halloween sneak peek

A full post will follow shortly about all of our Halloween fun, but for now, here is a sneak peak at...

...Merit the Gnome.

 

what do my friend amy stroup, her music, and national television all have in common?

I have known Amy since high school. We were in the youth group together in Abilene, and now we live in the same town once again. She is seriously one of the most talented people I know. Kevan and I have talked multiple times about how she is one of the hardest working artists in Nashville, and because of this, I was not surprised one bit to hear that one of her songs will be featured tonight in an episode of ABC's Brothers and Sisters.

Her song, "Hold onto Hope, Love" is one of my favorites. The first time I heard it, I had taken my friend Heather to see Amy play here at a local venue. As soon as the song was over, I turned to Heather and said, "That song could be on Grey's Anatomy or something." I predicted the wrong TV show, but the fact that my prediction is coming true in some way is not shocking at all. It was only a matter of time for Amy. Be sure to tune in tonight to hear her song, and then sit back and watch her career take off! Another prediction that I am sure to be right about.

SO HAPPY FOR YOU, STROUP!!

Buy the song (or all of her music!) on iTunes

Amy's website

pony tails and "noshes"

Merit's hair is now long enough for a pony tail. It makes her look like a big girl. A very cute big girl.

In other news, Merit loves her a good nose. She thinks it is very fun to point to her own nose, to mine, to yours, to any noses that might be around. And while she points, she says the cutest little "noshe".

Recently, I noticed a trend in one of her coloring books...

Apparently, "noshes" are fun to color, too!

a much needed weekend away

A couple of weekends ago, we got to go with Kevan's family to a cabin on a lake about an hour outside of Knoxville, TN. It was beautiful and relaxing and fun and wonderful.

the view from the back deck

One of the reasons for going was so that Kevan and his brother Tanner could go to a UT game on Saturday (not THE UT, but the University of Tennessee whose orange isn't as pretty as THE UT). Kevan's dad, Steve, was given two tickets, and he was so nice to stay back at the cabin and let his sons go!

Meanwhile, while the boys were at the game, Steve decided to go down and check out the marina. He stopped at this little market on the way, and while he was there, it was robbed! There ended up being 4 people involved, but there were 2 in the store, one of whom had a shotgun. He had Steve hold the pillowcase that the clerk was stuffing the money into. It was completely scary, but we were all so glad that Steve was okay!! We ended up finding out before we left that they had caught 3 of the 4 people involved, and that they would most likely be facing 25 years in prison because a weapon was involved. Kevan's mom, Janice, documented the scene of the crime.

Merit spent 4 solid days walking or running. I loved watching her pace the floors of the cabin, run up and down the porch, and explore the front yard--all things she doesn't really get to do in our little apartment.

 

 

 

She also loved hanging with Grammie, Popsy, and Uncle Tanner!

 

on the way home... MerMer packed in the back seat

Thank you so much to the Albrights for making this trip happen! It was a great one indeed.

(You know, minus the whole robbery thing.)

once again, i'm behind

It is too overwhelming to try to catch up from August, so let's review the past few days, shall we? Thursday night we hung out with our dear friends, the Harrisons. Aren't their girls BEAUTIFUL??

Merit and Ava in the toy box

Audrey and Merit

On our way to the Harrisons that night, my brother and sister-in-law, Matt and Nikki, called to ask if it was cool if they came to visit THE NEXT DAY! I was so excited! We had tons of fun, even though their impromptu visit was much too short. Merit LOVED having them here. They were in Nashville for about 24 hours, and pretty much if Merit was awake, she was in Nikki's lap. She cried and cried when we dropped them off at the airport. Matt and Nikki, I cried on the inside. :) We all miss them already!

 

 

Now some pics for Nina and Grammie...

Merit is obsessed with dressing up and putting things around her neck...and on her head...and on her feet. Whatever it may be, she always walks around the living room kind of slowly with a smile on her face, proud of her new outfit.

Kev's boxers. ha!

She also loves to have "soos" on. She brings them to us and says, "pease?" Nina got these cute Mary Janes for her! Don't they look lovely with her pj's?

Daddy/Daughter Date Day - Kev took her to the zoo last week.

This is just a cute pic I took before they left...

This morning, Merit was being really quiet, and I found her emptying my "junk drawer" in the bathroom.

This afternoon we bought Merit a pink potty. She was so proud of it!

 

Then, tonight before her bath, I put her on it to see what she would do, and she actually went! I know it was most likely just good timing, but I got so excited, which made her super excited. My camera battery died after I took the picture below or I would have gotten some video of what followed. She ran as fast as she could around the apartment, screaming and laughing. Then, she came back into the bathroom and kept looking in her potty, clapping her hands and saying, "Yay!" over and over. It was so cute! And I was so proud.

(You can see her smiling beneath her paci...)

So, there ya have it. More pics from this weekend than I've posted in the last 2 months. Maybe I'll keep this up?

Yeah, probably not.