His Heroes

Last Thursday was Merrick's 7th birthday, and we really had an awesome day. I love celebrating my kids' birthdays. It's probably a good thing I have a tight budget, or I'd spoil the heck out of these little people. I mean, like ponies and bouncy houses spoil them. Mom, stop embarrassing me kinda thing. But alas, I'm on a budget. And that's probably for everyone's good.

I did spoil him to the best of my poor folk ability, though. We had set aside a little bit to take him to see Marvel Live!, and it was like his dream come true. I mean, the guy was bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement. Ok ok, he bounces in his seat all the time, but he did grab me and planted a kiss right on my lips as a thank you. He knows I'm that mom who loves kisses, and plan on embarassing him for as long as he'll let me kiss him.

I didn't know who half of the superheroes were, but he knew every single one. He even knew all the names of the villains, who I'd never heard of either. There were motorcyles and pyrotechnics and spiderman flying around on his "webs", as well as about a million other little kids in costume. (Wolverine seemed to be a popular guy this year for someone who's so cranky.) Merrick seemed sold on wolverine, too, and desperately had to have a stuffed Wolverine to take home. Cuz when you think of cuddly you always think of an angry man with foot long claws, right? Right.

I always know we've hit the jackpot with Merrick when he tells us, "this was the best day of my life". He told me that as we were leaving the show. (I definitely agree. The day he was born is one of the best days of my life.) He says that a lot, but I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing it.

Seven.

Today is my Merrick Wilder's SEVENTH birthday. I really cannot wrap my mind around that. I so vividly remember so many things about being pregnant with him, and labor and delivery, that it seems like yesterday. I remember the first time I saw his face...that odd mix of feelings about this tiny person who grew in your belly, and their being so familiar and yet still a stranger. And then they gave me morphine and I didn't remember anything for a week. ;) Emergency c-sections will do that to a person.

Before I make myself cry and get too terribly sappy...here is his birthday interview!

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? That's easy...YOU!

2. What is your favorite color? That's easy, too...it's blue.

3. What is your favorite TV show? Shark week. (He's petrified of sharks.)

4. What is your favorite outfit? Jeans.

5. What sport do you like best? Sport...hmmm...soccer.

6. What song do you love? Yes. It's "Sailed". (He means Sail by Awolnation.)

7. What is your favorite cereal? Tony's! (That means Frosted Flakes.)

8. Who is your best friend? Caden. (His cousin.)

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? I wanna be what Luke and Jesse are...workers. They paint and work. (My uncle is a contractor.)

10. What is your favorite book? Narnia.

11. What are you really good at? Jumping. I mean climbing. (That's a no brainer.)

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation? To the beach.

13. What is your best memory? The time where we went to Nanny and Pop's and had a sleepover and watched Superman.

14. What would you buy if you had a lot of money? A motorcycle. (I've seen him ride his bike. Heck no.)

15. What food do you hate the most? Pineapple. I don't like it. It's crazy.

16. If you could have one wish, what would it be? I would wish for an iPad. (You can tell we don't do many electronics around here.)

17. Who is your biggest hero? What you mean my favorite superhero? Uh...Captain America. 

18. What is your favorite dessert? Ice Cream. Vanilla Ice Cream.

19. What is one of your favorite things to do? Help dad work and fix stuff.

20. What is one thing you hope you'll get for your birthday? Army men. (It's the little things.)

This kid. He melts my heart. He has the sweetest heart, the most boundless energy, the shortest attention span, the fewest front teeth, the most awesome hair, and gives the best back scratches and goodnight kisses. I love watching him grow, and hate it all at the same time. You're so precious to me, baby boy...I'll probably never get over how blessed I am to be your mama. Happy 7th birthday!

Entertained

This pretty little thing is growing up so fast! We have been able to enjoy her company so much more these days, as well as watching her start to enjoy the world around her a little bit. She has even decided that she doesn't absolutely hate these things called toys, and that her playmate actually isn't a means of torture.
She's been spotted playing and chatting with that baby in the mirror. Also grabbing at her toys and kinda looking a little shocked when she happens to snatch one. It's awesome to see her entertaining herself a little bit. And let's face it, if you can't manage to find entertainment around this place you're gonna lead a pretty boring life.
Love seeing you happy and playing little girl!

I Miss My Camera

I don't get to spend nearly enough time with my camera as I'd like. It always seems like if I pick it up, someone else who will remain nameless but we all know who she is, wants to be picked up. She's our pet diva. Except we already had one diva in this house...so here's to doing double diva duty for the foreseeable future. I'm trying not to imagine my home when these two girls are teenagers.

I can occasionally trick her into letting me take pictures by handing her to Merrick. (Unfortunately...her diva sister is too prone to spaz attacks to hold her and keep her calm.) Merrick is really good with her, though, and loves to hold her and help feed her. So if it seems like there are a lot of pictures of Merrick holding Amaryllis, but not Tirzah holding Amaryllis, now you know why. ;)

I so love photography. It's fallen to the back burner like so many other things...this blog, and sleeping, and eating, and having any type of free time, or showering. I know these full days are exactly the thing I want to document, though...so I'm going to make an effort to pick up my actual camera as opposed to my phone more often. 

Granted a lot of times by the time I get to the camera, whatever was happening isn't happening anymore. Like last night when we were having another daddy-works-all-night induced movie night, and all four kiddos were lined up on the floor and content. By the time I got the camera Amaryllis had lost her mind and was about to be voted off the island by all the siblings who now couldn't hear the movie.

Even though I didn't actually capture it in my camera...I know that image is going to be burned into my brain for the rest of my life. No, not the one of Amaryllis screaming...although that is definitely going to be burned into my brain...but the four of them, as little as they'll never be again, together and happy.

There are some things I am looking forward to hopefully catching with my camera again. But there are also the things, like that moment, where I know I just wont be able to capture just how precious this time with these kiddos really is, or how fast it's moving.

Picking Pumpkins with my People

Last weekend we had some pretty great weather. The hooligans have really been enjoying the cooler weather, and even without my asking, spend hours outside playing. (Even Tirzah, who is notorious for NOT wanting to go outside.) Tonight I had to tell them to come inside, because it was completely dark and they were still in the backyard.

We took advantage of the cool sunny weather, and went to pick pumpkins. Last time we did this, Jericho was a baby. Billy and I took turns carrying him in the carrier...and it was probably more of a workout than carrying all those pumpkins around. Amaryllis is a much more manageable load to carry through a pumpkin patch.

The patch we go to has an "all you can carry" deal for $20. I usually like to take full advantage of this, at Billy's expense. This year we ended up with 10 pumpkins...so I got my money's worth, and Billy got an arm workout. Win win.

I don't do anything fancy like cook anything pumpkin-related with all the spoils. (I ruin frozen pizza, remember?) These pumpkins will live a long and healthy life on the front porch, free from the fear that I will cook and eat them. I'm sure a kiddo or two will trip over them, but that's about the biggest worry they'll have.

I know everyone knows I hate cold weather...and I do. But I definitely don't mind spending a sunny afternoon with my people, and a bunch of pumpkins, celebrating this gorgeous season called Autumn. Ya know, the season before that one season we don't speak of in this house.