Getting Ready...

What's the coolest thing about a sister-in-law getting an awesome camera for Christmas?

Why, free photos of your children of course!

OP's little sis, Hannah, was so kind to take Adi out (who happens to be my most difficult child to get a decent picture of) to the Gila Valley Temple and take some shots of her in her baptism dress.

And she did awesome.













Aren't they gorgeous? They are so serene and just so perfect for baptism pictures.

So, all you peeps down in the Thatcher-area, keep your eye out for Miss Hannah and her camera, 'cause she pretty much rocks with it.

And hopefully she'll start getting paid to take pics soon.

You know, as long as I get the family discount ;)

Lovey-Dovey

First off, I must tell you that OP and I do not celebrate Valentines Day. Not in the "day for lovers" kind of way.

As Orrin said, "I don't need a day on the calender to tell me to love my wife."

He's a real romantic, I know.

But our objection against this commercialism-driven love day doesn't extend to our children. There is nothing wrong with a special day to celebrate familial-love, as long as we aren't buying expensive gifts.



About a month before V-Day, I got these awesomely-inexpensive mailboxes from Target's $1 section (what will I do if they ever stop making these?). I also got the sparkly stickers from there too.

Then the kiddos are set free to glitter-up their mailboxes as much as they want. And they also made mine, OP's and Wyatt's.



Piper used about 80% of the hearts on her mailbox alone.

I started a tradition a few years back of making home-made cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Valentines. This year, I was not up to it. At all.

So I made some Rhodes 35 minute Cinnamon Rolls. Awesome.



Except the fam thought they were gross. So, next year I guess I'll be rolling out the homemade kind.

Sunday night after dinner, I pulled out all of the glitter, glue, stickers, pink and red paper, feathers, heart shaped brads and everything else fun I could find and we made cards for everyone in the family to go inside (or next to) the mailboxes.

It was epically fun, but impossible to clean up (I am still cleaning up glitter).



That night we had Jessie & Chad and Hyrum & (his new fiance) Stephanie over for dinner. And I didn't take a single pic.

And I still haven't taken down all of my heart decorations. Maybe I'll get around to that today...

My boys

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I take a lot of pictures.

A lot.

So my kiddos have pretty much grown up with their own paparazzi.

Seriously.

So, I shouldn't be too surprised when Porter shoves my camera into my hands and says, "Take a picture of me and Baby Wyatt."

Well, yes sir.




And I sure am glad I did!

For those that love him, but don't get to hold him:

You're welcome.

Oh, the trains...

For our much-needed Family Fun Day (we haven't had one of those since we moved!), we took a trip to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale.

That was a long drive.

Anywho, it was awesome. First of all, it is free to get in- which is always a huge plus. They mixed free stuff (like actual playground equipment) with inexpensive family fun (a train ride and a carousel).

And it was Wyatt's first family outing.



OP gave Porter-Pot these old sunglasses of his, and he now wears them every time we leave the house.

Yep.



The carousel was terrifically terrific, especially since it was only $1 a person.



Did I mention that Adi-Baby has lost both of her front teeth now? We call her Toothless.







There was also a mini-train museum.







And a train car for the kiddos to climb all over.



And the actual train car that 4 of our esteemed Presidents rode in.







And here's proof that Wyatt was actually with us:

(he did, however, sleep the entire time)



The train ride:



Last, but never least, ice cream cones to top of the afternoon.



If you live around here, get yourself to the Train Park...

just be prepared to drive around for 10+ minutes waiting for a parking spot to open up!

The Tooth Fairy is getting busy...

'Cause Pipes is now loosing teeth too!



And guess who pulled out her tooth?

Piper did.

Awesome, right?

Partyin' Down

Adi's "Big 8" b-day has now come and gone.

8 is a special age for us LDS people. It's when the kiddos are considered to be accountable, thus they get to be baptized, meaning they are officially members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Cool, right?

Anyway, this is also the birthday that kids typically receive their first set of scriptures. Now, OP and I had just a few reservations about this... because Adi isn't exactly famous for her ability to take care of her things (and them quads ain't cheap). But, we gave in and just hoped that she'll magically take care of them.



And I forgot to have our last name printed on them. Whoops.

We also gave her a pretty-little flower CTR ring, a scripture case and a baptism necklace.

P.G. and Piper each gave her a Klutz book and Adi was sweet enough to let her little bro help her open them...



She also received a few calls from family. Here she is talking to her Aunt Whit.



For her b-day outfit, Ads chose to wear the Billy the Exterminator shirt that Whit and Chris gave her.



She loved it just a little.

Now, onto the party.

Originally, she wasn't going to get a party. Since we're going to have a reception-luncheon-thingy after her baptism, I figured that would count as one.

And then I realized that OP had to work on her birthday and she wouldn't even get to see her Daddy. How boring is that?

So I decided to giver her a small, teeny-tiny surprise party with a few of the friends that she hangs with all the time in the neighborhood.

I thought that we'd just have a movie night- that way the girls would mostly be watching TV and I could still take care of lil' Wyatt (yep, it was me versus 9 kiddos. Awesome.).

Here's her birthday banner that I made... and I am now wishing I had done the pendants a little larger.



We had a concession bar (just to make it feel more theater-y).



There were nachos for dinner (nutritious, right?) and, of course, popcorn buckets, mini water bottles and pops, licorice and a big ole jar of candy.





Oh, and here is what a few yards of red fabric, a roll of Scotch tape and 20 minutes will give ya:



The movie screen. Genius, I know.

Adi's friend took Ad to her house until the party started. And they got to our house exactly on time... before half the guests got there. But we still jumped out and yelled, "Surprise" and popped some party poppers in her face.



OK, that isn't the real picture of when Adi walked in, but Pipes had jumped in front of the camera. Don't judge me.

The girlies all got these mini paper popcorn buckets filled with tickets. The tickets were to "purchase" the goodies from the concession stand. Which they loved doing.



And then they sat down and watched A Barbie Fashion Fairytale.




But mostly they ran over to the concessions and filled up on candy and pop.

And they spilled a lot of pop and popcorn.

And generally ran amuck.

Then it was time for the birthday cake (which I honestly don't understand how any of them ate it after all the mini-Twixs and Laffy Taffy they had already swallowed).



They were supposed to look like small popcorn buckets, but they just looked fluffy.

After they finished, I tried to coerce them into finishing the movie, but they ended up turning on some music and dancing around for a hour, working off their sugar rush.

All in all, I am calling it a successful party. And I am once again vowing to never throw one again.

You know, until next month when Porter turns 4...

She's how old?!

Yep.

She's 8.

Today.

I know, right?

Hard to believe, right? After all, she was just born the day before yesterday. I swear.

Unfortunately, the world doesn't agree with my assessment of time, and my little girl is now gossiping with girlfriends, talking about boys at school (eek on that last one- at least she mostly talks about how dumb they act), doing her own hair (on the rare occasion that her control-freak mother lets her), watching Billy the Exterminator and Hoarders instead of Little Einsteins and Finding Nemo.

In other words, she's growin' up.

Adi's a small fry- a good 6 to 12 inches shorter than pretty much anyone else in her class- and I'm pretty sure that Wyatt is going to surpass her weight soon. Just kidding. Or am I? But there is nothing small about her personality. She defends those that are picked on at school, she'll argue with anyone if she doesn't think that their right, and her mouth has ended up with a bar of Dial soap in it more than once for not being able to just zip her lips when she gets in trouble.

She loves climbing trees, riding her bike, checking the mail (quite the event in the Merrill House) hanging out with her friends, and pretending to read entire books in only 30 minutes. Adi writes stories, manages her siblings pretend play, knows how to do a Google search, and tries to get out of taking baths whenever possible.

Adison shoves her dirty clothes in the strangest places (doing more work hiding them than if she just put them in her hamper), plays Oregon Trail on my iTouch whenever she can get her hands on it, loves to tell "your face" jokes with her dad, and still sneaks into my bed at night.

Adi is uber-observant and picks up quickly on the feelings of people around her. She is also my walking, talking grocery list- mostly because the girl has amazing recall and always reminds me to get toilet paper. She holds her baby brother while I hurry to switch around the laundry and she always lets Piper have the pink one and Porter go first.

She is beautiful. She is strong.

In other words, this girl is amazing.

And even though she is preparing to be baptized soon, doing long subtraction, and can officially wash her hands in the kitchen sink without a stool,

she is still my baby.

My little Adi Nae.

And that ain't ever gonna change.

My tomorrows...