My Beautiful 3 Year Old!

 

 

It would be difficult to fully express the amount of joy and delight that Mercy brings to all of our lives.  She's just so stinkin' cute and sweet.  I mean, really, everything she does is adorable.  Okay, there are times when she's whining and crying that are less cute, but still.  :-)  Mercy very easily endears herself to anyone who visits us.  She's always asking anyone who seems available to read a book to her.  And she's very cuddly; she'll just snuggle up next to whoever is reading to her, vehemently sucking her thumb.  She is very loving and affectionate and will often run up to me and hug me and tell me how much she loves me.  Melts my heart, truly.  She loves to be girly, asking almost everyday if she can wear a dress.  I honestly don't know where she got that from, but she just really gets excited about wearing dresses.  And she'll let me fix her hair, which I just love to do.  Her hair is really fine, though, and seems to fall out of whatever hairstyle I put it in.  Any pictures you see of her with it her hair looking super cute is probably because I took the picture right after I fixed it.  With all of her girliness, she can at times seem like a walking contradiction because she handles those brothers with a finesse that only a little sister with 3 big brothers can.  She can turn on some drama when she wants to, but she is not a wimp by any stretch of the imagination.  Since getting knocked over and mildly hurt is a regular occurrence for her, she rolls with it quite easily.  Others often comment to me about how well she deals with her brothers who often get all up in her face.  She's extremely easy-going.  And she really enjoys playing with them.  Without fear, she will jump right in the middle of them and try to do whatever it is they are doing.  If they're playing Ninjago, she is Nya, one of the ninja sisters who is a samurai.  If they're playing Star Wars, she is Princess Leia.  How many 3 year old girls do you know who go around humming The Imperial March?  Mercy does!  Having and enjoying three big brothers is pretty obvious.  More than anyone, she loves to play with Micah.  I mentioned this in the post about Micah, but I just love to see the two of them becoming such good friends.  They amuse each other like no one else can.  This past year it's been really helpful to me that Micah would keep Mercy occupied when I was doing school with her brothers.  Now I'm just glad they get along so well.  :-)  She can be pretty silly with them, letting her brothers dress her up with blankets, coats, hats, their clothes, and a new favorite, Joshua's glasses.  It's so fun to see her being silly with them!  As Mercy is getting bigger, she is becoming more and more helpful.  She'll come in the kitchen with me when I'm cooking and stand on her stool and try to "help" me.  Sometimes she's really helpful, other times, I try to find things that will allow her to be helpful, like setting the table.  She really likes to "help" our house helper wash the dishes also.  Our helper is so patient with her and just adores her.  Of course, Mercy often just hangs around the kitchen hoping she'll get an extra snack because... my girl can eat.  Seriously, she is not picky about her food and sometimes can eat more than her brothers at a meal.  Everyone is always amazed how well she eats.  I remember being quite a picky eater when I was a kid, so I'm glad that at least so far she's not taken after me in that regard.  Since she's so active playing with her brothers and seems to run just about everywhere she wants to go, you certainly can't tell that she's such a big eater.  Recently Mercy has really started getting into watching "her" movies, which is basically any one of the many pre-school DVD's that we have.  Since the boys don't really want to watch any of them anymore, they're all referred to as "Mercy's movies" now.  I'm still always amazed how much the kids can learn from watching Sesame Street and Little Einsteins, etc.  Mercy has learned her ABC's and will gladly sing them for you.  She enjoys singing with gusto,  whatever the song is.  After our church meetings on Sundays, you might hear her singing one of the songs from that morning.  One of her current favorites is Chris Tomlin's Thank You, God, for Saving Me.  She also really likes Onward Christian Soldiers.  :-)  It's so sweet to hear her sing.  I sing and pray with her before her afternoon nap and before she goes to sleep each night. Our Mercy is a joy to each one of us in so many ways.  We're so thankful for our sweet, beautiful, silly, helpful, fun cutie!

This year Mercy's 3rd birthday was quite exciting for her because it's the first time the college students we had for the summer were still here to celebrate with her.  The past 2 years they would have already left by July 19th.  All summer she just kept talking about how the "summer friends" would be there for her birthday.  It was a big deal for her.  Her party theme was butterflies, so we had them everywhere.  Her cake was decorated again by the "summer friends", and she loved it.  Here are some pictures from her big day with a few extras of Mercy for good measure.  :-)  Enjoy!

Borrowing meal ideas from all her brothers, Mercy requested birthday doughnuts that morning, breakfast burritos for lunch, and fried rice for supper.  I did not complain because they're all simple meals to prepare.  :-)

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for the great Minnie Mouse backpack!  Mercy loves anything with Minnie Mouse.

Mercy enjoys "riding on Dad's head" whenever he'll let her.

The summer friends gave her the Minnie Mouse umbrella and Mom and Dad gave her the new butterfly dress.

The summer friends did a great job on the butterfly cake!

Grandmother and Grandfather always make sure Mercy has a Red Sox shirt to fit our growing girl. 

 In celebration of Micah and Mercy's birthday, we took the kids to a local swimming pool. So much fun!
 

I just think this is such a sweet picture. 

This is Joshua's shirt and shorts. 

And this is Joshua's swimsuit.  She's almost always willing to do silly things to get a laugh out of her brothers.

Her Princess Leia look.  One of those times we had to snap the picture quickly before her hair came undone.  Notice the pink light saber, a prized possession.

Another of her favorite dresses.  We love our pretty girl!  Happy Birthday, Mercy!