The Mercado Family



Sunday, January 24, 2021

The Red Chair

 Way back when we lived in Delaware, about 15 years ago, I found a great big green chair while out jogging. We had a big-to-us house and not much furniture. I have never been a big fan of buying expensive furniture. Way back when we were still getting established with the first home we bought and our baby, free furniture was the way I wanted to go. So, this king-sized chair seemed perfect. It would take up a lot of room in our living room and work out just great!

Apparently, I never took a good picture of the green chair, but here's most of it.

We only had two sedans. An old Honda Accord and a new one, so we borrowed our next-door neighbor's van to go down the street and pick up this chair. On a side note, this next-door neighbor family happened to be members of the Church and the father was in the Bishopric (how random is that in Delaware to live next door to members of the Church?!) We didn't take out the last bench from the van and there wasn't much room to fit the chair even there, so I held onto the chair so it wouldn't fall out of the slightly open door of the van for the short drive down the street. One detail I don't remember is that if we strapped Victoria in her car seat in one of the many rows of the van, or the Christensens were babysitting her.... 

We were so excited to put it in our living room when we returned! It looked great! 

A few months later (maybe more, but not much because we only lived in Delaware for a year), we decided we were leaving the military, due to an unexpected opportunity to separate a little earlier. When we finally arrived in our condo in Michigan (many months later), I wanted to make a coverslip for this chair. I'm sure I wanted to do it beforehand, but time didn't allow for that, so once we got settled, that was my first project. My stepsister, Shelly, has a business covering furniture in Utah. She's awesome at it! I knew I would need help from her if my chair were to look presentable whatsoever. I called her up and we made a long-distance plan. She gave me tips on fabric, measurements, and pinning. I sent her pictures, measurements, and the fabric after I had pinned it, and a small work fee. She sent it back and you would not believe how perfect it looked! I worked out so well! We loved our red chair! It became a favorite play place and sitting place. It was also the chair our kids usually sat in to open birthday presents. I could take the cover off and wash it any time I wanted and put it back on with ease. 


I could fit baby Karissa and Victoria together with plenty of room for Karissa's whole body to be on it, lying down.

First Valentine's day with the chair.

First of many forts created with the chair!


Our house now is on the smaller side, that's only because we have 6 of us, and no more little babies! For a couple of years now, I've wanted to replace the big chair with two smaller chairs so people can sit more comfortably in a chair of their own. This last Christmas, I received a bunch of gift cards from my very generous student's families to Target, totaling $100. I decided to use the money toward some cute chairs from Target. They are surprisingly supportive and comfortable, even though they're from Target, not your typical furniture store. Of course, they're very chic as well. 

Before, with the red chair...



Afterward!



Our red chair was taken by a sister who wanted it from our ward. She is single with an 8-year-old son. I think he will enjoy the fun bouncy chair and they can sit together in it if they want. 

We love our new chairs!

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Another One in Braces

 Can you guess who has braces now? Yep, Austin. And he was very excited to get them on since he's the only one who hasn't had them yet, though Erik will have to get them again for a longer period of time when all his teeth have been lost and found again. 

We had scheduled Austin's appointment sometime in November. I think it was even before Erik got his off, but I knew that Erik would be getting his off soon after that since they were overdue. I also had a feeling that Austin would have lost his last molar by the appointment in January. I was right with that too. It came out sometime in December and his new one is growing in. 

He got his top braces on during this appointment and will get the bottoms on in March. It was only a week ago, but his teeth are already moving. Hooray!







Monday, January 11, 2021

First Week Back

 Our first week back to school started with some good snowman building snow. It has been fun to watch my students play in it this week and especially goes well with all my winter themes. It's nice to have snow when we're talking about how it forms and doing our snow dance!

Luke enjoyed being outside with the kids.

We got some good snow, but where they rolled it into the snowmen, it did clear it off the ground, so still not too much.





I also started the week with the knowledge I was being released from my Relief Society counselor calling. Our ward RS president was called to be the Stake RS president, so the presidency was dissolved.  I was a little surprised, but after serving for 2 1/2 years in that calling and right before then as the 1st counselor in the Primary presidency, I guess it's good for me to have a break. Since things haven't been that busy, I haven't felt too overwhelmed, but it's nice to focus more on my kids on Sundays now as opposed to RS sisters and missionary work. I got to give a 5-minute testimony in yesterday's meeting about what I learned. I was glad I was healthy enough to go. 

The other thing that snuck up on us this week was a bad cold. Everyone has some symptoms of it, except for me, which is why I was able to go to church yesterday. It was our family's turn to go, but they all had to stay back, even Jason couldn't be up on the stand as a member of the Bishopric. Victoria has been coughing pretty badly and Karissa has a crazy stuffed up nose, but Saturday's test determined that it is not COVID, thank goodness!

We're anticipating the meeting tomorrow that will determine whether or not the middle schoolers and high schoolers get to go back to school in person, in some form. Also, Erik gets to go back next week for his funky schedule, but I'll take it!!

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

The Priesthood

 Austin was ordained to the office of a Deacon in the Priesthood on Sunday. It was a very special experience for all in our family. Jason attended the ward meeting as a member of the bishopric that morning (it wasn't our family's turn to go), and the rest of us met him there for the ordination afterward. Then, since the rest of us hadn't taken the sacrament yet, Jason blessed it and Austin passed it to us at home. It was a very sacred and special experience. Later that day, Jason realized that exactly 6 years ago, on January 3, Karissa was baptized! What a great day January 3 has turned out to be!!




Sunday, January 3, 2021

Karissa's 14th Birthday!

 As I predicted in the past, Karissa will start celebrating her birthday with friends on New Year's Eve, just because it works out well to have double the fun on New Year's. This year it definitely made sense because even though we can now start having more contact, we still don't want to have too much going on just yet. 

I'd say that Karissa lucked out with her birthday, in fact, all the kids did in 2020, the way we planned everything and the timing of their birthdays. They sure do love being with friends, especially on birthdays, and it worked out that they all could. 

The day before her birthday, she went to her friend Olivia Banko's house ( a different one from the Olivia she's always with, but one of her closest friends for sure). Olivia was invited to her party on New Year's, but couldn't make it, so she had Karissa over and two other really good friends of hers (with face masks on) as a surprise! Since none of them were coming to our house on Thursday, she got to see these 3 friends on Tuesday. They had pizza and cake and played games, but that's about all I know since I wasn't there. I didn't even get any pictures of Ash, Thai, and Olivia at Karissa's surprise party. Oh well, they had fun!

On her actual birthday, we went skiing. We were going to go on New Year's Day but decided on the 30th instead and Karissa agreed that we could on her birthday. It turned out to be a very good choice for many reasons. First, the weather was a little wet, there was a slight drizzle or mist most of the time, so it made for not the greatest conditions, but we loved Mt. Holly so much, that it didn't matter to us. It was so much better than the other ski resort we've gone here. It all looked a little more natural like we were in the mountains, rather than on a big old re-purposed trash hill. The runs were better, the resort was better, and the layout was better. So, since the weather was not great, it was not very busy there at all. Second, two families from our ward (and very good friends of ours) happened to be skiing that day as well. The Farnsworths have been very careful with COVID and we haven't seen as much of them as we would have liked this year. The Dalebouts are the family we trick-or-treated with, but with the pause, we didn't get to see them much recently. It was so good for all my kids to ski with these great friends of ours! Third, it was a great way to spend the day on Karissa's birthday. Every year we do something pretty fun as a family on her birthday, so it was good to keep up that tradition. Last year we went roller skating and that's when Austin broke his arm. I'm very glad this year he didn't break anything!

She wanted doughnuts for breakfast, which worked out well for our quick morning. Her siblings were very happy about that!

Karissa and Victoria

Erik getting the hang of it.


Karissa and Victoria on the lift in front of me.


I can't remember who's behind us on the lift. can anyone tell??

Erik said it was the most fun he's ever had in one day!

Birthday Girl!

Max, Victoria, and Karissa

Victoria, Karissa, Owen, Austin, Erik, and Jason.

Austin, Nick, Spencer, and Erik. 

Owen and Austin

Austin really loved snowboarding. This was after his final run.


When we returned from skiing, I popped Karissa's requested tilapia and roasted potatoes in the oven and the broccoli in the microwave that I had already prepped, while Karissa opened gifts. We ate and then sang Happy Birthday with the cupcake tower before we plopped our tired bodies down to watch Soul. 

She loves all her gifts and cards she received!

Erik gave her an Ice Drink.

Victoria made her a nice card with one of her favorite Anime characters on it. 


Austin and Erik made her a nice card.

Out of pure laziness and the idea as to not have too much cake lying around, we made cupcakes for her birthday and added some brownies to fill up the tree for the party. She didn't want 14 candles on it, but I did put them on, not knowing she only wanted one!


For her party, she wanted Japanese food. So I served ramen, make-your-own-sushi, potstickers, and stir fry veggies. Only her two best friends came, which was perfect. We had Pocky, cupcakes (that they decorated themselves), and Ramune ( a Japanese soda) for dessert. Victoria went to a friend's for New Year's and after Karissa and her friends ate, they went to her room to play their loud rock music and watch Anime until it was close to midnight and they could ring in 2021 with us. 

The spread

CJ, Karissa, and Olivia

Make Your Own Sushi

CJ, Karissa, and Olivia (Olivia gave her this t-shirt and CJ's gift is coming all the way from Japan, so it's not here yet).

Olivia brought balloons and CJ brought noisemakers which the boys thoroughly enjoyed!

While the girls partied upstairs, Jason and I played some games with the boys and then watched a movie. We actually did stay up till midnight since we had a party going on. I managed pretty well, I guess. We were happy to celebrate Karissa and bid farewell to 2020. 

The final countdown!

Watching the ball drop.


Toasting our sparkling cider to the new year!


I'm sure for a lot of kids Karissa's age it was a tough year. I don't think she'll admit it, but it was a pretty hard year for her. She has changed a lot this year, as I'm sure most kids do going from 13 to 14. She still loves to hug her parents goodnight, so that's good. But she's a textbook teenager, in that she loves to be in her room or with her friends. We've had some excellent family time and many good moments as a family this year with fabulous memories made, but when the activity ends, she's back in her room. In her room, she loves to read and watch Anime (in subtitles, not dubbed in English), and draw and create her own comics. She also likes to listen to rock or alternative rock. She loves Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, and My Chemical Romance the best, but even old groups like ACDC, Wheezer, and Green Day are some of her favorites as well. She likes to wear band shirts, dress in black, and has finally convinced me to let her cut her hair. It looks very cute in her! 

She still plays the piano, the viola with the virtual orchestra, and is now teaching herself the guitar. She is also still in choir and made the Bueax Chantuers (special choir group). She was learning Japanese over the summer on her own but is taking Spanish in school. I think she will go for Japanese at the high school next year. She really likes to ride bikes with friends when the weather is nice. When we're not on a pause for COVID, she takes a tumbling class with Olivia. She has her back walkover now and is hoping to get a front walkover soon, and possibly a back handspring. We're happy to see her growing and changing to who she wants to be. Happy Birthday, Karissa!


Monday, December 28, 2020

Christmas 2020

 While this year I did miss the concerts that we usually attend the schools to celebrate Christmas, I didn't miss the busyness of it all. And since we didn't travel for Christmas like we had originally planned, we still made this Christmas one to remember!

Christmas Competition

Karissa has a couple of fun ideas to celebrate. One was an ugly sweater competition. 

Jason's is the best! We bought all these sweaters for $27 at the Goodwill, btw, so we think he was a steal! He didn't have to do anything to it!

I glued little pompoms on mine and it is a super nice quality Abercrombie and Fitch. I didn't want mine to be too ugly, just cute!

Austin went to TOWN with the glue sticks! 

Erik had a great time with him and wears it many times!

Karissa is actually still working on hers because she decided to change it up. She just really loves the process of art! 


Victoria got this cute/ugly vest. She didn't have to do anything to hers.

Austin's was finally dry enough from glue and paint the next day to wear!

Karissa just wore this for the PJ day. She got this sweater at 5 Below. She'll finish her ugly sweater one day...


The other was a Deck the Halls where we decorated our doors. 

Victoria's door. She had an ornament for each of us and a positive quality she admires in us- so thoughtful!

Mine and Jason's door (I will resue this wrapping paper!)

Karissa's door. She used chalks for the colors.

Austin's door (he decorated the bathroom door so Erik could do the boys' door, but Erik never ended up doing it because he was reading all morning when we did it.)


We never actually decided on a winner for either one, it was fun to just do it for something festive. I will be taking the snowflakes and snowman to my classroom for January decor. Definitely want to put all those things to good use!


Houseguest

The McEwens went to Florida for Christmas and since we decided to stay, we watched their dog Daisy for them. She has been the perfect houseguest and has brought lots of laughter and outside time for us. Even the cats are getting used to her!

The cats LOVE eating the dog food, so we gave up on keeping the cat food up high and Dasiy eats the cat food.  They're all going to be messed up after eating all the wrong food!

The boys love hanging out in Daisy's cage!

We love her underbite!

On our warmer day, we took her to Maybury. Karissa ran with Daisy while the others rolled on wheels.



She has a cute little sweater for colder days and she does shiver when it's colder!



Service!

President Nelson and our Bishop have been encouraging us to get out and serve, so that's what we've been doing. This week of Christmas we took our friend Angelisa (who just lost her mom to cancer) to downtown Detroit to see the big Christmas tree and get hot chocolate. None of us had been there for that. I loved seeing her surprise and awe in looking at the enormous tree and lights! It was a magical evening. We then were blessed to have her come to our house for Christmas Eve dinner and the Nativity. She wanted to be the narrator. She was so good for that part because she read slowly and was not distracted by family issues (which sometimes can happen). We also played the Light the World Challenge for the 24th where we were supposed to share why each person is loved around the dinner table. It had such great meaning that night to hear what everyone had to say about each other, and I know Angelisa felt the love in the room. We had tacos, tamales, rice, seven-layer dip, chips and salsa, and salad. Both evenings I loved watching her laugh and talk so much more than I have ever seen! Usually, it's just me taking her somewhere or shopping with her and she's really quiet. Boy, with my kids around, she was having a blast! 

Our first view outside the parking garage.





Angelisa has the best smile!

The main tree.

Our beautiful table with Erik's plate here at the end.

Taco bar

Mary and Joseph



Narrator, Sheep, and Shepherd


Angel and lighting coordinator.

Wiseman

On Christmas Eve morning we had signed up to ring the bells for the Salvation Army at Busch's Grocery Store in Plymouth. It's definitely a higher-end grocery store and Plymouth is a more well-to-do-area, but we were in awe at the generosity of so many people! We sang Christmas carols most of the time, with masks on of course, and we were set back so we were socially distanced from everyone. Many people thanked us for being out there in the cold with our kids. One man even got us some hot chocolates from Speedway, which was so thoughtful. I loved everything about that experience!



Gifts!

We usually open our Secret Santa gifts on Christmas Eve, but Angelisa stayed longer than we thought she would, so we decided to just open them with the presents on Christmas morning. Since Victoria is usually in charge of Secret Santa, she had everyone put their gifts under the small tree by the stockings for us to do SS before opening stockings. We all were so happy with the gifts we gave and received from our SS. It's definitely one of my favorite traditions now. The other gifts followed the stockings and were opened in the living room. Everyone was content with their gifts this year, which always brings me joy. 

We woke up to a white Christmas. It all fell exactly when we were sleeping. Nothing was on the ground at 10:30 pm. It all fell sometime before we woke up at 7am. 




Austin's snap circuit is keeping him very busy!



Air pods

LEGO Ninjago

Cats fighting over their toys.

Catnip is the best!

Karissa got a guitar for her main Christmas/birthday present.

Austin got a controller for all uses.

Jason loves his gator!

Doing Just Dance that Victoria got.

We went to Downtown Plymouth later that day for some fresh air, with Daisy.

Sledding the day after Christmas!