Snow Storm

Yesterday we enjoyed some of the leftover snow from our "Big Storm" that we had overnight. Although it wasn't what they expected, the storm did persuade the powers that be to cancel school . Even Michael got to stay home with us. Allie chose to go to a friend's house instead of sledding in the muddy snow with us. Kate loved the snow. She made a tiny snowman, a muddy snow angel and rode the sled with us. I thought it would scare her, but she really liked going fast and tumbling off at the end.

Morning Routine

This has been part of Kate's morning routine the last week.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Kate is 3 today. How I love this little girl! I wanted her so badly and was thrilled when she was born. She is pretty much my constant companion. She frustrates me and makes me laugh every single day with her off the wall antics. But mostly, I love her a ton. We have called her "Crazy Kate" a lot the past few years, but today she loses that nickname. She is just Kate. Fantastic, wonderful, cute Kate. She has a great sense of humor for a 3 yr old. I love how she knows what she wants so well. I love how she reads books to her vacuum, asks to be naked in the grocery store, is always naked from 3-7 pm, suddenly sings "If You're Happy and You Know It" in random locations and time, asks me to carry her down/up the stairs, does something mischievous and then asks me if it's funny, always knows where her Elmo is, runs screaming with laughter around the couch when she needs her diaper changed, and always says "Four o' clock!" whenever anyone asks what time it is. I could list so much! I especially love that she always says, "I want you" and "I miss you" to me when I tuck her in bed at night.

I can't imagine our family without her. I feel so blessed to be her mom and love watching her learn and grow everyday. Sometimes I wish I could freeze time and she could stay my trusty little sidekick forever.

In her Elmo shirt that she found on a clearance rack at Target and had to have. I didn't see it, but suddenly she was frantically saying, "Mom! Pink shirt. Elmo. Need that!" over and over again. Of course I was thrilled with her using that many words and I had get it for her. It is in her top three favorites of shirts along with monkey shirt and the dog shirt.

A Little Bit of Snow

So it's nothing compared to what the rest of the nation was getting, but we got a little snow yesterday morning. We woke up to this and by 10:30 it was gone from the rain. We were hoping for enough snow to cancel school, build a snowman and do some sledding. Kate was downstairs making snow angels and in the carpet and saying "I build Frosty".

Making Valentines

Well, we were supposed to have a card making party with some friends this weekend, but I came down with a cold. Kate and I have both been sick for a few days. Yesterday she went to bed for a nap at 4 and slept until 7 this morning. It's been a bummer of weekend, but we did have fun making cards this afternoon.

Kate's Valentines

Kate wanted in on all the Valentine action. She is actually pretty good with a glue stick. She wanted to make ones just like Luke. She kept saying, "Me smell candy!" while she was working. She must have Valentine's Day all figured out.

Allie busted out the sewing machine on her cards. I think they looked pretty cool.

She made 30 of these things!

The kids wrote a note to everyone in their class. I loved reading the nice things they wrote about their classmates. They are definitely blessed to have great friends.

Luke put bows on all the cards for the girls.

Weekend with some Extra Melansons

This weekend we had Connor, Courtney and Mallory while Pete and Julie got away. It was a blast. On Saturday, we walked over to the park for some tennis. We played boys vs girls (with me joining the boys after I took pictures) Kate walked about and played with all the leaves.

Oregon BCS Championship Game Party

So this post is a little late, but oh well. We are loyal BYU fans, but since BYU wasn't in the championship game, we went for the home team.

The kids school has a lot of Ducks fans. Luke really wanted a Ducks shirt to wear for the big day so I ran over the Fred Meyer in the morning before school and could only find 1 that I liked. It was lucky that it was his size. Luke doesn't ask for much, so it was fun to see how happy he was about the shirt.

The kids made some decorations

We don't have cable, so this is out set up for the game. Cheesy, but it worked!

We had one of my kids favorite dinners: make your own pizza!

Touchdown!

(I love how Kate's into it, but has no idea what's going on!

She just liked being allowed to run on the couch)

Too bad Oregon lost. We still had fun.

Remote Control Car

Finally it dried up enough outside for Luke to play with his remote control car. He was using it inside, but we decided out paint couldn't hold up to the Jeep. He loves this thing!

The Monster in the Closet

Kate spent several mornings in a row up early and in bed with us. She wouldn't go in her room because it was too scary. It was tricky because she doesn't say a lot of words, but we have pieced together what she has told us. Here is the reason: There was a green monster, with an orange nose, and yellow eyes living in her closet. It came out signing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and ate Elmo. Her room was to scary to sleep in. So now, we put her chair in front of the closet door at night and things are okay. I'm tempted to watch "Monsters Inc" with her, but worried it might make things worse.

Project finished

This is a little late, but over the holidays I actually finished a project. Michael's parents had their old film put on DVD last year. So this year, they came over and I helped them record a voice over for the video and then burn DVDs. It's fun to see the family history and we are glad to have some of their stories recorded.

They even wore matching sweatshirts.

Newbery Club

Allie was in a club at school where they got read a list of books that might be Newbery Award Winners. After reading them, they discussed the books and chose which book they thought should win. We had a celebration night at school and the children displayed their posters and taught us about the Newbery Award. Allie chose the book, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper to win. It didn't, but it was a great book and definitely one I would recommend.