The Meltons

June was a busy busy month 'round the Melton house! We completed Kindergarten (I say we, because it really is a family thing...parts for everyone to play.) We've been catching lightening bugs, trekking to the Farmer's Market, doing crafts, playing in the sprinkler, playdates, and traveling to Charlotte (there's a separate post for that one coming up). I also rode my bike from the house to Harp's for the first time before school let out for the summer. It was nice to check that off my list and know that not only can i do it, but that it wasn't all that bad. I was pretty nervous about it, my heart was racing and not just because I was getting a bit of a workout. But in the end, I managed to navigate just fine and didn't run into anything or anyone! I even had to find an alternate route when a squad of fire trucks was blocking my way to the store. To think... this is just the beginning of our summer fun! Now on to the pictures!

Here we have the "Last Day of School" mix:

1) Aylin is very proud of her Field Day participation award

2) Last day of Kindergarten!

3) Last walk to school as a Kindergartener

4) Last lunch in the cafeteria with mom and Silly Selfies

5) Aylin with her teacher, Mrs. Scott, on her last day

6) Last day of school fun treat!

7) Last day of school crazy class pic.

Next up the "Play Time" mix:

1) Splash Park fun

2) Sprinkler fun

3) Experimenting with textures on clay at the Kids Art Park (at the Farmer's Market)

4) Same as #3 :)

5) Helping in a giant weaving project to be auctioned off, also part of the Kids Art Park

6) Gotta get a pic in the miniature Sam Walton pick up truck

7) Garden Tea Parties with a friend

8) Checking out the kids area at Crystal Bridges with friends

9) Shouting into the horn at Crystal Bridges with friends

And now for "Our Back Yard Visitors"

We've enjoyed the deer sightings in our back yard. It's been pretty surreal to see so many deer, in daylight hours, IN TOWN.

Next we have my "Random Pic(k)s"

1) All dressed up for a date with daddy!

2) A nice quiet (and cooler than normal) June evening, keeping the skeeterz at bay with my torch.

3) Getting our Farmer's Market on with the new wagon!

4) My bike parked at Harp's!

Aaaand last but not least "Flying to Charlotte"

1) Gotta ride the moving sidewalk!

2) Hysterical giggles, we're so excited!

3) Ooooh pretty!

4) Sleepy kiddo

5) City lights over Charlotte

So May was a pretty full month! We had a little over a week break from school, during which the first Bentonville Film Festival was held. We also enjoyed our First Friday Flick for the summer at the Lawrence Plaza - Big Hero 6, and Aylin had a friend from school meet her to watch the movie with her. That sweet little guy made his mom wait with him in line nearly 30 minutes to get a flower balloon before the movie so he could give it to Aylin. Precious! And who could resist a walk to the library with a banana split on the way home?! Not US!

Then for mother's day we enjoyed a day at Crystal Bridges with Papa Joe and Grama Linda and company. Aylin adores her Uncle Robert, and she spent most of the trip in the museum attached to him. We also enjoyed a meal at Flying Fish where Aylin made everyone try her fortune telling fish - lots of fun!

Then to top it all off Aylin and I both got haircuts and will be donating our locks. We are both loving our new short do's, just perfect for summer time! Now if we could just get it to stop raining... Aylin also had a project to complete for her class - Flat Stanley. We were supposed to pick a place or business in Bentonville and learn about it, and then bring our findings back to the school to talk to the class about it. Aylin picked the library, because that is one of her favorite places to be. We had fun gathering materials for the project.

Well that's the skinny on the month of May in the Melton Casa. Stay tuned, June and summer break are upon us!

Aylin has been musing lately about getting her haircut, but waffled pretty significantly as to whether or not she was going to just cut a few inches off, or go dramatically short. Then a friend from school got her hair cut from very long, to a cute bob cut and then Aylin decided a cute short cut might be fun after all. Then we talked about how if she did get it cut short we would be able to donate her hair to children who have lost their hair due to cancer or other illness. So we decided to take the plunge. I was also in the mood for a dramatic cut myself, and she seemed like she maybe needed a little extra nudge, so I decided to cut mine short enough that I could also donate. So here are our before and after pictures...

Before, from the front

Before, from the back

After, from the front

After, from the back

We are both very pleased with the results, and enjoying the simplicity of the short (and very warm weather friendly!) haircuts.

It's been a hectic April getting settled into the new place and trying to find a new rhythm. We love having the freedom to get up and go and walk wherever we please. It's so wonderful to literally have the Compton Gardens and Crystal bridges trails as our backyard playground. But we also enjoy a relatively slow and peaceful routine, and so far life has been anything but slow. Now that I have the ability to, I've been trying to help out more in Aylin's classroom. I tagged along on a field trip, and I try to get in and help out with reading folders once a week or so. It's been fun getting to know the kids in her classroom, and get to where they recognize me. Aylin has also really enjoyed walking to school. I halfway expected her to whine about the longer walk to school since we were basically doubling the distance from what she had been used to with walking to the bus. But so far I have yet to hear a complaint (knock on wood), even when it's raining. She even refused a ride from her dad once when it was raining because she wanted to walk. I have been enjoying the pleasure of being able to get out and about on my own. Treating myself to a coffee, or meeting a friend for lunch (or coffee) without having to have someone come and pick me up first is pretty neat! I'll be pretty ecstatic when the new Walmart Neighborhood Market opens up on the square, because it's on Main, and it'll be a straight shot up the sidewalk for me just about a half a mile from my house. It's also been fun meeting people in the neighborhood. Lots of friendly people. We have a sweet couple who live right next to us who have really taken to Aylin and just let her jabber on and on. It makes a momma's heart feel good when other people love their kiddo, even when they don't have to.

I got the opportunity to tag along on a field trip with Aylin's class last week. We visited the Gentry Safari and the petting zoo. The kids had an amazing time. I rode along with another mom and we met the buses in Gentry. It was pretty wild being on the bus, though, packed with kindergarteners driving through the safari. I honestly didn't get to see much because I sat on the inside aisle seat so that the kids could stand on the seats and plaster themselves against the windows. I did manage to snap a few shots of the big cats, as well as a few others. Then I got to attempt to keep up with 4 of the kiddos and escort them through the various exciting sights through the petting zoo. That part was pretty fun. The kids got to feed the giraffes lettuce. Then I was given a loaf of bread to pass out to the kids to feed to any critter that would get close enough to eat it. Although most of the critters just got food thrown at them as the kids got timid once they got close to things. Especially the kangaroos. Notice how Aylin was the farthest away in the picture with the kangaroo. She was not getting ANY closer than that. Apparently the swift movements put her way out of her comfort zone where animals are concerned. We saw monkeys, pot bellied pigs, kangaroos, peacocks, rabbits, goats, various types of exotic birds. Lots of fun was had. Here is my picture collage to mark the day. :)

So this just happened today...

She's been waiting and waiting to finally lose a tooth, and now she's a member of the snaggletooth club!

Now she's anxiously awaiting the arrival of the toothfairy!

So. THAT just happened! Let me tell you just how AWESOME, and BIG our God is. I mean, truly, He's just blown me away.

This all just started 2.5 weeks ago (Sunday, March 15th to be exact). Aylin and I had gone and had a girls day with friends, and Jeff went to go have some quiet time of his own. While out he decided to go driving around downtown Bentonville and came across a house with a for rent sign in the yard and decided to call the number. When Aylin and I got home from brunch and shopping Jeff was not yet home from his drive/quiet time. When he did get home he asks me "So, how'd you like to go look at a house?" My response was... "Um, okay". My mind totally had not been on homes. As some of you may know, I had been rather consumed with wanting to move to the downtown Bentonville area ever since I lost my eye sight and my ability to drive. And over the last several months I'd decided to just let God have that. It would happen when the time was right. I needed to quit focusing on it, and letting it consume me. So the question caught me off guard. So we went to look at the house. Cute house, perfect size for our needs, ideal location, priced in our sweet spot. So much to love about it. So we decided to fill out the application right then and there. We got the call that our application was approved the following Wednesday afternoon - the same day that my mother was flying in to visit us. By Friday afternoon we had put a deposit down and given our notice for the house we were in. Here's the crazy part. We moved in by the next weekend! Mom and I spent the next week working like crazy to get everything boxed up and ready to move, and the Amazing Sue Addington came in and packed up my whole kitchen in just a few hours! THEN our super awesome community group went way beyond any expectation I may have had (and lets be honest, I was in such a tizzy I really had no expectation here. God was so at work that I really could hardly keep up.) they showed up on moving day and loaded the truck, CLEANED MY OLD HOUSE (seriously I love you guys!), then unloaded the truck ALL INSIDE OF 4 HOURS!

I have to pause just to take a breath, and soak that all in! Holy WOW!

Truly, ya'll were the perfect picture of the Body of Christ at work. Without my mom, Sue, and every single sweet person that came to help us move (YES! Including those kiddos because they worked hard too!) it could not have happened in the timeline that was so clearly orchestrated by Our Father. He had this planned out long before we had any idea. He knew when my mom purchased her plane ticket that we would need her help to move. He knew the size of the house we would need, and he knew the exact spot that we needed to be in.

God has big plans, and this is just a small step in that direction as we keep on following the path He has for us. Thank you all for stepping in on our journey these last couple of weeks! I really cannot thank you enough. Once my kitchen (and my head) are back in order there will be much banana bread making, because what says "Thanks so much" more than banana bread?!

So come see us! We'd love to have you!

NEW HOUSE!

Jeff and I had the pleasure of celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary last week, and just like on our wedding 10 years ago the weather that followed over the weekend was just as beautiful as it was that day. Sunshine and 70's, so nice!

We celebrated the day with a few sweet things; I posted 10 sweet-talking sticky notes around the house in amongst items so that Jeff would find them during his usual morning routine. Jeff sent me some lovely flowers. We're planning on doing something special when Grama Jeanne comes to visit us. She'll be coming this week, and staying for 2 weeks. So at some point in there maybe we'll get us a weekend away or some other fun couples date type stuff.

So Aylin got to experience the joy of getting her very first cavity fixed last Monday. I really hadn't expected to have to deal with that quite so soon... Clearly we need to work on getting those toofers cleaned better. Anywho... The dentist highly recommended we use the "happy gas" even though our insurance didn't cover it. So we went with it, and I'm glad we did. She was pretty nervous to start, and even cried just having to put on the "piggy nose" (happy gas) because "it was weird". But after having it on for about 60 seconds the happy kicked in, and she was quite the goofball. She cracked herself up several times, and told the dentist and his assistant that everyone that worked at the dentist office should wear shorts, swim suites, flip flops, and piggy noses for their daily uniform at work. He got quite the kick out of her. He also joked that he should start an anonymous twitter account for "things kids say while on nitrous", I'm sure it would be a hoot if Aylin was any indication. So here are our pictures from the event.

Honestly the worst part was a combination of waiting for the numbness to wear off, and that half asleep tingling sensation while her mouth slowly came back to life. She fussed with and bit on her lip enough while it was numb that she'd made it raw and swollen. She reacted to it the same way I do; it lasted FOREVER. She had the work done at 4pm and the numbness still hadn't gone away by bedtime at 7:30. Thankfully she was worn out enough that even though she cried herself to sleep, it didn't take long for her to just give in and fall asleep.

Last week was Dr. Seuss' birthday, so we had a fun day each day last week where the kids went to school with some wild and wacky theme. One day was crazy shoes day, and pajama day, etc. Friday was dress as your favorite Dr. Seuss character day, so Aylin wanted "Cindy Lou Who" hair. We started out with the side braids, and I was going to tease up the top and put a bow in it, but we literally almost missed the bus because the hair was taking way longer than expected. So I ended up doing a third braid up top and just looping them all up and around. And unfortunately, since we were late to the bus stop, I didn't get any pics of it while it was still cute and fresh. So these pics are from the end of the school day...