We made it to Colorado!

We are another step closer to getting to Florida! We have had a busy few weeks since I last posted, so here's a quick update. We went to Florida For 5 days to look for a house. WE intended to buy a house while we were out there, but once we got there, we decided to rent for a year and keep looking for a house. We decided this for a couple of reasons. We wanted to be firm in what our budget will be and we want to test the area we picked a little before we purchase. We have rented an awesome 5 bedroom house, so we have plenty of room for friends and family to come and visit! Disney World is only a short drive!
When we got back to Jess' parents house, the kids were happy to see us! We played in MT Saturday, Cousin Hannah Beth Gray was blessed at church on Sunday and then we loaded up for the drive to CO on Monday. The kids did great in the car! I was really impressed with them. We made the trip in "before we had kids time!" The next day I went to the Dr with Summer and Matthew. Summer has lost one of her tubes that she got in her ear, and Matthew had really bad congestion due to allergies, we think. I had sinus problems as well as Bronchitis. I stayed in bed practically 2 1/2 days! That has never happened to me before! I am finally feeling better, but still have a really pretty cough. My kids are all taking turns with fevers, so we haven't yet begun to enjoy Colorado.
Jess did get to pick up his new Toyota Prius on Tuesday! He is having a great time learning all about it and challenging the fuel efficiency! He leaves on Monday to head to Florida. He starts work on January 28th and then we get the house on Feb. 1st. Hopefully Jess will have a great head start on the house by the time I get there!

Happy New year!

So I am sure that you all think that I have been blown of the face of the Earth! (It is extremely windy here in Livingston!), but we are here and doing well! We had a great Christmas here in Montana and have been really enjoying being with family. T Jay made good on his promise to leave Santa vegetables to help Santa "get healthy," and Summer danced for joy at her dress up clothes that she received. I always love watching the kids get so excited about Christmas. We flew my Mom out here to spend Christmas with us and had a great time. Jess' family has a Christmas Eve tradition where they pick a country and have a themed Christmas Eve party. This year we had Mexican and Jamie hosted a fun evening with yummy tacos and a pinata for the kids. In my family we always dressed up as the Nativity and read Luke 2. I will have to post some cute pictures from that. Summer wouldn't wear any of the costumes because they weren't frilly enough. It's hard to put some frill into bed sheets, but I managed to put a tutu on with it, and then she succumbed! What am I going to do with that girl?!!
Christmas day we stayed in our jammies til noon and then went over to Angie's (Jess' sister) house for an evening of Chili and games.
New years Eve we put the kids to bed by 9pm and then did a puzzle. (Melin family tradition) It was a nice quiet evening! Boy am I getting old! Jess even offered to let me have my very own 2 liter of Soda pop (Melin tradition) for the New Years celebration. That isn't quite as exciting as it must have been to him as a child.
We have also enjoyed going to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Bozeman hot springs (I have got 3 major water babies!) and Jess has enjoyed a day of being manly working on the ranch with Mike and his Dad. Tomorrow he get to go out with Mike on his first day of work with WinData. They put up the Met towers that collect wind data for possible wind turbine installation. With Jess going to work for FPL Energy, this is really exciting to him. He and Mike are excited to be going into the same field.
Jess and I leave for Florida on Monday for a 5 day house hunting trip. I am way excited about this and hope and pray that we can find the right house for us! Wish us luck. After that it's back to Montana to load up our things and head to Colorado where the kids and I will stay until the closing of the house. My kids will be so spoiled by the time we get to Florida, it's going to take me a month to straighten them out! Yea for Grandparents!
Well, I know this is wordy, with no pictures (not how I prefer my entries), but I thought I'd give you a quick update on what we have been up to. We all miss North Dakota and all of our friends. Hello to you all! I will let you know how our Florida trip goes.

To tide you over...

Our packers are here today, packing up our house. I am not sure if I will be able to post pictures while we are travelling, so I thought I'd load ya up! Enjoy!
"Guido" did not want his picture taken!
Angel baby!
Where did she get that hair?!! "See, Mom, this is how it goes."
A friend gave Summer this cute ballet outfit. Matthew tried it on and had fun running around in it for a few seconds. Funny that we don't have a picture with Summer wearing it though, Huh?!!

Making gingerbread houses with a friend.
T Jay's house
Showing them off! Ready for her school program!
So pretty!

Ted E. Bear

T Jay got to bring "Ted" home from school on Wednesday! He was so excited to do all sorts of fun things with him. Here he is "helping" Jess with his car! I thought it was really cute!

Once There Was a Snowman!

Once There was a Snowman from Kelli Melin on Vimeo.
Our kids love to sing, "Once there was a snow man." For some reason, they think that once they have melted they disappear and can hold out a leg or arm that can be seen while they are holding it out, but once they tuck it back in, they are invisible again! Silly kids. I thought I'd share a weekly FHE occurrence here at our house.

Our little "Monkey Babe"

"Does anyone out here need some toilet paper? 'Cause I brought some, it's right here! No, Mommy and Daddy don't know that the bathroom door got left open. They don't know that I washed my hands in the toilet, either! I'm ALL clean!"
"I love it when I find a chair that isn't pushed in because then I can use it to climb on the table and steal Summer's lunch! Oh, and her drink, too. I like to pour out the drinks and then splash them!"
"Hmmm, now let's see, I've cleaned the bathroom, cleaned up Summer's lunch. Hmmm, my work here is done! Oh wait, I want to polish off that Mac & Cheese!"
"This Mac & Cheese is delicious! I am so glad Summer left some food for me!"

Peek-a-Boo!

peek-a-boo! from Kelli Melin on Vimeo.
Matthew is such a silly boy! He is really getting a great "cheese" face when he sees the camera. His new favorite game is to get in the closet and pull the doors shut and then throw them open and say, "Boo!" This time he is just giving us "cheese" because the camera is on!