Small Time

Little moments that make life Meaningful.

Tillman - 8 Years

Our 4th baby came on a cold, smoggy day in January, 8 years ago.

My easiest delivery.  

His first few years of life were a little bit rougher - lots of sickness, a couple of stays at Primary Children's Hospital. He became my little companion for many years as the baby of the family - talking, talking, talking his (& my) days away.

This year he requested cake and ice cream on his birthday with Great-Grandma at her house.

What a guy. 

His "8" Cake

Stuff we love about Tillman:

 

We think he has a photographic memory - he recalls ALL.

We also joke that he's narcoleptic. He falls asleep any/everywhere. Most recently on the stairs coming up for family prayer.

 I guess he just gave up - two steps up.

Recently he received a set of scriptures from Mike's parents as a birthday gift & later that day he informed me that he was going over to his friend's house so they could memorize Articles of Faith. I couldn't help laughing to myself when he told me... but was also proud of him.

He loves his new birthday roller blades (note that they are in several of the photos above). The Sullivan's hooked him up with a DEE-lux flag football set (which put me in mind of Tillman's query a few years ago to a certain historical reenactor in Michigan with a lumberjack bandanna hanging out of his pants).

Another cool birthday present this year came from his buddy down the street - a spit wad shooter. Awesome. I laughed pretty hard when I saw the safety goggles and the mounted site. Serious business.

I told Mike that it was kind of like selling a kit for kids to practice some graffiti. To help nudge your child a little toward the wild side.

Careful with those spit wads Tillman.

We love him.

His baptism is coming up next month. He is pretty excited about it all.



Friday the 13th - A Walk to the Composter

Inspired by Noble, I documented this mundane moment of my day.

Llamabots

We didn't exactly know what we were getting ourselves into when we took up coaching Noble's Lego Robotics club. But we have had some good times with these guys over the past several months. Week in, week out we learned a lot together. Sometimes it was all Mike and I could do just to keep order with a crowd of 9 to 11 year old boys.

In the now designated "LEGO ROBOTICS ROOM"

(previously known as the Vampire Room)

On tourney day... we were informed of some rule changes that made a few of our program strategies un-usable. Our guys had some tense minutes as they tweaked the robot and reprogrammed under the gun. Well done guys.

 The robot games. I showed up just in time to see their last robot game, which also turned out to be their best heat. Woohoo!!!

This year FLL had a lot more teams register - so we had preliminary tournaments instead of one huge, all-day tournament. We didn't end up advancing to the championship tournament. ( Noble's team finish last year.)  But honestly, we were pretty happy with our showing, considering our inexperience and that the oldest kid on our team was 12. Not too shabby. If we get up the gumption to coach again next year, I think we could be a force to reckon with. he he he.

The best part of this whole thing was that we got to know these awesome kids & their parents better.  

The kids had some good times, and learned a lot.

Thank you Parachuting Llamabot Ninjas.

P.s. Noble put together this little vid during an unsupervised 15 minute lull at the tournament. Just another case of our kids blowing past us. We didn't even know we had movie making software on the laptop.

It's not high entertainment...just a bunch of 9 & 11 year old kids yelling and laughing. But we were impressed.

Screening for the Team

I think I've mentioned that we took on Noble's Lego Robotics team this year. THAT was a big job. Especially with all that we have going on - and our inexperience with FLL.

Anyway, Mike volunteered me and the Yudu for the task of making the team shirts...and then the team banner.
The kids came up with their team name way back in the summer - and recently designed the image.

The transparency image - pre-screen.

The screen after exposure.

 Inked and printing

Noble and team sporting their team shirts in the heat of competition at the tournament today (more on that later). The tie-dye was a wise choice from a screening perspective. It hides mistakes really well.

For the banner, I went with the freezer paper stencil method. It turned out pretty well.

Team Parachuting Llamabot Ninjas on tourney day - game-faces on.

And with some pretty nice screen-printing too.

Don't Forget...

Source: 320sycamoreblog.com via Esther on Pinterest

Preschool Day 1.

The new year brought big moments right out of the blocks. 2 Jan. - bright and early - Sully took on the world of preschool. Twice a week, 2 hours. A little more P&Q around the house. It made me tear up.

Before... Giddy up!

After with his buddy from next door...

I don't think I've ever seen a kid more excited about school. And when we picked him up, he turned around as we were leaving and yelled, "OK! I will come to preschool again!!!" to reassure his teachers that he'd be back.
Mike said that reaction alone was enough to make it worth while.

Vol. 3 - All Our Wildest Dreams Came True

The going-to-bed-on-Christmas-Eve photo. A Pillow Pet line-up.

Show time!

A few of our favorite moments:

Tillman received the MAPS he'd been begging for.

Grace attacking Noble with affection after she opened the Disney Princess bath gel he got her. (I love how Noble is trying so hard to get away.)

Tillman documenting the day with his new camera.

Madden 12 baby!!!! Noble was giddy.

It took us a long while to just get Sully to look away from his new Finn MacMissile flashlight so we could get a picture. This gift idea should be included in the playbook of "How to Make A 3 Year Old Extremely Happy."

A surprise Christmas AM visit from Mom and Dad Sullivan... who had their sleigh loaded up with new BAR STOOLS!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you... etc. We needed them.

Jessie and her new Nano...total shocker for her. (She had been hearing a lot about how a replacement for her really old one was not in the cards.)

Abner's top pick this year = the bows. Definitely the bows.

The Barbie Princess BULK pack. Oh my. (one happy little girl)

The Little Giant ladder from Mike's parents (which has come in very handy for taking down Christmas decorations).

We'll always remember this as the year that Jessie did a very grown-up thing and parted with her beloved Pumpkin to make another little girl happy.

Thanks Jess. We are SO proud of you.

In the barn on Christmas Eve, Jessie making Pumpkin beautiful for a very magical Christmas morning.

 THIS was the spirit of Christmas. 

Jess was on the verge of tears the whole time, but kept herself together until she handed over the lead rope & turned and walked away. That's my girl. 

Greatest Hits: Vol. 2

One huge bonus this year is that we had all of Mike's bro's in town. We have been so lucky this year to be able to be together more than once (that never happens). So this has been a pretty special holiday.

The Michigan Meltons got into town the week before Christmas and we have been painting the town with our only & much-loved Melton cousins.

Hanging with Father Christmas at the Pioneer Village Candlelight Christmas

Sully having a few important words with Father Christmas

 Grace and Father Christmas staring each-other down. He may have met his match.

At the new Museum of Natural History...

Also with the Michigan Meltons: skating at the Olympic Ice Oval and a cousins sleep-over.

Christmas Eve dinner with the entire Melton brood.

After dinner, the presents.

 

And after presents, the nativity with the Sullivan's

 (Grace scored the coveted role of Mary this year and baby Jesus was played by none other than Abner.)

And after that...more presents. We got a master stone mason (aka Casey Bert) to hand-chisel a name in slate for the future home of the newest Melton family (Gar & Val).

The hand-off.

More fun with the Meltons...

On Christmas day we all went to visit Grandma Helen at her house... Tami and the boys played for her...

 ...and we all hugged and kissed her a LOT.

The sweetest moment of the day for me.

As I compose this, the clock just struck midnight...and the fireworks and yelling have begun out of doors.

Happy New Year!