When Boredom Meets Frugality

I didn't really want to leave the house today, and we were waiting for the cable guy to come fix the Internet and the phone, and Laura wanted bangs, and I have this hair clipper thing . . .


James (he now has a very neatly trimmed head of what you might imagine to be hair)


Jack (too shy to take before or after pictures, and I seriously could have done a better job on him, but he was a little grumpy),

Laura (who unlike her brother loved her haircut experience, was thrilled to take as many pictures as my media card would hold, and spoke about all the joy her new bangs have added to her life for hours afterward)




Apparently, bangs make you look prettier in dresses. They feel funny on your face at first. I told her that, like her mama, she has a cowlick on the front of her hair line. She says she likes it because her hair "looks like there is an Indian Hut in the middle, and I love Indians!"

If your name is Zoe, you are not supposed to see this post so that Laura can surprise you with her new bangs on Sunday. If you happen to see it, act surprised on Sunday.

Plus I always thought the coolest job in the world was getting to sweep up the hair after haircuts at the salon. (The other cool job being the one to stamp the "due date" onto the library book cards.)

Super Star

. . . You know you're a superstar, you don't have to play guitar, or drive a fancy car (Come on, join in all you Go Fish VBSers) . . .God loves you the way you are, to Him you're a superstar . . .

What will 2 dollars and 50 cents buy you at Target? A really cool microphone. *But if you have 3 kids I suggest buying 3, not just one like I did*

1 . . .2. . . 3

So if there is a chair that James can climb on, he gets up to play with his sister. She seems to enjoy it. While this is cute, the best part is at the end. James counts to three before he launches his bottle off the table. Pure Genius . . .rebellious . . .but aren't all genius children just a little rebellious?

Did I Show You?

What I get for my anniversary when my husband is out of town?

Isn't he the best?

Skills

Lesson learned today:

Just because my children have the skills equal to the task at hand it does NOT mean that they have the judgement equal to that skill.

Huh?

So there I was . . . surfing the Internet . . .I mean, feeding Megan and researching home school resources . . . when I heard the dryer buzzer go off. I promptly asked Jack and Laura to remove the laundry from the dryer. Typically, when they empty the dryer they also check to see if there is a load to be transferred from the washer to the dryer.

There was.

The skills were there . . . using their step stool they were more than capable of transferring the wet clothes over. They still can't reach the button to start the dryer, but hey, that's fine. And it was my saving grace this time!

I went to add a new load, and start the dryer. For some reason I checked the clothes in the dryer and discovered that they were SOPPING wet. So much so that the walls, floor, and dryer itself were sprinkled with water. (No doubt from their journey from washer to dryer) There was a pool of water on the floor in front of the dryer, as well as a pool of water sitting at the bottom of the dryer after I removed the wet clothes.

And the washing machine dial was sitting there, just about to hit the "drain and spin" portion of the cycle.

So their judgement didn't equal the skill.


(And, yes, you can start a load of laundry with the drain and spin cycle to remove excess moisture from your clothes)

Just because I think these days are short lived

I think the short days of baby gown wearing are drawing to a close, so I wanted to make sure I got a few shots of Megan in her baby gown before she is too big for them. Baby gowns (or baby sacks as I like to call them) are one of my favorite parts of babyhood.

Drooling Contest

So if any of you have spent any time around James in the last few months you know the amount of drool this boy can generate. He is either teaching his sister all his drool skills, or she has decided that she needs to keep up with him . . .you be the judge!

Megan's BFF

Just had to add this link to my friend's blog . . .

Truly Insane?

I did something today that made me question my sanity. I took the children to a movie. Granted, it was one of the summer films offered by our local movie theaters that caters to children . . .but I didn't think there was anything magical about the theater itself that was going to convine the 1yo to stay in his seat for 90 minutes.

Upon showing up at the theater I realized my debit card was not in my wallet, but by the phone at home. I magically scraped together four dollars from my wallet, my church bag, and the van cup holder to get us in.

Apparently the theater did have some magical qualities because James fell asleep about ten minutes into the movie, and woke up about an hour later. Megan hung out in the sling for the most part, but was awake virtually the whole time.

We snuck out soon after we were convinced that the Who's were safe, a smart way to avoid the crowds flowing out of the theater at the very end.

It was a good experience, but I may not do it again for a while.

Anniversary

Eight years ago, on July 22nd, 2001 John and I were married (by my father in law) on the beach of a small park in Hawaii. Words cannot describe how marriage has helped me grow in ways that I never thought I could, to teach me more about the love and grace that our Lord Jesus bestows upon us, and to open doors in life that I truly do not deserve to have the honor of walking through. I only hope that I have done the same for him!

I love you Honey, and I hope we can spend our next anniversary together!

Build-A-Bears Injured

The night before John left for his little trip we went to the mall and let the kids pick out Build-A-Bears. John recorded his voice on little sound discs that now reside in the Bears' paws. They say "Daddy loves Laura" and "Daddy loves you Jack". Well, my kids have a fascination with wheelchairs. (Here is a picture of James in the wheelchair Laura constructed with a broken baby stroller and a pillow) James is "talking on the phone" with an old remote control.



Here are the bears (okay, Jack chose a rabbit) in their wheelchairs. Bunny has a cool firetruck wheelchair.

James Feeding Himself

Its a slow process (and somewhat messy) but it is so fun to watch kids learn to use utensils.

Megan's Stats

We know that Megan, at 4 months:

Weighs 14 lbs even (75 %)
Is 25 inches long (50%)
Has a head that is 16 inches around (50% percentile)

and not to compare, but if you are curious Ceili Rain

Our first day back at homeschooling went pretty well, after the seatwork and the read alouds, we did a train craft with juice boxes and construction paper. Jack had to stop to let his dry, and Laura stopped her train craft after she suffered an ankle injury. Yes, an ankle injury during craft time.

Peek A Boo

Footage from the time mommy was alone with the two babies . . . (aka the time Laura and Jack went on a 3 week vacation from Mommy and Daddy)

James is a pro at Peek-A-Boo. His drooling is well documented as well, he has been drooling like this for the past month or so. Sorry he is drooling all over the Messiah shirt Auntie Beth!

Look What I Found

Mommy's not looking, let's see what's in this drawer

Wonder what this is for . . .

I don't know what it does, but it fits my pointer finger perfectly!

James Got A Haircut

Okay, so it may be hard to tell, but he no longer has the spurt of hair shooting straight up off the crown of his head (and I trimmed a little off the back too)




It's so blonde, it is hard to see in pictures, but last Sunday on the way into church we got two comments about his funny hair before we even made it to the check in station!



I should have done this with Laura way back when!



And for the record, apparently Laura had tons more hair at this age (about 16 months) than James does now at 14 months! Maybe I should try some Miracle grow on James?

Not Me Monday

Once again, it is Monday. Boy the week went fast. I had to think a little this week about what I did, since it seems like yesterday I was typing about Not Me Monday. If you are yet unfamilliar with Not Me Monday, it was started over at www.mycharmingkids.net, and it is a lot of fun!

First and foremost I did not totally forget where my husband was going to on his business trip today. I certainly know where my husband goes when he leaves the house for 4 days. No one, especially me, would tell his parents that he is in New Jersey when in fact he is in Washington, D.C.!

I certainly would not finally be fed up with my older baby's hair and chop it all off while he was eating his dinner in the high chair. High chairs are not for haircuts, they are for nutritious meals (just like the pepperoni Pappa John's pizza that he was eating during the haircut)No, that was definitely not me that you saw with the scissors.

My examples are few this week, but next week I shall be back to my full assignment of children, and will no doubt have plenty of stories that are not about me!

Megan's Friend

So many of you know my good friend was kind enough to give birth to a sweet little girl four days before Megan was born (even though we tried desperately at times to get our doctor to get us delivered on the same day).

And the person at the YMCA childcare probably thought I was nuts when I asked her if the sweet baby she was holding was C.R. (When she said yes, I said, "Oh good, that is Megan's good friend")

But my friend has documented that the two babies actually like each other:

http://georgiacharacters.blogspot.com/2009/07/little-bit-about-ca-ra.htm