Thanks to everyone who voted on our poll! It was fun to see how it turned out. At this point, she is yet to be named, but I think we are pretty close to making a decision. I'm in the 3rd trimester now...and we are getting anxious to meet our "little lady"! :)

DNow '09

I feel like I've been gone awhile, even though it was only a few days. :) We had a full, and very blessed, weekend with our youth group, 180, and many extras. We had an event at our church this weekend called DiscipleNow. It's where we get together Friday/Saturday evening for large group rallies, and the students stay the night at host homes. We had a good group of students, an awesome worship band from Brentwood Church in Lynchburg, and a great speaker from a church in Lynchburg as well. Our theme this year was Identity Theft...with our focus verse being John 10:10. I know even though I'm exhausted *and a bit achy* it was a refreshing weekend spiritually. We had awesome times at the rallies, and the kids had a great time on Saturday playing "Bigger and Better". *A game where you try to trade up from a paper clip to something bigger and better, with complete strangers. Some of the items we ended up with were lawn furniture, an XBox, a dishwasher, and a snowboard! Little swindlers...;)* We had a celebrity lookalike contest Saturday evening, where kids and counselors dressed up to "steal" celebrity identities. Some of the guest list incluced The Hulk, Clark Kent, Taylor Swift, David Beckam, Octomom, Wolverine, Barbie, Payne Stewart, Katy Perry, and Michael the archangel to name a few. We also had lots of great food...the host homes went all out providing meals for the students/counselors. So much planning and prayer went into it, and we are SO grateful to everyone who helped out! Here are some pictures from the weekend! :) ~John 10:10~

Black Belt in Training

If you watch carefully you can see my belly jump when little lady kicks me. *Esp right at the beginning* She's working off those chicken nuggets we had for lunch. :)

Super Soaker

Who is taking a bath here anyway? Merrick, the bathroom, or me? It was so funny I didn't stop him...but we were ALL soaked! :)

Naming Names...

Ok so we're narrowing it down to *most likely* one of 2 names for little lady. I like both of them very much (so does Billy), but both of us are leaning more towards one of the two. *Not telling which one* We are pretty much decided on a middle name I think. But at this point still not wanting to commit to anything, because we still have some time, and I'm still doing a bit of research to make sure I've found something that we think will best suit Miss Barron. They are both rather different, but meaningful to us. I wanted to share them with everybody/anybody who reads this, because I thought it would be fun to see what people would say when it's possible for their comments to be anonymous. I am pretty sure you won't hurt my feelings if you don't like either...my own mother makes faces at the names I chose for my children. :) And like I said, this is just for fun anyway, and we'll choose her name regardless of "popular opinion". No offense of course. :) I'm going to put up a poll on the sidebar...check it out! The 2 options thus far are...

Tirzah - meaning: pleasantness, delight
pronunciation: TEERzah
origin: Hebrew

Blythe - meaning: happy, joyous
pronunciation: Blithe
origin: English

Real Live *Peeps*

We took Merrick to Farm Supply today *I know, I know...something you only do if you live in the country :)* to see the chicks they have for sale. He loves all kinds of animals so we figured he would love them.

He did, but is a little rough. Only 1 chick got a concussion. (Just kidding) We also got to see a bunny and some ferrets...who he "meowed" at. :)Here are some pictures of our homeade zoo trip. :)

Dolphin Salon

This pic was sent to me by my sisters while I was at work today. Merrick was standing in the bathroom sink, holding a stuffed dolphin, drying its "hair" with the dryer he had just watched one of the aunties use. Oook. I suppose even dolphins want to look their best. :)

New Tricks

Merrick is such a mess while he eats...I've really been avoiding giving him silverware. I gave it a try yesterday, though, and it went pretty smoothly! Maybe he won't be eating with his fingers forever...:) Now if I can just get him to stop standing on the table.

Red-Handed

"Be sure your sins will always find you out." My mom always used to tell me this. :) Today while I was in the shower, and Billy was working on homework, Merrick helped himself to my *very forbidden* crackberry. It was sitting on top of his diaper bag on our kitchen table (his favorite perch). He proceeded to climb up onto it, snatch my phone, call my sister, AND take the above pic of his own feet. *That is my phone cover he removed laying by his foot* I wouldn't have known, but he left the evidence in my call log, and in my pictures. Better luck next time, kiddo. ;)

Bowling!

We took the kids from 180 *our youth group* bowling today after church. Lots of fun...although the only bowling ball I should be carrying around is the one growing under my shirt. ;) I am pretty much in a class by myself when it comes to awful. Anyway, it was fun, and no one was injured *a common occurrence at 180* which is always a plus! Here are some pictures from our little field trip!

Round here...

So it's been quite a busy week around here. *Other than the usual: chasing Merrick, working at the airport, church stuff, making sure my house isn't falling apart and stays clean, growing another human, etc. :)* Merrick has taken it upon himself to learn a few new tricks that I just thought I would share.

He did this to the closet while I was getting dressed this morning...

And I found him doing THIS while I was cleaning THAT up...
*that's my kitchen table...grrr. :)*

King of the "throne"...

He likes to ride down the road holding his soccer ball. But he got an "upgrade" today while we were in Target. We bought him this giant bouncy ball. He laughed hysterically...but all we could see were his shoes. :)

My 2 Loves

Here are some pictures of Merrick and his little sister...she's almost 6 months along now! :)

I'm a Country Boy

Ok...so maybe I'm not a country boy. I am definitely married to one, however, and think I have one in the making with Merrick, who can't take his eyes off anything with wheels, preferably BIG wheels. Billy suggested that we take Merrick to Bass Pro Shops today after work. *Pretty sure that was code for we should take Billy to Bass Pro...wink wink* I only had my cell phone with me, but had to take some pictures of my guys and a few furry *stuffed* friends. :)

I really thought I was going to have to call for help, or I'd never get out. Especially after Billy made the comment "I could do all my Christmas shopping here". I guess I'm getting a buck knife for Christmas...or maybe a tree stand? ;)

'All the single ladies...'

...better watch out. Merrick has some pretty hot dance moves. Haha. ;)

The *Not-So* Itsy Bitsy Spider

There are lots of things I expect to happen after church on Sunday afternoons. For example: saying goodbye to everyone in the front yard, keeping Merrick out of Rt. 636 and out from under various pews, going out to lunch, hanging out with the kids, etc. Seeing a spider left over from when dinosaurs roamed the earth? Not so much. A collective girly scream went up (from males and females alike) when we spotted this monster on the sidewalk in front of CBC. He was...gross. But in one of those "I can't stop looking at it, and somebody take a picture" kinda ways. :)

Merrick the Friendly Ghost

We recorded these videos last night. Merrick put the sweatshirt on his head himself the first time...and ran smack into Billy's dresser *although I only got the smacking into the dresser part :)*. The second video we put it on his head...because we are wonderful parents who encourage running into furniture. ;) Haha.

Just say no...

...to turkey. We went out to Panera for dinner tonight. Merrick ate part of a whole grain baguette, some soup, some chips...but put his foot down when I offered him some turkey from my sandwich. He threw it *accidentally* onto the top of his head in the process of trying NOT to eat it. :)

The *Sort-Of* Blizzard of '09

Here are some pictures from our *Snow Day* yesterday! :) Hope you got to enjoy it also!

Uses for Snow 101

What IS that blue blob? Its a homeade snowcone of course. Billy made it last night when the snow really started coming down. It was really good, although so far our attempts at snow ice cream haven't been so successful. Haha. :) Dr. Pepper/snow slushies are ALMOST as good as Sheetz. ;)

All I want for Easter is My 2 Hour Nap

Sometimes you gotta nap where you gotta nap. Our busy Sundays are really hard for Merrick, who rarely gets a good nap. Today, though, he decided he was getting his nap no matter where we were. This was in Wal-Mart. He's passed out on one of those giant stuffed ducks they have out for Easter. :)