Haircut

On friday morning I was getting the girls ready to go back to school shopping. I wanted to get it all done in one day to utilize the Missouri tax free weekend, and thought Friday would be the least crazy. So I planned for the entire day to be out getting all the shopping done. When I went into Karalee's bathroom to do her hair, I found that she had cut off the entire front of her hair! It was still long in the back, but you can't see it in the picture. 

I gasped, turned and walked out of the bathroom, and went to my room. I had to count to 130 before I felt ready to go back down the hall. I asked her as calmly as possible what had happened. She said she decided to cut herself some bangs the night before. she didn't want to wake us up, because she thought we might be mad she had taken scizzors into her room. So she just kept cutting it shorter and shorter, and ended up with this. She tried to act all innocent, but I know she knew she was doing something wrong, because she hid the hair and scizzors under her dresser. I explained to her that Daddy and I don't even cut our own hair, and it's really important to get it done by someone who knows what they're doing. I really thought she was past the stage of not being trusted around sharp things, but I guess not :(

you can see in some spots she cut it all the way to the scalp! I called Ben freaking out, and did not know how we could possibly fix it. ben thought we would have to shave her entire head and let it all grow back out from there. (did I mention school starts in ONE week????)

So I threw a hat on her, and forgot about it as much as possible so we could have a fun day shopping. A few people did comment on her wearing a hat on such a warm day... But we did end up having a pretty fun day back to school shopping, and I had time to calm down about it. I'm glad I didn't impulsively take her in to get it all shaved off, which was a thought that occurred to me. 

Now Kiersten is extra proud of her beautiful long hair. She and Evie have both been talking about how naughty it is to cut your own hair. So hopefully they've learned from Kara's example and will never do the same thing.

Evie was really proud to be wearing her new dress. She bought this with birthday money from Papa and Grams. She said she needed to be dressed up special to go shopping. 

I told Ben if he took her to get her head shaved I would never forgive him. so he sent me to the salon instead, because he truly felt that was the only solution. I asked them about a pixie cut, but it wouldn't be able to hide the super short spots that are cut to the scalp, so the hairdresser didn't think that was a good idea. We finally decided on pulling the long part in back forward, and going for a side bang. it still looks kinda weird in front, and the back looks funny too with the hair being brushed all forward like that, but it's just hair... it will grow back... and she actually seems to kind of like it short. We had to get the length cut pretty short too, because there were several random spots throughout that she had just chopped right off. 

So we bought her every wide headband we could get our hands on, and this will be her signature look for at least the next few months. I'm not sure how long it will take to grow, but I'm considering when the front super short part grows out enough, just getting a pixie cut, and let it all grow out from there. I think she has a girly enough face to pull it off, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. hats aren't allowed at school, but I'm sure this fall/winter she'll be in hats quite a bit when she's not at school. just for a change from all the headbands. 

Nic visit

Kara had earned lots of points doing chores last week, and decided to use them for a "spa day". She was so excited for it. Kiersten thought that was so lame, but when it was time for Kara's pampering, Kiersten was pretty obviously jealous. She got a feet and hands massage first. 

Then she got a facial mask, and some time to relax.

then she got a manicure and pedicure. Lucky girl :)

The kids have been begging for this "pop chef" thing they kept seeing commercials for. but we refused to buy it off tv and pay shipping. We finally saw it in the store, and got it for them. as soon as they had each gotten enough chores done, they used their points to play with the pop chef and make an edible fruit display. They had lots of fun, and Ben even seemed to like doing it with them. 

My brother Nic came for a visit last week. I forgot to take the camera to the zoo, but we had lots of fun there. On another day we went to the St Louis science center. It was a fun day. 

All the kids seemed to have the most fun at the dinosaur exhibit. 

Kiersten could get the most electricity built up by far. Not sure what it was that she was doing any differently. 

Kara loves to build things... and pose...

you can kind of see Evie's name spelled out in legos. 

I really liked this sound room. Everything you do/touch creates sound. There is an ultrasound machine that is supposed to be able to tell your height. I think it might be a little off, since it said Evie is 1ft 1in, and that I am 9ft 6in. Nic thought that was pretty funny that it said I was so tall. 

Of course we took uncle Nic over to the pool. the weather was not great most of the time he was here, but we did have one nice afternoon. The water was really cold, though from being stormy for the previous few days. 

Evie really wanted an under water picture. But she only stays down for half a second, so this is the best one I ended up with. 

summer is going by soooo fast! I can't believe they start school next week!

Magic House

Last week I took the girls to the magic house. It's been quite a while since we've been there, so they had a blast. there were a few new things, so that's always exciting. Here's a bunch of pictures of the girls enjoying the exhibits.

Evie insisted on bringing her Lamb that she got for her birthday. She loves that thing, and wants to take it everywhere with us. It wasn't as big a pain as I expected it to be. She didn't set it down much at all. 

One of the new exhibits was a performance room with a stage and costumes. Evie wanted help getting this cloak on, but once she looked in the mirror, she looked sad and said, "I a bad guy?!"

The girls were excited to do their makeup. We spent a lot longer in here than I was expecting, but it ws nice, because I just got to sit n the audience section and watch them have fun. 

Evie was on the verge of being too big for this little seat. But she begged to get in. I think it reminded her of the seats at her school last year.

Kara was the only one who could get the bubble pulled up araound herself. The others would pull way too hard on the rope. 

After we were done at the children's museum, we went to McDonald's for lunch. While the other two were playing, Evie was obsessed with Ronald. She climbed all over him, sat in his lap and whispered in his ear. When I wanted her to come over to the table and eat, I asked her what she was telling him. she said that she told him that she wants sparkly shoes for Christmas. 

I told the girls it was national hotdog day a few days ago, to get them excited about having chili dogs for dinner. When I picked them up from the gym daycare, Kara had made her sisters each a hotdog hat. They weren't as excited to wear them, as she was about having created them. usually I throw things like this away after the girls are in bed, so they don't feel bad. But I didn't have to throw these away. I saw them both in Kiersten's trash can before the end of the night, hehe. 

craft day

Kara and Kiersten both earned a craft day by doing their chores yesterday. So I decided to get out some popsicle sticks and let them make something. Kara wanted to make a pencil holder, so Evie decided to make the same thing. Kiersten wanted to make a trinket box to keep her "most special secret treasures". Kiersten got to paint first, since I thought that made sense with how I planned on having her do the box. the other 2 were pretty impatient waiting for the glue gun to heat up, since I thought it made sense for them to glue their sticks on first, and then paint.

Karalee was so proud to use a glue gun by herself for the first time. she did a decent job, but gave up with about 6 more to go, and begged me to just finish it for her so she could watch Kiersten paint. 

A fly got into the rinse water, and all three girls were freaking out. Kiersten was crying and wouldn't go near the table. She insisted that it was a bee, and that it was trying to get her. Kara was upset because she wanted to save the fly. But I eventually got them calmed down after he was down the drain and out of sight. At least he died in pretty, sparkly pink water. 

Evie did such a good job painting, much better than I had expected. She was so careful to paint the sticks one at a time, and rinsed out her brush after each one, whether she was changing colors or not. She only used pink and purple, but asked me to paint some blue strawberries for her. But then she ended up painting over most of the ones I did for her. 

Once Kara and Evie were ready to paint, Kiersten was about done, and it was her turn to watch the others as she waited for her sticks to dry and be ready for gluing. 

Kara's rainbow pencil cup. She took forever because she painted the inside as well. I told her I didn't really think she needed to, and she said, "don't worry, I don't plan to drink out of it or anything".

Evie is very proud of her pencil cup. she keeps showing it to me as if I've never seen it before, and waits for me to act all surprised and impressed. She also keeps saying, "I paint wike a big girl!"

Kiersten's box was kind of a pain to put together, because I ran out of glue gun sticks, and had to use tacky glue. So that took longer, and had to be propped/held together longer. But she is so happy with it. She keeps reminding me that it is delicate, and assures me that she'll be super careful. 

Ben gave Evie her first sour gumball this weekend. she felt so betrayed, and I felt awful for going along with it. 

Kara had picked out a big lolly pop, and did actually let Evie have a taste. 

kiersten got a crown that was full of little candies, and lights up. 

yesterday the girls were eating lunch, and Kara started saying, "turkey vulture! turkey vulture!" As I was coming over to see what she was talking about, convinced she was exaggerating, I was pretty surprised to see that she was right! My unreasonable fear of birds of prey made me pretty uncomfortable to see this guy right out on our deck. 

here's a closer picture right before he flew off. We have a bunch of mouse bait boxes outside right now, and probably some dead mice, so if that is what attracted him, I hope he doesn't die from eating the poisoned mice. But hopefully, we wont see him again any time soon.