OVERGROWN

Piper's hair was WAY overgrown.  She was beginning to look like an orphan child.  The cut had lost it's shape and her hair is so so so thin that it has NO body.  I just couldn't stand it anymore.

Here are the before shots - taken at my birthday celebration.  ( I really wished I had cut it BEFORE we took pictures at the party.... oh well)

Shapeless

Just plain scraggily

It got to the point that I couldn't stand it a minute longer.  I sometimes have a friend of mine do it but this day - I took her into the bathroom, gave her a lollypop and continued to repeat the phrase "please sit still" and "just look at the door knob"  about a thousand times.  Not a professional job but not to bad either.  At least now I can stand to look at her and NOT feel sorry for her.

AFTER:

These pictures were right after the cut and her hair had had not been washed yet. I need a few more pictures after it's been shaped up a bit.  It really does look cuter and kinda chic and definitely has more body.  

And The Winner Is...

MACO

MacGregor won the Pinewood Derby.  Last year (his first year) he got second place.  This year he got first and the boy who beat him last year got 2nd.  I guess those two just know how to make fast cars.  He had a lot of fun building it but more fun racing it and seeing all of his friends cars too.

I think he named it "Firebird 2" or something similar.  Chase had one a few years ago that used similar decals and I guess MacGregor assumed that Chase's was the first of the "Firebirds." 

Watching with much anticipation.

Setting up.   Making sure everything is just right!

The supportive family.  (Dan almost looks like he's ready to conduct a baptism, hehe)

The WINNERS!  #s 1, 2, and 3!

The whole gang.

After I finished putting this post together - I found this picture.  This is "Firebird #1" AND "Firebird #2".  Chase's is the gold car and the year he raced this car he won as well.  Something LUCKY about those "Firebirds".

100 Days

On February 11th Ainsley celebrated 100 days of school.  Each person in her class had to come up with a "collection" of 100 things and display it on a poster board in a creative way.  Ainsley chose candy hearts.  We laid out the hearts on the poster board to make sure they fit and that we used 100 of them.  Then we traced around our hearts in pencil.  We then moved the hearts off the poster board and I put hot glue on our pencil line and Ainsley stuck all the hearts on.  It worked perfectly except for the few that Piper pulled off and ate when no one was looking.  

This picture was taken when the glue was still wet on the papers with the words.  When it was dry there was no sign of the wet polka dots.  Ainsley had a great time celebrating 100 days of school.

Here are a few more of her creations.

  A bear necklace made at her Valentine's Party.

A couple more people wearing that "coat of many colors".  That is a recurrent theme in her drawings.

When Piper Helps Make Cookies...

It's always way more work than I want!

But as my mother always says "We made memories!!"

And those memories were worth it.  I love you little flour! 

Special Treasures

You just can't save everything your child brings home or everything they draw especially if they are drawing 10-12 pictures a day (like Ainsley).  I have a tough time getting things filed and half the time, even when they do get filed, they get folded or torn, start to yellow or the glue comes off etc...  So I have begun taking lots of pictures.  That way if I have to toss them (for my peace of mind) or if they get ruined in the process, we still have a record of these beautiful creations.

These are Ainsley's creations.  I think this may be me with some sort of creature on my face.  I think I am also borrowing "Joseph's" coat.  

Here are some of MacGregor's school papers and a few drawings.  I don't know how to load the pictures so that they can be enlarged when clicked.  If anyone can help with that it would be very appreciated.  I hope you can make out some of what he's written.  I think he's so cute.
I think MacGregor is going to be a military strategist.  He is constantly drawing battle scenes, whether they be Star Wars, or Navy Ships or Air Planes.
He's so insightful.  And I'm going to constantly remind him of his #1 resolution!

I love him getting his picture with the park statue. I think it's so cute!!!  ( I think we made them take to many pictures with statues on vacation last summer.)

Don't Want to Forget

Lately the kids have said some cute things and I don't want to forget.... so I'm writing them down today.

Piper: climbing up in her chair at the kitchen table, picking up the lone paper plate on table "I wuv my plate, I wuv my plate, (as she hugs it to her face) I WUV MY PLATE!!

*******************************************************

Ainsley:  (We were driving home in the car... ) "Mommy, why do people die?"

Me:  Silence... I am now thinking which response to give, do I say old age, or accidents, or illness?

Ainsley:  (noticing the silence - asks again in a new way) "Mommy, why do people die in a  graveyard?"

Me:  "OH - no they don't die IN the graveyards, they are buried in the graveyards after they die."

Ainsley:  "Who puts them in there?"

Me:  "The people who work at the cemetary."

Ainsley:  with excitement "OH - Aunt Emily does!" 

Me:  thinking ... "what?"  

Dan leans over and says "Seminary"

Me:  "Oh"  now I am thinking what is that poor girl imagining? ... that Aunt Emily and 14 teenagers from church are burying dead bodies at 6 o'clock every morning?  The poor girl is going to be warped.  She'll never want to go to Seminary.

  

**************************************************

Dan's cousin Michael spent a weekend with us.  He was playing the game Guess Who.  Piper was on his team and he was trying to teach her the concept of the game.  He was trying to figure out if Piper knew the difference between a boy and a girl.

Michael: "Piper are you a boy or a girl?"

Piper: "A Dirl"

Michael: "Is your Mommy a boy or a girl?"

Piper: "A Dirl"

Michael: "Is your Daddy a boy or a girl?"

Piper: " My Daddy is CUTE!"

I am not sure where that came from, but we all laughed.

***************************************************

Tonight I was mixing some dried "chimichurri" spices with water, vinegar and olive oil.  I was then going to pour it on the beef tips I was sauteeing.  

Piper:  "What doing Mommy?"

Me:  "Making the sauce."

Piper: "The dirty sauce?"

I guess she thought the spices looked like dirt - comical!

*******************************************************

The other morning I opened Piper's door to get her up in the morning and she said, "Secret Password's Broccoli!"  Ainsley will often require people to say a secret password in order to get into her room.  The password has been broccoli before so I think Piper was trying to tell me that I needed to say the secret password in order to enter Piper's room.  And the password was Broccoli.  They learn too fast I'll tell ya!

Another new thing Piper is saying is - "Yes, I know."  I said to her one day - "Piper, you look cool"  and she responded - "Yes, I know."  I was taken aback to say the least.  How did she know how to use that phrase appropriately?  Now she uses it all the time.  I'll say, "Hey Piper, your show is on TV" and "She'll say, Yes, I know."  or "Piper - the kids are downstairs playing"  "Yes, I know".  She's funny.

Some other funny things - her favorite show on TV is "Little Dinesteins"  (Little Einsteins)

She says, Mommy - Fa Me. (Follow Me)

Nilk = Milk

She gets very excited about things and will say - WOW Chase or Yeah Dodo (MacGregor).  

I know there are more things that I am not remembering at this moment but I am glad that I did take the time to post these so that we'll remember these when the kids are grown.  I think that I'll never forget something so cute but alas our brains get so crammed that these cute moments get shoved aside and I do find myself forgetting these wonderful times.