Simply Mel(Formerly Mama Monoblogs)

8 Days and Counting!

Hello Folks!

So sorry I haven't kept up that well this month! I will have a ton of stuff to write by next week though, as well as pictures.

Well, lets see...

I'm pretty much DONE with my Christmas shopping. I just have to wrap stuff now. I'm sad that the Christmas season is almost over though...

I had my work Christmas party last week, our church Christmas fellowship was tonite. Both were a lot of fun. We had a yankee swap at church but you couldn't go out and buy anything. You had to find something in your house you wouldn't mind giving away. Let me tell you, there were a lot of interesting objects being swapped! I ended up with some sort of desk decoration (?). It looks like and obelisk and has what looks to be hieroglyphics on  it. It looks like it's made out of brass but it's actually some sort of other mix of materials that I don't recognize. Anyway, not sure what to do with it. I can see why someone would want to get rid of it! It's about 8 inches tall.

This past Friday was my school's yearly Christmas show. My class perfromed "Rockin Around The Christmas Tree" and they did so great. They were so cute! Katelyn's toddler class also performed a song. They did " Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". Katelyn just sat on stage playing with the santa hat they had put on all the kid's heads. I thought she might get up and start walking around. Other toddlers did but not her! She was too busy trying to put the hat back on and peel name tags off the carpet she was sitting on. It was still really cute.

I have the week off next week. I"m so psyched.  I need that time to recover from Christmas and enjoy all my new gifts

We saw "The Nativity Story" this weekend  and it was great!  Some of the effects and content were kind of corny but it was a beautiful movie. A must see. I cried through most of it. I loved the way the movie really showed the "human" side of Joseph and Mary and just what their life must have been like at that time. It put a really interesting spin on details that the Bible doesn't mention or make real clear.  I have learned recently that Mary was probably between 12-14 years old when she became pregnant with Jesus. That is amazing. The movie actually had a young girl who looked like she was in her early to mid teens playing Mary. 

Ladies, you will fall in love with Joseph by the end.  The movie did a great job portraying him as a strong, faithful, sweet man who just "inherited" a pregnant fiance whom he barely knew. The lengths he goes through to take care of her is sooo cute. I can really imagine the real Joseph being just like this character. It shows them slowly getting to know each other on their way to Bethlehem and falling in love.  (Big sigh here...)  Go see it!!!!!

I'm going to close here. Since "Desperate Housewives" is a rerun I have to get ready for tomorrow.

Ta Ta!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year....(from my old xanga blog)

In case many of you didn't know, Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year!! I LOOOOOOOVE the Christmas season. I love the music, sights, crowded shopping malls, buying gifts, baking and decorating that go with it. So, since I want to enjoy every second of it I usually put my tree up as soon as Thanksgiving is over. We put up our tree and most of our decorations  yesterday. We just bought a new WHITE tree and it looks awesome!  We were actually able to fit it in our living room this year and not have to stow it in the sunroom. Katelyn has been really good with it too. She doesn't really mess with it much. We put a bunch of ornaments on the bottom that are unbreakable and that we don't care if she plays with. She enjoys taking them off and then she's done with the tree for awhile. Speaking of the little princess, she is taking off on her own now! I thought she would never want to walk and now she surprises me every time she starts taking those wobbly steps by herself. She is still faster crawling than walking so she prefers crawling most of the time. But if she's standing she will slowly walk from one point to another until she falls and then she's crawl the rest of the way. It's sooooo cute watching her master this. Anyhoo, here are some pictures from the decorating of the Mietzner tree.Oh and it's a pre lit tree so we don't have to mess with lights anymore!! yipee!

The "bare" tree

Hmmm....

The tree with just the lights on

Katelyn helping decorate

"Here you go daddy, I can't reach that high"

"This is much better!"

"I get to hold an ornament!"

The gratuitous shot of me hanging an ornament

Mike's turn

Posing in front of the tree with mommy and daddy

\

The finishes product! Beautiful don't ya think???

....And just when you thought you were all done looking at my pictures there is...MORE!! LOL

These were taken over the past couple of days. The captions will explain all.

Katelyn has started trying to eat with a spoon. This is just a shot of her efforts taken from today

Now that she is walking she has also discovered the joy of CLIMBING. She loves to stand on/in the gate separating the living room and dining room.

Also taken today. While I was gone grocery shopping Mike noticed he hadn't "heard from her" in a while. He went into her playroom(the sunroom off the living room) and she was sound asleep on the rug laying over one of her bears. It was sooo cute! and pitiful.... This was how I found her when I got home!

 A sneak preview of our Christmas card picture. This is not the shot we ended up using. I also haven't taken the red eye out.

Ta Ta for now!

Thanksgiving Recap(from my old xanga blog)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you all did tooI stuffed myself sinfully again. We had a great time with the Stoughs(the family that came with us from church). We ate, told family stories and played a mean game of Texas Hold 'Em. I only won two handsLast year I was the overall winner and this year I wasn't even close. I think Mrs. Stough was the big winner! They had to leave before the game was officially over so we don't have a definite answer on that... Anyway, Katelyn also started pretty much walking yesterday! She took a ton of steps from one person to another. She is just very lazy and dependent on her push toy. She loves that thing! I think she thinks once she starts walking without it she won't get to use it anymore or something. She had a whole cheering section yesterday as we were getting her to walk across the room to somebody. That is another past time of ours when we get together. We all just sit around and watch Katelyn's antics.She put on quite a show for us yesterday! I got it on video too so that was nice. We are going to put up pur Christmas decos and tree today. I'll be getting pictures of that as well.

Here are some pics from yesterday.

Katelyn in her Thanksgiving bib

Eating the Thanksgiving meal

 

Us!!!

Grampy was feeding Katelyn some of Nana's famous fudge cake and ice cream

"Raise it more uncle Bob!!" Katelyn and uncle Bob playing Texas Hold 'Em

Our poker faces

My silly grin

Katelyn's favorite toy of the day. A plastic wrap roll!

Cutest grin!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know it's a little early to be wishing you this but the rest of this week is going to be crazy! so.....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!!

Things I'm thankful for this year:

1. My salvation and the Lord's mercy and grace in my life

2. My wonderful husband and beautiful daughter

3. My family

4. My new church family!

5. Being able to go back to my old job

6. Answered prayer

7.A finally finished bathroom!!!!!

8. Friends

9. My health

10. Seeing God work in our lives this year.

We are going to my inlaws for Thanksgiving. I invited a family from church who's husband/father is in Afghanistan until January doing counter intelligence for the army. They are not from this area so they have no family to spend the holidays with. I'll be taking lots of video and pictures so I'll be sure to put those on. I have the day after Thanksgiving off so I'll try to post everything then. We'll also be decorating our tree and house for Christmas then. Yipee!

Love you all!

Not Much Happening....(from my old xanga blog)

I just wanted to update a bit since i haven't writteN in a while. well, nothing much has happened!! LOlI'VE ADJUTED TO MY PARENTS BEING GONE AND GOTTEN BACK INTO A GOOD ROUTINE AGAIN. I'M ENJOYING WORK ALOT WHICH IS A BONUS. THE KIDS IN MY CLASS ARE AWESOME AND I'VE GOTTEN ATTACHED ALREADY. MY BOSS TOLD ME BY APRIL WE SHOULD HAVE 18 KIDS IN OUR CLASS! YIKES!I'VE NEVER HAD THAT MANY BEFORE! I'VE ALSO REALLY ENJOYED THE TEACHING PART OF IT AGAIN. IT GETS MY CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING.

KATELYN HAS STARTED "TRANSITIONING" TO THE TODDLER ROOM. SHE HAS BEEN DOING REALLY GOOD. SHE IS THE YOUNGEST ONE IN THERE AND THE ONLY ONE NOT WALKING YET. BABIES USUALLY TRANSITION TO THE TODDLER ROOM AT 15 MONTHS BUT SINCE I NEED HER TO GO EVERY DAY MY BOSS IS BENDING THE RULES FOR ME. PLUS SHE WAS ALOT BIGGER AND OLDER THAN ALL THE OTHER BABIES IN THE INFANT ROOM SO THE INFANT TEACHERS FELT SHE WAS READY TO MOVE ON.  SHE HAS STARTED DOING ART PROJECTS WHICH I THINK IS REALLY CUTE!THEY HAVE A LITTLE CIRCLE TIME, READ STORIES AND DO ART PROJECTS EVERY DAY. I CAN'T WAIT TO BRING HOME SOME OF HER FIRST ART WORK. IT'S DEFINITELY GOING ON THE FRIDGE!

I PICKED UP KATELYN'S ONE YEAR PICTURES TODAY. tHEY ARE SOOO CUTE! MY SCHOOL IS ALSO HAVING PICTURE DAY NEXT WEEK SO I'LL SEE IF I WANT TO KEEP ANY OF THE PICTURES TAKEN THERE. I NEED SOME FOR MY CHRISTMAS CARDS. SPEAKING OF WHICH..

WHERE HAS TIME GONE!! IT'S ALREADY NOVEMBER! I'M ALREADY GETTING INTO THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT. SO MUCH TO DO NOW!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

HUGS AND KISSES TO ALL!

Pictures From My Parent's Visit (from my old xanga blog)

Here, now, are the pictures from my parents visit the other days they were here

Some time with Gampaw

Time with Gamaw

Everyone sitting around watching Katelyn play

Gampaw showing Kate the intricacies of the remote

Bath time with Gamaw! (in our new tub!!)

I LOVE this picture!!

Getting ready to eat at The Longhorn

The parents of Katelyn

They gave Katelyn a children's menu and crayons and she loved it!

Gamaw and Gampaw were feeding Katelyn some of their brownie Sundae....

....and she really liked it!

Cool cat

Our own Ray Charles

Katelyn sitting in her elmo chair that we got her for her b-day

me and kate

eating dinner at my inlaws the last night my parents were here

the gang

us girls playing around with my new camera

mommy and Kate!

a family picture

We always take a family picture on the couch the day before my parents leave(or we leave after visiting them) so here is the latest one.

Enjoy! Looks like we will get to go to TX in May for my sisters college graduation. That should be fun and not too far away!

Katelyn's 1st Birthday Party Pictures 2(from my old xanga blog)

Here are the rest of her b-day pictures!

MORE CAKE!!

TIME FOR PRESENTS!

Right here she was mad at me b/c I was trying to take that card away. Of course that is what she was interested in.. Not the toys...

Katelyn semed to enjoy opening some of the presents but then would get attached to one and want to play with it and forget about the rest. That is to be expected with a one year old!

On a sad note...today is my parents last day here. We are trying to make the best of it and have fun. We took Kate to get her one year pics today. She was in a great mood and we got some excellent pictures. I'm glad my parents got to be there for that. I will be posting the link to the web site so you all can view the pictures too.

That's all for now!

Katelyn's 1st Birthday Party Pictures 1(from my old xanga blog)

Katelyn's party went great! I hope everyone else thought so tooLeave it to children to walk into a party where they don't know hardly anyone and make fast friends with all the kids there! I had alot of fun watching all the kids running around and playing together. It was really cute. They all looked adorable in their costumes. I wanted to say "THANK YOU" to everyone that attended and for all the wonderful cards and gifts. Katelyn is one lucky girl!She got a ton of cute toys and outfits. She is set for a looong time! Katelyn did great. She was in a pretty good mood and was a good sport. She looked so cute in her angel costume. She didn't want to keep the halo on for very long but still looked edible in the costume without it. She loved watching the kids play and crawling around after them. She also loved her cake. I actually ordered two Care Bear rainbow cakes. There were actualy 24 cupcakes lined up in a rainbow and frosted with rainbow colors. They each  came with two plastic care bears that I  could place however I wanted. She wasn't really interested in opening her presents so I had a bunch of the kids help me with it. They seemed to enjoy it and it made that part go faster.There were about 40 people there. I know, I went way overboard but it was her first birthday!! I also appreciate all the help my parents and inlaws provided as well. Katelyn has some pretty neat grandparents!

Anyway, here are the pics. I have too many to post in this blog so I will post part 2 tomorrow. Oh, and tomorrow we are taking Kate to get her one year pictures taken. I can't wait!

 Enjoy!

 

Gamaw and her angel!

Smiles for this one!

Some of the kids in their costume

One of my favorites! I loved the "Incredibles" and Kayla looked hysterical as "Violet"

Kate playing on the floor

The kids all dressed up!

Batman and Holly Hobby- too cute!! (thanks Liz and Heather!)

My parents and Franco and...me. You can see the food table behind them

The room and everyone eating

Time for cake!!

All she wanted was the lollipop in Stephen's mouth..

"Hmm..I don't know about this..."

"Yum!!"

This would be such a great picture without the red eye. We don't have the new picture software installed yet!

"I'm starting to like this!"

Some for mommy...(not a very flattering picture that's for sure!)

And some for daddy. she loves to share!!

More to come! Stay tuned....

Katelyn's One Year Check UP(from my old xanga blog)

I forgot to mention in my last post that Thursday was Katelyn's one year check up. She's a growing girl! She weighed 22.5lbs and is 31 inches long. She's in the 95th percentile for height and 75th for weight. That's Mike's daughter for ya! Oh and I got a fabulous new cut and blonde highlights today. I love my new "do" and it makes me feel good.  Just thought I'd share that with you.

It's 10:00 at night and my mom and I just finished wrapping all of Kate's gifts and putting together all the goody bags for the kids. I put WAAAYY too much thought into this, let me tell you. The goody bag thing involved too many trips to the Christmas Tree Shoppe, iParty and time spent on the computer. I put a lot of work into putting these together so Katelyn better appreciate it!!! LOL

Time for a shower and BED! Ta ta

p.s Pics still to come...

Visit With My Parents Part 1(from my old xanga blog)

As many of you know my parents are visiting this week. They got here on Tues. night and are staying until Friday morning of next week. The visit has been wonderful! Katelyn has taken to her gamaw and gampaw quite well She also knows that she can get my mom to do anything for her so she has pulled quite a few shenanigans for her and my mom falls for every one! She is going to be spoiled ROTTEN by the time my parents leave. I would have some photos to post  but Mike has my camera right now and he's out with my dad. Bummer! He got me an early Christmas gift- a new digital camera and it is AWESOME! 

We are celebrating Kate's birthday tomorrow and it has become quite a big ordeal. My mom and I shopped for party favors for the kids yesterday and all the decorations. Each of the children and babies will receive something from Katelyn for coming to her birthday. We have close to 40 people coming! Out of those 40 , 15 of them will probably be kids and babies. Sheesh! We are having it at my inlaws church in their fellowship hall. That way we will have plenty of room for the kids to run around. I'll have a table set up with coloring stuff for the kids who want something to do. It is also a costume party so all the kids will probably come in a costume. Katelyn is going to be an angel for her party. Can we all say "awwww how sweet". So appropriate for her don't you think??? We are having different all types of sandwiches, chips and dips as our food. It's at 3:00 so people probably won't be that hungry. Mom mother in law is making most of the sandwiches. She wanted to contribute to the party by buying most of the food. I'm making pb&j and pb&fluff for the kids and cutting them out with cookie cutters into alphabet letters. I thought that would be a fun way to make those sandwiches. So we still have some work to do today! I got most of the party favor bags together last night so that is one thing to cross of the list today. Anyway, I'll be posting lots of pics from the party in a couple of days.

Gotta go! Part 2 of this blog will be coming shortly

Bye!