Thank you Papa 'D' and Grammy!

Papa 'D' and Grammy sent Merit some special Halloween treats. He couldnt' wait to open the box when it arrived! They sent candy, glow in the dark bugs and other fun treats. Thank you Papa 'D' and Grammy!

 

Ready for Trick-or-Treating!

On Halloween evening, I picked up Merit from Brenda's around 3:45, we stopped at the Dollar store to buy candy for the trick-or-treaters, and then we went home to get ready for the big night. Merit and I dressed up the dogs in their costumes. JP and I bought costumes for them the first year that he had them. Cali has an angel costume and Maui has a police man costume. They really do look quite adorable in these. Merit couldn't wait to get his costume on! And, he really liked the way he looked when it was complete. We waited on Mimi and JP to get home so they could trick-or-treat together. It was the beginning of a great night for all of us!

 

Homemade Caramel Apples

Merit assisted in the making of homemade caramel apples for our Halloween evening treat. This was his first time to do this and he was super excited about it. He and I unwrapped the caramels together and then I melted them in the microwave. I dipped the apples and he helped decorate them. He very methodically placed M&M's on them, pecans and Reese's pieces. We had so much fun doing this!

 

Spider Cookies!

We made scary spider cookies for Merit's friends. I used fudge covered Oreos, peanut butter, pretzel sticks and mini M&M's. This was so easy and fun! Merit loved picking out the different color M&M's for the eyes of the spider. To put these together: Spread peanut butter on one Oreo, this will be the bottom of the spider. Then, press eight pretzels onto the peanut butter layer to make the legs of the spider. Next, lay an Oreo on top of the peanut butter and pretzels. Lastly, I melted chocolate and dabbed two little dots of it on top of the Oreo and place the M&M's on the chocolate. The chocolate will dry and then the M&M eyes won't fall off. They turned out so cute!

 

Bubbles!

 Merit just can't seem to get enough of bubbles these days. He asks me quite frequently to blow them to he can chase them and try to pop them. Love that smile!

 

Our New Car!

Daddy surprised Merit late Friday night with a new car! This car might be Merit's car somewhere down the road. :) JP has been looking for a used corvette for quite some time now. He finally found exactly what he was looking for! It is really beautiful! Merit was thrilled to say the least and couldn't wait to get in the car and pretend like he was driving.

 

Fun Idea for Pattern Practice!

We have been working on repeating patterns lately. So, I've been looking for items to use so Merit doesn't get bored. :) I found this old game with colored beads and it worked perfectly. Merit loved the glass beads and thought it was fun to use them to make patterns! What a fun idea!

 

Blowing Bubbles

Merit absolutely loves for me to blow bubbles outside with him. However, he has had trouble being able to blow them on his own until today! He has finally learned to blow gently enough to make a bubble instead of blowing so hard that a bubble won't form. He was so very proud of himself!

 

My Little Artist

 

Merit couldn't wait to get up from his nap and start painting his pumpkin. I put some pretty fall color paint in my small muffin tin tray and he got to work. I gave him a small paint sponge and some q-tips to use. He really did a great job! After the pumpkin was dry I wrote his name on it. He really likes seeing his painted pumpkin on display in the kitchen.

 

Really??? What a Life!

I had to capture this moment. Before nap time we usually read 3 books and have some fruit together. I pick out the 3 books and Merit gets to choose the order in which I read them. After we read, he usually asks if he can watch a few minutes of something on the iPad. On this day, he chose The Backyardigans. JP came home to pick up something and saw Merit like this. He and I both said, "Wow, what a life!" He does look pretty comfortable. Must be nice to be a kid!

 

Picking Pumpkins!

I took Merit to a little pumpkin patch by our house on Tuesday. He had a great time picking out small pumpkins for us to paint. They had a cute red wagon for their customers to use and I gave him a couple of rides through the pumpkin patch. The weather was gorgeous; it was a perfect morning for this! Sure love spending time with my little man!

 

Loves His Cars!

Merit is pretty methodical about lining up his cars in just the right way. He told us this was a parking lot. Sometimes he makes long trains and says the cars are sitting in traffic or waiting to start a race. What's really funny is when Cali or Maui walk through his carefully plotted out design. He quickly tells them, "bad Cali or bad Maui". It is too funny!

 

Ring Pops?

 

I can't believe these things are still popular with kids! Alicia and I used to love buying ring pops! This was a CARS ring pop that Merit received in a birthday treat bag. He thought it was pretty wonderful. Look at that smile!

 

Spooky Donuts!

JP took Merit for their weekly donut trip and he couldn't wait to show me his donut when he got home! It's the little things, right?

 

Celebrating Together Today!

Merit and I started celebrating today the start of my fall break. We decided a trip to Starbucks would definitely be fun and delicious! Merit chose hot chocolate and drank almost all of it pretty quickly. It's safe to say he thoroughly enjoyed this treat!

 

Milk...yum!

I'm so glad that Uncle Marc taught Merit how to drink milk out of his cereal bowl. Ha! :) It really is pretty cute to watch him do this. What a great memory from our trip to Destin! Merit learned many good habits from Marc while we were vacationing!

 

Luke...the cutest little skeleton!

We gave Luke Merit's skeleton pj's. Mimi bought them for Merit his second Halloween, so he was 13 months old at the time. Alicia put them on Luke this week and sent us this adorable picture. Seriously the cutest skeleton I've ever seen, besides his cousin of course. :)

Polar Express + Mimi = Super Fun!

 

JP left for Chicago on Monday so Mimi got to spend some time with us while he was gone. Merit begged me to ask Mimi to bring the movie "Polar Express" to our house on Monday night. So, I made some hot chocolate after dinner and we watched a little bit of the movie. Merit was completely enthralled by the movie and literally sat completely still. He doesn't sit still very often these days.

What a great evening with Mimi!

 

Doctor Visit with Mommy

Merit went with me to see Dr. Bates on Tuesday morning. We brought books and a snack just in case we had to wait for a bit. Merit really thought the examination chair was neat. He wanted to sit in it and then climb on and off over and over again.

The appointment went well and I'm scheduled for surgery next Wednesday. Hoping and praying this procedure makes a big difference for me and my sinus/allergy issues!

 

Balloon Ping Pong!

I found this idea on another mom's website. This is a great idea for an indoor game that's safe and fun! I made this early Sunday morning when we decided to only attend the late service. All we needed were paper plates, one balloon and something to use as a handle. I couldn't find any popsicle sticks so I used pencils and duct tape instead. We had the best time playing this game! What a great idea!

 

Q-Tip Skeleton

My little man certainly loves craft time with Mommy. This Saturday we made a cute skeleton out of q-tips. I drew the lines of glue on the paper and then Merit placed the q-tip on the glue. He really liked the way our skeleton turned out! We talked about all of the bones in our body and how God created our skeletons so perfectly. This is a fun and educational October craft!

 

Saturday...Party Time!

We had a wonderful time celebrating sweet Katelyn's 3rd birthday. Merit is with Katelyn three days each week while I am teaching. He adores her! The bounce house was the highlight of the party and I could not get Merit out of this thing! He was one tired little boy on the way home.

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

 

Spooky...ha!

Merit and I had so much fun putting our outdoor decorations outside today. We found some cute new Mickey and Minnie pumpkins to add to our collection. I think my new wreath looks great with the other decorations! Merit really loves our friendly ghosts and I like their cute polka dot ribbons. I added the same ribbon to my pumpkins and the spider too. Cute!

 

Let's Play Ball!

 

Merit and I really like playing kick ball and keep away in our back yard. He thinks it's pretty funny when I won't let him have the ball and he nose dives to get it over and over again. We certainly make the most of our time together!

 

October Wreath

I love my new October wreath! I used things I had at the house to put it together. I started with a plain wreath form. I used leftover materials cut into strips and then tied the strips on the wreath one by one. I used a different material to hang the wreath, added a letter "M" for McLain, and a cute fuzzy spider.

 

Library Fun!

We missed our Friday trip to the library this week because we went to the State Fair with Nana instead. So, we made a trip over there on Saturday morning. JP and Papa 'D' were going to a car show and it was a little too cold for us to join them. One of Merit's favorite parts of going to the library is returning the books. He absolutely loves putting the books on the tray and then watching them go down the chute to the conveyor belt. Mimi met us there and she really had a good time too!

 

Fuzzy Spiders!

We had so much fun making these cute fuzzy spiders this weekend. We bought black pipe cleaners, black pom poms and googly eyes. Merit had fun making shapes with the pipe cleaners, which would be a fun craft for next weekend! We put one spider on top of my new October wreath, another one on the mantle and we are in the process of making a few more.  

 

Elmo Slippers

The cooler temperatures have prompted Merit to get out his warm and fuzzy Elmo slippers. Today he wanted to wear them most of the day. They look so cute with the red shorts! Ha!

 

State Fair with Nana!

Nana had the wonderful idea to go to the State Fair on Friday. So, she met us at our house and then I drove the three of us to the fair. We started the day with a ride on the carousel. Merit absolutely loved this!

We went to a dog show and then went to visit the animals. Merit especially enjoyed feeding them right out of his hand.

The zebras were his favorite of all of the animals.

 

Merit pointing at the cute baby lambs.

Merit was really ready for a Fletcher's corn dog and so was Nana! I had a couple of bites of Merit's and it was really delicious!

What a cutie!

 

The three of us really had a great time at the hands-on farm.

Merit learned how cows get milked and he thought his process was quite amazing.

He planted vegetable seeds in the garden.

He got eggs from the hen house.

Adorable picture of Merit on the tractor.

 

He definitely enjoyed feeding corn to the sheep.

It was a fun and memorable day!

Pumpkins, Spiders, Bats, Oh My!

Merit all but begged me to get our decorations out of the shed. He was pretty enthused about decorating and seeing our pumpkins. When we were in the shed he saw the Polar Express train and of course he begged to get that out too. I told him we'd have to wait a few more weeks because we set up the train when the Christmas season begins. I'm just glad that someone in my house appreciates all of my hard work decorating! Ha! :)

 

National Night Out

 

We had a great time celebrating National Night Out with our neighbors. We absolutely love our neighborhood; it is a great community in which to live. The police officers and city volunteers wanted to take a picture with all of the kids. Merit thought it was really neat to get his picture taken with the police officers! We played on the playground, listened to a great band playing "oldies", visited with neighbors and friends and tried to learn how to play frisbee. It was a memorable evening!