Merit 3 1/2 Years Old

Thank you to Mimi for capturing my sweet boy on Easter weekend!

 

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday begin as quite a rainy day but ended up beautiful! The sun came out just as we were arriving to church. We took some cute pics before and after church. Love the pictures of Merit with his doggies.

Confetti Eggs!

Sharon and Dave bought confetti eggs for the kids and adults. I had never done these in my life. We had so much fun with this! I was the first one to get an egg cracked on my head. Merit laughed and giggled with delight. He then wanted to crack one on his head. It was hysterical! In the end, we all had confetti in our hair, down our backs, and pretty much everywhere! What a great idea Sharon had!

 

Egg Hunt with the Gelnetts

What a blessing to spend some time with my sister and her family this Easter. Sharon and Dave set up a wonderful egg and toy hunt for the cousins. It was great fun to watch these two together. They are growing up way too fast! Merit was very surprised at the toys Sharon had hidden around her yard because he has always looked for eggs only. This was so much fun for him! After the egg hunt Merit wanted to look and play with everything in his basket. He ate entirely too much candy and I had to intervene and stop him because Daddy was eating it right along with him!

Thank you to Sharon and Dave for setting up this wonderful Easter treat!

 

Easter Weekend - Mimi, Alicia, and sweet Luke

Mimi was so happy to get to see Alicia and Luke for just a bit on Saturday.

Prestonwood's Egg Hunt

We didn't get to go to Prestonwood Plano's Easter Extravaganza this year but we did get to attend the Dallas campus celebration. For the first time, they had a helicopter egg drop. It was really neat to watch the helicopter circling around the field and then to see literally thousands of eggs falling to the ground. Merit was in awe! He had never seen a helicopter so closely before. He covered his ears and told me it was too loud. After he picked up a few eggs he was ready to move on to the bounce houses. This was by far his favorite part! He wanted to go in them again and again. What a fun experience for all of us!

 

Bunnies for the Boys!

I found this cute craft on Pinterest while searching for Easter crafts. I looked around the house and sure enough I had everything I needed to make these adorable bunnies. It took me about 2 hours on Friday night to make them. Aren't they precious?! Merit and Luke will love them!

 

Trip to the Hair Salon

I usually schedule my hair appointments for Saturday that way Merit can stay with JP while I go. However, we've had a busy last few weeks and I haven't been able to get to my salon. So, Ida squeezed me in on Good Friday and Merit seemed to enjoy himself. Ida let him pick a treat from her candy jar and I let him play on the iPad. Happy boy!

 

Playground Fun!

Merit absolutely loves going to new playgrounds. So, I am always on the lookout for a new place for us to play. The playground at Hillcrest and Northwest Highway is one of our favorites but we don't go there too often. I try to mix it up a bit. He had a great time playing the pretend bongo drums and maracas. After our playground visit, I made a quick run to the mall and then we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the patio. I bought chocolate pudding snacks for Merit at the store this week and he thinks they are quite wonderful! It's the little things when you're three.

 

My Birthday!

Loved celebrating my birthday with JP, Merit, and Mimi! We had a fabulous dinner at Mi Cocina followed by gifts and cake at our house. I am truly blessed!

 

My mom bought me a new purse, new sheets for my bed and a few other goodies too!

Melissa and David picked out beautiful jewelry for me!

 

Daddy & Merit bought me three new charms to add to my "Mommy" bracelet.

My Birthday Dinner!

JP had to fly to North Carolina for a meeting on Wednesday and was scheduled to return late Thursday. My mom asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday dinner and I said, "Eat at Mi Cocina, of course!" JP arrived just in time to meet us at the restaurant too! We had a delicious meal. My mom had the wait staff sing "Happy Birthday" to me and Merit cried because it was too loud. It was hilarious! He got over it pretty quickly though. After dinner, we went back to our house and I opened presents from my mom, Melissa and JP and Merit. It was a special evening!

 

Easter Treats from Papa 'D' & Grammy!

Papa 'D' and Grammy send Merit some Easter goodies to Merit in the mail. He was very excited when he saw the very cool transformer monster truck! The candy was well received as well. Thank you Papa 'D' and Grammy for the treats!

 

Lemon Bar Brownies



Ms. Brenda loves lemon bars and normally I make them for her on special occasions. I decided this time I would make her something like a lemon bar but a tad different. So, I searched for recipes and came across this one on Pinterest. The budding baketress titled the recipe, Cakey Lemon Bar Brownies. They have just the right amount of lemon to make them resemble a lemon bar but to also make them noticeably unique. My modifications for this recipe include:

1/4 cup softened coconut oil + 1/4 cup softened butter instead of 1/2 cup butter

 I also used a tad more lemon zest in both the brownie and the icing.

Ms. Brenda absolutely loved these and told me she ate every one of them in just 2 days! I'll definitely be making this recipe again!

http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.com/2012/04/cakey-lemon-bar-brownies.html

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Merit was really looking forward to celebrating Daddy's birthday. He told me that he wanted Daddy to have a baseball themed party. So, I made JP's favorite cupcakes, carrot cake, and decorated them like baseballs. I also bought one of his favorite ball park snacks, Cracker Jacks. We hung red streamers all over the kitchen and had quite the celebration. Dinner was lasagna, bread sticks, and veggies. JP really enjoyed his birthday.

 

Palm Sunday

We had a parade in our Bible Fellowship classes on Sunday morning. Each kid was given a palm branch to wave. It was so cute watching them. Our 4 year old class did a great job!

 

Happy Birthday to Papa!

We took Papa to one of his favorite places to celebrate his birthday, Maggiano's of course! I made him a giant card filled with words that describe his character, pictures, and memories. I also made him a collage of all of his family members. He absolutely loved it! The dinner was wonderful and the company was superb. Merit really enjoyed the pasta but his favorite part was getting to try a bite of each dessert.

Happy birthday to our Papa! He is truly loved my many!

 

Papa 'D's Corvette is Visiting Us!

Papa 'D's corvette is visiting us for bit. He is having some work done to it here in Dallas. JP set everything up for him and has been taking and picking up the corvette at various shops around Dallas and Fort Worth. We drove to Fort Worth early Saturday moring to pick it up and Merit enjoyed pretending to drive it. When we got back to the house, Merit wanted to help Daddy polish it. What a good little helper!

 

A Day with Matthew

Sweet Matthew is no longer staying with Ms. Brenda during the week. So, I have to be very intentional about setting up play dates for these two boys. Merit adores Matthew and talks about him quite a lot. He actually refers to him as, "Matthew, my brother." It's really sweet. I explained to him that technically Matthew is not his brother but he is his brother in Christ. This concept was a little hard for him to get but I think in the end he understood. Matthew's mom dropped him off on her way to work and picked him up around 5. We started the day by playing at the house, then we had snack time, then it was off to Barnes & Noble, lunch time, nap time, and then a little more play time. It was a fun-filled day for sure!

 

What a Big Boy!

These days Merit wants to do everything by himself. I have heard, "I can do it," probably 50 times lately! He is becoming quite the "big boy" and he wants everyone to know it. However, he still loves for Mommy to hold him, cuddle with him and read to him. I sure hope those things don't change for a while.

 

Beautiful Flowers and a Special Friend!

On Tuesday, we met Nathaniel and Aunt Nancy at the Arboretum. The tulips were in full bloom and were simply gorgeous! The boys enjoyed the petting zoo, the pyramid slide, ran around Frontier Town, and enjoyed lunch on the patio. It was a wonderful day! I'm so glad these two got to spend some time together again!

 

Northpark + Nathaniel = Great Fun!

We were pretty excited when Aunt Nancy told us that Nathaniel was coming in town for a few days. Merit absolutely adores Nathaniel and he couldn't wait to spend some time with him. We met them at Northpark on Sunday after nap time. The boys walked all around the mall, went to the Disney store, visited the ducks and turtles, and admired the fountain. They are so cute together!

 

Pancakes...just what the doctor ordered!

Merit made a fast recovery from his illness and we thought it would be fun to take him out to breakfast on Saturday morning. We tried a fairly new place in our area and it was truly enjoyed by all of us. Merit especially liked the coffee drink JP and I ordered. He kept asking for more.

What a great way to start the weekend!

 

Cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning!

Merit had his first stomach bug this week. :( Poor baby. I hated seeing him sick. Thank goodness it was very short lived and he made a quick recovery. I spent Thursday and Friday disinfecting everything in the house, including every single car in his collection. We went through tons of Lysol spray and wipes!  

 

Monster CARS!

I thought this was both creative and funny! Merit used LEGOS to turn his McQueen cars into Monster Cars & Trucks. He thought they were so cool! What a smart boy I have!

 

Pet Smart Trip

A need for dog food requires a trip to Pet Smart which can be somewhat like a trip to the zoo! Merit and I spent a lot of time looking at the lizards, the spiders, the turtles, and the frogs. He really liked the ferrets and they were very interested in playing with him. It was cute!

 

Decorating for Easter!

Merit loves playing with these window clings so he couldn't wait to put the Easter clings on our kitchen windows. He was pretty proud of the display he made!

 

Outdoor Play!

Merit just can't seem to get enough of his horse swing. As soon as he woke up from his nap he wanted to go outside so he could ride it some more. Mimi certainly picked out a good Christmas gift for him! My Easter Lilies from Amber are coming back again this year. And, I rooted some honeysuckle two years ago and it just started blooming! I have lots of work to do in the yard still though!

 

S'mores Cookies...Fantastic!

I used the Hot Cocoa cookie recipe to make yummy S'mores cookies tonight. The link for the cookies is below. Just drop the hot cocoa cookie dough onto one graham cracker square and bake. Right before cookies are done, take them out of the oven and top them with some marshmallows. I turned my oven to low broil and toasted the marshmallows to perfection. These cookies were a big hit!

 

I found the recipe here: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/mini-hot-cocoa-cookies/

My modifications include:

1/4 cup butter + 1/4 cup light cream cheese instead of 1/2 cup butter

2 eggs and 2 egg whites instead of 3 whole eggs

 

Superb Sunday!

Sunday was the perfect day to enjoy some time outdoors. After Merit's nap, we played kickball, baseball, and flew Merit's new kite. What a beautiful day!

 

Trey's Dedication Day

Amber & Tony dedicated Trey on Sunday and they were so sweet to include us in their special day. We enjoyed brunch with them and their family. Love these pictures!