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)

nope, they are not identical

here are some close-ups of both the boys together (jake on left, ben on right).

now it is up to you, do you think they look alike?

i sometimes call jake "wolverine" b/c of all his dark hair and chops.

todd and ellie call ben "benji" or "benji-o." 

 jake giving his superman pose. ben is flexing for the ladies.

love these boys!!!

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 those eyes are so different from one another. i don't know if you can tell, but jake has a pretty dark complexion like todd did as a baby and my dad and brothers pete and michael are. it is fading a bit, though, so i'm afraid he won't keep it- sad!

  the girls wanted to get in on the photo action.

i think jake looks more like abby and ben like ellie. 

also interesting note: from the time i was pregnant, ellie always said baby a (ben) was her baby and baby b (jake) was abby's. while the girls absolutely LOVE both boys, they have each kind of taken to one baby- ellie to ben and abby to jake. 

gardner village witches

todd took the girls on trax (one of their favorite things) to see the witches at gardner village.

pumpkin patch

unfortunately it was going to get dark while we were at the pumpkin patch, so we quickly took some token photos and then got right to picking out pumpkins. the girls loved pushing the kid-sized wheel barrows while going down the rows of pumpkins to find our perfect pumpkins.

FOUR KIDDOS

i haven't posted in awhile... and this is why!

january i was very tired. very tired. i thought it was just the aftermath of the holidays along with my cfs. however, it was just not improving. 

turns out i was pregnant! 

i went to my obgyn for my first visit and found out i was pregnant with twins!! there are no twins in my family, so you can only imagine the surprised look on my face. (i just saw my doctor for my 6 week check-up and she commented on how it was in that examine room where i found out about the twins and the look on my face. it must have been a good enough look to remember 7 months later.)

 benjamin

 jacob

ellie was so fun to photograph. it is nice when they stay still and look at the camera.

and abby is 2. so, no photos of looking at mom (although she would look everywhere else!)

and... abby wouldn't keep her jacket on- so her photos are of her in a t-shirt. (i love this one of her actually looking at me. you can tell exactly what she is thinking!)