If you cared about my girls' happiness,

You would CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE,

The Ribbon Retreat

Buy this e-book,

Woven Ribbon Headbands

and start making these headbands for them. Seriously.

So long, Mr. Curlies in the Back.

Shouldn't we take him somewhere to get his haircut?

Heck no. He's not going to sit still, so let's just do it - strap him in!

Me, wielding my best Fiskars, trying to contain the thrashing and not poke an eye out...

Hey Josh, don't look at Mommy, over here! Over HERE!

Snip, snip... no turning back now...

How short are you cutting it? You're not cutting the curls off, are you???

I have no idea. I'm just trying to cut the same amount off everywhere. HOLD HIM STILL!

Get around his ears.

Yeah. Easier said than done.

HOLD HIS HANDS PLEASE!

Hmmm... that's as good as it's going to get. Throw him in the bath please!I think he likes it.
Maybe I'll get a little more brave next time and go shorter, so we can gel it.Yeah, he's SO Allison's brother. No question.

Career Day

Yesterday Nick went into Allison's classroom to talk about his job. The kids asked questions beforehand all about what they wanted to know... and I thought it was quite amusing that all their questions centered around how long he works, how many hours, what days does he have off, how he gets to work... nevermind anything about what SRP does, etc... He gave an overview of the different types of electricity, showed them with a balloon and a kid's hair what static electricity was, what dams did to channel electricity, and how SRP gets electricity to their customers, what we use electricity for, and how to conserve electricity. Yeah, he lost them quite a few times, but it was fun. He even tried to teach the kids about the law of supply and demand and handed out little blinking toys... (methinks they didn't get that concept a bit!) Ha! Allison's lucky to have a dad (one of VERY few) who was totally willing to volunteer to speak - even on a morning in the middle of the week! What a guy...

Family Home Evening.

Tonight we had a great FHE using this "I can work hard" kit from Hatch Patch. I recommend this one. The story is a little long, but the girls LOVED playing the game. (Think pictionary plus charades - the girls got to act out things like vacuuming, folding clothes, etc. and TOTALLY had fun.) So what if the fits started soon afterward, for various reasons, Allison starving yet refusing to eat dinner, Manda screaming she hates us, and then getting her mouth washed out with soap...


Sigh.

Home Sweet Home ... ?

Isn't this gorgeous?
Seriously!
And it's not even anywhere near Lake Linganore.
Here's our chance to have our own, custom-built East Coast home out here in the desert...
Who'd have imagined???
Huge, mature trees.
Secluded. Gated.
A lot more than twice the size of the one we're on now.
Did I mention the trees?
Oh, and a ginormous HOA fee.

Is it worth sacrificing all our cash, taking a huge loss on our current home,
and most likely giving up ever owning any type of cabin??

Do we really want to stay in this neighborhood long term? Do you think the stake prez would annex us into our current ward?
Do we?
Should we?
Hmmmmm ... I think I need a real job.

How firm a foundation ...

... I have in my marriage. I'm so blessed to have it.
I'm thankful, after 10 years, that we still get a kick out of each other.

That he is loyal, and honest, and a hard worker.

That he does his duties, even as much as I grumble about them.

That he is confident, smart, and ambitious.

That he is clever, and funny. And only once in a while corny.

That we like the same TV shows and movies - though I don't believe we've ever even read the same book.

That he knows how to dust, fold and iron, though he won't admit it.

That he's up on current affairs enough for me to ask about anything, anytime, and he can educate me on the subject.

He may not do toilets or coupon shop very well, but I love him.

Manda's no good, rotten, very bad day.

Last week was ROUGH living with Manda's tantrums. Wow. All seems to be better now, and we've all miraculously survived, but I thought I'd share a song she sang to herself while in one of her time outs last week.

"What a rough day, what a rough day.
What a rough day, what a rough day I had today.
I'm in time out because I kicked my mom in the office.

"What a rough day, what a rough day.
What a rough day, what a rough day I had today.
I didn't get to do anything I wanted except to watch TV.

"What a rough day, what a rough day.
What a rough day, what a rough day I had today.
When is the sun going to come up?
I wish I had a friend who could play with me and who cares about me.


Geez, she's a piece of work, isn't she?