Time to catch up

So it has been a long time since the blog and has been updated, and a lot has happened. Steph's youngest brother Dan went on a mission to Las Vegas, Josh's youngest sister Caitlin graduated from high school, and Josh's brother Spencer got married! Needless to say, the last couple of weeks have been really busy. All this and in a couple more weeks and we will have a new addition to the family!
So if anyone saw a previous blog about Drew getting a toddler bed, here is one of the problems with his new-found freedom. In this instance he was supposed to be taking a nap. He must have decided that his clothes needed rearranging instead, because he pulled all of them out!

Like his daddy, Drew has taken a liking to basketball. Here he is in an intense match with his uncle Dan.

What can we say, the kid loves to dunk!

Elder Merrill, taking the traditional picture outside the MTC right before entering the MTC a couple of weeks ago.

The Merrill clan, Steph, Drew, Eric, Cindy, Dan, Dave, Jared, and Megan.

Steph had a work retreat to Boondocks Family Fun Center. They played mini golf, and she had the family come down to join into the fun.

A couple of Saturday's ago Drew went swimming with his friend Ella, her dad John, and Josh. Drew got all lathered up with sun block, enough to spike his hair!

Last week Drew and Josh went to Indiana for Josh's youngest sister Caitlin's graduation from high school. Here Drew is just chilling on his Nana's couch.

Drew with Caitlin at the open house at a park in Carmel Indiana.

Drew dancing with Josh's cousin Brian.

"Hanging Out" with Josh's cousin Greg.

Aunt Kinnie, Aunt Sandy, Greg, Nana, Drew, Josh, and Grama Voorhies after Caitlin's graduation.

Friday was Spencer's wedding to Britta. While waiting for Spencer and Britta to emerge from the temple we had some time to take some pictures. Here Drew is with his "uncles" Steve and Matt.

Ok so here is some bias, but he's gotta be the cutest kid around!

Drew is all business in his suit!

The new happy couple, Spencer and Britta Stapleton

Doing their best to pretend to like each other.

Spencer, Josh, and Caitlin.

At the wedding dinner at Buca di Beppo's Drew is stuffing his face with some bread.

Josh's sisters, Andra and Caitlin.

Lisa and Roger at the dinner.

Josh's cousin Nathan.

Josh's cousin Zach.

Roger, Andra, and Kevin at the open house in Salt Lake at Britta's sister's house.

Josh is hungry!!!

We were surprised at how many old friends from IL came by including Neal Pearson with his baby daughter.

Britta watching as Spencer sang to her.

Matt and Amber with their boys Treyden, and Chase.

Matt and Rachel.

Easter 2009

Andrew had quite the eventful Easter weekend. The day before Easter we went to Lindon Utah for a Merrill family Easter party. Unfortunately it was raining so we had an indoor Easter egg hunt. Drew being the youngest of the kids (not including some newborns) was able to go hunting first. He took advantage of the head start and found some good eggs (some had dollar bills in them!). For Easter Drew had a egg hunt in the back yard. He found all 27 eggs! He also got a rocker pony that plays sound as you rock on it. His friend Ella has one and he loves it, so it seemed like a good Easter gift.

The week before Easter we had Caitlin (Josh's sister) come spend her Spring Break with us. Hopefully she didn't get too bored hanging out with us.

Mister Big Boy

Since the last blog Drew learned how to thrust himself out of his crib. It is quite the fall and luckily he was fine, he didn't even cry. That said we decided it was time to convert his crib to a toddler bed. This has turned out to be quite an adventure. He loves the new freedom of being able to get in and out of his crib. He has tested this freedom at 2AM, 3AM, and other random times at night. He also now like to wake up around 6:30 every morning and run around. We have tried to combat this by closing his door in the morning, but he is content to read his books in his room. Also he has fallen out of the toddler bed a couple of times so we decided to pad the floor with thick blankets directly under the opening of the toddler bed. This has been an adventure for all parties involved, and I fear the adventure is really just beginning.

Your Baby Can Read

This is the reading set that we have for Andrew. Actually, the one I found a picture of is much more involved than what we have. We got the videos and a few of the word cards (the ones you see Andrew reading) in the set a year ago from Josh's mom for Christmas from Usborne at a decent price but I don't see that they are selling it anymore! So, I would recommend if you are interested in the videos, that you would do a search on Amazon or Ebay for the videos/cards that you may be able to get it for a better price. We have fun with it. I'm thinking about orders the 82 Double-sided Word Cards for Drew, because he seems to know many of the words on the cards that we have now! Leave a comment to let me know if you try it out with your kiddo(s)!

Family Home Evening Talent

Drew is starting to read. He watches a video every morning after breakfast called "Your Baby Can Read" and he is starting to reconize words on the flash cards that came with the videos.

Home Improvements

Josh has been in a home improvement mode trying to get the house ready for the baby, and that also means keeping Steph happy. With warm weather hopefully on the way Josh installed a ceiling fan in the master bedroom. Not being much a mister fix it, Josh was quite proud to have installed without breaking anything!

With the baby girl on the way we had to clear out the old office and turn it into a baby room. This meant some rearranging of furniture. In the process Drew gladly gave his dresser to the baby girl and in exchange Josh sanded and painted an old dresser for Drew. Notice if you will Drew requested it to be painted Chicago Bulls colors!

The baby girl's room is now completely painted. Josh painted the walls and Steph's co-worker Keri Carter painted the flowers and butterflies. She did an amazing job!

Our little Batman

I got a new camera for my birthday, so we have been taking pictures. The problem is that I have not blogged in so long, that I don't know where to start. Josh got Andrew these new PJ's the other day, cape and all. Batman is, according to Josh, the most invincible superhero there is, so he wanted Drew to have the opportunity to be like Batman. I think Josh had more fun with Drew running around in this outfit than anyone else in the house!
We've been working on getting the house ready for our new baby girl. It's coming up fast! I'll post pictures of the finished room when it's all complete. We're getting there, and for those of you on facebook, you have probably seen a "preview" of the room on Josh's page.
On another piece of news, Drew started to read last week. I'll get video soon to put on the page, but he has a few little flashcards that we use with him, and he knows a number of the words on the cards now. He loves to read, and with this new knowledge, I hope he continues to grow and learn and enjoy reading as he gets older!

It's A Girl

So if you haven't heard yet, we are having a girl! Steph is due in late June (28th) and we just found out this last week that we will soon have a baby girl. Josh has been teaching Drew that it will be his duty to look after her and protect her when they are old enough to go to school. We haven't picked a name out yet, but early favorites include: Sydney, Natalie, Elizabeth, and Juliette among others. Who knows what the name will be because we constantly change our minds. During the ultrasound she (unnamed baby girl) was moving around a lot, and appeared to be sucking her thumb. She also crossed her arms at one point, we don't know if she was praying or throwing up gang signs! Either way she is growing and healthy, so far so good!

Drew the Musician

Andrew has a love for music. In church he sways his head to the hymns (picture Ray Charles as a baby), and at home he loves the piano and he enjoyed drumming on Rock Band with his uncle Dan.

So since the last blog update we have learned that Drew loves to vacuum. He tries to take away the vacuum from us, so we give him the push vac to clean along side us. This keeps him quite entertained and he has on occasion used the push vac until the battery dies!