Haircuts & Happy Meals

Back in the spring, Hayden had gotten her hair trimmed. She'd never had one so she had about 4 inches chopped off to get it nice and healthy. Her hair is beautiful and silky and long. She's good about pulling her hair up to brush teeth, eat, dance, et cetera. 

Lucy? Not so much. Every day since her hair was long enough, I have pulled it back in a rubber band. And every day that I did that, she took it out within 30 minutes. Unlike Hayden, Lucy's hair does not fall beautifully to the side of her face in a natural part and wave. Lucy's just straggles and hangs in her eyes, her snot, her mouth, her food, stuck to her face...you get the picture. 

I made a decision to take her for a haircut and install some bangs on that forehead of hers. I spoke of sparkles, juice, and a treasure chest of goodies that the Salon offers good little girls who sit still in the chair. Hayden remembered this and told Lucy all about it.

"You have to sit still because she has scissors and you will cut your ear if you don't sit still. I got a beaUTIFUL pink butterfly ring because I was a good girl and sat still all by myself!"  Half truth. She was not well behaved at all and she sat on my lap the whole time.

As we sat on the couch waiting for Lydia the Haircutting-Cutter (Hayden's term), the girls were kind of quiet and checking things out. Finally Lydia said "who wants to be first?" 

Lucy: "I DO!!! It's MY turn and I go FIRST!!!" And off she ran, hopped up into the chair and immediately sat still and straight. 

Off goes the back scraggle.

wtf. I can never get her to sit still.

This salon is awesome - it's very shabby chic inside and it changes every time I go in. It is in an old warehouse and very "shabby chic". They do the coolest things! Plus, the staff is amazing and they pamper you. But anyhoo...

Lucy kept a constant eye on the mirror and what Lydia was doing. 

See? Shabby chic. Just like Lucy.

When the cutting was done, Miss Lucy had some rockin' bangs, a shoulder length bob, a pound of silver sparkles in her hair and a new semblance to Cleopatra. 

Queen of Denial.

I have to get use to it. Cutting her hair made me want to drink massive quantities of wine. She looks adorable but she looks so different. Older, wiser, more mischievous (oh shit).

Hayden had a quick trim and also received a pound of sparkles (which are now all over Brad and Brad's truck). 

No bangs for THIS ballerina.

I had promised Happy Meals if they behaved in the salon...secretly hoping they would not behave. They chose this night to behave and were rewarded with Happy Meals and time to play in the McD's playhouse thingy.

Bad idea. SCREAMING children everywhere. Mine refused to wear the required socks because they were slippery. At one point Lucy was stuck in the very top, looking out of the plastic window banging and crying "MOOOOMMMMMAAAAA!" Fortunately, a sweet older girl went up and got her for me. We didn't stay long after that.

That place makes me itch.

Crazy = NOT contained

New favorite past time for my fearless little monsters:

o_O

At least Brad knew Hayden was coming this time around. Usually there's no warning.

And how she doesn't just go from one cast to the next is beyond me...

America's Next Top Model

Cousins.

Playing a game.

A game called "America's Next Top Model". Makes my hair turn gray just thinking about it.

"Only four of you remain..."

For the record, that little blue dress on Hayden is not suppose to show toddler-cleavage like that. She totally has it on backwards.

Good thing she's cute.

Trick or Treat, smell my feet...

Can't decide on a costume? Wear them all! Or at least have a daytime option and then a nighttime one. The girls decided to wear one outfit to daycare/school and another for Trick or Treating would be a good idea. I wasn't opposed to this since they are inside during the day but late fall in Montana can  be chilly in the winter.

Daywear: 

Never roam alone.

Lucy was ROCKING the garden gnome outfit. It could possibly be the most perfect costume ever for her. Hayden opted for La la Loopsy but got pissy and did not want her picture taken so she's sulking with a bag of Goldfish. 

Moving on to the evening wear: 

Cupcake. Firewoman.

Hayden's mood improved significantly when she realized that a candy windfall was imminent. Of course, getting her to stand up straight and smile is impossible. 

Argh.

 

 

Ok, she's standing up straight and semi-smiling. Lucy's hat didn't quite stay on her head though. Not much stays on a head that's in the 97th percentile for size. (I totally pushed that thing out - screaming the entire time)

Firetruck say "WOO WOO"!!!

Brad pimped her Radio Flyer...at the last minute. Hence the garden fire hose and 4 foot ladder on the 3 foot truck. She also had blinking red lights. I don't look forward to the day when things like this no longer get the "OMGSOEXCITINGILOVEITSOMUCH" reaction that this did. 

Loot: 

Sugar 'em up and let 'em loose.

The Reese's Peanut butter Cups were confiscated. I believed them to be a danger to my beautiful children so I sacrificed myself and ate them. 

MOTY!

Cinderella, Sinderella, Cupcake, Firewoman

Halloween is stressful. Some of this has to do with the fact that there is already Christmas stuff in stores (WTF, right?!) which means I can't just enjoy Halloween because I'm instantly stressed about all the crap I have not yet started for Christmas. Like I need that.

But also, picking a costume is apparently a huge deal. HUGE. I don't remember this being the case last year. Hayden picked Cinderella right off the bat and stuck with it. Lucy wasn't really old enough to decide so I turned her into a little red devil and decided right before they went Trick or Treating that she was "SINderella". They were the cutest pair ever. 

 

Look ---> 

Cinderella ♥

SINderella!

It's funny how this about sums up their personalities. Sweet, innocent and wanting to please you vs. mischievous, playful and wanting to trick you. 

So I thought this year would be kind of easy but I was wrong not right.

Hayden's costume choices: 

1. Lalaloopsy

2. Princess Frog

3. Butterfly

4. Fairy

5. Ariel

6. Lalaloopsy (yes, again)

7. Rapunzl

8. Princess Fairy

9. Cupcake 

 

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Lucy's costume choices: 

 

1. "NO!!! I don't want pick one! Gimme witch broom! NO DRESS UP!" 

2. Fireman.

*sigh*

 

So I have one cupcake and one firewoman. Coming riiiiiiight up.

Elm trees & swing sets

Back in July, we had to bid farewell to the enormous Siberian Elm in our backyard because it was, uh, diagnosed (?) with Dutch Elm Disease. It was a sad day when we scheduled the removal because we had hoped to build the most epic tree house ever for the girls. There was going to be a suspension bridge, pulley's, a rope ladder, zip lines and even electricity. At least that had been the plan. Saying good-bye to the tree meant saying good-bye to the tree house dream as well.

That HUGE mass off branches is all Siberian Elm. It was enormous.

With the tree coming down, we opted for Plan B. A shiny new play set with a climbing wall, rope ladder, slide, swings, trapeze, and tower. After delivery, the giant boxes sat in the garage until after the tree was down (another 2-3 weeks). Poor Hayden and Lucy would go into the garage and sit on the boxes, looking at the picture of the set and saying "can we swing and slide now?". We kept telling them, "as soon as the tree is down, we will put the set up. We promise!"

The stump ~ beautiful ~ but it had to go too.

Eventually, the tree was down and the new swing set was up and all was right in toddler world.

Not quite finished - tower, rope ladder, 3rd swing and accessories had not been installed yet.

Fast forward to this afternoon. Brad and Hayden had gone for a walk through the neighborhood. We had some heavy snow last week; not a lot of it but enough to break some branches. Throughout the area there are many Siberian Elms, most of which probably need to come down as well.

As father and daughter walked along, they came to a tree that was indeed being taken down. Hayden stopped and looked at Brad and said "Are they getting a new swing set too?" 

Because when a tree comes down, it must surely be replaced with a swing set.

Parenting: Illustrated With Crappy Pictures

Several weeks ago, one of my most favorite blogs on the planet held a little contest. Amber at Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures asked her readers to submit a story that they would like to see "crappified". She would then select three winners and use their stories, her pictures, and create magic. 

Illustration by Amber Dusick

I submitted a couple of stories because I happen to think the my children are hilarious. When I received the email that she picked on of my stories, I was so stinking happy that I couldn't see straight. I think my return email to her was something along the lines of "OMFGHAHAHAHHAOMGHAHAHAHA"...or something.

So anywho ~ she selected one of the favorite stories from Hayden when she was learning to talk. Here is Amber's post: 

Ridiculous   The story was the brief explanation I gave to Amber, the drawings are all her.

This is so getting printed out and hung on a wall. A huge thank you to Amber!

p.s. This blog has just sort of been my place to keep stories I want to remember and show my girls when they grow up. I was fine with Amber posting the blog link to the post she did but I did not expect 1700 visitors to show up in two days. So...hello people that came to visit! Since I know you are here from Crappy Pictures...I know you are fabulous and funny because the comments on her blog are just as great as the blog most days!