He's The Really Useful Baby We Adore!

Remember how in the Thomas the Tank Engine stories, the greatest compliment the characters (the engines) could receive was that they were "useful?"

Well, earlier this week, Avery found me and Trey in the laundry room, moving the clean, wet clothes from the washer to the dryer. Trey was standing at the open door of the washing machine, tossing out clothing items for me to put into the dryer. Trey, of course, had no intention of being "helpful." He is just like other babies his age who feel it is incumbent upon them to empty any container of any sort by tossing its contents unceremoniously to the floor. :)

HOWEVER, Avery was so impressed by Trey's "grown up" behavior, that he declared, "OH, you finally found a way for Trey to be useful!"

Ah! My thoughts exactly . . . although it took a while for this day to come! *wink, wink!*

And then Chase showed his delight with Trey by taking these pictures of The Really Useful Baby We Adore!

The Arrow of Light

Doesn't it seem like Chase JUST STARTED Cub Scouts yesterday? That *pang* you just heard was my heart, twinging with both sadness and pride for my firstborn baby boy, who is growing up so fast . . . and doing it so well!

Chase was honored at the May Cub Scout Pack Meeting with the Arrow of Light Award: the highest award one can achieve in the Cub Scout program! This was the result of dedicated work for the past 3 years (and the last year in particular as a Webelo). We are so proud of Chase and his commitment and efforts to complete all of his requirements! Hooray for Chase! Now, it's on to the Boy Scouts!

Although this picture is dreadfully blurry, it is the best one I got with the camera on my phone while at the Pack Meeting. Do you think he has any idea how handsome he is? LOVE this guy!

This was fun--Nate was asked to play the part of the Chief in the Arrow of Light Ceremony for Chase. Again, the camera on the phone wasn't great, but here he is wearing the amazing headdress. Do you think THIS guy has any idea how handsome he is? LOVE him too!

These two pictures were taken at home a few days later, after we had received this beautiful award from the Primary. They displayed all of the awards he achieved as a Cub Scout on a banner attached to the Arrow of Light. Isn't it nice? Chase wanted the picture in which he has strung up the arrow on a bow to make it look like he is about to launch it. Cute!

Congratulations, Chaser Bug!

She Lost a Tooth!

Saturday, May 12, 2012. Daddy got out of bed and left the room to get the baby up. I was still groggy and coming out of my sleepy state, when I heard, through the baby monitor, my daughter's voice. She said, "Look, Daddy! I lost my tooth!"

And so it began. Our sweet Coco has joined the many millions before her to sell her pearly baby teeth to the Tooth Fairy, hoping to fetch the highest price for her homegrown treasure. And what was her reward for the years of effort, cultivating the bony growth in her mouth until the harvest? A shiny new quarter!

Something tells me she liked the profit margin she achieved, and this will not be the last sale of its kind that she will make. An entrepreneur is born! Now . . . with the holes in her mouth, the next question is: HOW WILL SHE EAT? Maybe those enterprising brothers of hers will be struck with a brilliant idea for a liquid diet for 5, 6, and 7 year-olds with gummy mandibles. Set up the bank account! Ka-Ching!

My Cuisine Dinner

Written by Courtney Merrill

My cuisine dinner was yummy and delicious! I chose Mexican food because I thought it would be good. We had tacos for the dinner, and we had pudding for dessert. Before dinner was ready, we played in the sprinklers! It was so fun! We even had chocolate milk for our drink! Yummy!

Chinese Cuisine Dinner

Written by Chase Merrill

For my international cuisine dinner, I chose Chinese food. I chose Chinese because I know it is good. I helped mom make noodles with chicken and Asian vegetables in a mandarin sauce. It was delicious! For a treat we had fortune cookies, even though I told mom several times that fortune cookies were Japanese, not Chinese. But whether it was Chinese or Japanese, it was still good.

Here is a picture of me and the food we made (with Trey in the Background).

My Busy Birthday

Written by Chase Merrill

My 11th birthday was a busy day. These are the things we did:

First, I opened presents. First, I got a letter from Hogwarts stating that I had been accepted for my first year there. It came along with a couple schoolbooks, candy, and a fake owl. The candy consisted of two chocolate frogs and two boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. From mom and dad, I got a book, whose name I cannot remember. They also gave me an enrollment in fencing lessons. From Avery, Courtney, and Trey, I got a Lego board game called Heroica: Waldurk. We played with that for about an hour after chores. (I had none, but Avery and Courtney did.)

After Trey's first nap, we went mini-golfing. I won. We didn't get any pictures of it.

After mini-golfing, we picked up food from Cafe Rio. We had it for lunch/dinner.

After lunch/dinner, we went to soccer practice. It was my last practice, so it was a scrimage against the parents. As you can see in the pictures below, dad played, but since mom had Trey she and Courtney just watched.

After all that, we had cake and ice cream. I chose to have a chocolate decadance cake. Avery and Courtney helped mom make it: Avery for a school project, and Courtney for fun. The ice cream was actually a rainbow sherbet. We only had one #1 candle, so instead we used eleven normal candles.

Here are some pictures of my birthday:

My International Cuisine

By Avery Merrill

Back in April, on the last Friday, we did something special for dinner! We are doing a few lessons on Geography, so Mom wanted us to make food from another country. I chose Venezuela, and so we researched Venezuelan food (what kinds of food they ate in Venezuela), then we chose beef with spices, cachapas, which are like corn pancakes, chips, salsa, and guacamole. I also helped prepare the food. When the time came, it was really good!

Here are some pictures of the delicious food we made: