Neil Does It Again...

the man.

Lourdes, Cindy and Zanna...cute pic.

the host...reciting the history of the Neil Diamond Party

the gals...who doesn't want to hold Neil Diamond

we opted for side-ponies this year and I think it really brought out the beauty of the sweaters :)

"pin the scarf on the Neil"

notice the Spiderman/Neil Diamond sweater ensemble...sweeetness

Family Photos with Neil

Rob couldn't make it so Cindy went a little crazy... I joined in

the Vancours

the Adams'

the Martell's

Us

I don't have pics of the Cho's, Kritzer's or Lou and Ryan..but we still love you guys!

3 finalists in the "best sweater" contest

some awesome performances

a few little creations...

If you need a new cupcake recipe I TOTALLY recommend this one!!

they were fun to make and a big hit in the tasty department as well.

Here is the recipe on the Betty Crocker website: click here

oh, and I would follow the tip to freeze the cupcakes after you fill them, before you dip the tops in the chocolate so that all the filling doesn't run out...just fyi

we had dinner with Jess, Tyler and Sam so I monogrammed our cupcakes :)

I finally made this little "taggie" for Eliza hope she likes it when I get to hold her in 4 days- yay!!

I've made these before, but looked at this website for a little refresher course:

taggie instructions

Zanna helped me pick out the ribbons as she is the master of all things "silky"

It felt good to be a little crafty as I haven't been doing much of that sort of thing lately.

and p.s. - you really should make these cupcakes...they are DEEE-lish!

Highly Successful Thanksgiving!

On Tuesday I woke up feeling a little sick but since I was finally able to get my flu shot, I went and got it. I think that was a bad choice. I ended up getting really sick that night- aches, headache, throwing up etc. But, after some great care from the good doctor Dave (and some good pregnant safe medicine) I was feeling much better by Wednesday night and was able to do all the Thanksgiving activities we had planned.

We started at 5:45 am Thursday morning to head out to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

This year we did it right and got there on time to meet the awesome Alsop family who had front row seats waiting for us...

the kids were so happy to see their buddies again and the time went by way too quickly

they even had donuts and hot chocolate to share with us :)

We saw a lot of famous people this year in the parade: Cyndi Lauper, Jimmy Fallon, Mitchel Musso, Carly Simon, the smurfs, Kathrine McPhee etc.

above is Miss America and the winner of the NYC marathon

these are the people we really came to see though and I'm so happy it all worked out!

Mike and Amanda came up from Virginia to spend the weekend and it took them 10 hours!!

So, they recovered while we went to the parade and then since Dave had to work we went and met him at the hospital for some good ol' cafeteria Thanksgiving turkey :)

Dave was able to get work off on Friday so we headed into the city via the Brooklyn Bridge

(we've walked this thing a lot lately...but I still love it)

We had lunch in Chinatown and then some delicious rice pudding at Rice to Riches - the vanilla with butterfinger/graham cracker powder was the best- good job Amanda.

We walked from south Manhattan up to 59th st. and saw

the Empire State Building

the Christmas windows at Macy's

Time's Square w/a stop at M&M world and ended up at FAO Swartz with little POP burgers for dinner. It was a GREAT day and I was impressed the kids were able to walk that far!

On Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving and this is our turkey before...

and AFTER!!

(don't mind my big shirt that makes me look really large)

It was fun to cook with Amanda, Mike and Dave all doing their part

and dinner turned out just like we wanted it to with all those flavors in perfect combination that should only come together once a year to make them extra special.

This year we carried out the Mumford family tradition of making "face cookies" and tried really hard to make the cookie look just like the real person...

what do you think?

these are a great activity if anyone wants the recipe and you can use them as place markers for your table setting since the stand up on the gumdrop stick

It was a great family weekend and we have so much to be THANKFUL for.

We LOVED having Mike and Amanda (and wolflaser, the baby to be) here with us-- thanks for coming guys!

bring on the moves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

feeling much better

I feel like I need to write about some good things after my last post, and I want to say that I am feeling better and so grateful for all your positive affirmations and confirmations that I am not going crazy and will return to normal-- whatever that is :)

Last week I had a great time helping at the kid's school with their Thanksgiving Celebrations.

they had their parties on different days so it was fun to have some one-on-one with each kid and learn about their class and friends. They both did music performances and then had a "Thanksgiving Feast."

James said he thought they were going to have turkey and potatoes and was a little confused when they served bagels, fruit, veggies, and cookies :)

James was so cute during his performance and actually looked a little nervous. Afterwards he said, "that was so cool, it was my biggest performance ever!"

our weekend was pretty mellow and we mostly just 'bummed around"

Z and J had their last soccer games on Saturday and James scored 3 goals-- he is so fun to watch!

they all got trophies after the game and thought they were SO AWESOME

(although they look pretty cheesey to me:)

Zanna had a good last game too and I think likes the social aspect of the sport more than the actually playing of the game, but I'm just glad she had fun and she said she wants to play indoor in the winter. Her team had some adorable girls that really knew how to hustle!!

Dave had to work ALL weekend- fri, sat and sun- so we went to meet him for cafeteria ice cream and show him the new trophies, it was a great 5 minutes of dad-time.

we are very lucky that we can just walk down the hill and see him

yesterday I just wanted something comfy and warm to eat so I made this simple chicken noodle soup (I only had elbows, but it worked) and it was just that-- simple and yummy. I just added carrots, celery, onions and chicken base to some water, boiled that for few minutes, and then added some pasta, garlic salt, and dried parsley. I threw a couple of frozen chicken tenders in the oven for about half hour with some olive oil, salt and pepper and when they were done I cut them into pieces and threw 'em in the pot.

We had grilled cheese and tomatoes slices with the soup and it was a nice little meal.

Good weekend, ready to start the week with an attitude of gratitude!

I just feel like having a little stream of consciousness moment...

- I feel tired... and tired of feeling tired. I think I used to have a lot more energy and just feel like a slug every night. I try to be energetic for the kids, but some afternoons I just have to check out and close my eyes. I know I'm pregnant and all, but I think it's more than that and I'm afraid the high-energy Melanie may not come back-- let's hope not because I can tell it's affecting my mood and happiness. I'm sure it will come back, but just not sure when...

- continuing with the blah...I feel so UNCREATIVE lately!! I'm sure this is linked to the above thought, but I feel like all my creative juices have just flown right down the drain and I am in a funk. I used to be somewhat crafty and have done some fun projects, but I really don't have any motivation or desire to do that right now. Actually, I think about things I would like to do a lot, but then it seems like such a pain to go all the way to the fabric/craft store etc.- how pathetic is that? Maybe the Holidays will get me going again, or maybe I'll just buy the gifts this year :)

-why do kids love to talk potty talk?? they think it is so funny (well, so do many members of my family- Mindy and Scott!) but I don't get the humor. I try to let them be kids and not just get mad when they are going on and on about potty, bums, poop, toilets, booties etc. but when is enough enough!! I wonder if I did this when I was little?? let's hope it's phase...but I doubt it

- I love being pregnant but am really getting a lot bigger these last two weeks or so. The book said this is the "rapid growth phase" but, come on? I went to a class at the gym tonight and picked a nice little spot where I couldn't really see the mirrors--i love going to the gym and will continue to go, but on nights like these (where I'm in kind of a bad mood) I didn't really love seeing all the super-fit gym girlies-- i came home and ate a nice handful of peanut m&m's and felt much happier (how dumb is that!)

- I am really looking forward to being in UT for Christmas this year! We arrive the night of my mom's side of the family's big Christmas party where I get to see all my cousins and eat lots of my favorite food and then all the Francis Family gets to be together for all of Christmas Eve this year and I am so excited for that! I don't like packing for trips, but I sure love taking them!

-I think one reason I am looking forward to this trip so much is to get a little break from my calling. I'm not going to go into any details here, but let's just say I've been a little busy and stressed with some situations and SO MANY PHONECALLS! I truly do enjoy and appreciate this calling right now and I have SO MUCH RESPECT for the ladies that have done it much longer than me, but am just grateful for this little break and I think I will come back feeling refreshed and ready to face the music :)

- i love the computer, but also feel like I am letting it suck some of my life away. that's probably part off my problem with the 'lack of creativity thing' ...interesting.

- i have GREAT friends-- we had an Enrichment last week about "Social Preparedness" and it made me realize again how fortunate I am to have so many wonderful people in my life- family and friends. I am motivated to be a better person by all the examples and different strengths of my friends (and fam) and just love ya'll to pieces!

- Dave is such an interesting person to live with and sometimes I wish I could just have a little camera on all day so others could see what I do...he makes me crazy at times but then just makes my laugh without trying so many other times because he is so unique in his thoughts--and is not afraid to share them. If you know Dave...you know what I mean! good times.

I think I am done for a bit and do feel much better. I just needed a little "venting of the thoughts" session. Although there is so much more to say, I am tired and need to get some things done tonight. So if you read this, thanks for listening and if not, I'll never know it so no sweat. Have a good night- Melanie

"the girls and babies"

Last month we had the visit of visits from "the girls and babies" as Zanna and James called it.

My sister, 2 sis-in-laws and all three of their babies came to stay for 4 days--as well as my childhood BFF, who was 27 weeks with child, and my two lovely lady cousins...it was a total estrogen party and I am only now blogging about it because it has taken me this long to recover.... :)

Mindy, Courtnee, Andrea and I (and the three babies) spent two full days in NYC and we were quite a sight with all the babes in baby bjorns, blankets and hats-- people made all sorts of comments and we even heard "oh, there's those babies and moms again" as if we were a New York attraction :) Court and Andrea have all the good city pictures but we had a great time walking the Brooklyn Bridge, shopping in Chinatown and Soho, strolling in Central Park, hanging in Times Square, eating gyros, Serendipity Frozen hot chocolate, Dylan's Candy Bar, H&M and A LOT OF WALKING!!! We packed a lot in and Dave was so great to have daddy days with our kids so that I could play sister and tour guide :)

we also hung out a lot at home and Z and J loved having all these guests and babies to play with

Heather flew in for two of the days to join the girl-party and it was SO FUN to see her pregnant!!! She is absolutely gorgeous and tiny and was such an amazing help to me with all our cooking and erranding-- we had quite an eventful weekend (the story is too long for this blog, but I was very grateful to have her here with me!!)

here's my beautiful cousins in the middle- Jess and Holly- i love having them so close and they are two of the coolest gals around

we finally sat down after Sunday dinner to relax and have a pedicure party-- I should have taken a picture of our toes and our bellies :)

we had a beautiful fall day up at Bear Mountain and although we missed the bears- very sad- we had some delicious fudge and the colors and leaves were amazing

we stopped at Stew Leonard's for dinner on the way home and it was crazy with all of us but so tasty as usual

Mindy, Jess and I (not such a cute one of me)

Jess surprised all the kiddos (and mom's) with matching jammies for all the kids! We had a great time trying to get photos of them all together and I wish I could post more, but don't want to bore you-- they sure looked cute though, thanks JESS!

The whole weekend went way too quickly and I am SO LUCKY that all these people came all this way to visit us in our little apartment! Dave was a huge trooper and help--I think he wanted to run to a hotel but I was proud of him for sticking it out and being so great!

I love my family and can't wait to see them all again at Christmas time- yeah!