Locks of Love

A few weeks ago I asked Sidney if she would consider cutting her hair. We've been good about trimming it, but it seems to reach a certain length and stops growing. So, when she said she would think about it, I decide to see what it takes to donate to locks of love. It's really pretty simple...you can do it yourself or have it done at any hair cut place or salon.

So, I asked Sidney to look at other girls her age and check out which length of hair she might like. She told me that she liked it "shoulder length". Well, everyone has an idea in their head of what they think shoulder length is, so I was thinking of my idea and told her that if she wanted it that way then there probably wouldn't be enough to donate to lock of love, but that it would be okay, she could have her hair any length she wanted.

(This is just before we left)

We decided last Saturday that we had time and she was ready to get it cut. We went someplace close to home and put her name on the list. When the lady was ready and asked what we were doing with her hair, I said that Sidney had wanted to donate to locks of love, but that she also wanted it shoulder length. Then for the first time Sidney points to her neck, just barely lower than her jaw and says "Yea, I want it just above my shoulders." That surprised me because then she had plenty of hair to donate. The lady took her back and measured it, combed it, put an elastic in it.......and then cut it!

At first, Sidney said she didn't notice anything different. Not until the lady was done cutting and let her see the back of her hair with a mirror did she seem surprised.

Now, she loves it and it takes less time to take care of.

I think she looks adorable!!! But then again...I'm biased.

The bonus is that the hair cut place didn't charge us because she was donating her hair...who knew?

The fruits {and veggies} of our labor!

So, John and the kids have finished planting everything in the garden for this season. It all started about 6 weeks ago. We have anxiously been waiting for the chance to try something and see if they are worth it. On Sunday, John snipped off some of the butter crunch lettuce, some romaine, some of the pretty purple stuff (like the technical terms I use?) and some of the spinach. I added some of our ripe cherry tomatoes and we had a yummy salad. Some of the romaine and spinach were a little bitter, but we ate them and enjoyed it anyway. Later, John found out you're supposed to pinch off the first of those and discard them because they always tend to be bitter. We just didn't want to waste any!
{This is the very salad, all ingredients grown in our very own backyard!}




Then, just yesterday, the strawberry that has been growing and ripening up and we've just been waiting for it to turn all red...finally was ripe! The kids were so excited (and this is just one strawberry). We also clipped off some more spinach and chives to use with dinner last night...oh, they were yum! Anyway, we cut the one strawberry into 4 pieces and each ate them at the same time. Guess what? It tasted just like.....a STRAWBERRY!

{THE strawberry, ain't it a beauty?}


Well, we're having such fun. [Yes, I totally just admitted to enjoying the garden] And we're hoping that everything else just grows like it's supposed to.

Project 365

On the very first day of this year I was lucky enough to order a kit from Creating Keepsakes created by Becky Higgins called Project 365. Basically, you take a picture everyday and journal about it. The kit provides an album and page protectors that allow you to just slide your pictures right in. Then you can write about your typical day and so forth. Well, the kit was so popular it sold out in like an hour and many people (including myself) are waiting for the kit to come in from backorder. So, while I haven't posted one picture this year on my blog, I've been trying to take one picture everyday of something original or typical about that day. Some days are hard because there's not much to take a picture of and other days where you have to choose. Anyway, I thought I would just post a few favorites. Here's just a little of what we've been up to.

On the first of January we did a lot of organizing. The pantry, the food storage, some cupboards and drawers. It was a great way to start the year.

John made cookies for us. Just good 'ol chocolate chip, they were delicioso!

The kids went back to school after the holiday break. It was bittersweet, we had such fun while they were home.

I decided to make homemade birthday cards for all the family this year. Trying to get prepared by making them in one or two sittings. Some turned out better than others, but please know that I made them with love!

Trying to get a decent self-portrait. My hair changes a little too often and sometimes I have to document the different stages so I remember.

My sweet daughter. She came to sit by me and just snuggle for a bit. Why does she have to grow up?

Homemade pizzas. We make them very well if I do say so myself!

Kinda blurry, but Hayden learned to ride his bike without the training wheels. They probably should have come off a while ago because he didn't have any trouble turning or going up onto the sidewalk or anything.

My sweet Sidney. She has just a gorgeous smile, but when you put the camera in front of her she gets all nervous and tries to make a different smile with her face.?

The garden, phase 1. Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, strawberries, zucchini, and spinach, just to name a few.

Every Sunday, the kids and I play Killer Bunnies while John is at his Sunday meetings. I had to capture the fact I had 6 bunnies at once. The funny part...Hayden wins this game...all the time...every time. We all still love to play it though.

We're a motley crew, but we're family. We are having a small reunion of sorts. Two brothers, my mom, 2 nieces and one came with her husband and two children to meet up for lunch at Matta's grill. It is nice to have family close-by!

Our Friday Game Night with our friends, the Bowman's.

Hayden got an award for Citizenship because another teacher caught him cleaning up the bathroom at school. He was thrilled to be recognized! He got to have a special chair in class the rest of the week. Proud mom moment!

Typical morning before school...gotta brush those pearly whites.

Fruits of our labors, literally! (Yes, a tomato is truly a fruit.) By the way, they are now ripening faster than we can eat them, so if you like cherry tomatoes come on over!

Ok, so that was a glimpse of our simple family life. It's not glamorous, but when I look at these pictures I feel right where I need to be.

Now, if my kit would just come...

Ironic

Do you ever get the feeling you've tried really hard or worked on something expecting a certain outcome and it just wasn't there. The closest I can come to explaining it is with lyrics to a song. Ya know the song by Alanis Morissette, Ironic? Okay get that tune in your head, then the lyrics will come.

"An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day..."
(move on to the chorus)

"It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures "

(then jumping clear to the very last verse)
"Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out "

I'm sure I take many things and people and opportunities for granted. I try to appreciate who I have, what I have and how lucky and fortunate I am. (I've said before how spoiled I am).

BUT, earlier this week I felt like I was trying to row upstream and was just so completely frustrated. I'm better now. Life seems to ease up on its own.

So, what do the lyrics mean? Life is just ironic. It's never coordinated to work out exactly how you've planned it or wanted it to happen. Life just happens whether you're on board or not. Sometimes I just get caught off guard and don't know what to think.

(Oh, I just remembered another song that could be applicable too. Howard Jones, No One is to Blame.)

Wii earned it just in time for Christmas!

Since about September 3rd our little family implemented a plan to earn a very great reward. The plan was for certain chores, extra work, and normal routine things everyone could earn a certain number of beads. We had a goal to move 2000 beads from the "supply jar" to the "earned jar". We all knew it would take some time and that it would take some hard work, but at the end the reward would be a Nintendo Wii system. Beads were earned, sweat and tears were prevalent, some beads were even returned to the supply, some days there were many beads earned and some days only a few were earned...but lo and behold on December 24th the last of the beads had been moved from the supply jar to the earned jar. Wii had earned a Wii!!!!

The question from the kids came whether it would be under the tree for Christmas.? We tried to kid around with the kids that we would have to wait until the day after Christmas and go out to buy our new Wii, but that there probably wouldn't be any. But they had been under the tree for awhile.
Here's the loot!!! Needless to say, we were all very excited to get it set up and play.

Here's my brother and John enjoying a round of golf on the Wii. Fun was had by many at our house that rainy Christmas day.

Even the next day when my nephew Skylar came to visit, it was hard not to get sucked in to the Wii vortex.

All I can say is that I'm glad we worked hard for it and that we all feel like we took part to make it a family goal. Now,...who's up for a game of Boom Blox? Game on!!

Christmas at Disneyland

If you love Christmas time and you love Disneyland you should really go to Disneyland during the Christmas season. It truly is magical. The lights, the music, all the decorations...it's just, well, the "merriest" place on earth.

Alright, so some great friends were going to be our guides at Disneyland because John and I haven't been in quite some time and this was the first time for our kids.

So, here's the typical entrance photo with all of us!

We all thought it would be a great idea to start with some easy rides to ease into the fun. That plan did not turn out so well with Hayden...he doesn't like rides that are in the dark and have loud noises coming at him, like Pinocchio, Toad's Adventure, Toontown.Can you see how Hayden has buried his face right into John and he's got his eyes closed tight and plugging his ears with his finger...crazy kid.

We thought that Hayden was really going to have a hard time spending 3 days at Disneyland if he didn't even look at any of the rides, until...we noticed that if the ride was outside, he was just fine.

He didn't seem to mind spinning us dizzy on the teacups!

So how did he do on the faster more exciting rides, you ask? Pretty darn good. We couldn't get him to open his eyes during the Space Mountain ride, but he loved that it went fast and he loved the music in it.

Here we're getting ready to go on Space Mountain. Hayden hasn't closed his eyes just yet.

The first day went great except for John's tired feet. We all loved the fireworks and the snow at the end of the show.

The second started off fabulously since we seemed to be the first ones on every ride for almost 2 hours. We hardly waited longer than a minute at most of the rides. Then once California Adventure opened up we headed over to hit all the fun rides there. Can I just say that I love quite a few rides there...a lot! When Sidney was 2 she fell in love with Monsters, Inc and so did I. To see a ride come to life in person was incredible.

Here she is standing in front of "Boo's" door at the entrance to the ride.

We had to try "Tower of Terror". We told Hayden and Sidney that they had to go on every ride at least once and if they didn't like it then they didn't have to ride it again. So everybody went on this first ride.

Here's the proof...if you look in the upper left corner you might be able to see Hayden clinging to my side. He DID NOT like the Tower of Terror, so he did not ride it again. BUT, on the other hand, my sweet daughter (whom I thought would be terrified) absolutely LOVED this ride. There were six of us that got right back in line to do it again.

We made our way around the park, got wet on Grizzly Rapids, and finally found the big roller coaster...California Screamin'. So, who do you think liked this ride? All of us except for our friends' youngest, and he actually never rode it. (We think he would have liked it if he actually would have ridden it.) The top of the list of favorite rides is Screamin'!!

Hayden is even smilin' in this picture! (Yes, we did take a picture of the display pictures when you get off the ride. I know...we're cheap!).

On the last day we again had few lines on the rides, mostly because of the rain or threat of rain that kept people away. We enjoyed repeating all our favorites. The highlight of the morning was the Jedi Training Academy. My kids are HUGE Star Wars fans and we knew that they would be picking kids from the audience to go up and be participants in the show. We got SO lucky!! Our friends son was the first to be chosen, then Sidney got picked 3rd. We were happy with that and since Hayden is our lucky one ...he got chosen as well! They put a Jedi robe over their clothes and then gave them a lightsaber. They teach them certain choreographed movements all together. THEN,... Storm Troopers and Darth Vader and Darth Maul show up! Each of the kids get to duel with either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Sidney got to go up against Darth Maul. She was supposed to stay on her circle mat and go through her choreographed movement, but she came to take out Darth Maul and she went after him with her lightsaber! (You, go girl!!!!)

Then it came Hayden's turn to battle Darth Vader. He was up on the stage so we could seem him a little better. He did so awesome with his choreographed moves. Then, the host guy told Hayden he needed his help with the storm troopers. He asked Hayden to use his Jedi mind force and push them back with his hands. He pushed them back and it was so awesome!! He was the ONLY kid in that show that got to do that, we were so thrilled. It truly was the best part of that day for him. He beamed for quite some time after that! We even loved the pictures that the park took and bought them because we really wanted the kids to remember that event.

We got our fill of our favorite rides, and there were probably a few shows that we could have tried to catch and I know that there was a parade that we missed that our friend wanted to see, but we made a pretty good dent in our usable time. And we were exhausted at the end of each day to prove it.

We will definetely come back. I don't think I would have thought to go to Disneyland during Christmas time, but it was so neat. And the weather was really mild (I think we really lucked out!). So...who's coming with us to Disneyland, say in, 2 years maybe?

Blog Slacker

Wow, I look at my own blog and think that I haven't done anything because I haven't recorded it, but really we're just caught up in the whole windstorm of Christmas. Since the last entry we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with John's family as well as got to play host part of the time while his sister and her family from TX was here. We visited the Arizona Science Center and the kids got some good playing time together with their cousins. I got to enjoy a couple of birthday dinners; once with family and then again with friends. Then we made preparations to head to the happiest place on earth...yep, our first family trip to Disneyland. The last time John went was just before we got married, but he didn't get to enjoy it because he was trying to keep track of 200 high school students. And the last time I went I think I was about 12 years old...Disneyland has changed a lot since then! Anyway, I will give more detail about Disneyland later. Also, in a month's time Hayden has lost both of his bottom teeth (we have been singing a revised version of "All I want for Christmas...").

We are truly enjoying this holiday season. The lights, the music, the tree, the yummy goodies we've been making and ones we've been given, even the cold that has finally arrived! Merry Christmas to you!