Juliet is FOUR!!!

Today we celebrated our beautiful Juliet's birthday!  She brought the first pink to our crew and continues to add sass and sparkles.  I would say the one word that describes her best is "fierce."  All her feelings have a heart-felt and powerful intensity.  She loves her brothers and sister fiercely.  She fights for her turn/place/rights fiercely.  She is passionate and that passion makes her stand out in a house full of boys and noise. 

I love meeting her bright smile and cute little voice every morning.  Having another girl to share life with is a joy.  She is a wonderful mommy to her Baby Bear and wears her all the time in the carrier. Juliet's love language is sugar, so she can be found with me in the kitchen quite often. She stirs like a crazy lady and always licks the spoon.  She likes to paint her nails ALL the colors and let her brothers decorate her hair with bows!  She loves to makes cookies with play dough and ride her bike downhill.  Her running stride is phenomenal, and she moves like the wind.  Her skipping can make anyone smile.  She picks out Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy, and other pink books for me to read and "reads" to herself when she isn't singing.  She insists on doing her school work each day just like brothers and will color for hours.  

I am so excited to see what this passionate girl is going to do for the Lord.  I am so thankful to be her momma, a steward of this precious treasure.  Happy Birthday, Juliet!  We love you!!!

Now, Juliet's birthday interview!

What is your favorite color? Pink

What is your favorite toy? Baby Bear

What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries

What is your favorite TV show? Daniel Tiger

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Hotdogs

What is your favorite thing to wear? Dresses

What is your favorite game? Hide and Go Seek

What is your favorite animal? Monkey

What is your favorite snack? Pringles

What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me

What is your favorite book? Fancy Nancy

What do you like to learn about? Getting Stickers

What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike

Who is your best friend? Mary Grace and Grace

What is your favorite drink? Lemonade

What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

What do you take to bed with you at night? Baby Bear and my Bibles

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal

What do you want to be when you grow up? A dog dressed up in a costume

What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Hotdogs

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Go to Waffle House

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Play toys

What do you pray about? God

What do you love about yourself? I love myself!

What is your favorite thing about your brothers? They get stuff for me that is high and I can’t get.

What is your favorite thing about your sister? Sit n’ Spin with her!

My Big Little Man Is ONE!

One year ago our family grew by two teeny tiny feet.  Now those tiny feet are crawling all over the house and have left footprints on our hearts.  Theodore has changed our world in an amazing way and has touched so many lives in his first year. 

He is quite the ladies man.  With his big brown eyes and long lashes, he draws the attention of every passerby.  Then, he flashes them a smile with those dimples and - BAM! Heart stolen!

I love his curiosity.  He watches his siblings intensely and wanders over to try anything that piques his interest.  I wish I could capture the look of awe and wonder that gleams in his eyes when he sees something new and astonishing. 

Theo loves to eat! His favorite foods are orange - carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. Oh, and sausage.  He could eat his weight in sausage.

Carrot cake for the win!

He has worked so hard to progress developmentally.  Up until June he could barely sit up without toppling over.  Then, in the blink of an eye he was crawling, pulling up, and clapping.  He loves to swing at the playground and make noise with the pots and pans.  Water play makes him beyond happy and rides in the wagon are the highlight of his day!

I love watching his relationship with all his siblings but especially Poppy.  She talks enough for the both of them, so Theo just chills and goes with the flow.  He also is patient with all the hugs and kisses she gives.

We are beyond blessed to wake up each day to this bundle of smiles and joy.  He is a true gift.  I pray that he grows to passionately love the Lord and spread the love of Christ wherever he goes.  I can't wait to see all that the Lord has planned for this special boy! 

We love you, Theodore!  Happy 1st Birthday!!!!

Melins on the Move - The End

Lesson we learned: If you ever go north, don't come back south.  It makes the hot even hotter!  We spent the next two days in D.C.  The first day we spent walking the National Mall.  The big five were able to earn their Junior Ranger badges, but that is no easy feat!  It required lots of walking and fact finding.  However, have snacks - will travel.  We made it from one end to the other and even hit up some Smithsonians in between.  By the end of the day both Danny and I had a baby on our backs and another on our fronts.  We were a sight to be seen!

Their album cover!

Working on their Junior Ranger badge work!

It's PINK!

People always offer to take our picture.  I guess they figure if we did the work to get us all here we should have a picture! 

When we got back to our van we were blown away by a terrible smell!  After checking for a lost dirty diaper (it's happened before) and the bottoms of shoes we still hadn't found the source.  It was very fishy!  Finally, our sniffers led us to Jonah's seat.  He had saved the lobster claws from our meal a few days back and some crab parts he had found at the beach.   Since our van had gotten hot it really made them putrid!  Even after smelling the offensive smell Jonah still cried to keep them!

The second day in D.C. we went to the National Zoo.  This is one of our favorite zoos because of the apes and elephants.  However, this time we found some new animals to love.  The armadillos were running laps.  Nothing is cuter than those little legs going a million miles an hour under those shells.  Well, probably a few things are cuter, but they are cute.  My kids also went crazy for the naked moles rats.  We stayed at that exhibit so long Jonah was giving lessons on the animals and correcting the errant parents who gave their children incorrect information.  Sigh.  The chimpanzees had a new baby that provided hours of entertainment.  They also loved how active the leopards and cheetah were.  After seven hours we headed back to pull out the couch bed and have family movie night!

Our long journey might have been coming to a close, but we got to go out with a bang.  Our last stop was in NC to visit our niece and nephews!  More cousin fun!  We hadn't seen them in so long, but Zeke was instant buddies with Danny and the big kids were all off playing within seconds.  So thankful we had the opportunity to stop by!

So, now we are in South Carolina.  We continue to have adventures, discover new places, make new friends, and make memories.

For those of you who pray for us here are some prayer requests:

- Endurance as Danny goes to class each day while also finishing his doctoral work
- Peace as we await news of our next assignment and comfort to know that is just where God has planned for us to go
- Joyfulness in all aspects of life (schooling, parenting, homemaking, etc.)
- Sweet friendships will develop quickly

Thanks!

Melins on the Move! - Part 6

I love when I give God my plans and He makes them even better.  Our next day was like that.  We got an early start in our room (like I mentioned before) so we were up and out pretty quickly.  Our goal was to make it to D.C.  Somewhere along the way I had the thought that our lunch stop could be in Philadelphia so we could see the Liberty Bell.  Well, that stop turned into a whole day of fun surprises!

First, we made our obligatory circles to find parking.  While making the rounds I saw that the Federal Reserve Bank was open for free tours!  The kids loved the $100 of shredded money they each received and seeing all the stacks of cold hard cash!

Inside the Visitors Center we were able to meet some actors who pretended they were actually living in the past.  It was a little confusing for the kids but they enjoyed the activities that were offered. One had pens of the day to use to write their names!  An added bonus: whenever we saw a park ranger the kids could answer questions to earn trading cards of historical sites and figures.  This teaching mama was thrilled with all the facts we were learning!

On our walk to the Liberty Bell we had to wait for a Juneteenth parade to pass.  This holiday was new to me, but we celebrated just the same!  The music was peppy.  We were all dancing, and they threw out beads!

Longest line of the whole trip, but we got to see the Liberty Bell!

Isn't she just so cute?!?!  Just thought I would throw that out there.

On our way back to our van we ran into another fun surprise!  A Chinese Lantern Festival!  This was a colorful display of lanterns in all shapes and sizes.  We walked through a giant shark's mouth, saw little pandas, and danced beside a huge dragon.

Our time in Philly was short but we packed it full.  We did finally make it to D.C.  We stayed at Andrews AFB.  We were even able to walk and see Air Force One (from afar) on the way to get groceries! Score!

Melins on the Move - Part 5

After our journey north, we returned to Boston. This time we started on the opposite end of the Freedom Trail.  We went to a top-notch museum by the USS Constitution.  I was amazed at how hands on they had made the exhibits.  The kids hoisted a goat onto the boat, swung in hammocks, furled sails, cooked in the galley, and pretended to by sailors.  We really could have spent all day there because after we did everything once the kids were ready to do it all again.  However, it was time to board the ship!  

Navigating the ship was tricky with carriers on our backs.  Each level lower also meant the ceiling got lower.  By the time we got to the lowest level we had to walk in a permanent squat position – talk about a quad workout!  

We knew we didn't have time to walk much of the Freedom Trail but we had one goal - climbing the Bunker Hill Monument.  That feat would require getting all nine of us 294 steps to the top after walking to the monument itself.  So, with plenty of water and snacks we started on our way.  About 50 steps up Juliet was done. Danny and I switched back and forth carrying her.  The big boys all made it themselves.  With a breathtaking view before him, Benaiah was more worried about how three pennies found there way outside the window way up that high.  Juliet did make the trip down on her own two feet.  Woohoo!  Sweet success!

Completing that climb was empowering for the boys.  Even when it was hard they kept going, but the trip back to the car seemed a little longer than the trip to the monument :)

The next day we started trekking southward again.  We knew it would be a long day in the car and wanted to break it up with fun stops.  The first bottom break was Plymouth Rock.  We were just in time to hear the ranger tell the whole story.  The boys were captivated because the ranger was a great storyteller.

The second stop was the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory.  We aren't really potato chip eaters, but who doesn't love a factory tour?  Free chips were a perfect addition to our picnic lunch too!

We took our lunch out on Cape Cod and then went for a swim.  We were shocked to see signs that said not to swim with seals because sharks were actively eating seals.  We were even more shocked to see seals as soon as our feet hit the sand.  No sharks, thankfully.  The babies loved the sand.  Theo liked eating it and Poppy made cute little trails from crawling.  We build many rock castles and the water was warm enough to really swim and play.

Next came the only unwise choice we made.  It was already late in the day and we needed to make sleeping arrangements for the night.  We knew there was an Air Force base in Trenton and we could get there a little before midnight. Well, we could if we were driving country roads in the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately, we were driving on crowded northeastern roads with wrecks and construction.  We showed up a little before 2 in the morning with a sleeping crew.  If only my lack of sleep made them sleep in.  It is times like this you say, "Oh, well!  Make the best of it!"  So, I hopped in bed and prayed for miraculous multiplication of sleep.  Oh, and they only had two hotel rooms so I took the babies and Jules with me and Danny had the boys.  I got the short end of the stick . . . I mean I got the opportunity to enjoy every moment of the day - even before sunrise.  :) Lucky me.

Melins on the Move - Part 4

The following day we headed north to New Hampshire.  Thanks again to Blue Star Museums we were able to get into Strawbery Banke for free!  Strawberry Banke is a collection of houses that have been refurbished and used as a living history museum.  The kids were able to ask a cobbler a million questions, learn to weave with a loom, try to shop with ration stamps, roam through a “victory garden”, play with a hoop and stick, and so much more!  To top it off, all the local schools were still in session, so we had the place to ourselves. 

We had already put in a full day, but who could resist a hop over the state line and a trip to the beaches of Maine?  Brrrr.  It was very windy and the water temperature at Long Sands Beach was in the mid-forties.  Jonah thought we were going swimming.  He did get in up to his waist but that didn’t last long.  The other kiddos loved building with the rocks, watching the birds, and chasing the waves.  It was a unique experience for kids that have only been to the warm waters at southern beaches. 

On the way home we stopped at a diner on the water to let everyone try lobster.  They even got to pick out the poor guy.  Each big kid eventually tried it . . . and liked it! I think Eli enjoyed it the most but as he put it, “I wish lobster wasn’t a lobster.”  He felt bad eating the little creature.  Silliest dinner!  What was supposed to be a peaceful dinner watching boats pass and water creatures roam turned into a workout as I tried to pry lobster meat out for everyone and a comedy show as Danny made us all laugh giving the lobster a voice and having it “talk” to the babies.

We were all still trying to warm up as we rode back home to rest up for another day!