Books, books, books

I LOVE the library and I am thrilled that my boys have followed in my affection. The library is one of our favorite places to go and the boys always find the best books. Both of them know where to go and on which shelves their favorite books and authors are located. Spud has a tendency to check the same book out over and over and there is no deterring him since he knows where it is located.

Once they have their books we always have to plop down on the bean bags and read before we can check anything out. Often I begin a book with my audience of two but finish the book with a larger audience...random children always end up sitting with us and joining in. One day an 8 year old girl asked to come home with us because no one at her house has ever read to her... that is child abuse in my mind and I did contemplate letting her come home with us!

Books come out of their back packs and are devoured on the way home.

If I was a better blogger I would include all of the book titles that we are currently reading and a description of each, like our own little Mercer Book Review...I will work on that.

I found this photo on another blog and absolutely fell in love with the idea of it... I guarantee that at least one wall in our next home will look like this! What a great way to incorporate a love of books (and reading!) into a home.

Or this idea I saw in a book (Design*Sponge at Home) and on the website http://frugalandthriving.com.au/2011/upcycled-pallet-roundupideas-for-transforming-old-pallets/

 

Firemen in the Hood!

We hear a lot of sirens in this house. Between the "Day in the Life of a Fire Station" videos that we rent from the library and the collection of trucks that all make noise we hear sirens ALL DAY LONG! So, it was not surprising that when we heard sirens during dinner Tuesday night not one of us reacted, we just kept on eating, until it dawned on us"Mmmmm those are rather loud.... and rather close.... and the boys are sitting here with us..." Turns out there was a fire in our neighbors back yard! 30 foot flames!!! There is an empty space between our neighborhood and the one behind and the fire started in there and quickly consumed the fences between the houses. Needless to say we jumped up and ran over and the boys got to watch Bluffton Township Fire Department do what it does best...and it was better than ANY video from the library!!

I LOVE this photo!!

If you look close you can see them working....

Pnut insisted on going home and getting his fire suit and helmet on at this point. He was tired of just watching and wanted to get in on the action!!

The Captain was awesome...when he saw Pnut in his suit he immediately said "We need to put you to work! Here, get in!" Pnut got to sit in the truck and the Captain showed him the computer with the GPS mapping program with all of the fire hydrants marked in all of the neighborhoods. He let him press the buttons for the siren and the horn. Pnut impressed him when he picked up a face mask and the Captain said "Thats the mask that attaches to my air tank" and Pnut asked "I thought it was called an SCBA...why do you call them air tanks?" The Captain looked at me with a shocked look! LOL! I replied "All 4 year olds know what SCBA's are, right? I wasn't kidding when I said he was a fire groupie!!"

We loitered long enough that the crew had completely put the fire out and began their equipment cleanup. Pnut was in AWE! One of the guys stopped to let him hold the nozzle and even explained how their special thermal camera helps them put the fires out. SO COOL!!

Great job Bluffton Fire Department!!!

Escape to Edisto!

Out if the blue last week we decided to escape to one of my favorite places in SC...EDISTO BEACH!
(I was in need of a little soul refreshing and my husband was wise enough to realize it and make the brilliant suggestion "Why don't we go camping for a few days? How does Edisto State Park sound? We can fit two nights there into our budget this month." LOVE HIM!!!!)

We checked the weather and decided that the camper may be a warmer choice compared to our tent. 50 degree days and nights in the 30's BRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrr!!  Yep, definitely the camper! And despite harrassing others in the past about their use of plug in heaters while camping I think I suggested that we make one more budget exception and invest in a $13 portable heater from Wally World (TOTALLY WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!!!!) Still, a cold day on the beach with my boys is better than a day spent doing most anything else!!

Campsite #9 right on the beach!!

Not our usual beach attire!

"One Beachy Mother" and her awesome husband!!

We set up camp and then immediately headed out to the beach. I was a little disappointed with the shells this time of year...the quantity was still there but the quality was lacking. I guess all of the winter storms and rough seas had crushed them so there were still lots of shells, they were just all in pieces. I still got lost in shell hunting which left the boys free to fish and practice riding their bikes. Pnut practiced riding his bike without training wheels, eventually mastering the skill of starting off all by himself! Spud moved up in the world, out of the trailer behind Mommy's bike and onto the "trailer bike" behind Daddy's bike woohooo! He was SO excited to be "pedaling" like a big boy!

Yep, thats the ocean you see behind our campsite!

It doesn't get ANY better than this!!!

With 9 blankets and a heater we survived the night without frostbite. Daddy made awesome McMercer egg sausage english muffins and then we tooled around town, hung out on the beach, took a bike ride to The Pig (also known as Piggly Wiggly...we forgot ketchup and you can't eat campfire grilled hot dogs without ketchup!) and basically just enjoyed the day. 

When the beach is too cold you dig up your campsite instead.

A Coast Guard Dauphin helicopter flew over just for us!

Andrew dug a hole with a wall to block the wind.

The sky was blue until these cool wispy clouds rolled in.

Required pose next to the state park sign!

My goofballs and our camp feast.

An Edisto sunset to end a chilly but perfect day!

An even cooooooolder night...the 9 blankets didn't quite work as well as the night before despite all of us going to bed in sweatshirts AND the heater on high. Starbucks coffee delivery would of been really really nice on this cold morning!  

This is what a Spud jacket looks like after 3 days of continuous wear...YUCK!!!

Cold, wind burned, refreshed and ready to head home!! Already planning my next trip back :o)

Prayer Buddy

While in Edisto I was able to take a few minutes for myself so I walked to the end of the beach at the end of the island. It was a long COLD walk but totally worth the effort. As I sat there in quiet contemplation with my prayer journal I was joined by this guy....

He sat with me, my little prayer buddy, for nearly an hour! He made me think about one of my favorite verses...

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

Matthew 6: 25-27

I went to Edisto in need of refreshment, to detox from the stress of the holidays and to remind myself of all the blessings I am surrounded with on a daily basis. Thanks to the time with my prayer buddy I can say "mission accomplished!"

Too Many Firsts!

My little Pnut us NOT allowed to do anything else this week!!! He is growing up waaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast and I do NOT like it!

All of a sudden he can dress himself, write his name, read the letters off of labels "L-O-G  C-A-B-I-N..that spells syrup!" ( Okay, so the letter recognition and assocation is there but not the reading or comprehension...yet!)

Yesterday he decided that he no longer needed the training wheels on his bike. I took them off and away he went...no learning curve!?! I am in awe of him.

Off They Go!

Great Grammy and Great Pop are off on their adventure... first stop, our house for big hugs!!
Next stop...South Dakota!!

Praying that they have SAFE travels and they return to us sound of mind and body very soon. We will certainly miss them at the dinner table every evening!!

Happy New Year!

Let's GO Mountaineers!!!
Grammy, Pop, Great Grammy and Great Pop will be cheering on the eers (ears?) down in Miami at the Orange Bowl and they are takin the BUS! Which means two little guys get to help Daddy and Pop fix it up and get it ready to go. SO exciting!! They filled their backpacks with all of their plastic tools, grabbed their chainsaw and headed over to help.