Saturday Evening in Houston

Merit truly adores Ranger. As soon as he woke up from his nap he said, "I want to play with Ranger Mommy". So, he and Ranger played while the guys went to pick up salmon for dinner and I made the sides for our dinner. Alicia was pretty busy with sweet little Luke. We had a delicious dinner followed by yummy chocolate buttermilk birthday cake, made by Alicia. Chocolate Buttermilk cake is one of my all-time favorites! What a great evening and birthday celebration!

Saturday in Houston

I took a quick picture of Merit before he woke up on Saturday morning. He slept so well on Alicia's blow-up mattress and Alicia and I lined the edges with pillows so he'd feel nice and cozy. :)

He couldn't wait to go see Alicia as soon as he woke up! He kept saying, "I want to see Alicia and Ranger, Mommy." So sweet.

He enjoyed watching cartoons with Uncle Marc, Daddy and Ranger.

Then, Daddy and Uncel Marc took Merit to get a donut; and they got one or two for themselves too.

After Alicia fed sweet Luke we all set out for a trip to the park. Merit wanted to play on a playground.

Aunt Alicia rode the silly animals with Merit and so did Mommy. Merit thought this was really funny. :)

Look at that smile! He had so much fun swinging!

After our adventure to the park we went to eat lunch at the famous, Niko & Niko's. Wow! It was delicious!

Then, we had to bathe this stinky little boy. He really liked playing with all of Luke's bath toys, especially the ducky with lights!

Friday Wedding!

This was Merit's first wedding. Well, the first wedding where he actually knew what was going on. I explained everything to him and he did a really good job of being quiet except he wanted to whisper to me. He had questions and wanted to know what was going on. He really thought it was funny that the flower girls threw rose petals out of their baskets. :)

The ceremony was beautiful! Well...the part I saw was beautiful. I ended up taking Merit out because he couldn't stay quiet enough.

We went to a room in the back of the chapel and lucked out. There was a plate of untouched cheese and crackers and Merit was starving! He devoured the food!

Merit giving a high-five to the groom.

Merit had the most fun playing on the stairs in the reception room.

My handsome date for the night. Actually I had two handsome boys with me!

Friday - Drive to Houston

Merit was so excited to get in the car and head to Houston! All day Thursday he continued to say, "I want to see Alicia". I kept telling him, "tomorrow Merit, tomorrow". So, Friday morning I taught my morning class and then we hit the road around 11. Merit wanted to load his car case by himself. I had to capture this moment. How cute! :) We played all sorts of silly games in the car, like "Where's Merit?" He hides under the blanket and then giggles. We also read books, watched some movies on the iPad and played some ABC games on the iPad too. Finally, Merit took a good nap. I told him he needed to take a nap in the car so when we arrived at Alicia's he would feel good. So, he did. Such a good boy. :)

We arrived in Houston around 4:30 and had a little bit of time to visit with Alicia and Marc and love on sweet Luke before we had to leave for the wedding. Luke is precious!!!

Birthday Dinner/Date Night!

Mimi kept Merit while J.P. enjoyed a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Maguire's. We had a nice evening alone and Merit always has fun with Mimi! Thank you Mom for keeping Merit for us!

Sunny Thursday

We enjoyed some outdoor play in the beautiful sunshine on Thursday. See our baskets in the background? Our grass has started to grow and Merit is having fun watching it! :) He really likes the beautiful garden cross and bumble bee that Nana bought for me for my birthday. He enjoys moving them from pot to pot. After nap time we played inside and I did my toenails. Merit saw me filing my toenails and decided he wanted to try too. We definitely don't want Daddy to see this picture because boys don't file their toenails, they cut them. Maui also got some good lovin' from Merit. What a great day!

Why We Celebrate Easter

Great article! Do your kids know why we celebrate Easter???

http://www.raisinggodlychildren.org/2012/03/do-your-kids-know-why-we-celebrate.html

My Birthday!

J.P. and I decided to wait until Thursday night to go out for our birthday dinner so my wonderful mother brought us dinner and birthday cake for my birthday on Wednesday. She brought fajitas with all of the fixings and chocolate birthday cake. Everything was delicious! We had fun opening gifts too! As you can see, Merit really enjoyed cake for the 2nd time this week!

Daddy's Birthday Day

We started our day with an oil change and wash at Acura. Merit absolutely loves going to Acura because they have a big toy room with every type of toy you can imagine. On Tuesday, he actually asked me if we could go get another oil change for my car. Too funny. We went on a nice walk and had some play time after we left Acura and then I went to teach for the afternoon. After work, Merit and I decorated for Daddy's birthday dinner, made the icing for the cupcakes and then got dinner ready. Merit had a very hard time resisting licking the remains of melted white chocolate and I had fun watching him. The dinner was delicious and so were the cupcakes. Daddy even got a little bit of help blowing out his candle. Happy birthday Daddy!