Awful Clips

After working on Jacey for a couple of months I finally convinced her to get a haircut a few weeks ago. I loved her long, gorgeous, thick hair, but her hair was getting too long and starting to cover up her cute little face. I left the final decision up to her, and one day she told me that she was ready to get her haircut. Given the lack of quality beauty salons in town, I made the unfortunate decision to take her to Great Clips for her haircut. We had gone there before for a trim, but this time we were taking off 3-4 inches. What proceeded was possibly the worst haircut I have ever seen done in my life. I don't know where the lady who cut her hair went to school, but she literally wet down her hair and cut her hair from one side to the other, not taking into account that Jacey's hair was too thick to cut in one fell swoop across with the scissors. I noticed that it didn't quite look even before we left, but I honestly didn't have confidence that the lady would even know how to even it out so I begrudingly paid my money and left. When we got home, I did my best to fix it, and even though I am no beautician her hair is at least even now and she looks cute. I should have saved my $10!

The "after" picture:
(you can see how long her hair was before in prior posts)

Getting Ready for Baby Brother, Part 2

I have discovered that having a different-gendered child is basically like having a baby for the first time again. Most everything I bought for the girls is either too feminine for a boy or worn out after the first two. I have recently invested in a new travel system (infant seat and stroller), new crib bedding and related accessories for a more "boyish room", and of course, boy clothes, socks, blankets, towels, etc. I found a pretty good deal on the travel system through Target.com (the style was being cleared out), but of course after shipping it was almost as much as buying one in the store. Oh well, I liked the pattern better than any other I had seen. When we finally received the car seat a few weeks ago, Brooklyn immediately went and got her doll to put in it and I was amazed to see that she pretty well knew how to buckle it up! Then she and Jacey had fun pretending that it was their baby and carried it around the house. Too bad when the real baby comes he is going to be too heavy for them to tote around, although knowing Brooklyn she will probably try anyways. . .

Mommy's Little Helper

Lately I have been trying to come up with little chores for the girls to do around the house to help me. This has proved to be more challenging for me than for them, as I have had to adjust my expectations a little and accept the fact that every job is going to take them as least 2-3 times longer than it takes me. That being said, it's good to catch them at an age when they are at least somewhat eager to help!

Getting Ready for a Baby Brother

Jacey and Brooklyn loving their cousin Evan

So as most of you already know, baby #3 is going to be a boy (unless there is some other appendage growing from the baby's body!). Jacey and Brooklyn are getting excited for the baby to come, and I am starting to panic as I realize I still have a lot that I want to get done before the baby arrives! We have about three months left now before the baby is due to arrive, but I know that the time will go by fast!

At the beginning of January, Jon's brother Tres came to visit us along with his wife Alaina and their cute baby boy Evan. It was the first time that we got to see this new nephew and the girls loved their new little cousin. They took turns holding him and trying to get him to smile. It was fun to see the girls interact with the baby and it was good practice for when our new baby comes. We are glad that Tres, Alaina and Evan made the effort to come down and see us, even if it was only for a day!

Our Christmas--Finally!

We had a really nice Christmas down in Southern California with my family. My brother Jeff and his wife Amy rode down with us, and we invaded my parent's house for a little over a week. Since most of our time down there was before Christmas, we spent quite a bit of the trip doing the pre-Christmas preparations, i.e. last-minute shopping, wrapping and cooking. We did try to balance it out with a few fun activities for the kids, such as taking them to the park, going to the mall to ride the carousel and train, and going to the Discovery Kid's Museum. Aunt Amy was even kind enough to let Jacey and Brooklyn help her out with making and decorating sugar cookies for Santa!

Of course, the highlight of the trip was Christmas itself, and for once Santa seemed to get it right this year as the kids seemed thrilled by pretty much everything they got! Jacey loved her new pink D.S. and Brooklyn was entertained for hours playing with her new GeoTrax. Jon and I didn't make out too bad ourselves, and Santa even brought a couple of things for baby brother. We all had a good time and the weather was, as usual, awesome. Thanks to Mom and Dad for putting up with us for the week--the holidays are always much more fun when you get to spend them with family!