Halloween Mantle - Bats!

Inspired from ideas on Pinterest once again. I cut out bats using black construction paper. I think I cut around 30 or so. I collected branches while Merit and I took our morning and afternoon walks then spray painted them black. The "BOO" sign is made using Styrofoam boards, wrapping paper and construction paper. Very easy DIY and inexpensive too! When Merit saw what I had done, he said, "Bats, bats, Mommy". He was pretty excited about the bats flying over our mantle. :)

Katelyn's Birthday Party

We had fun celebrating Katelyn's birthday on Saturday. They had a small bounce house set up for the kids and Merit had so much fun bouncing and jumping. Maybe we should get one for our house??? Ha, ha, ha. Merit got to see all of his friends and Ms. Brenda too. We were happy to be invited to such a special occasion.

Halloween Wreath!

I got the basic idea from Pinterest and then added a few details of my own. Thank you Pinterest!

Materials: Black Burlap, initial letter, polka dot ribbon and a wreath. I think I spent a total of $15. I really like the way it turned out too!

black

2 Year Check-Up!

Merit was in a very good mood before the appt. He really likes this office because they have a huge aquarium!

He was not happy about taking his clothes off and sitting on the table. :(

Thank goodness I brought his snuggies. He held on to them for dear life!

He quickly got over it and was all smiles when we were said and done! Only one shot too! :)

I took him to a cool park in Highland Park when we left. He had a ball!

We then spent time at the playground early evening after our walk. He loves pretending like he's driving the jeep.

Oh, so this is why I have sand on my hard wood floors. Looks like we are going to have to start stripping down before we enter the house!

Cutie!

These days Merit really enjoys trying to use the camera on my phone or just any camera he can get his hands on. He always wants to see the pictures after I take them and he likes to point, shoot and take the shot himself. He always has my assistance of course though. These are pictures of playing outside and playing with his Hot Wheels cars. Oh what fun!

Our family...as ghosts. Boo!

These ghosts look happy and not scary at all. The polka dot ribbon and smiles on their faces do the trick. I put a spotlight on them so they'd really show up at dark! Boo!

Fire Truck Birthday Party Decor

Many friends have asked that I post pics of the decor for Merit's birthday party. So, here are some close up pics for you! Email me if you have any questions!

Dessert table: Roastin' Red Velvet cupcakes, Firehouse Chocolate Dogs, Smoulderin' Vanilla cupcakes, and Pyretic Pretzels

Sign for the fireplace made from Cardstock paper. I drew the letters free hand but you could always print off stencils. :)

Cute Lego firestation as the centerpiece

I designed a firehouse emblem with our last name, the #2 for Merit's 2nd birthday, and established 2009 to represent the year he was born. Wooden firetrucks came from Hobby Lobby. I wrote a #2 on each one.

Firestation emblem stickers for all of the kids and of course for Merit too!

All of the food for the party had fire type names: Burnin' Hot BBQ chips, Blazin' BBQ Beef sandwiches, Combustible Caramel Corn, Charred Cherry Salad and Flamin' Fruit.

I made a small cake just for Merit. I thought it would be more fun for him to have his own little cake.

Mecum Auto Show & Auction

On Saturday morning we went downtown to the Dallas Convention Center for the Mecum Auto Show & Auction. Merit had so much fun looking at all of the beautiful cars. The showroom was full of classic cars and new cars and some very rare cars. I had several picked out that I wanted but unfortunately we didn't come home with any one of them. Some of the cars went for over $200,000! Wow! That's a lot of money to pay for a car! Our most repeated phrase of the morning, "Merit, don't touch the cars, just look." Pretty funny, huh? :)

National Night Out

I had Papa and Mimi over for dinner and National Night Out festivities on Tuesday night. Daddy was out of town so he missed out on all of the fun. We called Alicia and did Facetime with her. Papa thought it was so neat to get to see her and talk to her at the same time. He had never seen the Facetime application before. She took him on a tour of her house because he's never been to Houston to see it. We enjoyed a delicious southern style dinner of brown sugar ham, beans and cornbread and sweet potatoes, yum! After dinner, we walked across the street to the school playground and listened to the wonderful 70's band and let Merit play on the playground. Many of our neighbors were there; it was fun to get to visit with some of them. What a fantastic night!

Nachos, Yum!

Merit enjoyed his first taste of nachos on Sunday night. He was really funny with this new food. He kept staring at it and touching the cheese. He finally took a bite and smiled. I then told him this silly joke my dad used to tell about "Nacho cheese" and Merit started repeating, "Nacho cheese" over and over again. It was quite hilarious! Alicia, I know you remember that one!