Christmas Vacation

Well, as I'm getting my blogging caught up, I thought I'd do the 2 peso version of our Christmas break. After lots of bad weather and 5 flights that we were shooting for all being cancelled, we managed to fly into Portland and then drive to Greg's dad's house. Even though we had to fly out stand-by on Christmas day itself, it was surprisingly a really wonderful day to travel. Everybody was super friendly, helpful, outgoing, festive, and patient. How many travel days including airlines can have that description? We packed a few small presents for Chloe in our carry-on so when she was pushing her limit, we'd let her open another one up and then her good mood would be revived.

Here we are, finally in Portland. We barely fit in the elevator with all our stuff.
This was the first time since Chloe was a baby that we were able to spend some time with Greg's side. It was nice to see everybody and a little crazy to see how much all the kids have grown up. I know it isn't too hard to be taller than me but when you're like 12, it makes you feel a little old and a bit retarded. Anyway, Chloe had the best time with all her cousins. She still hasn't stopped talking about when she will see them again. Here what she has to say to all the fam:
Wayne & Rhona: I like Rhona because she is silly. I like Wayne because I like his wife, Rhona. [Looks like these Melton boys need to work harder to make a good impression next time :-).]
Kylie: I like that she loves beautiful things like me.
Mark & Lisa: I just like them and have so much fun at their house and Lisa really loves me so much which I really like.
Tash/Natash/Tashie: I like that she's like me and that she says all these great words that I like to say too. I love playing with her all the time.
McKayla: I like how she does gymnastics.
Stacia: I like her voice and the way that she looks.
Millie: She is so cute that I can't believe it. She's a cutie, cutie but sometimes she is bad.
Dallin: He's the silliest brother I ever saw and HILARIOUS!
Bobby: I don't know something besides that I just like him.
Ashley: I liked sleeping in her room and just playing with her so much.
Erika: What I like about Erika is that she is just so fun and pretty. I really want to give her a jewel. ( I don't know what she's talking about here but def. a compliment.)
Debra & Rob: What I like about Rob is that he likes me. I like Debra because she has the same name as my Barbie (which ironically she named after you like a year ago but has forgotten).
Bella: Oh Mom, she is so cute. I love how she is little and still (Ha, ha, contrast with her sister!). I wish we had Bella.
Teresa & Dave: I like Teresa's pretty hair and I like Dave because he's silly and he lets people climb on him while he's asleep.
Kirky: Kirky is silly. That's pretty much what I gotta say. I was really happy to share a room with him.
Grandma: Grandma has a pretty name that people call her. She also got me lots of stickers and I was so happy about it.
Grandpa: I liked how Tati liked him and would rub her tummy when she would see him. I liked his house and the ponies.

It would be great if you guys could get some web cams so we could maintain this better communication and do video chat. They are pretty cheap. If there is a Fryes by your house, especially good/cheap ones there. Then you'd just need to download the program Skype (for you non-Mac users) and we'd be in business. I know Chloe especially would love to talk to her cousins and see what is going with them.

We were able to go to Target which was wonderful--especially since we frequented it more than once. We watched a lot of movies (and Get Smart was our fave), we ate some meals together, went bowling, went to the mall, went out to eat, and even went for a walk and fed the ducks and some random Cootie bird. It was a nice break from our winter but we were also looking forward to getting home to our beds (so Tati would finally sleep well), our routines and ironically returning to the sunshine. Man, is Oregon dark!

The great thing about having so many people together is that you don't even have to take any pictures because everybody else is taking care of it for you. The bad thing is that with so many pictures being taken, there are bound to be some real doozies of you floating around.


Thanks for the visit guys!

Here's something new I tried, a slide show. See below.

Fun to Be One!

Well, our little babe turned one!

She does this scrunched up face and breaths kind of like a piggy out of her nose. It is so hilarious and so cute. We don’t know where it came from but since her Daddy and big sis are always doing it back to her, it has stuck. The only problem occurs when she does this great trick and her nose is full of snot.

It is crazy to think that a year ago I was in the hospital recovering from it all. This year has been full of changes, trials and happiness. Tati represents that year well . She is full of smiles, laughs, and is so easy to love but she can also wail like a banshee, slap, pinch, bite, and launch her food better than any other one year old.

In my mind one is such a momentous age. I remember with Chloe I like gave her milk, peanut butter, and citrus all on the first day. Now, another child later I realize how retarded that is. There really isn't a magic number in space that once you pass it all is different. Take her cake for example. I am one of those moms (sorry Emily) that limits sweets (I'm such a meany). Don't get me wrong, Chloe knows who Little Debbie is and inherited her Daddy's sweet tooth for treats after every meal - but I still want to avoid it as much as possible in the baby years. Tati has eaten everything in its natural or unsweetened format. I even got her to like eating plain yogurt with wheat germ which is supposed to (if developed early on) help them crave healthy food as they grow up. I know it sounds crazy but if it does work, how could I not try it? Ok, fine maybe I didn't do all plain yogurt, I spiked it with baby food or applesauce, but still. Geez, you beat it out of me. Anyway, when she went to eat her cake with rainbow chip and whipped vanilla frosting on it, she treated it like any other bread item she ever eats, just slowly bite by bite. No real reaction to the sweetness either. She is quite a little lady when she wants to be. Bite by bite, no frosting in the hair, no smooshing of her face into the cake.

Things that are new:
She officially can walk now—that is if you hold onto her hands. She never let us do it as her parents but suddenly while in Oregon, she let her cousin McKayla walk around with her.

After a few times with just letting McKayla take her, she finally let’s her parents or whoever else lead her around. Here she is with Aunt Lisa.

Opening her presents.

She still prefers to crawl and can now crawl up the stairs, which means that we have to be soooo careful to put the gate up. She can open cupboards and drawers on her own and even has managed to smash a few fingers. After much work, she had her two top teeth break through. They are barely there but they made it. Looks like she got the Lovstedt gap.

We are just go grateful to have our little Tats in the family. She has such a fun personality and brings a unique spice to our family recipe.

Christmas Letter

In case I missed your email somehow. It's hard for me to keep track of things perfectly so please don't be offended if it happened to you.

You know you're ghetto when...

• You go to change your child's diaper, open it up and then leave it on saying either in your mind or to your husband, "Oh, this isn't full yet, it can hold more" and then you close it up and let them wear it for a few more hours.
• You talk up this special dessert and then after building the appropriate amount of anticipation and excitement from your family, you put frosting on graham crackers.
• You have canned fruit for dessert.
• You get out a baby wipe instead of filling the bath tub.
• You dilute your yummy smelling foam soap (more than twice) to make it last longer.
• Your kids get excited to have a dinner from a box.
• Your kids beg you to go shopping for toys (but they are referring to the local dollar store).
• You kids hide things at the normal store when you tell them you can't buy them so nobody will find it and then next time you're there they can buy it.
• You actually find it humorous and heart warming that before your neighbors moved, they scattered all their stolen shopping carts around the apartment complex.
• You look around your house for toys your kids haven't played with in a long time and wrap them up for Christmas presents.
  
• You let your friend with no experience in cutting women's hair cut your hair all based on the fact that her husband's hair is really cute and you figure that if she could do his hair, surely she could cut your hair. Then half-way through the hair cut when she tells you that you're the first girl's hair she's ever cut, you just laugh and say, "It's ok." After a few days when the shock wears off and your husbands tells you that you HAVE to go to a real salon and get it fixed, this is what happens.

So I wasn't really intending to have such short hair but the girl at the salon said that it was so crooked underneath that I had to go this short to even it out. I'm still in shock and it has been about a week. I actually have to do my hair now which is a change and unbeknowst to me, I have this funky waviness or kinkiness in the back/middle of my hair but just there brought on by motherhood so I have to blow dry AND use a flat iron. I'm getting better and better at it though and hopefully will be liking it soon. I do miss a ponytail though.

Well, are you ghetto too? How? Do tell.

Tre Beret

Here are some pics from our Christmas card photo shoot. It was pretty funny because Greg was using our shades from the car dashboard and standing by the window where the sun was shining to reflect it onto the girls. Then we had this whole set up with a blanket by the closet being held up by clothes pins--and I bet you thought we went to a studio, right? No? You could tell we were using a fleece blanket by the closet held up with clothes pins and using our car shades to reflect the sun onto the girls' faces? Dang. Oh well, here they are anyway.



Much later, the girls had changed and we were getting ready for dinner and Chloe asked if she could take some pictures with the camera and do a photo shoot. Maybe if I had started taking pictures when I was four, I'd be more professional now. Anyway, next thing we know, this is what she has put together on the couch:

Brrrrrr to the BRRRRRR!

You thought yesterday was cold?!!!!
P.S. This is a.m.
P.S.S. Am I the only one who LOVES atomic clocks?
What kind of inaccurate world did I live in before?

Brrr!

When we got up today, this is what we saw:
I mean talk about cold when your windows are freezing up.
When we looked at the thermometer after breakfast, this is what we saw:
Apparently the low of the night was -15 F. That is crazy cold. Let's just review the fact that water freezes at 32 deg. F. Just so you know, when it is this cold outside, this is what happens to your body:

• You instantly cough as soon as you breathe.
• Your eyes start watering (and simultaneously the tears start freezing but only sort of because they are still on your face and your face is warm). It makes it feel like your eyelashes are going to crack off.
• Your bugars instantly crystallize causing your children to cry. It is quite painful actually. Think about it, your nose is always at least moist inside all the time. Feels like some serious sharpies.
  

So this morning we had a Primary party at the church. We live across the street so obviously we just walked. It was just me and Chloe. We were fine on the way there but on the way home, we had a windchill. Chloe was ok and then suddenly there was this wind gust. We couldn't really see because we were tearing so much and then Chloe started crying. I told her that crying was only going to make it worse and so she tried to suck it up but she couldn't walk with the wind in her face so I had to wrap her scarf around her head and cover her face and then I led her by the hand. I felt like we were modern-day pioneers.