The Mellingers

Pictures!!

2010-07-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a WHOLE BUNCH of pictures! It has been a LONG time since I've updated. So for the weak and lighthearted, prepare to skim. For the strong and enduring, progress with joy!
:-)

Christmas 2009. Christmas 2008 we both posed at this same coffee shop for a belly-bump picture! And though you can't see it, there's actually a mini belly-bump under my jacket there.

I love Addie & Jackson's expressions - so captures the an essence of their personalities!

Christmas!

Our dog Tony, too lazy to run away from a kiss!

Jackson used to love to carry lego-men around in his mouth and whistle through them :)

Grandma & Grandpa Chapman and kids - at the beach January 2010

Sportin' the hat and an outfit from Auntie Mo Mo!
Sisters
Austin's Architecture
(that is a solid glass fish filled with coins on top!... who says legos are for kids???)
Jackson moves in for the grab...

BOOM!!!Two cool cousins, ready for a walk in O.C.
Little baby bump
Cute smiles!

"Good Night Moon"
Am I in trouble, Mom?
Playing in the big cardboard house Daddy made
Happy 1st Birthday Jackson!
(April 17 - 2010)
3 generations of lovely ladies
Bath-hawk!
Whoa!!
Loving his new trike!

Ready for a family dateoooh yeah
My beautiful girls...
(June 4, 2010)Striking a pose before our last show together
...how I'll miss them!

Vacation to the beach after the grand finale of OYT Studios....

Love this picture! (Notice the beautiful flowers in the background??? Thanks Heidi!!!)

Finally not EATING the sand, but PLAYING IN the sand!! What fun!!!

How many towers can we put up before Jackson's Demolition Company moves in??
Gettin' his feet wet in the stream Two babies...
Loving the WIND on the beach!
Who's shadow is THAT???
Mom & Dad came out to share a day at the beach with us before we left!
We played in the sand together...
And Grandpa won the award for most towers up at a time (before Jackson pounded them down!)
Jackson loved having Grandma & Grandpa there!

And Jackson's favorite: CHARGING INTO THE WAVES --- whee!!!!!!
A visit to Brian & Rachel's --- Anna's already dressing Jackson up!
Maggie & Jackson
(This was right before he leaned over and gave Maggie a kiss! It was all his own idea... so cute!)

Jackson's all packed in and ready to move!The big move to Molalla

Jackson's friends to entertain him while we moved all the stuff4th of July weekend...
Getting a little crazy on the croquet field!
Yay Brian! You won the game!
The posed Chapmans

The REAL Chapmans ;-)

Oh so strong!!
Relaxing around the fire...
Belly picture/Date picture
July 2010
Swim at Nona's!

All for now!!

Thoughts

2010-02-03T11:47:00.000-08:00

So I thought I'd so a post with words. Sorry for anyone who didn't care for this :-).. ok, maybe not that sorry!

My thoughts about a week ago:

"Is God unjust who inflicts wrath?... Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?"
Paraphrased: "How can God be good if He sends people to hell?"
Answer: How could God be good if there was no way to judge/govern the world?
Example: what would happen if in our world, we suddenly decided not to punish murderers? Or perhaps something no so extreme: what if we decided not to, in any way, punish robbers? Rapers? Those who testify falsely in court? Leaders and politicians that steal millions of dollars? Children-abusers? What would that look like? How would that change things in our country? Now imagine there was someone who stood up for pure goodness. This person stood for no killing, lying, stealing, cheating, etc. But since he stood for PURE goodness, it filtered down to even the littlest offense... lying to your parents, cheating on exams, holding hatred in your heart towards a co-worker... It isn't that this person is over-excessive, it's just that he's found what pure goodness is, and he is standing for it. This is God. Now I don't know about others, but for some reason it makes me glad to think somebody is standing for pure goodness... and even knows what pure goodness is! I feel like the lines of goodness and badness gets blurrier every day here. And even though our government and law enforcement stands up for some goodness, they don't for all. So for me, there is something comforting about there being one who stands up for it all: PURE goodness.
Now this is where it is important to understand that this same person has the ability to take his stand for goodness and also to enrich it. Number one, he is able to uphold pure goodness in his court of law. He has the resources and power to take care of person after person who offends, steals, hurts, and kills. He also has all authority to give the just penalty to each offense. He stands for PURE goodness, remember, so really, each person in the world is going to receive some level of penalty for offending the purity of good. Secondly, and this is the part that people seem to deny, and therefore call God some horrible guy in the sky, God offers sweet mercy to each offender. He offers mercy to the girl who grew up hating her mother, he offers mercy to the man who raped 20 women and children and killed two men. His mercy is sufficient to blot out any penalty that might have been given to any level of offense. Wow. And then the miracle of it all, the only requirement for the mercy, is repentance. And with repentance, God grants a transformation of spirit that causes the desires for pure goodness to rise in the forgiven man's heart. God doesn't just let them off the hook to go continue murdering, raping, stealing, lying, etc. When a true repentance takes place, a true transformation occurs that is the biggest miracle and sweet gift seen on this planet. It changes individuals, it changes societies.

Recent pictures!

2009-12-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

OKAY!! Skipping ahead to RECENT pictures (if I fill in we'll never catch up!)

***********BE WARNED***********
EXTREME CUTENESS TO FOLLOW.

SO cute #1!!
All blue and all pink!
Jackson & Maggie
(notice they're going for eachother's binkies!)

(Maggie smiling at Jackson!)
Family dinner at Sande's!Fun!

Mommy dances w/Jackson
In for the kiss

Extreme cuteness #2JPM & Cousin Addie! (At Meet Maggie party!)

Family and family's kids
W/hubbies
Adorable Anna in a new dress-up-sparkle-jacket

Rachel's birthday!!Grandma & Maggie

Sisters, sisters!So cute #3

So cute #whatever!Does he really have more cuteness in him? Yes! He does!

and more..
melt mommie's heart!
(and notice, he put the binky in himself!)

Daddy & son

Haircut #3!
Settler's w/family!

awww

w/great-grandma Nana!
awww

He enjoys eating on the run... :)
Family picture @ Nona'sDaddy & son!

Family picture!
And........... Welcome to our family, Tony!

Videos!

2009-12-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

All these were posted on youtube - but in case you didn't see them there... here they are again! From this summer... (JPM 2-3 months old)

More pictures!

2009-12-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Here's another batch of pictures. Sorry they're a little old.

One short picture from our Recital back in March! Just for fun...

Austin's surprise wakeboarding/birthday party in August!

Cute boy...

At the beach in August! Calais and her nephew Jonathan - so cute.

Yikes... I don't know if I can remember this guy's name... but he was from Norway and very inspiring person to listen to!

Friends :)

No comment necessary!

Mom & Son

The three boys and three different stages of life... walking, sitting/crawling, laying around..

Dad & Son

The girls learning/relearning to knit!

Can't resist pulling the beard!

Relaxing morning at the beach..

Dave & Abe

Matt

James & Anna

Me and my proud instructor! I have just finished knitting my very first "dishrag" in this picture

Picture Catchup #2

2009-09-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

As promised... here are more pictures! They're not all in top notch form... but that's what happens when you are an amateur photographer and don't own photoshop. :-D

First : Jackson's first trip to the Zoo!!

Inside looking at fancy monkeys with cousin Anna and second cousin once removed daughter of mom's cousin Olivia! And their parents... respectively.

Snuggling with Momma...

Lydia & 'Livia :)

This one makes me laugh - all the cameras surrounding the little ones!

Zebras!

The adorable kiddos!

Sweet sleeper...

Coping with the summer heat! Sitting in the bumbo with the fan on high. :-) (no clothes on helps too!)

A day with friends! Jonathan & Asher and Momma Erin.

Mmm... mm... good!

Anna's Henry getting bigger!

Austin expands his repetoire and gives me a fantastic pedicure! Red nails with white french tips... :-)

Jackson's favorite thing to do on his changing table.

All ready to swim!

With Nona in the pool!
(The way we spent the big heat waves this summer!)

Family pic in the pool :)

Grandma & Grandpa even came!

Having a blast in the pool...!

Great-Grandma's 80th Birthday Party!

Devon enjoying Jackson.. or is it Jackson enjoying Devon? :)

Ahh.. relaxing...

Look at me mom! I can stand!

Hahahahahahaha....!!!!

Getting some time with Great-Uncle (or Grunkle as some say!) Ken

And time with... er... let's just call her a cousin, Ashley!

And the gorgeous Ashley actually sits still for a picture... with even a little smile!

Jackson's new high chair!! Gotta love craigslist.

Jackson's new ginormous crib! Thanks craiglist again.

:-)

Jackson's second, but much more intrusive, haircut!

Goodbye Peacock Top!

aww....

Almost caught up... will post again soon with the last bunch o' pictures!
Ta-ta.

A lotto pictures

2009-09-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Aloha!

Time for some pictures! Unfortunately I am a little behind... so they're a little old. I'll keep posting to get us caught up though! Yahoo! I love pictures. This is the primary reason this blog was started. So.. enjoy!

Some sleeping pictures....

Our first date after Jackson was born! Yay! (We went to thai... mmm....)

Emily - these shoes are direct inspiration from you. I hope you're proud. :-D

4th of July pictures!

Grandma and Jackson

Cousin Anna and Pepper

Aunty "Essa" & Anna

Grandma & Grandpa & Grandkids!

Aww... kiss for Jackson!

Grandma & Jackson

Playing in the pool! :-D

All for now! Jack is up. Ttyl.

More baby info :-)

2009-08-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a letter that I wrote to the great-grandparents recently --- thought I'd post it on here too for anyone else interested. :-)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jackson is 14 weeks old tomorrow! He will have another Dr. appointment in about a month... but according to my own measurements, he is now 24 inches long (3.5 inches of growth!) and at least 14 lbs. He is getting heavy! A very solid little guy. He is sleeping well at night with usually an 8 hour stretch followed by a 3 hour stretch. He also naps pretty well, falling asleep by himself without crying for the majority of his naps! Although, in the last couple days he has begun not liking being put down for naps. Hopefully it is not a development that sticks around. Nursing is also going well. It took quite a while to go well, as Jackson tended to cry while eating fairly often, but it seems he has gotten over whatever was bothering him (I tried all kinds of things to help, but he just decided on his own when he was better!) He has now rolled over from belly to the back several times, although it still takes a lot of concentration and effort!

Jackson's favorite thing to do in the morning when he first wakes up is to "talk!" It is a lot of fun. He lays there and, very proud of himself, says, "Ghhhhoooo!" We go back and forth, mimicking each other's ghoo's and bhhoo's and whatever else. Precious time that I will cherish forever I'm sure! His favorite thing to do when he's starting to get sleepy is standing! I didn't expect him to enjoy standing this early, but he loves it! He is a big smiler, and likes to smile at most people who will talk to him and smile at him! He has had a few times of laughing... three times that I know of! The most recent time was someone scaring him that just made him laugh over and over! What a wonderful sound!

Jackson has gone on a trip to Bend with us, a trip to the zoo, dancing at Portland Dance Festival, a couple weddings, many BBQ's, and his favorite adventure this summer has been swimming! The last couple weeks here have been 100+ degree weather, so we escaped our A/C-free home and headed to Nona's pool! Jackson really enjoyed the water! No doubt he enjoyed cooling off too.

Jackson is getting pretty good at using his hands! He just recently has started to enjoy looking at bright, bold objects, and is also starting to reach out to try and touch them. I am learning to appreciate all those "unnecessary" toys that are set up to dangle bright objects in front of him! He also is getting pretty good at sucking his thumb, although the pacifier is still a close friend of his. :-)

Well, I think that's about it for where Jackson is at these days! I could probably go on for pages... but those are the highlights. :-)

Update

2009-07-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Well... I haven't updated this blog in quite some time, huh? Not really a big surprise I guess, but a little sad nonetheless!

I don't have time to post picture right now --- I just wanted to try and jot a few words about life in the last few months.

Life is great. Austin and I absolutely love our little son Jackson. Things have been going thankfully very smooth. I have never had so many changes happen in one day as the day Jackson was born! The labor and delivery were the hardest things I have ever done in my life, and even so, I look back and realize I was very blessed with an "easy" delivery. 8 hours, from start to finish, from 7:30 to 3:30, no complications, healthy mom, healthy baby. Adjusting to having a child was all at once and over a lot of time. I think I had a daily cry every day for about 2 weeks as my ravaged body and hormones recovered and as I tried to swallow how many ways life was going to be different from then on. Somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks, I resumed getting out of the house now and then again which was extremely healing for the whole family! Austin and I were SO blessed by everyone's support around us. We didn't have to cook for dinner for a full month! We had visitors, we had people make runs to the store for us, we had gifts right and left, and many offers for additional help if needed! Austin was a Super-Dad for the first few weeks as he did almost all of the diaper changes (including the late night ones!) and prepared the food, cleaned the house, and was my go-fer in general. Wow. He deserves a standing ovation! I took forever to heal up. That was probably the hardest thing for me in those first few weeks. I wanted so bad to be up on my feet again. But ah well, it went as it did and like I said, Austin helped SO much! Since then, we gradually got used to real life again, and have been getting used to incorporating a baby into the regular mix of day to day living! Jackson has been a pretty easy baby, by the way. We probably had between3 and 8 nights where he cried, unstoppably, for 2-4 hours straight. But, he quickly matured, and we also discovered his particular tricks to help him calm down and sleep when needed, and since then we only have hard nights now and then again when we have particularly long or unfamiliar days.

Currently, Jackson puts himself to sleep all on his own for his first 2 to 4 naps in the day! If it's a normal, stay-at-home day, that is. He sleeps for about 6 to 8 hours from about 7 to 3 every night, and then sleeps 3 to 5 hours after that. Not bad in my opinion. I'm not too worked up about getting him to sleep the hours that I sleep (more like 10-6 would be better!) But we will probably work on it a little in the upcoming weeks so that hopefully we all get better sleep! Jackson is getting good at holding his head up more steady, has rolled over from front to back several times now, is more interested in looking at stuff, doesn't hardly ever spit up, and just recently loves to wake up and talk. His first word is: ggghhhhhoooo! Oh and he LOVES his hands. They have been in his mouth ever since he was born. He has recently gotten them to stay there a little better.

Jackson had his first Dr. appointment about a month ago, which was a negative experience for his mommy & daddy (bleh!) We have now switched doctors and will be visiting the new one about a month from now. He got his first immunizations at that visit :( so sad to watch him in pain! He recovered quickly though. He's a trooper!

Soooo.......... that's what I have to say off the top of my head! Perhaps I'll have more to say more quickly than it took me last time. :-)

Jackson says hi! (or.. gghhhoooo!)

Jackson Pierce Mellinger!

2009-05-16T19:28:00.001-07:00

Welcome, Jackson Pierce Mellinger, to the world!

I am just barely squeezing in putting these pictures on before Jackson wakes up, so I will have to save the text part of talking about our new family member for later and just get the pics up for now.

In short, Jackson arrived April 30th after a great 8-hour labor and delivery, we are enjoying parenthood very much, are taking our time getting adjusted to the MANY changes he has brought, and I am recovering slowly but surely. I hope to take my first car ride in over 2 weeks tomorrow to go to church - we'll see how that goes! (Not to mention Jackson's first car ride EVER!)

Without further ado:

The family - evening of birth.

Getting checked by midwives and enjoying his fist!

Jackson's first visitor

Proud Daddy (and Sweet Pea!)

Proud Grandpa!

And Grandma (getting his thumb already!)

And Nona!

So cute!
And finally - cute cousins :)
All for now.

Recital Pics

2009-04-28T14:22:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

I thought I would share some pictures from the ballet recital in March! They are all from one camera... so naturally they are mostly of that mother's daughter. But they are the only ones I have yet! I need to get the rest from Katy soon. :)

Btw - the name of the show was "The Heart of the Toymaker." :-)

MM

Less than 4 weeks to go...!

2009-04-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hello all -

So our official due date is May 12th. Have any guesses to whether we'll be early or late??? Austin was born on his due date... baby Anna was born a couple days early... hmm...

Regardless, we will get to meet our baby soon! We are very excited!!! :)

Here's the latest belly picture. Sorry, it's a bit blurry. It is from last night when Austin took me out to dinner for my birthday.

Melissa

Back again! --- Random & "Recent" Pictures

2009-03-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

We did it! We survived. Recital is now finished. For those of you who don't know, my ballet students get one big performance each year, and it tends to suck all of our time away for a month, or two, or three... Last year it took about 3 months of my life. This year only about one month! So I'm getting better at it. With baby on the way, we'll need to do some major planning so that it doesn't consume us like normal when it comes around. Anyhoo, it was a great night, with (amazingly) very few hang-ups. I will try and post some pictures (courtesy of Katy Hoogendam!) when I get them.

In celebration of being finished, Austin and I have gone out to breakfast for a date, cleaned our kitchen, watched a movie, hung out with friends and played games, slept in, gone clothes shopping, took a two-hour nap today, and cooked dinner! Life is grand. I get to go visit R&B this Tuesday while Austin helps on their house, and then this Thursday we hop on the Bullet Train to go visit Neal & Hollye! (okay - maybe not the bullet train... more like the slug train: 30+ hours on that train!!) When we get back, then it's time for getting the baby room ready, registering for baby stuff, tying up some loose ends with ballet stuff, and then - wait for baby! If you couldn't tell, I am pretty excited about our upcoming season of life.

Anyway - also in celebration of being finished, I thought I'd post some pictures for you all. They are a little random. They are pictures of Christmas time through Valentines Day. Enjoy! (By the way, I'll try and post a recent picture of belly soon!)

-------Melissa

Right after we moved in December, Austin & I took a Christmas vacation to Bend! One of our first days there, I got to see an old time friend, Annie Dierling! Us girls went Christmas shopping and to the tea house and left the guys on their own. :)

Lysa, Annie, Me

Jeff, Travis, Austin

Christmas Eve at the Johnston's

Making snowmen! These large balls of snow are representing our bellies ;-)

And voila! The finished product!

Christmas Day! At Morgan's place. Yay for family pictures!

Oops - forgot to rotate this one. Sorry. My belly bump is beginning to emerge here. :)

This is the night before Erin was induced, and therefore about a day and a half before Asher was born! I can't believe how tiny she was... and how big Asher was! :)

Skipping ahead to our vacation to Sunriver with the Davis' and the Chapmans'! What a wonderful weekend getaway. Anna was the bestest cutest entertainment around too. :)

Rachel gets a pedicure! (Anna observes... wheels spinning... what IS she doing to mommy's toes??)

And before you know it, Anna gets a pedicure too. :-)

We were introduced to Dance, Dance Revolution! What a fun game! I can't believe I could move like that just a couple months ago! Not anymore :(

Rachel creamed us all ;-)

A little later on... the Bendonians came for a visit and some Ummy-Yummy Skyline Chili!!

And Rachel sprung the big news on us that morning!!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!! Yay for cousins ;-) (little does Anna realize the significance of her pretty shirt)

Ummy-yummy!

My belly, end of January, beginning of February.

Britton was our paparazzi for the weekend. :) He snapped a few of Austin and me and baby that we will frame soon!

On our way home, we got to visit the Seversons! All three of them! Adalie only a few days old here. :)

Our Valentine's Day date!! I am so appreciative of the latest styles in shirts being 1) stretchy and 2) long. I don't think this shirt would work anymore, but we pulled it off for our first valentines' date with baby. :)

We had a wuvely evening at the Olive Garden (my ultimate favorite food since baby has been here,) and I was surprised with the following gift :)

Austin made it all by himself! And I think he accomplished making my tummy look huge pretty well. ;-)

And the latest interest of Austin's: fishing!

All for now!

Video try

2009-02-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

New house:

NEW HOUSE!!

2009-02-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Sooo sorry to be so long in updating. All excuses aside, let me just say, IT IS TIME TO POST SOME PICTURES!!

Because pictures take eternity to load on here, (and because there are a lot of pictures,) I will start with our moving pictures, and then post some more of other interesting events in the days to follow.

By the way, here is a written explanation of our house:

Basement: bathroom (where the spiders live,) Austin's workspace, storage
Upstairs: 1.5 rooms, storage, attic space, closet
Main floor: Bathroom, Kitchen, Pantry, Main Bedroom, Office/Baby Room (aka disaster room right now,) Entryway (still being redone,) "Sunroom" (smoking room for old tenants --- still be redone,) and Utility Room
Outside: 1 garage, 1 shed, small backyard (1/2 way fenced,) and front yard with roses and small lawn

December 19th, Friday night before the 2nd big snow... Our first home together, the apartment:

The day after we moved. With our first company! (And another round of BIG HELP!!!)

February 10th: our new house!! :) As you enter the house, you first enter the kitchen:

Bathroom

Stairs to the upstairs...

The Wonderful Pantry.

The office --- eegads!

The bedroom! (Hard-workin' hubby taking a break with good ol' Louis L'Amour)
The living room!

There ya' are folks. More pics to come soon of other events. (I'm also going to try and post a video of the house... we'll see if I manage.)

Gymnastics, ballet, marching band, martial arts....?

2009-01-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

Sorry to not have posted in a while.

We have now successfully moved! Austin is only working one job. I am working one and a quarter jobs. I actually cook now and then again now. Life is good. :)

I don't have the time to post pictures yet -- though I need to! I just have been sitting here at the computer, working on picking music for the next ballet recital, feeling my insides get all jostled around. :) So I've been wondering... is our little boy or little girl going to be a gymnast someday? Or possibly a dancer! Or maybe just the marching band...

I personally think he or she will become a black belt in some form of martial arts.

:-)

Enjoying life! Will post again soon.

MRM

Filling in!

2008-12-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry to be gone for so long. Tis' the season of busy-ness. We are moving, this weekend are two performances where I will be playing the Flower Fairy, next Monday and Wednesday are my students' Christmas performances at the retirement home... etc. etc.

But -- I seem to have sprung overnight! My belly that is. So I think it is time for another pregnant belly pic. I have had this belly before, after many large meals, but this time it is firm! Not gushy! Something must be different..... :-)

Speaking of babies... in case anyone wants to know, we have finally found a midwife and are set up to have a home birth. I don't really feel like explaining why we chose this way right now, so you can ask later or just be ok with just knowing that much. We also are probably not going to find out the gender of the baby. We were going to, and who knows, maybe we'll change our minds again... but for now we aren't planning an ultrasound which means no knowing. And we're ok with that! :) Hope you all are alright with that!

Austin and I get more and more excited as time passes. The first most exciting thing was being able to hear the heartbeat. Wow! Nothing is so much a miracle as that! And it really helped everything sink in. Then I started growing, which again helps make everything feel more real! Then I got to feel the baby move! And now my belly button is filling in --- which may seem odd to everyone else but that REALLY made me feel like it is all real. Hehe!

(My belly button used to be one deep cave.)

So, all is well with baby stuff.

On a different note... we are planning on moving the 20th of this month. If we can move sooner we will. The house has undergone major treatment these last few months, and if we can just wrap it all up and get everything packed, we're outta here! :) (And inta there!)

We'll post pics when that happens. :)

All for now! We'll see if I get any posts in before the new year.........!

Speaking of muving....

2008-11-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

This is the 2nd post for the day btw... so be sure to scroll down and read the other one.

Speaking of moving... here are some pictures from a couple weekends ago while we moved the expectant Abe & Erin into their new rental home! (when it rains, it pours, eh?)

:-) Enjoy...

This is at the new house. Woo hoo - we made it. :)

The new bathroom.

The new office/baby room.

The men enjoying the new office/baby room. :)

Who's that handsome stud?? And where's the stud in this wall??

The guys observing Austin's pro work in utter awe...!

3 cheers for the girls (and the one boy in the belly!)
(Erin, Heidi, Patty, Marcia at the apartment cleaning)

Sorry all, I haven't figured out how to flip pictures yet...

And this is what happens to bananas that fall behind your microwaves to stay...
(scary huh???)

Again, you'll just have to flip your... umm.. head :-D
This is the most-famous-mother-of-mother-to-be-Patty!

The guys were a lot of help...... ;-)
(and yes, that is James running away from being caught sleeping on a bed with 2 other guys.. um... yes, there are 2 other guys... can you find the 2nd??)

The new kitchen (with the lovely ladies...)

Like I said, the guys were a LOT of help! :-D

And hooray! We're all finished!!
(baby Jonathan)

Nuz!

2008-11-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

Howdy all!

Breaking news - brought to you only 8640 minutes after it happened! Ahem...

We gave our 30 day notice to our current landlord! If all goes as it is supposed to (which doesn't often happen does it?) the current tenants to my parents rental home will be moving out today, and we will be moving in on Dec. 1 (or somewhere close to there.) In between all that there will be a lot of packing, cleaning, and overall helping done to both houses... mostly to the one we're moving into. :-)

We'll post pictures once we can!

Tata all!

MM

Christmas performance coming up

2008-10-27T08:23:00.001-07:00

So the main thing I (M) and working on these days for OYT Studios, is getting our next Christmas performance ready to go. It is nice, because it is a low key performance. I thought I'd post a few pics of last year's. I tried to pick pictures that didn't have too close up of faces of my students, as I have never asked permission to post pictures of them.

Anyway... so this is last year's performance at the the Miramont Pointe performance in Clackamas. I'll hopefully post pics of this year's too, once it happens.

:) M

Life at the Mellingers

2008-10-24T20:13:00.001-07:00

Busy-ness...

It's an odd word that is. Whenever people say they're too busy for this or that, it tends to make me feel angry. I'm not sure why... I guess I don't trust them and figure they can somehow make time for whatever it is as long as it's important enough. Regardless, I find myself having to excuse A&Me from things fairly often due to our "busy-ness."

So what are the Mellingers up to these days anyway?? Well... As we have baby coming in 9 months... err... I mean 7 months!! (wow!) I am taking the opportunity to work as much as possible to pull a little moolah in to savings. At least, that is the idea. :) Austin is looking to go back to school as soon as possible, so he is working as much as possible right now to put a little moolah away as well. That being said... I work two jobs, plus 4 other miscellaneous 1 hr/week jobs, and he works two jobs on top of a class at CCC right now. Surprisingly, we are not stressed or too incredibly worn out. I think God has a way of taking care of you when you're in His will. At least, we hope we're in His will. Anyhoo... we are being careful not to over commit ourselves to much else. :) But it's been good.. we've still had time for each other time, for family and friend time, and even just rest and play time (and prepare-for-baby-time!!)

And I can only imagine what the next season of life will be like...!!!!!

By the way, I am not going to be too careful about posting only important, pertinent, or interesting blogs on here. I may just use it to ramble. :-) So sorry if it is not very interesting to ya'll!

goodnight, and good luck,

MM

Beginnings of Baby posts

2008-10-22T20:53:00.001-07:00

I couldn't help it. :-)

Here's a "hint" (as if there were such a thing:)

Austin and I both have thought it is a girl since the very beginning
Austin and I have always both wanted a boy first (though we will be just as excited about a girl now!!!)
We do not have history of twins... but there's always a time for making history!! ;-)

Have fun. I'm curious what people will choose.

Blogging Beginnings (finally!)

2008-10-20T20:33:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!!!

I have wanted to have a blog for quite a while now, I just have had a strong aversion to figuring out how to create one. Austin surprised me tonight by having one started for me. :-D I doubt we'll ever try and make it quite as fancy as some of your nifty blogs.. but at least now I have a way to share pictures etc. with ya'll!

I have NO idea whether we'll update regularly, rarely, or never... here goes the experiment. :-)

So without further ado, scroll down and enjoy the pics Austin posted.

2008-10-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

Cruisin' on main st. (Oregon City)

Austin's babe!

2008-10-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

A's B-day

2008-10-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

Austin's birthday pic's... Happy B-day me. :-)

Pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

Alright, here's Melissa's official before-sticking-out picture. :-)