Eggs, eggs, everywhere!

On Saturday, we got together with our good friends, the Nortons to do some Easter celebratin'.

Here's little Casey Norton now...




Cute little stink, isn't he?

We dyed eggs,




(Adi moved around a lot)




(here's Casey and his Momma, Ayami)






and most of the dye made it on the eggs.

Like I said, most of the dye.



Then we had an egg hunt for the kiddos. And no, we didn't hike out to find some good ole' wilderness.

This is our backyard.



Porter-Pot wasn't interested in the egg hunt. He just wanted to ride his bike in circles.

"Okay, but you won't get any candy," I warned.

He just kept riding around and around.



I'm pretty sure he was thinking, "I'll just take the girls' candy when I want some."

Here's Pipes counting the many Easter erasers that she found.




And little Casey enjoying some nerds.



Checking out the goods...



And Wyatt slept through it all. Best. Baby. Ever.

It was a fun day and I am so happy that we live by these guys again!

Easter Finery

Last Sunday before church (you know those five minutes that your children look good... before someone spills juice on themselves or rubs their head along the floor just to mess up their hair?) I dragged the kiddos outside to get a picture of them in the Easter clothes.

Yes, these pictures have an incredible lack of effort in them (*ahem* thanks for pointing that out Dad), but for a Momma of four that has to get everyone ready and to church before 11 am and has to be there alone while the hubby is off earning the bread, I say I did pretty well.

And yes, that was one huge run-on sentence.




Ain't they cute?



I have to tell you that this pic is bittersweet for me. Adi and Pipes look so beautiful (at least in this Momma's eyes) that I swell with pride. But I also can glimpse the future young ladies that these two little girls will soon grow into. And I'm not ready for that.



My boys. Neither one would even look at me.

What stinkers.



I could not get this boy to cooperate with me. At all.



The funny thing about the girls is that whenever I pull out my camera, they both put their hand on their jutted out hip...



See, told ya!



And there's the Merrill kiddos in their bestest clothes.

Oh, and case you were wondering, we all survived church without Daddy.

I might have left a little bit of my sanity there, but still... we're all alive. Small blessings, right?

The Baby and His Siblings...

First off, isn't this the cutest pic ever? Piper wanted to know how I posed him like this.

I didn't. I sat him in the corner of the chair and his arm automatically went out like that.

Don't you just want to eat him up for breakfast?



I know that I've been a little absent from this blog lately. I've been a little bit buried underneath the mounds of laundry that comes with having a family of six.

Wow... six! I'm still a bit in shock.

Anywho, last night after bathing the bouncing baby boy, the girls were oohing and awing over the little dude wrapped up in his towel. Then Adi told me to get my camera because I had to get some pictures of this. That girl is bossy... wonder where she gets it from ;)




I did actually get a picture of Adi smiling, but she looks so much like OP here that I had to post this one.



And here's the boys.

I love how that sounds- "the boys".



Maybe one day I'll get back to my awesomely witty posts, but for now please enjoy the few pics I can get on here!

3 Months

Yep. It happened. Wyatt hit the three month mark.

Time really seems to be flying by!

Which reminds me, is anyone ready for Easter? 'Cause I'm not!

Anywho, Wyatt (as you can read on the pic above) is weighing in at 12.5 lbs and in 23.5" long. Both of those measurements are in the 25th percentile... not that you care, but I'm recording this for my own personal remembrance.

Wyatt adores his older siblings. If they dare to walk into his eyesight without addressing him, he'll stare at them and shout (which is really just a loud cooing sound) until they talk to him. He is still as mild mannered as ever... as long as I don't mess with his eating times!

He rolled over for the first time a couple of weeks ago and can no longer remain in the spot where I lay him down at. Clarky-Boy also loved talking to the TV. Horrible mom, right? But if I lay him down on the floor when the kiddos are watching a little Phineas and Ferb, Adi ends up turning the TV up so they can hear it over Wyatt cooing at the show.

Wyatt sleeps like a dream, and is as happy as can be no matter where he is: lying on the floor, in his swing, in the carseat, in his big brother's lap while being bounced around in every direction.

This kid is awesome.

I almost forgot

to share the invites to one of P.G.'s parties...




Vague much?

P.G.'s Bday, Part II

Because I make way too big of a deal out of my children's birthdays, Porter had a two-part birthday. The second part was supposed to take place in Thatcher with the Merrill family... unfortunately, Porter-Pot decided that his b-day weekend was a good time to get sick.

It was not.

So instead of getting ready to take a mini road trip the night before Porter's birthday, I was scrambling around to find some decorations for his viewing pleasure when he awoke the next morning ('cause I do way too much for kiddos birthdays, remember? Scroll through some past birthdays to see me hard at work, over-celebrating).

And here is what I came up with:







A little underwhelming after his last birthday decorations, right?

I did forget to make him a "birthday chair", so Piper created one fit for a buggy king:



And Porter chose chocolate-chip pancakes for his breakfast. With sugar. And whipped cream. Don't ever say we Merrills don't know how to celebrate a birthday breakfast.

Oh... and he got to watch "Shineas and Sherb" (how Porter pronounces "Phineas and Ferb") while eating. A real treat around these here parts.



For lunch, we got McDonalds and went to a park for a Porter kind of picnic.

And no, you can never have too many "How old are you?" pictures.



That night we had our friends David, Ayami, and Casey over for pizza. Since they were already sick, we thought it would be fun to combine all of our germs and see what we came up with.

Here's lil' Casey. He loves coming to our house to play with Porter, but I suspect he is just using P.G. for his toys...



And look! Mom remembered the candles. Miracles do happen!



And yes, those are ice cream sandwiches. Porter doesn't like cake, remember?

One windy day...

we thought we'd have a bug party for Porter's 4th birthday at the park.



But the wind blew.

And blew.

And blew. (Just look at the balloons... can you tell?)



We used giant, plastic bugs for weights to hold down the plates, napkins and food. And then we had to keep the plastic on all the food so it wouldn't fly away.



But we could still play basketball (or at least Whit, Chris and the kiddos played).



Porter mostly just played in the sand with his trucks.



Here's lil' Leland and his Daddy (otherwise known as my big bro).



The kiddos got bug nets and went on a bug hunt for glow-in-the-dark buggies (thank you Target Dollar Section).



Actually, only the girls searched for bugs, Porter was too busy playing with his trucks!





Everyone ran to their cars and searched from jackets to protect them from the stinking wind.



And Porter played in the sand some more...



We went back to Nana's house for the dessert, which was not cake since Porter-Pot does not like cake (strange, strange child). Instead we had dirt cups.

I apparently threw away Porter's candles, so we pretended that he blew them out after we sang to him.



Total awesomeness, right? Did I mention that Porter was sick here too? He has something called reactive airway disease, which likes to flare up when he gets a cold. Which he had... and we just found out he had strep throat too.

Poor guy!

My Lil' Golfer

Yesterday My baby boy Porter-Pot turned 4.

Now, I know that he technically is not my baby boy anymore.

I know that, but I don't feel it.



For a long while, Porter was the baby. The last one.

And I held onto him. I might have tried to keep him a baby for longer than he should have been, but I couldn't help it.

And now that Mr. Wyatt has joined us, I'm trying my hardest to let go.

But it ain't easy.



P.G. is all-boy. He likes big trucks, airplanes, ropes, guns, tools and golf. He loves watching Phineas and Ferb, Fireman Sam, and Mighty Machines (if you have a boy, buy this show. And thank me later).

He eats almost nothing... "lunchables"- which is lunch meat rolled up served with chips- hot dogs, and chicken. Pretzels, "fishy" crackers, corn on the cob (and on the cob only) and marshmallows are mainly what you munch on. No bread, pasta, fruit, beef... but he will eat Mahi Mahi.



This past year was amazing watching this little guy develop from the baby I was making him into the boy that he is. No more sitting on my lap while we're catching up on Scooby Doo- now he sits on the ground with his trucks laying around him and every once in a while glances up at the TV. No more holding my hand in the store, now he climbs on the front of the cart and windsurfs.

And he's started calling my "mudder"- which is mother in Porter-talk.




Yet, when I get home after leaving him, he still runs to me, throws his little arms around my neck and says, "I missed you!" Talk about melting your heart.

He still wants to give me kisses and picks me wildflowers. And he loves watching me sew.



But now he prefers Dad over me. He wears his hat with his sunglasses on the brim like Dad. He pushes his Little Tykes lawnmower behind Dad when he mows the weeds... I mean grass. He wants to fix things, kill the ants, start the car... just like Dad. Dad, Dad, Dad. That's what Porter is all about.

Yet he stills loves helping me cook (mostly because he likes stealing licks when my back is turned) and he always comes running when I'm unloading the dishwasher.



Porter's three favoritist hobbies are: 1) Teasing his sisters. 2) Loving Wyatt. 3) Teasing his sisters. He loves to hear the girls scream. He also just wants their attention, and when they ignore him, I am sure to hear a yell of pain soon after. But he loves his baby brother.



Porter likes to make people laugh. Whether it's telling the same old knock-knock joke over and over, or reenacting someone's moment of embarrassment, Porter will not stop until everyone is laughing (or at least forcing a chuckle out).




Ever since Aunt Whitney let him play with her stethoscope, Porter has wanted to be a doctor.

And my guess is that if that's what he really wants to be, he'll do it. This kid has more concentration and dedication than I have- just watch him tie his knots, or line up a shot in golf, or beg for a bag of chips at 8 o'clock in the morning. The kid won't stop until he either has what he wants or is in time out for throwing a mega-fit when told no (I'm talking about the chips).



I'm trying to sum up this little boy in this one post, but that just is not possible (especially when he is is the other room making his big sister cry).

My friend posted this quote on Facebook the other day, and I fell in love with it:

"Little boys come in all shapes and sizes,

Shy and adventurous, full of surprises,

With misshapen halos and mischievous grins,

Small dirty faces, and sweet, sticky chins.

They'll keep you so busy, and yet all the while

Nothing can brighten the world like their smile.

And no greater treasure has brought homes more joy

Than a curious, active, and lovable boy!"

Porter is my little rascal with the face of an angel and the fit-throwing ability of a champion. He makes me smile so much my cheeks hurt one minute, than pull my hair out in frustration the next.

Porter is "Poder Gwant Merrow".

And that is all I ever want him to be.