Hair....hair...hair....

Angel decided it was time to change up her hair.  Can't let the baby sister have all the glory with the cute new do.  For the first time ever, I sent Angel off on her own to go get her hair done.  Yes, I know I need to slowly start cutting those apron strings.  My baby will be a legal adult in about 18 months.  Sniff....sniff....

Here she is before she left:

This is how she looked when she came home:

Not much difference in the length, just a slight trim.  Otherwise there is the obvious big chunky bangs.  I knew this is what she wanted to do so I wasn't too shocked.  It's going to take some getting used to, but I think it  looks super cute on her.  She reminds me of a certain teenage girl who back in the 90's did the exactly same thing with her hair.  Hmmmm....wonder who that could be????

Baby Carmen's pre-school has been having spirit week.  A different theme each day. On Monday they had backwards day.  With the exception of her shoes & socks, everything went on backwards.  Tuesday was hat day.  She had intended to wear a princess crown/hat, but we forgot until we saw the bus coming down the street.  I ran real quickly and grabbed this pink with flowers sunhat.  It made her look like a brunette Strawberry Shortcake.  Wednesday was class color day.  Carmen is in the purple room.  We had purple shoes, purple socks, purple pants....yes, even purple underware (not so hard to achieve when you are 4).  We didn't have a purple shirt which led to a slight melt down.  We did find a white shirt with little purple flowers on it and that was just enough to talk her down from her ledge of boycotting going to school all together.  Tomorrow is pajama day.  What mom does not like that?!?!?!  You don't have to dress them for the day AND when they get home they are all ready for bed!  Score one for mom!!!! 

Today, however is crazy hair day.  This is also a favorite day of mine.  Who better to know crazy than ME?!?!?!?  Carmen loved the idea of green hair in addition to her wild ponytails all over.  However once I got the hair half way sprayed she didn't like the fumes.  To help with her sudden apprehension I joined her in the venture and she enjoyed coloring my hair green too.  The things I do for my kids.....

Kisses from Germany

I received a package in the mail yesterday. It was from my German sister, Britta. She was our first full year exchange student my parents hosted when I was still living at home. It happened to also be my senior year of high school. Such a profound time in a person's life. While I never had any problems with Britta we weren't particularly close either. None the less we bonded on a deep level, for I have always considered her a sister and think of her often. I've only seen her once in the last 18 years since she went back home to Germany. I miss her. I had actually received an email from Britta a few weeks ago. Although I don't believe in coincidences it seems odd that the morning we bid farewell to Merle, our German daughter, I came home and found an email awaiting me from Britta. It was so good to hear from her. We don't keep in touch like we should so it had been awhile. She had told me she had sent a package. She has been ever faithful at sending them through out the years. I had still forgotten about the package so was delighted when the kids brought it in from the mail box. These are the goodies she sent us:

Before I even opened the package I was fairly certain that a specific treat would be included. Typically I have to wait a year or longer to even have my favorite German treat. Although, thanks to Merle, I did have some recently. I'll be honest. I'm totally 100% selfish when it comes to this treat. I like to hide the box and selectively treat myself over the course of time. Sometimes though, I have no restraint and eat them all rather quickly. Depends on my mood. I did share and now have the box in hiding. My secret : ) It gets me so excited though, I just love them. I call them chocolate strawberry yogurt sticks. They are the BEST!

Of course, all of this got me to thinking about Merle. I miss her! I miss hearing her talk and laugh. Seeing her smile. It's only been a few weeks since she left and she was here for only a short time, but I miss her so much! It feels like a lifetime since she left, yet I can still so vividly imagine her like I just saw her yesterday. I am so thankful for our time we had with her. No doubtedly I'm also so thankful for all the times I had with Britta, as well.  Such rich blessings I have been given in my life!

Cutie Patootie

I was having a complete love hate relationship with baby Carmen's hair.  I love it long.  I love to fix it all cute with braids & pony tails.  Carmen being Carmen though tended to not keep her hair fixed.  I'd take the time to make it all cute and pretty and then send her off to school and she'd come home looking like Cousin It.  I'd ask her...why did you take your hair out.  I'd get the usual shrug of the shoulders and "I don't know".  Not to mention, like a lot of typical 4 years old getting the hair brushed and fixed often a lot of tears, drama and end of the world cries of mercy.

I decided it was time for a change.  I was hoping to hold off until June.  With the warmer than usual temps, the time seemed better to get it done now.  Not to worry though, even though she is only 4 we have already cut her hair short like this and it grows out rather quickly.  For now this is the hair cut she's be sporting.  She's really cute no matter what anyway : )

Happy Birthday Jim & Lincoln Presidential half marathon

You might think that I am trying to double up and combine two posts into one.  No.  Jim & I ran the Lincoln Presidential half marathon ON his birthday.  What a way to celebrate.

Here we are before the race:

Showing off my fashionable running style : )

After we were done:

We did not finish together this year. We stuck together for about the first 3 miles. My foot had been bothering me a lot lately so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run real good. Adrenaline must have kicked in cause my foot felt fine and I took off. Even though we weren't together for the whole race it was still fun & great to race "with" each other. I finished in 1:49:19 and Jim finished in 2:02:27. That time was a drastic cut from last years race. Jim really improved on his time!!!!

Later in the day I had planned a cookout with some of Jim's friends & their families.  The weather was chilly and we ended up inside later on due to some rain, but we still had a great time celebrating this wonderful man.

My dad & Angel

Blowing out the candles.  I wasn't going to put 42 of them on there.  We had a number 4 and then I stuck two individual ones on there for some creative interpretation.

Our visit with Merle

There is so much that happened during our visit with Merle. She was an excellent visitor who made our first exchange student experience top notch. It's almost unfortunate that she could not stay longer. While the whole visit was great, she was really getting comfortable with our family and vice versa. We are bound by heart now forever more. We certainly hope to see her again someday. Angel is already making plans to go visit her in a few years. This little slide show is just a peek at our time with her.

How NOT to bake!

Had to post this funny picture.  (I'm working on a big slide show of Merle's visit in the mean time).  I think it's fair to say I'm a pretty domestic person when it comes to housekeeping, cooking, family rearing, etc.  I'm not model perfect, but it has all came very naturally to me over the last 17+ years. It has made it quite easy to follow my childhood dream of being a stay-at-home-mom.  Every once in awhile I mess up and in a big way.  I'm pretty good at laughing at myself when these things happen.  This was no exception.

On Sunday's I like to break away from the tradition grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast that the kids often embrace.  (Personally I cook myself eggs each morning, the kids insist on their cereal, which does in fact make it easier for me).  Since Merle was visiting I had to make sure I busted out my amazing chocolate chip muffin recipe.  I finished a few dozen in time for breakfast and then had time to squeeze in one more pan before heading out for church.

Except, that is what I did.....head out for church.  Completely oblivious to the fact that I had left that last load baking in the oven.  For almost 3 hours!!!!

As soon as Jim walked in the back door he knew something was not right.  This is what we found:

My muffins burnt to a crisp.  Hahahahahahaha!  I couldn't help but get a good laugh at it.  I have had some pretty funny domestic bloopers over my years (oh the stories I could tell) but I don't think I have ever left something cooking in the over for several hours longer than need be.

Anyone want a muffin?

Spring Break

Yes, I am still alive.  Yes, I have SO MUCH to blog about.  Our 2 1/2 week visit with Merle was WONDERFUL!!!!  So much to tell you there.  Yet, it's spring break.  I woke up this morning and spent 3 hours working out at the Y.  Ahhhhh, heavenly workout bliss.  The whole time I kept thinking about how I was going to go home and get "so much" done around the house.  But then, Carmen had swimming lessons and with no school, all the other kids came along.  So I granted generous time to play in the gym, run laps around the track, bounce basketballs, etc.  Really pushing the be intention idea with my kids.  Then we went to the library.  Before I could get home I had a text invitation to join some moms and kids out at Lake Storey.  The weather was beyond perfect so why not.  I didn't want to put it off then by chance have less than ideal weather later in the week.  After a quick lunch it was off to the park we went.  We even stayed longer than I had planned.  That was not a bad thing at all.

So you see where this day went.  To the kids and just being with them.  I did eventually get some things done around the house.  Not what I hoped to accomplish, but when the trade off is good quality time with the kids I can't complain.  I ended the evening with making cookies with (baby) Carmen.  I hope to make some time for blogging this week (on both blogs) but if I don't, I'll still be here when they all get back to school.  Have a great week!