Haircut

Aunt Sandy came in town and Rachel had the haircut bug! (Actually she has been wanting this cut for a while!)
She started with long hair...
The first snips...
The cheering section! :) HaHa, totally fake, I know, but their expressions are still funny!
With all those girls, everyone still gave their opinion. It was fun!
Blow drying...
Almost done!
She cut off a lot of hair!
But it's really cute and she loves it!
Thanks Aunt Sandy! You really are the best!!

The little dancer girl!

Jessica has been asking to go to a dance class for a while. Yesterday was her first day. She got dressed right when she woke up and packed her dance bag. 10:00 couldn't come soon enough! She was READY!!

She took the class with her good friend, Jaz

Check out this plie'...

and these graceful moves....

I loved watching every second of it!

She wore her clothes and backpack most of the day, into the evening.

This morning she wanted to put on her dance clothes again but I had to explain that they were dirty and needed to be washed. She helped me put them in the washer and started it. But, she insisted on wearing her tap shoes to preschool. I gave in. Right when she came home, she went straight to the laundry room and put on her clean dance clothes and tap shoes. That's what she wore until bed time tonight and I had to do some serious reasoning to get her to take them off to get in the bath and go to bed. It wasn't easy! I'm hoping she's over it tomorrow. I really think she will wake up with a sore behind because she slipped so many times today and fell on her bottom! Tap shoes are dangerous!

Megan and Jessica

Today Megan woke up with a little fever and a cough. So, she stayed home from school. After a little Tylenol she was up going!
No signs of sickness except for a little cough here and there...
This day has been so joyful! It's been awesome to see how much fun these two have together! (Not that they don't ever get the chance to play together, but today was just the two of them, no other distractions!)

This is the first year that I have only had one home during the day. It has it's advantages, but after today, I was reminded how fun it is for the younger sibling to have someone home to play with.

Jessie is sure going to be sad tomorrow when Megs is back in school! Back to just boring Mom!

New Year's Eve

New Years Eve Day was kind of dry around here. Mark, Sam and Megan were getting over the stomach flu so we just hung around the house all day. Some of the kids didn't even get out of their PJs! Mark and Tommy decided to put together this "marble mania" contraption that Sam got for Christmas (a little too advanced for Sam...the instruction says it takes about 6 hours to construct with adult help).

There were a lot of pieces!

Tommy and Mark were pretty intense at times!
But they kept pluggin' along!

working together...

while we sat and watched...


I think there was some frustration at times,

but they worked into the late hours of the night until the final pieces were in place...

The younger kids got so tired while waiting to see the final product so they fell asleep, waiting...

I told the boys to just go to bed, but they didn't. They finished it before midnight! It was a great way to bring in the New Year! Can't you just see the excitement and amazement in their faces as they watched those marbles move??? :)

Happy New Year!! If you would like to see this amazing machine, come to my house! It is still on display on that same table in my front room. It is our new centerpiece and I'm still wondering how long we have to keep it there!

Dad's office

The kids don't get a chance to go to Mark's office very much. So when he got a call during the break and had to go in for an "emergency," the kids were thrilled to go along. Who wouldn't be when you are a kid in an empty orthodontic office and you can try on the gloves that smell like bubblegum or apple or cherry pie...
or play on the chairs, raising them up and down, up and down...
or you get to play "orthodontist..."
Poor Sam! :)
The little girls had fun,
and the boys loved the ancient arcade games....
And lastly, there's nothing like raiding the candy bin!
What is all that candy doing in an orthodontists office???
Oh yeah, dad's office is better than Chuck e Cheese!

Cake for dinner??

Yesterday I made dinner early (lasagna) and put it in the fridge to cook later. When it was time to bake, I asked Sam to put the lasagna in the oven (while it was still cool) and then turn it on. I told him the lasagna was in the fridge with aluminum foil on it. He asked me if I wanted him to put the plate in too. I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about so I repeated, a little impatiently, "Sam, just put the lasagna dish with the aluminum foil over it, in the oven, and turn on the oven to 375 degrees." (BTW, Sam is such a great helper!) While it baked, I thought I smelled bread or something sweet baking, but didn't pay attention. After it had baked about 45 mins I went to check on it. When I opened the oven I realized my mistake. Earlier in the day I also put half of a nothin' bundt cake on a paper plate, wrapped it with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge. Sam baked the cake, not the lasagna.

WE LAUGHED!! Then opened up the cake and ate it for dinner!

It was SOOO good warm and gooey!

We had the lasagna later that night, for dessert!

Seriously, if you ever get a Nothin' Bundt Cake, try covering it with foil and baking it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 mins (ours was a little over baked). It may not look that pretty, but it tastes GREAT!! It's our new family favorite!! Thanks Sam!!

Christmas card

I was just taking down all the Christmas decorations and cards. I saw a card that I need to document.

Every year Mark's office sends out a Christmas card that is always very unique. He morphs his staff's faces into a card that has a different theme each year. It is always a surprise to see what they come up with and every year we get a lot of comments about them. This year was no different. When I first saw the front of the card, I thought, hum, that's funny, but no big deal.

Then I opened the card.

Pretty funny!! My niece came over the other day and said to Rachel, "Wow, he looks like your dad!" HaHa. Yep, he sure does! :)