First Haircut

I was going through old pictures the other day and came across these pictures of Cami's first haircut on July 6th, 2009. She was two and a half years old so it took awhile until her hair was finally long enough to cut. I was so excited that her hair was getting longer because up until that point really the only thing I could do with her hair was to put her hair in two pigtails on the top of her hair. We took her to Cookie Cutters in Lehi and she sat in a pink convertible chair. She sat really still and seemed more in awe than nervous. She was very cute about the whole thing.

This photo was taken 4 months before her first haircut. At this point it was barely getting long enough to be able to put it in pig tails like this.

This picture was taken the other day with her very short hair she now sports. She has taken up to cutting her own hair lately. It started about two months ago when she got gum stuck in her hair. The day after we used peanut butter to remove it she came out and said "Look mom I cut my hair so I won't get gum stuck in it anymore". I was pretty upset at that point but I bit my tongue and explained to her the reasons why she shouldn't cut it and forgot about it until a month later when she got ahold of Sierra's scissors and did it again. I wasn't as patient with her that time until she sweetly said "I want to look like my best friend Kyler". I of coarse hid ALL the scissors thinking that she wouldn't be able to do it again. So imagine my surprise when I walked into the bathroom yesterday just as she was starting to shave her hair. Yes she plugged in her dad's electric razor and turned it on by herself. This time I grabbed it from her and told her if she ever tried to cut her hair again people would think she was a boy. Alex trying to be the helpful brother that he is immediately told her "Yeah Cami people will be so confused because you dress like a girl but you look like a boy!" I'm now starting to miss the pig tail on top of the head days...

Dinner At Olive Garden

Last night Cory took me out to dinner with Alex, Cami, and Anthony with a gift card he got from work. We don't take the kids out to eat very often so they were excited and didn't know what to expect.
We went to Olive Garden and Cami and Alex kept saying how they wanted olives for dinner. They obviously thought it was where you went and ate olives. While we were waiting to be seated they gave us one of those beepers to let us know when it was our turn. Alex and Cami had no idea what it even was so they kept asking questions about it and watched it to see what it would do.
When we were seated and they brought out the plates they put one in front of Anthony. He has never used a plate on his own so he bent down and tried to eat it a few times until he figured out he couldn't chew it. It was so cute!
When the food came Cami loved her food so much she ate it within a few minutes. Alex on the other hand savored it and kept talking after each bite about how we needed to get online so we could find the recipe for his spaghetti so dad could make the chicken and I could make the noodles. After he was done eating he carefully took his lefotvers home and put them in the fridge so he could save them for today. At lunch today he carefully got them out again and savored it again.

I guess the trick to getting kids to appreciate things in life is to not give them everything they want. It was fun to see them excited about the little things.

To The Mall Again

With a teenager and tween it seems like I am always either at the mall or driving them to the mall to meet friends. Yesterday I took the kids and Chance's friend to the mall again. Sierra came up to me in a store and said "Mom I want to know your opinion on some shorts.". So I went and looked at them with her and tried really hard to hide my surprise (I've learned freaking out is NEVER the way to reason with hormonal kids). So I was like "Um, I don't think your dad's going to like those shorts very much their kind of immodest." and she of coarse was like "Mom!". So I showed her another pair of shorts that were much longer and more appropriate. Then she looked at the price tag and said with her hand on her hip "I don't have enough money for these ones mom." Being the mom that I am I looked at her with my biggest smile and said "I will pay the difference of those shorts if you buy these ones." I figured I would be getting a lot of extra material between the two shorts for the little bit of money extra I would pay! Of coarse she looked at me with her hand on her hip again and said "Ahhh Mom!"........ Good thing one of my first two lessons as a parent of a teenager was you have to learn creative ways to say no to them and you can't take things personally.

A New Way To Change Diapers???

I walked in to see Cory changing Anthony's diaper this way! I was a little disturbed until I asked Cory why in the world he would change him like that. Cory said that it was the only way he could get him to stay still to change him. That's probably very true.... Anthony will not sit still for diaper change at all. I guess I can't complain if he's willing to change a stinky diaper. After 5 kids it's amazing how much little "tricks" you learn with kids.

Fun Day At Classic

The kids are off track again and I wanted to take them somewhere fun that wouldn't cost a fortune. Classic Skating has a MOMS club that does a deal on the weekdays that includes skating, bouncing, games, and a jungle gym. It was just what the kids needed to burn up all their cooped up energy from winter. Cami and Alex brought their bikes for the skating rink and they had a blast. Even baby Anthony had a fun time crawling around the toddler section. Sierra brought a few friends and it was a great time to go because there were no boys there so they were able to let loose and have a great time.  We ended up staying for over 4 hours and the kids could have stayed much longer if we didn't need to go. It was so good to get them out of the house and let them run around after being stuck inside for so long. It makes me so glad spring is just around the corner.