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).

Finally!

Cartr got a hold of a pink marker at Kidsmuse last week. It took 2 days (and 2 baths) to come off. We called him our zebra for those days.
Benjamin - he loves going in Carter's crib after his nap with Carter. They can play for a long time in there (even without fighting).

Okay, after 2 LONG weeks of getting ready. The "for SALE" sign will go in the yard on Monday. Please pray that it will be quick and as painless as possible - ha, ha! I have to say a big"Thank You" out to our family and friends that helped us get ready for it. We could not have done it without you. Thank you, thank you! For those of you just catching up on your reading. We are trying to find a slightly larger house in the area.

We are still here!

Benjamin finally looking at the camera and almost smiling. He has reached that point where he turns from the camera because he thinks it funny. I am having a hard time getting pictures of him.
Benjamin and Carter LOVE falling off onto B's bed. We let them do it as long as they don't jump off, only fall. It will keep them entertained for at least 30 minutes. It is so funny to hear them giggling as they are falling on to the bed.
We got sunglasess, SPIDERMAN glass. It is the sweetest thing to see the boys just chillin out wearing ther glasses.
Carter eating breakfast. He wanted to wear brother bandana from VBS. I think he wore it all day!
Now this little guy is my smiler!!! I can even get a "Cheese" out of him. He loves smiling at the camera.

Sorry friends and fam that is has taken me awhile to blog, I know you are waiting on pins and needles for me to write, ha! We have been busy this week decluttering our house. Last week, Ryan and I decided to try and put our house on the market. So this week, I have been boxing up half our stuff for storage. I am going to try not to simplify our stuff better once/and if we EVER make it to a house. We want to stay in TC, just want a extra room for guest and TOYS! So, keep us in your thoughts as we start this wild adventure. Lets hope it is short and pain free.

Gydnia, Poland

Bridge going into the main part of the city.
On the bridge over looking the water. The main part of the city is to the left, mostly shops and expensive homes.
Ryan and Brad (BIL) went to the seaside resort. This is a picture taken from the wooden pier. The hotel in the back is the nicest hotel in the country, we didn't stay there!
Resort, tons of people were out (it was a weekday), there were games, tons of fun stuff to do. Also lots of speedos!
Communist headquarters during communist regime.

Once again, I didn't know much about Poland. There were under the USSR rule, and when that broke; they still had communist views. In 1980, they had a big union strike. Lots of people were killed fighting for their rights. The government finally gave into the rights of the workers. Still today, this country has some of the best benefits in the world, including a 3 year maternity leave!

Tallinn, Estonia

This picture looks over the "old" city.
Marzipan was created here in Tallinn. This is a cake decorated with marzipan. Sidenote: Marzipan is my favorite especially with chocolate! The marzipan museum was here.
Town square, the buildings were homes and stores of the towns people. The more space (wide) the store, the more money you had. I would hate to be the gray one on the far left!
Ryan and I were walking through the streets and ran across this restaurant. The menu was full of Tex Mex things, it did make me miss home! The restaurant had the Texas flag by the door, very cool!
This is the wall that separates the "old" city from the new part. All of the government, shops, and more expensive homes were in the old part. The new part looked very different, more industrial or commercial astmosphere.

To tell you the truth, I had never heard of the country Estonia before the trip. It too was such a delight. The town was beautiful, very quaint feeling. Ryan and I took a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of the city. Doing this, I really felt that I got to know the city. The main "shopping" here was knitted items. Needless to say, I didn't get anything. They were neat items, just not my taste!

Rock Church In Finland

Pictures inside and out of the Rock church. It was amazing to see! It was one of the best "sites" on the trip.

St. Petersburg

St. Isaac's church with Isaac on the horse out front of the church. This is the 4th largest church in the World.
The Church of Paul and Peter, it is set like a fortress with water surrounding it. It has all the Czars, Queens, and Kings buried in it.
This is the Church of Spilled Blood. It is now a museum. Everytime I saw this picture before our trip, it just looked Russian. It is more beautiful in person than any picture I have ever seen. Across from this church was an open "tourist" market. I got a Christmas Russian doll set. That is the wooden figure that keep getting smaller and smaller.
These are 2 tombs from the church of Peter and Paul. I wanted you to see these tombs because they are each from 1 big stone. The green is jade, and I can't remember the red stone. They each weigh several TONS. Where are the bodies you ask? All bodies are not in the tombs up top of the church for people to look at, they are buried under the church in crypts.
Ryan taking his own picture with Peter the Great. The statue is very different. They actually took a real print of his head, and didn't notice that is was quite small to the rest of his body until after the statue was put together. The body was not done to size. You were supposed to rub his long fingers for luck, I didn't pertake of the rubbing!

Russia was a different country to visit. The historical buildings were beautiful. The rest of the city still had a very communistic look and feel. It is amazing how so many people lived for such a long time. We spent 2 days in St. Petersburg, and it was well worth it. We took 3 different tours and for the most part, we didn't overlap that much, except for the "tourist" market. We took a canal cruise through the outlying city, we did a walking tour through the subway, and the a historical all day tour through the city and the Hermitage. The Hermitage is one of the best museums for famous painters and painting. I took pictures of the paintings. I will try and do another blog just of the paintings. We spent 3 hours in the Hermitage and didn't see much of it. They said it would take a couple of years to see everything in the museum.