2nd quarter 2010

Well it appears that I am keeping true to my word and only blogging once a quarter now...hoping that this will change but for now I suppose I need to recap for the past three months. I think we were up to Merrin's birthday which was the beginning of April so let's see, since then Keith has finished up yet another busy tax season, we have made several trips to the beach (three different beaches I might add), finished up Merrin's second year of preschool, completed two Kindermusic sessions, taught Vacation Bible School and started dance classes for the very first time. It has been a busy but wonderful past three months! In April, Keith finished up tax season and we immediately headed to Oak Island for a week long celebration.
We mainly spent our time doing a whole lot of NOTHING as it was a little too chilly for extended beach visits but we did manage to build some very educational volcanos while we were there!
It was also our first beach visit since Elliott had become mobile and we did learn a few things, first, Elliott has NO fear when it comes to the ocean and second, its not a lot of fun on the beach with Elliott!! While Keith was playing golf one day I decided to take the kids to the beach which turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought. Merrin wanted to stay as far away from the water as possible while Elliott would not stay out of the water so needless to say, we did not stay out very long. I truly believe Elliott would keep walking out into the ocean until someone saves him. After returning home from the beach we continued our Kindermusic classes which Merrin and Elliott both loved. We did two back to back sessions, one in April and a second in May. We are still listening to the CD's from both sessions every time we get in the car (mommy misses her music!!). In May, Merrin finished up her second year of preschool and it was bittersweet. Merrin had a great year and it was sad saying goodbye to her wonderful teachers and friends. Most of them we will see next year but a few will be moving on to different days or different schools all together. Merrin is still unaware that her very best friend who she still talks about, Kaitlyn, will not be in her class next year. At the end of the year the teachers made a scrapbook of the entire year for each child and gave it to the parents. I literally cried when I saw it for the first time. It is such a special book and something I'm going to treasure for a long time. I can just envision Merrin looking through it one day when she is older. We also did some strawberry pickin' in May and had the best time doing it. It was our first time picking strawberries but I have a feeling it won't be our last. Merrin really enjoyed it and talks about going pack (just like she talks about the pumpkin patch frequently). Elliott had a ball and ate his weight in berries!!

In June, we went to Hilton Head for the Jimison's (my family's) annual beach trip. We spent the week out on the beach, in the pool and riding bikes. Merrin & Elliott had the best time with their cousins and it was good to all be together as a family.. We also celebrated cousin Noah's 7th birthday in June via pool party which was another good excuse for Merrin & Elliott to see their east coast cousins. Also in June Merrin started dance lessons for the very first time and so far is really enjoying it. Some weeks she is more excited about going than others but says she wants to continue in the fall so we'll see. Our YMCA does a mini 8 week session in the summer but if you do the fall semester there is a recital at the end before Christmas, so cute!! Recently we were at Cherry Grove beach to celebrate the 4th but I'll talk about that in a later post...as it is offically part of the third quarter, HA! All in all we have finished up the first half of 2010 feeling extremely blessed and fortunate. I am continued to be amazed at the blessings God had given us and am trying to grow closer to Him daily. During Merrin's school year a group of young moms at our church came together for a Bible study and I am looking forward to another one starting back up in the fall. Right now I am in the middle of reading "The Shack" but am having a hard time wanting to finish it...definitely pulls on the heart strings!! That's all for now!

1st quarter 2010

Well obviously my last goal of blogging every day in December was a complete joke so maybe I should try blogging once a quarter! All I can say about the first quarter of 2010 for the Gunter family is that we have survived!! Tax season is almost over and we can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. It has been a busy start to the year but then again I guess it always is with a tax accountant in the family.
While Keith has been busy with work, I've been busy with Merrin and Elliott. We celebrated Elliott's first birthday in February and watched him sprint into toddler-hood. He is a ball of energy and SUPER mobile. He started walking a few weeks before his birthday and has not slowed down since. He is practically running now and LOVES to climb which is something Merrin never did. Elliott's favorite place to climb into is the garden tub in our master bath. He will find a toy and then crawl into the tub to play with it and when he is all done he will climb out. Today I found him in the water table, I turned around for a second and he climbed up on top of it and sat down...I guess he thought it was a swimming pool just his size! He also loves to put random things in places they don't belong, like his tools in the kitchen cabinets or Merrin's shoes in her toy kitchen and today when I started the dryer I heard an loud bang so I opened the dryer door and found one of his trucks inside. He is a mess but still melts my heart every time I see him. He is my sweetheart and LOVES to snuggle and is EXTREMELY ticklish so I tickle him every day just to hear him giggle. He has learned to tickle us now as well and loves to try and tickle Merrin's feet (which she hates by the way)! He had his first haircut in January and this past week was his first introduction to the buzzers/clippers which he thought were funny. Elliott thinks LOTS of things are funny, especially his sister, he laughs at her daily!
We celebrated Miss Merrin's birthday this past weekend and she is now the very big three year old! Merrin is my ultimate girly girl. She HATES to have a drop of water on her clothes or the least little bit of dirt in her toes! My girlfriends who have boys don't quite know what to think of her. She definitely brings the "drama" to the table but what girl doesn't? Merrin is my sensitive child which I can't blame her for, she does have ME as her mama! Merrin is my sweetpea though and LOVES to help whenever she can. She especially likes to help in the kitchen and there are very few times that I can be stirring food in a bowl without her wanting to stir it too. Merrin LOVES going to "school" at our church and asks to go almost every day. She also has become recently obsessed with anything "Disney Princess" ever since Santa Clause gave her Snow White for Christmas. Since then we have added Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty to our collection and she loves them all. Merrin will soon start her Kindermusic classes and she is super excited about them as she remembers them from last year. It will be more fun this year since Elliott will be able to participate considering last year he slept through them all in the baby bjorn. We are also planning on doing a short ballet camp this summer which I know Merrin will love. She already has the leotards and shoes which were handed down from a friend at church. Merrin LOVES to dress up and dance around the house. All in all Merrin is moving right along and definitely entering the "threes" as her need to show her independence is really coming out. I'm learning how to let go a bit and she is teaching me patience (a daily struggle of course)!
I hope to pick back up the blogging as I've really missed it. I look back at some of my early posts when I first started blogging and can't believe how much Merrin has grown. I really want to keep this up as a "scrapbook" if nothing else. Hopefully I'll hold myself accountable and will post again soon!