunday Evening

While I was in Bozeman Sunday, Rich, Heidi, & James hung out with the other Melins at Grandma's house. Addie and I joined them when we came back. The kids all picked carrots out fo Grandma's garden and acted like silly rabbits.TJay, Heidi, Addie, Danny, & Summer eating bread (to wash down the carrots)
Heidi Bunny

"What's Up Doc?"
Summer Bunny
Addie Bunny



Later, we all helped James celebrate his birthday with cake & ice cream.

Birthday Boy
Two silly hats on James

We stripped him down in preparation for him tearing into his own cake... Here's Addie giving James some tips
So excited about his cake!

A quarter of the cake is gone and James is PURE JOY!
...and he's getting alittle loopy by the time the cake is mostly gone!

Happy Birthday, Handsome Boy!

After cake, it was time for Norwegian Golf!

Don't even ask me what Addie is doing in this picture!

She looks like a crazy tomte!
(Tomte)
Heidi golfing Norwegian style
TJay giving it a whirl

Uncle Mike coaching Heidi

After some golf, James opened a gift and some cards...
Addie shows him his cool card from Marianne Stoen (so cute and handmade!)

Daddy helped James open his gift--a barn and animals form IKEA--but that's the last James saw of them after his sisters and cousins comandeered them (Heidi still onl y lets him have the mommy horse--I guess I'll have to give him something of his OWN on Wednesday).
See? There goes Summer with the horse and Heidi with the cows.
At least they let him keep his new Dinosaur shirt!

A great ending to a fun weeked! Thanks to Jess & Kelli for the Golf game and for taking good care of the kids while I was working Saturday. We love our Melin cousins! XOXOXO

Last Wednesday (8/29)...

Addie's First Day of Kindergarten!On a chilly morning (which turned in to a 90-degree day-WTH?), the whole family went to Winans School to see Addie off on her first day of school. We arrived just as the bell was ringing, so Addie got in line as Ms. Bartz came out to welcome her students.
Addie is a tall kindergartener! Daddy, James, and I all waved to her as she went up the stairs into the school...
...but Heidi was distracted, playing with "Ally-jander" Winsor.
I snuck in to take a picture of Addie by her locker...
...and sitting at her desk.

She was anxious for me to leave, telling me to take the kids home and have a good day and she would miss me and not to worry about her. She is so funny! We did miss her at home, but we're so glad she finally has the opportunity to go learn and socilaize at school.

Congratulations & Good Luck, big girl!