fall

 ellie's first day of preschool.

she goes with all her best friends and LOVES it.

 fancy nancy dress up

 these guys are CRAZY in the bathtub!

i never knew it was funny to nearly drown yourself, try to climb out, and dump cups full of water onto the floor.

 music time

 the kids love mornings that begin with their breakfast drink.

 ellie's all about me poster.

she put that she wants to be a runner when she grows up, favorite color is purple, favorite foods are chocolate chip pancakes & strawberries, loves all books (that's true), wrote down everyone in her class as her friends, and drew a picture of max (her someday dog).

 grandpa showing ben the dynamics of flight.

  ellie got her very own library card.

 ben demonstrating brotherly love. however, jake refuses to push ben in the car. classic baby of the family!

 the girls showing off their morning reads.

the witches at gardner village. we unknowingly went on "witches night out," where everyone dresses up as a witch. it was really a fun night, we will be sure to be more prepared next year.

photo collage

in an attempt to get our blog up to date, i'm including the loose photos from the month of december. enjoy!

 we could not have survived after the birth of the twins without nona's help with EVERYTHING!

 the girls cannot get enough of holding their brothers.

 abby begging to see the photo before it is even taken. the story of our photo-life.

(ps- i love jake's smile here. it is almost like he enjoys his sister's agony.)

 snow sculpture with daddy.

 of course, it's more fun sitting on top of it.

 abby wasn't so sure of this at first, but warmed up to the idea.

 with nona and papa at the grand america's Christmas window display.

 aw, to be young and in love....

 hi boys!

 benji conquered lifting his head first (however jake was the first to master rolling).

 in the playroom.

 the boys waiting for dad to put the girls to bed.

(disclaimer: i only did this for a couple of minutes to surprise todd and take a photo. our babies do not watch t.v.)

 ben was fussing one evening, so i put him in the carrier while i prepared dinner. i forgot about my sous chef until i smelt the aroma of the onions i was cutting! i quickly moved him to fresh air and took him out of the baby bjorn. whoops! no worries, no harm done.

 seriously, how cute are these guys?!!!

 a little utah pride for their dad.

 such a cute daddy!

arms are full and he is loving every minute.

roly poly the polar bear

ellie had her dance performance in december. her class danced to the song "roly poly the polar bear." she was so excited for the great unknown of her first recital. both sets of grandparents were there to share in all the excitement. we recorded it (however, i can't seem to post it and don't have time to figure out what i'm doing wrong) and now abby wants to watch it all the time. abby has the dance down and ellie's costume has made it into abby's dress-up rotation. we are so proud with how well ellie did!!!

dance

we thought with the twins coming, ellie needed an opportunity to do something "big kid." since we didn't put her in preschool this year, we decided to have her take a dance & tumbling class. there are about 10- 12 other little girls her age and ellie has really loved going.

 of course, i forgot to take photos during the dance portion, but at least i did get a couple snapshots!

there are these sweet sisters (twins!) in our neighborhood who are in the competitive dance group at the same dance company. they came over one afternoon to show ellie and abby the different dance terms (well, actually it was to show me since before 4 months ago i had never heard the terms arabesque, plie, chasse, or pirouette before.) ellie and abby had such a FUN time dancing with kaitlyn and kylee. thanks girls!!!

Thanksgiving 2012

thanksgiving this year was with todd's family. we went to his mom's sister's home for dinner. there was a huge crowd and, unfortunately, i didn't bring my camera. but, todd's cousin, amanda, did. we were able to get a couple shots of the cousins.

these little guys were all born within a month of one another. first was michael (on the right- todd's sister's, megan, baby), then ben & jake (in the center), and soon after came marcus (on the left- todd's cousin's, amanda, first baby)

the other cousins wanted to jump in there... and uncle greg too.

after dinner, we went to todd's parent's home to let the kids play and to look at their newspaper for the day after thanksgiving deals. todd worked the day after, though, so there was no shopping for me! (that made todd happy, i think). 

Halloween 2012

our halloween was full with:

 haunted house building

monster math figuring 

 dance class halloween dress-up (ellie is on the left in orange)

 one of ellie's close friends. we are so glad she is in dance with ellie!

the halloween party at todd's parents' home.

 the pie eating contest is about to begin at jeanette's parents' halloween party.

 this is serious stuff.

 todd can't help but dig in.

 cole, thomas, and ike are in it to win it.

thomas is the victor!

his two oldest, cole & ike, began the competition by pushing their dad's face in his pie. but thomas never lost focus and never took his hands from behind his back- he won fair and square!

 the childrens' donut eating contest. 

each time abby licked the donut, she'd exclaim, "i did it! i did it!"

there is only video footage, which i am too embarrassed to post, but let it be known i was the victor of the adult's donut eating contest. todd asked on the way home if it says something about melansons when thomas and i were the ones to win the eating contests. um, yeah, it says we are awesome!

 halloween night. getting ready to trick or treat!

 my incredible mom made the girls' costumes. i had bought the patterns, wings, and wands last year (before i was pregnant with the boys). it just wasn't going to happen. so my mom stepped in and sewed these fairy dresses- now looking at them, there is no way i could have made them with or without the twins. thanks mom!!!

ben, of course, is obi-wan kenobi ("old ben")

okay, i've gotten some slack about dressing ben as a jedi knight and jake as a droid. r2-d2 was an awesome droid that had wheels, could project a hologram, and had a light saber. (plus we found this shirt at a yard sale for 50 cents)