I love this dork...

Even with a nasty cold sore on his lip.

A Last Minute Campaign

A couple of weeks ago, right as we were in the trenches prepping for this, Adi came home with a pink-colored paper from school.

"Mom, I want to run for Secretary at school."

Umm... my first thought was: "No you don't.  You might loose."

Then I remembered that I didn't want to pass my own insecurities onto my children.  You know, wanting better for them and all that jazz?  "OK, sweetie.  We'll focus on this next week.  Right now we have to get ready for the Baptism shindig."  And yes, I always speak that calmly to my children (just don't ask them about it).

"But Mom?  I have to have two posters made by Monday."

And it was Thursday.

Friday we had family coming to stay and Saturday was Pipe's baptism.

"We'll make it work.  I promise."  Just so you know: "I promise" are two of the most dangerous words that you can ever say to a child.

Once the multitudes evacuated our house that Saturday night, we took some pictures.

And made a last-minute trip for supplies to Staples and Target (because who goes to Walmart when you can go to Target?).

Luckily we had enough family still hanging around to help us make these:

It should be mentioned that Piper did more work on the posters than Adi did.

It should also be mentioned that I forgot to take pictures of the poster with my awesome camera and the lens of my old iPhone just ain't doing it anymore.

Adi took them to school and taped them to the hall for all to stare at.

I think she enjoyed the fame these posters awarded her for the week.

Another little detail about running for student council?  She had to give a speech in front of the entire elementary school.  I may have panicked at this for Adison.  The whole school?  How horrible!

But Adi just shrugged and said, "Will you help me write it?"  Also: I am slightly a control freak.  And it's very hard to not be a control freak when helping my daughter write a speech.

In the end, it all came together, and I followed her to school one Wednesday morning to listen to her give it.

Thank goodness for best friends.

Who else would help you keep in the variety of pens ad pencils your mom hurriedly stuck into your bun while standing in the parking lot?

That sentence was a mess.

And yes, I looked like a total creeper: standing away from a group of young children. taking tons of pictures.

The moment came:

And she rocked it.

 Proud Mama Bear!

I had to include this pic that I snapped of Pipes as she was heading into class.

It was a tense three days, waiting to hear whether Adi would be the next secretary or not.

But Friday, the last part of school, the announcement came.

And yes, I made her go outside right after she woke up to take these pictures.  She went home from school with a friend yesterday and OP and I were out getting our double date on when she decided to join her family again, so I didn't get the chance to on election day.

I have to say how amazed I am at this little girl's (for lack of a better word) grit.  She never got nervous, she never was embarrassed, she never wanted to quit.  Even when her running mate told her that if Adi won, they would no longer be friends.

Oh yeah, things got serious at the elementary school.

Adi asked me why she would say that, since it was just a school election.  I told her that the little girl was just worried about loosing and sometimes worry makes people act mean.  So Adi decided that she would still be her opponent's friend no matter what.

After I called Orrin to share our daughter's awesome news, and after we both burst with pride and congratulated each other on having such a stupendous daughter, Orrin brought me back to real life:

"So, how much more work is this going to be for you?"

Aw, crap.

*Toot, Toot*

Prepare yourself for some unabashed tooting of my own horn. It's gonna get loud.

The first report cards of the year just came in.

And it was all smiles at the Merrill house.  I saw so many "A"s and "O"s that I fell asleep with those letters dancing under my eyelids.

Because of their stellar grades (oh yeah- I just said stellar), all three of kiddos came home proudly carrying official certificates.

Adi received Principal's Pride and Most Respectful.

I'm pretty sure that she should have received "Biggest Nerd" also.

Piper brought home Honor Roll and Most Respectful also (she was bumped down to Honor Roll since she pulled in a "B" in math. Darn Saxon math facts).

I personally think that this Most Respectful is more important than the academic awards.  It's proof that my kiddos are decent people.  And what mom doesn't want cold, hard proof of that?

And Mr. Porter Pot received Principal's Pride too.

And, boy-oh-boy, that grin hasn't left his face.

These beauties were taped onto their new places of honor.

The front of the pantry doors.

And now this Mama Bear's face cracks into a gigantic grin every time I walk into the kitchen.

Go Merrill Kiddos, go!

Her Day

So this happened a couple of weeks ago. 

I remembered to take a few more pics of this occasion (unlike Adi's)... but I still didn't take too many.  I get a little wrapped up in the hostessing part and forget about the preserving memories part. Maybe by Wyatt I'll be able to capture the event...

Yeah, probably not.

Piper was so excited to finally get to join her sister in the rank of "baptized".

Also to wear this dress and these shoes.

 

She was even more excited to put this jumper on and have her Daddy walk her into the waters of baptism.

These events really are horrible for my make-up.  Seriously.  Especially when I forget to buy waterproof mascara. Seriously- I looked like a raccoon.

Piper lucked out and was the only kiddo baptized in our ward that day.   Which was awesome to be able to just have our family there to hog the whole program.

But, then, I realized that it was just our family.  To do the entire program.

Yikes.

A big thank you to all of you who rescued us last minute and helped out with the program. I am pretty sure that in a few years when all of these people have kiddos that are about to be baptized... payback will be coming my way.

And yes, she has a lot of aunts and uncles.

We headed back to the size-of-a-postage-stamp Merrill Manor for pizza and the trimmings.

And we can't forget about the cookie bar. 

Funny story about this here cookie bar: I asked a lot of people to bring cookies.  So we ended up with nine different trays overflowing with cookies. For about thirty people.  I spent the party forcing people to eat more sugar.

You're welcome.

I only snapped one pic of the guests (because I am a total dork), and it was of our Marshall cousins that had just moved down here from Utah. Hurray for family moving so close!

My friend Ayami snapped this pic of the young boys playing on the tramp.

Gotta love these kids.

And Pipes and Rylee hanging out.

For all of our awesome family who came and are not pictured on here: I am so so sorry. I feel like an ungrateful brat.

Just know that I will make up for it at Porter's baptism in a few years.  And if not then, I'll be sure to get you at Wyatt's!

Where oh where

Lately, life has been a bit busy.  No time for picture taking, no time for reflection, no time for thinking... and no time for blogging.

Yes, the girls being in two different dance classes each is time consuming.  Porter having half-day kindergarten with a mini-pile of homework each day and baseball on the weekend is hard.  Adi is running for student council, Piper just joined her big sis in Activity Girls, after school clubs for the three eldest, play dates, doctor appointments, dentists, trying to buy a house (should it really be this hard?), Orrin's new job and new promotion, insurance stuff, extended family stuff... life has been coming hard at me lately and sometimes I feel like a sloppy juggler trying to keep a myriad of balls rotating in the air.

Those are wonderful excuses, you are probably thinking, but that's life.  And you are so very true.  The one major difference is my days that leaves me incredibly drained and so mind-numbingly tired that I cannot even sit in front of a computer even when I have a spare moment: a toddler.

This toddler, to be exact.

Little Wyatt has yet to reach his second birthday, and yet his terrible twos have taken this house by storm.  The little stinker has figured out how to open every single door in this house (including the sliding back door and the garage door that Adi can only open on a good day) and how to unlock them all- with a bobby pin from the other side of the door. Wyatt is quite the masterful lock picker.  He has also mastered the art of pulling open the fridge and freezer and opening the OtterPops and chewing through every single string cheese (still in the wrapper) before anyone notices the cold draft coming from the kitchen.  He pulls on the child-lock on the pantry until it snaps off and then he plays how-many-chips-and-fruit-snacks-can-I-stuff-into-my-mouth-before-Mom-sees game. Very entertaining for him.  Not so much for me.

Wy-Fi figured out how to climb onto the trampoline outside.  And when his siblings move the chair away to hinder his jumping practice, he pushes his little red and yellow car over and uses that to hoist himself up.  Terrifyingly funny story: Adi was holding Wyatt's hand, jumping on the tramp the other day.  When they were done, Adi jumped down and turned around to pull Wy off.  Before she had the chance, he backed his little booty up to the edge of the tramp, grabbed a hold of the bar, and jumped backwards off of the tramp, in a move that pretty much solidified his place on the USA Olympic gymnastic team in a few years.  I was watching this from the kitchen window, and before I got myself out of the door to stop him, he was dangling from the bar and grinning at my panicked scream.  We are watching him a heck-of-a-lot closer when he's out there these days.

His fits are rather unbelievable.  He doesn't so much scream, as he is too busy walking around throwing and kicking everything in sight.  If that doesn't attract enough attention for him, he will fall down and start hitting his head into the floor.

Yeah.  My kid's a wierdo.

Wyatt unplugs the computer at least twice a day, pulls off his diaper and runs butt-naked around the house, gets into his sister's make up and rubs red lipstick all over the walls and carpet, breaks the blinds, pulls hair, refuses to eat anything that could be considered healthy, screams when anyone but  myself picks him up, sneaks into his sisters' room and throws all of their clothes from their dresser drawers onto the floor, tries to release his brother's pet frogs into the wild (aka our house)...

He's just so incredibly busy that I stay incredibly busy trying to either a) entertain him or b) clean up after him.

Let's just say nap time and bed time is strictly enforced around here.

And yet...

when the horrible little monster decides to smile,

my heart melts, my anger vanishes, and I am so, so grateful that this busy little boy is in our family.

He is our family's clown.  He'll do anything to get us laughing (wearing a pink tutu while dancing, for example), and loves being the center of attention. He loves playing trucks with his big brother, building blanket forts with his sisters, watching UP, playing with balloons, drinking gallons of water a day... but most of all, this kid loves being outside.

So, to all of my faithful followers (that's you, Whit and Mom), I am trying to get back on here with some kind of frequency.

And if I go a week or two without  posting, just assume that Wyatt has learned how to start the car on his own or maybe how to climb onto the roof.