The First of Many

Pedicures, that is.

Charlotte was in hot pink-toenail heaven.

Bye Bye, (Mrs.) Love

Nicholas' summer break from music class started today. This year he moved up to the 'Young Child' level, which was a bit more structured and included weekly homework. They focused on learning to read music (learning one note at a time...he's up to 5 notes: c,d,a,f,g), and playing the glockenspiel. Next year (his last year in this program) they will continue working on reading music, and learning to play the 2-string dulcimer and the recorder. We love our music program, especially our dear teacher, Mrs. Love. She's practically family as we've seen her once or twice a week for almost 4 years!

Bring on the Bubbles

Finally we had some nice weather so we could break out the bubbles.

Happy Mother's Day!

Nothing like a relatively stress-free day that begins with sleeping in, and ends with dinner out...

...and cake!

Hope all you mothers had a wonderful day and felt how special you are! I'm so happy to be part of that group.

All Hair Is Better With Some Product

That's my girl. She finally feels more like herself today, and looks more like herself too!

Someday I'll Laugh About This. Right??

Picture this: Tom is out of the country. I'm scrambling on a Saturday morning to get out the door to Nicholas' basketball practice. The kids are fed and dressed and just need to brush their teeth. I have neither brushed my teeth nor gotten dressed, so I frantically send them downstairs to start their teeth while I quickly get ready. I throw on some clothes, brush my teeth, rush down the stairs, open the bathroom door...only to see this:

and this:

and these: (at the time in the hand of Nicholas)

My mouth flew open, time stopped and I really had no idea what to do. I sent Nicholas to his room to give myself a minute to think. I soon decided I needed a little more than a minute to process. Everyone got in the car so Nicholas could do his basketball while I pondered what the heck to do. During the basketball/pondering period, we got lots of double takes as people walked by us in the gym. I felt like I needed a sign - "Haircut by 5 year old brother this morning"

Even though my hair guy (he's also Charlotte's) doesn't work on Saturdays, I figured I'd call his cell, explain the situation and at a minimum know that I could get in on Monday. No luck. He's out of town until Thursday. I cannot wait until Thursday. So I drive over to his salon to see if one of the other two people there could help. The woman (whom I had figured would be sensitive to the situation) wasn't working. The 22 year old guy took a look, but said he was booked all day and couldn't squeeze her in. I also don't think he was thrilled to work on a 2 year old. My favorite line that he said was "Well, if you'd be willing to sacrifice some of the style..." Um, dude. I think we're already at that point.

So off to Cool Cuts we went.

Still has a fever...just now also has shorter hair.

Side view taken while we waited. The best description I think is Kate Gosselin (note the 1 inch pieces on the crown) meets Billy Ray Cyrus (mullet...enough said). Not. Good.

You'll see here that the left side isn't nearly as hacked as the right. Nicholas was standing on her right side during "the cut". So mostly the right, top and front were hacked. We got more looks/double-takes here, but I did have one mom look at me with pity and ask if she had cut her own hair. So at least one person didn't think the Billy-Kate was the look I was going for with my daughter!

Post trimming. During the cut, Nicholas was waiting in the train table area so he didn't really see her. When we got to the car all buckled in, he looked over at Charlotte and said - "That doesn't look like Charlotte. I think you got the wrong person."

Through it all, I will say that Charlotte took it like a champ. Obviously. She stood there the whole time Nicholas was doing it without complaining. I'm positive I'm more traumatized about this than she is. At dinner, Nicholas looked over at her and said "I really like your hair, Charlotte". She beamed over at him and said "Thank you, Nicholas!" At least all is right with the two of them. As for Nicholas and me, we had a good talk. I got a little teary and he very sincerely apologized without me even asking. When I did ask why he'd done it, he innocently said that he thought her hair was getting too long.

See. No worries for her.

Bring on the hats!

Childhood Memories...For Me Anyway!

Tom left for the Philippines this morning, and I thought to kick off our week alone, I'd whip out something from my childhood and introduce it to the kiddos. What could it be? Pringles. Turned into duck bills. I have VIVID memories of this growing up (specifically a very noisy, silly game played at my 5th grade birthday sleep over party). I was positive my kids would find this hilarious and we'd fill an afternoon acting like ducks.

Nicholas was sweet and obliged me by doing the duck bill once, then pounded into the Pringles like he hadn't eaten in a week. "Why go through the bother of the duck bills?" was his basic opinion.

Charlotte (down with a fever since Wed night as is obvious by her sickly appearance) couldn't have cared less about the duck bills or the chips. She actually took the chips out of her mouth and asked if she could put them back in the can. Charlotte turning down food in any form? Clearly sick.

Then there's me. I did it. (Thanks to Nico for the pic) Sad that I'm the only one smiling in any of these pictures. Guess we can scratch Pringles ducks off the list!