Take Me Out to the Ballgame

A post or two ago I mentioned that Jeremy has been studying his heart out for his Series 7 securities license (which he passed with flying colors today by the way). This weekend we decided we all needed a break from the studying and thought going to a Diamondbacks game as a family would be the perfect distraction. This was Merrick's first Diamondbacks game and since he is under two he was free so it was perfect.

That night they were giving out Diamondbacks garden gnomes as a promotion and to tell you the truth I was a little more excited about that than I should have been. When we got to the game however (45 minutes before it started), they were already out of the gnomes. I was super bumbed, but more on that later. Instead of the gnomes, we were greeted by these creatures. Jeremy and I thought they were cool, but Merrick was terrified and Jeremy had to hide in a corner with Merrick while I took these pictures.




The game was fun and Merrick did well for about 5 innings. He would alternate between Jeremy's lap and mine and clap when we told him to. Our real saving grace, however, were the four kids sitting in front of us. As soon as we sat down they turned around and wanted to know Merrick's name. They would make faces at him, test him on his colors, and try to get him to say their names. I am not sure we would have made it through 5 innings without their help.

These kids also turned out to be my ticket to a gnome. The four kids belong to two families so all in all there were four kids and four adults, which means that between all of them they had eight garden gnomes. Who in there right mind needs eight garden gnomes? So before we left I asked the moms if I could buy one from them. They looked at me like I was crazy until I told them I wanted it for Merrick. After that, one of the moms told me I could just have hers. So I...I mean Merrick got a gnome in the end.

While Merrick enjoyed watching the game, I think the highlight of his night was the different play areas they have in the park. We visited one of them after we left the game and ended up having to drag Merrick away WAY past his bedtime.




It was a great night for a baseball game and a great night to be together as a family!

Splish, Splash

Despite the hiatus we are having today, summer is upon us. As most of you know, in Arizona that means that if you go outside you will die of heat stroke within minutes and if you dare touch anything (a door handle, a steering wheel, a seat belt, etc.) you will promptly receive third-degree burns. If you can't tell, summer is not my favorite part of living in Arizona. I complain a lot...just ask Jeremy.

Whether I like it or not though, we are here for one more lovely AZ summer. Somehow we have to find a way to make the best of it. In that spirit, we decided we needed to buy Merrick a little swimming pool for the backyard. I know that even that won't be enough for the worst summer days, but it will buy us a little more backyard time.

Yesterday I decided it was as good a time as any to bust out the new pool. Merrick was as excited as could be and climbed right in. He liked holding the hose and filling up the "bathtub".




After the pool was full, we decided to have even more fun by putting Merrick's slide in the water. He was a little unsure about that at first, but quickly decided that he liked it.




I think Merrick is going to turn out to be a fishy just like his daddy and hopefully having the pool will help us make it through the summer because I know today's beautiful weather won't last forever.

Bad Mommy Day

Do you ever have those days were you are not the type of parent you should be and don't have the patience you should have? Well, I am having one of those days and it is driving me crazy. My solution to the problem is to spend this time, nap time, writing about how much I love my family and pulling myself out of this funk. Plus, I really love this picture. It was the last official family picture we took and it is almost a year old. Somehow it never made it on here so I think it is time.

Over the last few weeks Jeremy has been really busy, a foreshadowing of what law school will be like perhaps. He has been studying really hard for his series 7 test that is less than two weeks away. He comes home from a long day at work and hits the books. Because his free time is so scarce, we really have been trying to make the most of the time we do have. We have spent a lot of time in the backyard as a family. We play soccer, play with the wagon, and the slide.

This time together has become so special to me. I know time will be a precious commodity when Jeremy starts law school. Honestly, that fact was one of our biggest driving forces in choosing Lewis and Clark. Going there will allow us the most time together and I can't tell you how important that is.

Despite life's challenges we will fight for our time together as a family and I promise I will do whatever I can to avoid bad Mommy days.

P.S. I had a really great Mother's Day. My boys spoil me!

Decision?

After months of wondering, questioning, and praying, we maybe, hopefully, possibly have made a decision about law school. However, even as I type this I am not quite as sure about this decision as I should be. We thought we had made a decision weeks ago and then last week Jeremy got accepted to both of the schools we had been waitlisted at and offered a huge scholarship at one. Just like that our decision went out the window and we started the process all over again.

That being said, as I said before, I think we have finally made a decision for real this time. On Sunday, in addition to fasting and prayer, we made a pros vs. cons list and the answer seemed to jump off the page. We have decided that Lewis and Clark is the best school for Jeremy and for our family. It is the best ranked of all the schools we applied to, it is right around the corner from my parent's house, and it will allow us the most time together as a family and the most family support.

At the end of the day the only con of Lewis and Clark is the cost. Of all the schools we applied to it is the only one that did not offer us a scholarship. The thought of walking away from so much scholarship money frequently causes me to waiver in my decision, but each and every time I pray it is confirmed to me that this is the right choice. Now it is just up to me to have faith that if this is the right choice, we will find a way to pay for it and in the meantime it is a relief to have the decision made.

Eggstravaganza--Easter 2011

This year, as in years past, we had a fun, busy Easter that began with the Clifford family dinner at Jeremy's Aunt Kristin's house. We had a super yummy dinner and an Easter egg hunt with all the children. Merrick found the special "golden egg" with $10 in it. He was very excited to find such a big egg.




Lollie and Grandpa brought Merrick some bunny ears to wear and he looked as cute as can be.


On Easter, the Easter Bunny visited our house and left us some surprises. Merrick got finger puppets, sidewalk chalk and bubbles but by far his favorite surprise was was the Thomas video. He did not want to put it down to see what else was in his basket.





After baskets we had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. Merrick loved looking for eggs so much that we ended up having three different egg hunts over the course of the day. It also did not take him long to figure out the he really liked what was inside the eggs too.





At the end of the day, however, Easter is not about the bunny, the eggs, or the candy. It is hard to teach a 19 month-old the true meaning of Easter, but we did try. Merrick may not really understand what Jesus did for him, but he does know who Jesus is. On the way home from church Merrick had the tightest grip on the picture of Jesus that he colored at church. He looked at it and said "That's my Jesus. I color my Jesus". As he grows he will learn more and more about Jesus and just exactly why we celebrate Easter.

Pat's Run

As I mentioned before, Jeremy and I have been working so hard running three times a week to prepare for the Pat Tillman Run. As race day approached I became more and more nervous and wondered what I had gotten myself into. Jeremy was excited and I tried to be as excited as he was.

This past Saturday was race day. We had to be up at 5:45am to be out the door by 6. Grandpa and Lollie came over to stay with Merrick so he would not have to be up so early. We headed out and took the light rail to downtown Tempe. Merrick woke up soon after and they headed down to meet us.

The race started just after 7 and by the time we got there some racers had already started. In fact, the fastest runners (like the ones who finished the 4.2 miles in 20 mins.) were already done before we started. There were 28,000 runners and it was the largest timed race in Arizona history. We somehow got caught up in some of the racers starting and ended up starting before the group we were supposed to run with, but the pace was good and I think we actually started with a good group for us.

The course wrapped through downtown Tempe and over Tempe Town Lake. There were a few more hills than I would have hoped for, but it was a nice day and it was amazing to see the sea of people both ahead and behind us. I said from the time we decided to do this that I did not expect myself to run the entire thing, but that I did want to run at least 3 miles. We did stop to walk a few times, but figured that we ran about 3.5 miles.

In the end I was pleased with how much we ran, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed myself, and more than anything I am surprised that I want to do it again.

Pre-race


Riding the light rail and waiting




Finish line and post-race

Little Sports Fan

Over the last few weeks Merrick has become interested in watching cartoons. He will pick up the remote and say "I want to watch toons". There are times though when Jeremy will be watching a game and does not really want to change the channel. We started telling him that they are "daddy's toons" and that usually pacifies him. He will either go find a toy or watch for a minute, but he has not really been too interested in "daddy's toons".

Last week the NCAA championship game was on, which means the tv was on in the evening, a true rarity. Jeremy and I were in the kitchen and Merrick hopped up on the couch and settled in. I guess he decided to take advantage of this extra tv time and see what "daddy's toons" are all about.


A few days later Merrick got to see "daddy's toons" in person when we went to Uncle Garret's volleyball game. Garret did an amazing job and Merrick loved to clap and say "yeah Uncle Gaga". He did get a little restless as the game wore on. Luckily Grandpa was there to walk him around and keep him occupied.





Maybe one day Merrick will turn out to be as big a sports fan as his daddy.