A Merrell Family Christmas 2013

     The holidays seemed to fly by here at the Merrell household.  Before we knew it, Christmas had come and gone, but the girls had a blast.  Alice enjoyed unwrapping her gifts, and Eleanor was more keen on just the wrapping itself.  Both kiddos made out like bandits.

To kick off the season, we went to visit Santa at the Home Depot.  (That is where he always hangs out, right?!)  Alice asked for a computer game and a new box of crayons.  Eleanor mostly just eyed him suspiciously...

 

 

 

 Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve.  Nana, Pops, Andrea, Kaizer, and "Uncle" Keith came over and we enjoyed some holiday snacks and a gift exchange. 

Here are the girls looking festive in their holiday dresses 

 

 

Eleanor loved the wrapping paper...and helping others unwrap their gifts...

 

Some cute shots of the cousins 

 

 

 

 

Daddy hanging out with his girls 

I enjoyed a good snuggle with my babies

 

 

Alice fell in love with her Barbie cash register

 

Eleanor enjoyed her "Uncle" Keith.  She is simply "mad" about this guy! 

 

Christmas morning highlights

 

The girls really enjoyed their gifts from Santa.  Alice was distraught about "Holly the Elf on the Shelf" leaving and heading back to the North Pole for the next year, but her new Leap Pad 2 took the edge off.

 

 

 

 

And then we opened more gifts... 

 

 

Eleanor enjoyed hearing her sister play the guitar! 

Later in the week we got to visit with cousin Kendall and enjoy some more gift opening.  These two are such a hoot when they get together!

Here we go, headed in to a new year.  Hard to believe 2014 is already on the cusp.  May we all enjoy many blessings in the upcoming year!



Catching Up- Some pictures from fall

     I have fallen victim to the chaos of the holidays and failed to update my blog for 2 months.  Here is my attempt to "catch up" with some of my favorite pictures from the season and the month of November...

 

 

Sisters playing in their jammies

 

 

 

A little fall foliage fun 

 

 

 

Eleanor's "funny face".  I love it!  She does this when prompted now... 

 

 

 

All bundled up.  I wonder how long I have to buy them matching apparel before they start complaining about it?! 

 

 

 

 

Alice learned to write her name!  She is so proud. 

 

 

 

 

The girls were intrigued by the fire Daddy built 

 

 

 

 

A family photo at Thanksgiving 

 

 

 

 

Here we go onward and upward to the Christmas holiday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eleanor walks to Alice

We took about 50 videos of Eleanor learning to walk in November, but this is my favorite.  These girls have my heart!

Halloween Fun 2013

We celebrated Halloween (and costume wearing) at several events this season.  To kick things off we hit the Annual Fall Party at our local library with a couple of super cute little leopards.

 

 

 

This picture is tiny, but it was taken by Amarillo Magazine.  We may eventually be big celebrities :-)

 

 

 

A couple of wildcats ready to go!  (Notice Eleanor's "legs" were so short that I had to add black tights to the ensemble.  I guess I should have planned for a rapid growth spurt when I bought the costume.)

 

 

 

 

Eleanor was enjoying her first sucker.  I am pretty sure she was going into a sugar coma by this time. 

 

 

Daddy and Alice making a pumpkin man craft.  I am not sure who was having more fun... 

 

 

 A couple of weekends later, we went to a couple of festivals at local churches.  Eleanor's original costume was way too small, so we had to begin improvising.  Here the girls were dressed as Rapunzel and a baby Princess.

 

 

 

 The day before Halloween Alice had a "costume day" and a party at school.  She was dressed and begging to go at 7 am.

 

 

For trunk-or-treat at a family friends church, the girls went dressed as Rapunzel and Baby Rapunzel. 

 

 

 

Lastly, for the grand finale of actual trick-or-treating, it was chilly and Alice was dressed as a leopard again.  Eleanor was going to be a jaguar, but wouldn't let me paint any whiskers on her face, so we made her a money bag and she went as a cat burglar. 

 

Eleanor's 1st Birthday Party

On October 25th, Eleanor turned one, and on Saturday we had a little birthday party for her.  She is growing so fast, and it is hard to believe she isn't our little baby anymore.  Here are a few details about our littlest princess as she celebrates this milestone:  She has a smile that will light up the room, and she thinks Big Sister is the most amazing person in the world.  She is not walking yet, but she has gotten brave enough to take a step or two before opting for a faster mode of transportation, her silly looking crab crawl.  She will eat anything, and meals are by far her favorite part of the day.  She loves listening and dancing to music and taking a nice bath.

 

The first birthday princess

 

A couple of family pictures we took before the birthday party

 

Eleanor with Daddy

 

Playing in the kitchen with cousin Kendall 

 

What a cutie 

 

 

Eleanor and Mimi 

 

 

 

 

Opening some of the birthday loot

 

 

A little help from sister Alice, the expert at gift opening 

 

A cuddle from cousin Drew 

 

The birthday table 

I am not so sure about this ridiculous hat...

 

 

Keep your eye on the prize 

 

The official cupcake tester

 

 

 Big sister taking a break on the trampoline

 

 

 

 A softball lesson from cousin Mitchell

 

 

 

Alice and Kendall having a little "big girl" play time