Little miss Violet

Who is this Violet Melcher anyways?

Violet is our almost 10 month old baby. Here are somethings about her....although she will change dramatically in the next little bit....this is who she is today. She makes us smile everyday

and we all just fall in love with her over and over. Even Jack and Charly fuss over here. They always want to play with her and hold her.

1. Striking... someone told me the other day that Violet was so beautiful....and then they said she is "striking" I just have to write that down because if someone ever said that about me I would want to know! So Violet if you are reading this....then that is for you!!!

2. Infectious....no one can help but smile when they see you! Even when you wake us up way too early in the morning and we stumble over to your crib and you are smiling at us.....that makes us melt. We can't be mad at you!

3. Loud... Currently no volume control. When you babble it is so funny and SO LOUD!! We can here you through the whole house.

4. Mellow....really just the chillest baby I know. I get comments from people all the time about how laid back she is. At a reacent family get together I think everyone came up to me and told me how mellow Violet is.

5. A pooper....sorry for the reality, but at least 4 times a day Violet!!!

6. Stander....I can't get you to go to sleep because you stand up in your crib now, but don't know how to get back down. It is so funny to go back in your room after I put you down for a nap and see you standing there....so silly and priceless. Now I have to rub your back to get you to go to sleep. I think someone is a little spoiled.

7. Not picky.....you have been eating anything I give you! I am glad. Much easier than your brother was as a baby!

8. Giggler....I need to record you giggling at this age....so cute.

A romantic weekend

I have to say that raising a family it REALLY hard sometimes. It is just non-stop. I really think that three kids have totally pushed me over my limits. There is just so little time to do what you really want and unfortunately spending time with your spouse gets less and less. Jim and I at the end of the day we are totally exhausted and we just look at each other and say "I miss you" Sometimes I just want him all to myself. Jim is really busy with his job, boy scouts, looking for a new job, his Russian business, Russian translations, and helping me out.....like i said nonstop.

This weekend was a rarity, we had 2 dates both Friday and Saturday night! Thanks to the uncles...we even got free babysitting! So Saturday night we went out to dinner at this restaurant down by the beach. I had lobster ravioli and Jim had steak....the kind of steak that is the consistency of butter....yummm!!! Then we picked up some warm beverages from Starbucks and headed to the marina in Coronado for a gondola ride! It was so romantic. It felt like we were in Italy. They gave us dessert on the gondola and there was Italian music playing. We rode throw the canals at Coronado Cays. It was just really peaceful on the water and to look out and see all the city lights. Toward the end of the ride our gondola guide asked if he could sing us a song......we didn't really know what to expect but we thought....ok sure...so he busted out in this beautiful Italian song...his voice was SO good! Really rich and deep. I told him "I wasn't expecting that!"

Saturday night we got to go to the SDSU game. Jim and I LOVE sporting events....and basketball has such an excitement to it. We had such a great time. And State won of course..actually by a landslide. While I was there I guzzled down a huge diet coke because I haven't been feeling well (and coke always makes me feel better when I am sick) so of course I wasn't tired when we got home.....so we got to watch a movie together. I know it sounds weird but that is a novelty to watch a movie together!

The more I am married to Jim, the more I love him. I don't think that I realized how lucky I was when I married him.....I mean I know I loved him then...but I had no idea. It is uncanny how when we our out in public and say something happens and we can both give each other a knowing look and know exactly what the other is thinking. Or one of us will say exactly what the other was thinking....does that make sense? Anyhooo....I hope to all my future posterity for whom I write this blog for....I hope that you all marry well....for that is essential to your happiness!

Happy Birthday Charly

Rainbow Glitter Party!!

4 years Old

My sweet Charly is now 4 years old. I can't believe it! I think we celebrated her birthday all week long. I absolutely love putting on kids birthday parties. For Charly's this year we did a rainbow glitter theme which was really fun and easy to have a lot of ideas. Funny thing was last year she invited all boys to the party and this year there were only girls. Most of the party took place in the garage and we put up the bouncy house so the kids could jump. That is instant fun and cheap. A little disclaimer: hosting a party and trying to take video and photographs (with a really LAME camera did not produce great photos).

The traditional breakfast doughnut

Weeks before her birthday, Charly had been begging me to have breakfast in bed. She was so excited when she woke up on her birthday....we had also decorated her room while she was asleep with baloons and streamers.

A music box that she got from Jack and we let her open it that morning.

Her birthday Party....really one of the funnest kid one's we have done.

Emma, Charly, Chloe, Ava, Skyla, Sydney, Azure, Brooklyn, (Kendra not in this picture)

Charly and Azure

We started out by everyone making Rainbow necklaces.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of all the games we played, but this is the Rainbow walk (similar to a cake walk). We also had the kids fish in the shower for the cute girly sand buckets and then we did a scavenger hunt.

Rainbow cupcakes!!

Ok, so I didn't get a good photo and they were all gone when thought to take a photo of them inside. But here it is nonetheless you can have a taste of what these psychodelic rainbow cup cakes looked like from the inside.

Singing Happy Birthday!

A Pinata!! Of course! At first we had the girls hit it with a baseball bat...That was so funny. Very different from boys. They would just tap the pinata. Then they all pulled the string.

It was so fun to watch Charly have fun with all her friends. I am so glad that I had this party and it turned out the way it did. I loved having kids just roaming through our house playing and being loud and jumping in the bouncy house. I really love kids and the making magic for them. It was a rather simple party....but that's all it needed to be.

I don't have any pictures right now.....but on her Birthday night we went to Corvette Diner for her birthday dinner to celebrate with Nana and Dan & Heather came as well. What a great place to celebrate a birthday. They came and put staws in her hair and made a sort of fancy updo. Then they sang "happy birthday" to her. She also ordered a hot dog....so a bunch of waitresses came by and all sang a hot dog song to her. It was so much fun. I'd have to say this birthday was a smash!!!

Jack's Special Day

Jack's Special Day at Disneyland!!

Wow......what a fun day at disneyland I had with Jack. We met up with his friend Phillippe and his family. I really enjoyed spending the day with their family. We had such a good time. It is so fun to see your kid get along so well with other kids. Jack and Phillippe are like two peas in a pod. Phillippe has a twin sister Annika and they all get a long so well. We had fun doing all the BIG kid rides (different from my expirience yesterday of being at fantasyland all day ;)

Space Moutain was the favorite ride....and we went on that twice...also they loved splash moutain and thunder moutain. We seemed to go on a lot of rides, but although it was semi-crowed we didn't have to wait long for ride because we mostly did fast passes.

Jack and Phillippe on Space Moutain

It was so fun that they could ride together on the rides. Unfortunetly, my camera battery died...so I was only able to get the one picture. I will try to get more from Phillipee's mom...but in the meantime this is the only picture I have.

We stayed until about 7:30. I am really glad I was able to have this time with just Jack and getting to know his friends family more. I really have a lot of respect for them.

**Update**
Phillippe's mom sent me more photos...yay! Here they are.

Special Day with Charly

Special Day with Charly!!

This is our week at Disneyland. Just me and Boo went today. I have so much fun with her. We got to do whatever she wanted. We spent most of our time in Fantasyland. Peter Pan, Carosel, Pinocchio, Casey Jr. train, Dumbo, Storybook Land, Small World, and Pixy Hollow.

We were pretending to be snakes in the monkey cage on the Circus Train.

We ran to the green Dumbo and got it!! :)

I'm a sucker and bought some Cotten Candy.....she was over the moon!

She even took some home to share with Jack and Grandma & Grandpa!!

Ok, she LOVES it!

This is the pixie Irridessa. She was the first to sign in Charly's signature book (we are going to give that a try.) I guess she is the pixie that gives light (according to the well informed male cast member who was more than happy to impart his knowledge of pixy hollow on us).

This was just too cute.....Charly is in deep thought.

Tinker Bell! I have a feeling this year's trips to Disneyland will include lots of meeting of characters especially the girl ones.....much different than the jedi training and boyish things we have done in the past!!

I love you Charly....I had so much fun with you. You are such a sweetheart....my favorite thing was that I got to hug you about a million times today. And when we were in line you kissed me on both cheeks about 100 times!!!!

Disneyland!

DISNEYLAND!!

No year is complete without out a trip to the Magic Kingdom! So we decided to start our year off right with a day at Disneyland. We got passes from Grandma & Grandpa for Christmas. Monday we went together as a family and then the rest of this week I am taking each kid by themselves for a special day at Disneyland.

This is one of my favorite pictures! (BTW soon I will figure out and be organized enough to get the pictures in the right order and right direction!!) We were about to go on Soaring over California. This was Charly's first time and she LOVED it!!

Gotta Love Pluto!

One of many pictures with Mickey Mouse

Charly's first time in the Princess place.

Belle spent a long time talking to Charly....that was really special.

Our bad. Jim and I convinced Charly to go on Space Moutain....the only reason that she would go on it was because we told here that there was a giant floating Chocolate Chip cookie inside. We really down played the part that the ride is really fast. She did not like it. Jim and I felt really bad afterwards. Sorry Boo....mom and dad scarred you for life!

Nothing beats Small World at Christmastime.

Ahhh.....all together at the Christmas tree!! Well...we are missing sweet Violet.

It was the coldest day and she was sick the day before so we didn't want to take her out. It was strange to not take a stroller or have to pack baby food or worry about diapers. Violet spent a great day with Grandma and Grandpa.

Another note worthy thing to mention of course is the beloved Christmas parade. So glad that we could see it before they stopped showing it. That is so magical for me!