THE Haircut

For the past 2 weeks, I have been purging lots of stuff. I decided to move all my scrapbook stuff into the front room that I was using as my office. As I was going through stuff in the storage closet in the basement, I came across some film that hadn't been developed. I took the film to Meijer and had them put the pictures on cd. The first picture on the first cd I looked at was this:




Emily's infamous haircut when she was 3 years old (I think)! I wish I had my blog back then because I would have the story recorded in detail, but the conversation went something like this:

Me: (cooking dinner)

Emily: Mom, what would happen if I cut my hair?

Me: (not looking at her before I respond) Don't do that; you'll look ugly.

Emily: (big tears roll down her face)

Me: (finally looking at her and noticing the self-given mullet she was donning): Oh, Emily!



As soon as we were finished eating, I rushed her to the children's haircut place near by, and the haridresser tried to work her magic.






She didn't turn out half-bad, but she sure did have short hair for a long time!





Emily really hated her hair cut because she felt like she looked like a boy, but I'll have to tell ya, she hasn't cut her own hair since!

A Day of Fun

Today I loaded the Honda with 7 children (Samantha and Maggie from the neighborhood, Lauren, Hannah and Emily, and Hailey and Emma whom I babysit) and drove to Aunt Cathy's house to swim with Carissa and her boys, April, and Alicia and Brianna in the neighbor's pool.

We hung out for several hours. They spent their time jumping into the pool,

doing "funny" things with their hair,

and diving off the diving board.

At one point Emma (who is Emily's age) came running over to me and asked me to take her picture as she jumped. I wasn't quite ready when she started so the first picture is blurry (You gotta click on the second picture to see the expression on her face!)

I tried to catch them being "cute" in the pool, sometimes unaware that I was taking their picture.

Hailey and her "funny" hair...

Emma wearing the shark mask...

Hannah wearing the shark mask...

Lauren...

Emily...

We all ended up a little sunburned despite our constant use of sunscreen, but I'd have to say today was a very enjoyable day.

Something in common

Emily and I share a common trait--the way we clean our rooms. Yesterday, as I mentioned, Emily and Hannah voluntarily cleaned their rooms. Today, when I was doing laundry, I opened the closet door to get the clothes they threw down the laundry chute and found this:

She just took all the clothes she found on the floor and threw them down the laundry chute. The clothes were stacked so high, they were up in the chute, probably sticking out the door in Hannah's room!

There were so many clothes, that a small pile began to form on the floor up against the closet door.

I remember doing this as a kid too. I didn't take the time to figure out which pile might be clean or dirty; I just threw them all down the chute to be washed.

Sometimes, I still do!

An ice cream kind of day

For the longest time, Hannah and Emily have been waiting for the ice cream truck to come down our street. They can hear the music playing several streets over, but they have never seen the truck come down out street.

Until today.

I was watering the plants while they were playing in Maggie's pool down the street, when I heard that distinct ice-cream-truck-jingle coming our way. I put the watering can down, ran up the stairs to Ray's office, "stole" $6, and ran in flip-flops and a skirt to Maggie's house. By this time, the truck had already passed our house (the driver probably thought I was a lunatic running down the street behind his truck), and since we live on a dead-end street, I knew it would be back. So, I dragged them out of the pool and we raced back to our house (Maggie wasn't allowed to have any ice cream so we decided to get it at our house).

The truck pulled to a stop and the three of us trotted over. When Hannah and Emily saw all the ice cream choices painted on the side of the truck, their eyes grew wide, their heads tilted back, and they both stared in awe. Hannah even said, "Whoa."

We bought the ice cream and sat on the front porch eating it. They were so excited about finally getting to get ice cream from the ice cream man, and I was just excited to watch them be so excited. They were literally jumping up and down when he pulled up to our driveway; it was almost like Christmas morning. But, the funny thing is, I remember getting to buy ice cream from the ice cream man as well. It was rare for us, but I remember how excited I was back then, and I was glad I could give the girls that same kind of excitement.

And since both girls were so good today (they cleaned their rooms without being asked!!! and Emily didn't throw one fit), I decided to make them a new snack before bed (although, I didn't tell them why I was making it--I don't want them to think they will get rewarded for doing the things they should just be doing). It's called a Pizzookie.



I found the recipe on this blog I found--Our Best Bites--and this desert was FABULOUS!! It's made with chocolate chip cookie dough, ice cream, and chocolate syrup. You can even ask Emily how good this desert was since she was the one who said "Ummmmmm" and threw her head back after every bite!

"I got you a present"

That's what Ray said to me as he walked in the door after work tonight. He was late, and I thought he was at the gym. The girls got excited when Ray said that he got me a gift, but I told them not to get too excited. That statement usually means he bought him something. Hannah and Emily ran to the door, opened and said in monotone voices, "It's wood."

Sure enough, I peered out the front door and found a purple pick-up truck full of wood.



"Why might this be a gift for me?" you ask. It's for the basement!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah me!!! After going back and forth about whether to go on vacation or to finish the basement, we finally decided on the basement, and he actually followed through with it!!



He spent most of the night working.

I plan to document the process, so here are two before shots (of course the basement looks worse than usual because everything has been pushed away from the walls).

Just think, in a couple of months, I'll have a sweet looking basement.

Yeah me!

The boy and his toy brought us joy!

I think I speak for all involved when I say we had a blast Saturday evening riding the wave runner and hanging out on the beach thanks to Randy and his new toy!








We spent quite a few hours riding around on the wave runner and in the tube.



Jo Ann and Emily rode the tube first







with Lauren riding as "spotter" (the person who watches for the tube rider to fall off).



Hannah and I rode on it next with Vickie as our spotter, but Hannah didn't last long. She didn't like how choppy the ride was, so she climbed on board with Randy and Vickie and had a blast there. I had a blast riding in that tube. I couldn't stop laughing. Randy tried and tried to throw me off, but somehow, not sure how, I managed to stay on.

Jo Ann rode alone next and I rode as spotter.



Randy tried to throw her off as well, but didn't succeed. He only managed to get her off by accidentally completely submerging the tube--twice! I mean, Jo Ann went completely under the water while still sitting on it. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time.


After a while, Randy gave Jo Ann the key and she had a turn at driving the wave runner.




While the wave runner was out and about, those left behind frolicked on the beach.

Aaron had a great time playing in the water,



but after a while, his patience ran out.






I was surprised by how quick Hannah and Emily took the lake water. Not that I'm trying to make them water snobs, but they were concerned about what swam in that water, but they took to it like fish.

Vickie didn't do much swimming, since she had her hands full with the little guy.

After playing in the water, we went back to Randy and Vickie's camper and had dinner (but no fire since SOMEONE didn't buy any firewood). I have to say, thanks to the boy and his toy, I had a great Saturday night!

Probably my most favorite picture yet

has to be this one of Aaron I just took yesterday when we were at East Fork Lake swimming and riding the tube behind the SeaDoo (if I spelled that correctly!) (Remember to click on the picture for a close-up)





I love the cheetos all over his face mixed with the sand he continually tried to eat. I love his little fingers digging into the sand. I love his happy-go-lucky expression he always has. I love the setting sun shining ever so slightly on his little face.


But, more than anything, I love this picture because I just love this little guy. He is such a sweet boy!