Best Friends

A few weeks ago Emily had to go back to work and I started watching Kai. He was with us everyday for two weeks and now we have him on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. We are all settling into the routine and working out the kinks.

Merrick and Kai have such a funny relationship. They spend much of the day fighting over the same toy, but they still always want to be together. If one of them is napping, the other tries to wake him up. The other day Kai was sleeping and Merrick cried for him until he woke up. As soon as he got up, he accidentally knocked Merrick down and Merrick cried again. I know that despite the struggles they would rather be together than apart.

I have found that the best way to keep the struggles to a minimum is to keep them as active as possible. This means that most days include a trip to the park, the play area at the mall, or at least some time in the backyard. Unfortunately, yesterday I did not have car seat for Kai so the mall was out. To make matters worse yesterday was the coldest February day in recorded Arizona history. I decided that our best bet was to stay close to home in the backyard.

Our first attempt out we all only had one layer on. That lasted about 10 seconds and we came back in for jackets.




Despite the jackets, it was still bitterly cold out, but the boys still seemed to enjoy themselves. I practically had to drag them inside when I thought hypothermia was imminent.

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.

Christmas 2010

The final major event of our trip to Portland was Christmas. On Christmas Eve, after we got showered and cleaned up from the snow, we had a delicious family dinner. After dinner all the kids got dressed up and we acted out the true Christmas story. Since Merrick is the youngest of the children, he got to play the role of baby Jesus. We striped him down to his white onesie so that he could be in his "swaddling clothes" and laid him in his "manger". I could not believe how long he just laid there, looked around, and watched everyone. Unfortunately I did not think to snap a picture until he was already out. Luckily some people were smarter than I was so I will have to round up pictures of the actual event.


After we were done with the Christmas story we exchanged ornaments. We had drawn names and purchased/made an ornament for one other person. We did this two years ago and it was so meaningful and fun. It was great to be together with all the family on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day everyone opened present in the morning at their own homes. Merrick once again loved opening each of his presents and his stocking.







While Merrick had lots of gifts to open he also had one gift to give. Merrick had worked really hard in the months leading up to Christmas and colored calendars for both sets of grandparents. Once again I forgot to take pictures of Grandpa and Lollie opening theirs, but I was smarter with Nana and Papa.


Eventually all the presents were open and the rest of the day was once again about being together as a family. It was the perfect Christmas and the perfect trip!

Let It Snow

Our next big adventure in Portland took place on Christmas Eve. The whole family, aside from Brendon and Rachel who were quite literally wrapping up Christmas, packed up and headed to Mt. Hood to play in the snow. I was so excited to let Merrick have his first snow experience. Unfortunately I did not plan very well as far as gloves were concerned, so we had to improvise, but Merrick did not seem to mind.


The snow was perfect and while it was lightly snowing as we played it did not seem too cold. The Lundberg kiddo's had brought sleds and we found the perfect hill.


We made our best attempt at making a snowman.


Here are just a few more of my favorite pictures from a great day.