On the first day of Christmas...

When Rachel decided to decorate for Christmas last week (before Thanksgiving even! I know, it is a shocker) we realized that the old Christmas tree we have been using had seen better days (think Charlie Brown style). So we decided (and by we I mean Rachel decided I should go) to go out on magic Saturday (there isn't really a name for this day, but it seemed deserving of some great title) to compete with the rest of the crazies for a Christmas tree deal! No worries, I walk faster than the 7 other old people waiting outside Target at 7:30 in the morning, so I got what we wanted!

After I brought home this magnificent tree, Rachel and Allie helped spread the branches.

The girls were very helpful (and by helpful, I really mean stressful) in hanging the ornaments. We now have a slightly boy themed tree with lots of soccer balls, trucks, and Santas.

(On a side note: thanks mom and dad for getting me an ornament each year. Those are the ones the girls like the most and without them our tree would be quite bare.)

If decorating a tree was not fun enough, we also went down to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa!

They have tons of fun stuff there for the holidays and it is just the right price (FREE!!). The girls particularly enjoyed the carousel ride. 

Dad enjoyed the Great Pyrenees Dogs in front of the store 

(My what large dogs they have...the better for petting my dear).

The capstone moment of the day was the visit with the big guy himself. Allie had no problems going to see Santa (and in staying true to her 4 year old self, she started to immediately ask questions), but Hadley was not as sure about everything. Miles did great (or as great as a 2 month old can do). So the girls requested scooters and Ariel dolls. We will have to see if they have been good this year.

Merry Christmas!

It's electric ...

Here in Arizona there are tons of family activities to get ready for Christmas, and they all start the day after Thanksgiving. So after a long hard day at work (for both Rachel and me) we took the family down to the Tempe Light Parade. This is the first time we went to this event so we were not sure what to expect. It turned out to be a great little parade. Everyone was dressed in lights (including the bands and dance groups) and the highlight of the parade was Santa coming to town.

This was a miniature semi-truck. The girls loved all the floats and Allie especially loved seeing her dance teacher prancing down the street (something to look forward to next year I guess).

We don't have a ton of pictures because the camera was acting up for us. However this was a huge tractor driving down the street in lights. We are starting to get lots of bottled up Christmas energy (which is stored in two tiny little bodies) which will erupt in a giant explosion of fun in a few weeks. This is only the beginning, we look forward to many more fun days and nights to come.

"Aunt Jenny!"

We were lucky enough to have my sister Jenny come for a visit with little Caleb just for fun!  She arrived on the Ogden to Mesa flight Friday until Monday and we had so much fun getting to know Caleb and playing with Jen!

We had to get a picture of the sisters with their babies who are about 3 months apart.

Look at those cute smiling boys in their matching church outfits!  Yes, Miles is pretty close to the same size as Caleb, even though he is 3 months younger!

The girls getting their post-church toe-dipping on.  Jenny thought we were wimps for not swimming in November, but now she believes us in how cold the water is.

Brooke (our cousin who lives right by us) was nice enough to have us over for Sunday dinner while Jen was here and it was so fun to all get together and have 3 of the 5 Shaw babies born this year together.  Yet again, Miles is HUGE!

This was the shot Jenny had while we were on our way to go hiking.  2 cute babies in front and surrounded by 2 talkative girls in the back.  Thanks Jen for answering all of their questions and playing with them.  The girls now ask for "Aunt Jenny" all the time.  We can't wait until Christmas to see you all!  (I was driving because Mike had taken a muscle relaxant due to being rear-ended on the freeway that week.  When Mike takes one, he is out of it and can't drive!)  

Miles ~ 2 months

Miles' stats at 2 months:

Length: 25.25 inches (107%)

Weight: 15 lbs 1 oz (98%)

Head Circumference: 41.5 cm (98%)

Weight for Length: 45%

He is still on Zantac and has had multiple dosage increases due to his growth!  He wakes up twice a night, usually around 2 and 5 and goes to bed between 8 and 9.  He now goes back to sleep quickly which makes all the difference.  He smiles and coos which is so fun!  

His hair is starting to come back in and is a light brown, like Hadley's.  We love our Mr. Miles and the girls still are inches away from his face whenever he is awake.  We love you Miles!

 

 

 

For Comparison:

High on a Mountain top

We have been creating such amazing family adventures lately that Rach's sister wanted to come down and enjoy the fun. We had Jenny and Caleb come visit from Utah for the weekend and experience the warm weather, sunshine, and fun. We decided to go climb a mountain since the girls have been begging to do this for a long time. So we went over to Phoenix to see the Hole in the Rock (not because it is the coolest hike, but because it is the shortest).

Everyone in front of the hole. 

It was a pretty great view and created a wind tunnel to keep nice and cool the whole time.

A view out over Phoenix from the hole. The girls and I are front and center.

Rach and Jenny with the babies. 

Allie and Hadley wanted to climb all over the rocks so I had to go with them (since they like the idea of climbing but are both pretty chicken about actually scaling a wall).

 

Each of the girls in a perch on the rocks.

A great shot of Miles smiling at his mom.

On the way out Allie wanted one last photo in front of the hole.

First Smiles

This is one of Mile's first smiles he gave us!  I love this stage where they start to know who you are and smile back.  It is a lot of work to get those cheeks smiling, and we are so glad that he gives them away freely.  So cute!

Families can be together forever

This weekend we were able to bless Miles at church. It was great to have my family there for the blessing so my dad could participate. Miles is now our third child and it still amazes me how touching it is to bless a child. I know that our family has been sealed together for eternity, but it finally becomes real for me when blessing them. I am so grateful that the Lord has entrusted me with such an amazing little person.

Miles was all dressed up for the day (he managed to sleep through the whole thing).

Our little family. 

Everyone at least tried to smile.

The extended family.

Thanks everyone for coming out to be part of this day.

Gobble gobble goo and gobble gobble gickle

Today after church, the girls got an extra special surprise. Since Grandma and Grandpa were here, they got to have special project time (they get more excited when it is called "special" anything). Grandpa found this cool idea on the internet somewhere (probably when he was at work, since professors don't have to do any real work), and bought all the needed supplies from the grocery store earlier in the week. It was hard to get the girls to stay out of all the candy before it was time (and even harder to keep grandpa and Melanie out). 

They made a wonderful treat eventually, but the first few minutes was spent just trying to keep the girls from eating all the building blocks.

 This may look like they are helping in the construction process, 

but they are both trying to sneak some extra snacks 

(they were probably all defective parts, so this was just the quality control process).

Now we're getting somewhere. 

They are actually helping construction and being quite productive.

The magnificent final product. 

They made amazing tiny turkeys for everyone!

Thanks Grandpa for entertaining the kiddos (the real treat for any parent).

We Are Family

This week we decided it was time for some cruel and unusual punishment (i.e. taking family pictures). It has been a long time since we last got them done, and we now have a new addition to the family. So Rach informed me we were going to get new pictures (this was definitely not my idea). So we took the kids to the store to see if we have mastered the art of smiling without looking constipated (based on the results of the pictures, I would say were maybe half way there).

Miles did a good job (although it was because he slept the whole time, but at least no tears!).

 

The girls made a good attempt at smiling pretty. This was about as good as we could get them to look (not pictured here is Rach in the background jumping around making silly faces).

 

 The whole family sitting still for a brief moment 

(which is a minor miracle in and of itself, so we take whatever version of a smile we can get).

This was supposed to be the end of the Meldrum family photo shoot for 2013 (or so I thought), 

but Rach decided it was so much fun we should do it again :(

My family came to visit the girls and see Miles (I'm not delusional enough to think they come to see me anymore), and Rach informed me we would be taking some more family pictures! 

(I was so excited I could hardly contain myself)

The entire Meldrum clan.

Granparents with the kiddos. 

This one is a little more stoic.

Wait, what happened here! It looks like someone decided to draw mustaches on everyone's face! That will be the last time we use that photographer (or this is actually my favorite family picture ever!).

Despite the fear and trepidation with which we entered the studio, everything turned out quite well. There were no tears, and even a little bit of fun.

Visitors!

This week we had some visitors at Casa de Meldrum. 

The Meldrum family came to see all the kids (and we allowed them to stay in the house with us). While they were here the most common activities were...

Cuddle time with the kiddos.

Holding Miles as much as they could.

Playing with the girls (Melanie was the new favorite).

And reading lots of stories. 

The girls always love it when Grandma and Grandpa come because they always get new stories (which is great because they love to read stories).

All this fun and this was just the first few days! 

To be continued...