The Saddest Haircut

 Once upon a time, I thought I would be that lucky mother who's child did NOT cut her own hair. We've had talks about this subject with Petey because she's wanted her hair to keep growing long.

Her hair grows pretty slow so it seems like it's taken forever to get her hair even this long.

 And the curls we can do with this length of hair; perfect. I love her hair this length and I was looking forward to it getting even longer.

But then last Friday happened. I went to take out the trash and right on top was a big wad of hair. My heart skipped a beat and I called my girly into the room.

 This is what I found. Not only had she cut some bangs, she cut a big chunk on the side of her hair.

 I put her hair up in a pony tail to really see how bad it was. Yeah, it was pretty bad. It was a thick little chunk and although we tried to hide it that first day, it just wasn't working.

 We made an appointment Saturday with Petey's Primary teacher at her salon. Although Petey was excited about getting her hair cut by her primary teacher, she wasn't actually excited about having short hair. She was made for a couple of days after the haircut and I'm hoping that makes it so she'll NEVER do it again!

 All done! I appreciated that her teacher gave her some longer hair in the front so we could hide the short pieces but still have a cute haircut.

Here is a picture of the back. I do like the haircut but I'm so sad that her hair is going to take a while to grow longer.

2012 Review Extravaganza: October, November, December

 

It's already time for the very last Review Extravaganza post for 2012!

 

October:

 October is another birthday month in our family. Spidey turned 3 and got a bike that he still refuses to ride.

 I turned 25 and got hair extensions that I LOVE to wear.

 Also in October, we took a spur of the moment drive to Utah to visit with cousins and see one of Boss' childhood friends off on his mission.

 Of course, who can forget how cute my kids looked on Halloween this year? ;)

November:

 November started out with one of my favorite yearly traditions: All of my sisters coming to town to enjoy Time Out for Women together.

 We also bought a zoo pass as an early Christmas present and have been loving it ever since. Actually, we're headed there later today. :)

 December has also been filled with Petey's dance concerts,

 Christmas parties,

 surprise haircuts,

and Christmas!

Those last three pictures dont have links because I haven't blogged about any of them. It's been such a busy week with all of my sisters in town and we are trying to soak up the time we have with them before they leave.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas this week!

2012 Review Extravaganza: July, August, September

 Here we are at week 3! Happy Friday everyone! This has certainly been an eventful week for our family but you'll get to hear about that a different day.

Today, let's review July, August, and September.

July:

Do you remember in July when my husband sent my son out of the bathroom looking like this. Of course, minutes later he finished shaving Spidey's hair. I was sad but as we all expected, it has grown back and is cuter and redder than ever!

 Also, in July, my little princess started dance classes at Club Dance.

August:
In August, I celebrated(???) my one year anniversary of the day I was diagnosed with PCOS. I was utterly surprised that we weren't pregnant since I was just expecting this wouldn't be as hard as it is for other infertile women. Why I thought I'd be the exception, who knows?

 Spidey also had his SECOND encounter with dermabond, which is glue for really deep cuts. He woke up from a nap with a bloody ear and we had NO idea there had been glass on the floor of his room from a little play mirror he had broken during naptime.

September:

September was a fun month. That little girl above mastered night time potty training. It was hard for the first week but we both pushed through and it was worth it!

Also, I was reminded how unreasonable 3 year olds are. Oh that Spidey boy, we love him so much. But gosh darnit, he is unreasonable if he doesn't get his way! It's a good thing he's cute, right?

See you all next week for the fourth and final review of 2012!

Oh the fun we've had

 In case you were wondering, we are having loads of fun over here. With Christmas coming so soon, we've been lucky enough to have out of town family come to town!
My sister and her husband dropped their kids off in Arizona this week before they headed back to California to go on a cruise together. Lucky for me, that meant tons of time with my niece and nephew!

On Tuesday, my mom took us all to the Az Museum for Youth. The kids love going there because of all the crafts and toys they get to enjoy.

 K Bear was excited to be cooking something delicious for us all to eat.

 Petey was just enthralled with the pink wedding cake.

 K Bear is definitely the son of an accountant. He walked around with this calculator for a long time.

 Ellie sat and played with this abacus for the longest time and was smiling and saying, "Ooh! Ooh!" over and over.

 The 3 big kids. They have loved being together all week.

 Adorable, right?!

 On the other side of the museum, there is a big play place for kids and they have a corner area just for kids under a certain height. It is meant for babies but Spidey was actually shorter than the height limit so he got to enjoy the baby area as well. ha! I guess sometimes it pays to be short!

 Ellie loved looking at herself in this mirror. That is the most I had seen her smile since she was born. Seriously, though...that girl is usually so serious.

Lucky for us and unlucky for my dad, he had surgery the next morning so we got to keep K Bear and Ellie at our house for the night. Besides one little 2am mishap where K Bear woke up and realized he didn't have his special moneky at our house, they both slept all night.

 Ellie actually cried when we took these Minnie ears off of her. She wore them almost the whole time she was at our house. :) Don't you just love that little tongue?

 She also loved Petey's dollhouse. Such a little girl. :)

Mid-morning, we turned on some Dora and the kiddos all looked adorable sitting on the mattress we currently have laying out in our front room. My mom came and got them shortly after but we are getting tons of playing time in with them at her house now.

Our Gingerbread House

 Last Saturday, we decorated our family gingerbread house together. The kids were looking forward to it all day and were so excited when the time arrived!

Boss was in charge of putting the house together so the kids could decorate it.

 We had a good laugh when Spidey could not get his legs in the right pant holes.

 Yay! It's ready for decorations!

 Spidey just wanted to eat the house before decorating it.

 As you can see, he was successful and got some frosting on his face.

 The finished product.

 The kiddos with their masterpiece. They had so much fun putting random candies in random places. We didn't even try to stop them. It was fun letting the decorate exactly how they wanted to.

After we were done, we did what any family would do on a December night below 60 degrees- we went to Bahama Bucks and had shaved ice! The kids loved it and we came home and gave them a warm bath to warm their little bodies back up again.

It was a fun family night and I was once again reminded how incredibly blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life!

2012 Review Extravaganza: April, May, June

Welcome to week 2! I'm a bit late with my post but wanted to get it up before Wednesday.

 

Today, I am recapping April, May and June of this year.

 

April:

April started off with my thoughts on General Conference.
For Easter, we enjoyed a visit from cousins and Petey and I going to the Easter Pagaent.

Also in April, my kids became famous when they were put on a cover of a local magazine. Ok, so they aren't actually famous and they had little to do with the magazine cover but they were indeed front and center on there. My dad became the president of the Arizona chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the magazine wanted to interview him. He's a pretty cool guy. ;)

The middle of April brought an oh-so-exciting-and-scary day for this momma when Petey ran into a wall and got the biggest goose egg I've ever seen!

April was also home to the day my brother received his Eagle Scout. I am so proud of that guy and all that he has accomplished in his life so far. He's the best brother in the world!

May:

May is one of the two birthday months in our family. Miss Petey turned 4 and the very next day, her daddy turned 27! It was a fun week with many birthday festivities. This girl was spoiled and we are so glad she's been in our lives for over 4 years now!

Also in May, one of our favorite cousins graduated from high school! Our whole family attended but Petey and I were the only ones who made it to the end of the graduation. :)

June:

June begane one of our favorite summer traditions {which probably won't be happening much longer since these girls keep getting older}.  Boss' cousins like to spend weeks at our house in the summer and our kids are in Heaven when they come!

They hardly leave these poor girls along the entire time they're here.

June was also month to a couple of great blog posts. Do you remember the story about the time my 2 year old had alcohol? Also, Miss Petey learned how to swim in June! June was also a month my daughter struggled with nightmares but with the help of answered prayers, we got through it.

I'm Already Equal

 Ok, y'all, let's get serious. All it seems like I am is a stay at home mom. It seems as if my contribution to the world isn't much but in reality, I do a heck of a lot inside the walls of my home. And many times, I contribute outside of my home.

If you know me, you know I'm a Mormon. I know I seem like your typical Mormon mom that stays home with her kids and is perfect at everything homemaking and my husband brings home the bacon and we have this oh-so-old-fashioned-and-perfect life that we live. If you read my blog, you know that isn't true. {Have you seen my cooking? Or worse, tasted it?}

First of all, what is so old fashioned about staying home? And what the heck is so wrong with it?

Do you know why I'm asking those questions? Do you know where I'm going with this post? If you've recently heard about the "wear pants to church" Sunday that is almost upon us, you're right on track with what I want to talk about.

But actually, I'd like to take it a step further. I want to talk about what I think it means to be a feminist and why I don't really like that word.

First of all, from what I understand, feminists want equality. I used to think this meant equality in the work place, which I am all for one-hundred-and-ten percent! I have also read on feminist blogs that they want the right to be working moms and not being judged for that decision. I'm not judging you. I was a working mom for almost 3 years and I see nothing wrong with those mothers that work because they don't want to stay home all day with children. I believe the best mothers out there are the ones making decisions based on their childrens needs. If you know you are a better mother when you're working, work! And if you know you need to stay home with your children, find a way to stay home. Both of these choices are valid and both contribute to society.

What I find to be my least favorite part of these feminists groups is that they are all about acceptance and yet, they seem to think that mothers should work so we are strong and intelligent. There are women who think I am less equal to my husband because he works and I stay home.

Well, I'm here to tell you that at least in my situation, that is not the case. I am an equal part of my family. I am raising a future generation of adults. What I do is pretty darn important.

 If you know me, you know I am a jar full of crazy. Just take a look at that above picture. What 25 year old, mother of 2, who is 40lbs overweight does the splits on a huge bouncing balloon? Just in case you were wondering, minutes later, my feet did buckle under me during a jump and I remembered that I'm not in the body I used to be in. ;)

Anyway, I'm crazy. Have we already established that? I often rant about things that have nothing to do with me. I often get offended where no offense should be taken. I get worked up over little things. If you are a new friend of mine or especially one of my new sister-in-laws-to-be, I apologize in advanced for the crazy you will experience from me in your lifetime.

But I need to let my voice be heard by my 40 readers about this "wear pants to church" Sunday. I know you think I have nothing to do with this situation but honestly, I'm Mormon and that means my perspective might be different than that of a non-Mormon reading about this protest.

I go to church each and every Sunday. I hardly miss unless I am legitimately sick. I attend church for 3 hours, 1 of those hours with my two children and 2 of those hours while my kids are in their classes. I go to church to worship. I go to learn and to renew my convenants with my Heavenly Father. I don't go to show everyone how freaking awesome I look in my new dress, though most times I do look freaking awesome {I just can't help it.}. I don't wish there was anything different about the way my church is run. I don't wish to wear pants because I am a woman and I'm proud of the fact that I get to dress up in my best clothes to show God how much I love Him. I also know I am equal to everyone man in that church every Sunday. I don't need the priesthood to know that I am equal. I love that there are things men can't do that I can and vice versa. I love our differences and our similiarities.

Also, if a woman shows up to church in pants, which I've seen many times, I love her just the same. I don't care that she has pants on. What's great is that she's at church, worshipping and learning with me. There is nothing in our church guidelines that tells women we have to wear dresses. I've always been told to wear my Sunday best and I interpret that to mean wearing a dress. Other women might own nice slacks and deem that to be appropriate for church attire and I think that's wonderful. The best part is being at church together.

I absolutely love my ward family. I love going to church each Sunday and seeing all of my friends, ranging from ages 20 to 82. Seriously, I love everyone in my ward. They have helped me through some of the toughest times in my life yet and I'm so grateful to be a part of this amazing group of people. I'm not just saying it to look good on my blog. I would not judge a woman coming to church in pants. I just don't agree with members of my faith starting a protest where a group of them will wear pants to church to show their equality to the men.

I'll just end on this note. One of my favorite things I've read regarding this protest {or whatever it is this is being called} was from a young lady posting on a Facebook group page. She said that if she has ever felt unequal to the men at church it is because she feels like the men treat her of more importance than themselves. I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. I know how important it is to be a woman and on top of that, a mother. I love my calling. I love that I am a daughter of God and that He knows and loves me for the person that I am, and not in comparison to anyone else.

And that's how Suze sees it.