St. George Island

We got home last week from our beach trip to St. George Island. This was our 19th summer going. My dad's mom takes all of the family every year and we always stay in the same house! It is such a fun week to just be with family. There is nothing to do on the island, except for a few restaurants and a couple of gift shops; therefore, we just stay at our house all week and hang out on the beach all day long! Last summer, I took Landon and it was fun, but he didn't get to enjoy the beach part of it! (He was only 3 months old!) This year he had sooo much fun! He absolutely loved the sand and the water. We brought our hose from home and ran it all the way down to the beach so that he could have some fresh water and something to play with...you'll see plenty of the hose below! ;) Amanda and Adalyn were able to fly in for the last 4 days, so it was fun to have them there this year!

The week flew by way too fast, but we really enjoyed being with everyone!

Here are some pictures from the week! Hope you enjoy!

Landon doing his first coloring! Had to keep him occupied somehow!

Check out that beach view! ;) His best friend on the beach...The Hose!!

Working really hard to keep all his shells in the bucket!
He loved this box and that spoon!
I know you can't see us very well, but me, Landon, Amanda, Ben and Addy out in the ocean!
Soo sweet! Relaxing on the beach together!
Doing her face! If you did this face to her, she would do it right back to you! I think he must have been hungry or something!
Such a handsome man! He loved this drawer...and he loved more than anything to stand in it....thankfully it didn't break
"Where did it go?" Laughing on the porch!
There it is again!
Sharing their food Almost all the cousins...missing one this year! Can you find me?? hahaha
This is the height line up...next year all the Merritt's will be right next to each other! :)
The additions to the family...Amanda, Landon, and Addy

3rd times a charm!!

So I still have not heard back from Pine Street!! :/ I emailed the assisstant principal yesterday and I am still waiting to hear back from her. I had an interview on Monday at a private daycare here locally to be the pre-k teacher. The ladies were all super sweet and it seemed to be a decent place and the interview went pretty good. BUT, the pay is not good at all and the hours would be LONG and I would still have to pay for childcare for Landon even though he would be with me. I would get a slightly reduced rate, but what I would get paid, I just don't think would be worth it.

I do however have another interview tomorrow morning at 7:15 (ahhh!) at Barksdale Elementary to be the Pre-K teacher! I am super excited about this because Barksdale was actually one of my top choices to work at. It would be super close and super nice to be at. They have been waiting on approval for their Pre-K program and just got approved to start it next year! So I am hopeful that I will still either hear from Pine Street about 5th grade or that something will come from Barksdale. Man, what a difference in age....one week I'm thinking 5th and the next I'm thinking 4 year olds. My head is spinning trying to keep all my thoughts organized for these principals and what age I'm even talking about!! :) So please continue to pray that I get some kind of offer from some school. It might not even be either of these schools that I am interviewing with, but that I would be at the school that God feels I can make the biggest impact on!! I'm hoping that the 3rd times a charm!!

Thank you all for continuing to pray and think about me! If any of you happen to be up oh so early and you think about it, just say a quickie for me!! I'll let you know how it goes!

New Discoveries

So we are learning all kind of new things around here now!! Landon is the biggest investigator ever and he is in to EVERYTHING!! He is obsessed with going outside and just stands by the door and cries to go out. He also loves the vacuum and loves to lay it down and just play with the different gadgets on it.
The newest thing I have been wanting him to learn is how to drink out of a straw, eat of a plate without chunking the plate across the room, and try to use a fork. We have finally accomplished one of those which is drinking out of a straw. There have been several times where we have gone to a restaurant and I have forgotten his cup and it is so difficult to get any liquid down him since he couldn't drink out of a straw. I had been trying different times to show him how to do it while we were out, but he was more interested in eating the straw and playing in the cup of water than drinking it. While Landon and I were out to eat with Sara L. last night, I once again forgot his cup and by the end of the meal he was so thirsty. So we tried and it didn't work. Darn!!
We went by Jim n Nicks for dessert because Sara had never had their chocolate pie and was in dire need of some eye candy, so she decided that would be it for the night!! Well while we were there, Landon really had had enough of the high chair for the night and we were just trying to entertain him. I just thought I would practice once again with the straw and guess what...he did it!! It caught him so off guard that something came out of there and then he got the hang of it!!It seemed so super easy, but I guess it just took him practicing some and then he discovered that there really is something to come out of there!!

Here is is below this morning practicing yet again with his cup and straw!

We are still working on not turning it up when he drinks it though...he hasn't quite figured that out yet!

I have also been wanting him to at least practice using a fork for some easy to pick up foods. We have been working on it, and he knows he is supposed to use it, but we are still mastering how to actually get it on there and it stay on there all the way to his mouth! :) He is a hard worker trying to get his waffle on the fork!

He just decided to give up and realized that it is a lot easier to just pick it up with his hands! And the whole plate thing....that is a different story. The minute it is empty it is either on his head or thrown across the floor. I am still working with him to ask for more, via the sign language that he finally has mastered, and to keep his plate on his tray. He just thinks I am funny and that I am speaking a different language!! :)

And this is the other cute thing he is doing...he loves to crawl in to the dryer while we are folding laundry. Of course the will close the door on him if we would let him so someone has to make sure they are holding the door down so he doesn't.

And he's in...he just likes to get in and out and look at the light in the background!

This is just a picture that Leslie took of me and Landon while we were over at their house the other night. I seriously don't think I have a picture with Landon since he has gotten older where he is smiling. He is always too busy to take a picture so when she snatched this one, I was super excited! Just thought I would share a couple of pair of dimples with you! ;)