Bye Bye Curls :(

Well, I held up my end of the bargain and went with the majority vote for Charlie's haircut. (Sorry, Er) I wasn't about to go down without a fight though. I had made several haircut appointments and cancelled each one for no good reason. Then last week, the thought occurred to me to actually cut it myself, thinking this would be less painful since I would have control over the situation. After re-reading the comments on the vote, and seeing that Jenn made sure to point out that I should NOT cut it myself, my decision was final. (she would have done the same thing)

Preparing for the cut:

After I wet his hair down and combed it (in various styles), I was convinced that a haircut was the right decision!







It was very painless and quick (except I had to stop between each snip and pick up every piece of hair to save.) I now have a zip lock bag full of blond curls. :(







Charlie did great though and seemed to enjoy it. I'm sure spending 20 bucks and being able to sit in a motorcycle chair would have been even more fun, but we'll go to Panera 10 times and he can thank me later.

BABY Chai

I've been so brainwashed with people telling me that Charlie isn't a baby anymore, that he'll be walking any day now, that he should be eating solid foods, blah, blah, blah. Well, I will listen no more!!! We ran out of diapers last night, so this morning I was stuck with the option of a pull-up (clearly not wasting 27 cents on a 16 cent diaper wearer) or a newborn diaper that I found at the back of the cabinet. So, I went with the newborn diaper, and surprisingly, it fit!!! Think of all the money I could be saving with buying smaller diapers. Thinking back now, I can't even remember why I moved him from 1's to 2's and now 2's to 3's, but probably because someone told me it was time. Anyway, here is proof that Charlie is just as small as the day we brought him home just a few short months ago:

If you're thinking his legs look purple due to lack of circulation, that's just the lighting. He had full range of movement.

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But he wet through his outfit during one set of errands, so yes, I did break down and buy diapers in his size.

Public vote

I am taking a vote - and majority will rule.


Does Charlie need a haircut?

I will not tell you which way our house is divided. I will simply let you all decide.

Ashley turns 7!!!

What a birthday weekend we had! Alli and Ian were trying to arrange a repeat of Abby's birthday weekend, and at the last minute my dad asked if he and Marge could come out too! It all happened so fast, we decided to keep it a secret from the girls. Dad and Marge got here in time to pick up Ashley from the bus. She looked confused at first, but was VERY excited to see them.




Alli and Ian arrived later that night in time for dinner. Amazing how things like that seem to work out better when you plan them 3 days in advance rather than 3 months. Oh well. We had an ongoing "gymnastics show" the rest of the day. The girls are both taking lessons and both love it. Abby is a daredevil and thinks she can do anything.





This is a benefit of taking the trampoline down for the "winter". They now have a bar to do gymnastics on.





Alli is competitive and not ashamed to show it. She was not about to be outdone by a 7 and 4 year old.

Saturday was birthday day. Ashley had asked for a princess cake for her party. I had a "general" idea of how I was going to do this, (ie - pour the cake mix into something that resembled a dress, bake it and stick a doll in it) but once Marge got here, I figured, being the generous person that I am, that I should give this task to her so she would have something to do. And also with that generosity, I offered to take Ashley to gymnastics and leave Abby here to help her. :)
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When Abby helps you bake, she likes to sample everything. She's made the mistake a couple of times asking for cocoa powder but still hasn't quite learned her lesson. One thing she really does enjoy eating though is flour. Apparently she asked Marge if she could taste the flour. Marge figured it would be a good lesson for her to taste it and not like it, so she said yes. Abby kept sampling and sampling and then finally said, "It'th on the roof of my mouth." I think they had to do some scraping.



They saved the frosting part for when Ashley got home. Here is a picture of them "frosting" the cake. I'm not sure what Marge is doing with the knife. I'm sure it wasn't a result of frustration.

And the final product. This is pretty much what mine would have turned out like:




For her party, Ashley had 7 girlfriends over for t-shirt painting...
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...and a silly string fight.
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No one was safe when it came to flying silly string. Alli wished she would have thought of this idea for her birthday party.
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Charlie was not amused.
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That evening we went to Red Robin for our traditional birthday dinner. Red hasn't been there the last 2 times, but it was fun nonetheless.
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The highlight of the day, by far, came after dinner. Ian started a new tradition during Abby's birthday visit to Red Robin to play that game where you fork over your money to guide a claw over a bin of seemingly available stuffed animals, watch the claw drop and close on the animal's head, and with the limpness of a dead hand, lose grasp of it on the way up. But, THIS machine guarantees a winner! If you lose on the stuffed animal side, you get to drop the claw on a pile of candy and other wonderful prizes until you win. I believe Ian won Abby a key chain license plate that said "Insane Lane". Priceless. Anyway, my Dad took over the tradition and tried to win something and *surprise* he landed the claw square on the animal's head, watched the machine's measly attempt to grab it, and came up empty. After dinner, however, the competitive side of my dad got the best of him (are you sensing a trend in my family) and he tried for the lion again. Only this time, it grabbed that head and held on!! It was amazing. I'm sure everyone inside could hear us screaming, wondering why 6 grown adults would get so excited about a silly game. Of course now the girls don't believe that no one EVER wins this game!
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When we got home, we opened presents. I wouldn't ever say that Alli had a hidden motive here, but she and Ian got Ashley the game Connect 4 which Alli and I both love.
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We had a rather lengthy tournament (which I let her win). Charlie was picking very inopportune times to snuggle. Clearly interference.
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It was a great birthday weekend. Happy Birthday, Ashley! I can't believe you're 7!