B.F.F.L.

So, my girls happen to have the bestest best friends that any mom could ask for.

Seriously.  I love them both.

They are pretty much my fifth and sixth child (and these girl's mom share partial custody of my daughters as well). 

The best part of it all?  When all four girlies get together, they play so stinking well together, no fighting.  How often does that happen?! 

Let's take this day for example.  They all came down, dressed to the nines, and begged me take some pictures of them outside.  How can a mom say no to that?

She can't, I tell you!

These two are both so full of imagination, girliesness, and spitfire, sometimes it's hard to believe they get along so well.  Luckily, it isn't always opposites that attract, but similars.  

These two are also cut from the same cloth (albeit there is a slight size difference).  A bit timid and (shall we say) emotional, but also so full of heart and fun.  A bit of sassiness thrown in too.

Thank heavens for best friends.

To the farm we go

We had Spring Break last week. 

And I was pretty desperate to find things that would entertain four stir-crazy kiddos.

I remembered Superstition Farm that we visited last year with cousins.  And it just so happened that they were having a free-admission day the very next morning (unless you wanted to do anything, then you had to pay). 

We brought a couple of friends with us,

 The kiddos rode the hayride.  By themselves.  Probably not my best idea ever.

 Apparently, Wyatt cried a lot since he wanted to be set free to run around.

We did the "petting zoo",

And snapped a few pics on the tractor,

And went on a stroll through... a garden, maybe?

But the piled-extraordinarily-high hay bales that were awesome to jump off of were no longer there.  And the whole farm was really kinda disappointing. 

Good thing we didn't have to pay :)

So we ate and ditched.

And played at the park instead.

You win some, you lose some.  At least we were in good company.

And we got out of the house for a few hours.

*Bang, Bang*

We like to go shooting.

Because we're Merrills, that's why.

There happens to be a patch of desert kind of near us that is perfect for us to get our boom on.

Of course, it's a nasty, dirty, dumpy kind of place.

I will never understand why people drive out to the middle of nowhere to dump their disgusting trash.

Anywho, Orrin says that as long as it is out there, we may as well use it for target practice.

And that's exactly what we did.

Orrin really likes that his kids enjoy the whole gun thing almost as much as he does.

(Have I mentioned that I don't really care for shooting guns? It freaking hurts)

But the Mini Merrills are into it.  Let's not discuss the fact that my children are tougher than I am, ok?

 OP invited one of his besties along with (who am I kidding?  He is my husband's bro-date.

 Hey ladies, Jonathon is single :)

Jonathon set up a glass bottle on a stick and told the kiddos that the person to shoot it first would win five bucks.

Miss Pips, the next Annie Oakley, hit it.

The girls did more shooting,

The boys did some playing.

And then we ate lunch at Subway.