Hi Granny!

Allie has been in school 100 days!  To celebrate, they had all the kindergarteners dress up as 100 year olds and it was so cute!  We went to the thrift store for the skirt and sweater which we made Allie size.  My favorite part was that she was missing her teeth, just like most 100 year olds.

Happy Birthday to Rachel

Happy Birthday to Rachel today! It has been a less than exciting week with lots of colds and sickness floating through the house, but  we still managed to find a party.

We had cake and some presents and enjoyed the time to celebrate a wonderful wife and mother. We love you Rach! Hope the next ones are a little more exciting than this one.

Happy New Year's

Another year has come to a close, and we needed to celebrate! This was a modified New Years celebration (since we were not about to keep our children awake until midnight), but a wonderful time none the less. We had sparklers to play with outside int he cold.

The girls were excited to use the sparklers but were a little crazy. We had multiple close calls with fire and parents or siblings. In the end no one was harmed in the making of this memory. 

Miles liked to look at the fireworks (almost as much as his mom). 

He wanted to help hold them so we obliged.

After trying to light ourselves on fire, we went in for bedtime. We had to mark the midnight countdown and used a cartoon on tv to celebrate a few hours early. Per Shaw tradition there was lots of banging of pots and pans to create a merry raucous.  

Miles did not want to be left out of the party.

The kids were successfully in bed around 8 PM and we crashed at our normal 10 PM. It was great fun and then we were still able to wake up with the animals in the morning. 

God bless us everyone...

Merry Christmas Everyone! It has been a magical morning that melted into an angry afternoon (but what else would you expect from Christmas day, it is not complete without laughter, excitement, joy, tears, heartache, and a much needed nap). 

The girls woke up early and were ready to get started with the presents (Apparently they didn't forget what to expect even after a full night's sleep). Everyone was so excited for each little thing when they walked out they didn't even notice all the rest of the stuff.

We almost overlooked this amazing new doll house, while we looked at candy canes and bandaids in the stockings instead. However, with a little prompting, they managed to see the giant thing in the middle of the room. It was quite entertaining then.

Miles got a bouncing donkey from Santa. He was contact to sit and jump on it sporadically throughout the day. Every time he walked by during the day he would stop to take a short ride before continuing to his destination.

The girls each got a dress up outfit. Allie a rock n roll get up and Hadley will now play the role of Anna for the next month or so. They were both so happy to get such fun toys.

Grandma and Grandpa Meldrum gave them a treasure hunt followed by one stupendous play kitchen. They wanted to play for a long time before we could wrangle them back to the party (I suppose that means this was a great gift).

Grandma and Grandpa Shaw gave the girls their very own scooters! They both wanted to get them put together so they could ride around the neighborhood. 

They also wanted to wear their new church dresses they got. Nothing better for a vigorous race around the cup de sac then your church clothes.

Both Allie and Hadley asked Santa for a bike for Allie, so how could he hold back on that one? Allie loves her new wheels and is ready to cruise the neighborhood and cause trouble (watch out big world).

The best gift of all was a new magic kit for me! I really got something off my list this year (that doesn't always happen), and it was fun to play with the kids. They all really liked the top hat that every good magician has to wear. After some practice, we may be able to have a magic show at the Meldrum house soon.

It was a great morning and we all survived the afternoon (there may have been a few tears from multiple Meldrum's). Overall it was a great day! We look forward to what the next year will bring.

Christmas Eve 2014

December 24th is a very long day. Our children have been building their excitement for Christmas for the past 25 days and are now on a continuous razor edge of jubilation and despair. In order to try and keep them on the happy side of life, we scheduled a full day to keep their minds occupied.

Since it is Grandpa's birthday, we started with a morning session for opening presents (that way the kids can play with Grandpa's new toys all day).

Opening the gifts was a joint effort. Plenty of little hands involved in the process.

We spent plenty of time creating lego houses and playing with the new toys.

Hadley really liked the head lamps. She wanted to wear it all day (there may not be any battery left when she gets done with it).

After presents, we got dressed for a family hike (to try and burn off some excitement and energy)!

Everyone was all smiles on the way up the trail. We went to hole in the rock which is a short walk but a fun view at the end. 

The girls liked to climb around the rocks at the top. 

Grandma and Grandpa survived the hike (despite the multitude of ailments that they now possess).

Miles came away nearly unscathed (the giant bruise on his head was a leftover and not new). He really wanted to run around by himself without any help. We gave him lots of time at the bottom of the trail to explore instead.

After dinner we had the rest of Grandpa's birthday and got to eat cake!

There were so many candles it nearly set off the smoke alarm!

After dinner we had a Christmas eve program with nativities, jammies, and signing.

Joseph (Miles), Mary (Hadley), Jesus, and the Angel (Allie).

Showing off their new Christmas pajamas curtesy of the Shaws. Last thing on the agenda was to drive around looking at Christmas lights. What a wonderful evening and a fun filled spectacular day!