Christmas in July

Yesterday was our 2nd annual "Moorehead Christmas in July Party" at our house.  Scott and I love to throw parties and this is our big shindig!  When we lived in Noblesville we always had a Christmas Party but with the busy Holiday season we decided now that we live in Marion we need a summer party instead, especially since we have a nice outdoor party house.  The weather man was predicting a record low for the day so we were a little bummed thinking people would have to wear sweatshirts and the pool wouldn't even get used.  Luckily he was wrong and it turned out to be a great day!  I cranked to pool up to 90 degrees so the kids were even able to enjoy that (and the adults late night!)  We want to thank all of our friends for coming and a big thanks to all the grandparents for taking the kids away so we could play too!!  Here are some pictures from the day activities; night time was fun but no need for those pictures on the family blog!!  

Marlee was happy to have so many friends to play with!  Mason was too.  He spent a good portion of the party in the pool with his buddies!

Wyatt was the last kid standing at the party and was ready to keep going when he was finally packed up (Swollen eye and all.... there were a few bumps and bruises in the kid department... oh, I think in the adult department too.... hehehehe)

Here is Mason and Cousin Anna on the jeep

Ace was loving the jeep too, dodging babies the whole way!

Preston got a little worn out as the day went on!

Meredith was showing us her biking skills!

Noah and Isabella were giving Ruby lots of lovin'!

Here's AJ giving Noah the tour!

The water bug of the day, Tyler!

His little bro Trevor kept the lawn looking nice!

Thanks so much Arden and Asa for bringing the Roller Coaster!  It was a hit with the little ones (and a few of the big ones later!)  Notice Ace underneath, Masons the one going down and Arden is supervising as usual!!!

Longest drive goes to Maggie who came all the way from Cincinnati to play with Marlee!  Thanks for coming Bakers, it was great to see you!

Here are Preston, Marlee and Brady.  Preston and Brady were born on the same day exactly 3 weeks before Marlee.  Won't these 3 be causing trouble next year!

There were quite a few more kids here; Stella, Norah and Ryan, Conner, Ashton, and Drew but with naps, packing the kids up and getting dinner set up I missed the photos of that group.  I'm thinking Tricia will have some good pics of them on her blog soon!

Me and my brother Jace, thanks for coming and making margaritas for us!

After the kids made their way home we played a round of kickball.  It was so much fun and sure to be a tradition we continue for years to come!  This was the winning team.

And here are the losers!  But we all had a blast!!

Thanks again for coming friends!!!  We love you!!!!!!!!

See you soon!

Happy 10 Month Mar Mar!

I really can't believe Marlee turned 10 months this past Saturday.... In a way  I am sad that the time has gone so fast, but don't mistake me, my family does stop here!  She is so much fun  now and into everything!  She is walking more, although not a "walker" just yet.  She does best when she takes off on her own.  She has added 2 more strong words to her vocab this month, "at" (for hat) and "ball" which are both her favorite toys at the moment!  She has also been busy this last week cutting 3 teeth!!!  Her top 2 and one on bottom next to the first 2.  What a week it has been!  Only one night awakening but not very good naps and a very snotty nose.  Poor baby girl!  Mason is getting a little more jealous as his baby sister is just so cute she is getting a lot more of the attention of our guests.  He does love her though as he proved yesterday:  I had just gotten home from my hair appointment and I had a couple high school girls here with Mason.  As I was talking to Brittany Marlee took a tumble and really bumped her head.  I grabbed her and walked around; Mason came running over to me and asked if Marlee was okay then looked at Brittany and asked, "What did you do to my baby sister?"  It was very protective and cute!  Here are some pictures of my big girl! 

Her fish face

Walking to Poppy!

Playing with Masons dinosaur collection while he is napping... shhhhhh!

Getting kisses from Poppy

Picking a pepper in the garden...

Playing her favorite game with her Bubba: hide in mommy's pretty curtains!  She laughs and laughs and laughs at this game and ends up getting all twirled in the curtains too!

Kissing her baby, one of her newest talents.. she gives kisses.  She has also learned how to suck through a straw and suck a lollipop!

Getting into her drawers

"Here mom, come join in the fun!"  

Oh that daddy really makes her laugh when she goes upside down and bounces high!

See you soon!  

4th of July....

We decided for the 4th this year we were going to take a family trip to downtown Indianapolis for a great weekend, something we have yet to attempt.  After what I feel like was 2 days of non-stop packing and organizing the car was stuffed and we were off for our great adventure.  Too bad the weather wanted no part of our plan....  as we were packing Friday morning my mom called with the grim news that Saturday was calling for thunderstorms all day.  We hurried and made a change of plans to go to the zoo Friday instead of Saturday.  The kids didn't nap in the car well but despite that still had a wonderful time at the zoo!  Mason loved the "desert" area and was very into the snakes and Marlee loved the train ride and the aquarium!  After our zoo experience we settled in at our downtown loft and then went on a stroll all over downtown.  The kids were so well behaved!  Marlee loves to people watch.  Then back to the loft where Marlee retired for the evening and PF Changs for dinner for myself, Scott and Mason (who now loves garlic noodles!)   Mason had a hard time sleeping so when we woke up to a gloomy day we decided on lunch and shoe shopping then packed up and headed home.  The fireworks actually were cancelled so we made the right choice.  Nona and Papaw came over for a 4th cook-in instead!!  It was still fun but a whole lot of work for 24 hours!

Here is Marlee and mommy on the train ride.  She bounced and laughed most of the way!

Daddy and Mason waiting for the train enjoying frozen lemonade!

Here is how we got around, I love this stroller!

Flashback for you... Here is Mason this year in the snake area.....

And just 1 year ago at his first trip to the zoo!!  I can't believe it!

See you soon!

Dads Rock!

Dads are so much fun!   Here's to all the dads out there, but a special salute to our dads and grandpa's that mean so much to us!

Here is My Grandpa, Mason and Marlee's Great "Grandpa J Merrill!"

You are so much fun to be with Grandpa J...  you are a great swing pusher and ball thrower!  Mason has so much fun with you!

Papaw Steve!!  Scott's #1 Dad, teacher, mentor, and golf partner!  Masons favorite pool player and ice cream eating partner!  Marlee's favorite rasberry blower!  We love having you around!

Daddy!!  The best husband and friend ever!  A great daddy who makes the best yummy meals, gives the best 4 wheeler rides, gives the highest tosses into the air, plays the best games like "chase" and "scare" and gives the best baths and showers ever!  

Daddy's can be silly.... 

But very sweet too!    This daddy is so much fun to wave and smile at and tosses baby girl just right into the air!

And Poppy, Masons "Favorite Friend" and my #1 DAD!!  You are so special to me and to our family.  You are such a good friend to me and absolutely there whenever I need you!  You are my handy man (Sorry Scottie--he's got  you there!)  and money saver (either because you can fix it and keep me from hiring someone, tell me before it gets to the point where I will need to hire someone, or tell me I have to stop shopping!)  Mason loves your little lunch dates or the trips to Taco Bell, the breakfast Saturdays or the trips to Selma to visit the cousins! He loves it when Poppy comes to play and looks forward to every adventure you go on!

Marlee loves her Poppy too, and is enjoying your silly faces and the fish faces too! 

Thanks Dads!!!!!  You Rock!!

Marlee's First steps!!!

She did it!!!  Marlee took her first steps June 18th!  Exactly one week after her 9 month birthday!  I had a video camera out that night and had Scott tape her but he was so shocked and excited when we watched the video the only thing you could see was Marlee's head! He was watching her and not the camera!  I caught this on my cell phone earlier today!  

See you soon!!

Happy 9 Month Marlee (and more)

Yep, she's already 9 months old!  Wow!  Marlee is such a joy and really becoming a social butterfly!  She loves to wave and when we recently were at the mall with my grandma she was relaxing with me and waving at everyone that walked by!   She really loves her "dada" now and excitingly waves at him and flashes a big goofy grin when she see's him!  She also loves whatever Mason has and quickly follows him where ever he goes!  She is a fast mover and loves to pull up and move around all the furniture, dogs, people... whatever she can!  She stood up from the floor by herself just the other day and is continuing to take a step here and there but no walking yet.  She loves to push her baby now in her stroller and really likes her sippy cup (but especially likes to find Masons with orange juice!)  She brings us so much joy!  She is a very happy baby, sleeps very well now and really likes to eat!  I have just started moving beyond cheerio's and have given her cut green beans and some banana.  She's not sure what to think of these new textures just yet!  She still loves to eat new foods through her mesh net contraption.  Her words are mama, dada, bubba, ni-ni (for night-night), ba-ba (bottle), and hi; she is trying to say dog which now sounds just like "da".  I hope  you can all see her soon because she is changing too darn fast!

Here is my pretty Mar Mar at the park.

And my future cheerleader in the barn!

We love you baby girl!

Memorial Day brings a new friend!

We had some friends over this past Memorial Day but most exciting was Marlee's new girl friend Irie that came to play.  Irie is my friend from PU Kesha's little baby girl who is just a month older than Marlee.  They had a lot of fun together and Kesh and I enjoyed taking pictures of them!

Here they are in the baby pool, Irie left, Marlee taking her hat back, right!

And in the sun...

And playing before bath time...  

And in the tub together.  Kesh and I decided next time this may be a little more fun, it got a little ugly in here after this picture!

We're so glad you came to play Irie, and we hope you can come again real soon!

Petting Zoo...

We took a fun afternoon trip to Gas City to check out their petting zoo.  While not very big it was a lot of fun.  They have lots of llamas and goats, deer, chickens, peacocks, ostrich's, and ducks!  We got to feed the animals and they were cute how they followed us around.  Then we went to the little park nearby and just had a great time!

Here are the kids and our new animal friends!

Silly boy and his pal the goat!

Reagan's 3rd Birthday!

Oh my gosh, Reagan is 3!!!  I can't believe we are already celebrating this event. It seems like yesterday Nat and I were pregnant!  How our lives have changes since those days!  We were all a little bummed the weather kept us from the splash park but we had fun just being together at the McDonald's Play-land anyways!  Tricia and I rode down with Mason and Stella only so we could manage better.  They had fun, Stella didn't know what to think with Mason in her car and not her brother or sister and Mason didn't think he "recognized" things (we were in the Shanks new suv!)  We had fun celebrating with Reagan!

Here is Stella enjoying that yummy cupcake-- a little messy though!

Mason and the birthday girl!

Nat and her 3 YEAR OLD!!!

Happy Birthday Miss Reagan!

PHISH...  Knoxville, TN

Scott and I have shared many, many memories together with the band, Phish, in our pre-baby days.  They broke up for awhile but this year they reunited and kicked off a new tour! We missed the first few shows because of our vacation to Atlantis but were finally able to catch up last night... and it was worth the wait!  We got an amazing show and boogied our booties off!  We love these guys and are so happy they are back, and better than ever!

Scott and I in the arena, this venue held nearly 26,000 Phans!

Trey and Mike getting their groove on!

Paige, Trey, Mike and Fishman

Encore Paige brought out the "keytar" for a nasty "Frankenstein!"

West Baden....  Mommy getaway!

Tricia and I went away the past weekend on a small roadtrip to Southern Indiana to the West Baden resort for some peaceful relaxation and spa time!  It was as wonderful or more wonderful than it sounds.  We walked into the dome and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, something neither of us have experienced in a very, very long time!!  We arrived on Friday and sat by the pool, then had a hot stone massage!  Then we had a nice dinner outside on top of one of the golf courses and overlooked the gorgeous hills of Southern Indiana where we watched a perfect sunset and then rocked under the full moon.   We of course found the local dive for night life and had a blast with our new friends!  Saturday was even more spa time and a walk to the stables, through the grounds and we enjoyed a carriage ride!  This was just a little of what we did, I need to stop because I know this is a long post.  We came home Sunday but really enjoyed our QUIET, relaxing weekend away!

The view of the atrium from our room!  Gorgeous-- this place does not feel like Indiana!

One of our friends who gave us a wild golf cart tour!!

Tricia and I at the Casino.  Since she turned 30 I have given her a hard time since I'm a year younger.  When we saw this sign we about flipped so the cops let us take it out and took our picture for us! HA!

Sorry to have kept you so long, but I think I have you up to date! 

See you soon!

Some recent photos!

Hi Everyone! It's been awhile since I've posted and I have a few events to share but first I thought I'd put some of our recent playing around pictures on.  This one is from a photo shoot I did with Marlee and our peonies!  They matched her little outfit perfectly!

Miss Marlee loves to stand at the windows and look out, the sun is always shining in so the quality of this picture isn't very good, but you can get the picture!

Here she is standing.  She gets more steady every day!

Mason and his Robots Buster and Super Fighter!  He loves these robots!

Mimi and Marlee at a visit to their house.  

Marlee getting ready for dinner with Nona and Papaw in her beautiful tiered dress Grandma Joan got her!

I am behind on posts so there will be more coming today!