Accepted

While this blog is meant to chronicle the lives of our entire family, it is no secret that Merrick is the most interesting member of this family and consequently the blog tends to be all about him. However, this past week something so big happened that it merits a non-Merrick related post.

After a year of studying, tests, applications, and waiting, Jeremy received his first acceptance letter for law school. He was accepted to Willamette University in Salem, Oregon and was offered a scholarship of $14,000 a year. The scholarship was a great unexpected surprise and a huge blessing.

I really can't tell you what a relief getting this letter has been for our family. We still have six schools we are waiting to hear back from and we have not come close to making any decisions. It is just really nice to know that we have an option and a good option at that.

Jeremy has worked so hard to make this a reality. We are so proud of him and all that he has accomplished over the last year.

On The Farm

Last week I heard that Superstition Farm, a farm near our house, was having a dollar day with dollar admission, hayrides, petting zoo feeds, and milk tasting. I was so excited to take Merrick and even though no one was able to go with us, I knew we would still have a great time.

We started our visit with the tractor pulled hayride that took us on a tour of the farm.





After they hayride we fed the animals at the petting zoo. Merrick got up close and personal with the donkey, but we also fed sheep, goats, chicken, and a bunny. I also fed a horse, but he practically swallowed my hand so I would not let Merrick feed him.




While there were lots of animals around that Merrick had never seen in person before, he was probably the most excited about the black lab on the farm named Toby. Nana and Papa's dog is also named Toby (or "Boo boo" as Merrick pronounces it) so Merrick took right to him. I think that the love was mutual.


Merrick had a great day and was not ready to leave when it was time. I think he might be a farm boy at heart.

Christmas Extended

Due to being in Oregon for Christmas this year, Christmas ended up being stretched between several days. As I mentioned before we had a pre-Christmas before we left and we celebrated Christmas day in Oregon, but one of our presents for Merrick was just too big to bring to Oregon and had to stay behind. When we got home it was like Christmas all over again when Merrick got his climber.

The thing about Merrick is that he is such a physically active child. If something is difficult for him, give him a minute and he will have it mastered. The climber was no different. While he was not entirely sure of himself the first time or two, he became more confident each time. By the second day with it he was a complete pro and Jeremy and I were wondering if we should have bought him a more challenging climber.

In any case, as you can tell by the pictures, he has a blast with his new climber. I don't think he has minded the never ending Christmas one bit.

Goodbye 2010

You know that moment when you realize that you are getting old. Mine was so long ago that I can't even remember it (yet another sign of getting older), but what I do know is that 10pm rolls around and I am ready for bed. Needless to say New Year's Eve is not my favorite holiday. Add to that our little man who gets up early no matter what day of the year it is and Jeremy's new early work hours and I was not even sure we would make it to midnight.

Somehow we did stay awake and we actually managed to have a little fun in the process. We went to Ihop for dinner as a family. Merrick loved his pancake, eggs, strawberries, bacon and sausage. He ate more than I thought was possible and we all left happy.

When we were in California this summer we had bought some fireworks and had some left over. Now that they are "legalish" here we decided to light a few in the backyard. We had something called a snake and we were not really sure what it did. It turns out it was pretty lame and mostly just made a mess everywhere.


What we did have fun with were the sparklers. Merrick enjoyed watching them and holding them. (Please ignore the stupid look on my face)





Once Merrick went to bed, Jeremy and I snuggled up and watched a movie. We ended up making it way past midnight. Maybe we are not as old as I thought.