Barbershop's open

Big O got his first haircut today! I wasn't planning on cutting his hair, but after I had done Nathan and Jared, he climbed in the chair and gave me an "I'm ready - it's my turn" smile. How could I deny him his turn? This is the before, which doesn't look bad at all - in fact, when it's washed, it looks pretty good. (He already got a bath earlier today after our syrup-y french toast & omelet breakfast.) Anyway, he probably did need a hair cut, although you can't tell from this picture:

I did find a picture from earlier this month that shows what his hair looks like most of the time (one side sticking straight out):

Here's the cut:

I did 4 haircuts tonight - and the best part was that it cost $0. If you aren't cutting hair already, you really should. The buzzer isn't too hard to use...

Snow days!

We had half a day of school on Thursday and no school on Friday. The boys enjoyed playing outside on Friday, although Big O didn't last very long. He was happy to get back inside. I didn't want to get out there, but ended up taking pictures in my pajamas anyway... it was fun to watch them try to ride on the sled, with no hill. It was still fun for Dad to push them around on it, and they had some good snowball fights, of course.

Future pilots?

Nathan (and Jared) was lucky enough to have a friend whose parents know a pilot. For their friend's birthday, they got to sit in a little 2-seater plane. The birthday boy went for a flight (I was nervous about them flying anyway), but it was fun for the boys just to see and sit in the plane, which was called "Snoopy".

Carroms

I asked for a Carrom board for Christmas, and I got one. I remember playing this when I was about Nathan's age with my paternal grandfather. In fact, playing carroms is just about my only memory of my "grandaddy". He passed away when I was 8 years old, so I don't remember very much about him. So this game is a special memory for me. I have enjoyed watching Nathan and Jared play (although Jared hasn't quite figured out how to shoot it well). Nathan is pretty good, and I love the enthusiasm he has for it. We've played it nearly every night the past week, and I don't mind playing. Has anyone else ever played Carroms?

Big O mess

This is what happens when you leave a toddler alone with his food for 2 minutes...



He really has wanted to feed himself. The independence is nice, but not so clean. And if only he could get the food IN his mouth and not everywhere else... I think the problem was that he was done, but there wasn't anyone who would take it off the tray. For some reason, it's a problem if it's still in sight. He couldn't quite get everything on the floor. "Mama! Come get me and get this food off my tray!"

superfriends, capes, and collapsing cake

Our camera isn't working well (the flash works about 10% of the time), but here's a few shots:



Nathan's party went well - there were 10 boys, which was great. The cake was a disaster - it started out okay, but when I was nearly finished (3.5 hours later...) the whole back half collapsed. The layers were too off-center - I tried to fix it, but it seemed to be unrepairable. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it got. What a mess! The front turned out okay at least. We had some fun blue kool-aid sprite punch along with the cake. Most of the time the boys just played, but we did play 2 games - pass the kryptonite and pin the superhero.

Am I crazy?

I must be losing it, because I just finished 14 superhero capes for Nathan's birthday party (including one for Nathan, Jared, and Owen)...

but why do I do this to myself? I thought they'd be pretty simple - get them done in a day... well, 4 days later and they're done. The sewing machine wouldn't do the rough side of the velcro, so I had to hand sew 14 of those on (I know, Amanda - I could have used your machine, but Owen has been sick...) And then I got the iron-on transfers for WHITE and it did not work on BLACK, so I had to sew on white fabric (because I wasn't about to pay $18 for the dark iron-on sheets.) They didn't turn out as well as I wanted - they'd look better with another color on the inside, but they'll work for a party. No more birthdays please, because I get these ideas and then go overboard. I can't just do SIMPLE. I can't even bring myself to buy a $25-30 Wal-Mart cake, so I'll be decorating a cake too. Cheap - that's what I am. But the capes only cost about $1.50 each and I got masks on sale after Halloween for $0.20 each (normally $2.00 each). Maybe I'm not that crazy. I'm just THRIFTY, right?! (Nathan has too many friends though!)

Oh, and you have to see the sewing machine I'm using - I'm not a seamstress (the only sewing I know is from 7th grade sewing class), but somehow I find myself sewing for Halloween and other projects on this old machine... it folds down under and doubles as our computer desk.

Happy Birthday!

Nathan turned 6 years old! He wanted biscuits and eggs for breakfast. He opened his presents - his favorite was the $1 swords. We went to Chili's for lunch and filled up on chips and salsa. And then we made a trip to Wal-mart, where he was excited to use his "credit card" (gift card) - he picked out more swords and a couple other annoying toys... We had a mini cake when we got home and watched the 2nd Night at the Museum movie. Here's just a few pictures:

Da-da's home!

Alex was gone for almost 2 weeks for work - he came home about a day early. When the boys woke up in the morning, they were so excited to see him. They all just wanted to sit with Da-da. Jared gave him a hug and wouldn't let go. I think we know who the fun one around here is...

I hate being cold!

It's been cold here lately, and I'm really dreading taking Nathan back to school on Thursday. It's only supposed to be 14 degrees, "feels like -2 degrees." I'm really not looking forward to bundling all the boys up to take Nathan to school. I guess that's one of the benefits for you homeschoolers right? Maybe we'll call in sick with a "cold"...

service?

So my service month didn't go so well. It mostly was a gift month and I only got about half the month. I was sick for almost 2 weeks, which meant I couldn't really take meals or goodies to anyone and I couldn't babysit. By the time I was with family at the end of the month, I just wanted to relax. I appreciate their service to me. I do think I'll try to do better with service this year. I know there's so many opportunities out there - we just have to find them. Here's a couple other things that I remembered to take pictures of... I forgot to take pictures of the cute bottles of apple cider wrapped in a sack and tied with candy.

I made calendars for some of my friends and I also made one for my grandma and my mother-in-law. They weren't very fancy, but I think they were pretty cool anyway. Here's some of the jpgs that were easily available from the GG calendar (my siblings might like to use them in one of their own). Staples does custom calendars for not much and quickly. I got them back the same day I sent them in (on-line).