Parties, Visitors, Kurtas

The highlight of this past week was the arrival of our Indian visitor.  Ben and Becca are leaving next week on a 10 day trip to Italy and Greece and they needed someone to stay with there kiddos so Nana volunteered to fly half way around the world and fill in.

Despite the 12.5 hour time difference there was no rest for the weary.  Just hours after Nana arrived we all gathered for Lincoln's 1st birthday party.  Lincoln's actual birthday was weeks ago (the day after Merrick's), but Ben was out of town so they decided to wait for Nana to have the party.

It was a very cute "penny" themed party (since the penny has Lincoln on it and he was turning one).  Becca and I spent hours decorating the cake using frozen buttercream image transfer.  I think it turned out fairly cute.  Linc was so excited to open his presents and I think everyone had a good time.

After the party Nana gave all the grand kids the presents she brought them from India.  She and Papa had gotten them all traditional Indian kurtas.  Everyone looked adorable and most of the kids chose to wear them to church today.

It was been a fun few days having Nana here.  We are glad that Papa and India are letting us borrow her for a while.

Master(s) of the Swing

Yesterday was the first official day of Fall and while it is probably my favorite season of all, I am sorry to see the bright and sunny days of summer come to an end.  We have been trying to take advantage of the last few moments of summer with time outside and at the park.

On Thursday we met some friends at a park around the corner and Merrick asked me to push him on the swings. I don't know if it was because I kept telling him to go play and that I would push him in a minute (mommy needed some time to socialize with grown-ups) or because his older cousin just learned how, but he determined that he was going to learn to swing by himself.  When, as promised, I did come over to help him, he not only wanted me to push him, but he wanted me to teach him how to pump as well.

We spent quite a while practicing and I would remind him when to swing his legs out and when to pull them in.  While we have practiced this from time to time before, this is the first time it seemed to come naturally to him.  After a while he did not really need me to prompt him and while he is not really strong enough to gain momentum, if he really concentrates he can keep himself going.

Each day since then he has asked to go to the park so that he can work on his new found skill.  The rain has set in today and I am sure we will have less park days in the immediate future, but he will get stronger over the winter and be ready to take the swings by storm come next summer.

As you may have noticed the title for this post is "masters", plural.  Carrigan has also developed a new found love for the swings.  I let her try them for the first time a couple weeks ago and somehow I never got the pictures posted, an oversight I intend to correct today.  Her first time in the swings she did not really seem overly excited by them, but she seems to like them more and more each time.  Yesterday when we tried she smiled and laughed and seemed to really enjoy herself for the first time.

I guess mommy is not off the hook any time soon because as one becomes an independent swinger, the next one is ready step up and fill his place.

Back to School, Back to School to Show My Dada I'm not a Fool

This week Merrick went back to school and I went back to work.  This has been a really hard transition for me.  I know that I should not complain as many moms have it a lot worse than me.  I only have to leave my baby for 3 hours a day and when I am gone Jeremy is home with her (with the exception of 2 hours a week when she is with my sister), but it is hard nonetheless.  I am sure over time we will all adjust and it will get easier.

Merrick, however, is loving being back in school.  He has some returning friends from last year and some new friends and he is excited to go everyday.  I have to say that I am grateful that I get to have this time with him and that he is learning and growing so much.

In talking about how much I miss Carrigan while I am away, it occurs to me that I never posted her 4 month pictures.  They are almost two week late at this point, but better late than never and when you see her sweet face you will know why I have such a hard time saying good-bye each day.

Merrick's 4th Birthday

The highlight of this past week was that somehow my baby boy turned four.  I am really not sure how it happened, but all of a sudden I have a four-year-old.  His actual birthday was on Thursday and while we had his party planned for the weekend, we did manage to celebrate the day together as a family.  Jeremy's school schedule this semester is such that he is home on Thursdays until 4:30 so this gave us plenty of time to have some fun.

We started with lunch at one of Merrick's favorites, Panda Express.  I am not really sure why he loves it so much, but he does (I think it might be because it comes with a built in desert with the fortune cookies).  After lunch we took him to see the much anticipated "Planes" movie.  I knew we were going to have to take Carrigan and I was a little worried about how she would do so I intentionally picked the least busy theater in the area.  I also was banking on the fact that it was the middle of the day on the first week back to school.  It turns out all my calculations paid off as we were the ONLY people in the theater.  It was pretty awesome.  Merrick could talk during the movie, Carrigan could be as loud as she wanted, and we could try out six different seats until we found the best seat in the house (which we did).  After the movie we went home and opened a few presents before Daddy had to go to school and I had arranged for cousins to come over and play.

I think all in all Merrick had a pretty spectacular birthday, but the fun was just beginning.  Saturday we had Merrick's party at the park around the corner.  We had a "Planes" theme and I made a matching banner and cupcakes.  We had a paper plane flying contest, played in the splash pad, and on the playground and once again we were the only ones there for the majority of the time.  The party almost crashed and burned when we first got there and the splash pad was not working, but we improvised with our big sprinkler from home until someone from the city made it out to fix the splash pad.  I think overall it was a success and let me tell you Merrick made out like a bandit with all his gifts and our house now looks like it was thrown up on by a toys store.

Last year I kind of dropped the ball on giving Merrick much of a birthday celebration so hopefully he feels like I made up for it this year.  I just hope that he felt as loved as he is.  He has been such a joy to our family over the last four years and I can't wait for all the years ahead.

End of Summer Blowout

So after a summer of being cooped up packing and moving, how much fun can you fit into the last week of summer vacation?

Three trips to the park

A trip to the library

A visit to the bounce house

A stop at the children's museum

A stint at the aquarium (which has birds too in case you were wondering)

A run/climb/swing at Kidopolis (like a McDonald's playland on steroids)

and a birthday party

Are we having fun yet?!?