Merritt Memories

Another summer is gone. Another school year is here. The years just keep going faster and faster! This year all my kids are in school! I can't believe it! Grace is a junior. Kate is a sophomore. Rebecca is in jr high, 7th grade. And Britten started kindergarten. The girls were happy to start, but Britten sure beat their excitement. I was nervous how he'd adjust, but he got in the car and shouted, "Mom, it was great!" Here's to another school year! May it be better than last!

My son, Aaron, proposed to his girlfriend, Angel, on Monday, August 13th. He came home and didn't say a word to us! We got a text the next afternoon telling us that he was engaged...I was mad! Mad about the whole situation, yes. But more so that he chose to tell me through a text message. If you get engaged, you dang better tell your mother in person! My Aaron suffers silently from anxiety. As a child it manifested in forms of OCD. But once a teenager, it crippled him from speaking and interacting with others. He wouldn't talk to people unless they spoke first. And then it would be one word answers. He hated going into the cafeteria because it was too overwhelming for him. He only started his junior year because I basically threatened him. I know that doesn't sound very motherly, but sometimes we have to do hard things and what was I teaching him by allowing him to always run away. He went into the cafeteria and he found friends and never had an issue after that!  ...

It's taken my years to write a bucket list. I mostly live from day to day, so trying to think bout the future is often overwhelming for me. But I really wanted to have a list of "to dos" so I can do things that are important to me. When you're a wife and mother, it is really easy to make put your aspirations on the back burner. Now, not that my bucket list is full of aspirations, but they are things that I would like to accomplish. I haven't completed it, but I went from a list with 4 items, to 12! So I'm thinking! Learn to sew, learn the piano, read books, and going to Germany have always been on my list. I can sew a straight line, and I did make skirts for my daughters one year. I would just like to own a sewing machine so if I ever have free time, I can choose to sew something if I wanted to. I taught myself to play the piano when I was younger. We had a piano and I played the viola. the problem was that viola is alto clef, and piano treble. It...

This week Ryan got to start his 100 day countdown until he comes home. He's scheduled to return home on my birthday this year!! Talk about a birthday present! He made a shirt marking the occasion: We're all pretty excited about it! I can't believe 2 years have gone by! This week also marks the last little bit of summer. Summer always comes and goes so quickly. I really hate it. I wish we had more time and money to make each summer more memorable. But, really we do enjoy just being lazy, going to the library, hanging out in the front yard. Of course we watch TV and play video games too. I managed to get the girls out on Thursday to go to the park. Poor Britten doesn't get to do all the things my others did. He really enjoyed this park. He loved the swings. And do you know what they put at this park? A life size video game. The kids loved it!! We grabbed lunch after from Wendy's. Also a favorite! On Friday, Grace got to drive. ...