Christmas in the Stockyards

After running around trying to finish last minute Christmas shopping, we ended up in the Stockyards right in time for the cattle drive. The boys had a good time. They especially liked the little rides that were EVERYWHERE! We did get their picture made on the longhorn, they thought they were REAL cowboys!

Christmas Pictures

WE have finally hit that year where we are not scared of Santa, but we didn't get any great pictures with him. Oh well, at least we weren't screaming. We did get to see Santa several times.

Family pic with Santa!
Benjamin driving the firetruck. Santa came to our church party in a firetruck, pretty cool!

Christmas Cookies - Yummy!

Carter rolling out the yellow dough. My mother had some colored dough she gave me, it was very cool. The kids loved it!
Eating the icing. I think he ate more raw cookie dough and icing than anything else!
Benjamin after we made a gingerbread house one night we when decorated the tree!
Benjamin was pretty stuck wanting to make only Frosty the Snowman cookies. He chose the green dough.
Most of the icing did get on his face. Everyone that is was SO FUNNY, so even more ended up on his face!

Celebrate life!

Pics of the boys

I didn't have a chance to blog on Friday or for that matter over the weekend. As I am home this Monday afternoon and the boys are watching their new "Frosty the Snowman" movie, I have a few minutes. Last Friday 11/30 is a day that I always dread. There are not a lot of things I dread, but I dread that day. Mainly because in the past I have felt sad all day, partly because I add the sadness to myself. I tried to make the day as enjoyable as I could for myself, and I have to say I did a pretty good job. I took my students on a field trip to the mall. (I teach Apparel and Textiles, so it is not a stretch to go to the mall.) I can't complain spending my workday at the mall, right. Ryan and Benjamin went camping, so my mother came over to spend the night with Carter and I and do a little shopping on Saturday. As crazy as this sounds, I feel closest to my father when my mother is around, so it was actually nice to spend the anniversary of my father's death with her for part of the night. Also 1 sweet angel topped off the evening by teaching me a valuable lesson that I was wanting to learn. Life is about celebrating! I dread 11/30 because he physically isn't here anymore with us. I should use that day to celebrate his life, my life, my children's life, and new lives that form everyday.

Update, Finally!

Meet Benjamin the "bull rider"! His bull riding name is "Marcus Merriman", don't ask me, I just go with it. I really don't know what started us on the crazed cowboy stage. I think PP had something to do with it. It is so funny watching him bull ride, of course the bull is daddy (not a real bull)! Here he is practicing. I love the little hand up!
He has turned into such a sweet little boy. I love hearing him talk. I don't know where he comes up with some of his words. But most of the time he keeps us in stitches!
Carter has grown, he does not look like a little baby anymore. Where did the time go?
Carter's first black eye! There is a reason why the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" He was a trooper!
I know before you say anything I just want to add, other than Tech, we show no loyalities to any school! We are going to be open and let our boys chose their college of choice. And because daddy is so cheap when it comes to the boys clothes (yes, you heard me DADDY), we will wear anything that is given to us as a gift! This picture is funny, they did wear those on game day!

I don't know where the month of November went, it is a fog! We are looking forward to Christmas. The boys are pumped. Their daddy even went for the blow up Frosty in the front yard! We officially have yard art now!

Merriman boys 6 vs. Merriman girls 2

Jackson Daniel Merriman arrived today at 5:05 pm. Jackson weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 22 inches long. Way to go Melissa and her coach Doug!!!!
Triplets hold Jackson (Richard, Ryan, and Doug, the proud dad)
Family picture with baby Jackson
Sweet mommy Melissa with new baby!
Cousin Dylan and Benjamin getting the news that it was a boy! We love our girls (Vaughn and Meredith) but we say "Boys rule in the Merriman family!"

We had the whole waiting room filled with family and friend awaiting the arrival of sweet Jackson. Finally Doug gave us the word that is was a sweet boy and everyone was doing fine. We are so excited to have another baby in the Merriman family. God has blessed our family with precious healthy babies. We are excited to all be together with our new additions this year for Christmas. Watch for more pictures to come of Jackson!!!

Ben's birthday pictures

Yes, I know his birthday was over a month ago, but due to our not having a computer for almost 6 weeks, I am still catching up. This are pictures from his party! We had such a great time playing baseball again!
Ryan and I have been watching Ace of Cakes at night. It inspired me to do a baseball bat and ball cake. Benjamin loved it!



Time is flying by, I can't believe he is already 3. He finally got the "birthday" thing this year. I think he is alreay excited about his birthday for next year!!

One funny story: (Well Ryan probably isn't laughing yet!) This story is truly the life of boys! 2 nights ago Ryan and his friend were putting together a deer tree stand (or something like that). The boys were outside "helping" him with the tools. Ryan was going a little crazy with the extra help because pretty soon the tools were everywhere. I just laughed to myself saying (to myself) welcome to my LIFE! After I put the boys down, Ryan was putting up his tools and trying to find the lost ones. Fast-forward to Friday morning. We put the boys in the car, it was a work day for me. I started backing out of the garage and stop to this horrible sound. Getting out of the car because I thought I had hit something, Ryan meeting me with that look of "What did you hit?" We inspected the back and car, nothing. I got back in the car and could not reverse it. I drove forward just a bit and tried it again. Same LOUD horrible noise. Ryan and I check under each tire and around the car again, nothing! At this point, I can not back up the car; it will not go!
Ryan gets in to move the car. Can't do it, so we goes forward. As he is putting it in reverse to go, I notice the tire. I screamed "Stop and get out"! Ryan wondering what is going on pops out to see me pointing to the tire - THAT HAS A SCREWDRIVER STUCK IN THE RIM OF IT!!! Somehow one of my angels stuck a screwdriver into the tire and caught it in the rim. Sweet Ryan ask which one did it. Yea right, even at 3 and 2 they are still not going to answer. So Ryan takes off the tire while I load the boys in his car to trot off to the babysitters. I so wished I would have taken a picture of the screwdriver in the tire, but Ryan was not in the mood for pictures!!!

Lion take 3!

London -Halloween 2003
Benjamin - Halloween 2005
Carter - Halloween 2007

I think it is okay to say this costume was worth the money! Thanks Aunt Robin for the costume that keeps on giving! Hopefully we will have more cousins in the future that will use it - What do you say Uncle Knox?

Halloween is here!

Spiderman and the Angry/Sometimes Sweet Lion
The Sweet Lion - he actually wears the head piece! This costume has been worn by London, Benjamin, and now Carter. I will try and upload everyone in it.
Smiling at the pumpkin patch!
Spiderman, Ben chose this costume at the store. Of course the smallest was 4-5, but we got it anyway. If a few alterations, it works great! It is so funny seeing him wear the costume, he actually goes into character mode!

We LOVE Halloween! This is one of the best holidays! We are looking forward to the Trunk or Treat tonight. So beware of new pics coming!!!!

Trips 30 Birthday.

Triplets' Birthday Cake - I think this is the first birthday in history where they have had to share 1 cake together, usually they get their own cake.
Trips in the same order as the cake - Rich, Ryan, and Doug (the very soon to be new daddy)!
Rich and my precious Vaughn. Ryan and Benjamin are in the back in the hot tub. Didn't realize that until now, he will LOVE that picture.
Eric (Ryan's oldes brother) and funny man Harrison. For the longest time Harrison's name was Happy Duty.

Yes, I know it is Halloween, I will upload pics of costumes later. I am trying to catch up on the month of being lost with internet. I know you are waiting on every breath to see the 600 plus pics I took during that time! We had a great family weekend with the family to celebrate the big 3-0 for the boys! I think the cousins had the most fun playing football and playing in the dirt! Harrison and Wesley even got to spend the night with us like a real sleepover, YEA!!!

Out with the Old - In with the New!

Yes, we have moved and are partially settled. We still have a few boxes left, but for the most part, WE ARE IN! I had to put the pictures of the old and new house, because it was such an emotional experience. Probably wouldn't have been bad if the lightning wouldn't have struck the old house days of both contracts were place. But, as you can see all is good!
I had to put these 2 pics on. My friend and I spent countless hours painting these on the boys wall. Carrie will be heart broken when she finds out 2 days after we moved out, they were painted over!!!!!

New house, YEA!

A huge thanks to everyone that helps us move! We could not have done it that fast without you guys. I have also been in the dark because our internet service was not hooked up for 10 days, they kept messing up our order. I felt lost without internet, and poor Ryan had to work from Starbucks those day! I think we are all adjusting to the move 1 street over. I finally had time tonight to download the 600+ pictures on my camera, so over the next few days I will post all the exciting things that happened when we were internetless: triplets 30th birthday, Benjamin's birthday and pumpkin patch, baseball game, and more!

Still Around!

Did you notcie my new header? Thank you to my good friend PP for putting it together for me!

I am glad to finally be writing again, but I hate to say no pictures. We found out today that we didn't lose everything on the computer, now we just need to get it fixed.
Wow, has our life been crazy the past 2 weeks. I do have to say, we are lightning damamged free. The people finished the work on Thursday, and we only have task left to finished before closing our house. We are out of the option period on both houses, so we should have a sale pending sign in our yard. We close on both houses on 10/11. We hopefully will be totally moved by that Saturday. Since we are only moving 1 street over, it shouldn't be that tough! The boys are doing great, Benjamin is finally starting to potty train; he is doing good too! Carter loves to go on the potty too. I am finally settled in my work, I love my new classes. When I can upload pictures, I will. Thanks for everybody's prayers the past weeks, they helped us get through a rocky week!

Out for a Break

Sorry to disappoint my loyal readers, but I will be out of commission for a few days to week. Due to the lightning striking our house and attic filling up with smoke, having a contract on our house, and in the option period for our "new" house. I need a break. It also has to do with the fact that when the lightning struck our house, the computer blew, so no home computer right now! As soon as we are up and running, I will give more details about our exciting week!

WOW!

This is the only picture of Carter where he is smiling in the past 2 weeks! WOW, this has been a tough 2 weeks. I started back to work last week, I went all week! Now I am back to my part time work, and the transition for the boys has been terrible, I am REALLY TERRIBLE! Even on the days I am home with them, it is hard. I remember last year it took about a month to adjust to my schedule and when I home or when they are going to Sherry's school. But this year is much worse, I so hope it will get better each year. On the bright side, I am really going to enjoy my work this year. It is starting off GREAT!!! Our house has been on the market for about 1 1/2 weeks now. We have had a few showings, we just need to be patient. I am excited about the long Labor day holiday. I feel like summer is ending which is sad for my, but my second favorite season is fall (summer of course is #1).