James Repurposes a Candleholder

This morning James found this candle tower thingy (technical term) in the basement. I have most of the big candle stuff down there because my kids are obsessed with fire and blowing out candles so I can't burn any.




He was convinced it was a bird feeder. No matter what I said to the contrary about using it for silly candles he was undeterred. He had a vision.

So he added bird seed.




And hung it up in the tree where all of our sparrows congregate.




Yes, that is a roll of toilet paper. Don't ask, I have no idea. My best guess is it was stolen out of the bathroom cabinet in order to start a castle.


The sparrows are going gaga over this thing right now. The kids are beside themselves.

James = repurposer extraordinaire.

Christmasy Stuff

Even though we are running behind on Christmas due to combination of a) leaving things until the last moment, and b) a horrible virus that caused us to lose an entire week of December, we've still managed to get a few Christmasy things done.

Thanks to Walmart One Hour Photo, I manged to slap together a Christmas card!


And we finally hung up the sparkly snowflakes that we glittered in early December. Yay for toddler art projects! And for finding something for this really strange, large, open window!



It's December 22! I'm still getting out Christmas decorations! Oh boy. Next year I am going to be done with gift shopping early... as in September!

How are you doing? Are you ready for the big day?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Knight/Prince Phillip Maddie and Dragon James!



Shining armor and a cape!



Raaawr!




And for your viewing pleasure ... Maddie hunts dragons!

Swinging Like Big Kids

Winter is coming! There are only so many play outside days left in the calendar year!

So what do we do? When it is cold and blustery, and the rain clouds are coming in over the mountains, we put on our hoodies and head out to the park!

Nothing better than swinging like big kids!

On the tire swing even!

Because everyone knows that swings are fun!

Same Same, Different Different

Are they twins?



It gets asked a lot when we are out. James is really only a few inches shorter than his sister, and when they're sitting down it's actually hard to tell that she's longer and more gangly than he is.




They're alike in so many ways, that I kind of think they are de facto twins . . .

But then sometimes they are so different it's like they are little opposites of each other.


Maddie likes her cereal dry. Always.

James likes his with milk and a spoon. All is right with his world if he has cereal, milk, and spoon.


Maddie loves grape juice.

James loves orange juice.

Maddie will occasionally sample the orange juice but she says it's "too spice" and screws up her face in a horrifically comical manner. "Too spice" from the child that eats pickles for breakfast. Meanwhile, James will chug limeade straight. Go figure. He prefers the citrus based juices I guess.


Maddie prefers Little Einsteins

James prefers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

This causes fights.


Madie loves to snuggle under blankets.

James hates sleeping with a blanket over him with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.


Maddie's snacks on raw celery. James, not so much.

James snacks on raw brocolli. Maddie is horrified by this.


Luckily, in spite of their differences, they still love each other.


(blanket was for story time purposes only, after which it was kicked off)

Broccoli

This is how James spends our shopping trips.

He picks it out himself from the produce section.

It's not exactly clean, but far be it from me to stop him.

If I did he'd just throw a tantrum and fish it out of the bag when I'm not looking.



Occasionally people stop us and ask me how I get him to eat it.

I dunno. He just likes it.

But really, I think it should earn me some kind of parenting award.

However, unless you think I'm super granola mummy who magically convinces her children to only eat good, wholesome things . . .

I present to you . . .




Rocky Road cake pops.



Yum.

Balance is important in life, I think.

The Advent of Becca

Our friend Becca is visiting us for a month! The kids (and mommy and daddy) were excited out their minds about her coming for weeks before she actually got here. Every time someone would leave James would wig out thinking they were going to pick up Becca without him.

Becca sent Maddie and James a "Countdown to Becca" calendar. Or as I like to call it, a Becca Advent Calendar. It's almost like Christmas! (In a totally non-sacrilegious way).



Becca has been here for a week and we've been busy doing all sorts of fun Montana-y stuff. Here is Becca, Maddie, and James in Reeder's Alley in downtown Helena. Reeder's Alley was originally bachelor apartments for miners, and now it is cute little shops and restaurant.



Some friends from church (also originally from California) took us out Saturday on their boat and we went up the Missouri River through the Gates of the Mountain. Ah-maz-ing. Maddie looks pretty darn thrilled.



We drove up to a "ghost town" in the mountains called Rimini, it wasn't much of a town, or very ghosty, just some old buildings and a few newer houses, but there was a pretty awesome waterfall that we walked up to.



We went rainbow hunting in an afternoon thunderstorm, and we were rewarded with a double rainbow. This may be my new favorite picture of all time.



Here is to another week of fun!

Fabric Love

Looking for the e-book giveaway of Jennifer Becton's Absolute Liability? I am giving away 5 copies and there is still time to enter. Just go here or scroll down!

I've been thinking for awhile that I want to make Maddie and James quilts for their toddler beds. Having a young boy and girl in the same room presents some decorating challenges, but luckily Maddie is pretty tomboy-ish, so she doesn't insist on princess or pink. We are going with a sort of baseball/vintage/americana/country theme and I really want the predominate colors to be red and white (Go Angels). I've been looking and looking for a fabric line that I could use for both their quilts (as in not too girly), would coordinate with each other, and were predominately in red & white. No luck. But look what Sweetwater is coming out with!

This line is called Hometown and I think it is pretty much perfect! They have charm packs, fat quarters, and yardage for sale at the Fat Quarter Shop and I think I will be buying some! Cannot wait!

Our Fourth of July - Instagram Style

Two for the Show

Happy Second Birthday to my Sweet Baby James!

Words cannot express the joy you have brought into our lives. You are an absolute miracle, a gift from God. Your sweet, snuggly, loving, happy-go-lucky personality brightens our hearts every day.

We love you!

Mickey Mouse Bounce House!!

James loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Love might be too weak a word.

He adores it.

He thinks Mickey is the best thing on planet earth. He can say all the characters names, and responds when they ask questions. I realize that a lot of it is memorization because he watches episodes over and over, but the other day Mickey asked what some number was and James answered "twelve." I spun around, shocked, because I've never heard him use that number - and yup, he was right, it was a twelve. My kid's a genius. Twelve - also the number of times he's seen that episode, but please, let's not spoil my proud mommy moment ;)

Little Mr. James has a big birthday coming up - he is going to be 2!

That is insane on so many levels. What happened to my little baby? Sob.

We are having his party at Big Time Bouncers, an indoor bounce house facility here in Helena, Montana. If there is anything James likes more than Mickey it's bounce houses. Big Time Bouncers has several up at the Farmer's Market every week and Maddie and James spent a good hour in them on Saturday.

So here are the invites for Jamie's Mickey Mouse Bounce House (See what I did there? Clever!) birthday party, compliments of Daddy and Walmart 1 hour photo.

(Gotta love my quick blur job on that phone number, thanks iPhoto!)

Are they not adorable? Yay Mickey! Yay Jamie! Yay bounce houses!

Cupcakes and Carousels Party

Maddie's birthday party was a rousing success. She had a fabulous time, and so did (I am hoping) the eight other little girls in attendance.

I ran out of time to finish the purse goody bags, so I now have fourteen almost completed toddler purses and no idea what to do with them. Luckily, I was able to snag some plastic princess ones at Walmart on the way to the party and no one was the wiser.

I didn't end up with a lot of photos but here are some good ones via Instagram.

The party was at The Great Northern Carousel and they provided balloons . . .

Vintage Carousel Circus Horse Cupcake Toppers, you can buy the printable pdf from the gypsy factory on etsy . . . cupcakes by yours truly . . .

The birthday girl rides the carousel with Mommy . . .

James on the carousel, please excuse his bangs, there was an incident involving scissors . . .

I am calling this birthday party a success - Maddie won't remember all the little details that I wanted to get right and didn't find the time for, she will remember that we had a rockin' good time, rode us some carousel animals, and ate cupcakes that stained our teeth pink and purple.

In Which My Kid's Stage a Murder Scene

Otherwise known as "I don't make the news, I just report it."

I can't really explain this picture to you. I don't know why the toy car is turned over, I suppose it was involved in a wreck. I don't know why Barbie is a) naked and b) lying there at Maddie's feet. Speaking of Maddie's feet, I don't know why she is lying under the tree house climber. I also don't know why James is looming above them - but I do know his shadow looks so menacing because the sun was really, really bright that day.

All I do know is that I had to take a picture. And that the picture is best presented in black and white.

"Spring, Spring, Spring" Sang the Frog and a Winner!

I think we can officially say that it is spring!

So maybe we had some snow last Friday - but since then only lovely, gorgeous spring weather! Even when it rains it seems like you can always see at least a little bit of sun and blue sky . . . and when there is sun and rain you get insane rainbows like this:

Can you believe this sucker? And I am telling you the photo does not do it justice at all! We could see both ends where they touched the ground and it seemed like if we just walked up into the hills we would definitely find a pot of gold or two . . . it was so close!

Another sure sign that it is spring is that baseball season has started! Yippee!!!! And of course we had to have our famous opening day nachos! Yum!

Here is Maddie doing her best Vanna White with the official Melendez Family Opening Day Nachos Angels Plate (we got it at the kid's first ever game at the Big A, pretty sure James was about two months old):

And here are the nachos, yes, we make our own chips!

And because it is spring it is time to pick the winner of the spring fabric giveaway!

And the winner is the lovely Stephanie of Sand and Starfish! You lucky girl you!

I've sent you an email! Congrats!

Before I Was a Mom

Before I was a mom . . .

I never would have had to put "take a shower" on my to do list.

I knew what eight hours of sleep a night felt like.

I saw movies that were rated higher than "G."

I read books.

I would have been hard pressed to have an entire conversation about poop and vomit.

I did things on the spur of the moment.

I actually closed the door when I went to the bathroom - and it stayed closed.

I had personal space.

Before I was a mom I wanted to be one so badly that my heart ached.

If I had really known what I was missing, there is no way I would have made it through 6 plus years of infertility . . . because what I was missing wasn't just exhaustion and tears and feelings of inadequacy.

It was Maddie and James.

Of course there are times I am tempted to just completely melt down and lock myself in the bathroom, but would I trade even the most frustrating moment of parenthood for one more moment of infertility?

Never in a million years.

Oops, I zapped!

Moving is a lot of work.

Moving when you are sick is even more work!

So far since January we have had a cold, a new cold, the rotavirus, and now back to colds!

But we are here in Montana . . .

Getting settled in and figuring things out.

It's snowed three times, mostly just flurries that melt a few hours later.

I discovered that if you leave your laundry detergent in the car it will freeze. I mean it makes sense and all, I just didn't think of it.

It is so dry, our skin is itchy and our hair is standing on end. Everything you touch results in a mega electric shock - the crackly blue lightening arcing from one person to another type of static shock. We all look like Emperor Palpatine blue lightening the heck out of Luke Skywalker, except that we can't control it and it usually takes us by painful surprise. Maddie keeps saying "Oops, I zapped!"

And oh, happy day, I discovered yardage of my favorite ever Robert Kaufman print in the bottom of my fabric stash. This is the fabric I used for the Maddie/Jamie's crib bedding and I didn't think I had anymore of it. But now I am torn, use it for something or save it in case there is ever a baby #3? Cause I love it. Desperately love it.

Any opinions? Hold out for a baby? Make some pretty summer clothes (in white, yeah right) for Maddie? What else could I do with this gorgeousness?

Enjoying Our Last Month of California Weather

While the rest of the country is blanketed in snow and ice, we have been enjoying some gorgeous weather.

I can't brag too much as we are moving away from it in about 24 days or so. Eeeek!

If it makes you feel better we had rain last Sunday (after a week in the high 70s). But that just meant we had crazy pretty "day after it rains" perfection on Monday for our little adventure.

Adventures

Airports

Hotels

Winter Coats

Snow

Melendez Family Adventure 2011

Halo Holiday Photo

This is the Angels's 50th anniversary year, and they have been having some fun events to celebrate already, even though it isn't baseball season yet! One of the events was the opportunity to have your family holiday photo taken at home plate at Angels stadium - they called it the Halo Holiday Event. For a donation of a $10 toy you got the photo take, and a little magnet frame. We still have to buy the photos from the website, as the photographers are the same ones they use during games for fan photos, but all in all it was a great deal!

I have no idea why, but I was mildly obsessed with making Maddie and Angels tutu for the Halo Holiday Photo. She loves to be princessy, but man, she loves her baseball too . . . right after they took her picture at home plate she swung her bat and took off down the third base line . . . when I snagged her she asked "where go ball game?" She definitely knew where she was! And we were, of course, totally jazzed to be on the diamond!

I followed this tutorial for a toddler tutu by Bethany on Vermillion Rules, although I found it on Cut out and Keep originally. In the end it ended up being a little big in Maddie's waist, and extremely puffy, mostly my fault as I didn't have time to modify for her skinny little waist (nothing like starting a project the night before you need it), but still an easy to follow tutorial if you're looking to make a toddler tutu!