7 years + 17 years

Mercer turned 7! 

He does act a lot older sometimes, but he also still acts like he's a little boy sometimes.
















He asked to go to a nearby pizza restaurant on his actual birthday and then we went home / had cupcakes.

We had a bowling party for him to celebrate his big day.  It was a lot of fun!  And - definitely the way to go because the swanky bowling alley took care of everything!  Well... almost everything.  

Todd was in charge of keeping things going smoothly on the alleys while Rose Marie and I took turns chasing Isabella.  An active 2 year old at the bowling alley -- not too relaxing, but overall it was more relaxing than cleaning the house before and after a party PLUS chasing the 2 year old as well.  It was hard to get a good photo of her.  She was being a little stubborn and wouldn't smile.  Oh well.

Mercer's updated stats:  4', 3"  (93%).... 61.8 lbs (88%)

Todd & I rang in 17 years of marriage.   We went out to dinner and went for a scoop of ice cream at a trendy little craft ice cream shop.  Also - although a little cheesy - we rode the ferris wheel that's set up downtown.  (a night-time selfie to prove we were on the thing as seen in the background~)

Mercer has started baseball again.  The team name.... the Mets.  hmmm....

Isabella's tumble tots class has ended.  She knows that when she puts on her little blue leotard where she's going.  She pats her belly when she wears it and says "tumble."

She is at this REALLY great age.  She has been learning how to count, learning colors, and shapes.  Mercer grabbed onto this really quickly too when he moved up to the toddler room.  It is fascinating to watch.  But - it means that they seem more grown-up and a little less baby-ish.  (sniff sniff!)  A cute side effect of the toddler room, however, is her learning to sing songs such as the itsy-bitsy spider... baa baa black sheep... etc.  LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!

Mercer and I have been doing some mission / service things together lately.  At church, he's in a group called Mission Possible Kids.  One recent project had the kids making "inspiration rocks" and later - delivering them to residents of a nearby nursing home.    Tonight, he and I went to an event where (collectively) all of us made 25,000 meals to be shipped to a poor country to help counteract huger (location t.b.d.).  A little pack of vitamins and minerals went into each bag, a scoop full of protein, some freeze-dried vegetables, and some rice.    

Mercer and I also went to this venue that had some room vignettes set up depicting different stages in 3 children's lives.  The venue - called the Compassion Project - raises money to send children in developing countries to school.  Mercer asked about the rooms and wondered why they were so small / where the rest of the houses were.  I'm glad that we had the opportunity to talk about how the rooms were pretty much all that an entire family had -- something that was smaller than our kitchen... and that we are extremely fortunate to have all that we do.

Here is a sweet little photo (that I LOVE) of the kids.  Mercer was in the kitchen doing his homework.  Isabella came up to him and hugged him.  He hugged her back.  By the time I grabbed my camera, they had turned around.  I wanted to get the shot of them hugging without them knowing, but this one was cute too!