One Proud Mama

So, I attended James' first real parent/teacher conference.  It was just routine and a way to connect with the teacher. We love his teacher, Mrs. Trotter.  She speaks fluent Spanish and there is a large population of spanish speaking kids in the class, so we're hoping for some bilingual understanding.  Anyways, I went in to the meeting expecting to hear things like "We like James. He's sweet and smart and his speech has really improved". All of which, is true. 

Now I get to brag.  Mrs. T said he is the highest intellectually out of all the kids and she had some stories to prove it.  For example, she gave all the kids a plastic baggy with an ice cube in it.  They were then told to take the ice cube to where they thought it would melt the fastest.  All the kids took theirs outside, but James put his near the space heater.  Unfortunately for James, it was the warmest day all season and the ones outside melted first. 

I tried not to be the parent to just gush all over my kids, but I did contribute a few stories of how James wanted us to make an ice castle at home, or how many envelopes of cut of paper he brings home and how he asks us 3x a day if he has school tomorrow. 

There were a few more stories, but I don't want to be one of 'those' moms, so I just want you to know that I AM a proud mama. I was so proud that I wanted to reward James for working so hard at school. So, I got him a little gift yesterday.  That won't happen all the time.  We'll probably reward with milkshakes or something

First Haircut

I always promised myself that I would take good care to make sure my little girl had a nice girly haircut. Due to a few mishap haircuts by a certain sister of mine (I know she had good intentions), I've become a bit sensitive to short boy haircuts.  Well, Olivia has this hair that I have no clue how to manage. 

It was getting long in the front and the back and beginning to resemble a mullet.  The only thing I could do what pull the long hair back into a pony tail, but it looked kind of silly.  So, we went in to pay $10 for 5 minutes of cutting :(.

Doesn't look too crazy here, but it was a low humidity day.

This is how it looked brushed out.

This is how it looked right after the cut. I know, it looks like a boy cut but it smoothed out and looks good. It's a bit of a bowl cut, but its growing in nicely.  It's curling under in the back but the top is still straight.  I'm still not sure what to do, but I think it's in the right direction.

The Mini-Union

We all took a trip up to VA to visit my sister.  It was a nice little trip where we would get to meet our new little niece, Moriah Katherine Jackson.  So, with all 14 kids, the house was a bit packed. Thank goodness it did not rain.  We had a good time visiting and made a few park outings to tire out the kids.  I handed Alex the camera and asked him to take some photos. This is all he took :)

The Halloween Party

So, my sister in law had a halloween birthday party, since her birthday's the first week in November.  We all dressed up as best we could and here's what the little guys went as.  James as Ironman, Ryan, all of his spiderman accessories and little ballerina. 

I tried to be Little Bo Peep.  My pig tails were a bit droopy.

Alex was half and half man. Have business, half lumberjack.

Trying to be strong

James and haircuts...not fun.  He did alright the first few times, but since then, well, Remember the scene from Steel Magnolias where Julia Roberts has a diabetic fit while getting her hair done. Yep, that's about right.  So, we tried to buzz it at home, but it was so frustrating that we decided it was worth paying for someone else to deal with it. 

Nothing worked to keep him calm, not even bribes.  So, it was time for a school picture haircut. It was getting really crazy around his neck and ears, so off we went.  We went as a family this time because Ryan needed a cut also. Alex told James that if he didn't cry or scream he could pick something out from Target...

So, he sat in the chair and they started cutting.  I looked at his face and almost starting crying because he was physically trying to not scream.  He was trying so hard that I just wanted to hug him and tell him that it was okay and he could scream.  He made it through and he picked out some cotton candy from the dollar bin. WHEW! I thought it was really gonna cost us.

Fair Time Again?!

Where has the year gone?  It seems like just yesterday we were driving towards the fairgrounds and looking at all the World's Shortest Lady and the World's Smallest Horse.  I must say that this was the first really enjoyable time we've had.  We have gone with newborns and crawlers and this time, I actually had fun.  Ryan is finally tall enough to ride some rides and James likes to play the games.  Olivia stayed in her stroller, mostly against her will, but was let out to pet the goats and sheep.  She REALLY loves animals and gets super excited anytime she sees a dog, cat, bird, squirrel or any other creature. 

We met up with Mom Mom and Pop Pop Kalman.  Turns out the flannel twins had a great time on some rides too :) 

The evening started off rough when we couldn't find our advance purchase tickets, but I was able to sell those on Craigslist once we found them :)

And that was it.  More pictures will be posted on Facebook.

Where are my...?

Ryan: Where's my hand-slappers?

Me: Your what?!

Ryan: My Hand Slappers!!!

Hand Slappers = Hand Cwaps = Hand cuffs.  From the plastic police toys they got from the Fair.