Haircuts

Lincoln's hair was getting a bit too scraggly, so I decided it was time for him to get a haircut.  With two men in the house now, it seemed crazy to be paying for haircuts all the time, so I decided to get a pair of clippers and learn how to do it myself!  AJ was kind to put his full faith in me and was very encouraging.  I also decided while I was at it - to cut all the girls too.  So here are some before and afters of everyone.

LINCOLN BEFORE

LINCOLN AFTER

LINCOLN AFTER

Idgie didn't really need much.  I trimmed the length in the back a little and clean up the sides some.  She still has really fine baby hair so there wasn't much to do.  I don't even think you can tell in the photo!


IDGIE BEFORE

IDGIE AFTER

Liliana's is the hair that was the hardest.  Hers is so thick and has curl in it.  I went shorter than I meant too.

LILIANA BEFORE

LILIANA AFTER

I was pleased with Emmaline's hair.  I didn't realize just how long her hair had gotten until I looked at it in the picture!

EMMALINE BEFORE

EMMALINE AFTER

And finally my brave brave AJ.  I actually hurt him a few times and he accidentally lost his sideburns in the process - but overall it worked out okay.

AJ BEFORE



AJ AFTER

 Rating:  5 Lollipops

Final Thoughts about NYC

I know I got back from my trip to NYC a month ago now, but I wanted to write out my final thoughts/observations about the city before I forgot.

• I grew up at sea level, but have lived the last 14 years in the Rocky Mountains.  It was interesting to realize that in terms of altitude, that when I was at the top of the Empire State Building, that I was still about 4700 feet lower in altitude that standing in my driveway at home.   
• New York City puts ads everywhere.  If there is an open space - they put it there.  The oddest place I saw was the riser portion of stairs in the subway stations.  They had to split  up the add in strips to make it fit and from far away it looked like one big ad that you could read, but then up close it was split between the stairs. 
• There are only two colors of cars in NYC.  Yellow or Black.  Okay - not really - but close!  I think pretty much you either take a taxi or you have a private black car with tinted windows and a driver.  Very few people have vehicles - which makes sense of course.  It was funny to try to imagine the SUVs and trucks I see around here, trying to get around in New York. 
• It is true - the city really doesn't sleep.  The streets seem just as busy at midnight as they do at noon. 
• New Yorkers don't know the subway system any better than anyone else.  We had locals approach us on more than one occasion  (we must have passed for locals ourselves instead of tourists!) asking for subway directions to get where they were going.   And it's true - there really are rats and cockroaches in the subway.
• There is no such thing as personal space there. People cram into subways, tables in restaurants are practically on top of each other, etc. One restaurant we went to the table was literally 1 inch from the table next to us - and people were seated there. The illusion of personal space seems to be created solely by eye contact - or the lack here there of. You can be crammed right up against someone, but as long as you don't look at each other you're good. I completely understand how you can be in a city full of millions of people, and still feel alone.
• New York has its own sort of beauty.  It isn't mountains or beach sunsets, but it still has its own majestic, awe-inspiring feel.

Milk Challenge

Yesterday Emmaline went into the allergist for another milk challenge.  You may recall that we did this test last year and she passed,  and then three days later she failed.

So back we went this year to try again.  She did really great again.  On the final round though, she got kind of red around the mouth and was coughing.  However, it never turned into anything and her allergist listened to her lungs and everything sounded fine.  So we are unsure if she really had a reaction or not.  So for the moment we are approved to give her 1/4 cup of milk everyday and just watch and see what happens! 

Hopefully we are moving in the right direction!

Lemonade Stand

The girls have been begging to have a lemonade stand this summer and finally this weekend we were able to do it!  They spent about an hour just making the sign.  Then we helped them get set up.  We live on a very quiet street so we weren't expecting any business really.  However, what we ended up experiencing were some very generous neighbors!  Almost everyone on our street is older with their kids grown and gone.  The man next door to us is a bachelor, he was out walking his dog and stopped and bought a cup from them.  About 10 minutes later, he came back for a second glass - which the girls were THRILLED about. Ecstatic that their lemonade was so delicious that someone would come back a second time.  Each time he paid them a dollar for a cup that we were only charging $0.25 for.  The lady across the street came and bought just one glass, but gave each kid, including Lincoln, their own dollar bill.  Of all the people that bought, I can only think of one that actually paid the $0.25.  Everyone else gave the kids extra and insisted on no change. 

At the end of the day, the girls made $11.00.  Not too shabby.  I'm considering getting into the lemonade business myself, but I suspect the girls have a cute factor that I don't have.  We split the money between them and took them to our local Border's bookstore.  It is closing so everything was on clearance and we let them pick out whatever they wanted.  They each ended up picking out a sticker book.

Rating:  Lemonade Stands everywhere!

First Day of Second Grade

Second grade was fun. My teacher is nice and fun. Today we had a little time where we ate snacks. All the kids ate a cup of goldfish and some of the kids had other food, but I ate Oreos. I did a project of myself but I didn't finish all my project. All I could do was trace myself. I was nervous to go to second grade because I was scared making new friends and seeing my teacher. We only had two recesses in a day. At recess I played a game with my friend and there was a new part of the playground and it was blue. Last year there were only tan and green, but this year there was blue things and with a little red. The blue things were monkey bars and sliding bars.

Before I left for school there was a hot air balloon in the sky:

This is me on my first day of second grade:

Sunday Best

What is it about a scrubbed and dressed up kid that is so dang cute?  I had to take pictures of everyone this morning and it is about time I did a little blurb about all of them again!



IDGIE

 Idgie is really starting to turn a corner from the two's into the three's.  She gets more articulate everyday and is quick to giggle but also still quick to cry when she doesn't get her way!  She desperately wants to be a part of whatever the older girls are doing but at the same time will comment that she can't do something (or doesn't want to do something!) because she is a "small girl."

LIL

Liliana is very affectionate and anxious to please.  She still puts her shoes on the wrong feet all the time and when you ask her to switch them she says, "No.  That's okay.  I don't mind!"  Liliana is at in interesting spot in the family.  If she is playing with Emmaline, she often lets Emmaline take the lead.  If she is playing with Idgie, then she usually takes the lead herself.  They play such fun imagination games.  Lately they have been using their My Little Pony Castle as a drive-thru and the ponies walk up to each window and order food, then the next window to pay, and the next window to pick up their food!

EMMALINE

I look at Emmaline and see how soon she is going to be a tween.  She is definitely not a little girl anymore.  The other night she was up for a good part of the night crying from growing pains in her legs.  Two days later I looked at her and she was visibly taller!  She is all arms and legs right now.  She is expected to lose a top front tooth any day now and is excited for 2nd grade to start in a few days.  She currently loves to read mysteries.  I also caught her using the word "discombobulated" the other day.  That is one of my favorite words - apparently she has been listening!

LINCOLN

For awhile Lincoln was saying "lookadat!" (look at that!) all the time - point to anything and everything.  I swear he spent two weeks straight only saying that.  That has tapered off and now he is just on the run!  His Baby-Dar is on at full force.  He knows if there is something he isn't supposed to have and if you leave it unattended he is right there getting into it.  He does have a fun trick though.  One night at dinner, we caught him folding his arms for the prayer!  We've never taught him that, he just watched everyone else and started to do it.  Now all you have to say to him is "time for prayer" and he folds his arms!  The only way I could get him to sit still for that photo was to put him on a high stool he wouldn't climb off of, and then told him, "time for prayer!"   Of course, not long after that photo - I took this one - which is more accurate of the little boy he is with his shirt tails out, pants sagging, and shoes undone.  That boy moves FAST.

Rating:  4 Lollipops

The View Out My Window

Today is a lovely day in New York. Thought I'd share the view out the window: