Our little Native American

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to spending it with Scott's family (those who can make it) at our house. Our kids have the entire week off next week. I am looking forward to having them around.

Meili's kindergarten teacher came out to the car today after school because she said that she had to tell me something...yikes...
She said that the quote of the week is, "practice makes perfect" and that they were discussing this and the fact that no one is perfect. She said that Meili raised her hand and said, "My dad is perfect. He knows the scriptures really well, knows bugs and everything else."
She thought it was pretty cute. I have to agree.

Well...do you notice a pattern...post lots, then not, post lots, then not. I do think I have a valid reason this time. Somewhere in the move we lost
one box. In this box were camera chargers and plugs, Dave Ramsey's book, my favorite white Eddie Bauer coat (I hoped it was at the dry cleaners...maybe it went to DI with Scott's suits - would serve me right)...it must have been the last little items because none of them should have been together. I'm posting photos from my camera although most are on Mckenzie's (and Kim's camera with our Hawaii photos) and I may have to order a new charger for her camera before posting...so, I may not post for another 6 months or so...??? I'm posting what I have (to make my mother happy and I'll get to the rest when I find the charger)
Not sure why I took this picture of Mckenzie...but, I did and isn't she cute :) and so nice :) The move has been a bit of a struggle for her. Luckily, she did not have to change schools so her friends have helped a ton. With time and a good attitude she will find her spot in YW and find ways she can serve there. She is dancing a ton this semester. We counted the classes she has each week and the number came to 13. She is on the school ballroom team and has this class each day, takes a ballet class at school each day, takes a ballet class at the college and has been in an "extra" in The Trey Macintyre Project and will be a party girl in the Nutcracker in a few weeks. She is also squeezing in violin and did really well in her classes. brag, brag, brag...how can I not...I have my challenges but she is not one of them...I will treasure and enjoy her :)


Davis just lost his top teeth. Luckily, the bottom teeth are almost up - he is missing 2 molars (thanks cavities), two on the bottom and the two up top...whew... you know what Christmas song I'm teasing him with.




Also, since Davis is now 8, he is an "official" scout. He earned his Bobcat a couple of months ago. He has been a "blueberry scout" for the past 3 years while I've been Reese's scout leader. They had zucinni boat races at pack meeting. Davis just made it into the "100% club" at school. He was the first in his class to do so. When you get in you have to get a 100% on the Greek and Latin test (spelling too). He is now exempt from taking the tests. Way to go Davo!!! He also played football this fall. He did a great job. One benefit to being small is speed and Davis has it :) He dressed up as a karate kid/ninja for halloween.




























Traditions...don't you love them. Each halloween we make sugar cookies (with orange flavor) and decorate them with candy corn and licorice- this is something I have fond memories doing with my family. We make lots of cookies and deliver them. We love doing this. We found a "new" pumpkin patch a mile down the road. The kids each picked a pumpkin and then we carved them right before halloween.
Lili loves to express her love to me. She says many, many times a day, "mommy, I love you". She has now added the little heart made from her fingers to help her express this to me. I've had a great time with her since I decided to keep her out of preschool and enjoy her myself. She is a chatty little girl and oh, so sweet. She dressed up as a monkey - she loves monkeys and bananas. This cute little costume has a banana in the pocket (thanks Lora and Mady)

Reese enjoyed playing football this year. He lucked out and got on a team with lots of boys his age from our ward. They are all really nice to him and he enjoys them all. He has started planting hints of wanting to go to school with them but then I remind him of all of the great friends he has at school and he stops. He did really well at parent teacher conference time. He has a great teacher and is enjoying the "banker" job in his class. Each weekend he brings home a group of kids ledgers and copies them to his own copy and checks to make sure the math was done correctly. He is the proud owner of his desk at school and is looking forward to purchasing classmates so he can collect rent from them. He is working on the cello and piano and he dressed up as a mad scientist (he wanted to be Einstein but I was too cheap to purchase the stuff...I hate buying halloween garb - it is not my favorite holiday). He is a peacemaker.

I wish I had a good picture of Meili (Lili is always begging to have her picture taken unlike the others). She started kindergarten this year. She is doing really well which is a relief to me. Her teacher is great and is very structured. I miss having her around 1/2 of the day but she really thrives having something to do...her own thing. She has lost two teeth and has another one just dangling. She won't let anyone pull them out....she likes them to fall out on their own. She is really starting to take off with reading - it is so fun to see her see the world in a whole new way. All she wants for Christmas are fake fingernails. She is such a funny girl...loves the girlie things. Love her to pieces.

Peace xoxo,
Melanie

Happy Birthday, Grandma Wallentine

Virtue Patterson Wallentine of Paris, Idaho, will celebrate her 95th birthday on Sept. 21, 2010. Virtue was born in Bloomington, Idaho, to Joseph P. Patterson and Elva Thornock. She was the fifth of 10 children. Virtue lived a happy small-town childhood. She attended Fielding Academy where she graduated as valedictorian in 1933. While in high school she was active in school musical productions. Music has remained a great love and influence in her life. She enjoys playing the piano and listening to her CDs.

Updated: September 17, 2010 - 4:30 pm

House Update...by Scott...

I thought I would post a few pictures. One obviously is the house with our dusty dirt yard with touches of kosha, lambsquarter and redroot. Also, there are pictures of the boys working on the mainline for our future sprinkler system.

On my birthday, we moved into our new house. It has been a fast month. My grandpa passed away (which is the microscopic photo below of all my family)...miss you grandpa but am glad you are there with Ryan. Two weeks after we moved in I had 30 Chinese students come to visit for 3 weeks. I was in charge of finding homes for them and making sure the activities went well and that everything was okay. They are now gone and life is settling down. Mckenzie just returned from BYU Ballroom Dance Camp. She goes to EFY here next week and then Scott and I are off to Hawaii with his siblings and parents (thanks Loye and Vaughn :) )...my kids have made us promise that when they are all married that we will follow grandpa and grandma's example of taking the kids and spouses on trips.
My mom says that I should now have a second to post a picture of our house...here it is...come visit us. We miss our old house, ward and friends but are enjoying the space, getting to know new friends at church and love the quiet, peaceful sunsets. I have pictures to upload and will get to it eventually... :) Hope all is well. Peace. xoxo

I need to update badly. At least that is what my mom keeps telling me. Very briefly (I'll do more later...not sure if later today or later in the month or later in the year)... we celebrated Davis' 8th b-day yesterday. We had a fun day at Bass Lake and Scott and I took him to Sushi Ya for dinner (his choice). I can't believe he is 8. I keep asking him if it is great to be 8...he is becoming a little annoyed with me now. He gets baptized next Saturday at 5pm. Can't believe it!
Also, Reese has turned 11, Meili 5 and Lili 4 since my real last post. I'm getting old(and Scott turned 39). All are such a joy and give us much happiness.
Our house is coming along nicely, except we have been at a complete standstill for 3 weeks. Hopefully, we will have cabinets soon...that is the hold up.
Also, yesterday we signed papers for our current house!!! YEAH!!! They want to move in on July 1st...perfect timing!!! I feel so much relief! My house is not clean this morning and it does not have to be :) yeah!!! we can start boxing things up and not worry about how the house will look in the process. We hope to be able to start moving things in a few weeks.
Mckenzie has dance tryouts today. She is so worried about them. I'm not sure why...she looked so great at the school spectacular last week. I'm happy she loves to dance. She did a very cool pointe dance and looked very graceful during her ballroom performances as well as a great solo in her choir performance.
Scott was not re-elected to the board. Yeah! Lots more time with us! No, he did a fantastic job and I'm not so sure the lady with a forensic science background will be better but not our worry :). Unfortunately, he had lots of issues the teachers did not like...aka...their pay cuts and insurance and uniforms. I'm fine with it and so is he...not so fine with the rumor of our marriage not being able to handle another term...odd...but, guess the vindictive handful had to make up something to make him look stupid...odd...
Anyway, we are doing well. I'll charge my camera batteries and try to update some pictures.
I'm off to double check our plumbing fixture order and pack a few boxes.
Oh, yah... my parent's just celebrated 40 years together! They have such great, loving children...we all forgot...so sorry!!! We love you!!!! We will plan something cool for 50 years.
Hope all is well. Peace. xoxox

Wow...where does time go???

I am posting tonight just so I can see the color we are debating painting our house. I am out of space on my computer so this is the only way I can figure to get the picture larger :) pretty sad, I know...

Life is crazy. Our house is showing a lot lately. We keep getting the "their debating between yours and another" and then they decide on the other. I keep telling myself this is good because it is slimming down competition.

The boys are wrestling. They both wrestled last weekend and did well. I did not go and don't plan to go. I don't enjoy watching them wrestle...so, I choose to stay home and clean the house. Scott loves it and takes them.

Oh...I guess I should document my dumb story...so someday Scott can say, "see this is how it was". I have been cleaning and purging a lot. We have a storage unit (thanks Lisa and Darren) full of "stuff". Our house pretty much looks like someone elses house. Anyway, I have been asking Scott to clean his closet. It has been a few years and was the last thing we I felt we really needed to tackle. So, I decided to help out. He's a bit busy right now. I wanted to be a nice wife. Well, I took 10 boxes to the storage unit and 3 items to DI. I boxed everything thinking he could DI what he did not want when we moved in and he had more time. Not sure how I chose these 3 items to take to DI. I was so proud of myself because I put the items in the van and took them directly to DI...didn't even wait a month or so. In fact did not really even look at the "items"

Tracey and Chris gave Scott some suits that had not been used and we planned to take alter them to fit Scott. They had been in the closet for a few years so these are the items I decided to get rid of....someone else can use them, right?

Well, Scott woke up early for his bishopric meetings. Standing in his closet asked, "where are my suits" My reply...I don't know... I did not touch them... S - "well there not here so you must have" Me "nope" (we did this over and over) finally, I said, "I only took your 3 suits to DI that Meyerhoeffers gave you and I did not take any of your suits to the storage unit".......Scott's reply, "I only had one suit of Meyerhoeffers in my closet"...OOOOOPPPPPPSSSSS....

I took his nice, expensive (300 and 400 dollar) suits to DI!!! I am sick. He is being kind... I woke up early and met the workers at DI before they opened, explained the story and they were kind to let me look. They have been so slow that they are able to get shelves stocked as items are turned in...

His suits were sold. The nice guy told me as I was crying..."don't tell him we only sold them for 25 bucks..."

SICK...I AM SICK!!! THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WILL ALWAYS HAUNT ME!!! Lesson to be learned...slow down and look at what you are throwing out. This is so unlike me...

is

Reese's Pinewood Derby

Last night was our Pinewood Derby. It was a great success and everyone seemed to have fun. Scott and the boys made cars. Reese won the Webelos heat and came in 2nd overall, so he now gets to go to districts at the mall. His record for the past 2 years: winner as a Wolf, last as a Bear, and 2nd as a Webelos. He designed his car (red, of course) with a hole in the middle. It turned out pretty cool and fast too. Davis' car was red with black splatters. He raced in the sibling heat after the big race. His car was also fast and a winner. It was a good night. We have a great ward with lots of great friends. Reese is ready to receive his Arrow of Light next month. He has been working hard at this (actually been ready to get it for a few months now but since I have to plan it we've been waiting for a few more boys). We'll do this at the Blue and Gold Banquet. He loves scouting and enjoys working on it. Davis is ready to turn 8 so he can officially be a scout. He has been a "blueberry" (term used when Scott was growing up) scout for a couple of years now and enjoys it as well.

As a side note... I've been accused of having a "main character on the blog" by child #2...he is right... child #5 does appear on the blog a bit more than the rest. He'd like me to equal things up - so I'll give it a try :)

Also, I just had my past 3 years of blogs printed in books. They are really cool!!! What a cool journal...now I don't have to feel guilty for sitting down and writing.

Two Years Ago

the most beautiful 20 month old little girl was placed in my arms. I can't believe two years has come and gone since Mckenzie and I ventured to China to bring home our baby. She is such a blessing. She is independant, curious, brave, funny and just a joy to have. We love you baby and are so happy Heavenly Father sent you to our home.

You know your church meetings start too early when...

you wear one work shoe and one church shoe. Scott made it to the front door of the church when he realized his mistake. He headed home for a quick chuckle and shoe change and back he went. Fortunately, Scott received the obsessively early for every meeting gene and so he was not late even with the shoe problems (in fact, he was still the first one there...obsessive).

The afternoon naps with early morning church are heavenly :) I was laughing last night when I told Scott, "you know it is pathetic when you look forward to the nap before you even go to bed"

Siding and Shingles

One positive thing about building a house in a very slow market is that prices are really affordable. The crews are ready and willing to work at a less price than a few years ago. I keep reminding myself of this as we try to sell our house and have to adjust the price accordingly. It will all wash out. It is exciting to see the siding. Scott really wanted hardyboard and because of the lower prices it worked out. We are going to paint it a light yellow/brown, with white trim, a black door and black shutters. I've decided to take the window above the garage out and replace it with a vent. There just does not look like enough space for shutters. Someday, that room will be a media room and we were planning to cover the window but this change will make things much easier in the future. Anyway, lots of fun decisions.

On a different note.... 5 guys opened yesterday...yeah!!!

I went out to check on our house today. It is looking great! It was a bit troubling to pull up and see 6 trucks parked around the house...the crews are all really ready and willing to work. We have plumbers, electricians, drywallers (sheet rocking the firewall), heating and air guys and the crew putting up our hardy board all ready to work...and they were all working hard. The house is messy inside so I'm sure we'll be heading out this weekend cleaning up after everyone.

Hair Days

Meili loves doing hair and I received quite the treatment tonight- notice the bracelets hanging. She is a bit rough but really knows how to do a wild piggy tail (where is the advil?). Also, Mckenzie has a new hair style. The place that has done all of Lili's laser treatments gives free cuts with money spent...so, I guess that is a positive for so much money going towards the treatments. (post continues below...how do I cut and paste to put them together?)

I need to add...there is a much bigger perk to paying all of the money for the lasers and the proof is right here. She was beautiful before but wow... look what technology and fantastic doctors can do!!! We had an appointment with the drs. last week and they think her eye looks as good as it will get but her cheek will need further treatments (even though it is barely noticable to us). again...today's post continues on below.

Steve posted this darling picture of Lili on the Hunsaker blog. I love her sweaty pigtails and chubby fingers. She loves looking at the picture because it reminds her of corn on the cob and horse riding. It's that time of year for me to start reflecting on Mckenzie and my trip to China. Man what a hectic time. I remember telling Scott I could not do it. I believe at the point I received a blessing. And, we did do it. There were many miracles along the way (great travel partners, Gayle and her girls who took us to dinner both nights in Beijing, and a constant angel with me helping me out...but, I dare say the most amazing miracle has been watching this cute little girl transform into the most fun 3 year old and become one of us. I say it over and over but she is a huge blessing in our lives and we are grateful Heavenly Father trusts us to take care of her. I'm grateful for all of my children and for the trust Heavenly Father has in me as a mom.

Anniversary

I'm not sure what is the proper thing to do on a two year anniversary death day...??? My heart aches and my emotions are close to the surface but life goes on. I've tried to keep myself occupi

ed. I think my kids sense something is not just right because they have been exceptionally trying but hopefully, a little pizza and down time with the family tonight will be the cure. My mom just sent this picture of them getting ready for their big game. I was so glad when I heard this game was today because I knew it would be the perfect distraction. Aren't the snuggies cute (sarcasm...) My mom's boss gave them to them for Christmas and my parent's were thrilled!!! Miss you Ryan! Love you tons!!! Peace XOXOXO!!!

All grown-up.

It seems like my kids are all grown up. Lili enjoyed her first day as a Sunbeam in "Mr. Buffalo's class"(Sister Buffalo). I can't hardly believe that we don't have a child in nursery anymore. Wow....how time flies! We switched to the 8-11 time which is a huge change from our 3-6 time. It took Reese about 2 seconds of being home to get back into his pj's :)

Christmas play 2009 - late post

The first week in December our ward primary president (mostly...I think) put together the most amazing Christmas play. Reese played Nathan, the lead, who had a dream and ended up back in Bethlehem. Scott played his dad. His friend, Landon, played his friend Jessie (thanks Ashley...I stole your pictures). It was an amazing night. They worked very hard and memorized many lines and learned to talk to the audience saying lines loudly. Sister Steward did an amazing job on the stage decorations and putting it all together. The primary kids and choir sang many beautiful songs, we had great wise men and Mary and Joseph and a darling baby Jesus (the Wards)