May 2018

It's that time again - for my monthly recap!

Aylin and I moseyed through First Friday and she got her face painted (she loved it...)


We decided to take the Soobie out on some dirt roads and go for a couple of hikes. Turns out going on two back-to-back hikes so soon after being released back to normal duty from my surgery restrictions maybe wasn't such a wise idea. We got not quite out to the lookout on Hawks Bill Crag when I started to crash hard - dizzy, weak, out of breath. Jeff to the rescue - he ran ahead of Aylin and I back to the car to get more water and a granola bar while Aylin and I began slowly working our way back. We all slept good that night.  


Aylin earned one final "Off-The-Charts" for the school year, and got to make cupcakes with our sweet neighbor. They had so much fun and sprinkles were applied generously. Then Aylin and I topped it all off with an ice cream cone reward. 


My Loves generously spoiled me this year for Mother's Day - Aylin made my breakfast, she also made my a bracelet and a painted clay jewelry holder, plus they got me a fabulous Star Wars t-shirt, a Bob Ross figurine, and the most amazing vacuum ever a Shark! We also went out to dinner at Fish City where I thought I'd be adventurous and try clams - I tried them, and my curiosity has been satisfied. They are *not* something I will be trying again. 


We also put new flowers in the window boxes as well as the front triangle garden. 


I (Teena) started back at regular Zumba classes at the DAC. It was hard at first, but it has been fun to get back into it. It's also tremendously satisfying to troll Aylin with all my dance moves and to "ruin" her favorite songs with my moves. So. Much. Fun.


Aylin showed off her skills on her new recorder from school.


We found us a new hiking trail - Smith Creek Preserves - with waterfalls and a creek to play in, it was so beautiful! We found a huge, thick vine hanging over the trail and decided to swing like monkeys. 


We finally got the telescope out and viewed the big beautiful Full Moon. Aylin had a blast! Then later on Jeff and I were able to see Jupiter and 3 of it's moons. It's so incredible to be able to see those things so closely with so much detail. 

 

Last but not least we finally got to have our Last Day of School. 3rd grade is officially in the bag! 

 



And that's a wrap for May!

April 2018

April was an interesting month at the Melton casa. It was the coldest April ever recorded for NWA, we even got a bit of snow. It was often slow (and a bit boring) for me - as I was on physical restrictions post surgery. But we did have a bit of excitement.

We had a pretty low key Easter between cold and wet weather, and me being low energy from surgery recovery. Aylin had a lot of fun and enjoyed coloring eggs, as well as some fun things in her Easter basket.
Aylin got OFF-THE-CHARTS again at school and she got to have a fun ice cream date with our neighbor who has established a reward routine for when Aylin hits the off the chart goal. It's pretty special, and Aylin looks forward to their fun time together.
Nana came for a visit, and Aylin got to have some fun 1:1 time with her. They played games, and Aylin talked her ears off. 
I got to go on a women's retreat with church and had an amazing time. I got to have some productive in-plugged down time, I had some great conversations with lots of ladies, made new friends and got to hug friends I hadn't seen in a while. Soaked in the words that the awesome Sue Addington spoke to us about our Identity in Christ. Learned more about Enneagram, Love Languages, and personality types like Lion/Otter/Beaver/Golden Retriever. Sat by a camp fire, worshipped with tears flowing, made paper flowers, and leather earrings. It was such a great refreshing weekend! 
Aylin's school had a Breakfast for your Wonder Woman that I got to go to, and they also dressed up as Super Hero's for the day. 
We found a really cool luna moth in our front flower bed.
We ended up buying a new vehicle. It's a long story, and although we were hoping to be car payment free for a while longer than just a few months, it ended up being a good thing in the end. We got a great deal, and the process worked rather smoothly (as smoothly as car deal can go). It was the first pleasant car buying experience we've had in our marriage. Mostly because we communicated better and worked together to listen to each other, but also because Adventure Subaru treated us really well. (I also found out, thanks for the beverages available at Adventure Subaru that Blue Sky has some pretty amazing soda flavors that are no sugar sweetened with stevia, AWESOME!) Most importantly Jeff and I are both happy with the outcome. The vehicle hits the sweet spot for all of our needs; I am comfortable with where our payment landed, and Jeff is finally in a vehicle that he enjoys (rather than being stuck in a vehicle I chose before my vision crisis caused me to not be able to drive). And we are tremendously thankful for neighbors who were willing to be on call if the car deal went long so that someone was around to get Aylin off the bus. 

After the car deal was all settled Jeff got to turn around and head to Norfork for the men's retreat. While he was off having manly man time Aylin and I had a girls weekend. We had breakfast at the Bentonville Baking Company, shopped on the square, watched movies (Cinderella by Rogers and Hammerstein, Inside Out), made fun juice cocktails, ate junk food, and stayed up waaaaay too late. All in all it was a great weekend.

 

So that's a wrap for the month of April!

February 2018

Lots of FUN in the month of February around the Melton Casa! 

We had a cozy Super Bowl viewing just the 3 of us, I made sweet potato waffles and chicken with a honey sriracha aioli sauce. Jeff and I liked it, Aylin wasn't such a huge fan of the sweet potato waffles. We all marveled over JT and his crazy talent and generally PG halftime show. Then cheered on the Eagles as they pulled out a WIN over the Patriots. It was a pretty impressive game over all, and I'm not usually in to football... So there's that.


Aylin worked hard at school, and had set a goal to get OFF THE CHART on her behavior chart. They use a clip up/clip down system in her classroom; for good behavior they clip up, and bad they clip down. Often times her chatty nature causes her problems and she hovers around green (which is neutral). So hitting pink (highest color) or off the chart (highest possible) is a pretty big deal. She made a pact with a neighbor friend that if she got off the chart, our neighbor told her she would take her for a hot chocolate treat. So it was a big deal when she finally did set her mind to it and she reached her goal. In fact by the end of the month she had reached off the chart TWICE. 


IF:Gathering - This isn't something I would typically write about in the family blog, but I decided it was ok as a little blurb because, after all, it was something that happened in February. IF:Gathering is an awesome Women's Conference (of sorts) that takes place in the beginning of Feb, and this was the 5th year. It's hosted down in Texas and was the brain child of Jennie Allen. I have watched it online in the past, and last year watched it with friends. This year though I decided to go watch the simulcast with a friend at her church. It was so so good! If you've never been a part of it, you should definitely look it up. They keep the videos available online on their website for you to go back to and re-watch, or host a gathering in your home at another point in the year if February isn't a good month for you. I think there is a small fee for downloading it, but it is so so worth it. It's great to be able to hit the pause button on all the other things that keep us busy, and connect with other women in such a deep and meaningful way. It's so inspiring, and it fills me up each year. It was so fun to get to do it with a close friend this year. 

Valentines! I had fun spoiling my loves with yummy food and decorations for Valentines. I made toad in a hole for breakfast using a heart shaped cutter for the holes. For dinner we had chili and cornbread but I colored the cornbread pinkish red, and set the table all nice with our red place mats and used real napkins and set the table all fancy like. 

Aylin made an ADORABLE unicorn for her school Valentine box, and made rainbow colored hearts for her valentine cards. I love that she loves to make her cards herself. She had a lot of fun thinking through and then putting together the unicorn box. Yay Pinterest for ideas, and then figuring out how to make it work with what we have and putting her own unique touches to it. I love her spunk and creatiity.

 

Aylin got to enjoy some cousin time with baby Eliza and learn a little bit about babysitting. She had so much fun, and Eliza is just such a doll! In a few short years she'll be doing the babysitting all by herself! Oh my!


Aylin's BIRTHDAY! It's hard to believe that tiny little munchkin has grown into such a sweet, responsible, kind-hearted 9 year old! We started the celebration off with dinner after church Saturday night, we had to go to secondary options though because her first pick was such a long wait it would have been disasterous. So she picked Whole Hog BBQ that we took home to enjoy while watching a movie (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!). Then Sunday we surprised her with a day in Spingfield, MO - we matched up with Papa Joe and Grama Linda at the Mall and did some shopping, part of our gift to Aylin was letting her shop (I'm pretty sure shopping is one of her love languages) and pick out some things. Justice, and Build-A-Bear were the main attractions (shocker). She loved picking out an adorable bunny and going through the whole routine of picking out what sound thing goes inside, putting in a beating heart, she added a bubble gum smell packet to it, and then picked out a cute cheerleader outfit for her. Now Lilie Bunny gets pampered and sleeps beside her with her very own sleeping mask. It's adorable, even if the music inside the bunny drives me bonkers. We also enjoyed the Bass Pro Aquarium and Wild Life museum. Holy Cow! That place is huge, and amazing. It was a lot of fun (and walking!) and there were so many neat things to see! We could have probably easily killed the whole day there. As it was, our feet were getting tired and we still had a long drive home. So instead of a nicer dinner out we made due with a McD's happy meal, and Starbucks for mom & dad before heading back home. 

DAY OF THE BIRTHDAY: #theGingerGirl requested chocolate chip pancakes for her breakfast in bed, and P.F.Chengs style lettuce wraps for her birthday dinner. Plus I took my baking game for an adventure and made a rainbow-layered unicorn cake. Let me tell you; that was the hardest cake I've done yet, but also the most fun. I had to do the layers of the cake twice (because the first set of layers didn't turn out how I wanted them to - they were uneven and lumpy), so I was glad I had thought ahead and bought an extra cake mix just in case... But it turned out great, and Aylin was blown away. It was totally worth it. I went with the Unicorn/Rainbow theme - and made a homemade birthday banner. She also got a new unicorn beanie boo, and a locket necklace. 

All in all, I think she got everything her sweet little heart desired, and then some. It's been a fun tradition to do a birthday experience of some sort each year. She had been really hoping for a party with friends, but I think(hope) that ultimately the fun memories we make will outweigh the need for a party with friends. Because while I love doing fun things and going over the top for the family - the party with friends idea stresses me out. Our house isnt big enough to host a lot of people, and February is just such a gamble for hoping for nice weather to do something outside.


Finally - a fun little bit of celebration is in order as I (Teena) have been working hard at losing weight. With a little pharmecological assistance and sticking with a low carb - smart eating diet; I've managed to lose 15 pounds so far! My goal is to be down 20 pounds by the time I have surgery in March, which I am on track for. I just need to keep making good choices and stay focused on the long term benefit (being healthy, more energy, better quality of life, etc) rather than feeling sad because I want a sweet treat. Most of the time it's not been a problem. But occasionally I slip up. Generally I have been doing really well with it as long as I stay out in front of it, and have food handy that both appeals to me, and fits my guidelines. Because if I don't have something handy, easy, or already planned all bets are off and the plan goes out the window. So, here's to heatlhy choices!