November

Our November was another busy one! Not only did we have a great Thanksgiving, but also had my 40th birthday! I can't believe how time flies! Here are some pictures from the month!

A daddy and his girls

Aunt Laura and Grace

My grandma and me

My sister, mom, grandma and me

October 2015

October was a busy month! A lot happened during the month. Wes and I celebrated our 13th anniversary, we went to the state fair, and celebrated Halloween. In addition to all that, Grace and Lizzie lost more teeth. Lizzie celebrated the milestone of donating her hair. For the last year, Lizzie has been growing her hair to donate it. This month it was long enough to cut!

Daddy can still carry both girls

Celebrating our anniversary

Before cutting her hair

After the cut! Very cute!

Gracie didn't donate but she did get her hair cut.

We attended one of Wes' high school friend's wedding.

At the Texas State Fair

Crazy day at school

Hello Kitty and Black Cat at dance class

Decades Day at school

Halloween HullabaBoo

Caught a chicken!

Playing games

At the pumpkin patch

Our Jack-o-latern

It was a great month! It was busy but fun!

What do you do?

Recently, we went to a wedding of a friend of Wes'. He saw many friends that he hadn't seen in years. Through their multiple conversations, one question came up often, "what do you do?".  It was a question related to occupation to which he would reply, "I'm an engineer".

This question got me thinking. "What do you do?" is a question that is looking to get at "Who are you?". There was a time in my life, when the answer to "What do you do?" defined me as a person. I'm a marketing professional, would neatly define the whole package that I am. But now with age, I realize we as people are not so easily summed up with just our occupation. This became especially clear to me when I decided to quit my job and stay at home with the girls.

The real answer to the question, is not just "I'm a marketing consultant" even though I do love my job and am thankful for the flexibility that it provides. The answer is more than that. It is child of God, wife, church goer, mother, aunt, sister, daughter, niece, neighbor, friend, co-worker, and the list goes on. In addition to those things, I could be described as happy, sad, beautiful, insecure, organized, disorganized, fun, dull, funny, and maybe not-so-funny after all. To Wes, I think he would say, loyal, loving, kind, doesn't take crap, nagging, and annoying.

So the real answer to "who are you?" is Melissa. I am a uniquely made person who was formed through God, family, genetics and life experiences. This Melissa person is made up of so many contradictory things and just when I think I have it all together, something happens that tells me that I don't. During those times, is when I rely on others and God to help me through.

So, the question "what do you do?" goes beyond just what you do as to who you are. It is knowing you are a whole person and not just the sum of parts and to be OK with that.

Labor Day

For Labor Day, we headed south to the Big Bend Region of Texas. For me, it was heading home. I was born in Alpine, TX where my father was a professor at Sul Ross University. We lived there for the first five years of my life. We moved right before I started kindergarten and my sister started third grade. We have a lot of memories of Alpine. My sister loves animals and used to catch horny toads and tarantulas. It was fun showing the girls were I used to live.

After we left Alpine, we toured around the region and camped in the Big Bend Ranch State Park. The state park only had a dirt road in that took an hour to get to our site. There was no cell reception and not many bathrooms. It was pretty primitive. We saw a ton of animals. There were tons of jack rabbits which are really fun to watch. The desert is beautiful too.

We hiked around the state park and then went over to the national park for more sights. Both parks were beautiful. As it was the desert in September, it was really hot. Poor Grace had terrible allergies the whole time.

As we were driving back from the national park, we noticed rain clouds and that they looked like they were close to our camp site. We were concerned that all of our stuff was wet so Wes drove in high. We didn't have cell reception so as soon as we did, Wes pulled over and made hotel reservations. We finally got to our campsite with about 30 minutes of light to pack everything. We got it packed up and thrown in the car. We made it to our hotel late and all of us were happy to be in a comfy bed.

It was a fun vacation. We really loved the scenery. I liked going home and putting an adult perspective on my 5 year old girl memories.

Back to School

The weekend before school started we had a lot of fun! Thursday, we had Meet the Teacher at the girls school. The girls were very excited to find out who their teachers were.
 

Walking to meet their teachers

The Saturday before school started we went to Denton to the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo Parade. It was a fun parade and the girls got a ton of candy and even ice cream.

Finally, it was time for the first day of school. Lizzie and Gracie were so ready for school to start! They couldn't wait to get there!

At the flag pole

Sitting at her desk ready to go!

"Mom, I'm trying to focus on this."

A better picture

 On the fourth day of school, we were walking to school and the girls just grabbed each others hand. It was so sweet.

We are so ready for second grade. The girls really love school. They are in different classes and see each other at lunch and recess. At the end of the day, they are so happy to see each other. It's so fun to watch them and their unique bond.