The latest

Summer.

I mean!

This thing is crazy. 

It just blows in with all the heat it can muster and steals time minute by minute.

We are fully taking advantage of it and doing what all the cool kids are doing.
(ok.  I don't know what the cool kids are doing, but I am pretty sure its not making homemade friendship bracelets and giving away vests with patches.  but I could be wrong.)

Here is the latest in no particular order of any kind.

1. patriotic friendship bracelets dating back to the fourth o' july  2. the actual fourth swimming at brooks  3. milk bubbles  4.  islas first sleepover!!  5.  lunch in lubbock.  four kinds of fries with two dipping sauces.  unbelievable!  6.  al and cel  7.  more friendship bracelets.  the gap totally stole my idea  8.  al and I getting ready for our lubbock flight and the coffee that gave her vertigo.  luckily christial wasn't there so i could steal her coffee  9.  charm bracelets that ended up looking like dream catchers.  10.  bingo daubers  11.  bingo mat  12.  sawyer practicing tracing her name over my letters  13.  new short hair!  14.  outdoor spa treatment.  15.  ta da!

Last week catch up

Ya'll have got to run over and see lindsay's puppy party! It was such a blast and she did such a great job putting everything together-all while looking like a hot model in her red lipstick!! We got to see al and ella and kenna and bob, as well as so many friends and just loved it.

 I made these shirts yesterday before and they aren't my best, maybe a little off on color combo, but they fit the bill for the cutest puppy party ever!
More on that mullet-
last week while I was running Sassy decided to cut her own hair.  I am obviously not opposed to change or trying to do it yourself with hair, but I think she went a little far back with the scissors while trying for bangs and landed herself a party in the front and business in the back kind of look.
So, I took her where I took aves when she was twirling her hair and pulling it out.

Real fancy place- great clips or something like that.  Sassy would not relax at all so her shoulders were up the entire time.

Needless to say, it is not the most even cut, but its better than her own devices.

And she got a sucker.  Love it.

Avery was the type that was sad she had to cut it and was sad when it ended up shorter than we had wanted, but kind of knew it was over and she was stuck with it, so she never complains.  I prayed over her before she went to school because I was so nervous it was too short and some kids might make fun of her and got so sad that I had made her do it. I was a mess.  Everytime I tried to talk to her about it she would just shrug it off and change the subject (which kind of broke my heart more!).  Sassy, on the other hand, is telling everyone she got her hair cut and that she loves it and telling me its so soft, or, she is laying down on the ground (in the middle of the parking lot while cars are driving by swerving around us) saying she wants it long and doesn't like it and cant function like this anymore.  Drama.  I guess you've got to have one that is holding her emotions in so that the other one can bring the fun...
We also got isla a little doll chair at an antique store and painted it for her.  They couldn't wait for her to have it.




We also found a little doll bed and dresser for kinley that I didn't get all the way finished with the drawer pulls, but they loved making it for her too.

How cute is that little mirror?? and it had barbie clothes still in it!

Then Aves had a dance program at her school that was literally the best thing I have ever seen.  It was like a mini broadway!  It was new york themed and they had mini songs from broadway shows, NY songs, firemen and policemen outfits and songs as well as a newsies song.  Newsies is my absolute favorite movie and I just was beside myself when it came on.  Sassy and I could not stop smiling at the cute little kids in their homemade outfits trying to keep the beat and singing! ahhh! Avery's class theme was the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and her "float" was mickey mouse so she sang the M-I-C-K-E-Y song with her mouse ears and was so cute.  Just love an elementary school program!
Hope y'all had a great last week too!
More to come on our fun weekend with my cousins too...

haircuts all around

A few weekends ago, Ella got her hair cut by the oh so talented Aunt Anna. We went to Anna's cosmetology school for the haircut. It was very intimidating walking in that place! Everyone was so trendy and the Paul Mitchell School was so so cool! It made me so proud of my sister and what she does everyday:) 

The finished look!

Bob wanted a little trim too so Anna and her boyfriend Tyler gave him a haircut in my parents bathroom. 

SO fun having a hair stylist in the family! 

Hairmageddon

Really bad hair experience this weekend, y'all. 

You may be thinking to yourself that maybe I tried to dye it or highlight it or perm it myself (again) and then something crazy happened and I had to cut it all off (again) but it wasn't even my fault this time.

Whew. Ok. Let me start at the beginning, I am so sorry.

I don't want to get ahead of myself.

I love to change my hair.  Right.  I pretty much do one thing and then like it ok and then LOVE it right before I change it to something else. 

So, I knew that when my hair was behaving better than ever on the day that I had my hair appt that I had scheduled way in advance, that that was normal. Your hair has the most amazing ability to look more incredible than it ever has in its life (even if you don't even blow dry it), on the day of your appt, you know?  It was like I had full hair and not just five mousy brown strings.

But, I knew this was coming and was fully ready to just ignore my hair and get excited for blonde.  I had been ready to be back for a while, and wasn't looking back.  Eyes on the prize.

I dropped the twins off at school and didn't stop smiling until I got to my appt.  New highlights are the best thing in the world.  (Well-good ones.) So, I sit down and he is nice and I, of course get nervous about talking to someone I don't really know, so I start saying crazy things and he realizes I am crazy. Then he  won't even work on my hair for like 20 min trying to deduce how crazy I actually am.  I could see it in his eyes that all of this self criticism and me thinking I am so hilarious, combined with my usually diarrhea of the mouth when I am nervous, was really making him nervous.

Once I had talked him into embracing my weirdness, he did this painting thing to my hair-which I was really excited about.

So, I sat in the chair, once it had been applied, and just soaked up the sweet smell of bleach pouring into each particle of hair.  I loved it. I felt like I was home.

When it had been the appropriate amount of time, they rinsed it out and talked to each other about how great it looked and we all realized I wasn't going to be able to dry it because I had to go get the crazies so they just brushed it out and let me go.

As they were brushing, I could tell that this was not the blonde that makes allison pee her pants because its so white against my dark hair and looks like worms (every time.  that girl is so predictable) and that it may be a little orange...

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted.
I looked a little bit like I had just gotten out of prison and the last thing I did before getting locked up was lay out in the sun with sun in.
For real.
So, bummer.
Needless to say, the next day, Kathryn, my neighbor's recommended color specialist saved the day!

She laughed at my hair (confused that it had happened yesterday with my 4 month roots very visible) and said she couldn't fix it all over because it was damaged but did what she could. Now it is in a much more manageable state.

Thank you kathryn.

saved my life.

Needless to say, today we were able to go to church (without a hat), drive to ikea, get bunk beds that we don't know where we will put and what we will do with, and see my in laws who didn't even flinch at my new hair.  So, all in all, the crazy drama turned out pretty good.

Oh, and I am a blonde now :)

Polaroid captured haircut

Before D Day we thought we would give Ben a haircut (and somebody's wedding is coming up and he has a coveted spot as a ring bearer).
And I whipped out the polaroid camera that has been in hiding because I thought I had lost the large amounts of film that I had.  But i found it.  Whew.

He didn't love it.  But his mullet is finally gone and we thought about the long on the top rocker do, but didn't know if Blair would worry that her band had ventured out to the wedding, so we opted to save that for next time.

Aves and sass loved the action too.

Here is what one may look like on their last day of freedom
(and if they swam the night before and if one never brushes their hair...).

Here we come Kindergarten (and pre school)!

haircuts and fevers

How cute was Avery's princess party?! We are SO sad that we missed it! SO sad! Ella got sent home from school last Wednesday with pink eye and has been sick ever since. The pink eye turned into an upper respiratory infection and poor kid has had a fever for days. Today is the first day her fever has broke and she finally seems to be getting better.

It was so nice getting outside today. The weather was beautiful! 

Ella hasn't had a haircut since her last one with Avery and she was due for a little trim. Brittany gave her the perfect little haircut outside and it looks so cute. 

locks o' love

so, since i didnt really do ben any favors with the haircut i gave him (while he was on the run, mind you) jeff decided it was his turn to give it a try.

and i just cried!! i never cried with aves, and was just so excited, but with every perfect blonde lock that jeff sheered away, i just melted. my little baby is now a boy. not even a toddler. like a grown up. practically out the door to college and not wanting his mom around. i miss him already.

sass is pointing to her hair and made jeff "cut" hers. she kept saying "sassy's turn".

and he did not like to have his picture taken at all and is mad at me for trying.

i couldnt help it.

he went from a little 60 year old man with a receding hairline, to a little 80 year old bald man. love him.

love both my bald men.

haircuts!

Yesterday was a big day for Avery and Ella. One of those days that a mom would probably put down in the baby book right next to a lock of hair. We might not have saved any hair but we did get some great pictures of Avery and Ella's first official haircut! It was so fun and the girls did so great!

Avery got A LOT of hair cut off! Kristen and I were breaking a sweat when we saw her make the first cut but the end result is the cutest little bob I have ever seen! It looks so cute on Avery!

Ella loves a ponytail so she just got about an inch trimmed off. I was so tempted to get her a matching haircut like Avery...maybe next time:)

As you can see, Avery was beyond thrilled about her new look and was already talking about her next haircut before we even got out the door. She might get that from her mom:) Ella was still soaking in the moment...

Such a fun day!

Ella gets a haircut!

So Ella has had a little mullet/rat tail thing going on lately.  I have noticed it for some time now and everybody thought I was crazy to even think about cutting it off.  Well the other day one of our dear friends commented on Ella's rat tail and that was all it took for me!  It confirmed that I wasn't the only one thinking business on top party in the back so Ella got a haircut last night!!! She loves her fresh new look!