Long time no talk...

Things have been busy yet fun around here. In October we went to the State Fair of Texas, went to several fall festivals, Grant and Chris went to Kentucky & of course Halloween. November has been fun too- with birthday parties, swim lessons, soccer and school- we have been on the go.

Grant is turning FOUR on December 1st. I can't believe it- he's my big boy! He's been doing great at school. We have started exploring our school options for next year and are in the process of testing at a school called Shelton here in Dallas. We think it is a really great fit for him- hopefully the feeling is mutual. It's just a sad state of affairs when the public schools aren't even an option- they are just too bad.

Kendal is 18 months, going on 13 years. She is trying to potty train herself- but I'm trying to not encourage her. I frequently find her pants & diaper off, sitting on the potty. We had her 18 month checkup today- she was 23 pounds (30th percentile) & 32 inches long (60th percentile). She had two shots and did not like it. In fact she is still sleeping it off right now- going on a 3 hour nap.

Here are a few recent pictures of the kids. I'll try and post more soon. Happy upcoming Thanksgiving!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Black Hole on Meletio Lane

Over the course of the last few years, a strange phenomenon has developed at 5606 Meletio Lane. Things mysteriously disappear, usually permanently. We just can't figure out what is going on.

Take today for example. The kids & I (melanie) went to Whole Foods. We purchased several things including at $8 wedge of Gouda cheese. The cheese made it to our house, and as I was putting things in the refrigerator, these 2 little hands jumped up out of nowhere and grabbed the cheese! It has vanished! So if next time you are at our house and smell something funny, it's probably rotting cheese.

Other things to disappear: Poppie's car keys, a salt and pepper shaker set, my mind, the remote control....

Abby & her cuzzins

Our sweet niece Abby came over to play today. She was smacked up side the head by Kendal, and Grant proclaimed her a 'horsey' and tried to sit on her. But other than that, she loved hanging out with her cousins!

Swim Lessons

Grant completed his first round of individual, private swim lessons. He has far exceeded our expectations. He is now a semi-decent swimmer, all by his big self. Here is photographic & video proof.... Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Recent Activities

We've had a busy week!

A very organized & creative friend of mine (Ali Martineau) puts on a mommy & me 'camp' at her house every summer for a week. She organized such things as a nature scavenger hunt, apron painting, cupcake baking, making a terrarium out of a old coke bottle (complete with roly polys, worms & snails!), swimming, & face painting. She seriously makes me look like a lousy mom. We had an excellent time, and the kids were worn out! (which makes for a happy mommy about 7pm when they go to bed!)

My cousin Jeff, his wife Sherry, and 2 kids Alexis & Zachary were in town for the week as well. We spent some time with them at the lake. We had a really fun time playing in the water and Grant even got to try water skiing for the first time. He never made it too far, but he thought it was the coolest thing ever. Grant has surpassed his fathers water skiing ability... :)

After the cousins left the Johnson family (Ron, Winno, Jared & Jodie) joined us at the lake. We spent all day Saturday on the boat & jet ski. It was a lot of fun.

And to complete the week my Harry Potter book arrived, so now I've got to go read!

Here are a few pictures to enjoy...

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This is for my mom

Ya, ya, I know, it's been a few months since I last posted.

Guess what happened in those last few months??? Kendal started walking. There is a direct correlation between walking & posting.

Let's see, what's happened since we last talked????

Grant finished up school, so now he's home with me every single day.... So, we spend lots of time trying to keep busy. We've been to the beach (Outer Banks, North Carolina), the zoo, the pool, the lake, the backyard (many, many times)... Kendal is a little stinker. She loves to push her baby dolls in their stroller, she loves to unroll an entire roll of toilet paper, and pull every single article of clothing out of a drawer. She & Grant love to break into the kitchen cabinets and have 'picnics' on the floor. (Basically pull out all the chips, pretzels, cereal & cookies they can find and then eat until I catch them).

I promise to be a tad better about posting. Maybe when school starts up again in September I'll have a minute or two more to do so....

In the meantime, enjoy these recent pictures of the kids.

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The Knack

Chris' mom sent us this video and I think it perfectly sums up Grant.

Enjoy!

My Most Mortifying Parenting Moment (so far...)

So Grant, Kendal & I went to Destination Maternity to help Renee (Lindsey's mom) pick-out some things Lindsey will need for her hospital stay.

The store has a nice play area to keep the kids entertained while I shop. So I've helped Renee pick out some things, and while she's checking out I go to retrieve my kids. Grant is playing with a couple of hispanic kids, building a tower with big blocks. One of the kids, a little girl about 5 or 6, has silver fillings that cover the front of her teeth. I approach and hear Grant saying to her "look at your teeth", "you've got funny teeth". I die! I just smile at the little girl, who is now self consciously touching her teeth, and tell Grant we have to go.

Our cleaning lady's son, Jesus, also has these same fillings. I've heard Grant talk about Jesus' funny teeth before, but never in front of Jesus.

So? How should I have handled this? I'm not sure Grant would understand that what he said wasn't appropriate. Let me know your thoughts....

Also, another mortifying thing that I might as well mention while I'm at it. We were over at our next door neighbors, just talking in the back yard. They are an older (70's) couple, super friendly & Grant loves Mr. Wendell & Ms. Martha. So anyway, Martha was showing me a stone in her garden that was originally made for Martha Stewart (who was too much of a pain to work with, so the company wouldn't sell it to her.... anyway, that's another story for another time), when all of the sudden Grant pulls his pants down and pees all over the stone. Martha just smiles, and says now she's seen it all.

What's that smell?

Yeah! It's official- Grant is potty trained. Sorta. He will go peepee in the potty, but hasn't quite figured out the poopoo thing yet. I'll put a diaper on him for a bit in the afternoon, and he'll usually go poopoo in the diaper then.

So now he loves to go pee pee. And we love it to! No more changing diapers (except Kendal's) and no more buying diapers (except Kendal's). But he hasn't quite mastered the 'aim' thing just yet. So he usually pees all over the toilet, wall, floor- but that's alright- we aren't complaining! So, fair warning, if you come over to our house you may wonder what that smell is. Don't worry. It's just peepee.

Satellite Removal 101

So my mom & dad have a old satellite dish at their lake house that they want to take down. Just so happens that we have an old one at our house too.

So my dad recruited Nathan to take down our satellite today. He wanted to 'practice' removing one before he did it at his own house. Basically he wanted a satellite to crash down on our roof, and work out the kinks at our house.

It was quite humorous to listen to them figuring out trajectories, the best place to stand, etc etc. In the end Nathan climbed 25 feet up into a 60 foot Sycamore tree with rope. Chris held rope from the roof. My dad used a saw to cut it down. Nevertheless, the big old thing came down without a hitch.

Here's a link to the video of the 'timber' moment...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2722635799006531444

Let the games begin...

Grant has always been pretty good about going to bed at night. We've had a few inevitable battles along the way, but in general, he is good about going to bed. We've got the routine down: manic playing with daddy to burn any excess energy, bath, books, prayers and then night-night.

Since we had barf-o-rama 2007, Grant has learned that "I don't feel good" gets attention.

So, now bedtime has a new addition to the routine: "I don't feel good". Somehow he thinks this will delay him going to bed. Or maybe he needs extra attention?!?!

Tonight, started with "my foot hurts", then "my ear hurts", next "my mouth hurts" then "my foot doesn't hurt".... (maybe he thought adding the "doesn't" to it changed the prognosis?) Then he tried "I'm too hot"... It's 30 degrees outside. I seriously doubt it kid.

While he's trying out all his new symptoms on me, he can barely keep his eyes open he is so tired.

Night night.

Barf-O-Rama 2007

Grant started it.

Grant woke up at 3am on Sunday morning (late Saturday night) and barfed. And barfed. And barfed.

I (Melanie) woke up Sunday morning and didn't feel too good. I started barfing around noon. Grant & I laid in bed all day Sunday (literally all day) and alternated between sleep and watching Cars (the movie) for the 74th, 75th & 76th times.

And then Kendal joined the fun at noon on Monday.

Chris is so far still healthy. Although he has been barfed on 4 times, so the chances of him joining in on the fun are high. I think Chris has done 12 loads of laundry between all the sheets, towels, & pj's we've soiled.

3 dogs!?!?

So on Friday, I experienced 3 kids. Today I am experiencing 3 dogs....

Kendal has discovered the dog food bowl and she thinks it is DELICIOUS!

She is crawling constantly and quickly. She can't make a beeline fast enough for the dog food. I'm wondering if she's missing some nutrient from her diet. She quickly puts two 'nuggets' in each hand and then proceeds to drool and mouth all over them. This turns the dog food into a smelly mushy substance. Her hands continue to smell even after a thorough scrubbing. Tasty!

At this point, the dogs are sharing with her. But I think if she keeps eating they may start to defend their turf.

3 kids!?!?

So now I know what it feels like to have 3 kids.

I watched a good friend of ours little girl, Hailey, today for about 6 hours. She & Grant are the same age- so that actually made things a lot easier than I had imagined!

She's potty trained, so she inspired Grant to pee-pee on the potty today. I was very excited.
I took the 3 kids (Grant, Kendal & Hailey) to the library for storytime. Grant picked this time of all times to ask to go pee-pee on the potty. I told him sorry charlie- I wasn't up for it! But when we got home he asked to go again, and this time it was a success.

But at this point I'm not holding my breath for potty training success. Grant could care less if he pees/poos all over himself. We're just hoping he doesn't start college in diapers!

Disclaimer: Kendal took a 3 hour nap today- so I'm sure that had a little something to do with 3 kids being easier than imagined.

Raccoons!

Well, we're under attack. Apparently Ricky the Raccoon (as dubbed by Grant) has decided to make our garage his new home. He was spotted in our garage yesterday for the first time, during the day, which is unusual since raccoons are nocturnal. After he was chased out of the garage by Chris (with a shoe & two-by-four), he came back tonight! Grace (the dog) got after him for a minute, but then Chris had to get the shoe back out.

And this Ricky is a brave one. He's entering our garage through the doggie door!

I can just see us waking up in the middle of the night to Ricky feasting in the kitchen. Grant & I recently watched "Over the Hedge", so I have very vivid pictures of what raccoons can do!

After consulting our varmit expert (Nathan), we will be setting up a trap ASAP!