Haircuts. Finally.

I don't think I've had my hair cut in over two years.  My girls have received haircuts but they were always by my hand.  I have no idea how to cut hair but they both would break down in tears at the thought of anyone else cutting their hair.  So I would give in and cut their hair and it sure looked like it. The last haircuts were so bad I put my foot down.  We all dragged off to get our hair cut by a woman in our ward.  My girls cried when I told them, but they both got over it, eventually.  They were, if not happy, at least resigned by the time we arrived to be beautified.  By the time we were done everyone was loving their new haircuts, even me!  Michael commented this was the first time I haven't cried over a haircut in years.

Loving our new do's.  Libby loves her haircut, she just didn't love getting her picture taken.

 

Side view.

Wondering where these photos came from?  They're taken with our new camera, the purchase of which has nearly become an annual ritual.  I found one on Craigslist that is water proof, shock proof, dirt proof and freeze proof.  It may not take phenomenal photos but it sounds like it just might be Katie proof.

Big as Life and Twice as Scary

The weather was nice - gorgeous blue skies, slight breeze, warm sun, perfect, perfect day.  So rather than stay inside we loaded up on bikes and headed to the zoo.  Sounds nice, right?

While we were trying to leave the dog jumped up on the fence (a big no-no but nothing we have tried has got him to stop) and knocked another slat out.  This made it almost possible for him to squeeze out.  I panicked.  When he runs away he runs away fast and the only reliable way to get him is to bribe him with a van ride and the van currently has a dead battery thanks to the babies making it their play house.  So I made a grab for him and he completely bulldozed Grace trying to get away.  I managed to corner and put him in the house but was left with a traumatized four year old.  After trying and failing to calm her down I ran back into the house to grab helmets only to find myself locked out of the house by Libby.  I may have become a bit irritable at this point but we were going to the @!#$ zoo if it killed us.

I grabbed the helmets and threw them on the little ones' heads who had already loaded themselves on my bike while I was retrieving their helmets.  I knew I should have unloaded them before I backed it out of the shed door but I was just so frustrated I backed out with a fully loaded bike.  Half way down the bike slipped, the seat hit my inner thigh and my outer thigh crashed against the shed door.  My bike was wedged on the diagonal and the little ones were crying and screaming.  They were a little bumped around but mainly just terrified. I was wedged between the door frame and my bike so Ethan and Libby had to come lift them out of my bike so I could free myself.  Libby was crying at this point that she didn't want to go to the zoo because she didn't want to stress me out anymore.  It was a sad, frustrating, infuriating start to the trip.  I really thought about just throwing my hands in the air, going inside, reading a book, and letting the kids watch shows until their brains drained out of their ears.  But it was such a gorgeous day.  Sigh.  Stupid pretty day.

Once we got to the zoo things got better.  The monkeys were all out swinging around and not even being amorous (a rarity).  The kids were happy.  They each had enough money to ride the carousel.  The ducks and geese were waddling around with fluffy babies in tow.  We also kept hearing weird loud roaring noises.  We had no idea where they were possibly coming from.  Libby was afraid it might be the lions and made it clear we did not need to visit them if they were feeling that out of sorts, but we found the lions lounging around soaking up the sun.   After admiring them we went on a quest to find the source of the noise.  As we crept around the corner where the wallabies live we came face to face with a full sized, roaring, moving DINOSAUR.  Now I don't know if you have been to the Boise Zoo but we go there a lot and have never, ever seen a dinosaur.  We were shocked and amazed. The bigger kids were fascinated.  Sam immediately broke into hysterical cries. "I am ready to go home.  I am ready to go home right now.  I am ready to go home.  Let's go home."  I made a valiant attempt to hide my laughter from him.  I wish I had a picture but somebody who will remain nameless (head hung in shame) broke the camera.  Walking around another corner we discovered another dinosaur.  It was at this point Sam asked if we could just go look at the jelly fish.

I called Michael at work to tell him we had discovered two breathing moving dinosaurs at the zoo!  He did a little research and discovered our zoo is hosting eight dinosaurs for the summer.  The three older kids are in love.  Their love became all encompassing when we rounded another corner and found the life size T-Rex.  The zoo is awesome!  Unless you are Sam.  No amount of therapy is going to help him recover.  He would just really like to watch the jellyfish.

Bruneau Sand Dunes

We took a quick weekend trip up to the dunes along with our friends Spencer and Whitney and their four kids.  The kids saw snakes and lizards and lots of sagebrush.

There was also sand.

 and more sand.

Then there were dunes of sand.

Not as fast as sledding down a hill of snow but still fun.  The kids think we should go back when there is snow.  The sledding would be AWESOME!

This is the last photo our poor camera will ever take.  Someone decided to roll down the dunes with both the camera and cell phone in her pockets.  The phone survived but sand got inside the camera lens mechanism.  Seriously, what was she thinking?

Birthday Madness

First came Mother's Day.  Next day we celebrated Michael's birthday and the next it was Grace's big day.  By the end of it all I was barely functioning.

Michael opening his gifts.  Nothing really interesting to anyone but him.  But he seemed happy.  This was the first birthday in years I didn't buy him something for his bike. 

Michael requested Mango Sticky Rice for dessert.  Heaven in a bowl.  The kids don't enjoy it but that just means more for us!

Tuesday Grace asked for a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for her birthday.  I decided to go the easy route and had the kids make a wacky cake.  We can mix it right in the pan.  It seemed it would be less messy, but I must have temporarily forgotten I have four children who would want to help mix. 

Flip flops

and a bike bell!

And her very own chair,

and inline skates!  Talk about a spoiled four year old plus one mom who was very glad to crawl into bed.

Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime

 Our version of natural weed control.

Not only is it environmentally friendly, it is also a lot cuter than a sprayer full of chemicals.

 Playing in the river.

The water wasn't as warm as hoped for.

 Sandy bottom boy.

 And girl.

 Summer days are long and draining.  Good thing they can both sleep sitting up.

Forget dinner.  We have better things to do.