First haircut

Well, the time finally came!  Somehow, I manged to curb my enthusiasm to cut my children's hair until she was nearly two years old.  I am pretty sure Lauren had her first haircut at five months, and Paige at nine months - but they had a lot more hair to start with.  Jaelyn was born with a small amount of hair, but then it started falling out from the top as a newborn.  Which would have been okay except from 6-9 months old she went through a stage of pulling her hair when she was mad or frustrated.  Always from the top and front, never from the back.  Nice.  So, she has been sporting quite the mullet for the past year at least.  

Last night, she came bouncing into the living room with a toy hairdryer wanting to "do" mommy;s hair, her mullet flapping in the breeze behind her.  I had finally had enough.  Even though Daddy wasn't home to share the effort - I dove right in.

Before:

Seriously shaggy!  There was a definite line at her ears where it suddenly got long!

You could see that my options were limited in creating a style.

Business in the front...

PARTY in the back!!!

Wow.

Anyway, the afters!  I decided a "pixie cut" was in order.

This morning, Justin decided "pixie cut" is a fancy way of saying "little boy cut".

Whatevs.

It was torture for me to leave these little "wings" near her ears, but in an effort to not have a pixie forever, we will just have to spray them into submission!

And then she had a shower to rinse off the itchy little hairs.

And a little shot of something else we are working on...

Where did my baby go?  *sob*

The Little Things - number one

This project is just me taking pictures of little things I don't want to forget.

First up, Paige and her blankie.  She doesn't carry it everywhere, but she must sleep with it.  And when she gets hurt, she runs for blankie and puts it on the owie!  Here she is hiding from something spooky on My Little Pony, apparently blankie has protective powers as well!  

Slipping and Sliding in Las Vegas

That title might find us some interesting hits.  Oh well!

A couple weekends ago we went to my parents' house to celebrate my Grandma's birthday.  We had a nice visit, and the girls were thrilled that Grandma had gotten a slip-n-slide!  

Well, those two were.  A sleep-deprived Paige decided that she couldn't do it "right", so she didn't want to do it at all.

But, she quickly found solace in her furry friend and pill-bugs.

These two would have done this all day! 

That can't be good for you.  But, we threw caution to the wind!  ;)

Lauren has always loved blowing dandelions - since she was Jaelyn's age.

And she's always discovering new ways to make them fun!  

She has had a stomach bug today, and spent the majority of her time on the couch watching various cartoons and reading "Junie B Jones" books.  Poor thing!  I am just praying the other two kiddos manage not to catch it from her, but with Paige's sensitive stomach - I will not hold my breath.  ugh.

Hope you all are finding your Wednesday to be a great one!  

Ten on Tuesday

1.  We've been enjoying summer break so far - trying to keep the girls as busy as possible so they don't drive each other (and their Mommy) crazy!  It is nice to have Lauren home, but once kids are in school it is SO difficult to keep them entertained all day.  She is bored a lot.  Bored enough to finger-paint on the porch in 100 degrees!

2.  This picture, taken when Justin and I had a stay-cation for our anniversary (SO fun!) motivated me to want to get healthier (as well as get a more stylish haircut!).  

I have been pretty much gluten free for a week.  I've wanted to try it for a while, I know we get WAY too much wheat in our day to day lives, and it is not what is best for our bodies.  It has been difficult at times, like when I am out running errands with the kids - but I am happy with the results so far!  Down a few pounds, and feeling more energetic.  It seems to have helped balance my hormones and heart palpitations too - so that is interesting.  I don't think I will give it up all the time like it's an allergy, but I am shooting for only 15% of my diet to allow for it - but eliminating it as much as possible.

3.  There is a big giveaway over on the business facebook page for the next two weeks!  Go enter!  Every vote you earn is one entry into a drawing for a free photo session and lots of goodies!  I am SUPER excited about this!!!

4.  We've started going to the library every Tuesday and the girls love it.  Lauren can read super fast now, and is loving character chapter books.  She lays and reads for two hours every day while the other girls nap and I am floored every time I walk in and see that she has read all the books she took in with her and was talking to herself for the last 30 minutes.  

5.  Paige amazes me all the time with the words she is able to read already!  I am excited to try and homeschool her for Kindergarten next year since our school won't let her test in.  I think she will still GO to Kindergarten the following year, just for the experience - but the girl needs to be using that bright brain!

6.  Jaelyn is learning lots of new words every day, and loves to try to say anything you will walk her through.  She has started calling Justin "Daddy" instead of "DaDa", which made me a little sad!  She is SO funny and loves to make other people laugh.  She is a daredevil and has learned to climb the ladder to the bunk-bed.  She has learned to throw fits when she doesn't get her way, but bounces back very easily with a distraction.  She is getting to that fun age where she can understand us and us her!  

I love that!

7.  We painted half of the "big part" of our house last weekend.  It was an adventure!  It needs a few touch ups here and there, but it is looking great!  We are hoping to get the second half done this coming Saturday... we will see! 

8.  I was invited to join a networking group, and I loved the first meeting I went to!  After feeling like a bit of a hermit for the last four years, it was a breath of fresh air.  Lookout, "social-Claire" might be making a return!  

9.  We are considering doing a family road trip for a week.  It is thrilling and terrifying all at the same time!  =)

10.  Hope you have a great week!  Stay cool, if that's possible!  

My girls at 23 months old

Here's one of those comparisons I love to do!  Each girl around 23 months old (click on it to see them bigger).  Just before turning two, just before potty training, just before talking my ears off!  They are so cute, I wish I could snuggle up the older two back at this age for just one minute.  Instead I will snuggle them as they are now and remember that I will be missing this time, today - missing it terribly in a few years!

On another note - I think the above images are proof that one can learn proper photographic techniques over time!  What a mess that first one is.  Practice, practice, practice!

That being said, I think I'll go get my camera!  =)

Lauren's Birthday Party

We had a simple party at home this year, and it was great!  

A little craft to keep the kids busy when they first arrived:

After they played for a bit we did cake.  The chocolate-chocolate cake from CostCo... heaven!

And plenty of presents! Here was her happy-face just for Daddy because Grandma Nel bought her an arrow sling for her archery.

Then, a water balloon fight!

Please take note of Paige's expression in the picture below.

Justin had dumped the bucket of water on the crowd of kids, but Paige and Jaelyn got the brunt of it.  Paige was big-time-massive-meltdown upset because her new dress was wet.

Apparently no one explained the concept of a water-balloon fight thoroughly enough.

Oops.

Here's Lauren air-drying herself.

And Jaelyn drying herself off on the warm playhouse window.  ;)

For the record, this is what Lauren thinks I want when I say I'd like a picture of her on her big day.

And this is what I really want!  Love that goofy girl!

Lake Havasu - Part II

I didn't take any pictures the second day we were there, but the third day - once Justin was done with his class for the morning, we went and checked out the London Bridge area.  We wanted to let the girls run around and burn off some energy before we sat them in the car for three hours!

The bridge was interesting, the founder of Lake Havasu bought the exterior of the old London Bridge, shipped it here and rebuilt it.  Crazy! 

Justin was in charge of chasing Jaelyn around while I was taking pictures.  This was no easy task around the water - she is a runner!

And this is her beautiful smile every time she notices the camera pointed at her.  She must know how much Mommy loves cheese faces!  Awesome.

The big girls climbed up this huge grassy hill area, and were so proud of themselves!  Then Paige rolled down, twice.  Lauren joined her for the lower half of the hill the second time around.  An adventurous spirit, she is not.  =) 

A sister picture again!

My real motivation for lining them up right here was to get a picture of all their little skinned up knees in a row.  You can't really see Jaelyn's... but they were there.  It just makes me chuckle because I can remember constantly having scrapes and bruises on my knees.  Sad that my klutziness got passed to the next generation! 

And look, I was actually there!  LOL!  Next time I need to have Justin take a picture of me with the girls at the beginning, when they are not tired of having their picture taken yet!  

It was a great trip and I am so glad we all decided to go!  I love exploring new places!