Sledding Fun

Kenzie went sledding for the first time Satuday evening. She wasn't sure what to make of it but it was fun to get her all ready. I felt like the mom from "A Christmas Story" when she is getting Randy ready for school in the morning.
This was the expression on her face until we were almost done and getting ready to go back inside, then she decided to give us a couple of half smiles. We are going to try again today after Paul gets done with his FIRST FINAL! He is taking right now and I am sure he will need a good diversion when he gets home and sledding is just the thing.

Happy Birthday!

McKenzie turned 1 today and we had a little party. I should have taken some pictures of the people that came but I didn't think of it until right now. I made her a butterfly cake, which was lots of fun to do! She made a big mess and it was tons of fun!


This video is a little shakey, I was trying to get her attention and I didn't realize I had moved the camera so you couldn't see her. She did eventually eat the cake after I put some on my finger and gave her a taste, as you can see from the picture above. She was cover in cake up to her elbows and all over her pants. I can't believe it has been a whole year!

Dad and Kenzie in full play mode

Tonight Paul and McKenzie were "playing" hide and seek. Paul would crawl quickly into a room and hide behind a fort that he had set up and then wait for McKenzie to follow and find him. It was fun to watch and she had tons of fun playing with Dad. Here is a little footage of her coming in from the living room to find him. (Just so you get an idea of how small our apartment really is, I am at the back of the house and she is coming from the front:)). We had all of the lights on to get a good picture this time but it doesn't look as good on the computer as it does on the camera. The music in the background is from Megan's slideshow of the wedding she just did on her blog. The pictures are amazing and I love to sit and look at them.

This is an updated picture of Kenzie. You can't even see the cut on her lip so I guess it us healing pretty well. Her black eye is almost completely gone. It has taken a LONG time for that thing to go away! Her hair is sticking up because of her fleece hat that she MUST wear where ever we go, (it gives her pretty bad hat head unfortunately). We are looking forward to coming to Arizona for the Christmas break, a little nervous about the 4 hour plane ride though, any advise from you experienced moms?

Paul just finished his last assignment for the semester and is now reviewing for finals, coming up week after next! Holy cow has this time spead by or what? It feels like we have only been out here a month! I hope time starts going a little slower, I am not ready to drive back to Arizona behind a moving truck, I still need a lot of time to get over 4 solid days of driving.

good laughter, bad picture

McKenzie has a great laugh, sorry the picture is not so clear. It is tons o' fun to hear a child giggle.

McKenzie in one piece

I thought I would throw this one in for the Grandmas. This was taken before all of the bodily injuries occured and I just saw it as I was downloading the pictures from our camera. I thought it was cute. It must have been a few weeks ago because you can't see her top teeth at all.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful (except for one major mishap and a trip to the emergency room). We woke up to find it had snowed the night before but luckily for us it didn't stick to the streets just to the grass. We had the Trujillo's over and the West's. It was nice to not have to celebrate alone! We are glad they all came.

The trip to the emergency room occurred because McKenzie pulled the stand up mirror down on top of herself and cut her lip pretty badly. It was a horrible way to end Thanksgiving that is for sure! She had to get stitches. To say the very least, she will not be permitted to play by herself without constant supervision for a long, long time. She shouldn't have been playing by herself in the first place! No pictures because I really don't want anything to remind me of the event. The mirror was thrown into the trash that evening and we probably won't get another one until all of the children are in college, if we have more children, I feel like such a failure as a mother! She doesn't seem to be too fazed by the whole event, she is still busy ripping the house apart all day and doesn't take very long naps.

Christmas Celebrations in November

Lansing had there 23rd annual silver bell celebration so we decided to brave the cold and go. There was a light parade and then they lit the Capital Christmas tree. It was really cold, I am afraid my body is still not ready for this cold weather. By the end of the parade, which lasted an hour and a half, I was frozen. I couldn't bend my toes which made the walk back to the car a little difficult and my hands were frozen despite being in gloves. I have forgotten how miserable the cold is when you are not prepared. Poor Paul had to listen to me complain all the way back to the car and he wasn't even that cold. He is crazy!

This is the capital building at dusk. I thought this was a good picture so I decided to share it with everyone. I can't remember who the statue is but he did something for Michigan I am sure.

We made sure that McKenzie was ready for the cold though. She had blankets and coats and a long sleeved shirt. I don't think she was too cold! I am pretty sure she was bored though. We got there and stood in a good spot so she could see what was going on and then a bunch of people crowded in front of us and she couldn't see anything. People sure can be rude sometimes!

This week in pictures

This is the shiner she got when she fell into the ottoman. It is still black and blue 5 days later!

McKenzie's first taste of hot chocolate, she loves it! Now we can't drink it without her fussing and fussing until she gets some.

Here is one more picture of her shiner, she looks like a baseball player with only one eye painted black for the game.

Dad and Kenzie playing under the table. We had some friends over for some hot chocolate and cookies so all of the chairs were in the living room which meant that dad got to go under the table too and play. This is one of Kenzie's favorite places to play.

Kenzie likes to play with the phone in our room because when she pushes any button bright orange lights come on. Since the phone is right by the mirror she plays with the phone while she observes her actions in the mirror.

Psych

So my sister Heather told me about Psych (a new detective show), she said it was hilarious, so Paul and I decided to try it out on netflix. She was right, it is the most hilarious show I have seen, and it is clean! It is on USA. We don't have cable so I am not sure what day and time but if you can find it I would highly suggest that you watch it. I am so obsessed with it that I have been downloading the second season from amazon.com seeing as the second season is not out on dvd to rent from Netflix. Everytime I think about spending money I think well, if I don't get this I could download another Psych instead. I only have one more to download then I will have to wait for the new shows to start in January, I don't know what I will do!

McKenzie is suffering from a black eye and an ear infection. She was standing on the footstool and fell and hit her eye on the corner and has a black and blue circle under her eye. I am sure people think I abuse her! Today she is happier and acting more like her cheerful self which I am very thankful for. Paul is busy studying for finals, which are coming up in about 4 weeks. Can you believe it, Paul is studying 5 weeks in advance for finals instead of just the night before, he is really taking this school stuff seriously. He is going to make a wonderful lawyer!

New Friends

McKenzie had her first official playdate this week with Eve Jones. They had tons of fun together. McKenzie was so excited when she came in that she couldn't stand it and didn't even want to eat. Poor Eve was hungry and McKenzie couldn't wait for her to finish eating to play some more. It was very fun to watch McKenzie with another little one her size.

Today she figured out how to get into the cupboard and emptied it out for me. It is a nice way to do some re-organizing and cleaning and I only have to do half the work. McKenzie is such a good helper!

Halloween

McKenzie's firts Halloween wasn't too eventful but she did get dressed up for the occasion. She was a U of A cheeleader. We didn't get any trick-or-treaters so all in all it was just like any other day in the Melo house.

My little tornado

Well, she has learned how to pull herself up on things, including the dresser on which our tv sits. I thought I was being so clever putting the movies in the drawers so she couldn't get into them, boy did she show me! She somehow got the drawer open, the middle drawer none the less, not the one with her books in it, and started to empty out the movies. She is always about 2 steps ahead of me.

She can also reach the buttons on the tv, how did she get so tall so fast?

I also got my hair fixed. I like it a lot better now. Luckily the girl who fixed it had the exact same hair cut so I didn't have to try to explain what I wanted. I think I might just do that from now on, go around until I find a hair dresser with a hair cut I like and then have her cut my hair.

The Car Show

They had a classic car show last weekend here in Lansing so Paul and I decided to go down and see what was going on. Like always Paul had some young lady come up to him in the hallway before going in and gave him a ticket to get in for free. Good looks and sparkling personality can take you a long way in this world. It was really fun, they had some pretty cool cars down there.



This is a 1950 Chevy Coupe, like the one my dad is in the process of restoring. Once I saw this I was excited for my dad to get his done so that I could go for a ride and pretend I was cool.

This car was rediculous! Way too much money was put into this one! They had a couple of cars like this one there.

I loved this one! I don't remember what year it is, maybe 1930 something? I would have loved to live in this day and age and ride around in style like this!

Growing so fast

Here are some updated pictures of Kenzie Lyn. She is crawling more and more and she is able to sit up herself from laying on the floor. She is also able to pull herself up on things which means I am going to have to do some more baby proofing. She is a busy girl all of the time. She doesn't like to be tied down for very long. She did sit on the bench today for all of sacrament meeting which was amazing!

This is Dad and Kenzie's favorite morning ritual, sharing breakfast. Except today she got mushy frosted mini wheats instead of poptart. A little more healthy I would say. She also knows how to pose for the camera now. The minute I get it out and turn it on she has a great big smile on her face, this picture is a perfect example.

Auntie Em, Auntie Em

So last night when I was trying to get McKenzie to go to sleep, the wind was howling and all of a sudden this strange siren started and just kept going and going. I couldn't figure out what it could be and Paul was at his night class! I went outside to see if I could figure out what was going on. My neighbor was outside and he said it was a TORNADO WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow was I ever freaked out. That was the first time I had ever been near a natural disaster and I really had no idea what to do so I went to my other neighbor's house, downstairs, and hung out for a while since their apartment is half way underground. The sirens kept going off until about midnight. Luckily I don't think any touched down here. I had no idea that tornados were a problem in Michigan, if I did I sure would not have let Paul apply to a school here!

Comments wanted

I recently got my hair cut and my glasses broke so I had to get some new glasses. They were having a buy one get one free deal so I thought I would try the glasses I was always to nervous to try and I want other people's opinion on how they look. I will probably get them changed into sunglasses once I get the rimless glasses. I also want opinions on my hair. Paul is too nice to tell me if he thinks it looks bad and I don't have enough friends to get opinions from out here. For those of you who are new to the blogging world, just click on the comments link at the bottom of this post and you will be able to write what you think. I really want honest opinions so I don't get this hair cut again if it looks bad and I don't want to keep wearing the glasses if they look funny.

Northern Michigan

This past week my parents were here and they took McKenzie and I up to Northern Michigan and the Upper Penisula (the U.P. to Michiganians) while Paul stayed home and studied. We had tons of fun although it was pretty cold and rainy. It was beautiful up there, the colors were a lot more vibrant than they were here in Mid-Michigan. Here are some pictures of our trip.

Here is a picture of my mom and dad with Kenzie in front of the famous Grand Hotel. This is as close as we could get without paying $12! You couldn't even walk on the property without paying. After 6 o'clock women had to be in dresses and men had to have a tie on. It was a pretty fancy place.

This is a bigger picture of the hotel. You are looking at the longest covered porch in the world! If you look carefully you can see a light blue paint on the underneath side of the porch, they do that so the birds will think it is the sky and not nest there, it actually works!

This is a picture of the street you see when you get off the ferry and walk up from the docks. They don't allow any motorized vehicles on the island except for the emergency vehicles so everything is pulled by horses or you can ride a bike. It is almost like a dream to go over there, I hope someday Paul and I can go and stay in one of the bed and breakfasts.

We went up to Sault St Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie for those of you who aren't fluent in French, I thought it was salt!) and went on a boat tour of the locks. It was really cool to see how they work. The area to the left of the building in the water is the lock.
Since Paul couldn't come with us McKenzie got her very own bed in the hotel room. This is her hanging out on her big girl bed having a little bed time snack.

We went to Holland!

Mom and Dad (Grant and Lynda) came to visit and we decided to take a trip to Holland. Holland, Michigan that is. It was settled by the Dutch and they took apart a windmill and brought it over from the Netherlands and put it all back together. It was really interesting to go inside and see how it all works. It is amazing. The miller that works there is the only certified female miller in the United States. She had to go to Holland (the real Holland) and learn dutch and take a 2 hour oral test to get certified. They still use the mill today to make flour and different things. It was very interesting. Of course I forgot my camera so this is a picutre from the internet. It was tons of fun! We have a lot more trips planned for this week.

Daddy Daughter moments

I have had a request to update my blog more often so I will take a stab at it. This morning I walked into the kitchen to see if Paul was ready to go to school, knowing he was eating and expecting to see him standing by the sink, as he usually does when he is in a hurry, but to my surprise he was sitting on the kitchen floor sharing his toast with homemade current jelly with his sweet daughter. I thought I would just melt seeing the two of them on the floor together. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Another week under our belts

If you can't believe what you are seeing it is understandable, since few have actually seen Paul studying, and he is doing it at home! He hits the books hard. I think he has studied more in the past three weeks than he has in his whole life! Law school is pretty demanding.

While Dad is at school Kenzie gets to go to the park and sit for photo shoots. I think she could be America's next top model! I do have to admit that she is the most beautiful girl in the world!

The colors are starting to change a little more everyday. I don't know if you can see the red in this picture but I have a feeling that it is going to be very picturesque soon.

Kenzie's new favorite thing to do is to throw her hands up in the air and wait for either Paul or I to say "toss it in the oven." She does it over and over, here is a little sample. She is finally cheerful after being fussy all week trying to "cut a tooth" as they say in I Love Lucy. Hopefully we can have a little break while Grammy and Baki are here and she will be happy and cheerful like normal.

Life in Michigan

Life in Michigan has been an adventure so far. Paul is in his third week of school and enjoying most of it. It is a hard schedule to keep up with. They expect you to be studying or in class 60 hours every week! He has been able to keep up with it though and is happy about that. Kenzie is adjusting well, starting to sleep through the night again, thank goodness! Everything around here is so green and beautiful, we are looking forward to the fall colors. Here are some pictures of a rose garden we went to, there aren't any pictures of roses because they are all dying due to the cold front that has been moving through Michigan for the past few days.