Hair

I've been getting up super early every morning to exercise with some friends.  I want to maximize my sleep time, so I only give myself enough time to throw on some clothes and leave.  That means that I don't look in the mirror or even glance at my hair brush.  So one morning a couple of weeks ago, I pulled my hair into a ponytail without the aforementioned mirror or brush, exercised, came home, and headed to shower.  I wash my hair every other day, so on this day I quickly clipped my ponytail up high to keep it dry (again no mirror or brush) while I washed.  The kids needed me before I had time to fully get ready, so I came out of the bathroom with my hair still unattended.  Imagine my surprise and amusement when Annie says, "Mom, your hair is SO cute like that!"  I finally looked in the mirror at that point and this is what I saw.  It wasn't too bad, especially considering how it was created.  I thought that was funny, so I took this picture.

A few days later, we had almost the same experience, except it was much funnier.  My morning was the same, and again Annie told me that she like my hair.  This time she said it was pretty and that she especially liked the back.  Check it out.

I asked Jim if he'd like to take me out in public since my hair was so 'pretty' that day.  Ha ha!

The story continues.  That evening Annie tried to replicate my 'pretty' hair from the morning.  This is what she came up with and she felt totally beautiful.  :)

 Ironically, I have even more hair pictures from the last couple of weeks.  Annie has a problem with her hair getting in her eyes, so I tried something new a few days ago.  This is a very tiny french braid.

Amazingly it stayed in for three days (we were really busy and fell behind on baths...).

I tried it again a second time on Thursday, except I tried two braids.

I told her she had princess hair.  :)

Jim's Birthday

Jim had his birthday this week.  With little kids, ANY birthday is very exciting, so there was high anticipation.  We started our fun by making him a birthday banner two weeks early.

 Then we went shopping and discovered there was nothing in our price range he would enjoy except a candy bar.  So we bought him a candy bar and went to one of his favorite restaurants for a gift card.  While we were out, the kids noticed some pinatas and wanted to know if we could have a pinata for his party.  They were super stuck on the idea, and it's totally the silly kind of thing we do for adult birthdays around here.  So we made one.  I think it was way better than anything we could have bought at the store.  :)

Jim arrived home from work on his birthday to this display and dinner (of his choosing) on the table.  It was party time!

The kids couldn't wait to hit the pinata (I'm not sure they've ever hit one before) so we did that right after dinner.

Abby was so funny when it was Logan's turn.  Somehow it made her nervous; she let out a little squeal every time he hit it.  Then she was fine for everyone else.

Because we made the pinata out of a box, it literally took some man power to break it open.

We had bags of popcorn inside for everyone.

Next Jim opened his cards and present.  His grandma had excellent timing; her card arrived that very day.

His best gift were the letters/ stories the kids wrote for him.  They were super cute; he took them to work to put on his wall.

Jim requested chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches instead of a cake.  Yum!  They are pretty close to my favorite too.

We sang 'Happy Birthday' over the cookie sandwiches and Jim pretended to blow out the candles.

To wrap up his birthday, he and I had a much needed date last night.  We went to Hu Hot (my first time and it was so delicious!), ran a few errands, and ended up walking around a furniture store just for the fun of it.  Our babysitter even watched Abby, so we were totally kid free.  It was a very nice evening.  Happy Birthday sweetheart!

General Conference and Extended Family News

Two weeks ago we watched General Conference.  We always really enjoy conference weekend, and this one was no different.  We had lots of good food both days, and were uplifted by the wonderful messages.  This time we were especially happy that Jim's parents were able to join us for the last session.  They were here house shopping!  Jim's dad has accepted a position out here, so they will be living relatively close again (two hours away).  Woohoo!  We've missed our families since we moved, so we're excited they're coming!

We gave Jim and Audrey the bigger couch during conference because we knew the kids would want some grandma and grandpa time.  

Cute Kids

 These are mostly random pictures that I've taken of the kids over the last few weeks.  We've been so busy that I'm way behind with our blogs!

Abby is so much fun.

She is so happy.

Annie is so feminine; I love her accessories!

We went to the park one evening, and Jim thought it would be fun to go down the slide with all the kids piled on his lap.  It was very fun, except for the time that Logan's face got smashed against the slide as they went down.

Abby rarely cries, but she will occasionally work herself up if she is overtired or overly hungry.  We had one of those moments on a crazy day.

This was shortly afterward on that same day.  Once she calmed down enough to eat, she was a happy camper again. 

One of the things that I love about homeschooling is the calm time I get with the kids during our learning activities.  I often take pictures of them during these times.

Alex has been insisting on sleeping with books lately.  He's by far my most stubborn three year old, so he's won this battle.  It's cute that he usually falls asleep with an open book.

A random picture of the dog.  I've found him sleeping in the baby's bouncer several times.

Here are a few more quick pictures taken during school time.

Logan earned some money one day and wanted to pay his tithing right away.  Alex wanted to pay his tithing too, except he doesn't actually have any money.  So Alex helped Logan.  (I caught his face in a strange expression here...he really was happy.)

 A friend gave me an old toy that her kids didn't use anymore, but I didn't tell my kids about it until the next day.  I promised them a surprise for after we finished school.  Then I sent the kids searching for where I had it hidden.  They were pretty excited and have been playing with it a lot.

Abby is so easy going.  If she can't have her normal nap, she'll take mini naps wherever she is.  (We had a morning appointment this day.)

A couple of Sundays ago, Logan came home from church excited to duplicate a game he'd played in his class at church.  He made a game board, game pieces, and slips of paper with questions on them.  The next evening he was in charge of our family home evening activity so we played his game.  It was cute.  His questions involved scripture reading and making good choices.

Abby cuddled with Jim while we played the game.

Another day the kids were being cute cuddling on our bed.

I just love a little baby body!