A Week in the Life, Day ONE

Alright, here goes. This next week will be filled with blogging! Yep, you heard me. I'm going to bore each and every one of you with the happenings of the Merritt house each and every day.

Today was day one, and I admittedly forgot to take as many pictures as I had planned. I'm normally much better about this. I'll be better tomorrow. I promise.

Today started out like most Sundays do. Madilyn's clock turned to the "green light" (pictures tomorrow) at 730 and she ran into our room to grab some snuggles with Mom and Dad. After a few minutes, Grace began chatting, so we grabbed her and brought her back to bed with us for some more snuggles.

Then it was breakfast and church. Here's miss Madi all ready to go. Gotta love that it's been nearly 80 here and we've no need for coats most of the time!

Afterwards, we came home and filled up the outside play toys with water. I wish I had pictures of this, but I was too busy having fun with the girls and forgot all about my photo obligation. Anyway, they had a blast and finally came inside (soaking wet) about an hour later.

Nap time! Madi slept almost 2 hours, and Grace slept 4 1/2! That little one sure does love to eat and sleep. Guess she takes after her father, hehe.

After naps we spent most of the afternoon/evening playing out in the cul-de-sac with our neighbors. There was lots of bike riding, running, and snacking for the kids. And much chatting for the Moms and Dads. We really live in a wonderful little neighborhood and have been so blessed by our neighbors. 

For dinner tonight I made our favorite White Chicken Enchiladas. They are so good I have a hard time keeping myself from eating too many! Seriously, if you've never tried these, you must. They are super easy, not diet friendly, and very delicious! YUM!

After dinner comes bath time. The girls love this part of the day. Madi was being camera shy, but I caught a cute one of Grace reading. (I'm sure you can tell by the size of her belly that we must starve this poor child...)

Next, off to bed for the munchkins and some down time for the two of us before the chaos starts tomorrow!

See you then!

Happy Birthday Dear ONE Year Old!!!!!

The festivities have been going nonstop since the day Miss Grace turned one! We spent her actual birthday at Disneyland and had a wonderful time as a family. Grace really got a kick out of it. She took one small nap in the Ergo, but other than that she partied hard the whole day. (Pictures to come soon, I need to download them!)

The fun continued this weekend when Matt's parents and Grandparents flew in. We had a fun birthday party for her on the 5th. Enjoy a fun video Matt and Don put together about the birthday celebrations :)

Soon??

October has finally arrived and we're all excited and full of anticipation. This is the month Matt should be coming home. We don't know when it will be. But soon. Very soon. I can't wait to have him home again and I know the girls are just as eager!!

Trike-A-Thon

Tonight Madilyn's school held their annual trike-a-thon fundraiser for St Jude Hospital. Seeing as bike-riding is Madilyn's most favorite pass time ever, this was a bit hit! The videos do a much better job showing you than I can write :)

It was too much fun. I love all of these events! Here's a picture of Madi's class (well, the ones who participated anyway).

Another Month Has Passed...

....and boy have we been busy!!!!

The following posts are my attempt to get everyone caught up on what we've been up to for the last several weeks. Read on :)

Fit N' Fun

I signed Madilyn up for a little class at our local YMCA and it just started yesterday. I thought she would be really excited by it, but instead she reused to participate and just wanted to sit in the chair by the wall. Not sure if she was just tired, or intimidated by the room. The class size was small and the toys sure looked like fun. About 15 minutes into the class the instructor told us that Grace was welcome to play on the equipment if we'd like. So, we brought Grace out and within 2 minutes, Madilyn just had to get up and go play with her sister :) After that most of the time was smooth sailing. Here are some photos from their first fit n' fun experience.

Fun Pictures From the Weekend

I just can't believe how big the girls are getting. They're interacting more and more every day and their personalities are so fun! Enjoy the picture overload ;)

Pancakes are a BIG hit in this house!

Sisterly love :-)

A Visit with Don and Sandy

On Friday morning, Don and I flew back into LA and Sandy picked us up. The timing worked out perfectly since she was able head up there right after she dropped Madilyn off at preschool. Of course, since nothing comes without a little drama lately, just was we pulled out of the airport we realized we had a flat ire. Thank goodness Don was with us and was able to get us back up and rolling (pun intended) in no time at all!

We really put Don to work these last 36 hours. He fixed a tire, trimmed our bushes, fixed my vacuum cleaner, cleaned out spider webs, and spent many hours trying to fix our grill. Hopefully the solution is simple and will be a quick and easy fix the next time we see him :)

Thank you Don for all of your hard work! It was great to have you here!

Back to Phoenix

This last week my mom had to have surgery. Two days prior to her operation, Sandy offered to come and stay with the girls while I went home to be there for my mom. I am so thankful I was able to go back for a few days and help her out. She ended up spending more time in the hospital than anticipated, but is home now and recovering well. I am also extremely blessed to know that while I was away, the girls were in wonderful hands! From the sounds of it, Grandma sure kept the girls busy. Sandy said even she was in bed by 9pm each night!

Thank you Sandy for coming out here and taking such great care of the girls. We are so lucky to have such great families!

Counting Down :)

With this deployment 2/3 over, we're really starting to get more and more excited for Matt to come home. We all miss him dearly, but this one has really made an impact on Madi. She really misses her Daddy. She'll often point at a photo of him and tell me "Mom, you see that? That's my Daddy and I really love him. When he comes home, he's gonna take me to the ocean!" It is just precious to see how her bond with him has strengthened over time. Since we're finally getting nearer to the end (like I said, we still have 1/3 to go), I made a paper chain with Madilyn to help her count down to seeing Daddy.