New Year's Eve Party!

Cute family picture :)

Yummy desserts I prepared for the party!

And more desserts!

Dining room decor

Christmas mantle

Sweet friends, Amber and Darcy

Our beautiful Christmas tree

I started collecting decorative trees...love them!

Merit had so much fun playing with little Keller. He is a cutie.

Merit showed him how to push his dump truck around the house.

Our friends Timmy and Dusty came by to say hi.

Dear friends, Kevin, Julie and Hannah

Snowy village with a race track running through it. Merit absolutely thought this was the coolest!

Tony made his Grandma's famous carrot cake for the party...it was fabulous!

We had a wonderful time celebrating New Year's Eve with good friends and yummy food. JP and I bought a Honey Baked Ham and I made a ton of desserts. What a fun night!

Another Trip to the Doctor

I know he doesn't look sick in these pictures but trust me, he was. I had been up with him since 5:00 a.m. He kept crying and telling me his ear hurt. Not the ear that was infected already but the other ear. Oh my...so I called my mom and she was able to get us in to see our doctor early that morning. We were the first appointment. Sure enough his other ear was indeed infected. He received two shots of a strong antibiotic and they changed his antibiotic too. We stopped taking the Amoxicillin and started taking Omnicef. Mommy and Daddy were just praying this antibiotic would do the trick. At least we have fun when we go to the doctor. The office and doctors where my mom works is wonderful! We have seen several of the doctors and I like all of them. The office has large salt water aquariums and all kinds of neat toys to play with. Merit really does like going!

Fun Gift from Aunt Nancy

Aunt Nancy was supposed to join us for Christmas dinner but ended up not being able to. She sent Merit a really special gift though. Merit was completely mesmerized by it. It's an electric snow globe that blows snow, plays music and spins. He has had so much fun playing with this new toy! Thank you Aunt Nancy! Aunt Nancy sent Mommy a new snow globe too. :)

New Stocking Holders!

Aunt Susan gave me a gift card to Hobby Lobby and I new exactly what I was going to buy...new stocking holders. I love these! And, I really love the fact that I bought them %60 off of the regular price!

Lookin' very cool in the new shades from Santa. These cool sunglasses have Lightning McQueen on the side. Santa is such a hip guy!

Back to the Doctor

We enjoyed a morning of shopping and playing at the Galleria. Daddy was off work and he wanted to do a few returns and get some things too. After Merit awoke from his nap crying and complaining of his ears hurting we decided we'd better head back to the doctor. So, thank goodness our doctor's office has evening hours. They fit us in and sure enough Merit now had an ear infection on top of the sinus infection and the Croup. Oh my...poor Merit. He sat so patiently as we waited for the doctor and really was the perfect patient. With new medicine in hand we were sure to have a better night and a better little boy.

Christmas Dinner

Papa gave Merit shiny gold quarters. He told him to save them because they'll be worth a lot more 20 years from today!

We gave Papa his Christmas gifts; a new calendar full of family pictures and a cool book about World War II.

Mimi and Papa in his new down-filled vest from mom.

Doesn't he look amazing for a 90 year old!

Mimi looked pretty in the new sweater I gave her and I'm wearing the new sweater she gave me.  

Playing with his new Hot Wheels race set made especially for the bath tub.

Feeling pretty good and enjoying one of Mommy's gingerbread cookies.

Brushing his teeth with his new toothbrush

Papa joined us for Christmas day dinner. Mimi did most of the cooking since I made breakfast for us. We had a delicious dinner. Merit enjoyed dinner too despite not feeling his best. It was a special evening.

Christmas in Bonton

J.P. and I served in Bonton while Merit took his nap and Mimi finished making Christmas dinner. We had a wonderful time and it was nice to be able to serve others. We plan on making this a tradition for our family.

Christmas Morning

Santa left sweet Merit fun toys and a nice note.

He couldn't wait to try out the Duplo dumptruck.

Swollen eyes :(  But excited about the metal Tonka dumptruck for outdoor play!

Fun shark puppet in Merit's stocking

Daddy showed him how to turn over his stocking and dump everything out. :)

Lots of presents to open!



Wow! A Hot Wheels race track!

A new Eric Carle book...he loves these books!

Neat diosaurs from Papa 'D' and Grammy!

Mimi opening her special gift from Poppy; a Grandmother necklace.

Well, Merit woke up Christmas morning with both eyes almost swollen shut. Poor baby. It was really sad to see him sick. He was coughing and crying. We wiped his eyes with warm wash cloths and then took him in the living room to see what Santa brought him. He perked up when he saw his presents on the fireplace. He absolutely loved his dump trucks and all of the many Hot Wheels cars. I fixed a delicious breakfast; homemade mini frittatas and captain crunch encrusted french toast. It was yummy! It took us quite a while to get through all of the gifts. Merit really had a great time tearing through the wrapping paper. He really got the hang of it and then when we were done he asked if he could open more presents.

Christmas Eve

So, Christmas Eve went a little different then we had planned. We took Merit to the after hours clinic where he was diagnosed with his first sinus infection. We knew something was wrong because he woke up from his nap crying and would not go back to sleep. Merit is a great sleeper so this was very unusual behavior for him. We missed the Christmas Eve service at church and stayed in for the evening. Mimi came over and we watched The Polar Express, made s'mores and drank hot chocolate. Once the Ibuprofen kicked in Merit started to feel a little better. :)