December Art!

We made some really pretty art work during the month of December. Here are a couple of my favorites. The Santa sleigh and reindeer turned out so cute! Merit loves to have his hands and feet painted so this was perfect for him. He also had a great time decorating and building the snowman.

 

DIY Coasters

For Christmas this year I made coasters for some of my family members. I had so much fun with this project! I decided I'd try one set of coasters in color and they turned out really good too! What a wonderful gift to give someone you love!

Here is the link I used to learn how to do this. http://leelala.net/2011/02/diy-tile-coasters/

 

My Warm Hat

We made our weekly trip to the donut shop on Saturday morning and then Merit and I ran a few errands together. I think he looks so stinking cute in this gray hat! The hat came with his snow coat that I bought him last year and it came with matching gloves too. What a cutie!

 

Nana + Northpark = Great Day!

We really had a wonderful time visiting The Trains at Northpark with Nana on Friday. Merit could not get enough of the trains; I don't think he would have ever been ready to leave. His favorite part was the replica of the State Fair of Texas, Big Tex included. After our visit at the train display, Nana insisted on treating us to frozen yogurt. Merit devoured his yogurt and we enjoyed ours too! We certainly love our time with Nana!

 

Snow Day in Dallas!

We hit the road for Dallas early Wednesday morning. I wanted to get home early hoping that there would still be snow on the ground. Merit has talked about snow on Christmas day for probably two months now. He really wanted to see snow! So, we arrived in Dallas around 11:30 and the snow had not melted yet. We were super excited! I quickly got Merit dressed in snow play clothes and we had a great time playing outside. He enjoyed this activity for about 30 minutes and then he said he was too cold and wanted to come back in. :)

 

My New Helmet

Merit thinks his new helmet from Papa 'D' and Grammy is pretty cool. He likes it so much that he wanted to keep it on while he was playing and while he was eating dinner on Christmas night. It was hilarious!

 

Merry Christmas from our Family!

Fun with the Cousins!

Merit thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his cousins, Aidan and Ella. He played very well with both of them. I wish we lived closer to they could play together more often!

 

Christmas Morning!

Merit was beyond excited to see the gifts that Santa had left for him. What's funny is that he kept telling us he was excited to see his present from Santa. I really think he thought he was only getting one present. So, when he saw more then one present he was ecstatic! Santa left Merit a train table with tracks and train cars, Woody cowboy boots and some new Hot Wheels cars. It brought JP and I such joy to see his smile and enthusiasm over his Santa gifts.

 

Treats for Santa!

Merit and I put together some treats for Santa before going to bed on Christmas Eve. Merit put peanut butter cookies on a plate and then insisted that we leave Santa some potato chips too. He said Santa liked potato chips. And, we of course left Santa a big glass of milk. I told Merit we needed to leave plenty of treats because Santa might want to share his goodies with the elves and his reindeer. :)

 

Merry Christmas from Papa 'D' and Grammy!

Papa 'D' and Grammy wanted to give the kids their big gift a little early. So, when Merit woke up from his nap he was surprised with a lime green Power Wheels ATV. Ella and Aidan got a blue jeep. The kids were so excited when they saw their gift and they couldn't wait to test drive them! Needless to say, the rest of the day and evening was spent driving their Power Wheels all around the yard. The dogs stayed as far away as possible!

 

Christmas Eve Fun at Bass Pro!

After Daddy returned from his shopping trip, the three of us went to Bass Pro for some Christmas Eve fun. We rode the carousel, looked at all of the animals, played with the remote control cars, and test drove some ATVs. Merit thoroughly enjoyed this outing!

 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Daddy braved Walmart early Christmas Eve morning to pick up a few last minute stocking stuffers. Merit and I enjoyed a relaxing morning of eating breakfast and playing. Merit wanted to wear the Santa hat while he was eating. Funny boy. :)

 

Sunday Fun in San Antonio!

On Sunday morning, JP and David took Merit to get donuts since we missed our weekly donut day due to traveling yesterday. Merit likes to go in his pj's and Elmo slippers. :)

After breakfast, we met Emily and the kids at church. Merit was so excited about seeing his cousins and about going to Sunday School with cousin Ella. We then enjoyed lunch together and a little play time too.

 

Kicked Back Relaxing

Our first evening in San Antonio was spent playing and relaxing. Merit really enjoyed the Santa hats that Papa 'D' and Grammy had out and he had lots of fun putting the Santa hats on the dogs. I'm not sure if the dogs thought if was very fun though. David and Melissa had Merit's CARS bed set up for him in the guest room and he couldn't wait to jump in. He thinks the bed is really cool and he kept thanking Papa 'D' and Grammy for buying it. It was very sweet.

 

Slumber Party with Mimi

Merit is quite the big kid now spending the night away from home. He is also quite spoiled when he goes to Mimi's house. She serves his dessert with lots of cool whip, let's him watch movies in her bed, and even serves him breakfast in bed too! What a life!

 

On the Road Again!

We certainly carried a heavy load with us to San Antonio this year. JP's truck bed was packed to the brim with gifts and luggage. The inside was packed with both dogs, Merit, us, food, luggage and more gifts. We always have fun traveling as a family and we make good memories too!

 

Christmas Haircut

This little guy needed a hair cut in a big way! We absolutely had to fit this in before leaving for San Antonio. He looked very handsome after this trim.

 

Jingle Bell Rock!

Love these pics of Merit dancing to Jingle Bells and watching a Christmas movie. He was very excited this year about Christmas! We spent a lot of time talking about Jesus' birthday and why we celebrate on the 25th. I'm hoping he realized that Christmas was not about the presents!

 

Story time with Santa!

Merit and I have made Friday morning story time with Santa a tradition for the past couple of years now. He was a bit too young for this in the past but not now. He was pretty enthused about seeing Santa and about mailing a letter to Santa too. Nana joined us for the fun and then we had lunch together back at our house. What a special day!

 

Gingerbread Cookie Night!

We decided Sunday night would be the perfect time to bake up some gingerbread cookies. Merit was super excited about helping Mommy with this. We have used cookie cutters with play dough many times so Merit already had a good idea of how to do this. I really couldn't believe how well he did! After the cookies came out of the oven I got the decorating supplies ready and we all decorated cookies together. It was a great evening!

 

Happy 4th Birthday, Ashleigh!

We had  a wonderful time celebrating Ashleigh's 4th birthday. Merit absolutely loved the gymnastics center and literally cried because he didn't want to leave. Ashleigh looked like a little princess in her pink tutu. What a joy it has been to watch these two cuties grow up together!

 

Story time and a little shopping too!

 

Merit and I had a couple of items already picked out for Ashleigh at Barnes & Noble. So, Saturday morning we went to story time and then picked up Ashleigh's birthday gifts too. Merit enjoyed listening to the stories and it was a great way to start our day! We can't wait to give Ashleigh her gifts later today!

 

Our Santa Calendar

Aunt Nancy gave us this cute Santa calendar last year. Merit didn't really understand what it was for last year but he does this year. I've been letting him change the date for us. He thinks this is a really big kid thing to do!

 

New Room!

I decided I wanted to get rid of the large desk that was taking up most of the room in our study and get a smaller desk. My mom and I did a little brainstorming while driving home from Houston and by the time we got home I had a plan! I used a beautiful black desk from my bedroom and made that the new computer desk. It looks great! I then moved Merit's black table and chairs from his bedroom into the study. We are going to use the table for crafts and games. I really like the extra room in Merit's bedroom now that the table and chairs is gone. I have a large shaggy rug picked out to put in the center of this room which I think will make the space a little more warm and cozy feeling. Merit is already enjoying playing in this new space!

 

My Race Car Tree!

Merit was pretty anxious to find his race car ornaments in the Christmas boxes. So, we found all of them on Tuesday and he proceeded to tell me that he could decorate his tree all by himself. He did a fantastic job! I folded laundry while he hung the ornaments. He couldn't wait to show Daddy when he got home from work!

 

Northpark Fun!

On Monday Merit and I went to Northpark to watch the Scrooge puppet show. He thought it was pretty funny but he didn't quite get all of his humor. I think he liked the end of the show the best when Scrooge squirted all of the crowd with water from his water gun. While we were at Northpark we did a little shopping at the Disney store too!

 

Decorating with Mommy!

My little helper did a super job this year helping decorate the Christmas tree. He carefully unwrapped each ornament one by one and then placed it on the tree. I had warned him that some of the ornaments were breakable so he had to be really careful with them. His reaction to seeing the ornaments was priceless. After he saw the ornament he would say, "Mommy, wow! Look at this one! This ornament is beautiful!" He was quite expressive about the beauty of each one. What a sweet boy!

 

Fun in the Sun!

The title of this post certainly sounds like a post about a summer day but it was December 1st. I think the high was around 80 in Houston. Merit and I went for a short walk to Alicia's neighborhood playground. We watched the ducks swim, played on the playground and got to see a family release three 10 year old turtles into the pond. It was a fun morning!

 

Fun Times with the Birthday Boy!

We had so much fun playing with the boys on the morning of Luke's birthday. Merit couldn't get enough of the Sock Monkey jack-in-the-box and Luke clung to Alicia every time the music started to play. It was hilarious! Alicia also showed Merit the story of Jesus' birth using the Jesus cube. I need to get one too! He really thought it was so neat! What great memories made today with my family.