sweet sweet 16

T
hankful today. Thankful for little
kicks inside my belly. Thankful for
my nice warm house. Thankful for
mega sweet boys that give great hugs
and precious kisses and they don't hold
back. Thankful for evenings with my...

 

 

...husband where we sit and visit ...

and dream about this little one.

 

Thankful for 16.

WEEK 16 that is.

Little baby baby bundle has now reached the "avocado"-size of this precious adventure.

 I still can't quite believe I'm already

FOUR MONTHS along!!

I'm getting more and more excited and more and more thankful that I get to

experience this beautiful joy

one.

more.

time.

We went to yet another doctor's appointment today.
We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again and it is going strong!
So thankful.



These last two pictures, I totally took in my doctor's restroom because I didn't want to forget to take some cute pics of my fun outfit I was wearing. My hair-ja-bob was from Casi's wedding!
Isn't it cute?

Yeahhhhh... I'm a goob.

No shame though.

My boys are getting so funny about the baby coming. Doing things like getting out an extra table-setting when it's dinner time and such.

It's so precious. I just adore their thoughtful, little hearts.



Pauly has come up with some doozy names. For a boy, he told us a while back he liked Pringus (if you are slowly tipping your head to the left or right - then you feel our pain) and then for a girl, he told us last night, that he likes Brella.

You read that right - Brella.

Now you can join me in the never ending singing in your brain of Umbrella by Rihanna.
Brella, Brella..... ugh.

That's all that keeps going through my head since he told us that he likes that name.

Thank you, Pauly!!

William is still adamant that it is a boy and yesterday at lunch he said he was full and that he was going to save the rest of his lunch for the baby. lol!!!!

Yeah... whatever can get you away from having to eat the rest of your lunch there big kid.


So yes,

16 weeks.

My next doctor's appointment is the first part of February and that is when we find
out if the nursery shall stay baby blue

or

if it shall get a whole new shade of girl <3 p="p">

~ I love your socks! ~

S
o this year I really wanted to
something super creative for
Advent. I looked on blogs,
Pinterest and Google for ideas
and a really fun idea I saw using

socks!

So I gathered up all those silly holiday socks that we don't wear too much,

and I went to the thrift store for the remaining. I gathered together 25 total.

I wrote down from 1 - 25 ideas for family activities, verses and gathered

a few fun candies for here and there...

I have to admit I didn't stuff them from day one

and I definitely should have because I tend to forget... in fact, I should just stuff the rest today

so we can finish up strong.

::sigh::

Raise your hand if your getting a bit overwhelmed...

[waving both hands in the air]

The types of things I stuff my socks with are little messages

that have a family activity which have included:

* Paint Christmas Pictures and hang them in the windows

* Go as a family to pick out Christmas Tree

* Family Game Night

* Decorate the House for Christmas as a family (including all of our bedrooms)

Kitchen Window

(that is not a chalk board fyi - I took poster board, painted it black, and drew on it with white crayon)

Sister's room!

Boys' Room!

I surprised sister one night when she got home from work with her whole bedroom decorated!

She loved it!

I put a touch of greenery in a vase so she can get a daily whiff or two of Christmas! ♥

Her room is very shabby chic so I went with gold and vintage looking apples in there.

She got that giraffe from Africa -- she's spoiled rotten. baaaha!

Me and My Loverboy's bedroom.

 I adore blue and silver - these were all on my Christmas Tree last year actually

* Picnic on the floor for dinner

* Bake Cookies together

that is just a few ideas that we have done and then

every other day or so I add a verse to go along with the Christmas story

and also randomly add in a little candy for the kids.

All the kids take turns opening the socks - they really love it

and I love thinking up the ideas. We don't open them till after nap time because

we wanted to wait for sister to get home from school and all the activities are for the

whole family pretty much so we do them after dinner.

For tonight: We are taking a drive as a family to go see the Christmas Lights.

Wishing you a fabulous day

and

Don't forget to wrap a scarf around

your neck cuz Baby - it's cold outside!



~ to the trees!! ~

W
e went as a family to go
pick out our Christmas
tree this year. We went
to our church tree lot, it
was so much fun!

Everyone was all bundles up

with fabulous hats,

scarves,

 puffy coats

and cheerful smiles!

 Oh - and some of us had our

GIDDY

smiles on!! Lol!

 Any tree lot that has a warm cozy camp trailer

with Christmas Lights on it

and blaring Christmas Music

is definitely the right place to go! 

It smelt like Christmas goodness!

 We all walked up and down the little tree-aisles and

picked out our favorites.

The kids were running and dodging through the trees!

I have to admit I was dragging my feet to pick out one because it was

just too much fun just being there together.

I mean -

this is where the memories are made and I knew we were in the middle of a memory...

I was trying to savor it as much as I could...

you know, that precious moment of memorie-making-ness...

We finally got one picked out and I paid the lady

while Daddy loaded it up in the Buick.

 Even our little princess found one for her very own bedroom!

 We got it home and Daddy put it up for us...

the next day we decorated it.

I had little vintage red apples that my mom had given me that we used,

strings of wooden beads,

old straw-like snowflakes that were my first decorations I ever bought,

and I topped it with a pretty cross that my mom had also given me,
and I attached it to a bow that had some berries, greenery and pine cones.

These are the great little snowmen decorations that my Grandma Sally sent to my boys.

And this little nativity ornament was to Ben and I.

I love it!

Our little tree turned out really cute this year...

not quite what I had in mind originally as I had hoped to do something a little different with plaid and handmade little blackboards -

but there is always next year for that.

And I'm oh SO thankful for this sweet little tree chalked full of precious memories of little boys and dogs rearranging things for me.

It's glow at night is perfect.

What more could a girl ask for?

~ izzy takes flight ~

I
zzy is playing dress-up already!
These are some of Sis' butterfly
wings that I put on Izzy. She
loves them and prances around
just knowing that she is simply
adorable.

Isn't it amazing how animals can be such a blessing to our hearts.

What a precious gift God gave to us in animals.

Izzy keeps things hopping around the house. She chases the kids, she barks to alert me when anyone is opening the back door which is both helpful and a tid bit annoying... but mostly helpful.

She is a full-blown garbage hound and has pushed me to rig-up an altered trash can that will fit underneath my sink just so she can't get into it... this was actually something Daphnie had a

hard time with also - so the new garbage situation, as Martha Stewart would say, is a "Good Thing".



She is also a huge fan of any type of small stuffed animal/toy of sorts...

She loves their tails - if you know what I mean. I currently have a stack of about 6 stuffed toys

that Pauly-boy is pretty sure I need to get busy on asap and give them all new tails...

Yeah... ... I'll have to figure out just how to tackle that one.

Izzy is a huge cuddle-girl and loves to curl up for a good nap about twice to three times a day.

As I type this she is napping by my feet... BUT

as soon as the boys wake up she'll be on the go and waiting for any crust

of bread she can get from underneath the table since William

has figured out a new trick on how to clean his plate so good. Lol!

I go to scold him and she just looks at me like - Get over it lady!

He feeds me,

he loves me and I love him. So get over it!

I just had to through these last two pics in the mix of this Izzy post.

This one of her peeking over the backseat is so precious.

We were headed to eastern Idaho to go see my mom and dad and she sat up there all

the way there (4 hours each way) and all the way back without ever jumping over the seat onto Pauly.

Very. Good girl.

Daphnie and Izzy get along as if they've always been together.

Truly - Soul Sisters.

They both have amazing stories of both being saved - as Izzy was found by her previous owner at

a pound in - Arkansas - I think it was...

she had mites in her ears, she tugged at their hearts and let's be honest - how could she not?

... And Daphnie was my 21st birthday present. My mom and dad gave her to me -

I can remember the day my mom brought her to me. She had a huge red ribbon around her

neck and I.

Fell hard in love with her from the first second I saw her.

I had just moved into

a new apartment. I was alone and having a hard time living by myself.

She was and has been such a joyful addition to my life...

they both are.



"Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds."

Psalm 148:7-10

~ outage ~

A
few weeks back, our power
went out for about two or
three hours. We had already
had dinner and I had just got
done making rice crispy treats.

The timing of the power outage worked out perfectly.

It was still daylight out so we all got our shoes on and took some cookies
to the newer neighbors across the street and then when we got home and after the kids played for about an hour, the sun had went all the way

down and the house was pretty dark.

One of the best things about the power going out is
lighting candles and doing things by candle light only.
::sigh::
LOVE it.


When we were little girls, mom would round up the candles and we would get them all lit up and then we would play games, visit or sing.

As it got dark the kids pretty much had to stay in the same room as the candles
and then I remembered that our lab top probably had some battery left in it from being charged up before the power went out - so I set the kids up with 'Finding Nemo'.

One of my all time favorites.

The kids were so excited to watch a movie on the laptop as if it is more special -
more fun or something.

I  can remember thinking that way when I was little, can't you?

 (the pic above was with no flash and the one below was with the flash - crazy huh!)

All three of their faces in this picture cracks me up  - especially Sweet Pea's. Lol!

 Casi serenaded me on the guitar - she is getting so good at the guitar!
So proud of her!

Isn't it weird that we can enjoy this kind of thing every night but far too often,
we get caught up in what's on the tele, and we send our kids to go play with their toys in another room
or set them up with a cartoony away from us when really we know the good memories and precious family time is just a light-switch away.

Why do we wait for the power to go out to spend this type of quality time together?

Ben has a sister that once a month - they have "Amish night".

They turn out all the lights

and play games by candle light.

Good idea, huh!?

I think it is time our family adopts some type of tradition similar to "Amish Night".

What kind of fun things do you and your family do during a power outage?

or just to be together?

~ to catch you up ~

O
h Man! I've missed blogging!
There is just something about
sharing, getting my thoughts
out and keeping in touch with
other friend's lives that I really

LOVE!

I wanted to write today to catch all ya all up on what is going on in our

little life here at her Household - 

so here goes...

God is doing amazing things in my heart! Yay! We have become involved in a

awesome church and all of us enjoy it so much! I've met some awesome women,

my kids love their kids' program and THEY all are truly part of an answered prayer.

This church happened to be a church I had drove by a half a million times and a old schoolmate

from high school's family goes there - so that was encouraging that we would know somebody there.

Just goes to prove you never know when, where, who, how God

will work in your life. He is oh, SO good!

My body is healing nicely from my surgery I had.

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughtful messages to me.

I started just this week going back to the gym. I was inspired by

this gal as well as several different messages I've been hearing at church - namely,

a message from this last Sunday, regarding complacency. I hadn't ever really thought

about the word but doing the Brave Girls Soul Restoration class I did at the first of the year

definitely put a whisper in my ear and then all the things God has been putting in my road (including a sister who humps herself to work out at 5am, comes back to the house and gets herself and daughter ready for school and work - I thought, Whoa - if she can do that, I can go spend a half hour to 45 minutes at the gym every morning. I'm a tad competitive so I like to see if I can wake up before

her...  lol!) I decided it was time. I'm only on my 3rd day - so far SO GOOD. The time for myself is turning out to be such a blessing! Then when I come home my boys are still asleep and I get even more mama time and couple that with a cup of coffee and my Bible... VERY happy girl. 

Can't go wrong with that!

I think we've come into the crash and burn episodes of our life here in the Melton house - one night Pauly falls off the bunk bed onto his head, the next night William face-plants right into the wooden drawers under the bunk bed only to give himself two beautiful black eyes.
To sum it up...
THEY'RE FREAKING ME OUT!
I feel like I need to wrap them all up in some bubble wrap!
We haven't had any trips to the doctor, thankfully, but you know... scares me.

We are all LOVING the fall crisp weather that has finally shown up!
My trees are turning colors and I've got my bulbs all ready for this weekend as I attempt
to develop my green thumb...

I've given myself a new challenge and that is a weekly-challenge and I've decided I need to go to a new neighbor every week and take them cookies, a gift, or just go introduce myself. So far, it has been such a blessing and I'm so glad we decided to do it. We tend to make it a family event so far and the kids love it and finally, I'm able to meet my neighbors. We don't live in a subdivision - we live in just a old-town neighborhood that has tons of rentals... I've been using this as my excuse for years now NOT to get to know my neighbors but I decided ... (and again, this was influenced from Paula Dunn) it's time to LOVE ON my neighbors - no matter how long they stick around. No matter who they are. No matter where they live. 

So this all sums it up... We are still enjoying, very much, my sister living here with us. Sweet Pea is in her first year of school (preschool) and the boys and I go pick her up everyday at noon. It's so fun to see her sweet lil face everyday - so happy I'm there. Makes my heart skip-a-beat. I just love that girl.

Now, I've got to get on some planning and plotting for decorations for a birthday party for a very special lady in my life (more info on that later). If you have any suggestions for websites or decorations that are fun, affordable, and totally girlly - let me know. I would love to for you to share your ideas with me! I will do a post soon on what I'm working on all ready.

You all GO and enjoy your week and soak up in God's goodness!!

~ surprised by 2 ~

I
had an amazing weekend. My
weekend started Friday night
with an awesome concert put
on at my church. It was kicked
off by some awesome worship

and I don't know about you but that is always good for this girl's soul.

Paula Dunn, was the special speaker and she is a great singer - so Friday night,

she shared a little with us but mostly she sang for us. Then on Saturday, she

sang for us as well as brought us an amazing message.

I will be sharing more about her message in the days to come this week but for now,

I have to tell you about the other part of my weekend.

Saturday night, after I got home from listening to Paula speak -

my sister and her friend, Brian made us dinner.

It. Was. Amazing!

Here are some pics of the two of them working their magic in the kitchen.

It was very sweet to watch their excitement for serving us

dinner.

 It was all a big secret and they wouldn't tell us what they were making and

for the most part they did their best to keep us out of the kitchen and to keep it all a surprise!

 I'm sure you all can relate to how nice it was not to have to worry about dinner

that night and to be served something super special.

It was so thoughtful and so very sweet.

 I just love this picture of these pictures of the two of them working together in the kitchen.

They both really like to cook and try new food.

 The magic moment when the ribs came out of the oven!

He was so proud...

and rightly so!

They were delish!

All of it was amazing!

 They made us BBQ Beef Ribs, Loaded Mash Potatoes, Cilantro Lime Rice,

and an awesome Green Salad.

 For dessert, Casi made Strawberry Shortcakes with Cinnamon Sprinkled over Pineapple.

It was divine!

Thank you, you two!

It was so nice of you to work so hard to make it so nice for us.

Have you surprised a loved one recently?