Our Baby is ONE!

Sniff, sniff...

Our little baby is a big one year old! Seriously, seems like just a couple months ago I was opening up this adorable "Birthday Girl" dress my friend Marie gave me at the surprise baby shower my friends had for me. It seemed so huge, size 18 months! My little baby will never be that big! Of course, she wasn't even born yet! Yup, fits perfectly now, a year later.

Well, most of you know, we didn't plan on having any more kids. We thought we were just great with the two boys. But, God had a different plan for us and honestly, now we have no idea what we were thinking! We couldn't imagine not having this sweet little girl in our family! She has brought us all so much joy. Just goes to show you, God knows WAY more than we do! What a little blessing she is!

I tried to get her to play with a pretty flower, but she just made wierd faces at it!

She may be all dressed up in a girly girl dress, but she still wanted to play with the cars! That's my girl! Look how happy she is!!!

After a broccoli, chicken and pasta dinner with fresh oranges our neighbors brought home from Florida (Lizzie's favorite) , she got to open her presents. My Aunt Deb and Uncle Chuck in Wisconsin sent her the best "baby-sized" kitchen set! She LOVES it!!!! Thanks guys for the great gift! By far, it's her favorite new toy! We had a hard time getting her to open the rest of her gifts because she didn't want to stop playing with her spatula, salt and pepper shakers, egg/frying pan, etc...

So, she opened the hand-made knitted doll her Great Grandmother Dickson made for her (which I'm sure took hours and hours and hours and is totally adorable!), but Daddy got to pose for the picture since she was right back to that kitchen set! Later, G.G., she did play with the doll, so all your hard work wasn't for nothing! Thanks for the wonderful and thoughtful gift!

Now for the good stuff...

Daddy said that Lizzie told him that she wanted brownies for her birthday :-)

So, off came the adorable dress...

Look at her, she couldn't wait to dive in!

YUMMY!

That's my girl! A true chocoholic, even at age 1!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Lizzie Girl! We love you so much and are so incredibly thankful for you each and every day!

Oh Avocado pits!

I have to share this...
My friend KB posted this on her blog. Jackson was good buds with Jake and Jon when the Burkes lived here. Now they're in CO. Anyway...

This is what came out of Jackson's mouth as we were driving to the park....
"Hey Dad, guess what?"
"Strong men stand up for themselves."
"And stronger men stand up for others."
"I'm a stronger man."

KB says, "Say what? Come again? Where in the world did he learn that??!!Upon further investigation he apparently heard it from the movie "Barnyard: The Original Party Animals".It still sounded pretty good. =)"

And here's what my kid's saying, "Oh avocado pits!"
Yup, so proud.
That's what Jake said when he messed up while playing a Wii game the other day.

The Little Things...

A couple weeks ago, our washer went "kaput" as Toehead would say. So, we bought a fabulous new frontloader. Jake and Lizzie were mesmerized by the clothes tumbling around and around.
Well, she's almost one. She loves holding our fingers and walking all around or pushing this great toy all around and does it all with ease. But, ask her to walk one step without holding on and she sits right down. We started "booing" her and now it's a big joke. She laughs and sits down and says, "boo!" What a little stinker!

Jon and Jake have been big time into the legos again. They constructed all the sea creatures they could think of, then made these C-5s, then made all the landmarks (like the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc.), then all the planets. What will they come up with next?

Yup, there's that stinker face! I was trying to get a nice picture of her and she kept crawling toward me trying to grab the camera! Robyn, you have a tough job! (My friend, Robyn is a photographer!)

She loves to reach up and play the piano. Gram will be so happy to hear her piano is so loved and being played so much :-)



So, these are the little things we've been up to...

Next post will probably be LIZZIE'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!! Yikes! Can you believe my baby is one already?

Jon's Cars Party

Jon's 4th Birthday Party: the Disney movie CARS

Andrea, Yolanda and Serena; candy racecar party favor; and Marie and Brian

Blow, Jon, blow!


Andy showing off his Doc Hudson tattoo; my bestest bud since the 4th grade, Michelle...who is due April 2nd with Tara's little brother, Tommy Junior; Jon opening his gifts; and Andy holding the McQueen pinata



Jon blowing out his candles...it took awhile, but he got it! When the pinata opened up, my smart little boy grabbed "Sarge's" hat and used it to put his candy in! And here are Kirsten, Jon, Tristan, Anna, Evan, Tara (who won!!!), and Tyler playing Sarge Says.

I lead the kids in a game of Sarge Says (like Simon Says). I felt like I was back teaching PE again. sniff sniff (just kidding. I LOVE staying home with the kids and wouldn't trade it for anything!) I had a blast doing this!


Jon and Jake goofing off

Happy Birthday, Jonny Boy! I hope you had a fun day with all your friends! Thanks to everyone who came to help Jon celebrate turning FOUR!!!

Jonathan turns 4!!!!!

Wow, does time fly! It seems like it really hasn't been four years! We lived at Travis AFB in CA, next door to the Brocks. I went into labor, called the doctor, called Andy, called Michelle next door, took Jake to lunch at Burger King on base with Andy (I learned from when I had Jake...I was starved!!!), took Jake to Brock's house, and Andy and I went to the hospital. A few hours later, at 6:41 PM, Jonathan Edward Merkle was born! We thought he was going to be Sarah Elizabeth, but he sure fooled us! And what a constant joy he has been for the past four years! And the surprises continue from Jon. He never ceases to amaze us. He is definitely our orneriest child, but is so genuinely sweet, too! He has a very compassionate, verly loving side and is very thoughtful. He's smart and boy is he ever funny! Just yesterday, we were eating dinner and Jon had been forgetting his manners a few times in a row. I said to Jon, "You better remember where you put your manners!" He said right back, "I know where I put them...in my heart." "Good," I said, "so you'll never forget them." "And a teeny weeny bit in my stomach, too!," he added. Where does he get this stuff??? What a riot!

Well, we spent Jon's fourth birthday up in the Poconos since it fell over President's weekend. Andy's folks and Kimmy came up with us and we had a great time, despite the fact that we didn't have a bit of snow to play in! Oh well, we still have a fun time playing games, taking a little hike, and swimming in the community indoor pool. Jon picked crabcakes, risotto, broccoli, and spinach salad with pears, toasted walnuts, blue cheese crumbles and champagne dressing for his birthday dinner. Who's kids are these? Jake picks lobster, Jon picks crabcakes! Talk about expensive and exquisite taste! Geez!

Enjoying his birthday dinner and showing me how old he is now"Oh cool, a lego racecar! Thanks Mommy, Daddy, Jake and Lizzie!" See, this is the sweet Jon!

Aunt Kimmy, Andy, Jake and Jon on the rocks down by the frozen Lake Wallenpaupack

And this is my goofy Jon

Little Lizzie, the purple puffy marshmallow on Daddy's shoulders walking down to the lake

Jake riding on Andy's back in the pool. They were racing against Kimmy and Jon and got smoked! Go Aunt Kimmy!

Jon loves his Aunt Kimmy!

Taking a little swim in the indoor pool...such a fun thing to do in the middle of winter!

Lizzie walking around with Mommom

Thanks for a great weekend everybody! And Happy Birthday, Jon! We love you!!!

A Visit from Gram

The last weekend in January, we had my Gram Flitcraft come and stay with us for a long weekend. The kids and I met her and Uncle Bill (who she lives with in PA) up in Wilmington which is roughly halfway. It was really great to see her and just get a chance to visit. We picked her up on Friday afternoon and the next morning, my sister, Jenn, came down with her boys to visit, as well. We all had a great time just hanging out. Jake and Jon love playing with their cousins and I think Gram enjoyed just watching them! Thanks, Gram, for coming! We really enjoyed having you! Love ya!!!

Lizzie loved Gram's heart necklace!

Darnel, David, Jake and Jon enjoyed some outside time together. The kids, Jenn and I took a walk/stroller ride/rollerblade/scooter ride around the block in our neighboorhood. Darnel who turns 14 next month wore Andy's rollerblades and they just barely fit his BIG FOOT!!! Wow!

Uncle Andy doesn't take it easy on anyone when he's wrestling!! ha ha!! Was this in response to Darnel's comment, hun? This cracked me up:

Darnel: "So Uncle Andy, Poppop told me you played in the State Championship [baseball] game [in high school]."

Laura: "Yeah, we have it on tape upstairs in our VCR if you want to watch it."

Darnel: "Is it in color?"

And on Sunday, we all enjoyed the Super Bowl game. This one's for you, Uncle Toe (and the Burkes in CO Springs)! Glad your team won for ya. If it couldn't be the Eagles, I guess the Steelers are the next best thing.

Snow!

Okay, so it wasn't as great as the snow you get in Colorado, KB, but we sure had a great time!