"Mommy I fixed Cara's hair."

This morning Caleb came into my bathroom where I was getting ready for the day, scissors in hand, smiling ear to ear, and said, "mommy I fixed Cara's hair."  The phrase every mom dreads hearing from her four year old son.  My heart sunk to my toes.  "You didn't cut it did you???"  "Yep, I did."  I held my breath as I hurried into the living room to see the damage.   I have to admit it could be much worse he took a few sections out of the back that will not affect pulling it back.  Basically he gave it a serious thinning, but all in all didn't cause major damage.  Unfortunately their piggy bank puppy, Daisy, wasn't so lucky with her ears.  Daisy is one of Cara's favorite toys.  Just before the hair cut I took a picture of Cara feeding Daisy breakfast.  At least we can hold onto the memory of her cute long ears.  I am glad that Cara's hair is only partially redesigned, and I am hoping Caleb has learned that cutting hair is not acceptable.

 


 

Easter!

Our Easter celebration started on Saturday morning at the park next to Cathie's house with a big West Point, Easter Egg Hunt.  The kids have had a little practice with Grandma Iva and at the Lows so we thought they were good to go.  Well. . . we were wrong.  In the 0-3 category Cara couldn't wait until they said go.   She kept dashing out into the eggs upsetting the children around her.  When it was finally time to go she ran, and ran, and ran.  It took some coaching to help her remember that she needed to pick up eggs.  She and Emi did well. 


 



On the other hand Caleb was excited and ready to go right up to the point that they said go.  That is when he started to freak out.  He broke into tantrum mode which put him way behind the other kids.  When Josh saw that Caleb was about to have no success he took him to the "special needs section.  Josh's comment was, "it was obvious that he had special needs."  The poor kid buckled under pressure. 


 



The Easter Bunny made it to our house this year even though Josh didn't understand why the Easter Bunny needed to bring presents.  He thought hiding eggs would be sufficient.  He tried to tell me it wasn't Christmas, but I held out and the kids scored a $120 swing set from Walmart.  I say if the cheapest swing set worked for me (my family had an identical one to the one we have for 15+ years) it will work for my kids too.  The kids love it even with the snow still in the back yard.  Josh was not happy trying to put it together on Easter afternoon when ALL of the screws were just a little bit too short.  It is amazing what a hammer and a frustrated man can do.  Caleb informed Cara's speech therapist on Monday morning that his dad is a builder and "he can build anything."






Our eggs didn't get colored until the Monday after Easter, but I am quite proud of myself for even embracing the messy tradition.  Honestly, it was quite fun.  I think we came up with some egg-celent designs.

Birthday Princess

Cara turned TWO on Saturday. She was a cute little birthday princess.


We are looking forward to "the terrific twos." She really is a great kid.


She has been so cute with me sense I have been sick. She gets me her blankets when I am laying down. I can't decide if she thinks she is my nurse or my mommy. She tries to feed me and she is always sweetly touching my face or hair and affectionately saying "mommy". She is a sweet little girl, but she knows how to keep up and be tough like the boys. On Friday we had five boys at our house four and under. Cara had no clue that she was any different than them. At one point I saw her chasing after them with a helmet and a gun. As they were wrestling that day I also had to peal her off of a four year old boy who was crying because she wouldn't get off of him and later a three year old boy. Caleb has taught her to wrestle with the best of them. She has also added the word "chout" aka "watch out" to her vocabulary. She always throws an elbow at her brother as she says it.

Cara - For Better or Worse

Cara brings so much joy to our family. She is a little bundle of energy and excitement. She is beginning to say go gol because I call her a good girl so often. She has now been in underwear for a week and has had no pooping accidents and very few other accidents. (Oh so different from Caleb!) With that praise I had to include this picture of what she did to both pair of my glasses last week. One of her best skills is grabbing my glasses from my face and after two years of weakening the hinges she completed the task on both pair within a week. Having two pair I didn€™t think I would ever have to go back to my old mission glasses, but I am wearing them AGAIN.

Surgery

Caleb and Cara both had surgery on Monday August 13th. They both had their adenoids out and tubes put in their ears and Caleb had his tonsils out too. Needless to say it has been a rough week. Caleb knew that he was going to the hospital and he was going to have surgery, but he had no idea what that meant. He has been such a good sport about it all, but he hasn€™t wanted to do much this week. Cara has been a sport too. She has spent a lot of time sleeping this week, but has done well otherwise. I have some pictures I will add soon.

Ready for Church

Sometimes I think the kids are so cute when they are ready for church that I can't resist taking a picture.



Caleb wears a backpack with all of his chruch toys and snacks. Cara looks like a princess.



Getting a picture on Sunday morning is not an easy thing to do, but it is fun to see the kids in matching outfits.

Silly Cara

Our "Sweet Caroline" has become "Silly Caroline." She has always been a little silly, but she is becoming sillier all the time.

Wearing Caleb's pull-up is just one example of how silly she can be.

She would rather wear her bowl than eat from it.

She insists on carrying her blanket first thing in the morning.

She likes to push her doll around, but sometimes she just can't resist the temptation to sink her teeth into whatever is around.

She loves the water and doesn't even mind when Caleb tortures her.

All of this silliness in a day can wear a girl out!

Cara Loves to "Help"

Cara is my little helper. This was her third outfit in one day. I set her up to the bar to eat, and the next thing I knew she was sitting in the sink with the water on. What a girl.

First Hair Cut

I am proud of myself for giving Cara her first hair cut. It turned out so cute. Here she is checking it out.