A First for My Baby Girl

Yes, she is almost 3 and a half, but my baby girl just had her first hair cut.  We went to see Grandma S for the big day.  She was rather excited to have her "endings cut" as she called it.  Her beautiful long, red hair with curly "endings" is still mostly all there thankfully (I was a little worried the curls at the bottom would go away).  Now it is just a little bit smoother at the bottom.  I think mommy could let her hair grow forever.  But it could use a little bit more volume.  It is fine and soft as silk and rather thin, but who can complain when it is so pretty? 

Miss Firecracker had a trim too.  She just wishes her hair would grow long.  Her beautiful curls seem to keep it pretty short.  We cut a little bob in the back this time to help even out her curls.  They seem to be kind of flat in the back on the top so we thought it might lay a little better this way.  Now we'll just leave it alone and hope it will grow, grow, grow!

Grandma let her sit under the hair dryer when she was done

I don't like 5

I think turning 5 is the worst.  Up until then they are still my little toddler/preschooler, but at 5 they are officially a big kid and I become a sad mommy.

Now, Miss Firecracker has always been 16 at heart with as well as she has always spoken and as smart as she is (just the other day she and I read through a Fancy Nancy book and she blew me away with how much of it she could actually read on her own) so 5 shouldn't throw me for much of a loop, but now that it is really here, I still don't like it.

Looking back at her 5 years is quite the roller coaster.  She is the child that can push my buttons with the most ease.  I am not quite sure why that is, but watching her grow up has been amazing.  She is still a little firecracker due to her dramatic nature.  If something doesn't go right the first time she is in a tizzy, or if she can't do it herself back up and watch the show, but she has such a gentle heart it makes you want to melt.  I call her a "little mommy" because she is all over taking care of anyone younger and she is always the first to volunteer to help out if mommy needs it.  She is a people pleaser.  Nothing makes her face shine more than to know she made someone proud or helped them in a special way.  She is also my most inquisitive one, wanting to know all the details she can on any given subject and she'll recite them all back to you whenever something reminds her of the topic.  She is one smart little cookie and is going to do big things with her big heart.

She wanted a Hello Kitty party this year, and I have to say it was a pretty easy party to throw.  Hello Kitty is everywhere right now, so there was no shortage on finding supplies and decorations, even though I made most of them myself.

Here is a photo blast of her party:

HELLO 5!

Homemade pinata!  Out of  paper grocery bags

All dressed up and ready to get their toes painted!

The finished product

Preschool treats on her birthday!

Running a Little Behind

So, the last post I did was on Disney, which happened Dec. 12-16 and it is now the last day in February.  I think I better catch up with things or it might get out of control.  Prepare yourself for a long one.

Next on the agenda after Disney was Christmas, of course. It was the usual running around to all the functions and family get-togethers.  I totally failed at any kind of advent activity this year with the first weeks in December being completely out of whack.  I will have to make up for that next year.  Heck, I didn't even get out our Little People Nativity set this year.  Hopefully my kids still got plenty of the Baby Jesus message through books we read and things like that because I totally dropped the ball.  December also brought muzzle loader season for Daddy and another deer.  It was his first time hunting with a muzzle loader and he enjoyed it.  It also brought some snow fun!

Here are some pics from the fabulous holiday and other fun with family and friends.

Noisy Man got the bow he has been eyeing for quite a while



Birthday cake for Jesus!

decorating the tree!  (these pictures are not in order!)

A pink princess bike!!!

Opening presents with mommy's family

Watching "Brave" evidently this was during a scarey part

The boys

Noisy Man built a snow plow for his bike when we got our first snow

Making cookies with Gpa G

A picture of the grown ups, well most of us - no clue what Uncle M is doing!

Daddy's little muzzleloader deer

My lego-headed son

After the Christmas craziness, things calmed down a little bit.  January was filled with more normal activities here and there.  The girls started back up into gymnastics and mommy even got in on the action with helping teach Hollyn's class. (Six 3 and 4 year olds on gymnastics equipment is too much for one woman to handle alone.)  Kaden got to do a couple Saturday morning basketball pracitces out at school with a little 'camp' they do out there.  Mommy got in her scrapbooking weekend and surprisingly got a lot done.  (Too bad the calendar she did still hasn't gotten printed - goal for this week for sure!)  Daddy started playing basketball himself out at the school with some friends and twisted his ankle pretty badly his first time out.  It took him 2 weeks to get all the swelling out of it.  Thankfully, he is back to normal and back to the pick-up games.  Mommy got back to running after almost taking November and December completely off (I think I only ran 4 times both those months).

Here are a few pics from January.

Snow fun!

February was also fairly calm.  We actually had weekends we spent at home with nothing on the calendar and many evenings hanging out as a family as well.   Our most exciting event in February was the girls all going to the Husker women's gymnastics meet at the Devany Center in the middle of the month.  The girls thought it was a blast and can't wait to do it again. We had a fun Valentine's Day with too many sweets and our traditional pink, heart-shaped pancakes.  Mommy decided to take part in a 'fast' for Lent (I like the idea of making a 'sacrifice' to remind me of the sacrifice Christ made for us and everytime I am tempted it reminds me to pray or thank Him for that sacrifice) and give up chocolate.  So far it has been a challenge and there has been much prayer!  I love my chocolate.  We also gained a new nephew at the end of the month and can't wait to meet him.  Jeff's sister, Melissa and her husband welcomed their 4th child, their 3rd little boy on February 22nd.

A few pics from February.

Lil' Red was quite entertaining in the down time

Really loved watching all of it and had a lot of questions.  I am sure the people in
front of us were highly annoyed or amused. 

Miss Firecracker and her friend who met us there.  We had such a great time.

And that, I believe catches me up to where we are now and apparently I didn't take many pictures in January and February.  Hopefully, I won't get so far behind again!