The Merrells

Holiday cheer!

2011-12-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

Yet another post reminding you that we exist. And we are having a terrific holiday season!

We started off the season with some fun under the mistletoe!

We've been doing a book advent...24 Christmas books wrapped up, and the kids get to open one each day. We usually accidentally skip a day, so the following day is even better: opening TWO!

Naomi and Gabe coloring in their wooden Christmas tree puzzles. This was one of the first activities they found in the gingerbread house Advent calendar (shown later in this post).

And our trusty elf, making her way around the house. When she finds a spot she absolutely loves, she hangs out there for a day or two. (Or Mom and Dad forget to move her!)

Candy trains! (Our version is based on graham crackers...think gingerbread houses, but trains instead.) Terrible pictures, but lots of fun!

The gingerbread house - this is a super fun new tradition for us this year! Each day the kids open the door for the day. Inside is a slip of paper listing an activity for the day, and occasionally a treat. Sometimes it's a craft or going to an event, but more often it's "Dance to Christmas music" or "Have candles at dinner". The kids (and I) love it!

Today's activity from the gingerbread house...decorating paper Christmas trees.

Heart stickers, glitter paint, little fuzzballs...the kids came back to the table all throughout the day to add to their trees.

We exist!

2011-11-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

Yeah, we're still around! Halloween was terrific (or should I say INCREDIBLE...ha!). This was a super fun year with the kids. And we brought in the Best Group Costume award at the party we attended. Boo-yah! (in Gabe's own words!)

We've done fun things in the past couple months, but I need to get pictures from other people because I neglected to document those events. And I've let that stop me from posting. No more!

Second day of kindergarten

2011-08-10T05:38:00.000-07:00

The boys playing around while we waited for Naomi's bus to drop her off

on the FIRST day of kindergarten...

Gabe's face below just cracked me up...he realized Naomi had been gone

for much too long, and he wanted her back!

But since he had a stick to wave in the air and could run around

brandishing it like a sword, all was better.

Heading to the bus the SECOND day...(notice the boots again - such is our life these days!)

You can literally SEE the word "CHEESE" coming out of Gabe's mouth here!

Naomi's long-anticipated day...

2011-08-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

We officially have a KINDERGARTENER!

Gabe is gonna be one lonely guy...

Naomi is temporarily patient with pictures...

But now she wants to get to the bus stop.

Kindergartener tag around her neck so they know to take extra special care of my baby.

As she ran out the front door to head down the driveway,

she let out a whoop, a "Let's do this!" and a "Wahoo!".

I think she might be ready.

Mega Trip, Part III

2011-07-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

I arrived at Julie's and Paul's house (my sister!) in Shelley, ID (near Idaho Falls) late Wednesday night. We had a welcoming party, which was fun! It was so exciting just to be there, since it had been a couple of years.

Matt arrived Thursday evening (via plane to SLC and shuttle to Idaho Falls), and after picking him up, we had a birthday party for Naomi, Gabe AND Andrew!

The party was complete with cupcakes, candles and gifts! (Books they had picked out at the bookstore earlier that day, but it didn't take any of the excitement away!)

On Friday, we took a trip to the zoo. Andrew chillin' in the stroller...

Julisa and kids on the tiger - we had to pry them off, including Julisa. :)

I couldn't let that tiger action slip past me.

Being monkeys...I think?

Lovin' from Cousin Julisa!

Ice cream outing at a local dairy, always a highlight!

Jared (my nephew) and his wife Kara came over from Rexburg, and it was fabulous to see them. I think this was the night we played some grass volleyball.

Love my kids' faces in this one!

We enjoyed indoor s'mores.

THOROUGHLY enjoyed them.

Andrew got in on the present action, too, since he had been asleep during the party.

Picture with Cousin Jordan...why don't I have any pictures of Cahlin?? Sorry, Cahlin!

There are some other pictures which I need to track down, like pictures of the kids on the riding lawnmower with Uncle Paul. They couldn't get enough of it. After awhile, he switched over to his motorcycle, and they couldn't get enough of that, either! Funnily enough, I don't think they would bat an eye at going back to the lawnmower for thrills. Gabe was hilarious...while he was riding, we would hear an occasional, "WAHOO! WAHOO!".

And we played golf on a short course. That was my first time and it was a lot of fun! We went with Jordan, Cahlin, Jared, Kara, Paul and Julisa. I think Kara has pictures on her blog...I'll track those down.

We just had an absolutely terrific time and wish we could go back again very soon!

Mega Trip, Part II

2011-07-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

After a fun week in Monroe, Mom took us to Provo where we picked up our first rental car of the trip (our rental cars were an adventure in themselves!!) and headed towards Julie's house near Idaho Falls.

While I transferred carseats (THREE!)...luggage...snacks...music players...toys...etc. to the new car, Mom fed Andrew and kept Naomi and Gabe entertained (by allowing them to climb all over her front seat and repeatedly press all the buttons on her dashboard. Sorry, Mom!).

Our first stop along the way was in Salt Lake at Bethany's apartment. We ate an informal lunch (I stuffed bites of sandwich in my children's mouths as they ran by) and the kids played lots.

Bobbie, Gabe, Dahlia, Andrew and Naomi

It was great to see Bethany - it's been quite awhile since I've seen her!

Our next stop was in Ogden at Camille's house, where we completely derailed all of her plans for the evening AND made her friends annoyed at her. Dinner was great, though! And Naomi and Gabe had a terrific time following her boys around and checking out everything they were doing.

Camille was one of my best friends all the way from elementary through high school.

It's funny to see us now! (Can you see us? We're kinda covered by masses of little folk!)

My cell phone battery was dying at the beginning of the day, so I didn't call Matt at all that day. I was trying to save enough battery to call Bethany...and then Camille...and then Julie to get directions, update them on my expected arrival time, etc. And then my phone died while I was at Camille's house.

Apparently Matt called Julie to see if we arrived safely. We did, after driving through an hour of torrential rain and then a couple hours of kids not sleeping...stay tuned for Segment 3!

Mega Trip, Part I

2011-07-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

We took a rather long and geographically extensive trip during June/ We had a blast!

On May 31, I flew with the three children from Atlanta, GA to SLC, UT.

Alone.

On Delta.

DISASTER.

Aside from problems the airline gave us, I get quite motion sick. I think the low point of the flight was when I had to start borrowing vomit bags from passengers across the aisle because I had used all of ours. Try that with a wiggly 9 month old in your lap! I was more than relieved to arrive in SLC and pass the children off to my parents.

After that, we had a great time! Here are some pictures from Segment 1: Monroe, Utah.

Jeff's birthday celebration (one of their cousins)

We always get in some reading time with Grandma and Grandpa Jones

It has quite literally been YEARS since I've seen Paul, Taunya, Jeff and Carter, so it was fabulous to get some one-on-one time with them in Monroe!

Naomi spent the vast majority of the time with the goats. When she wasn't actually in the goat pen, she was begging to be allowed to go out to the goat pen. She sang to them, chased them, danced around them, and chased them some more.

No trip to Monroe is complete without a tractor ride. Check out Dad's eye on this - he had recently undergone emergency surgery for a detached retina, but he had to bale hay. So they rigged a huge bandage for his eye. It looked awesome. We should have taken more pictures!

Dirk's family came over for dinner one night - lots of fun!

Andrew got in on the grandparent action...

Stay tuned for more!

Merrells visit Georgia

2011-06-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

Matt's parents and sister came to visit us at the end of May.

We visited the Georgia Aquarium, the park, the swimming pool, and just had lots of fun.

In the midst of all the fun, we got a whopping two pictures with our guests actually in the pictures. Good thing we went to visit them right after this and got some more pictures while we were in their neck of the woods!

Get a degree, and we'll feed you cake. :)

2011-06-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

Matt successfully defended his dissertation and was considered done with his PhD from the University of Arizona in January 2011. He would have walked in the May Commencement, though, and he was unable to attend that. We also have a friend here who finished her Bachelor's degree from BYU and also missed her May Commencement exercises.

So we had a combined party for the two of them!

They each got their own cake.

Matt (U of A):

Rachelle (BYU):

Rachel (our cake artist)

Rachelle and her husband Ron

Rachelle finished the requirements for her degree just days before having twin boys!!

Split loyalties?

Around the house

2011-05-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from May...

More to come!

Boys!

2011-05-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

About to head out for a jog at the park...

These guys are great sports!

Carnival!

2011-05-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

The teenagers in our ward (church group) helped put on a carnival, which was initially supposed to be for special needs kids. Matt was helping out, and he called me saying not many kids had showed up, so they were opening it up to any kids. It was free and about 5 minutes from our house. Even with getting shoes on, strapping kids in carseats, etc., I think it only took us 6 minutes from the time of his call to arrive at the carnival!

The kids immediately got nametags and were assigned teenage escorts. The escorts took them to any booth in which the kids showed interest. It was awesome!

They started off at the bounce house:

Then headed for the snowcones. Gabe had two snowcones and begged for more!

There were crafts, face painting, pictures with the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 & Thing 2, and all kinds of carnival-style games. Gabe's favorite part was the snowcones, though. And Naomi's...

the horses! She's in a horse and unicorn phase right now.

It was a terrific way to spend our afteroon, especially since I got to chat with my friends and watch as the teens took my kids around to do all these fun things!

Bug watching...

2011-05-04T04:02:00.000-07:00

We discovered a fuzzy caterpillar. And we watched it all the way from our back steps to the picnic table.

Small break from caterpillar viewing...

Right back to it!

The kids also particularly enjoy watching potato bugs. Luckily, I expect there will be plenty of bugs for examination in this part of the country!

And sweet Andrew Frederick:

This is a rare picture of him on his back...he does not tolerate being placed in that position much now that he's a fast crawler! Gotta love the John Deere quilt, too! (Thanks, Mom.)

The Easel

2011-05-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

I have many pictures to post. In the spirit of procrastination, however, I am not going to do it now.

In the spirit of compromise and easing my conscience, I will put up this one picture:

Naomi & Gabe enjoying the art easel they got for Easter.

Naomi learns to ride a bike

2011-05-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

She's actually known how to ride a bike for quite some time. She just wasn't willing to put out the energy to do it. :) I'm not sure what changed, but she's recently been begging to go for bike rides. Since the weather is beautiful, we often do it, and she actually bikes quite a distance! I guess I'll start looking for a bigger bike, one that she'll actually fit!

She may be motivated by getting to pet the cat down the block!

And she and Gabe occasionally head out on their scooters, too.

Birthday Fun

2011-05-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Gabe's birthday on the 11th, we got to go to the Georgia Aquarium. I've got lots of pictures, but here are a few highlights.

Andrew!

2011-03-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

See the toy alligator in the bottom corner of this picture? Andrew really wanted to play with it. So after wondering why I kept calling his name and flashing a weird light at him, he focused.

Andrew has done a LOT of rocking on his hands and knees the past few weeks. He occasionally lurches forward and face plants. We, of course, do not giggle when that happens.

Unfortunately, he usually ends up moving backwards, out of reach of the toy.
But he gives us smiles anyway. Sweet boy.

And then we are joined by Gabe, in his Sunday finery. Too bad the picture of Gabe trying to lift Andrew turned out blurry - that would give you more of an idea of what really goes on around here.

Pop Rocks

2011-03-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

I worked on potty training Gabe at the beginning of this week. One of his prizes was Pop Rocks. Neither of the kids have had those before, that I can recall. So they weren't sure what to expect...

They really liked them, but it apparently wasn't enough of a draw to help Gabe decide to only pee in the toilet. :)

Art Gallery Exhibition

2011-03-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

On Friday, there was an art gallery exhibition at Naomi's preschool. (Translation: families got to go see all the projects on the wall!) Gabe played with all their toys while we wandered around and checked out some very fun projects.

Pointing to her green frog (on the brown background)

I didn't take a picture of most of the art, because we will be ending up with it in a few weeks. It was fun to get a closer look at the room and projects, and Naomi was thrilled to explain everything they had been doing.

Yellow River Game Ranch

2011-03-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, just after the odd snowfall and week-long closure of everything in the cit, we headed a couple miles down the road to the Yellow River Game Ranch. Think outdoor zoo with animals indigenous to the area.

At the beginning...we had kernels of corn off a corn husk (bag in Naomi's hand) to offer to the animals, but they seemed to prefer the kids' wheat thins.

I was fine with the rest, but this part was almost freaky. Having grown up in the country and seen a lot of deer in action, I was unsettled to see a deer to walk up to a row of jumping, wiggling kids and eat out of their hands.

Feeding the goats...

Looking at buffalo...they have one of the largest herd east of the Mississippi.

We managed to bump into a few friends along the way, and it was a good way to spend a few hours after having been cooped up in the house for awhile. Note the snow on the ground in the pictures.

While Daddy's Away...

2011-03-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Matt was at a conference in D.C. in the beginning of March. This is some of what we did while he was gone:

We jumped (actually, ALL of us did! Naomi was preparing for a hop-a-thon fundraiser at her preschool, so we set the timer for two minutes and tried to jump as many times as possible in those two minutes).

And then Andrew jumped some more, because he loves it!

We painted.

We visited Stone Mountain for the first time.

I didn't know this thing was still in existence, but it was hanging out in the parking lot at Stone Mountain. The kids thought it was pretty cool!
And then one of us got in trouble for using the furniture marker on his face...

When questioned about what he had used or how it had happened, he kept saying, "My don't know". Bill Cosby would say, "BRAIN DAMAGE!".

Naomi's Birthday Celebrations, Part II

2011-03-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Naomi was eagerly anticipating her birthday celebrations. Good thing there were a few of them!

First is a picture of her birthday dinner.
She picked out everything for the table decorations.

Then a couple of presents were opened...

We don't have pictures yet of Grandma and Grandpa Merrell's gift. She opened them while on the webcam with them, so I completely forgot about pictures! They were a super fun doll family and a unicorn music box/jewelry box. I cannot even say how much she has enjoyed them!

This next picture of is Naomi on the phone with Grandma and Grandpa Jones, thanking them for the Shetland-sized unicorn.

Matt made the cake - a unicorn one at Naomi's request.

Finally... the day of Naomi's birthday party arrived!

First the kids decorated bags. Then they followed the treasure hunt clues which eventually led them to the back yard, where they discovered and bashed in a pinata (seriously! what a difference from the 3-year olds...these kids beat the daylights out of that thing!) and used the bags for collecting the candy.

When it broke, it didn't let everything out, so I continued to prod at it until everything came out. The kids didn't seem to notice more candy raining on their heads!

Waiting for cake...

More waiting for cake...

And the party ends with hide-and-seek in the front yard.

Our Boys

2011-02-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

Gabe is the sweetest tough guy you'll find around. He loves rough-n-tumble play, but whenever he sees Andrew, he'll rush over to give him a gentle hug and kiss, and then he's off again!

He loves to build things, line up blocks and toys, etc. While Naomi is at preschool and Andrew naps, Gabe and I get out the blocks and figure out what we can make. This is a tower we constructed using every single block we own.

Another of Gabe's main interests is puzzles. The one pictured above has been done countless times (literally! One morning I counted 14 times that we did it!). I finally got a new set of puzzles since he had memorized that one and we figured he (and we!) would enjoy some variety.

And Andrew.

He continues to be our sweet, mellow little guy. I wish he would vocalize more, but it's fun when he does! He grins and laughs, especially for Naomi and Gabe. He loves toys and standing in the exersaucer. He has some super ticklish spots, and he also has two teeth coming in. I'm pretty sure he puts out his body weight in drool daily. And he loves watching our fish!

Let the festivities begin!

2011-02-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

Here come the celebrations for Naomi's 5th birthday!

Yesterday was the celebration at preschool, complete with songs about blowing out candles followed by cupcake time. Gabe got to sit at the table, too, which he loved.

Naomi's preschool teachers, Miss Kathy and Miss Maffin.
Naomi was beyond thrilled with her "5" necklace.

Today, her actual birthday, started off with cards from the grandparents
and a birthday call from Uncle Edward.

We had some fun at the park with friends, where she lost her SECOND tooth. Such exciting events for a little girl. The festivities will continue tonight with presents and root beer floats, and then she'll have a small party with friends and cake on Saturday.

Happy birthday to our princess Naomi!

(dancing lessons with Daddy)

Random pictures from the move

2011-01-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

I was holding off doing the "Moving" post until I get a picture of our caravan. It was beastly and must be documented. As I don't have access to that picture yet, here are a few random photos.

A kid has to get creative when all the toys are packed.
Naomi used the boxes in her room to create a sleeping area.

All the furniture was packed...the kids were puzzled about where to sit when eating.

A brief stop as we trekked across Texas.
This was a dusty area next to a hotel parking lot.
The kids thought it was fabulous!

Andrew is grinning. I'm not sure WHY, since at this point he had been in a carseat for hours beyond hours. Maybe it's because I got to hold hands with him across most of New Mexico. :)

The other kids don't look to beaten down yet. (Yet being the key word.)

More to come!

WE ARE HERE!

2011-01-24T14:35:00.001-08:00

So...we moved to Georgia. And we are still alive, although you may not know it from our blog. :) What to show you about the past couple months???

Making cookies for Santa!!
Grandma Jones spearheaded the project:

Everyone liberally sampled the cookie dough:

There was some leftover dough, so the kids got to sprinkling and decorating. And some of the sprinkles even ended up on the cookies!!

No finished product pictures. We were too busy eating them.

A few of our fabulous Tucson friends!

2011-01-15T18:18:00.000-08:00

We have some terrific friends still in Tucson, and it was great getting to spend some more time with them right before we left. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see ALL of them, and we didn't get many pictures. Here are a few, though!

The Mumfords!
From our first ward in Tucson...we've done some great things with these folks. Camping (with Sterling's famous "NewlyWed game"), renting a cabin, vicious rounds of Settlers of Catan, etc.
They graciously allowed us to invade their home the Sunday before we moved.

(Picture taken by Naomi)

(Picture taken by Matt)

And then for some fabulous fabulous fabulous friends
whom I originally met through Meetup Moms of Tucson,
but who became so much more than "some people from my group"!

Jessica & Michelle...brilliant, fabulous, incredible, hilarious...

Val & Lisa (Emelia is in the carseat in the background;
she is Lisa's little babe who is 5 days older than Andrew!)
...the friendliest, most organized, financially knowledgeable, ultimate information guru...

Val & Regina!
(I'm on my tippy toes and Regina is crouching down!)
My source of sewing expertise, my super super super wonderfully sweet and incredibly talented friend who is surprisingly hardcore (she has her own motorcycle). Her husband is coming to Atlanta in March; we need to start a bake sale to get enough money to sponsor Regina and the kids to come along too!! Let me know if you want to buy $500 worth of brownies. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so many more, but no pictures of them. :(
We miss you guys lots already!!

BIG EVENTS!!!

2011-01-15T18:14:00.001-08:00

Big events around here lately!

#1. We moved to Georgia.

#2. Matt successfully defended his dissertation.

#2. Naomi lost her first tooth.

Personalities Apparent in Hot Dog Roasting?

2010-11-25T03:38:00.000-08:00

Personality differences came through loud and clear when we were roasting hot dogs up Monrovian Canyon in October.

Gabe (with Grandpa Merrell), intense and focused with a scrunched face for the camera, probably with a huge smile and some jumping when ketchup was put on his plate...

Naomi (with Grandma Merrell), allowing someone else to do most of the work while she poses and gets a slight taste of the experience before she moves on. I would bet money she didn't finish roasting that hot dog!

Naomi is a princess through and through, condescending to allow others to serve her. I can't count the times I've asked her if she wants to finish a craft project, picking up some toys, etc. She'll look over at me, consider it for a moment, and say, "You can do it.", as if she's allowing me a great privilege.

We love them both!

Felt Car Mats

2010-11-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

My latest project (well...one of my latest projects!) has been to compile a box full of activities to keep the rugrats entertained on our trek across the country. That's right, folks, it's close enough that we are gettin' ready for the move to Atlanta!!

Matt thinks the portable DVD player will be sufficient. I think you can only stare at a tv screen for so long before getting wiggly and fussy. Thus the "Travel Activity Box". I'll do a whole post on the contents later (because I'm super excited about it!!). For now, I wanted to show off the felt car mats. Everything had to be tray-sized or smaller so the kids can balance it on their trays or laps.

I saw some car mats on Serving Pink Lemonade's blog and decided to use their templates. My kids drooled over these the whole time I was making them, and Naomi is already talking about when we can pull them out of the Travel Activity Box on our drive. So hopefully the mats (accompanied by a few cars, of course), will keep them entertained for a few minutes here and there.

Also, I'm using this post as a huge THANK YOU to my cousin Sarah. I actually have never met Sarah; she married my cousin J.D. and I've communicated with her through blogs and Facebook. But that's it. I posted on Facebook how I couldn't find yellow felt anywhere (can't have car mats without yellow lines down the roads!), and within minutes she offered to mail me yellow felt. And she did.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Sarah! You saved me a few more trips of trooping into craft stores with three children to see if they had a stinkin' 29 cent piece of felt in stock. A fellow mother of three young'uns can commiserate on how much pain that is saving me!

Random November pictures

2010-11-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

Some random November pictures...

Naomi "assisting" Andrew with tummy time

Andrew himself!

PICNIC in NOVEMBER...I'll definitely miss this aspect of Tucson!

Tinkerbell and nightshirt-boy entertaining (or mauling) Andy.

Andrew's newest habit...

2010-11-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

Andrew has discovered his fist, and he enjoys trying to cram the entire thing into his mouth. After deciding that doesn't work for him, he opts for the middle and ring finger, as seen in the pictures below.

He's 2 1/2 months now, and he's a sweetie!

Naomi's fashion sense (or lack thereof)

2010-11-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Naomi put these clothes on yesterday. Normally I give her outfit options, but she threw these on before I got around to showing her some options. And I decided it wasn't worth a fight.

Her pose of choice...

And this is what I got when I asked for a smile...sigh.

I'm okay with this outfit. If I saw someone else's child wearing this, I would think, "Oh, the kid picked out their own outfit". And I would smile and laugh. So I did the same with my child.

The Merrell boys

2010-11-02T08:34:00.000-07:00

We've got some good looking guys are here. Check out Andrew - he is sooooo long!

And a post is never complete without a "cheese" grin from Gabe. We went to a very fun birthday party, complete with a fantastic balloon artist. He made this motorcycle at Gabe's request.

Matt is also devastatingly handsome. I just didn't have a picture of him to stick in this post. :)

Naomi the Hoverer

2010-11-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

...or perhaps we should call her Naomi the Smotherer. She loves her baby brother, and the only protection Andrew needs is not against frustrated or jealous siblings...it's against siblings trying to give him lots of loving!

I am happy to see Naomi holding Andrew more, though (with supervision!). When she first came to meet him at the hospital, we put him in her lap and he cried. It took a lot of talking and reassuring before she would hold him again! Now she loves it.

Naomi

Sarah!

2010-11-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

We did LOTS of fun things in Utah. But I am dedicating my time right now to other projects (translation: I don't want to sort through all the pictures just yet!), so I won't be doing mega-posts on our trip.

I did want to post this picture, though. We got to go visit my friend Sarah from my working days in Provo...it was so much fun to see her and her three little girls!! Love you, Sarah!

(Sarah is holding Andrew in the picture, lest you were wondering...)

Andrew's blessing

2010-10-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

Andrew was blessed in church on Sunday, October 10. We did the blessing in my parents ward in Monroe, UT (where I grew up) so that more family would be able to attend. Here are some pictures!

Brittany, Debbie, Julie, Julisa, Cahlin

Our family of FIVE!!!

...with Matt's people

...with my people (Julie's family)

...with more of my people

...with Mom and my sisters

...with sweet Andrew!
(Perhaps I should have sized his bowtie down a bit! And as a side note, I strongly dislike my hair right now.)

...with Jared.
These guys are cousins. A bit of a size difference, no?

My boys!!

I made the vests and bowties for Andrew and Gabe. (I offered to make a matching set for Matt as well, but he politely declined the offer.) I was so proud of my good-lookin' guys!

Early October

2010-10-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

A few highlights from early October:

Naomi attended a princess birthday dinner/party for a friend. She was thrilled, of course.

Gabe assists with the clean-up process after making chocolate chip cookie bars.
He's always happy to help out.

Naomi and Gabe watching General Conference, when our LDS prophet and leaders speak in meetings that are broadcast on tv. (In the previous sentence, "watching" may loosely be translated as eating graham crackers and then wandering off to a different room to play with toys.)

Note Gabe's helmet. Who WOULDN'T want to wander around the house wearing a bike helmet? It's an essential around here.

He's testing us...

2010-09-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

...to see just how far we'll go to keep him happy.

Andrew discovered last week that, if he cried in all other positions, Daddy would hold him like this. Is this really so much more comfortable than any other position? I think it's pure manipulation. But it worked!

Preschool Excitement

2010-09-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Crazy Hair Day at Naomi's preschool
(in honor of learning about the letter C)

And Gabe is into anything that his big sister does, so he got crazy hair also.

I took some pictures of them sitting on the couch, and then asked them to scoot closer together. Gabe stayed put and Naomi scooted closer. This is the look he gave her!

We love Andrew!

2010-09-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

Naomi and Gabe have been terrific with Andrew. They are gentle but attentive. Even Gabe, our tough guy who runs through the house growling and roaring , always stops to look in Andrew's eyes, stroke his cheek, poke his tummy, etc. Then he continues with his running and roaring.

In the pictures below, they were taking turns poking a pacifier in Andrew's mouth.
Naomi also used the stethoscope to check Andrew's vitals.

And what do we do when Mommy is busy with Andrew?
We sort beans or beads...

...and make yummy treats, like dirt cups. (This was for family night, and Naomi saw the idea in a kid-friendly cookbook given to us by Grandma Jones. Naomi was so very excited to make it, and although she likes all the ingredients separately, she didn't like the final product at all. Gabe, not being picky, finished his off and helped her out with hers.)

Gabe's antics

2010-09-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Gabe received this cape from Aunt Lori for Christmas. He's worn it off and on, but he put it on about a week ago and decided it should NEVER come off again.

And a couple days later, he decided to add the bike helmet to his ensemble. You can imagine how many indulgent smiles we get as he's running through a store with his cape trailing out behind him. He tends to let out squeals of delight as he runs, and it makes me grin every time!

The Little Man Himself

2010-09-24T14:34:00.001-07:00

Andrew, 4 weeks old,
hanging out in the bouncy seat

Announcing...

2010-09-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Andrew Frederick Merrell
August 25, 2010
12:33 P.M.
9 lb. 5 oz.
22 inches

Chore charts

2010-08-20T20:14:00.001-07:00

Some friends on Facebook requested pictures of chore charts I just barely made for the kids. Since I was uploading them anyway, I decided to stick them on here also. We're starting slowly with small "chores" (ie normal daily tasks) to get them used to it. Then the hard labor will start. Hehe.

The Nap Debate

2010-08-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

Gabriel has opted to no longer nap. We (the parents) have fought hard the last few days to get him to nap, but it hasn't happened this week. SO...perhaps it's time to give up the fight.

Here's a picture from yesterday, when Matt told Gabe that if he laid on the couch for 5 minutes with his eyes closed, he could watch a movie. This is his version of "eyes closed". Cheeseball.

Today we didn't even attempt to have him nap. He had quiet time for a bit and then continued on with his day. This is our non-napping child at dinner-time.

And another shot...he was completely asleep and wobbling all over. It was hilarious!

BUT...it makes me think that he is NOT ready to stop napping.

Yep, still pregnant!

2010-08-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

For those interested in the details, Val is still pregnant. The original due date was August 14 (which you will note has come and gone). At the 10-week ultrasound, they pushed the due date to August 21 (which is not approaching fast enough). We are very ready to have this baby!

We do not know if it's a boy or girl.
Naomi is adamant it's a girl and Gabe is just as adamant that it's a boy.

At a doctor's appointment today, Val was told she is dilated to a three. She is hoping this baby makes an appearance ASAP. If you want to see a picture of the belly, check out the zoo post below.

Trip to the Zoo

2010-08-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

We had another not-so-hot morning, so we took a family trip to the zoo!

Gabe was thrilled with the peacocks this time around and basically chased one around for quite some time. Naomi was more reserved and kept cautioning Gabe to not get too close.

We happened to reach the children's learning center when they were having a storytime (didn't even know they did storytimes there!) about snakes. We cooled off from the heat, listened to snake stories, and even got to touch a ball constrictor.

The ball constrictor's name was Ted.

Both kids touched him without urging. In fact, the picture below is of Gabe's second round petting the snake because the camera wasn't handy the first time around.

Naomi's first day of preschool!

2010-08-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Naomi started preschool last week, and she is loving it! Last year she went to an in-home preschool with a class size of 5 kids and just two days a week. Now she's in a larger class and goes three days a week.

We forgot to snap some pictures before heading out the door in the morning. So here's one of us entering the building!

Naomi immediately found her chair and started playing with playdough while I dashed outside to get the camera.

And this is when she let me pull her away from the playdough fun to pose by a wall.

Fuzzy pictures, but at least we got a little documentation on the big occasion!!

Monsoon Season (and miscellaneous)

2010-08-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

July and August are supposed to be monsoon season here in Arizona. And somehow...it doesn't seem to have come this year! We've gotten a few storms, but mostly they have petered out before they got to our area OR they completely jumped over us.

Here are Matt and the kids watching one of the few storms we HAVE gotten out the kids' bedroom window. There was some great lightning that night.

And onto the miscellaneous pics...

Naomi helping me mix colors into pudding to make frozen pudding pops...

Gabe and Eli scaling the bars at the zoo...this was an unexpected treat since the weather was quite a bit cooler than usual one morning, and so we visited the zoo with some friends! Unfortunately, Naomi got three fingers squished in a door and didn't calm down for awhile, so we made a hasty departure.

Gabriel showing one of his many bonks...this kid gets them ALL the time!

And I always love reading pictures!

Cow Appreciation Day

2010-08-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

We love Chik-fil-A!

The food is inexpensive and of much better quality than other "cheap chicken" places we've tried. It's clean. And there is a cow present on a weekly basis which will put up with Naomi wanting to dance with it. A win-win for the whole family!

Cow Appreciation Day is a huge event at our house. The kids were excited to plan their costumes, helped cut out the spots (this year we just taped cow spots to their clothes instead of drawing the spots on), and they actually LEFT their spots on while we were in the restaurant. You would be amazed at how much excitement is generated by asking a 2 and 4 year old if they are ready to dress up like a cow!

Here we are, with the cow! (This is the girl version.) Since Matt wasn't interested in dressing up in spots, we went for lunch. Gabe also sported a cape, which isn't shown in the picture above.

And here you see Naomi's excitement at hanging out with the cow. Naomi followed it around and tried to distract it from playing with anyone else in the place.

When I was at the cash register, I heard employees talking about me. They were trying to decide if I qualified for just a sandwich or if I should get a whole meal (must be dressed head to toe in cow apparel to get a meal). They decided that, since I was wearing black and white flip flops, that counted. Plus I heard them say something along the lines of me being hugely pregnant and probably needing some beverage refreshment on a hot day. Haha!!

Merrell update

2010-07-24T03:15:00.000-07:00

Since I'm awake at 3:00 A.M. (and have been for awhile), why not post an update on our blog?

Overall family update: we're moving to ATLANTA!!! Matt will be doing his post-doc at Emory University, and we are very excited to move onto this next stage of life! We do not yet have a set date for when we'll be leaving Tucson, but it currently looks like it may be in October (definitely not sooner).

Gabe: his bed has been moved into Naomi's room, turning it into the "big kid room". This transition has actually gone fairly well! He tends to stay awake longer at night and sings pretty loudly, but Naomi apparently is skilled at ignoring him and she conks right out at bedtime.

Naomi: she's counting the days until school starts again, and hopefully dance, too! Our social child accosts pretty much everybody on the street, telling them her name, age, and usually at least one other random fact or story (and it's almost always something they will find completely uninteresting!).

Val: 37 weeks pregnant and getting lots of comments about summer pregnancy in AZ! Besides the comments, I did get a compliment the other day while exercising at the gym (they were impressed I was still exercising at this point in my pregnancy). Little did they know that besides having the benefit of feeling MUCH better after exercising, going to the gym also provides an air-conditioned indoor play activity for my children. :) That's a pretty good incentive around here!

Matt: working hard at the lab here at the University of Arizona. Playing soccer on Fridays, although the season just ended. Keeps busy with projects and tasks thrust on him by Val.

Face painting and the rain!

2010-07-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

With the heat, we needed some distraction. SO...we dug out the face painting crayons we had recently purchased and gave them a try!

And then we lucked out and got some rain!

While Naomi and Gabe sang and danced with umbrellas,
Matt grilled us up some yummy dinner. Hamburgers, bratwursts, and pineapple. (The kids, having a less developed sense of taste, preferred microwaved hot dogs.)

CLIFFORD SIGHTING!!

2010-07-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

We've been waiting for this event for awhile! (Well, I have...I didn't tell the kids until this morning that we would be meeting Clifford, the BIG RED DOG!!)

The kids got to color some Clifford-themed pictures before storytime, then we listened to some Clifford books being read.

After marching around the bookstore in a parade, we got red balloons and waited in line to meet that most fabulous of all big red dogs!!

Naomi was thrilled! I was thrilled! Gabe was happy to have a balloon. :)

Summertime fun!

2010-06-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

Water play in the backyard...

The aftermath of popsicles...

Budding photographer...

2010-06-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

Naomi is thrilled to troop around the house with our camera and take pictures. And everything qualifies as subject matter. I've deleted so many pictures of toys, floors, walls, etc.!

Daddy doesn't approve quite so much of me handing off our camera to the 4 year old! This is the look he gives her when she's shooting away like crazy!

Naomi's Preschool Graduation

2010-06-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Naomi thoroughly enjoyed her preschool experience this year, and she "graduated" mid-May. The rest of the kids in her class will be going to kindergarten, but Naomi was a year younger and will thus be returning to preschool.

Here is a picture of her class (started out bigger but lost a few along the way to schedule changes and moving):

Here Naomi is preparing to recite her selected nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty

And here we applaud her recitation of Humpty Dumpty

The receiving of the diploma...

...the hug for Ms. Dana...

...and the offer to give the paper back if she can just keep coming to preschool. :)

This has been a terrific experience for Naomi - she really thrived in the environment and cannot comprehend why anyone would want a summer break! May she continue to enjoy her schooling this much throughout the years!!

A catch-up post

2010-06-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few "catch-up" pictures since I haven't posted in a bit.

This was our first round of corn on the cob this year, back in May. It seemed to jump start our summer...because don't you think "SUMMER" when you see corn on the cob??

The kids went nuts over it!

On a completely separate note, we have been using a car mat my mom has had for many years. She let us bring it home in January, and we have played with it weekly, if not almost daily, since then!

At the end of April, I had some bleeding, which, due to having placenta previa, required monitored bedrest. I was in and out of the hospital for a day while they decided what to do with me, and then I was confined to a hospital bed for 48 hours. Joy of joys. Luckily, Matt was able to be with the kids that whole time, and it was the highlight of my days when they came to visit!

And here's a cheesy grin from our little boy, to send you on your way with a smile!

Mommy Q&A

2010-05-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

One of Matt's friends has a little girl, Cora, who filled out this Q&A at preschool. They put it on their blog and I loved it! I asked Naomi the same questions and the words in blue are her answers!

My Mom

My mom is 20 years old.
My mom is (hands held about a foot apart) this tall.
My mom's favorite food is corn on the cob. (Not true - just Naomi's favorite part of last night's dinner.)
My mom loves to play princesses with me.
My mom waits and plays games and reads books with Gabe while I'm at school.
My mom's favorite thing to wear is a dress.
I love my mom because Heavenly Father sent me to her.

Gardening attempt

2010-05-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

Matt tried a small garden again this year (key word being small). A rabbit took up residence under our shed, though, and decimated a good portion of the plants. Naomi was thrilled to help with the selecting of seeds and planting everything, though. Even dressed as Snow White, she condescended to get in the dirt and help Daddy!

I am pained!

2010-05-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Naomi saw her friend Zoey use a washcloth on her eyes to alleviate a headache. So Naomi wanted to try it out. Once she realized it was a little boring, she was done with it.

Hilarious image, though...our little girl is definitely one for dramatics!

Easter pictures!

2010-05-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Better late than never, and too fun to miss!

Snow cones at the park...serious business!

Naomi takes some pictures (check out Gabe's mop of hair!)

I love watching these kids walk while they hold hands!

Gabe insisted on finishing every single bit of that snow cone. Later, when I removed his shirt, I discovered blue streaks all down his tummy from the snow cone juice!

Naomi's favorite present EVER.

Dinner and another egg hunt at the Slivka's.
Gabe is hiding behind Isaac and Miley.

Meetup Moms of Tucson egg hunt

Gabe experiences the Duck Pond!

2010-05-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

When I need a break and my kids need some distraction, I set up the duck pond. Or at least I used to set up the duck pond for Naomi. It's been a long, long time since we've done this. So the other day I set up the duck pond for Gabe and let him splash away to his heart's content!

Duck pond = bins, water, floaty toys and a towel.

Duck pond usually = happy mommy!

Gabe's new tie AND a belly picture!

2010-05-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

Since we go to church every week, I wanted some ties for our little man. I found a tutorial on how to make ties for little boys from rejected adult ties (and we had a few of those around here!).

So here is my first effort at making Gabriel a tie. I love it!
And, surprisingly enough, he seemed to like it as well.

And here's a belly picture. I made the mistake of asking Matt to take a belly picture.
The first take had Gabe lifting up his shirt to show off his Buddha belly.
And the second take had Naomi lifting up HER shirt to show off her belly!

(No worries, I never lifted up my shirt to show you my actual belly!)

As a matter of interest, I just hit 24 weeks. At 22 1/2 weeks, we had a scare when I started bleeding. Since I have placenta previa (the placenta is completely covering the cervix), this was of major concern and I spent Thursday through Saturday in the hospital for monitored bedrest. Since then, I haven't been on bedrest at home but have had some restrictions given to me by the doctor. Luckily, there has been no recurrence of bleeding - whew!

Merrell Family Upgrade

2010-04-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

As you may have discerned from the text in previous posts, we are upgrading from a family of four to a family of five!!

This little tyke is due August 21, and I am currently 22 weeks pregnant. Here are pictures from the 20 week ultrasound.

Peek-a-boo!

We're big on high fives in this family.

Gotta love sweet little baby feet!

In case you're wondering, we did not and will not be finding out if it's a boy or girl until the baby is born. So we are in suspense, just like everyone else!

Stuntman Gabe

2010-04-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

This morning, Gabe was a bit screechy. After awhile of trying to gently redirect his behavior, I put him in time out in his crib. A few minutes later, I heard a crash and some crying. I assumed he had thrown his books against the wall and was crying to get out. I took my time getting in there, and THIS is what his bed looked like.

Yeah, that's blood.
And he was standing over it with blood covering the lower third of his face.

The blood had also dripped off the crib slats and was covering a bigger-than-my-hand spot on the carpet below.

I took him to the kitchen where I crushed some ice and put it in a cup. Once he saw me getting out the ice, he calmed right down. Hopefully he doesn't do these things to get crushed ice!!! I am happy to provide it at times he's not injured, too!

Here he is munching on crushed ice, happy as a clam. I slowly wiped him up and then left the kids to enjoy their ice while I tackled cleaning the room.

The cleanup wipes and Gabe's pajama. I should have included my shirt, too. It required a fair bit of attention to make sure it didn't stain, too.

I think he cut or bit his tongue somehow, since I can see a cut up pretty high on his tongue. I have NO IDEA how he did it, though.

Naomi never did this. Gabe has a split lip, bloody mouth, or nasty skinned knee weekly. Hopefully he masters the moves he's working on and can market them later on as a stuntman. Then at least all this blood and craziness will be building up to something productive!

Latest creations

2010-04-09T17:16:00.000-07:00

Naomi needed some skirts to wear this summer, so I started with this one. This is the first time I've done a tiered skirt, and it was simple and fun. The hardest part is picking out the material...I have a hard time envisioning possibilities! I'll post a picture of her other skirt (not a tiered one) when she wears it.

I suppose this isn't really a "creation", but I was very tired of Gabe's hair looking long and unkempt. I was also tired of shelling out money at a hair cutting salon for his hair to be trimmed. So I decided to experiment with Matt's clippers. This time around I just used the 4 all over; now that I know how that looks, I can adjust for next time.

Here were my tactics:
...stools
...in the bathroom
...a movie playing on the tv right outside the bathroom door
...suckers
...speed

Check out this mop of hair that used to be attached to Gabe's head!

They were good sports.

Apparently the sucker wasn't enough, and Gabe had to eat part of the stick too.

Stuff about Me (Tagged!)

2010-04-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

I got tagged awhile ago by JD's wife Sarah (JD is my cousin on my mom's side). I don't think I've ever followed up on being tagged prior to this, but here goes! Here are things about me in groups of 4.

4 shows I like to watch (well, we don't have any channels right now. But when we did, these were my shows):

1. Bones

2. Criminal Minds

3. So You Think You Can Dance (my favorite dance is the krumping, which Matt finds hilarious since I'm a little white girl from the sticks who has no rhythm!)

4. ....hmmmm, something from the History or National Geographic Channel

4 things I'm passionate about:

Reading
Fitness/exercise
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
My husband and kids

4 phrases I say a lot:

"So..."(with a pause...it drives me AND my husband nuts. It's like I am establishing that I need to say something, and then I have to collect my thoughts to express myself coherently. Argh.)
"I love you!" I have great kids and a fabulous husband. What else am I supposed to say?
"Look at that!" I have small children who love to see all kinds of things (or I need to distract them from other destructive behavior!).
"What should we sing?" Refer to the points above where I note that I have small children. Also, note that the CD player in my car is broken. So we sing a lot.

4 things I have learned from the past:

Be proactive...I spent a lot of time waiting on other people before I figured out I could make things happen myself!
Listen more than I talk. Don't interrupt other people so much. My experiences are not always as cool or applicable as I may think!
Don't always trust first impressions. Great friends can come from unexpected places!
Excesses of good things are still excesses (like my occasional reading binge...sorry, babe!)

4 places I would like to go:

Scuba diving almost anywhere! I had a brief taste of this in a training pool and loved it!
New Zealand. Lush landscape, outdoor sports, and yes, LOTR sites.
Havasupai
Antarctica

4 things I did yesterday:

Researched how to modify skirts for pregnancy
Read books with the kids - always a favorite!
Took the kids to a belated Easter egg hunt.
Talked to my grandpa to wish him a happy birthday!

4 things I'm looking forward to:

Baby coming in August!!
Matt finishing his PhD and us moving beyond studenthood (probably also in August!)
Taking classes again (I'm hoping Matt will eventually teach at a regular university so I can do this at a discounted price!)
Living closer to family so I can see them much more often (although I have absolutely no idea if this will ever happen!)

4 things I love about winter:

Snow!
Christmas festivities
Soups and bread bowls
Hot chocolate

4 things on my wish list:

Cricut...I have so many crafts I want to do which would be made MUCH simpler with this tool!
Books. Some new ones I've recently read, but lots of classics and oldies which I don't have on my shelf.
Right now...skirts I can alter to work for a pregnant chick. I am, after all, going to be hugely pregnant. In Tucson. In the summer.
A new pan...my pan handle has been cracking for awhile and completely gave out today.

Trip to a cabin!

2010-04-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

In late March, we spent a few days at a cabin with the Mumfords and Angie (I would say the Whitakers, except Richie was home studying like crazy for his orals, which he successfully completed!).

For the 4-hour drive, we packed Angie and Mylie into our van. Gabe and Naomi were relegated to the back seat, which they loved so much that their carseats are still back there (and we've been home two weeks!). Here's a picture of Mylie, Naomi and Gabe on the return drive. Serious thanks to Angie for pulling crying control duty!

The cabin where we stayed...we actually only saw it from this angle on the last day we were there, when we were playing in a snow fort (pictured later).

Sledding was one of my favorite parts of the trip. My kids, especially Gabe, LOVED it! I really loved going down with him time and again. (I actually haven't been sledding in years, so I may admittedly been having as much fun as Gabe...)

Love the look on Matt's face here...

Not being well versed in appropriate snow behavior (we do live in Tucson, after all), Naomi didn't understand until too late why she shouldn't sit directly in the snow for long periods of time.

There was a random snow...bowl? It was probably created by the people in the cabin before us, and we trooped down to check it out on our last day. It was actually kinda hard to get to it; I put Naomi and Gabe in a sled and pulled them down to it. I broke through the snow about knee-deep every other step or so!

See the yucky snow on the sides and the bottom? Yep, Gabe is munching on some of that. I couldn't keep the dirty snow out of his mouth all three days!

The kids actually looking at the camera at the same time...Brooklyn is in the red coat, and Mylie is modeling that awesome doo-rag. (Being a spelling fanatic, I actually googled that term to make sure I wasn't spelling it incorrectly.)

On the way back up the hill; all four on the sled did not last for long.

We had a terrific time with lots of laughing, a couple people falling down the spiral staircase (luckily it was just adults who fell and not kids!), fun in the snow and fun playing games.
What a terrific vacation!

March pictures!

2010-04-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

Merrell Family
(captured by the timer on our camera -
thanks for going to the effort of setting up the tripod, Matt!!)

Slave labor.
Probably due to the spray bottle, Naomi's favorite cleaning chore
is to help wash the bathroom mirrors.

Biscuits and jam for breakfast always produce happiness!

Naomi's friend Keira visited from Maryland, and
we were thrilled to see her a few times during her visit!

Here is my friend Jenny (Keira's mom). I was so happy to see her and so sad when she left!
This picture was taken by Naomi - you can see Jenny looking elsewhere, since Keira was taking an identical picture at the same time!

The girls played a bit with Naomi's as-of-yet unfinished puppet theater. Here they were actually sticking the puppets out the viewing window and all the way over the top of the theater.

March was GREAT. We have more pictures from March to add...this is it for now, though!

Just a few more January pictures...

2010-03-18T09:15:00.001-07:00

...then we'll move on to February excitement!

January was burn month for us. In fact, there was one specific week that was burn week! Naomi kicked things off by getting her first curling iron burn. She was standing on a stool, messing around while I combed her hair. The curling iron was heating up, and she's usually careful to avoid it. This time, she bumped it with her arm. :(

She spent the next hour on the couch with a damp washcloth on the burn, covered by a blanket, playing the fish game. While I was sad to see her in pain, I did occasionally laugh because the girl milked it for all she could!

I don't have pictures for the other two, but the next day, I got my own burns. While checking the contents of the crockpot, I dropped the meat and splashed the hot liquid on my face and arms. Luckily, the only place that actually burned was my hand. Phew! Naomi loves seeing injuries, and she was especially fascinated with my burned hand after just having received her own burn.

Later that day, Gabe wouldn't back away from the stove when I was boiling potatoes, and a drop of hot water splashed out and got him. I don't recall if he had an actual mark, but he sure howled! And then he stayed away from the pot. :)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Naomi continued to practice her photography skills. She would take pictures with our camera all day long if possible, so normally I hand her the camera and give her a 5-picture limit. This was an early picture, and despite being out of focus, she centered it pretty well. Who wants to see detail anyway?

Daddy and Naomi

Gabe doesn't seem to get as much attention on the blog, but he's part of everything we do! I sure would miss that kid if he wasn't around. He plays hard, he sleeps hard, and he usually wakes up happy and ready to play hard again!

Goats

2010-03-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

My parents recently started raising goats. While I was growing up, we had chickens, sheep, cows, horses, and probably other random animals I can't currently remember. But I never recall having a goat...

Anyway, the goats heavily influenced our recent trip to Monroe. On the 4 hour drive from the Las Vegas airport to my parent's house, my dad sat in the backseat, squished between the carseats, and entertained my kids with his book about goats. I believe it was a book about caring for goats, so it had lots of pictures of goats with problems, and also pictures of how to take care of those problems. I would have never guessed my kids would look at that for hours! Naomi kept asking to see the pictures of the goat crying and of the goat with the hurt leg.

Around Christmas-time, we read a lot of books about reindeer pulling sleighs. Naomi said, "I bet Grandpa's goat can pull a sleigh!". And then she proceeded to ask him about it every single time she talked to him during December and January. So when we were in Monroe, Dad rigged a pony harness to fit one of the goats and hitched it up to the toboggan.

Needless to say, Naomi was thrilled. And didn't want to stop, when it was time to stop. We put the goat back in its pen after awhile, so as to not overtax it. I took a turn pulling the sled, then. Naomi, suspiciously enough, seemed equally happy with ME pulling the sled. Hmmm.....

January trip to Monroe

2010-03-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

This post was due awhile ago! In January, I took the kids and flew into Las Vegas, where my parents picked us up and trucked us over to Monroe, UT, where I grew up. We spent a fun-filled week in the snow before heading back. And here are some great pictures taken along the way!

The kids wasted no time in recruiting Grandpa Jones to haul them around in the toboggan. Gabe, who didn't enjoy snow at Thanksgiving-time in Idaho, had lots of fun this time around!

A highlight of visiting the Jones' always includes checking out the cows.
Here Grandpa is trying to get a cow to stick out its tongue. Gabe was fascinated!

Check out's Gabe's expression in this picture! We pulled some kitchen appliances and furniture out and stripped the wallpaper off. Dad chopped off the bottom of this white cabinet to put it at a better height for their future kitchen makeover. And Gabe was ecstatic about "helping" Grandpa with the power tools!

Gabe doesn't discriminate when it comes to chores. He grabbed a broom and helped Grandma with the sweeping.

My sister Bethany and her girls came for the weekend. The kids enjoyed some Rice Krispie treats...I'm not sure why they are in their pajamas, though. We're much too intelligent to feed them sugar right before bedtime. Maybe it was breakfast time!

Naomi and I went low-effort with our snowman. We piled up big blocks of snow we found and added one on top for a pirate hat. So it's a pirate snowman!

And here's my beautiful mom!

Thanks for a great trip, Mom and Dad! Naomi constantly talks about the trip (STILL...and it's March!) and asks when we will see you again. Hopefully soon!

Snowfall in Tucson

2010-02-12T20:42:00.001-08:00

For the first time in the five years we've been in Tucson, we attended Snowfall at La Encantada (a posh shopping center).

This will seem comical after the actual snowfall recently received in other parts of the country. However, we do live in Tucson, and I want our children to experience snow more than once every few years. So off we headed...

Ooh, the anticipation!
(Notice the sandals and no socks...obviously we weren't expecting MUCH snowfall!)

We're excited and scoping out a good area for watching!

And here it comes!!! Pure magic.

I asked Naomi if she thought she could catch some snow on her tongue. That ended after a lady next to us made a comment about how that was disgusting since the "snow" was really soap bubbles. Whoops!!! I don't know what I expected, but it definitely wasn't soap bubbles!

And Naomi ended the evening playing on a turtle
with a few vestiges of the "snowfall" in her hair.

It was something to do, but not nearly as much fun as I expected.

I should have known better...

After all, I grew up in snowy states. With lots of snow play. And snow activities.

Bubbles just didn't quite cut it for me.

The kids had fun, though, and that was the ultimate goal!

Naomi's Soccer Experiences

2010-01-31T15:15:00.001-08:00

Naomi is on a soccer team for three year olds. She was THRILLED about the idea of playing soccer. I'm guessing that's because Matt and I have both played in soccer leagues, and she's gone to some of the games.

Our girl almost burst with excitement when we headed to the store to get shin guards and soccer socks. After some fun soccer practices, we headed to our first game. Naomi's in the yellow jersey with long pink sleeves underneath.

We had promised her one penny for every time she touched the ball. Here she made a diligent effort to GET THAT BALL!

This is what she spent most of her time doing, though...

Dancing...

on the end of the field away from the ball...

She did earn four pennies, though!! Subsequent game experiences have been very similar.

What can I say?? We have a dancer on our hands!

Naomi will not be continuing soccer but will be resuming dance classes once soccer ends at the end of February.

The Merrells have surfaced!

2010-01-30T20:08:00.001-08:00

Yep, we're alive. Bet you couldn't tell it by our blog posting...but we're here!

When you haven't posted pictures for awhile, it's a struggle to figure out where to start. We'll start with a few sweet but random pictures from the last month.

Licking cookie dough from the beaters by the Christmas tree...classic!

Making the house look festive (Naomi actually took this picture)...

No snow in Tucson, but we did get a bit of rain! If truth be told, it wasn't actually raining in this picture. Naomi was standing underneath the drainpipe AFTER it finished raining. :)

Painting!

Thanks for checking back in on us. (Did anyone check back in on us? Drat. We probably lost our two followers by not blogging more often.)

I promise to post again soon! This will keep you on the edge of your seat:

Next post: NAOMI'S SOCCER TEAM ADVENTURES!!

Naomi trims the tree...

2009-12-20T10:06:00.001-08:00

Naomi has read books that mention trimming the tree.

Apparently I didn't emphasize enough that they were
actually decorating the tree, not cutting bits off with scissors.

Notice some little needles on the table? Naomi used the nail scissors to do a little trimming. Luckily, the damage isn't noticeable, and this isn't our main tree anymore. Tread carefully (and explain fully!) if Naomi offers to help you trim your tree!

So easily entertained...

2009-12-19T22:26:00.000-08:00

ANYTHING can be entertaining when small children are involved. A couple weeks ago, the excitement around our house was that the van battery died. Naomi was flabbergasted to find out that cars use batteries, just like her toys!

These pictures are from when we jump started the van. (We ended up having to get a new battery even though we let it charge, but at least it delayed it a few days.) It was all an adventure to the kids!

Naomi opted to watch from the garage step where she could see both vehicles and the cables. (I took this picture from the driver's seat while the hood was up.)

Gabe's perch of choice was the front passenger seat in the van (which he thought was super cool, since normally it's off-limits!). Here's his cheesy grin at all the fun we're having...

And here's the view of what he was seeing (the car with it's hood up).

While knowing the battery had died was less than thrilling,
we had a great time giving it some more juice!

Thanksgiving with the Fieldings!

2009-12-17T10:48:00.001-08:00

For the Thanksgiving holiday, we trekked up to Idaho to spend time with Val's family. We had a terrific time! We didn't pull out the camera until pretty much the last day there, so we didn't get pictures with everybody.

I was very excited about this first picture! The munchkins are our kids, of course, and the tall ones are (left) Jared, Jordan and Julisa. They are my nieces and nephews, so they are Naomi's and Gabe's cousins. Despite the age difference, my kids thought they were the COOLEST EVER cousins! (That could be due to Jordan, Jared and Julisa being incredibly nice about playing with them and throwing them balls over...and over...and over...)

Here we have Julisa and Aunt Julie (Val's sister) reading a book to Naomi. Naomi has somebody reading her a book whenever possible, so she was thrilled to find a few more people around who would read to her! In payment, Julie requested kisses periodically. I think I'll start that system, too!

Another reason why Gabe loved Julisa...this was very late (thus the pajamas), and Gabe was nuts. He was very unsteady and giggly, and he kept spinning circles, looking at Julisa and shrieking with laughter. While, as his parent, it was funny to watch, I'm not sure Julisa knew what to think about that crazy kid! She was a good sport and stayed by him, though!

Here are the Adele's in the family. My mom's great-aunt was named Adele, and each of the girls in this picture have the middle name Adele:
(Left to right) Julisa Adele, Constance Adele, Valerie Adele, Naomi Adele

Gabe most definitely does NOT have the middle name Adele;
he just wanted to get in on the fun picture-taking!

Our trip was absolutely fabulous (despite Matt catching a cold and spending a couple days sequestered in the room).

It was also exhausting! For our return flight, we left Julie's house at 5:30 AM and caught a flight out of Salt Lake. We met up with Edward in Denver and enjoyed spending some more time with him. Then we flew to Tucson. Matt had a cold, the kids were cranky, and I was motion sick. We were THRILLED to get off that plane.

This picture shows Gabe's thoughts on long travel days. This was on the shuttle from the airport to the parking lot.

And this one was taken in our car on the drive home.

We were happy to be home, but we were even happier to have been able to make that trip and spend Thanksgiving with such wonderful people!

What a terrific time we had! And nobody was seriously injured...
that always equates to a successful family event, don't you think?

Naomi's first soccer practice!

2009-12-15T10:00:00.001-08:00

Naomi started her illustrious (well, soon to be illustrious) soccer career yesterday with a 45 minute soccer practice. I didn't have my camera, so I'll have to check with the other moms to see who might have documented that monumental practice.

Here are some youtube clips from a friend (thanks, Jess!). Naomi is in the pink shirt with black pants.

Warming up with Coach Gray

Ball handling skills

She was THRILLED that we purchased her very own shin guards and soccer socks. She will be taking her shin guards to preschool for show and tell today. Hopefully nobody notices the corner where there are teeth marks (Gabe got his hands on them for a minute).

FUN!!!

Our first taste of Christmas!

2009-12-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

Gabe and Naomi were thrilled to open the first present of the Christmas season...Christmas pillowcases from Aunt Julie!

l

Then they tried them out...

And they loved them! Thanks, Aunt Julie!!

The Zoo with Grandma & Grandpa Jones

2009-11-13T23:00:00.000-08:00

We always love a trip to the zoo, especially with Grandma & Grandpa. And since it was late October, the kids could actually touch the turtle shell statue!

The whole place was decorated for the Halloween festivities.

...sharing a ride on the peacock statue...

UmpLumpa Dance

2009-11-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

I took this video at the Halloween party, and promised (threatened) to put it on youtube. Instead I'll put it on this blog. It's a bit more discreet. Kind of.

Halloween party

2009-11-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

Finally getting around to posting halloween pics. This set is from a party at our friends the Slivka's. We played games, ate food, and admired all the great costumes. Check out the other costumes at a friends site.

Grandma and Grandpa Jones visit Tucson!

2009-11-02T11:12:00.001-08:00

We are always thrilled to have Grandma and Grandpa Jones visit us! We begged them to stay longer, but farm duties called them home at the end of a very short week.

They showed up on Friday mid-day, and within 5 minutes of walking in the door, Naomi threw up all over me. Dad pulled Gabe-distraction duty while Mom catered to Naomi's needs (translation: read books) while I cleaned up. We tucked Naomi in bed, had dinner, and then the parents came to my soccer game. We played less than stellar, but parents never mind that sort of thing. :) They'd never seen me play soccer before, so that was fun.

With Naomi being sick, our activities were somewhat limited early on. After a couple days, Naomi felt well enough to drag about, so we walked around the block to see some Halloween decorations.

We played at a park...

...played in the backyard...

...ate terrific dutch oven food (thanks, Dad!)...

...played lots of Settlers of Catan...

...visited the zoo and Old Tucson (pics coming in another post soon)...

...and had a terrific time overall...

Please come back!!

Tweezer play

2009-11-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

I'm not actually trying to leave ridiculously long periods of time between each post. In case you've wondered.

As I was looking through pictures to decide what to post, these ones caught my eye. They're so simple...Naomi playing with tweezers. I think I like them so much because they show a child's curiosity about how the world works. To me, tweezers are pretty boring. To Naomi, they offer a world of possibility! (Think Little Mermaid coming up with crazy uses for human implements: the possibilities are endless!)

Halloween preview

2009-10-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today we dug out our Halloween decorations. Or rather, that's what I thought were in those boxes. One box was partially filled with Halloween decorations, and the rest of it contained costumes/props. The second box...all costumes/props. Not even good costumes/props! So much for decking out our house in Halloween decor.

HOWEVER, Naomi and Gabe were excited by the ladybug costume, and they took turns sporting it around the house. Here you see young Gabriel in all his ladybug glory.

As a ladybug, he:

played Hide and Seek in the curtains

chased balls

and did some giggling.

He also set a record for the fastest moving ladybug ever!

That was when I announced we would be having ice cream in the kitchen.

Not your average Sunday at the Merrell's!

2009-10-07T22:22:00.001-07:00

This last weekend was General Conference for the LDS church. That means we don't have regular church, and 4 sessions of talks from church leaders are broadcast on t.v. We all enjoyed the slow feel to the day!

We have a few family traditions, and one is having coffee cake for General Conference. Mmmmmm....

Our conference-watching activities documented:

lounging in pajamas and eating

Reading (and later, coloring)

Playing games with our faces

Sporting darling green stripe-y pj's
(and pointing to the t.v. in case Mommy forgot to watch conference)

2009-09-13T22:43:00.001-07:00

The Gabe

2009-09-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Lest you think I neglect my second child (due to lack of posts about him), here is an update on our own sweet Gabriel! Let me start by saying he loves his daddy! Regardless of what Gabe is doing, he will drop everything and toddle as fast as possible to the front door when I announce, "Daddy's home!".

He is 17 months and is saying a few words:

go (I'll say "Ready, Set..." and he'll spit out a g sound for "Go" almost every time!)
ball (one of his very first words, and his absolute favorite toy of all time)
clap
tap
dada
tick-tock (when he sees a clock)
bye-bye
uh-oh
sounds for a snake, a duck, and a dog

He's currently milking the uh-oh for all he can, since it makes me laugh every time. He does use it correctly sometimes, like when some food has fallen off the side of his tray. (He may or may not have purposely thrown it off the side of his tray!) This morning I was building a tower of blocks, specifically for the purpose of him to knock it over. He toddled over, demolished it, looked at me and said, "Uh-oh"...as if I didn't see him raze it on purpose.

Gabriel is our sweet mellow little guy. As mad as he can get, he will always giggle when you tickle him in his neck roll. He will always quiet down for a song and grin at me when I am singing, dancing, or making faces to entertain him. He's also a terrific eater - that kid can pack away twice as much as Naomi!

Crossing his ankles is something Gabriel has done since he was an infant. I love it - it just seems so peaceful and content! It's not as common now, and it always makes me smile when I see him doing it. Mostly it happens in his carseat and in the high chair.

That's just a tidbit about our spunky little guy...watch for more posts to come on the daredevil side of his personality!

Naomi visits the hand specialist

2009-09-04T13:20:00.001-07:00

We talked a lot this week about what would happen at the next doctor visit. If Naomi was prepared, she might not scream so much, right?? She was pretty nervous, but Matt took off the top layer of wrap (the purple one) and put a new one on. Naomi was thrilled to have a clean one, PLUS it helped her see that not everything we're going to do to her thumb will hurt.

Naomi knew they would be taking the white gauze off as well as the splint (which she refers to as the spoon). It still scared her quite a bit. This picture shows the gauze before they removed it.

Here we are, mid-gauze-removal. Unfortunately, the gauze had basically been integrated into the wound, so they had to do some tugging and scraping to get it off. It hurt Naomi just as much as it sounds like it would hurt.

They also poured water over the gauze-and-thumb-connection to help get the gauze off.

Front view: the doctor said the nail bed is intact and looks terrific. Obviously there is no nail now, but it's all set up for the nail to grow back in.

Top view: sorry for the blurriness. I didn't want to hold up the rewrapping of the thumb too much. The dark line on top is where the stitches started. It looked like a big puckered ridge, although I couldn't see the back since I was busy trying to calm Naomi down a bit.

The ends of the stitches were poking up, and Naomi laughed afterwards when I told her I thought they looked like hairs. So now she thinks she has a hairy thumb.

The worst part was when they had to get the gauze off her thumb - that couldn't be done gently, and it started up some fresh bleeding. That was the only part of the visit where Naomi screamed and thrashed, though, and she did really well! She was very excited (translation: the sobbing subsided) to discover the doctor wants to leave the stitches in for one more week. We may take more x-rays at that visit.

As for now, the doctor said that everything looks great. The nail bed is intact, the stitches look good, there was no abnormal swelling or bleeding, no infection and we don't need to do another round of antibiotics. The shape looked terrific to me (remember, the curved part of the bone was shattered, so they weren't sure her thumb would have the normal curvature). And this time they put a non-sticky pad on the thumb before putting on the rest of the wrap, so hopefully we won't have to dig in Naomi's wound next time to get the bandage off!

Matt gave Naomi a priesthood blessing this morning, and Naomi remembered the words from it. After the gauze had been scraped off her thumb, they gave us a few minutes for her to quiet down. I reminded her of the blessing and she calmed down right away. She told me how it was going to be okay and the doctor would be able to help her because that's what Heavenly Father had told her in the blessing. I'm glad she understood enough to be comforted by that!

Naomi's Accident

2009-09-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, August 26th, we went bowling for Brittany's birthday (Brittany is Matt's sister, who was in Tucson at the time). Debbie (Matt's mom), Allyson (Matt's other sister), Brittany, Naomi, Gabriel and I were there.

It was Naomi's first time bowling, and she had an absolute blast at the beginning. I don't particularly like bowling, but it was fun just watching how much Naomi was loving it.

Naomi would carry the ball to the edge of the lane and roll it v-e-r-r-r-r-y s-l-o-o-o-o-w-l-y. We would play around for awhile, turn around, and still see her ball rolling! (Exception: one time her ball stopped and rolled backward...that photo is included below!) Most times she would roll it and then hug whoever was standing next to her very tightly while she jumped and jiggled and giggled. So fun!

Unfortunately, Naomi didn't quite master the step up to the platform where you bowl. Two frames into her second game, she tripped on the step while carrying her 6-lb. bowling ball. She fell and started screaming. I grabbed her and ran to the seats, already seeing a lot of blood on her thumb. After sopping up some blood with baby wipes, I could see a serious gash in her thumb and knew she would need stitches. Actually, Naomi's thumb looked weird enough that I couldn't even tell what had happened, but something looked terribly wrong. The nail looked very odd and I didn't understand how the front AND the back of her thumb were gashed. (Apparently it was from the pressure of the bowling ball, which hit on one side and made the other side explode open, too.) A teacher from a school group at the next lane over brought a first aid kit. When she saw Naomi's wound, though, she said, "Uh...I don't have anything for that!". The teacher put a couple of huge band-aids loosely on Naomi's thumb and I carried Naomi out to the car. Debbie and the others paid and followed us out.

Fast forward to the ER: Naomi was still bleeding, still crying, and in pain. Luckily it wasn't busy and they got us back super fast. The staff gave me a coloring book (Naomi couldn't color, but I could, which distracted her) about having an injury and going to the emergency center. Talking through what we were doing helped out a lot.

I did great all through the registration, the waiting room, and part of triage. The second Matt walked into the triage room, though, I completely lost it. I knew that would scare Naomi, though, so I calmed down as quickly as possible. They moved us over to a regular bed in the ER and we waited for the doctor.

The doctor posed a new problem. He wanted to touch the thumb. Obviously he needed to, but that was not what Naomi wanted! I requested some Tylenol for her, and they brought an x-ray machine to her room. She was panicking too much to get the x-rays, though, so I carried her down to the x-ray room and held her while an x-ray tech forcibly positioned her hand correctly for the x-ray. Although screaming lots beforehand, Naomi was surprised that it didn't hurt and was pleased with herself for getting some pictures of her bones. We headed back to the ER room to see what was next. Later we were told the x-rays showed the end of the tip bone in her thumb had been shattered, and the rest of it was fractured.

What was next was...getting poked by needles to numb the thumb. They swaddled Naomi like a burrito to eliminate too much thrashing and poked while she screamed and howled. Then they waited for it to take effect. The doctor started pulling off her thumbnail (he said it wasn't salvageable since the root had popped out and the whole thing was almost off anyway), and obviously Naomi wasn't numb yet. So he stopped and injected another numbing agent while Naomi screamed, "NO POKE! NO POKE! NO POKE!". It almost makes me cry to remember it.

The second numbing attempt did not work, either, so they did a conscious sedation. I was relieved about that, but that meant putting in an IV. Another poke. At least it was in a different location. She was sitting up, and once they got the medicine in her, we gently laid her down. (That was right after I had suggested she lay down and she said, "I'M NOT TIRED! I'M NOT TIRED!". Then she rolled back slow-motion onto the bed and was out.) Her eyes were open and she made a few sounds and jerky movements, but we were told she wasn't conscious of anything happening and wouldn't remember anything. What a blessing! (As a point of interest, Matt later confirmed that he could tell the medicine was in effect because of her tongue position and how similar it is to what happens with the mice he uses in the lab.)

The doctor removed the thumbnail, clipped some of all the layers of skin, and put in both dissolvable and regular stitches. Since the rounded part of the bone had been shattered, he tried to reshape the thumb to have the normal curvature but made no guarantees. We were also told the thumbnail could possibly not grow back or could come back bumpy or odd in some other way. The shattered pieces of the bone were not taken out since apparently over time they could possibly fuse back together. The nurse put a splint on the thumb and wrapped up the hand in gauze. Then we waited for the medicine to wear off and Naomi to start talking to us. She was so exhausted from all that had happened, though, that she just fell asleep and we waited awhile for her to get some rest before waking her up. She was pretty groggy but slowly became interested in what was on her hand. She wasn't in pain, though, which was such a relief!

Disclaimer: this was an incredibly emotional day for me, and it brought back intense emotions typing it out. I don't have the energy to proof-read and make sure it is coherent. Plus Val wrote this, not Matt, so the terms used are not scientifically correct. :)

Happy Anniversary!

2009-08-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Matt and I hit 6 years on July 10th. Happy Anniversary, babe!

We had a fun afternoon planned and a baby-sitter scheduled for our anniversary celebration on the 10th. A few minutes before the kids and I were going to head off for a morning adventure, we were brushing our teeth. At least, I was brushing my teeth. Gabe was rummaging through my bathroom cabinets, and he emerged with a bottle of bright red nail polish.

Gabe likes to throw things. To be more specific, he likes to throw everything. So before I could get to the nail polish bottle, he had hurled it onto the tile floor, where it shattered and splashed back into his face. I looked from the floor up at my son, who had red stuff dripping from his face, accompanied by blood-curdling screams. I thought it was blood, but luckily it turned out to be just the nail polish. WHEW!

Ever tried to get nail polish off a screaming writhing toddler? I don't recommend it. :) Luckily it didn't affect his eye at all. Once I got him calmed down, he was actually pretty happy and willing to let me take pictures. The pediatrician's office referred me to Poison Control, and Poison Control said to let it flake off over a few days. Unfortunately, I called them after I had scrubbed at his skin for a bit with nail polish remover. Whoops. The Poison Control rep said it wouldn't hurt him, but it might make his skin dry in patches.

Below is a post-cleaning picture. He had a bath and actually had fun in the tub except for the times I pinned him down and swiped at his face with q-tips or cotton swabs. Matt came home mid-bath and offered some much-needed moral support. Once we decided to take him out of the bath, Gabe fell asleep almost immediately in Matt's arms. It was an exhausting morning for him!

You can see there was still nail polish around his eye and on his forehead. We put him in bed and left for our date mid-nap. The baby-sitter didn't even raise her eyebrows when I explained that Gabe would look a little odd when she got him up from his nap - she's a gem! The nail polish was completely gone by the following morning.

And we now have cupboard latches on the cabinets so Gabe can't open them. :)

Ahoy, Matey!

2009-08-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

Naomi and her fellow dancers were pirates for the dance recital in June! She loves pretending to be a pirate captain, so this dance theme was perfect for her.

Naomi was THRILLED about searching for the material to make her pirate tutu (you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find red tulle in Tucson!).

She was THRILLED to try it on while I was making it.

And she was THRILLED to be on the stage dancing out her heart. Of course, she mostly just did one of the dance moves over and over. But at least she latched on to one and remembered it!

Last but not least, she was THRILLED to troop onstage after the program was over and dance a bit more by herself. We may have a performer on our hands. :)

Never the norm around here

2009-08-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

How many ways are there, you may ask, to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I'm sure kids can come up with scads of ideas. Naomi has opted for the version where you open the sandwich, lick the contents off the bread, and then discard the bread. I think it was her way to protest against crusts, because once we started cutting off the crusts, she began eating pb&j the traditional way (yes, including the bread!).

Learning by example

2009-08-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

Naomi learns best with demonstrations. She SEEMS to understand that the stove is hot and we should not touch the burners. But just to make sure, Val took one for the team and applied a hot cookie sheet to her arm (Val's arm, not Naomi's!) so Naomi could see the consequences.

Just a few more tri pics

2009-08-02T07:20:00.001-07:00

Mom has gently reminded me a few times that she would love more blog posts. (I, in an equally gentle manner, reminded her that my time had been spent taking care of her grandchildren instead of neglecting them while blogging about them.) So, while I haven't uploaded any recent pictures, here are a few more pictures from the triathlon in May. Just for you, Mom!

This first one might be my absolute favorite picture taken that day...Gabe grinning at me while he gives me a high five!

This one is worth clicking on and enlarging,
so as to better see the grin on our sweet chunk-o's face!

My children play together!

2009-07-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, anway...and here's the proof! Gabe just loves doing whatever Naomi's doing. Unfortunately, that generally results in Naomi throwing her body over her toys whenever Gabe so much as glances her way. There are peaceful moments now and then when they play side by side. I look forward to many more such moments!

California - June 2009!

2009-07-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Matt sealed his elevation to sainthood when he agreed to hang out with our two kids (one who was still being potty-trained) in Utah. To clarify, that is away from their home. And their routines. And their toys. And all the usual bribery tools. What a man!

He did this so I could accompany my mom and sister on their annual trip to Redding, CA to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Schlueter. It was an amazing visit! Here are some highlights:

Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Raymond each stopped by on a different day for a brief visit.
We took a trip to Whiskeytown Lake, but only Mom got in for a dip before the lifeguards closed down the beach due to an incoming rainstorm.
We stopped by the Veterans of Foreign Wars post where Grandpa is the president. He has put in lots of effort shaping things up, and it was great to see him in that setting!

We just had a terrific time, visiting, walking, laughing.

Thanks for letting us invade your house, Grandma and Grandpa.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Me, Grandma, Grandpa, Julie, Gert (the dog!)

Uncle Jimmy & Mom

Julie, Uncle Raymond, Mom, me

Gabe's favorite bday present!

2009-06-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

Gabriel turned one in April, and his favorite present which he received was this blue playground ball. At almost any point during the day, you can find Gabe kicking, carrying, pushing, chasing, rolling or attempting to eat this ball (or any other ball in the house).

Ball play + Naomi chasing Gabe = GIGGLES!!