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!