Fall Break Fun

What?!? It's almost Christmas and I haven't written about our Fall Break trip? Shame on me...

We had grand plans this year to go to Moab for Fall Break to spend a few nights camping and days hiking around Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. We had gone there a few summers ago, but it was in July and too darned hot to really enjoy. Plus the twins were just little and we couldn't do much more than 1/2 mile at a time.

Anyway, that was the plan. It was mapped out. We were good to go. Until about two days before departure. We started to wonder why we were driving 8 hours to camp somewhere we've already been when there are so many National Parks and Monuments in Arizona that we've never been to! Yes, it's true. We had NEVER taken our kids to the GRAND CANYON. What kind of Arizonans are we (disclaimer: I am NOT and never will be an Arizonan).

So we mapped out our new route to include all those points of interest we always just pass by without a second thought on our way out of the state: Montezuma Castle, Tuzigoot, Wupatki and Sunset Crater. And of course, the Grand Canyon. And the kids each earned FOUR Junior Ranger badges on this trip! Not bad for three days.

Day one: Montezuma & Tuzigoot and Camping at Mormon Lake

The kids inside a room at Tuzigoot



We loved the bark on the Sycamore trees.



Tessie in front of Montezuma Castle. How'd ya like to carry the groceries up to that apartment??



I didn't get any photos of our super cool campsite setup OR of Fisher's large black bag full of puked-upon clothing and bedding. It was AWESOME. After spending a day visiting the ruins we found a spot to camp and got all set up. After a dinner of PBJ, hot cocoa and s'mores the kiddos were ready to tuck it in for the evening. It was bout 5:30 p.m. The sun was still up. But it was chilly. Anyway, we coaxed them into staying out of the tents by telling stories by the fire (Jarad trumped us all with a 40-minute story full of pirates, treasure and intrigue) and playing some Uno. At some point Fisher mentioned his stomach didn't feel well. I didn't think much of it. My bad. At about midnight I heard him start to cough and I knew what was next. I'll spare you the details, but I will say that I couldn't get our tent unzipped fast enough. And thank Heaven I had thought to buy a few extra jugs of water for the trip. After a long, cold night of little sleep for all of us, Fisher was the first one up, ready for day two of our adventure. We tossed the "black bag" into the car-top carrier and were on our way. With a barf bowl at the ready.

Day Two: The Grand Canyon

Everyone was taking family pictures for their Christmas cards. This one didn't make the cut -- we have a way cooler one :)





As part of the kids' Junior Ranger requirements we went to a Ranger Talk, an educational program about condors. Along with about 50 other people, we sat for 45 minutes listening to a volunteer ranger tell us all about these endangered birds, and how there are a few in the Canyon but that they hadn't seen any for a few weeks. During the talk Jarad nudges me and hands me the binoculars. He had found two birds that fit the physical description and flying/soaring patterns the ranger was talking about. Sure enough, Jarad had spotted the condors that had eluded the ranger folk! Before long they made their way over to where we were sitting and the whole crowd went wild. The ranger was a bit put out that everyone was more excited about seeing the real thing than watching him use a condor puppet to describe how mommy condors teach baby condors to eat. It was really very cool to watch them. But alas, no photos of the birds.

Our only previous experience at the Grand Canyon had been, er, um, unpleasant. So we were not at all excited about taking the kids there. We felt obligated to let them get their Junior Ranger badge. But I'm so glad we did! It was so much better than we expected and we had a great day there. We'll plan to stay longer next time!

We got back to Flagstaff after dark and, not wanting a repeat of the camping experience of the night before, we got a hotel room. Showers and cable TV are always welcome after a couple of days away from home :)

Day 3: Sunset Crater and Wupatki

We've been making family trips from Arizona to Utah for 12 years now. I see the signs to Sunset Crater every time and it was NOTHING like what I expected! First, they have one of the best visitors centers we've come by on our travels. The kids LOVED it. They would have been totally happy if we'd just stopped there. Highly recommend it! But the walk back to the crater also was very educational and interesting. Of course no photos of that.



Wupatki was another Indian ruin. Their Junior Ranger program was better than the others and the kids had fun exploring the different villages. These pictures aren't of Wupatki but of another ruin along the road before reaching the visitors center. By the time we were at Wupatki the kids were done with my camera and with each other. I had to sneak the last one during their swearing in for their Wupatki Junior Ranger badges.

On the bright side...

Dear Tessie:

Thank you for waiting until 5 a.m. TODAY to start barfing, allowing me to get a good six hours of sleep after putting on the big Relief Society Christmas activity before having to tend to you.

If you had been sick yesterday your mommy would have lost it.

Get better soon!

Love,
Mom

P.S. I think Fisher is faking it.

P.P.S. Fisher is most definitely NOT faking it. And he is all Curtis when it comes to barfing. All you Curtises out there know what I mean.

Re pro duc tion

Emma fancies herself pretty grown up these days. I suppose I do too. She's fun to talk to and share inside jokes, quote movies, etc. But last night I caught a glimpse of the little girl still in her and I'll admit, I kind of want her back.

We were working on a school project about snow leopards. This report had a section on the reproductive habits of her selected animal. She had written notes about mating, gestation, etc. So as she's translating her notes into a written paragraph I asked her what gestation is: how long a baby is in the mommy's tummy. OK simple enough. Then I asked her what mating is. OK another admission here... I haven't had the official "birds and bees" discussion with Emma. I've felt the subject out here and there but it's never been something that has turned into anything more. Until now. So I ask what mating is and her face turns the color of all those Christmas decorations just itching to be put up later this week.

And she starts this giggle. Her face reverted from her tween sassyface to this innocent little girl face I haven't seen in a while. She couldn't stop giggling. Through the giggles she said things like "it's when mommies and daddies get married and kiss and stuff" and "I don't know any more than that and I don't WANT to!!"

Knowing we needed to put the final touches on her report (it was already 30 minutes past bedtime and Fisher was wandering in for the umpteenth time to find out when she was going to bed) I got her to stop giggling and told her we'd talk about it another time. Giggle. "We don't need to Mom."

The truth of it is, I want to bring up "mating" over and over again just to see that little girl come out again. So sweet and cute. Those freckles and dimples just kill me, and they are so much cuter when there is innocence behind them.

A Spoon Full of Sugar

When I was downloading the video for Fisher's Lolli Lice I came upon this one and realized I never posted it. I laugh out loud every time I watch Tess in her own little world. And there's some crack-the-whip action toward the end. Funny stuff. To a mom.

This was last spring sometime...

Introducing the Lolli Lice

At school last month Fisher participated in an Invention Convention. The kids were asked to identify a problem, then invent something to fix the problem. They had several weeks to work on this project which culminated in a day of presentations and learning about innovation and patents.

True to form, Fisher stressed himself out to no end about this project. We spent a week just brainstorming and talking about it a little each day. His frustrations came from too many great ideas and not being able to choose just one.

Here's what won out:

Problem: The kid sitting next to me has lice
Solution: Something that will keep the lice from jumping on to me
Invention: The Lolli Lice



It's simple -- a head band with removable lollipops inserted into the top. When you know you (or your seatmate) have lice, you simply unwrap a couple of Dum Dums, insert them into the Lolli Lice and voila the lice will not jump onto your friend, but rather will be lured by the sticky sweetness of the lollipop and will be stuck there until death.

Here's a video of his presentation. It's nearly four minutes long but worth the watch for the special jingle he sings at the end!

Payback

The twins are sitting side by side on the couch thumbing through the toy catalogs that came in last Sunday's newspaper. Here's what I'm hearing over and over again:

Mommy I'll pay you back if you get me that (insert name of toy).

It's so dang cute. They are so excited. And it's giving me some good ideas for both birthday and Christmas gifts!

Rite of Passage: School Pictures

I know they aren't glamour shots or anything, but I always purchase the smallest package available of my kids' school pictures. They just make me smile, and I love lining them up side by side to see the changes in the kids.

You'll probably notice that I told them I wanted to see their teeth in their photos this year? Last year Emma was tight-lipped in her picture and it just didn't seem like her. This year, well, we went to the other extreme. And once again Fisher picked his own outfit. He always insists on dressing up for his close-up. Tie and all.

So without further ado (drumroll please...) here are the 2010 school photos of Emma (4th Grade) and Fisher (2nd Grade).

How in the world...

So you know that children's song that says:

It ain't gonna rain no more, no more
It ain't gonna rain no more
How in the heck can I wash my neck
If it ain't gonna rain no more

So in our family we encourage the kids to say something other than "heck". Like how in the world... So they made up alternate lyrics:

It ain't gonna rain no more, no more
It ain't gonna rain no more
How in the world can I wash my hurl
If it ain't gonna rain no more

It's a great song to hear your four-year-olds singing first thing in the morning. BUT I have to say that the funniest part about it is that the kids came up with these alternate words together the morning after Fisher had spent the night, um, hurling in the tent on a recent camping trip (don't worry, that's a post I'm working on -- stay tuned). As they were singing Jarad and I were, quite literally, trying to wash Fisher's hurl.

Chinese Spanish

I was just teaching the twins some Spanish (OK I was teaching them how to say "chocolate milk" does that count?)...

Tess: Now people will think we are Spanish!

Case: No because we're not from China.

This is clearly the result of too much Dora the Explorer and Ni Hao Kai Lan. Thank you, Nick Jr., for this excellent teaching opportunity to de-confuse my children.

She's A Ten!

Emma turned TEN last week! She is officially a tween. And believe me, she is ALL TWEEN. For her "party" she got to invite a couple of girlfriends for a GNO. We took them to the movies, then the boys went home and the girls hung out at the mall for a while longer. It was so fun kind of being a fly on the wall watching Emma with her friends. They thought they were so cool walking down the "streets" of the outdoor mall with each other - on a Friday night, no less. I stayed a few paces behind them so they thought they were being all independent. We must have spent 45 minutes in Claire's trying on EVERYTHING, and then we made our way to DQ for some ice cream. For all their grown-up-ness, they sure didn't hesitate to ask for Build A Bears as we walked by. I guess she's not quite as grown up as she thinks :).

Sure do love that girl though. As is my custom, here are ten things I love about my ten year old (I'm thinking I may have to change this custom as the kids get older -- will I even be able to think of 16 things I love about her when she's 16??)

1. Her independence - ask me how much I love this in a couple years, right?
2. Her sense of humor - things don't get past this one. She's gaining a rather sophisticated wit!
3. Her love for reading! Like mother like daughter!
4. She loves music. The same song. Over and over. But it's fun to see her explore different kinds of music and love it. It's easy for me to say this because she's currently in an 80s groove!
5. Her sense of fashion. She got her first pair of Vans for her birthday. Right about the same age I got my first pair :) (see the mother/daughter/80s theme here?)
6. She's a great big sister.
7. She loves her family - one of her favorite things to do is have a family movie night. She also loves visiting Grandma & Grandpa in UT and her grandparents and cousins here in AZ.
8. She makes friends so easily. I know I've said this before but she is a friend to everyone, and she's a good friend at that.
9. She loves school. How many fourth graders come home from school to report they had an AWESOME day EVERY SINGLE DAY? I think it has something to do with the social aspect of it, but I know she likes learning too. :)
10.I love how she tries to be so grown up sometimes, but other times she is just a little girl. I guess that's why they call them tweens, right?

I'm laughing so hard right now. Tess just walked in and I asked her "Tess what do you love about Emma?"

Tess: Nuffing! She just be's mean to me all the time!!"

Ah sisterhood. I just smile with the knowledge that they'll be BEST FRIENDS in 15 years or so.

We love you Ems, and can't imagine our world without you. Happy Tenth Birthday!!

An Inconvenient Storm

The twins and Fisher (home sick today poor guy) are having quiet time and are watching The Magic Schoolbus on Qubo. The National Weather Service has been coming on every five minutes to tell us to watch for the thunderstorm on its way. I'm not sure which is louder -- the distinctive honk of the NWS emergency bulletin or the twins moaning and groaning "oooooohhhhhhhh, not agaaaaaaaaaaaain!!"

The Great (Cricket) Escape

So these crickets I've been buying to feed Liz the Lizard have become the bane of my existence. I've added a trip to Petsmart to my weekly to do's, and I purchase 14 crickets at a time. Which means I have to have a habitat to keep them not only alive but well fed and plumped up enough to be worthy of being eaten by a lizard. Said habitat is in a plastic box with holes punched in it, special cricket food and this jello like substance that keeps them hydrated (apparently a water dish is too much for them to handle -- they drown). I'm not kidding here. It's only my Mother's Love (for the kids, not the lizard) that keeps me going back for more.

This week, after my Petsmart run to purchase 14 crickets on Monday, we have seen an unusually high number of crickets roaming the house. I thought it was time to call the bug guy to get an extra treatment. Then I thought to look at the cricket habitat. It SHOULD have been crawling with 14 crickets. There were two left.

They're too dumb to know better than to drown in their water dish. But apparently they pulled one over on me and busted out.

Who's the dummy NOW, huh?

Things I Heart Today

My funny twins who love (and entertain) each other.

Book club laughter.

That pears and raspberries are put up. Bring on the peaches.

Kiddos who are so excited for the ward campout (and the traditional Pizza Factory lunch tomorrow!).

Temps that don't bake you within five minutes of going outdoors. (I'm afraid to say I heart cool weather because that will jinx us all)

My sisters and mom whom I miss dearly. Now that you mention it, my brothers and dad too. Just thinkin' of my girls today :)

That the General Women's Broadcast is tomorrow (and Conference is next weekend!)

The Secret to Youthful Skin

So I was buying some of those make-up removing wipes the other day at Walgreen's. I saw some Pond's "Age-Defying" wipes that claim to remove make-up while using retinol collagen for a more youthful-looking result. Why not?

This morning I woke up with the biggest zit on my chin. Ah, so THAT'S their secret. They make you look like an adolescent! Um, no thanks.

The Accidental Pet Owner

Last Sunday I was enjoying a very rare quiet moment reading on the couch. I had dozed off and felt a little tickle on my arm. I opened my eyes to find a small lizard scampering across the couch. The kids came in to help me take off all the cushions, turn the couch inside out to find the critter to no avail. I finally thought to look behind the blinds on the window sill. Bingo. There was a small lizard just hiding out.

I caught it in a cup and the kiddos convinced me to put it into a little habitat we had made previously for beetles. She's still here. They named her Liz.

I am now on cricket duty, making regular trips to Petsmart to buy food for Liz.

How did this happen?

Last Hurrah of Summer: The Phoenix Zoo

Backtracking a little here...

The Friday before school started the kids begged me to take them to the zoo for one last hurrah of summer. Of course I always do anything my kids beg for :). Off to the zoo we went. It was, of course, one of the hottest and most humid days of the year. The kids didn't care -- they got to play in the Yakulla Caverns water park. I just found whatever shade I could and drank lots of water. It was 95 degrees when we got there at 8 a.m. It was about 111 when we left at 12:30. Ahhhh Arizona.

Anyway, here are the cute pics we took.



I love the Monkey Village. That particular day the monkeys were really active and were hanging out right by the viewing area. There's a rope that goes from the main monkey hangout to a tree in the middle of the viewing area and they were running back and forth across the rope. One stayed on the lone tree and Case walked over to look closer at it. The conversation went a little like this:

Look at that one Mommy! He looks like he's going to go potty! Hey look Mommy! He's going potty! All over the rope!

You know how quiet four year old voices are, right? Everyone got a kick out of his keen observation. And he remembered not to touch ANYTHING in the Monkey Village anymore.



This goat was so smart. He did not want any part of letting little kids brush his fur. The keepers brought him out of the pen into the yard, and he proceeded to turn right back around, prop himself up on the door and hit the latch with his nose until the door opened! He walked right on in to the food trough. It was so funny to watch!



This is Tess's scared look. Whenever she wants to look scared in a photo she does this with her hands and her whole little body shakes in mock fear. It cracks me up.

Who needs the Improv?

Who needs stand-up comedians when you have my kids in your life? I find myself laughing all day long at these little funnies. Recently heard:

Emma: Sometimes I like it that I’m getting older and I can understand some of the long words that you say.

Case: Upon finishing his dance to Lady Gaga's Just Dance, very somberly says, "I weally wanna be a wock staw Mom." Then today after Let's Play Music class he's playing his bells and singing "I love wock and woll, put another dime in the juice box baby!"

Fisher: Was having some intestinal problems apparently. I walk in from the grocery store and saw this on the laundry room floor.



It says "Sorry Mom and Dad but I had diarey (diarrhea)." Poor kid.

Pittin' out

I was just asked (by Case of course) if our legs have legpits.

That's hot...

I discovered today it doesn't take very much time at all to defrost a freezer in the garage when it's 110 degrees outside.

Case is a chest man

The Curti have been playing a lot of chess lately (yours truly excluded). Fisher recently beat Jarad (fair and square!) and even Case has gotten in on the action. He asked me the other day if I would play with him and I told him I don't know how and he got this totally irritated tone and said: All you got to do is move your pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queens and kings and make them knock each other over. He knew all the names of all the guys better than I do!

Yep, even four-year-old Case loves chess.

Only thing is, he calls it CHEST. :)

Back in Session

It's back to school time once again! I remember the sleepless jitters the night before the first day of school when I was a kid, and last night I stood outside the room Emma and Fisher share listening to them talk about how excited they are for this school year.

The kids got up extra early this morning... I heard the dishwasher being unloaded before 6 a.m. Yes, that's right. Fisher was up, dressed, had his backpack packed and was unloading the dishwasher, and Emma was in the shower -- all before 6 a.m. No excitement there, right?

The twins will be home with me for another year, and I couldn't be happier. With their fall birthday they have lots of friends their age who are starting kindergarten, but I'm not ready for them to be gone, and I don't think they're quite ready yet either.

Here are my big kiddos on the way to their first day of school. I missed them today, but I'll admit I'm glad to be back to a more scheduled day.

Epilogue: The Winning Photo

I laugh every time I see this picture because it just says so much. We'd been walking around downtown Salt Lake for quite a while and the kids were just done. Done with the touring. The walking. And most of all my camera in their faces. We were telling them that this is the same place Jarad and I had gotten our photo taken on our wedding day. Honestly they couldn't have cared less and Fisher just refused to stand up. Amazing how 12 years and four kids can change things...

Summer Sojourn: End of the triology

Stop 6: Lake Tahoe
We spent three luxurious days at a condo in South Lake Tahoe. After kind of being on the go and camping for a week, we were really ready to slow down and do next to nothing. We spent our time driving around the lake, taking pictures, little hikes and explorations, shopping, swimming at the pool and playing the wii in the kids’ playroom. Oh, and eating at IHOP.

Stop 7: Orem, UT
(HUH? All these uber cool places, and Orem makes the list? Let me just say... free lodging for a month - thanks Mom and Dad!)

I’m not sure how my parents feel about it, but we have spent our summers in their basement (they let us out sometimes) for the last three summers now. It is so awesome (meant entirely Valley girl here). The kids love it there: two computers in the home office, cable TV projected on the wall in the basement, sleeping in their special sleeping bags, playing snake and bocci in the back yard, playing with their UT friends… Grandma and Grandpa spoiling them rotten. We all love it! Before our trip Jarad and I had caught the family history bug, and had been researching stories from both sides of the family, locating gravesites, etc. So a large part of our time in Utah was spent in cemeteries. Yep you read that right. Among the dead. Some of our coolest and most memorable moments of the trip were finding the burial places of and even memorials to some of our pioneer ancestors. I’ll have to write an entirely different post about those stories, but suffice it to say that the seed has been planted and the hearts of these children are most definitely turning to our fathers. We spent a few nights in Logan and completely fell in love with that area. Don’t worry… we know we need to check out the winters there before relocating! Of course Jarad and I got in our annual Lake Blanche hike, this year with an overnighter. We spent a day at Sundance and picnicked with Grandma and Grandpa a few times along the Provo River. We took in an Orem Owlz baseball game (where we lost Case. We visited the Dinosaur Museum in Ogden and drove through some beautiful country in a roundabout way back to Orem through Morgan and Heber. I'll admit I was not ready to come home.

We drove home mid-July and arrived in the midst of extreme heat advisories. The day we drove was rainy from north of Flagstaff all the way to Phoenix and we saw some amazing lightning storms and even a double rainbow. I love that the kids were watching the weather as much as the DVD :) Upon arriving home the kids promptly reconnected with their Gilbert friends and swimming pools, and have lived their summer to the fullest! Everyone is ready for school to start tomorrow. Everyone :)

Summer Sojourn: Part Deux

Stop 4: Sequoia National Park
The next day we drove from Newport to Sequoia National Park -- it was an all-day trip. We pulled into the campground around 6 p.m. and it was C-O-L-D (this from an Alaska girl, right?)! A nice change from AZ, but honestly, it was chill-ay. We registered and drove to the campsite, only to find a big snowdrift there! Thankfully it was not IN our site, but we carefully situated our two tents in between the small tributary of melting snow and the drift itself. Then we built a big fire to sit by all night! We had originally planned to just drive through Sequoia on the way to Yosemite, but ended up changing our plans and staying there. So worth it! Of course the kids had plenty of time to complete their Junior Ranger requirements, we saw a bear and tons of other wildlife and did some exploring.

Stop 5: Yosemite National Park
If I could have changed only one thing about our visit to Yosemite, it would be that it WASN’T FREE WEEKEND AT YOSEMITE. It seemed like all 10 million residents of Los Angeles decided to visit that very weekend. We had no idea it was free weekend when we planned our trip, and it was a not-so-pleasant surprise. Look beyond the crowds, though, and you’ll find some of the most awesome (and I mean that in the true sense of the word, not the 80s Valley girl sense) scenery. The snowmelt was still running strong so the waterfalls were huge. Everything was so green and lush. We took the kids on a hike up the Mist Trail – a little steep by children’s standards – and we encountered just a bit of whining. OK some full-fledged whining from all four kids after we passed the halfway-up point. The highlight of the hike was when, on our way down, I heard a father of two girls about the same age as our older kids turn to his daughters and say, “Look at those kids with smiles on their faces (referring to our four – smiling because we were almost DONE!) – if they can do it so can you!” He had no idea what we had endured on the way up. We spent two days in Yosemite, and of course I wish we’d planned at least one more day. Without 10 million of our closest friends.

Summer Sojourn

OK let’s get down to business here. I promised myself I would report on and post pictures of our summer sojourn before school starts. That’s in about 8 hours…

We started our seven or so weeks away from home with a bang. School got out on Thursday, Jarad worked his last day Friday, we spent Memorial Day weekend here at home and left Tuesday morning as the sun rose (before it could get too hot here). We took the long way around to my parents house in UT, spending about ten days in California before heading down to Happy Valley. Here is our travelogue in parts…


Stop 1: Joshua Tree National Park
Yeah, so this was ALMOST considered a stop. We spent a few hours in the park on the way to California. Long enough to take some pictures, climb some rocks and do the Junior Ranger Program with the kids. After about 30 minutes of climbing around on the large boulders, we told the kids it was time to move on to something else. When they complained we said “but when we’re done here we get to go to Disneyland!” To which Case replied: I don’t wanna go to Disneyland, I just want to stay here and climb rocks! Unfortunately he was having so much fun and going so high that I didn’t get a single picture of him climbing. He was out of sight the whole time!




Stop 2: DISNEYLAND!!
Whew nothing like starting our trip with the highlight. The kids were looking forward to it so much, and it truly did not disappoint. The best advice I received beforehand was to take a break in the middle of the day or there's no way you're making it to the fireworks! The kids were the perfect ages to go -- even the twins could ride every ride -- and they were all old enough that we didn't have to spend ANY time on the small kiddie rides. It was great. Case started the morning with a good cry (OK I'll admit it was a full-fledged screaming fit), but once we got past that it was a perfect day.

Tess's Favorite: Splash Mountain and the teacups, although she beat everyone but Jarad in the Buzz Lightyear ride. Not sure how that happened. Oh, and Fisher got to dance in the parade. Of course he did his signature moves for us all…

Case's Favorite: Haunted Mansion

Fisher's Favorite: Splash Mountain/Thunder Mountain because “I like getting scared! It made me scream like a little girl!”

Emma's Least Favorite: Pirates

Stop 3: The Beach
You can't be in the OC without going to the beach, right? We spent the day at Huntington Beach where the kids literally spent hours running in and out of the waves. Spent the evening in Newport. Pizza, ice cream and the arcade. We were clearly too early for the season rush -- there was NO ONE at Newport pier the night we went! We had the arcade all to ourselves. Cute Fisher won a bunch of tickets and just could NOT decide what he was going to trade them in for at the goody counter: should he get one big thing for himself or lots of cheaper things he can share with his brother and sisters? He opted for a handful of small tops that he promptly gifted to his siblings. I love this kid's heart! Probably our kids’ favorite part of Newport was the IHOP we ate breakfast at. How is it that they had NEVER been to IHOP before?

Precocious Teslin

I think it's funny when little kids say big words.

Today Tess and Case were at their friends Peyton and Trai's house and Case was telling their mom that they were going to Disneyland next week (we really are!). Tess piped in, saying "We're actually going to lots of locations." Can you just hear her in her little four-year-old-know-it-all voice? Cute and funny girl.

I caved

Tess has been wanting to have her hair cut short for more than six months now. I keep saying no because it has gotten so long and I love being able to do different things with it. And she's always been so good about sitting to let me do her hair. Until lately.

In the last couple of months she runs every time I get the brush. Cries during the entire styling session. Tells me several times a week she wants her hair cut "to her neck." Well. She won.

When the haircut was all over she said "now you never have to brush my hair EVER AGAIN!" If only...

We saved her ponytail so we can send it to Locks of Love... It was well over the 10" length requirement!

Here's the before...




A thumbs up in progress...



And the final product! She looks more like Emma now than she ever has! Cutie Patootie, that's what she is.


Thanks Tiffany for the beautiful makeover!!