Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I used to do Bethelle's hair cute everyday.

Then I had two more children.

Now she's lucky that I don't shave her head just to keep it out of her face.

Recently I found some blogs all about little girl hair style ideas (see here and here), and the old romantic ideas of cute hair on my cute girl came flooding back. So the next day I did this:

(The hair in the pic is extra fuzzy because I took the picture the next day.)

It took me 45 minutes to do this little style. Meanwhile, the kids were watching cartoons and Curie was crying. And I was thinking "never again".

Then we ran some errands. A consignment shop and Costco. I got soooo many compliments from strangers. And it wasn't just, "cute hair!" It was, "Wow! What great hair! Did you do that? That's amazing. You're amazing. And look, you have three! And they're all perfect! How do you do it! What a great Mom!"

These are the kinds of words a stay-at-home Mom wishes she heard once in a while, but never does.

OK, maybe I'll do her hair again. But only on days that we go somewhere.

Truck 'Cation/Girls Club

Nick planned a boys' weekend with Rigby to visit his buddy in Portland and watch some basketball. The girls and I did a few things that normally can't be done with a two year-old who is a little crazy out-and-about and needs to be home for nap time.

It started with a trip to The Princess and the Frog. I guess Bethelle doesn't have a lot of experience with movie theaters. In the car on the way over, I realized that she thought we were going to a stage theater. I had to explain that it was still a cartoon, but on a really big TV. She corrected me that no, it was real people in costumes. When I finally convinced her, I was worried that she'd be disappointed, but she wasn't. She loved the whole experience. And I like that it's still a novel, magical thing for her.

She wore her princess-green in honor of the day.
We also took a few trips to craft stores to prepare to decorate the dollhouse she got for Christmas (more on that later) and went to the factory stores at North Bend. Bethelle was downright giddy the whole weekend. When she gets excited, it takes a lot to stop that train. She was bouncy and shouted every word she said for most of the weekend. Props to Curie for putting up with her. I imagine she was just grateful for a brief hiatus from Rigby, who can really wear on her patience sometimes.

Yeah, She's Precious

The most common question I get about Curie is if she's always that good.

Yeah.

Welcome to the Family!

If you look very closely at the picture below, you'll see a hint of a brand new ring on a certain left hand...

Blair brought his girlfriend and her daughter to meet the family last week. We are all smitten. Mom cried a lot when they announced their engagement while here. Good crying, of course. Everyone is so happy! I hope you all come visit again soon. Can't wait for the big day!

More Reception Pics

Only one significant thing has happened recently, and I'm waiting on a pic to post that. Meanwhile, I'll throw you all a few pictures of my lovely children. The couple that asked Bethelle and Rigby to be flower girl and ring bearer had a local reception for those who couldn't make the big location wedding.

As if I could dress them up again without taking several shots.

Her hair takes me half an hour. It must be documented.

Again, Bethelle followed the bride around all night. This time, she found something flower-girl-worthy to do as she followed: carry the train. The bride said it actually helped her quite a bit.

Curie wasn't in wedding garb, but she's pretty cute anyway.

The Obligatory Christmas Post

Christmas was perfect this year. Thank you Mom and Patsy!

Christmas Eve began with joining my family at my parents' house. Everything was so pleasant, and the food was great. The whole family was there, including my brother Blair, who we hadn't seen since last Christmas.

Due to a lack of festiveness at our house (the move, etc.), we opted to stay at Nick's parents' home that night. I had informed Santa of our intentions. Here's the morning spread:

And this was supposed to be the piece-de-resistance of the whole day: a hand crafted dollhouse from Pabby.Bethelle missed it in her excitement of running out to look at the tree, so we said, "Bethelle, what's over here?"

"Ooooh! My stocking!"

"No.... behind the stocking."

"Aaaah! A coloring book!"

"No... behind the coloring book."

Then she just looked confused, like nothing was there at all. I think she thought it was an empty bookcase. Oh well. We'll get it decorated and blingin' in no time.This is a picture of Rigby opening a Batmobile. He has been playing with that non-stop this last week. The boy loves anything with wheels, and this converts into an airplane.

And here's my fabulous gift from Nick. And it's even cooler in person.

Dinner Lately

The kids have been setting the table lately. Here's how the seating assignments go:

... and Mommy can sit where ever she wants.