Cute haircut

Ellie's been wanting to cut her hair all year long, but we've stalled since we needed to be able to put it into a bun for her ballet performance. Now that swim season is almost here, I had to agree with her, so we had it chopped off today.
Here's the before and after:


She had the requisite ten inches to donate to Locks of Love, so hopefully this nice thick hair will look good on someone else too.

I'm a little biased, but I think she looks beautiful either way.

Field trip season

Ellie and I had a good time at Wheeler Farm today, but we're both grateful that we don't live on a stinky farm.

Keeping busy

I finally got around to hanging some pictures today. I was going to surprise Rob when he got home, but let's face it, he's not big on surprises, and I'm just not that patient. Hanging pictures in a grid is not easy, especially when you have to jerry-rig some scaffolding. While I was up there Joey said, "Um, Mom, is that safe?" I told him not to tell my grandma about it, but that yes, I was being careful. It feels good to cross that project off my list. 

While dad's away...

The girls have been "sleeping over" in our room. On Monday they were so excited about this that they had their pajamas on by four in the afternoon. The boys have felt a little left out, so I promised a movie night/sleepover on Friday night. I even got them some new summer jammies, which the girls have been wearing since 2:00 p.m. 

I didn't get my daily photo yesterday or Wednesday, but if I had taken one, it would have been from the driver's seat. We had chess club, soccer practices, ballet, piano lessons, young women's, scouts and a leadership training meeting. Throw in trips to Costco and Albertson's, plus laundry, dishes, homework and piano practice and you know why I wasn't really in picture taking mode. One week down, and one to go.

Entered to win

I'm hoping to win a madsen cargo bike in this contest. I love the idea of running errands on a bike, although I might have to move if I really want to put it into practice—I'm not sure I can handle the hills even without the extra weight! Thanks for the link Shawn!

Dinner options

It's not like we never exercise the cereal option when Photo Scrooge is home, it's just that when he's gone I don't even feel guilty about it. I even tended Mikey today, so I could have ordered yummy Hagermann's sandwiches, but I figured that three out of four kids would just as soon eat cereal, and Robbie opted for leftover Café Rio burrito. Just keeping it real so Rob doesn't miss us too much.

A near perfect afternoon

Rob left for Prague and Budapest this morning, and will be gone for two weeks. :(  Luckily we had a busy and fun day planned. After kickboxing, we picked up some bagels and some friends and went to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was beautiful, the weather couldn't have been better, and it was so fun to hang out with Julie & Liza. The only reason I added "near" in the title is because I forgot to put sunscreen on any of us, so we're all a little pink now. A small price to pay.

The best part? While I was rushing the girls to find sandals and get out the door, Ellie was really mad and threw out this statement in retaliation: "You are SUCH a BORING MOM!" Later tonight, the girls were still talking about what a great day it was, and Ellie said "Mom, I guess you're not such a boring mom after all." 

Prima donnas in training

If I add six photos today does it make up for all the daily photos I've missed this week? I had a hard time narrowing down my favorites from Ellie's performance. Here's Ellie with her little shadow, just before leaving for Kingsbury Hall:

She is the baby swan right in the middle, in front of Rothbart—she danced beautifully, and loved every minute of it! Luckily they only banned flash photography, and I didn't use one.

They let the girls in Act I watch the rest of the first half, so I caught Ellie for a quick photo during the intermission:



Thanks to everyone in Ellie's cheering section!



Ainsley is the second prima donna in training. Only promises of a treat kept her from twirling in the aisle the entire time.


Two very happy girls!

Peter Anders Stringham

On the Marsh side, the boy cousins are outnumbered, so when I told Robbie and Joey their new cousin was a boy, they went into party mode. And, as you can see, baby Pete already has the "rock on" sign down, so he's a welcome addition to the party.

General Conference Sunday

Our kitchen had been demolished before the October conference, so we were all happy to resume our tradition of crepes and conference bingo this morning. Conference was great, as usual—I especially loved Elder Bednar's talk, and the one just after, with the concept of spiritual home improvement. Hopefully that process won't be quite as traumatic as the physical remodeling!

Sunset

Fun to play around with depth of field tonight. I wish they'd bury all power lines though.

Fancy Nancys

This morning Ainsley said, "Mom, these pants are posh. That means fancy."

Call 1-800-NEW-HOUSE

Overheard today:

Milsie: "How did you get a new house on the inside?"

Ellie: "We just ordered it."

Chess club

The PTA was so desperate for someone to head up the chess club this year that they settled for me. I'm pretty sure that most of these kids could school me in chess, but I am there at 8:00 a.m. twice a month to open up the library and get things set up. The boys love it. Robbie was especially excited to play against someone who's never seen the blitzkrieg today.  

Book Nerds, Part II

Robbie, Jonas and I had a great time at the launch party for book 4 in the Fablehaven series. Brandon Mull is like a rock star for 10 year-olds. Anne and Lisa, I hate to tell you, but I think I just locked up 1st place in the favorite aunt competition. 

Seriously?!

If I didn't have to do anything but sit around and read all day, I might be cool with this. 

A nice funeral

 It's hard to be too sad at a funeral of someone who had a long, good life and faith in life after death. After seeing Verna's body, Ainsley became quite concerned about getting old, and announced to us several times during the funeral that she is NOT having any more birthdays. I wish she could stay three a few more years at least!

Fruit Pizza

Last night was New Beginnings for the young women. We served this:

They're a little time consuming to make, but so pretty, and yummy too. Christianne came over to help cut fruit and assemble them, and we had a great time. Here's the recipe:

Tradition with a Twist

Last year I made Mint Brownies on St. Patrick's Day, and thought they'd be a fun green tradition. This year I took them to my Relief Society Birthday dinner, but as cupcakes. It's actually a combination of the Brownie Cake recipe and the Mint Brownie toppings—maybe I'll add the recipe tomorrow. Just trying to make Rob's food photo prediction come true.

Canon

Our kids don't get out of piano practice on Sundays. We're mean parents. Hopefully someday they'll thank us.

Annette's Carrots

I'm wanting to work on my recipe binder again, so Rob might get his wish of a few dinners this week.

The day we get ready for Sunday

It's almost eleven but my kitchen is finally mostly clean. Going to bed now. My version of the groundhog day routine will begin again soon. I'm not complaining.

The Not-Quite-Daily Photo

I'm just embracing my inconsistency. I do feel like I accomplished something today though, and if I had thought of taking a "before" picture it would be obvious that it was something big. Of course I couldn't have shown my face in public again if anyone had seen the state of the storage room before I cleaned it out.

Since it was an all day job, I didn't fix dinner. We had a nutritionally empty but delicious meal here:

Ellie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Ear Infection

Ellie woke up crying inconsolably with an earache about 11:30 last night (has ANYBODY EVER had an ear infection during office hours?!). We forced her to take Tylenol, gave her a couple of ear drops and propped her up, hoping that she'd fall back asleep. Half an hour later she was still in massive pain, and she asked Rob to give her a blessing. I went in to lay down with her, hoping to calm her down, but it was not to be. She was awake (and crying most of the time) until about seven a.m. when her eardrum finally burst and relieved the pressure enough that she slept. I called Bryner clinic at eight to see how soon I could bring her in (here's where my sleep-deprived rant starts) and they told me the earliest they could see her was 11:10. So I take a shower, and bathe the girls and sit around holding Ellie because she's so miserable. When we finally got there I notice all these signs publicizing their "acute illness" walk-in hour from 8:00-9:00 a.m. It even specifically mentioned all-night ear infections. So as I'm checking in I ask if this has already started, and it has, but whoever I was talking to at 8:00 a.m. just failed to tell me. I know, not a huge deal, but if you go there, now you know. Here's hoping we never need to use it again! :)

Mmmm...lettuce wraps

I could eat at Pei Wei everyday. I love Mongolian Beef, and the Mandarin Kung Pao is recently a favorite, but the lettuce wraps are a must whatever we order. And if Rob didn't already have my undying love, he'd have it now for picking up the takeout tonight!

Uncommon

We have gone years at times without fresh flowers inside, so who would have thought I'd post two flower shots in the same week? Two words: spring fever.

Unwilling subject

Here are a few of the photos that I could have taken today:

• The freshly fallen (and totally unwanted!) snow.
• The stack of 625 fliers that I designed, copied and distributed at the school today.
• The kids with their great-grandma after school.
• The piles of laundry that didn't get done.

Much to the dismay of photo scrooge, I missed all of these opportunities and was forced by my commitment to the daily photo to take this shot:

We need some photographic evidence of the studying that's been such a huge part of our lives for the past couple of years!

Baby Mikey

The kids were SO excited to tend Michael today. My main job was protecting the poor kid from four overly-eager junior sitters. What a cute baby!

Goodbye mop

Joey has spent the past few months trying to rival Jonas' mop, which has worked out well for us, because we've been able to use a haircut as a threat for bad behavior. He claims his decision to cut it was not based on Rob's harassment or my insistence on combing it, just that it was "bugging him." He claims to feel pounds lighter, and after seeing this pile of hair on the floor, I can see why. He's a pretty good-looking kid either way.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Our elementary celebrates with crazy hair, hats and/or socks. Joey had hoped to wear a crazy hat and forgot—I told him not to worry, his hair is crazy everyday these days. Ellie's instructions were "crazy, but not too crazy, because I don't want anyone to laugh at me."