Bye-bye Baby Curls

Baby Mullet

My little baby is growing up WAY too quickly. He walks. He talks (well, he says words...). He has a mouth full of teeth. And now he's gone and gotten his first haircut.

Before (look at those cute curls!):

His daddy took him to the barber and they each came out with a haircut (though Colin had quite a bit more to cut than Daddy). Colin was still groggy from his nap when we got there (read: cranky), so he sat on my lap and watched his daddy get a haircut first. By the time Phil was done, Colin was feeling more at home in the barbershop and was ready to sit in the chair.


Here he is sporting the new 'do:

One cool dude

Just a few pics

I've been a little slow on the updates, so here are a few pics:

Colin's new favorite place to nap:
OK, so it's not new. Now it's just the only place he'll nap. He marches to his own drum! Sure wish that drum was nearer to his crib...


...and here are the girls after their bath tonight. Claire wanted wavy hair tomorrow, so she asked for a braid. Of course Maddie wanted a braid too. Usually Maddie's hair is too wispy from all of her twirling, but not tonight. You're looking at Maddie's first french braid, ever! She has been doing a great job of NOT twirling her hair and there was enough there for me to braid -- just like her sister's. Hooray for Maddie!

Fun Things This Fall

We've done a few things around here to ring in the new season. First, the girls noticed that there are lots of acorns all over the ground. My girls, who both love to collect various oddities (rocks, leaves, stickers from the dentist, junk from birthday party goody bags, Happy Meal toys, etc), insisted that they gather a bunch of those acorns and keep them. So I took them over to the big oak tree and had them gather a few there.


No, we're not putting them away to sustain us through this coming winter. We're trying to sprout them. Don't ask me where we're going to plant 15 or so oak trees. We'll figure something out. Do oak trees grow in pots? I'll have to investigate that, given our current move schedule.

Next we went to a pumpkin patch near Princeton. We petted goats, kitties, and a horse, we found our way through a corn maze, we ate apple cider donuts, and we found some pumpkins. I'd call that a successful trip.


Then we went to the other side of the farm and picked apples. Yum! I was going to use some of them for applesauce and a pie, but I'm not sure if I'll have any left over after the kiddos get their fill. I think Maddie ate four whole apples by herself yesterday! And Claire isn't usually an apple-eater, but she had so much fun picking them that she decided they're not too bad. Even Colin enjoys them when they're cut up.

(Click any of the photos above for more shots from the farm!)

So, hooray for fall and fun things to do!

Kiddo Parade

I've been wondering why I've had such a headache every evening for the past month or so. Maybe this has something to do with it?

Boy crazy? Seriously?

Lord help me. I picked up Maddie at her sweet little preschool today and as we were walking to the car she waved good-bye to a little boy in her class. I thought nothing of it until the following conversation occurred in the van:

Maddie: See Mommy? 'Dat's the boy I was telling you about. He's my 'paht-nor 'dis week."
Me: Oh! That's James!
Maddie: Yeah. He's my new 'boy-fwend.

Back story: Maddie had a little boyfriend in Oklahoma. His name is Kason. We have sent him letters and pictures, one as recently as yesterday. Apparently he has some competition.

Me: Your boyfriend?
Maddie: Yeah. We 'pwayed together in the kitchen and I cooked eggs and he 'pwe-tended to eat 'dem. And 'den we laughed 'cause 'dat's so 'sih-wee.
Me: I'm glad you've found a new friend.
Maddie: Yeah. I'm going to 'meh-wee him.

So she's ditching Kason and she's going to marry her first rebound guy because they laughed together once? Young love is fickle.

Then Claire piped up from the 3rd row of the van:

Claire (rolling eyes): Maaaddieee. There are lots of boys in the world. You should meet some more of them before you pick one to marry.

A voice of reason! I patted myself on the back for my women's studies minor and the obvious impact it has had on my oldest child. Then Claire continued with a little story about her school bus:

Claire: Victoria only sits next to me for a short while. She gets off the bus right by the school. Then I'm lonely in my seat with nobody to talk to.
Me: Does anyone sit in the seat across the aisle from you that you could talk to?
Claire: No. Just a boy, but I don't like to talk to him.
Me: Oh.
Claire: But I do like to look at the boy who sits in the seat in front of him.
Me: You like to LOOK at him? Why?
Claire (a bit dreamy): Because he's handsome.

Seriously? I have one planning to marry a boy because they played together once and the other staring dreamily at boys on the bus. Awesome. Can't wait until they're older.