Okay...

I got the girls' blog up with some pics on it, but I made it private. If you want to be able to look (it really isn't all that interesting- but family might be interested), either leave your email address in the comments or email me!

No, nothing has happened....

I'm back now and ready to blog! Here's what I've failed to blog:

1- Porter LOVES his food. Seriously. Anyone who has ever hung around my house at meal times knows hows committed this boy is to his food. His "mmmm, mmm" sounds are only the beginning. He gets very upset when he knows I'm in the kitchen cooking and I don't give him something in the kitchen to munch on. He follows me around in there, screaming, and I do mean screaming, until I give him a crumb. Then, when he is being fed, if I don't get the food in fast enough, he will start growling at me... and if I still don't get it to his mouth, he will once again start screaming. Such a temper!

2. Girls Night In- OP was out of town this past weekend, so the girls and I had a sleepover in the front room. We played Candyland and Chutes & Ladders, bubble baths, brushed each other's hair, the girls painted each other toes & fingernails and we stayed up "late" to watch Disney's newest TV movie Minute Men (it started at 9- so Piper made it through a whole 5 minutes and Adi lasted 20 minutes). Super fun!

3. Adi & Pipes got their own digital cameras from Nana & Papa. I don't have any of their pics up yet, but I promised them that they could have their own blog with the pictures that they have taken on it. I'll let you know when that happens!

We Got the Party!

I love to plan. What do I like to plan, you might ask? Anything and everything. I have notebooks full of my plans... from my menus for the next 14 days to my food storage that will last me 2 years (I have high hopes). So right after all of my plans for Christmas ended, I immediantly began planning Adi's birthday (you can see on the right hand side how long I have until it happens). Hannah Montana is her idol currently, and so a Hannah Montana party she will have. I have spent many hours painstakingly planning this event- hours on google searching for ideas on activities for the kids, hourse on ebay shopping for just the right stuff to make her party rock.

Anyway, that was quite the tangent... the girls got into some of the party stuff, the inflatable guitars and microphones, so we decided to make our own party of it. So here is Adi, Piper and Porter performing "We Got the Party", made famous by Hannah Montana:

(Porter is just staring at his sisters, trying to figure out what the heck they are doing)

Yesterday, OP actually got home before dinner time (the first time in I don't know how many weeks), so he took the girls outside for an impromptu game of soccer. Normally, they would have had a lot of fun, but Piper had refused to nap earlier, and that always puts here in such a good mood (that was sarcastic, if ya didn't know).

Every time I kicked the ball, Piper cried.

Every time Orrin kicked the ball, Piper cried.

Every time Adi kicked the ball, Piper screamed.

And every time the girls would bump when they were chasing after the ball, Piper's screams would reach a glass-shattering decibel. Now this screaming thing has been happening frequently lately, and I have set a consequence for it: soap in the mouth.

So after about the 10th warning, I had to drag Piper inside, set her in the chair, and give her soap. I set the timer for only 1 minute, but then she screamed again. Seriously.

So her punishment time was tripled.

She stopped screaming after that... instead she folded her arms across her chest and "humph" every time Adi got near her or the ball.

Hey, it's better than screaming!

These are pics of yesterday while we were doing the girls' preschool homework. Porter spent the time scavenging.

Freebie "Shoppin"

I have a shopping problem.

Really.

Just ask my husband. He oh-so-often checks our bank account and has to ask, "What is all this paypal stuff?"

I don't go crazy or anything. $5 here, $10 there. That's why I love freebies. I get the rush of shopping, without spending money! Here's some of my spoils:

Glittered Frames here.

Cute lil' Valentines word stickers here.

V-Day kit here.

Dino kit (one girl one, one boy one) here.

Here's a colored newspaper alpha.

A fun apha here.

Mom, you're gonna love this one: all the kits on here are only $1!

**keep in mind that a lot of these have expiration dates, so if you want them, get 'em fast!

I am SO NOT addicted, but...

Orrin and I played Guitar Hero again this morning (Lindy & Brandon are letting us borrow it while Brandon is working in Thatcher), and we were rocking away to Barracuda by Heart. Orrin ended up being late to work, we kinda got a little wrapped up in our battle!



Anyway... a dew hours ago, we were driving in the car and Adi was in the back bobbing her head to some unheard beat. "Mom," she said, "I have Barratooda stuck in my hair."



You might not find it very funny, but I, on the other hand, found it hilarious.

Guitar Hero, Baby!

After a rather discouraging morning at church (I went alone with all three kids- I must be crazy), we had some peeps over for stew. Ayami and Jonathon (David was sick), Jessie, Lindy & Brandon... the latter brought their Wii with the latest addition to their game arsenal: Guitar Hero 3. Awesome! While I wasn't the best player (who am I kidding- I couldn't hit a note if my life depended on it), everyone else rocked... Ayami must be given props for the quickest learner :) Here's a video of Brandon and Orrin rockin' out to Free Ride.... Brandon really gets into this game!

P.S. Sorry about how dark the video is, but I had to share it anyway!

Buddy Boy

So, my baby boy still isn't walking. I know, I know... he isn't exaclty behind the curve, but his sisters were both running by now. The stinker is just lazy. He refuses to do the "finger walk" (where they hold your finger and walk by borrowing balance), he'll just stiffen up and scream. If I'm super sneaky, can catch Porter standing all by himself but as soon as he sees me he'll drop to his bum and look at me as with an innocent face. I think he's just content with his super-speed crawling...

Number 5 is coming up fast...

Birthdays are a bittersweet thing, aren't they? My baby girl's 5th is looming, and it is just plain breaking my heart! While I am super-excited to watch this little piece of heaven grow and change, I can't help but to look back at her tiny baby-self and think of how time is only marching toward the day she'll leave me. I know, I know, I have a few years yet (heaven help me with the teen years!), but when I realize how quickly the last five years have flown, I know the next 13 are going to race on by. So here's to playing at the park, dancing to Hannah Montana, painting tiny toes and cleaning up her "crafts"... hope I get a lot more of it in before she does it all on her own. Love you, kid!

Journaling:

Adi-Baby, this picture
best represents you and your
unique personality. You are slowly
stepping your way through life, learning
lessons, taking notes of all that is said or
done around you. You are my mini-moral
compass... my little mommy-to-be, and, on
occasion, my little sassy pants. You made my
heart grow one hundred-full when you entered
my life and you daily make it swell to triple
it’s mortal size when I get a glimpse of the woman
you will someday be. No matter how smart,
no matter how tall, you will always be my tiny little
Adi-Baby who needs me to find Snowball for you
before you can sleep. I love you doesn’t even cut it, kid...

**This beautiful kit is from Tangie! A combination of all three Spring Forest Floor kits**

,

Oh, Pipes...

Ever think that all you do is repeat yourself all day long? Piper seems to have this hearing problem.. no, actually, she just does what she wants no matter what the consequence may be. "Bring it on" seems to be her mantra, and boy, does it test me!

Yesterday at naptime, I told the girls that we were going to go to the park when they woke up, but only if they went straight to sleep- "no shenanigans" as my husband tells them. Well, about two seconds after I leave, I can hear them playing. They didn't get to go the park. Adi decided at that point that it was a wise decision to listen to Mom and thus went to sleep. Pipes, however, does whatever she wants.

Repeatedly I went in there, and repeatedly she got out of bed. About an hour later, Adi woke up but Piper hadn't even slept yet! At least, she knows to not even try to come out. Suddenly I could smell something very perfumey drifting out from their room...

Yep, she go into the lotion and apparently thought that bathing in it would be a good idea. Thanks mom for sharing Honeysuckle Lotion (I hate the smell, by the way)! I could smell the stinky stuff for the rest of the day.

When I asked her why she thought she could do this, guess what her reply was... "'Cause I wanted to smell pretty."

"Sweetheart (I was trying my hardest to keep my cool), you only need a tiny bit to make you smell pretty."

"But I wanted to smell really pretty."

This is her second mishap with this particular lotion, so I told her that I was going to have to throw it away. "That's ok," was her disinterested reply.

Turns out it was Adi's lotion.

The lesson for the day: Mom needs a video camera, 'cause my kids do some darn funny stuff!

Dancing Jane Austen

Just wanted to share a clip from one of my favorite movies. It's called Bride and Prejudice and it is a remake of Pride and Prejudice with a Bolly spin on it. Don't ask me why I like it so much, but I seem to be the only one who does. Anyone else like it? Or even seen it?

Park Play

There is a reason that I love Arizona so much... year-round outdoor play. Where else can you let your little rugrats run wild outdoors in the middle of January (ok, I could think of a few otherplaces, but you know where I'm going with this).

"Fabulous"... I just can't escape High School Musical

Porter LOVES the swing

Adi is a little spider monkey- she'll climb anything!

Let's Hear It For The Boy!

I usually don't do mushy sort of things on here, but I think that the Father of my Kiddies deserves some props. Op has got to be one of the best Daddys out there- he loves his kids, he plays with them, teaches them and baths them every night (thanks for that). He's always working hard, but when he is home, he makes sure we have our family dinner and FHE. You can tell just how good of a father he is since his little girls can't wait for im to get up in the mornings and how they cry whenever he doesn't get home in time for dinner (maybe cause they know Mom has to do bathtiem and that means a near-drowning is inevitable). They don't come much better than this guy!

P.S. Don't tell him I did this... he would kill me if he knew I put not one, but three pics of him on my blog!

My Baby Boy

My little boy is growing up so fast! He is already ten months and is getting into everything- and almost has his first tooth (cross your fingers that it'll come soon, please)! He loves giving and recieving kisses, pulling hair, chasing the vaccum, and gouging other baby's eyes. Porter has recently picked-up unrolling the whole toilet paper roll and seeing just how much of that quilted softness he can fit into his mouth before Mom stops him (and let me tell you- it is a lot). Let's hear it for the boy!

Sorry, but it's another ad...

Come and see it!

The last five days before Christmas...

I got more than a little sidetracked on my Days Of Christmas scrapbook, but I finally finished the last five pages!

*Just a sidenote- the Merrill family has been sick. Not just c little sick, but alota sick! Throwing up, headaches, yuck! So, if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, you now know why!

P.S. The kit used for the last page is from Tangie!

Finally- some Christmas!

OK- so I finally gave up on the idea that I would actually get these pics scrapped some time before Easter!

We had a few scheduling differences, so we ended up having our traditional Christmas Morning Breakfast Christmas Eve Morning. We ate scones, fried mush, bacon... smells like Christmas!

We then played our Ornament Exchange game (a lot like a White Elephant exchange, but with ornaments) and opened our gifts.



Whitney & Christopher



We even got to play with Katelynn for a few minutes!



Dad opening his token toy present!

Merrill Party

OK- I promise that I do have some actual Christmas photos of my family, I'm just trying to get them scrapped! Here are some photos of the Merrill Family Christmas Party (held last night- there were some scheduling difficulties thanks to us!)... we had the party at Lindy's new house, so you can scope out her decorating (she got so much done)!

By the way- Piper started her new Sunbeams class today... that was way too hard on me! She did perfectly, in fact she loved it. I, however, just can't believe that my baby girl isn't in nursery anymore! Adi started her CTR5 class... she informed that her teacher said it makes you feel sad when you eat someone elses cookie and that she can still choose the right even though she can't find her CTR ring. Porter learned that throwing fits gets him out of class and crawling around the building!

Stay tuned for mre Christmas Pics!

Family Days...

In OP's family, they had a long-running tradition of making a scrapbook page that summed up your family's year and then they would exchange them at their big (and when I say big, I mean big) Merrill Family Party. This year there was no BIG Merrill Party, but we made them for our Branchs' Pary and we exchanged them in my family (OK, only Whit and I actually made them). I love this tradition!

Six years, baby!

I almost forgot to post this little page I'd made to commemorate mine & OP's big day! Luckily, Emily and Seth share our anniversary and her memory was better than mine!

We actually got to go out alone this year (it's been a long time since that had happened). The kiddies stayed with Nana, Papa, Whitney & Chris while we went and had the best steak that I've ever had (I'm a total carnivore). After that, we argued about which movie to see (I wanted to go with a romantic comedy and OP wanted a shoot-em-up action movie), so we meet in the middle (kind of) and saw Juno. It was really good- not really romantic, but I guess neither of us really are!

Love ya, Merrill!

Some of what we've been doin'...

No, I Am NOT Dead!

To put all the speculation to rest; I am still alive and kickin'- I have just been a bit busy with family, holidays and a vacation squeezed in there somewhere! I promise to post pics and pages soon- I just need to finish unpacking first!


I'd like to leave you with a clip my sis took on Christmas Eve...