Welcome Ben!!

Benjamin Clark Hall was born to my sister and her husband on May 20. He weighed 9#2oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well. Welcome Ben!!

Beauty Shop

Here's the look.

Caroline and I took naps at the same time recently. She woke up first which is always a downer. Usually I can dig deep and come out of my slumber before my body is ready. But not this time. I just couldn't shake it, so I told Caroline to go play with Luke while I rested a little more.
The next thing I knew, I was awake and the house was quiet. I thought
Wow, I'm so glad I got to sleep a little more.
Hmm, the kids are really quiet.
They're such good kids.
I wonder how long I slept.
I hope they're not dead.
I guess I'll get up and check.
As I eased down the quiet hallway, I caught a glimpse of silent movement from the bathroom. It was our youngest. She gave me the look. You know the look? The "I've been doing something that's probably not good but maybe if I smile really sweet, you won't care" look. I get it often.

I know a lot of kids cut their own hair at one point or another. It's a rite of passage, really. But doesn't it usually happen so innocently?
The sweet child is sitting at his desk cutting out a heart for Valentine's day. The scissors ever so slowly creep up to the bangs and just take a little bit off the top. Uh-oh mom. I cut my hair a little.
That's what I picture.
But not our baby. This girl had been making plans for weeks, and she finally had her chance.
The crime scene . . .

As you can see, my two year old set out all the hair cutting paraphernalia. You can see it all there. Scissors? Check. Comb? Check. Water bottle? Check. Stool because I have short, chubby legs? Check. Trash can placed perfectly in front of the stool to catch the trimmings? Check.
She even took her shirt off to prevent the hair itchies and had the broom out for clean up.
Is this the same girl who can't wipe her own nose?
I walked over to the trash can and found the evidence.
I've always thought cut hair looks disgusting in the trash can. It makes me feel queasy.

As I looked at Caroline's head, I couldn't see where all this hair had come from. I searched high and low for a bald spot but there was none.
Then I found it. Apparently, my daughter's hair cutting plan had reached beyond her beauty shop set up. She had ever so gently lifted the top of her hair, cut a chunk of the under layer then covered it back up so no one would know.
What's wrong Mommy? Are you mad at me?

Here's a profile view. The whole section is buzzed.

See the pretty pony tail?

Put it down. It makes me queasy.

We are so in for it.

Luke's 7th Birthday

We're all tuckered out from celebrating Luke's big birthday. We go a little crazy with the birthday parties.
It started with a "friend party" at our house. Luke wanted a party that included fire, wii, a fish cake, hot dogs, marshmallows, and a sleepover. On the day of the party our friendly neighborhood meteorologist was telling us we were to have 10 inches of snow so most of the boys did not sleep over.
But at least they came.

Fire and hot dogs, the perfect combination . . .

Blowing the fire OFF the hot dogs proved entertaining . . .

Ryan was clearly thrilled . . .

I don't really remember snowflakes this large, but the boy in blue is clearly stunned by the one that alighted in the center of his forehead.

Here's what boys turn into when they play too much Wii . . .

And of course a fish cake. What's a party without a fish cake?

A few days later we went to my grandparents' house in Jonesborough for a "family party." My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and niece were there to enjoy the celebration.
Caroline enjoyed the cheese.

Luke and Anna cuddled with Ryan while watching Wheel of Fortune. (I can not recall any evening spent at my grandparents' that did not include Wheel of Fortune.)

Luke got a rock digging kit, which he promptly put to good use.

He also got an awesome boomerang. (This boomerang is so awesome, it now rests at the top of a really tall tree at the end of our neighborhood. When the directions told us to throw it in a wide open area, it turns out that it meant an area the size of oh, maybe Texas.)

Happy Birthday bud.

We love you.

Harry and Nat

Here's a song for snow days.

Board Breaker

Luke recently had his first board breaking seminar at Tae Kwon Do. Our expectations were not exactly high. We'd thought he'd have some fun, but break boards? This kid can't handle the thought of pain.
But Luke proved us wrong. Here's the stunned look on Ryan's face when Luke broke the very first board he took a swing at.

Then he broke another one.

And another one.

Luke snapped every board he had. And then he broke one with his foot.

Evidently it's pretty tough to break a board with one's foot, so here's Ryan saying "Luke, you are officially cool."

And Luke's words when it was all over? "This'll be great wood for the fire pit."

Storytime

I recently took Caroline and her friend Ella to storytime at the library.

It went swimmingly for the first twenty minutes or so. Caroline LOVES Ella and is typically more mature when they're together.

After the honeymoon period, something snapped inside Caroline's two year old brain, and suddenly all was not well. Here, you can see the look in her eyes. "Hey Ella, I know I'm being nice to you right now and all, but you better buckle up, 'cause that's all about to change, sista'!"

She didn't want to share the puzzles. She didn't want to share the books. And she certainly didn't want to share her mother's lap. I'm so very glad I caught this look on her face.
If you look closely, you can see the puzzle pieces she's clutching behind her back. She's thinking "Maybe if I hide them from Ella, she'll forget I ever took them from her. Plus I'll tilt my chubby little cheeks to the side like this and she'll think I'm so cute, she'll forget all about it. That works with my mommy."
Then came storytime. Here are a few conversations between Caroline and myself.
Here Caroline, place your ticket in the basket so we can go in to storytime.
No.
Do you want to sing?
No.
Look at the bunny!
No.
That was a funny story!
No.
It's time to go. Hold my hand.
No, hold you.
Look, they're going to give you a sticker. Would you like a sticker?
No.
Aah, nothing like a stimulating, thought provoking morning with a two year old.
On the way home:
I like the storytime Mommy! I like the library!
Well, ya coulda fooled me!!

Stinkers. It was all a part of their grand scheme.

Way to go!

Hello sweet Anna.

Sometimes I think I spend a little too much time making fun of my kids. Maybe our blog readers are getting the wrong idea. I really do love my children. I'm very thankful for them even when parenting gets the best of me. So here's a nice one for our Anna.

Anna is a sweet girl. She has some sour moments (mainly with her little brother,) but all around she's sugar. She's eager to please us and crumbles if she thinks she has saddened us. Sometimes this concerns me. We occasionally have a "toughen up" chat.
Anna likes to ride her bike and scooter. She'll eat anything in sight. She loves ballet.

She reads every night in bed until we tell her she has to stop. If Caroline is sad, she'll climb down to the bottom bunk and sing songs with her or read to her.
Just a side note - We are fully aware of our youngest child's belly and intend to address the issue on the trampoline this summer. Now back to Anna . . .

She enjoys her soccer team.

She likes to sleep with ALL of her stuffed toys. She likes to cook and says she will one day be a cook, a librarian, a vet, a gardener, an artist, or a missionary.

Every day she gets off the bus and asks "What are we gonna do that's special tonight?" She takes really long showers. She loves to play the piano and is learning all about it from her Gran.

She loves her buds and would have one over every day if we let her.

She likes to fish with her Grandaddy.

She LOVES to swim.

We just love our Anna. Recently, she entered an arts competition at school. She composed a song on the piano and courageously entered it into the competition. You may ask why this is so courageous, so I assure you, it took a lot for Anna. She was so scared to enter. But she did it anyway. (Maybe our "toughen up" chats are working!)

Well, long story short, Anna won the competition for her school.

And then she won the city-wide competition.
Now, I'm not going to tell how many entries there were (there was no second or third place.) because that just doesn't matter. Anna went out on a limb and did something she was scared to do. It's so great to see her reap the benefits. Way to go Anna!