Time for Turkey...and Tennis Shoes

Thanksgiving/Christmas are my favorite times of the year, and as much as I hate to see Thanksgiving gone for another year, I'm thrilled that Christmas is on the way! I started playing Christmas tunes Friday, much to Billy's dismay. :) We had Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's house this year, with all of Mom's extended family. It was a full house as always, and was so much fun. We celebrate on Wednesday, so we get to have dinner twice before all is said and done. It's nice to just relax and heat up some leftovers with everyone on the actual holiday. Wednesday Merrick also started officially "walking"! He had taken maybe 2 or 3 steps at a time before, but now is taking more like 6 to 10 at a time, and doing it all by himself! He still exhibits his stubborn streak, however, and most likely will not walk for an audience, or when I'm trying to get him to show off his new skills. (If for no reason other than to make people think I have really lost it this time...haha) I did manage to catch him on video...so here goes:

We are so proud of him...and decided maybe it was time to get our little redneck to wear some shoes. We braved Black Friday and went shoe shopping...and he hates them. :) He acts like someone wearing flippers when we put them on his feet. Sorry, son, but you've gotta get used to these things. Restaurants won't take kindly to a grown man without shoes. :) Hopefully this will get better soon! We hope that each of you had a blessed holiday...we're thankful for each of your friendship! Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving day at Mom's, also:

Forget the turkey...

Apparently funds are so tight around our house this year we are having roast cat instead of turkey. :) Just had to share this picture of our ridiculous cat making himself comfie right on the table before thanksgiving dinner.

My address??? Oh its the ER.

It seems to me that I've spent quite a bit of time in hospitals, or Emergency Rooms...since Merrick Wilder happened. Granted they haven't all been his fault. :) When he was born, we stayed in the hospital for an entire week because little man had jaundice and was a funny shade of orange. :/ They wouldn't let us leave, although I did try. Then my husband broke his leg a few months later, and I had the pleasure of my first trip in an ambulance. The next incident I didn't actually have to go to the ER, but Billy did. This time he cut his thumb open changing lawn mower blades. This last incident was my sister's boyfriend, Cam. We were playing dodgeball yet again at youth group (how Billy ended up in an ambulance with a broken leg) and Cam took a kickball right in the eye. At first all seemed ok, but then we noticed his iris was turning red (yes that would be blood...ah!) and decided that probably was the end of dodgeball at youth group, and the start of our next trip to the ER. Cam is fine by the way...other than some eyedrop trauma. :) *deep breath* I thought I was in the clear and moving on...I told the men in my life to stop being goofy and pulling stunts. They don't listen. Today the guys at church were playing football (to my relief they settled for 2 hand touch...BUT couldn't resist and ended up playing all out tackle at the end) when one of the kids tackled his twin brother. That's when I heard it..."Honey we need to go to the hospital." My reaction: "WHAT?!" The kid who was tackled was laying on the ground with, what was thought at the time, to be a broken arm. I am a panicker.. But surprisingly in these crazy situations God has kept me from turning into a screaming mess. (I'm like one of those ladies in the old movies who has to be slapped back from hysteria...no kidding.) I calmly walk over to figure out if this trip is REALLY necessary. After some examination we realize that it's not broken, but could have been dislocated and relocated...not sure. So the game comes to a screeching halt and we decide to give it some time to see if it's ok. I find out after girl's discipleship that the guy's dad came and took him (yes you guessed it) to the ER. I am not sure the outcome of that trip just yet...but am hoping no news is good news. Maybe I could get the guys in my life interested in playing cards? Someone I think even that would turn into tackle. Feel free to slap me anytime. :)

8K!

Me and my sister, Amanda, were in another race this morning. (you're starting to wonder what is WRONG with these girls...so are we) This one was an 8K, and I'm very excited to say I finished faster than my goal of 40 min...I finished in 00:38:19. Yay! Little sister beat me this time...very proud of her! There are no races in our near future, thankfully. :) We have realized as much fun as racing is (and we plan to keep it up) we don't exactly fit in with most "runners". As much as I love running...not a big fan of guys in booty shorts, energy bars that taste like mud, or scraping off my own toenails so they don't get in my way. Ouch. So we will keep racing...but with all our toenails still attatched. Here's a picture of my running bib!

Pansies and The Giggles

So it's been a pretty busy weekend around here! :) We had youth group as usual on Saturday evening, which is always lots of fun. This is a video I took of Merrick on the way to Farmville...

Then today we had the first Concord Baptist Church volleyball tournament. So much fun! Lots of people came out, and everyone had lots of good fellowship time. There were 7 different teams...two from Longwood, one of the guys from youth group, several pick-up teams, and then there was...THE PANSIES. No...we didn't give ourselves that name. We have Wilson the thank for that. We *unfortunately* left our team name off the sign-up sheet, and one of the youth from church thoughtfully filled it in for us! :) Our team was made up of me, Billy, my sister Anna, her boyfriend Cam, and my twin cousins, Maureen and Hannah, and Sebastien. While our name doesn't really strike fear into your heart, we did manage to win the tournament, and were undefeated! :) Here is a picture of our team:

It was lots of fun; hopefully it will be an annual event at CBC. Then as if that wasn't enough physical activity for one day...the guys from church topped it off with a football game. I must admit me and the girls sat that one out. We just froze and took pictures on the sidelines. :) I think the guys don't like playing with us anyway. ;) Anyway, it was a fun/busy weekend. Hope everyone else had a great weekend also! On a sad note, though, Merrick has come down with his first fever. (Other than his jaundice stunt his first week of life, he's been blessed with amazing health...barely even the sniffles! SO thankful for that!) Please be praying for him, that he feels better fast and keeps his cute little germs to himself. :) Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Lightweight

We had our 1-year check-up today with Merrick's Doctor! It was not fun. :/ He's finally figured out exactly who a Doctor is and what they do when you show up in their office. It's all fun and games...until Dr. Kirchmier walks in. Here is a picture of Merrick playing on the exam table in his diaper pre-checkup. :)
The office we go to is decorated really cute...with little bugs and animals painted on the walls. Merrick loves trying to pick the painted bugs off the walls. (He doesn't get that from me...at our house bugs are trapped under cups until Billy gets home to save me from them. :) haha)

When the doctor walked in, however, Merrick got this very serious look on his face. Even before the popsicle stick was down his throat he was screaming. It's such an awful struggle going to the Dr. as the Mom. I know my child needs to have a check-up...but really want to rescue him from the mean Dr. who is poking him in all the wrong places, also. :) Especially when Merrick is looking at me like, "Mom, anytime now." We had him weighed and measured. He is just under 20 lbs, which puts him in the 10th percentile for his weight. Maybe we should start feeding him cookies instead of bananas. :) We were calling him our little runt when we left the office. But apparently he has enough attitude to make up for whatever he may be lacking in weight. :) I'm sure that he is glad he won't have to see Dr. Kirchmier for another few months. Have a good evening everyone!