Haircut or...Abuse?

For months I have been threatening Josie that we are going to cut her hair. I guess that would be why she was terrified, she associated it with something bad. Well, after the umpteenth argument and the bazillionth tear over doing hair, today was the day. I tried to talk her into letting me take her to supercuts for some nice, (not angry), trained professional to get rid of it, but she wasn't having it. I decided to save myself the public embarassment of dragging a screaming child through the door by her too long hair. I figured if it didn't turn out I could pay someone to fix it. So here goes! Please note that Josie cried the entire time and was fondly holding her "broken" hair when we were finished. The only condolence to her was that it would grow back. She has since told anyone that comments on her hair today that it is OK because it will grow back. I laugh now because she really did have reason to cry since I had no idea what I was doing.

The first snip! Check out Josie's face in the mirror

Josie tenderly holding her broken hair

The forced smile -after a chocolate reward

Final result

She survived! It really doesn't look all that bad for an amateur. Kevin wanted me to cut it shorter, but I didn't dare. She has a lot of natural wave that makes it very difficult for me to get it nice and even. This will do for now. I was amazed at how much thicker her hair felt once all those straggly ends were gone. I hope this will solve a lot of yogurt/milk/syrup/ice cream, you name it hair covered ends.

Brothers

We were wrapping up our evening and finishing up our various duties for the day and I turned around to see this, it warmed my heart. I hope that Conor and Lincoln can be good friends, and I know Lincoln will always look up to his big brother.

Our Growing Lincoln

1st time in the bouncer-not a big fan yet

Tummy time

Happy to watch the kids run circles around himTrying out the new Bumbo.

He loves to sit up and get a better view of the chaos at out house.

Lincoln is getting bigger every day. Kevin will come home from work and say...looks like you grew some more today Lincoln. He is our super healthy, happy kid. He is starting to do little tiny sit-ups and he is grasping his hands together so he looks like he is praying, and he is starting to notice his hands as well. He is getting a lot more wiggly and bouncy. He loves bath time and will throw his arms and legs around and splash and smile. He is still lacking in the hair department, but what little he has, looks like it is pretty light.

Wheat entertainment

I was grinding wheat and making bread the other day while Josie was making play doh creations and "helping." She got tired of sculptures so she decided to dig into the wheat bucket...why the shower cap you ask? Josie has this extreme dislike for ponytails, but recently discovered that a shower cap will do the same thing. She could barely reach the bottom of the bucket, but not without sticking her head in. Her hair would then fall in her face. She was getting frustrated, and I thought she had abandoned the bucket and left but she suddenly reappears decked out with this nice cap. Problem solved. I love it when my kids solve their own problems.

Josie playing in the wheat, without her hair in her face

Basement project complete!

Kevin's Masterpiece - Blood sweat and tears and a lot of patience = a job well done :)

View from the doorway

View from window

New carpet
The style of our house is called a 4 level, which means we have 4 different landings/layers and not a complete basement (bummer) The basement has 2 smallish rooms that are unfinished...well now I can say the basement has 1 finished room and one unfinished. Kevin has worked so hard on finishing this room! He can proudly say that he finished the entire room all by himself...no help from me, or anyone for that matter. Kevin wired, insulated, put up walls, built a closet, put up molding, ground down cement, painted, mud and taped and even sheet rocked (a friend helped hold it.) He would have laid the carpet if he could, but you have to stop somewhere. We got the carpet the day before Christmas Eve and since we were carpeting we decided to have them re-carpet our main family room that we use all the time. I wish we could have recarpeted the whole house since our carpet is the crappiest you can purchase...the dealers wouldn't even sell it to us since it is such low quality. Well now we have our next project lined up. 3 cheers for my jack of all trades-Kevin.

Christmas Day

Christmas day!!! The kids were very kind and let us sleep in until 7:30, then I made them wait so I could be ready to take pictures when they came down. Here is some of the excitement.

This is Conor's reaction to his gifts from Santa
Josie immediately started to play with the doll house from Santa

Then of course on to the fun part of opening presents-Conor digging under the tree for more
Lincoln was thrilled to be parked right in the middle of the fun. He watched Conor open his presents for him and he was sad when the opening was over

Kevin was almost more excited about this bike then Conor...he can't wait to take Conor out to hit some real trails with him since it has shocks and some good components.

The tricycle will not be hitting the trails, but we couldn't let
it feel left out

After the morning craziness we ate breakfast and enjoyed some of the new toys and games and then got ready for the arrival of a few members of the Kellogg clan. Playing UNO attack-the card spitter was VERY generous.

Conor and Josie with Aunt Nicole-we rarely see Nicole so we were happy she came with G& G Kellogg to spend a few hours with us.

We are lucky to live close enough to Grandma and Grandpa Kellogg that they can come and spend Christmas afternoon with us. We ate dinner and played games and enjoyed just being together. The day was over much too quickly.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was fabulous! No frantic baking or shopping went on at our house. It was very low key and peaceful. Conor and I spent the day skiing at 49 Degrees North and we had a perfect day on the hill. Kevin and the rest of the gang hung out at home and Kevin took on the task of making the chili for our Christmas eve traditional dinner. He opted to try a new recipe, and made chicken chili that was delicious and a very fun change.
When Conor and I got home the crockpot was simmering and the chocolate milk and egg nog were waiting. We checked with the Norad santa tracker frequently to check Santa's location and then we gathered around the tree for our traditional presents of Christmas jammies and a special Christmas book. We were given a special package of reindeer food so the kids ran out to sprinkle it on the driveway. Conor actually wanted to go to bed to try and make Christmas come sooner. He was so excited! So off to bed went my 2 excited children and Lincoln stayed up with me to see if he could catch Santa.

Conor and Josie in their new jammies

Sprinkling the reindeer food-(Unfortunately the reindeer weren't all that hungry when they got to our house)

Days before Christmas

Josie and Lincoln hanging out together after nap time, sharing Christmas wishes

Dipping and decorating yummy pretzels to share with our friends

Lincoln's new favorite seat in the house, just right for watching all the action between the kitchen and family room.

Late Deer Hunt

Merry Christmas to me! I will soon be the proud owner of a new front end on my mini-van...why you ask? Take a look.

I always complain about the deer population in this region and I hate, hate, hate those sweet little bambi's when they eat up my garden and flowers, so...I took matters into my own hands and did what I could to reduce the population. It cost me much more then I wanted, but I got myself a 4 point buck. Fortunately my car wasn't totaled, but nearly. I still don't have the car back, and the encounter was over 2 weeks ago. I had that crazy experience where you are eye to eye with a stupid deer who isn't smart enough to run, literally deer in the headlights-I hit him dead center. Sadly, both van and deer were removed from the scene not of their own free will.