Picture Post #2

We took Mercy to the zoo in Tacoma last weekend while the weather was warm. She was taking a break from looking at animals. She loved the sandbox! It was her first time playing in one.
Taking a food break at the zoo. You can see the Sound out behind us. Such a beautiful place!

Munching her food and snuggling Daddy!

Stopping to give me one of her 'smiles'. She just loved the zoo!

Mercy was mesmerized by the underwater viewing areas of the zoo. She loved watching the fish swim by in the aquarium along with the sea otters, seals, and walruses.

We often take Mercy to the park in Eatonville. Her favorite thing to do is watch the 'big' kids run around. She'll scream when they scream, and try to run when they run. I can tell that she can't wait to be 'big'!

Here she is, watching those big kids go by! Doesn't she look wistful?

Her next favorite thing at the park is the slides. Whenever we tell her we're going to the park, she says, "weee slides!".

Sometimes she enjoys riding the rocking horses at the park too. Mostly she likes giving them kisses, rather than riding them :)

Picture Post

Mercy LOVES wearing her hair in pigtails, but she really loves hair bows and sparkly headbands. She asked to wear this one specifically!
Doesn't she look like she got caught doing something she shouldn't be? Ha!

This is the face she gives me now when I tell her to smile. I love it!

Mercy's Granny (Tyson's mom) came for a visit earlier this month.

Mercy had great fun playing with her Granny and the Lamb Chop puppet she brought!

Mercy and Granny playing with Mercy's kitchen.

Mercy and I were looking for the river otters that live in the pond at our local park.

Hanging out with her Daddy!

Mercy giving big kisses. So sweet!

Ready for church!

Before we take Mercy outside to play, we put these overalls over her clothes. It can get a little muddy here during the winter, and these keep her dry and clean!

Mercy loves playing outside. She always asks for "outside ball!".

Mercy and her daddy have fun together outside.

She even likes it when he throws the ball at her head!

Here are some long awaited pictures. I have a lot, so I may have to make this two posts!

Too long

I know, it has been too long since I've posted anything, especially more pictures of my Mercy girl. However, we have been busy, and I've been working on my graduate thesis. Despite that, I intend to update with some pictures soon. I have a whole smattering of pictures that I need to upload!

Late, Late Christmas Pics

This teddy bear was the first thing Mercy saw. She made a bee line for it!
We bought her a kitchen. It is great- it starts out at toddler height, and can pop up another level when she is preschool age. She automatically went for the phone, of course. She has been walking around with that phone to her ear ever since!

Exploring her new kitchen

Showing off her teddy bear

Opening a present (one of several)

Reading her new books

And the mess that was Christmas morning toys!

I know...I'm way late on posting our Christmas morning pictures. What can I say? I'm a procrastinator. These pictures are from our Christmas morning at home. A few days after Christmas we traveled to Idaho to celebrate Christmas with my family, and I have pictures of that, but they are on my other camera, and I'm too lazy to edit those pictures today :) So I'll post them sometime this week.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Mercy insisted on wearing this hat at lunch today. I wasn't about to stop her! I love it!
She cracks me up!

Mercy likes to 'touch' the ornaments on our tree.

She especially likes this ornament. It has a polar bear on top that she adores. I took it off the tree and now it's hers to play with (it is plastic, so no concerns about it breaking and cutting her!).

Another great pic of me and my sweet girl. Thanks, Tyson!

I love Christmas! I love the food, the music, the decorations, and the family time. This year is especially fun with Mercy. Last year she was only a few months old, so she wasn't too interested in anything. This year Mercy is excited by all of it! Everyday she says "Hi tee!" when she sees our Christmas tree. She walks around it and says "touch" as she gently touches, and yes- often grabs- the ornaments on the tree. I've tried giving her a taste of some of the holiday sweets I've been baking, but she doesn't seem to care for it much yet. I suppose that's a good thing! She loves dancing to Christmas carols and watching Christmas videos with us. Kids really do make the holidays so much more magical!

I feel like holiday shopping has kind of gotten away from me this year. I still have a bit of shopping to do this weekend. Eek! I had also hoped to do some crafts, but that too got pushed to the side a bit. Oh well. Next year I won't have graduate research keeping me busy on top of everything else!

The pictures are just a few from this week. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

What a great shot my dad got! I'm usually the one taking pictures, so I don't have a lot with Mercy. We were giving Eskimo kisses.
Grandma and Grandpa gave Mercy a few early Christmas gifts, including this rocking horse.

This princess chair is another early Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

Mercy's favorite Thanksgiving food was the cranberry sauce!

This is after we cleaned up the cranberry sauce!

Everyone took turns reading to Mercy before bed. That is such a precious time with her, and I know she loved snuggling with her grandma.

Grandpa was entertaining Mercy during her bath one night....she gets so animated and excited around him!

Mercy had a lot of fun hanging out with her Aunt Cia.

Mercy loves her grandparents!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at home. My parents and Tyson's sister came out to spend the weekend with us. We had a fun weekend and enjoyed the time spent with our family. Mercy was one spoiled girl all weekend. She always had the undivided attention of at least one person! She is blessed to have many people who love her. It was a great holiday that could have only been made better by having more of our family with us! Thanks to my dad for the pictures- I wasn't very good at remembering to take any this weekend!

Finally!

Mercy Lee is finally walking at 14 months! Yea! She stood up and started walking today while we were video skyping with my parents. I think she was just waiting to walk until she had grandma and grandpa there to cheer her on. Mercy squealed and chattered while she walked and was just as pleased as could be with herself! I'm so proud of my girl! I'll post new pictures soon :)