Last Sunday with Mel

We were lucky with Ethan that we had a weekend and a Monday to play before he left for his mission. It would have been nice to have an extra day with Mel, but alas, today was the last day with her. We enjoyed it with a nice meeting at church and then a double feast at home. Mel was able to say her last goodbyes to some ward members, and it was funny cause today was also the first day Joseph has been back to our ward for six months! He was invited to come up and get an elbow bump from the bishop and receive his mission plaque. Mel didn't get a shout out, she already had her farewell. At home we had a feast for lunch and Corey's parents came over and joined us. 

Poor Mel, she ended up sitting in between the messy toddlers. Daniel served himself up a lot of Nutella for his rolls. 

Corey made a note to self: "Don't serve up dishes of Nutella with toddlers around" He didn't have any salad, potatoes, or salmon, just rolls and Nutella. He was licking it off of his plate and licking his hands a little too passionately, it was making Wes uncomfortable...

So I got a cloth and cleaned him up. Ethan calls Daniel's age the "ugly phase of toddlers" and said that one thing on the bright side of him serving a mission was that he was going to miss some of Peter's ugly phase. Sorry to make you sit between them Mel, but it was our last chance with you for several months. 

Who knows, maybe she will look back at this moment with fondness. We had another feast of crepes later. Crepes are Corey's specialty. He will have four pans going on the stovetop a the same time. He's got skills. It is a lot of work though, I'm impressed he has the stamina to make them as often as he does. Kids ready to dig in... Peter in his Sulley costume, such a cute little monster.

My parents came over for the evening feast. They didn't eat the food, but we had a nice visit. My dad brought us some of the cute little gourds that the the kids were admiring from his garden.

I didn't get a picture of them with Mel at her farewell, My dad could be a pretty good Santa in December if he wanted.

After dinner Mel enjoyed some time with her favorite baby brother. 

Peter was going to bed and hopefully, if he sleeps well, we won't have to wake him up in the morning to come with us to the airport. They played "Where's your nose?..." ...eyes, toes, and hands...

And they made happy, sad, and mad faces... (mad face below, Peter's pretty good at that one)

And she tickled him, Peter brushed her hair, and she blew it at him and made him laugh.

Peter, Mel loves you! She is going to miss you so much! Ethan did sat that missing Peter is one of the hardest things. 

And with that we'll say goodnight - we stayed up way too late again (me blogging, Corey was talking with Joseph...) Joseph calls Corey quite a bit for help with his computer programming class. Tonight he wanted help with planning his finances, trying to apply for a credit card, and then with figuring out who are all the people on the ballot that he needs to vote for. A new adventure begins for Mel tomorrow, it's the end of the term for HWAL, so back to the grind for the rest of us.