Hoodie Towels

What is it about kids in hoodie towels that is so cute? Last night after their bath, I just couldn't resist snapping these shots of the kids. They were both laughing so hard playing 'Caped Avenger' with Peter. And I just love the look on Colin's face in the second picture!!

Five months old

Colin is growing up so fast! He now weighs 16 lbs....which is what
Megan weighed when she was a year old!

**Edit: We weighed Colin on an accurate scale while in Columbus...he weighed 18 lbs. 5 oz!! At 5 1/2 months. Wow. Maybe we will have to stop using "Little Man" as his nickname.

It's all happening at the zoo

After Megan had so much fun at the petting zoo, we decided to visit the Peoria zoo with Grandma. They had a fun sea lion show and a bird show. It is a smaller zoo but just the right size for us with two little kids.

Believe it or not, Megan is actually laughing in this picture!

Colin likes the meerkats

Petting zoo

A few weeks ago when Grandma Merrell was visiting, we took Megan to a petting zoo at our library. Megan was a little nervous at first, but once she relaxed she had so much fun. I was so proud of her for getting close to the animals. She petted the pony and the duck as well, but I didn't manage to get any pictures. Her favorite animal was definitely the pig. She kept running back to it pet it again.

Petting the rat (like the ones Grandpa Merrell has as pets)

Though she looks slightly distressed in this picture,
Megan really did love petting that pig!

Megan wanted to pet the llama but it kept running in circles
and she couldn't catch it. I finally held Megan and
with a little help from some kids, we managed to hold him still.

Blog links

To all of our fellow bloggers, would you comment and let us know how you prefer to be named in the link to your blog? Just first names? First and last names? Just last name? I know that some people have a preference because they're trying to be careful about how much information people can access about their family on the internet. Every time I add someone new to our list, I go through the same dilemma. I just want to make sure I am not sharing information that you don't want shared.

So let me know.

As for us, you can name your link to our blog with first and last names or however you prefer. We'll let you know if our preference ever changes.

Also, if we have neglected to include a link to your blog, please let me know so I can add it!

Welcome, Little One

My sister Melissa gave birth to her first baby, Clark Benjamin Shafer, on Wednesday, July 16. This cute guy weighed in at 6 lbs. 14 oz. and measured 19 1/2 inches long. Mom and Baby and very proud father Kevin are doing wonderfully and they came home from the hospital today.

New clothes

I have several new posts and lots of pictures I still need to put up and since Peter is on-call this weekend, I just might finally get it done.

But I did want to quickly post about the fun experience I have had over the past few days going clothes shopping. For those who know me well, you will understand that this is something I never do. Never. I can count on one hand the items of clothing I have purchased for myself in the past four years since we've been married that hasn't come from birthday money sent from grandparents. Since my mission, I have programmed myself to not even think about buying clothes in efforts to budget and be frugal.

But the time had come. I went to the store thinking I would buy one, maybe two new shirts so I would have something nicer to wear to church on Sunday. But Peter came with me and picked out a big pile of clothes for me to try on. (No blacks, browns or dark blues were allowed). And in the end when I was trying to make a decision on what to buy from all the ones I liked, he insisted we buy all of them. I stalled for awhile but eventually gave in. Peter looked surprised but extremely pleased.

And so today, we went to a different store and saw more cute clothes on the clearance rack. Peter and the nice lady at the store chose more clothes for me to try on. My defenses were weak given yesterday's splurge so when Peter once again suggested(?) we buy all the clothes I was trying to decide between, I only pretended to argue for a minute before I agreed.

And I will admit that I love having cute, new clothes!!! Wow, it has been a long time.

I am also learning a good lesson. It is good to be frugal, but it is also okay to spend money on yourself now and again. And now that I know that Peter is so willing (actually, he is always telling me I need to spend more money on myself), maybe I'll have to update my wardrobe more often...

Merrily we roll along

Here is a cute video of Colin rolling over a few weeks ago.

Fourth of July

We spent the 4th of July in Iowa with most of Peter's family. We stayed at Melissa and Jerad's brand new home in Ankeny (it's so beautiful!) and had a fun time shopping, picnicking, and even held the first annual Merrell Family baseball game.

Peter's niece Sara borrowed our camera one afternoon and we thought some of the pictures she took were interesting...

We told her not to take pictures of Megan who was down for a nap and so we were extra surprised to discover a few pictures like this.

Grandpa got to see Colin in his Harley Davidson outfit. I wonder if we can find a matching outfit in Grandpa's size?

One afternoon when the men were all helping Jerad install cabinets in his new dental practice, Sara, Claire and Marianna had a fashion show.

We drove home via Ottumwa, Iowa and spent the night with Peter's sister Robyn who moved there last week. They bought an antique house (I think it's 100 years old or so) and it is beautiful and spacious inside. Megan and Brayden had fun showing each other their casts.

After we started the drive home, we saw signs that the bridge across the Mississippi into Illinois was closed. We created our own detour route and drove through some pretty small towns and still made it home in good time. We made a 4 1/2 hour drive to Iowa, a 2 hour drive to Ottumwa, and a 3 1/2 hour drive home all without stopping once for the kids. Peter did have to stop once to ask for directions, but that was it!

Big girl bed

Peter and I decided last week that we needed to move Megan from her crib to a regular bed sometime soon but last night when she climbed out of her crib for the first time, we decided that the time has come.

She is excited about the bed - we let her pick out some Winnie the Pooh sheets and some Tinkerbell sheets a few months ago. However, I am quite positive she is not going to stay in that bed for more than a minute. Which means putting her back in over and over again. I'm afraid of this becoming a stressful and frustrating situation both for her and for us.

So, what did you do to help your child transition? Did he/she stay in the bed? What did you do when they didn't? Overall, what things worked and what didn't?