Aunt Mel

A month ago, I was given a new name - Aunt Mel!! I'm so excited to be a new aunt! Ben's sister, Stephanie, gave birth to a little boy on August 25th, 2008. His name is Samuel Keith and he was born measuring at 21.75 inches long and a whopping 10 lbs 5 oz! Congratulations Stephanie and Mike!!

Since we don't live near them, we won't be able to meet Sam for the first time until Thanksgiving. But I can't wait!

Cribless in Minneapolis

I don't watch soap operas (at least, anymore). I do keep up with General Hospital but that only requires watching about two episodes a year. I had this weird thought to name this post with a soap opera type name. I thought "The Beds of Our Lives", "As the Sleeping Turn", "The Young and the Rest-Less".... I couldn't decide. So, I went with a spin on a movie instead.

Last month, Ben and I were noticing that Greyson was giving lots of cues that he wanted to sleep in a "big boy bed". He would race from the bathroom after bath to Madelyn's bed and lay down (naked, of course). He would sit on Madelyn's bed for 15 minutes at a time to just flip through books. When I put a pillow in his crib, he was ecstatic!! So, first I took one of the siderails of Greyson's crib off to see how well he would do staying in bed. He did REALLY well staying in bed, except that because it is so narrow he fell out a couple of times.


Then, we saw some pretty good deals on beds in the Labor Day circulars. So, we spent part of Ben's day off going out and finding a Labor Day deal on a twin bed and setting it up for Greyson in his room! He had so much fun trying them out in the store, watching us shoving them inside our van, moving them to his room, and then putting sheets on! He could wait to sleep on them! Actually first, he couldn't wait to JUMP on them!!

At first Greyson was doing a great job of going right to sleep when we put him to bed. However, now we are having to fight two different battles. 1. Staying in bed and going to sleep. It has been about two weeks of putting him back in bed consistently and it still isn't getting better. He is like a stubborn mule! (Where did he get that trait from? Mom AND Dad maybe?) 2. Getting up way too early and coming out of his room! Okay, some may not think that 6:15am isn't "way too early" but in my house we don't roll out of bed until at least 7:30am! He is in the process of learning that he has to stay in his room and play until then.

And our other bed change in our house:
If you remember back to shortly after Madelyn's 2nd birthday, you'll remember that she gave up her crib for a "big girl bed". Since then, she has been sleeping with her box spring and mattress on the floor to make it easier for her to get into bed and if she were to fall out (and she did a few times), it wouldn't be far to the floor. Well, Ben and I decided that on the day she turned four, she was old enough to move everything up onto a bedframe. She was so excited about this change and it made her feel so big to have a "really big bed"!

Sidenote: Yes, that IS Ben with shorts, a white tshirt, and BLACK socks!

Madelyn's 4!!

About a month ago, Madelyn turned 4 years old!! She had decided she wanted a butterfly tea party to celebrate, so we invited 5 of her best friends over the day before her birthday. We were sad that one friend ended up being sick and couldn't make it, but it was a lot of fun having Madelyn's four other friends over to visit.

Here is the setup for the tea party.

Singing/teaching "I'm a Little Teapot"

a spontaneous game of ring-around-the-rosies

Joseph getting ready to help read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

An enacted version of the book (the child has something the handpuppet catepillar eats)

Opening presents (with friend Jack)

The birthday girl and her guests

The birthday caterpillars eaten at the tea part of the party with ice cream shaped like butterflies that they decorated themselves. It was SO cute, but unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of the tea party...

After the party, Madelyn took a LONG nap (she was exhausted) and while she was asleep, we got a call from some good friends from church asking if we'd like ot meet them at a nearby mini-amusement park. We had never been there so we decided to go. Madelyn and Greyson had a blast!!! I think it went especially well since our friends have an older girl and boy that wanted to take her on the rides. Here you can see Madelyn on a couple of rides having a great time!

July 4th week: Grandad's Plane

Madelyn goes on her first trip in Grandad's plane.

Grandmomma's and Grandad's house

coming in for a landing

July 4th week: Be careful with the fireworks!

I have always been very wary of fireworks.... maybe it came from having a nurse for a mother. She always had a couple of horror stories about firework mishaps. But this year, I decided to jump on the band wagon and try to enjoy it. And it was fun! I actually think I had more fun watching and take cool pictures than I did playing with the fireworks, but that is cool with me. Madelyn had a great time playing with a few sparklers and then she and Grandmomma went in search of lightening bugs while the rest of continued to play. She so enjoyed that special search time with Grandmomma and they came back with a couple in a bottle!

Ben writing "Melissa" with his sparkler.

Ben trying to write "Ben + Mel" in a heart. I can see it, can you?

It is too bad this turned out so fuzzy, I think it still a cute picture.

One last "Hurray"

And the clean-up.... notice Buddy is doing all the work!

July 4th week: Grandad Rex

While we were gone to the park, Momma Susan's last surprise arrived. Her dad, Grandad Rex, came in from Arkansas to spend the weekend with us!! We weren't sure if he was going to be able to join us until the last minute and we were so glad he did!

Adults are zonked and kids are watching VeggieTales.

Great-Grandad Rex leaves to go backhome but gets one last "lovin'" in with Madelyn.

July 4th week: Impromptu Photo Session

We had some beautiful days, although hot by MN standards, while we were in Oklahoma. On July 4th, the guys, the kids, and me decided to go to a nearby park to walk. It was a good idea because it was wonderful place to get some great pictures! Even my camera-shy daughter took part!

Oh and this was just the funniest duck I've ever seen! I couldn't help but name James Brown.

July 4th week: To Grandmomma's house we go

It was wonderful to spend the next few days at "Grandmomma's house". She loved having us too! It had been since Christmas 2005 since we had been there. Since then, we had seen them in Arkansas or Louisiana, but not at their own house. The visit was really great! Everyone gets along so well that it really is nice to all get together. The kids especially loved spending special time with Grandmomma and Grandad (as well as everyone else).

Here are some rice krispies getting ready to be made into treats.

"reading" with Grandad

Our intrumentalist finding all the instruments in the house and begging for help playing them (next picture too)


Madelyn figures out that she likes "dressing up" barbies too!

While Ben and I were away for a WHOLE night (hotel and everything!), the kids stayed with grandmomma and grandad. One of the things they did was put a face on this tree. they were so excited about it!