Pre-preteen

Everyone likes cruising around in Daddy's truck.  Not because it's awesome, but because it only seats five peeps total, so if all the kids go with one of the parents, someone gets to sit in the front seat (no airbags, of course).

I dragged all the kiddos with me to pick up a crib the other day, and, after getting ourselves some dollar menu nuggets and fries (thank you Wendys.  How would I feed me brood on-the-go without you?), we set off into Mesa.

Now, for the next part of the story, you have to know that I believe in that old saying, "Music calms the angry beast."  Meaning, I turn on music in the car.  I turn it up and, as long as I don't play any church music ("It's not Sunday Mom!") my kids stay quiet, they usually don't fight, and I avoid one of those headaches that start down in my neck.

I tell you all of this so you know why I didn't notice for a week that Adi had taken a series of photos on my phone.  of herself.  with chicken nuggets.  sitting next to me.

In all honesty, I blame the moments she sneaks up behind me when I'm perusing Facebook.  Or society.  Or the Disney Channel.   Anyone but me (honestly, can you see me doing this?).

These are only a selection of the photos she left me on my phone. 

I look at these and think *gasp*, "She's knocking on the preteen years, which means she's almost a teen,  which means my life is going to get drastically more difficult."

Which means I should probably get off the computer and go play with my little girl while she's still interested in hanging with me.

Adjustments

No, they're not for sale.

They are mine, all mine.  Well, and Orrin's too. 

There's been a bit of a hole in our days since these sassy girls have left us to venture into the world of higher learning (thank you, Charter School!).  Porter and I are shuffling activities around, trying to figure out how to fill the hours until our pony-tailed buddies get back home  and Mr. Wyatt is wondering why he doesn't have a gaggle of servants run to him whenever he squeaks. 

But we are adjusting, and I am no longer getting teary-eyed when I come across one of the girls' lipglosses.  Until Orrin pointed out that in one short year I'll be dropping off three children at school and how will I then fill my day?

I answered him by bursting into tears. 

I can still blame these emotions on postpartum, right?

Orrin then tried to make me feel better by reminding me that in five years, I'll get to have the days all to myself and I'll be able to go back to school, take art classes, or just plain lay around if I want to.

He's lucky that I was buried under a (rather large) pile of laundry, or he might have been sporting a black eye at work later.

One more, I promise...

We all know that I am waaaay too into birthdays, so you will excuse me if I post once more about Pipes?

Thank you.

Here is what my Pipes found sitting in the living room when she woke up on her actual birthday:

And she was so excited that she begged to ride it before we left for school. 

Miss Pips wanted these Cookies and Cream Cupcakes,  I tried my best, Bakerella.

Yes, I completely missed the blowing-out-her-candle action shot. 

Shame on me.

I had to post this last pic of Piper reading to Wyatt.  Orrin snapped it a few nights ago (and even though it has Porter's hair down in the corner) and I wanted to show what a real sweetie my girl is.

Isn't she lovely?

Ah, Pipes.



Look how she's grown. She is amazing, this little girl of mine. I tell her that she has a magic smile 'cause when she smiles at you, you can't help but grin back.



I bet you smiled at that picture, right?

Piper is my little girl of opposites. She is so girly that it's pathetic. If there is something pink and glittery anywhere in a room, no matter how small, Piper will find it. She loves wearing dresses, skirts, make-up, jewelery (she accessorizes for bed), high-heeled shoes and feathery headbands. Her favorite activity is playing barbies or painting her nails, and she loves watching all the girly shows she can find on Netflix.



But she's also my little daredevil. She watched her sister wreck on the motorcycle and she still demanded Orrin to teach her how to ride. She climbs the backyard tree until the branches begin to sway with her weight and her mommy screams for her to get down. She builds slides out of blankets from her top bunk down to the ground. She wipes out on her rollerblades and stands up with blood streaming down from her knees and a smile on her face and convinces me that she's fine to skate for just a minute more.



Piper loves her brothers. We call her Little Mama around this house. She is the first person to run to Wyatt when he blubbers and always loves Porter better when his feelings get hurt. She includes everyone in her games and demands fairness and justice.

And yet she swears that she isn't going to be a Mom.

Because the vacuuming is too hard.




This little lady loves to dance. And to sing. And most especially to dance and sing. Especially if there is a reflective surface in front of her. Or sometimes if Mom hooks her camera to the T.V. and starts recording... well she could spend her entire day performing to an audience of just herself.



She loves playing video games. Any kind of video game. If my iTouch goes missing, I know who exactly is hidden under her covers in bed trying to beat just one more level of Angry Birds. And if I'm looking for a really good punishment, I confiscate her Nintendo DS. She will do just about anything to keep that thing in her possession.




Piper isn't always sunshine and daisies. She has her moments. As seen here, when she just plain didn't like the poses I was trying to get her to do. Or if Adi wants to read a book instead of play with her. Or I make her redo her chores because she rushed through cleaning the bathroom and left toothpaste in the sink.

Pips will only do something if she thinks that she should. As long as she sees the logic in it, she'll do it, no matter how much she may hate it. But if she can't find a suitable purpose... well, it's time for mommy to take a time-out, 'cause it often turns into Battle of the Wills.



Little Miss Piper Pauline is wonderful. I am eagerly watching my Pink Daredevil morph into a compassionate, intelligent young woman. What a mighty young lady she is on her way to be!




Happy 7th birthday, my Piper Pauline.

Oh, and please stop growing up.

7 whole months

Boy. Time really does fly.




And this boy has gotten B. I. G.




We've taken to calling him "Tank".



Appropriate, right? Wyatt is as big as most of the one-year-olds at church. No lie.



But he's just as sweet and cuddly as a teddy bear, and just about as quiet as one too. He's starting to teethe now, so he has his ornery moments (mostly at church), but he still is spectacular.

He also completely adored by his siblings.



He's crawling now, slowly but surely. He also loves playing with the computer keyboard, hot wheels, his See n' Say and anyone's toes that he can get a hold of.

I love this little man.

Back to School.

Yep, already.



And this year the girlies are rocking uniforms.



No, Porter-Pot is not in school yet. I'm teaching him pre-school at home so he wanted to get his picture taken with his loaded-down Lightning McQueen backpack.



And just because they're wearing uniforms, doesn't mean we can't accessorize.



Headbands, belts and bracelets all created by my glue-gun burned hands.



Adi is venturing into 3rd grade.



That means cursive, division and only one recess.




Miss Pips is starting 2nd grade.



Multiplication, long subtraction and no more mid-morning snacks in class.



Look how innocent my lil' sweeties are:



Every morning, all of the students line up outside while they do flag ceremony. They sing a song, say the pledge (and yes, they include "under God") and then have a moment of silence.



Once we got to the school, this is all I saw of Adi:



She's way too cool to hang out by Mom.

Porter entertained himself by snapping pics of Wyatt with Nana's camera.



I deliberated over whether or not to send the girlies to another new school. I didn't want to make them change schools again, but I also DID NOT like their other school. But this charter school requires parents to volunteer at least 12 hours per school year, so I figured that there would be more involved parents which would then equal better taken care of kiddos.

Just walking onto their campus and seeing the kids at this new school reassures me that I made the right decision!

A very hot birthday

Little Miss Pip's 7th birthday is Tuesday, and since starts tomorrow for us, we threw her a bash on Saturday. And we had it at the pool.

Best place for a party when your birthday is in August and you live in a desert.



And, if you took the time to read the invite, we ended up swimming instead of playing in the splash pad.

Best scheduling mix-up ever.

Here is the birthday girl anxiously awaiting her guests:



And no, she didn't wait for them to arrive before she dove into the refreshing water.

And waiting some more...



Since I am a sunshiney morning person, I decided everyone else should be too, so we had a breakfast.

Hello beautiful Costco muffins (the best muffins in the world, right here).



Oh, and some fruit too. Apples, oranges and grapes. Oh my.




And because I didn't want anyone to get dehydrated, we had three buckets of these:



Unfortunately, ice melts pretty stinkin' fast here in Arizona, so they were only icy cold for about a half-an-hour, and then you had to dive down to the bottom of the bucket to find the chilled ones.

Here's the one and only decoration (out of the bazillion I had made) that actually got hung up.

Note to self: tape does not stick to stucco.



And here's my happy little servant, err, sister attempting to tape my fancy-schmancy crepe paper up in the 100 degree weather.

Doesn't she look so happy?



Mr. Wyatt, ever the perfect baby, just chilled in the stroller.



For her cake, we stuck the glittery candles into a double chocolate muffin. The fans were busy circulating the ridiculous heat, so they kept putting the flames out before I could get all of the candles lit. So I had Piper pretend to blow them out.



Just because I thought this picture was so cute- even if it is blurry. This is Porter and his gold buddy.



Opening gifts with all of her assistants.



The guys were really interested in the party.



I forced most of the kiddos to line up for this shot:



So I could turn it into this:



*keep your fingers crossed that I'll actually mail these babies out*

I had some fun little goody bags that I failed to take any pictures of, but here's the graphic:



I tied this to a little cellophane bag filled with Laffy Taffys and glitter bouncy balls.

What did I learn from this party? Bring a swimsuit to the next pool party we have.