Mini-Vacation

Back at the end of July we took a little mini-vacation where we stayed in a hotel on the other side of our city. The hotel had indoor and outdoor pools, a beach sand area, an outdoor playground, a terrific fitness center, several surrounding yummy restaurants, and a foreign goods grocery store. We got sleeping bags for the 3 boys, which was a treat in and of itself, and all camped out in the same room for 3 nights. We went swimming every day, watched Animal Kingdom in English on t.v. and played UNO several times while at the hotel. Daddy got to work out every morning and get a nice foot massage, and I got to get my hair cut finally. We also found a nearby fun place for the boys, and Daddy and I took turns getting lots of rest during the younger one's nap times. It really was a lot of fun for our family, and we'd choose to do it again. Daddy says the best part was that when it was over we rode in a car 45 minutes to our home instead of spending the day flying back from another country. We were unpacked by that night. It was a great 4 days! Here are some pictures for you...

Whew!

Well, we made it through the birthday season. Daddy's birthday was last Saturday (Aug. 6th), wrapping up the 5 family birthday streak within a 3 month span. Things should be a little calmer around here with no cakes or decorations needed for a long time. I'm the odd-man-out with a December birthday, but I don't mind having lots of time in between the busy birthday season and my own celebration. Daddy's birthday was a little bit of a let down to the boys since they expected lots of guests, a trip to the fun place, and lots of presents to unwrap. Daddy, however, greatly enjoyed a nice leisurely day at home with his family and all his favorite foods to eat. We did decorate for the occasion and ended the celebration with an incredible chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for dessert. His gift from us was 2 days of solitude, which he spent in a nearby hotel - all to himself. He was able to spend some much needed alone time, and we survived here at home. We spent some time one day painting. I was trying to squeeze in things that we don't normally take the time to do. We will begin home school August 22nd, so the time is running short!

Mercy Joy turned 1!

My beautiful girl is already 1 year old. I can't believe she's been with us for a whole year now, and yet it's hard to remember life without her in our family. Mercy truly is a joy to us all. Her birthday was July 19th, and she is well on her way to not being a baby anymore. I keep telling her to stop growing up, but she's not listening to me. :-) Mercy is babbling a lot, trying to formulate words in her own way. She can say the important ones like mama, dada, and ge ge (older brother in the language here). Her smile lights up any room and everyone can't wait to see her every morning when she gets up. The feeling is mutual as she is delighted every morning to see her brothers. She gets very excited and happy (kicking her legs, waving her arms, and giggling) every time they come running to her room. She enjoys playing with brothers (especially playing with their toys!), "helping" them with their puzzles, and being pushed around on her new riding pony.

Mercy's not walking yet, but it won't be long now. Her mobility began with the salamander/army crawl and has progressed to normal hands and knees crawling. She will start crawling to get where she wants to go, but when she sees something she really wants she gets down on her tummy and she shoots off super fast! She's pulling up on everything, and if there is something nearby to reach for, she will take a few steps while holding on to something. She's pretty confident in getting up and down and has even climbed up on the couch while pulling up on my leg. She loves to point to people and has recently started blowing kisses when she's being extra sweet. She has learned a few signs to communicate with us, which is really helpful particularly at meal time. She is still sucking her thumb(s), but only when she's really sleepy. She prefers the right thumb, but will take the left thumb if it's more accessible at any given time. Because she's much more squirmy and mobile now, her snuggles are short-lived, but I take whatever she's willing to give me. We have all SO enjoyed having a little girl around, but maybe I've enjoyed her the most. A friend of ours mentioned to us that she totally rocks the bow, and she does it well. With all these boys around here we want her to be a girly-girl for sure. She handles their tough love quite well and will probably be quite the handful herself. We all love her so much, and we're so glad God blessed our family with our little Mercy girl!


We kind of celebrated Mercy's birthday twice since our summer friends left the day before her birthday. Her actual birthday was on Tuesday, but we did the cake on Sunday so the friends could celebrate with us. We had strawberry cake with strawberry icing so that everything would be pink (remember the girly-girl stuff here). I made two cupcakes for Mercy, one for Sunday and one for Tuesday. She wasn't too keen on the cake the first time, but on her birthday she tore it up. Well, she tore it up literally on Sunday, too, but on Tuesday she actually ate it. Check out the fun cake pictures...


Yes, we took the kids back to the fun place for Mercy's birthday, too. Usually Mercy takes a nap in the stroller, but this time she actually got to go in and play! Here are some pictures of her enjoying the fun place...

We found a Nathan's Famous restaurant in the mall and had awesome hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch that day. Mercy actually had some yummy jars of baby food, but we all enjoyed our meal out. This is Mercy in the restaurant with the New York skyline behind her. :-)

We had a great day celebrating our baby girl. Who knew having a little girl around would be so much fun for us all?! Thank you, God, for giving her to us. We love our sweet Mercy!