Working Men

As you may remember, Porter asked for "real tools" for Christmas.  Orrin and I took a trip to Harbor Freight to load up on inexpensive wrenches, ratchets, screwdrivers, clamps... the whole shebang.  I planned on everything lasting maybe a week.  What can I say?   I may be a bit on the pessimistic side.

But Mr. Porter Pot has surprised me.  He takes dang good care of his tools.  He doesn't use them for playing (he gets rather upset if someone tries to).  They all stay in the tool box and are only pulled out for when he is fixing something.

Like when Dad is working on his motorcycle.  Porter will run into his room, pull out his tools, lug them into the garage, and then gets to work.

Orrin is amazingly patient.  He's slowly teaching PG the name of all of the tools and the sizes of the wrenches and ratchets.  He lets Porter get right down in there when he's taking apart the motor or changing the oil in my car.  OP is an amazing dad, if I do say so myself.

I can't wait till Lil' Wyatt has his chubby cheeks pressed in there too.

Seeing

Miss Pips started complaining about having a headache everyday.

At first I brushed it off, thinking that she was just wanting to take some medicine (my kids are all Tylenol junkies).  Then I remembered that the last time I ignored her complaints about feeling sick I ended up with a car full of puke. 

So I took her to the eye doctor.  There wasn't anything too wrong, but her eyes could use a bit of a boost when she's reading.  We left with a prescription for reading glasses.

Do you have any ideas how much people want you to pay for children's glasses?  We were looking at paying around $50 for a pair of cheap frames and then another $30 for the lenses.  Yikes!

Luckily I remembered this little site called Zenni Optical where I got her glasses shipped for just $15.  Not a huge selection, but Pipes ended up with a pink pair, so all is well.

Now, to keep her from losing or maiming them...

Valentines Day

A few days before V-day we did our annual mailbox decorating.

I still have some of the glitter glue stuff stuck on my table.  It will not come off.

Then for FHE on the night before the Love Day, we made cards for everyone in the family.

Yeah- that's the only pic I got of it. I was waaay too busy creating my mini-masterpieces to worry about taking pictures :)

The next morning, we woke up to cinnamon rolls that magically baked themselves (I wish.  I made them the night before),

strawberry milk,

and mailboxes full of love notes.

We just got the kiddos some little candies and a small gift.

Porter Pot got a little car, the girlies got some Soft Lips chapstick,

 

Wyatt got a Sing-A-Ma-Jig.

He loves it, but it freaks me out.

We then dug into the cinnamon rolls.

Finger-lickin' good.

*Can you tell that Porter-Pot was sick?  Poor little man.*

I had grand plans for dinner that night.  Salmon, shrimp, cheesy taters, rolls, and a chocolate cake named "Chocolate Wasted Cake".

Turns out, I started feeling a little under the weather after dropping the girls off at school.  I pushed through it and made this masterpiece:

By the time I had to pick up the girlies, I was officially SICK.

So we had McDonalds for dinner.  

Best. Mom. Ever.

Sick.

We've been sick.

Really, really sick.

And this time, it hit Mom the hardest.  Normally I may get a  mild fever and a small cough, which slows me down but does not stop me.  But not this time.  I was fighting a major fever for about five days with a killer cough and a non-stop headache. All while still trying to do the mom-thing and take care of a my sick boys and getting the girls to school and picking them up.  And attempting homework.

I am willing to admit that we ate a lot of cereal, pizza, and McDonald's.

It was pure awesomeness, let me tell you.

I am now fully functioning again (with the slightest bit of a cough), and am now considering posting on the blog again.

Although I really don't have a lot of things to post about.  I was dying there for a little while, people.  It did not inspire a lot of fun around the Merrill home (and yes, I have a tendency toward the dramatic when I am sick).

A Spa Party

On the morning of Adi's birthday, I let her dig into her present from OP and I early (still feel kinda bad that Orrin didn't get to see her open it, but I wanted her to be able to use it at her party).

Yup.  She got a video camera.

With a carrying case, tripod and DVDs so she can make authentic movies.

 

I blame my sister, Whitney.

Anywho, I may or may not be frequently on Pinterest.  It is usually the window that is left up on our desktop when someone sits down on the computer.  Adi likes to scroll through all of the tantalizing images that are posted on there... and that is how Adi ended up planning her party.

She saw this pin and said that she wanted a spa party.  I was hesitant, seeing as how I've never even gotten a pedicure, much less gone to a spa.  But she was adamant, so we did a lot of Pinterest hunting for ideas.  Adi found the whoopie pies that she wanted instead of a cake, the homemade lipgloss she wanted to make, and facials.  Oh, the facials.

For the invites I used the templates from here and just photoshopped my own info in and then printed a chevron pattern for the other side.

I learned something new from this party: if you hang 45 balloons in front of a window with sunshine coming in, you'll get a pleasant pink lighting in your house.  Keep that in mind when you see the rose tint in all of the pics.

I used A LOT of ideas from the One Charming Party Spaaah Party. 

There were the much-talked-about strawberry milk whoopie pies (these things were way more difficult to make than I had at first thought),

banana-strawberry smoothies,

spa water,

sandwiches on a stick,

and veggie straws.

We found these little beauty tins in the after-Christmas clearance racks at Walmart for $1.25 each.  Score!

We did our best to set the room up like a spa (yeah, I have no idea what that would look like).

See all of those flip flops?  I got them on 75% off clearance at Target and just glued a terry-cloth bow on them.  Although, hot glue does not work on flip flops.  I recommend taking the time to buy E6000 if you want the bows to last longer than 5 minutes.

So much nail polish.

Now, I have to say a very grateful THANK YOU to my lil' sis Whitney and my sister-in-law Stephanie for coming over and helping me host this party.  I never would have been able to do pedicures and facial masks on all eight girls if you guys hadn't been there. 

When the girlies got there, we filled up little cheapy bowls from the dollar store with warm water and a squirt of appley bath bubbles.  The girlies stuck their piggies in there to soak (and hopefully clean them too). 

We made the girls remove their own polish on their toes.  We weren't getting paid to do that.

Then we painted their piggies.  Good job, Steph!

When their toesies were dry, the girlies got to fill up their own little jars with personalized homemade lip gloss.

Made with Vaseline and Kool Aide.  Really, really messy. 

Onto the facial masks.  We did an edible-chocolate mask that also ended up being waay messy.  Who'da thunk?

And yes, we were professional enough to put cucumber slices over their eyes.  Not that the girls kept them there.  I had to convince them to leave them on long enough for pictures.  It didn't work with everyone.

Oh, and notice those awesome headbands in everyone's hair?  Yeah, I made them.  Best mom ever, right?

It took about twenty minutes to scrub that stuff off of everyone's faces.  Thank goodness I got the super-cheap Walmart washrags that I used to wipe the goopy chocolate off and then I trashed them.  Wasteful?  Yes.  But I'm having a hard time feeling bad about it!

Adi did the blowing-out-the-candle thing birthday girls usually do,

then opened presents (did not get a good picture of that).  She scored pretty big with cash and gift cards this year.  I guess everyone is as confused as I am over what to buy a nine-year-old girl.

The girlies then spent the rest of the party dancing to whatever pop music they could find on the girls' iTouches.  

Thanks ladies!

It was a fun party, but I am so glad that it's over!

Nine.

Yep.  This little girl is nine today.

I'm in complete denial.  It is not possible for my tiny baby Adi Nae to be this old. 

She keeps telling me, "Only seven more years till I drive", and "Nine more years till I move out", and my favorite, "Twelve more years till you can't tell me what to do".  Apparently I get that privilege until she's 21.  Sweet.  Can I get that in writing, please and thank you?

Adi is going to be a teacher when she grows.  She will also play the guitar and the drums.  Also be a cheerleader.  And be a mom to 22 kids (11 boys, 11 girls- we'll see how long this idea lasts).  Adi wants to direct movies (she even asked for a video camera for her birthday and was hinting at a green screen), design dresses, and learn to shuffle a deck of cards like a rainbow.

She loves Taylor Swift and her best friend Savanna.  They get together often and discuss Taylor Swift and they both wrote their Biography Book Report on her. 

Adi is a creative soul.  She is a friendship bracelet making machine and often raids my fabric supply to make a dress for Pipes (using staples and tape- awesome craftsmanship). 

She may be holding  Diary of a Wimpy Kid here, but her favorite kind of books are mysteries and ones about scary things, like Bailey School Kids. 

Miss Ad has what we call around these parts "Adi-tude".  She has her own, very opinionated, mind and has no problem arguing her thoughts.  Or screaming them, whichever one gets her the most attention at the time.   Adi likes having the last word.

My Adi is such an artistic soul.  She sees the beauty in the simple things, like a leaf that is crumpled and mushed, a landscape rock, or a crushed cracker on the floor in the shape of a flower.  She sees their potential and likes to share her treasures with her family. 

She creates stories and drawings, likes to write scripts for movies for Piper and her friends, designs costumes, loves to make cards, and draws designs on her homework incessantly.

Adi also is constantly evolving her tastes. Her favorite color once was pink.  Then it was blue. She flirted with green for a bit, but has now settled on purple.  This week.

On Monday her most favorite show is H20, Wednesday it's Good Luck Charlie, and by Friday they have all been usurped by Once Upon a Time.

She loves her iPod touch.

She likes swinging on the tree swing, puling Wyatt around in the wagon, shoving random things into random spots around the house, playing pranks, running on Mom's treadmill, jumping off the bed, putting her hair in ponytails, looking at the Oriental Trading Company catalogues, writing lists, controlling the remote, playing card games, drawing on cardstock, eating clementine oranges, shopping for free apps on her touch, wearing her Toms, playing school,checking the mail, planning parties, making cookies, and, best of all, she still likes to snuggle up to her old parents and telling them all about her day.

This little girl is bursting with life and is so eager to grow up and be able to live it.

But I just want to take her in my arms and hold her oh-so-smotheringly-close and preserve her innocence.  I don't want her to learn about the evils in this world.  Right now everything is black and white to her.  Right now people are good and bad guys just belong in stories and cartoons and are easily conquered. 

But, oh, I cannot explain the joy that I feel when I notice her maturing.  It's the little things like her taking a deep (albeit sarcastic) breath and counting instead of instantly blowing up at her siblings.  Or fixing her own plate of nachos.  Or even just watching her curled up on the couch reading a book that I had once enjoyed at her age.

My oh my, it is so difficult being a mom to this little girl.  Not because of her attitude, but because it is so hard for me to let go.  To trust that she can do new things.  To allow her to fall and pick herself back up, brush herself off and get back on the metaphorical horse.  She wants to be independent so badly and I just want her to be a good little dolly and sit in the corner and not move until I say it's ok. 

*sigh*

But she's growing and changing and becoming more beautiful, intelligent, radiant, and charismatic by the day.  I love her.  I love her.

I love her.

Happy birthday, Adi Baby.