At War with Scissors...

Let me begin by explaining why I loathe scissors. Handy tool, yes. But they are also the means to so much mess and destruction around these-here parts. If the girls spy a pair of kiddie ones, then they assume that they were created for the sole purpose of becoming a part of their arsenal.

I wish I was joking.

Anywho, I have pretty much extinguished all kiddie scissors, except for one pair that I use for bow making. I keep this pair hidden in the top drawer of my crafts, pushed all the way back in the very farthest corner.

This however, does not stop Piper.

Yesterday, she appeared and asked me what was different about her face. My highly-attuned eyes quickly searched for traces of my make-up smeared across her beaming face. Nothing.

"Ummm... are you smiling super-bright today?" I asked, already dismissing what she was trying to show me.

"No. Well, yes, but no. Look at my hair."

I barley glance up. "It looks absolutely wonderful."

"Thanks. Mom, why did you hide my scissors in your room."

That statement made me stop dead. I counted to ten, looked up, and immediately saw what I had missed previously. A large chunk of her bangs was missing.

"I don't like it when you pull my hair back in front." She said with a shrug.

And so I had to pull some hair from further back and trim it up to hopefully cover some of her butchered job.

And she hates it even worse than when I pull her hair "back in front".

;)

A Day at the Beach

Dear Daybreak People,

Thank you so much for making this day possible. Even though we don't technically live in your neighborhood (and by technically I mean not at all), and do not contribute to the maintenance of this beach, we appreciate you opening your welcome arms to our family.

It was lovely and we will see you again soon.

-The Merrills

P.S. Do yo think that you could possibly do something about the bees? They were crawling all over our chilled sugary-drinks.

*Right after OP killed said bee with his kung-fu hat skills*

Daddy's Girl

One more creation to share with ya'all today (and then I really must do some chores).

I was sorting through some of our clothes for a yard sale a couple months ago and came across a couple of OP's shirts that no longer *ahem* fit him. I especially loved a certain button up-polo shirt and just hated the idea of selling it for 50 cents.

Then I thought about the Pioneer Motto:

Fix it up.
Wear it out.
Make it do,
Or do without.

Honestly, I am not one who usually adheres to this policy, but I was feeling a bit on the adventurous side that day and came up with this:

The Daddy's Girl Shirt

How very dramatic, I know.

It only took a few hours, some sweat, and a more than a little grumbling. But there it is.

I saved the buttons down the front, the short sleeves and detached the collar from the original shirt. Then, using one of the girls sleeveless shirts as a guide, I cut out the main part of the shirt over said-buttons then gathered up the sleeves and re-attached them (and added small elastic into a sewn-in casing on the arms).

I then took a fat quarter of fabric that I had laying around and sewed in three small casings into which went some more small elastic.

The neck line was the trickiest part, and I had to redo it about 5 times- and it still ain't perfect- but after re-attaching the collar, it all turned out pretty well.

This all may sound simple, but I think my un-picker may be out of commission after this project!

And just so you don't start thinking that I left my princess-cowgirl out, Miss Piper also has one made from another of OP's ill-fitting tops too- just no picture of it at this time.

Funning Around...

Today is Clown Day in Pip's class. The teacher invited all the kiddies to dress up as, well, clowns.

This presented a conundrum for Piper.

Everyhting in her tiny little body screams to be pretty. She loves to wear all things sparkly, pink, and princessy (yes, that is a word... now). So when her teacher (whom she loves) tells her to dress like a clown in miss-matching clothes and crazy hair, Piper is a bit torn.

I came across this rainbow-ish fabric at Walmart and immediantly thought of my baby girl. It just looked like her. And thus, the clown-fairy-princess dress was born.

I used the same idea as the these dresses that I had made previously (which was not easy with this organza-ish material), and created a giant flower to cover up a couple mistakes in the front of the dress.

**And, if you look closely, you can see the long strings that I forgot to cut off. My ninth grade sewing teacher would so flunk me if she saw my horrible finishing job.**

That was as clowinsh as she would go. No mis-matching shoes, no funny clown face-paint.

Ain't she a cutie?

Lagoon Day!!

Some pics:


(Adi thinks that she is too big to ride the "baby" rides, but she is still 2" too short to ride the big rollercoasters. Sorry baby!)




Whit and Chris...



And the ever-elusive pic of my Dad...

You can't help but love this little stink...

It may seem that in light of the girls starting their new education adventures, Porter has fallen a bit out of the limelight. But I assure you that this boy is standing strong in everyone's hearts (especially since Aunt Whit and Uncle Chris have been here a'visitin')...

Whit and Porter (I'm pretty sure he was getting ready to ask for a treat here)


Nana and Porter (Nana had just given him a big bag of Circus Peanuts)


Chris and Porter (maybe searching for where the Peanuts went?)


And I just fell in love with this pic when I saw it (thanks Whit)

Now that the girls are out of the way in the morning, Porter has all the time in the world to bask in the glory of undivided attention!

She may be a small fry...

but this girl packs a punch!

I had the privilege of monitoring Piper from the car while she played on the little Kindergarten playground this morning (we were waiting for her teacher to let the class in).

A big ole' boy who was probably twice Pipe's size (no joke), walks up to her and smacks her and her little friend with his backpack.

Her friend ran away, but not Piper. Never.

She grabbed her friends bag, and armed with a Princess and a Camp Rock backpack, Piper swings them both around like a gladiator champion and brings them down onto the bully's head.

Grinning all the while.

The boy rubs his head, stares at Piper in confusion, and then walked away.

I think he just might have learned a lesson.

The Big 5

Happy Day, Pippy!

Fancy Pipey's Tea Party

Remember this post with the invite? Well, it finally happened. Piper's surprise party.

So much work. Soooo much work.

Here's what Piper found when Aunt Whit and Nana brought her home from the movies:

(it had her party dress, Fancy Nancy crown, shoes and a boa)

And her reaction when everyone jumped out:

Ain't that the cutest thang ever?!

I had to fancy-up the dining room a bit. The lovely chairs (and the flower is a pen):

The place settings:

And the fanciest girlies ever:

My momma, Whitney and I were the "servers" and I think we all walked about 5 miles circling this table with trays of food and the "tea" (pink lemonade).

Yep, we had flower-shaped sandwiches, cucumbers, strawberries and cream, cheese cubes on fancy toothpicks...

*sigh*

Along with the 7-layer cake, the girls got their own parfait menus ('cause according to Fancy Nancy, parfait is a fancy word for ice cream). Yummm....

Piper opening Adi's gift (priceless pic, thanks Whit):

And what did the boy do while this party was happening:

(he's still running around screaming and working off the sugar)

What did you wish for Pipes?

"I don't know."

The girls were then sent home with goodie bags full of rings, necklaces, bracelets, bubblegum, ring pops, nail polish, lip gloss and leftover cookies (sounds expensive, but please remember I am the ultimate cheap shopper).

And then Whit and I had a wonderfully-huge mess to clean up.

Well, Whitney cleaned while I pretended to. Glad you're here, Whit.

Dear Adison,

Kindly remember not to stash your dirty clothes and mis-matching shoes under your bed. I had to use a broom handle to swipe your "collection" out today. And then had to wash all of them due to the amount of dirt that has collected on them (how long have they been under there?).

Thanks
Mom

And what did Porter do while his sister's were away at school?

Hung out with me, Mater, Lightning, and the driveway.

This is going to take some adjusting.

Piper's BIG Day

We've been counting down to this day for about six months now (the last few days have been intense). And it has now finally happened.

Piper started Kindergarten.

*Choke*

She loves her teacher. She loves learning new things.

And she loves the pink toilet in the girls' bathroom.

She loved it.

I, on the other hand, might have had a bit of a difficult time dealing.

But, I am dealing...

Sort of.

A great truth

This afternoon was a difficult one for me.

All I wanted to do was do a little light shopping at a few of my favorite stores. I wanted to quietly enjoy Hobby Lobby, Kohls and Target. Please.

Unfortunately, my kiddos had other plans which did not include either quiet or shopping.

So, while I was in the throes of my anger and frustration, an unfriendly truth slapped me in the face:

My greatest stress and my greatest pride in this world are the same thing-

When my children insist upon doing things their own way.

They say it's your birthday....

Well Happy to you!


And that's to OP, not Adi.

It has happened.

Adi started 1st grade this morning.

Sure, she already did the whole Kindergarten thing and you would think that I would be over the whole separation-anxiety thing.

But she's going full day. 7 HOURS. I hate to sound obvious, but that is ALL DAY!

Adi got up this morning buzzing with excitement. She helped packed her lunch and washed her face without being asked.

She stared at the clock all morning long, given me minute-by-minute updates of how long we have until she HAS to go.

She said that she didn't want me to walk her to where her class lines-up, even though every other parent got to *sniff*.

So I drive up to the appointed drop-off place, watch as my little girl climbs out of the car, slams the door and ventures into a new world.

Unfortunately, the parents behind me did not understand the highly-poignant moment I was experiencing and began honking for me to move on. So I did, wondering why I am always being forced to move past these type of things.

But I drove through the line-up of cars again to catch one last glimpse of my tiny girl. To make sure that she was all right, and not crying for her mommy (she wasn't).

And then I left her to experience her wonderful, grand adventure.