Our Christmas Greeting

Here are the photos that made it to our Christmas card!

Christmas is a Comin'

and the geese are getting fat, please put a penny in the old man's hat . . . ." 
(Come on mid-1990's EHS chorus members!  Sing it with me!!)

So, how have you all been this week?

Life has been going pretty well around here.  Rachel has been a content baby and has been sleeping for three hour stretches at night--just as all of her siblings did as newborns.  I didn't even have to tell her that was one of the rules!  What a smart little girl.

(This photo didn't make the cut for our Christmas card, but it was my favorite.)
You know when you work and work on a puzzle and you think it is completed, only to get to the end to find out you are missing a piece right out of the middle?  Rachel is that piece in this crazy Melius family puzzle.  We're so glad God was keeping her safe in His plan for us all along! 
We are looking forward to seeing our families over the next couple weekends and Rachel's baptism on January 1.
May you have a blessed Christmas if I don't "see" you again before then!

Rachel Olivia has arrived!

Were you wondering what happened to me?  You probably guessed--baby decided to make her arrival on Wednesday morning! 

We actually went into the hospital to check if I was in labor on Tuesday.  I know that sounds crazy since it was my fourth time, but I just felt weird.  So, the nurses hooked me up to the monitor, but nothing was happening, so we were sent away. 

Since we were scheduled to be induced early Wednesday morning anyway and the road conditions weren't the greatest, we decided to spend the night in Aberdeen.

Thank goodness for Holiday Inn Express' Rapid Check Out because I went into labor at about 4am on Wednesday.  We went to the hospital shortly before our appointed time of 6:00am and Rachel Olivia arrived at 8:06am.  Now that's one efficient baby girl!

She was 8 lbs 7oz and 21 inches long.  She holds the Melius baby weight record by a pound.  I guess when you are the baby of four siblings, you have to arrive ready to hold your own.

We came home on Friday.  It was difficult to leave the cocoon of our quiet hospital room, but it was time to start our new adventure in a family of six! 

A Gingerbread Village

What was the very first thing in my WalMart cart on Wednesday?  A kit for a gingerbread village! 

I waited until Thursday after school to get this mother/child bonding project moving. 

After assembling the (admittedly simple) pre-cut houses with my very excited/loud potential gingerbread decorators hovering over me, and then having to wait an excruciatingly long hour to let the frosting/mortar harden, I started to question my sanity and that of the WalMart employees. 

(Really . . . shouldn't someone have stopped me from buying such a thing?  Did I really look emotionally stable enough to take on such a project with three children?  They don't let 16 year olds buy spray glitter, but they let a 9 1/2 months pregnant woman buy a GINGERBREAD VILLAGE KIT?  What kind of store policy is that?) 

Looking back on it, it really wasn't that bad, but I think next time I will assemble the houses before they come home since that part isn't all that much fun anyway.

So, fast forward to the fun part.  I turned all three of them loose with the included frosting and candy and the project took on a whole new spin.  They each chose their buildings, shared their decorations, made a huge sugary mess, and had a GREAT time!

 They were working so hard, they didn't even ask to EAT.  David called to say he would be late for supper and I told him it was OK since they were building a gingerbread village.  He didn't think I was serious.  Then he came home and found this:

a village complete with parking lots for trucks and machinery.  What else would a Melius Gingerbread Village include? 
(Landen took this photo and was so proud of the view overlooking the combine hopper.)

And then we ate, but they were too excited telling about their creations to eat much at all!

Will we do this again next year? 
Sure! 
Sometimes crazy ideas can turn out to be pretty good ones!

Help!

I just noticed today that links are showing up in my posts that I haven't put there.  (Words are different colored or underlined and take you to a web page or ad.) 
Just ignore these and I will see what I can do.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of these, please share!