Anna's First Haircut

 I cut Anna's hair for the first time about a month ago.  She was petrified to say the least.  She thought I would give her "boy hair" and make it really short.  I'm so glad I did it because her hair is not nearly as tangled.  My face looks ridiculous in every one of these photos but this post is about her, not me.  So, just focus on Anna.  ;-)

 I know that I look awful in this picture but look at her face.  DARLING!

 The end result.  She's such a big girl now! 

Just When You Think....

....That life couldn't get any crazier, it does!  Just when you think that there is not possibly one more thing your child could destroy, they find something.

Just when you think you're enjoying a nice quiet shower without screaming, crying, fighting kids....

....You come downstairs to realize that the reason they weren't screaming, crying, and fighting was that they were destroying your kitchen.  (And by they, I mean Andrew). 

 Honestly, my shower wasn't THAT long.   It rolled back up quite differently. 

At the same time, just when you think your kids couldn't get any cuter, they do.

 Just when you think you couldn't possibly love your kids even one drop more because you might just burst, you start loving them one hundred times more!

 Just when you think, how did I get so blessed to have this life with these kids, you realize that Heavenly Father loves you and wants you to be happy. 

And just when you don't think life could get any sweeter....it does, even with all the craziness!

Father's Day 2012

 I feel like it's been forever since my last post.  We have had so much going on lately.  It's hard for me to write on my blog without posting pictures though, so we'll see how much actually gets documented in the next few weeks.
Happy Father's Day to all of you Dads out there.  I love Father's Day mainly because it's a great reason to celebrate the wonderful man I'm married to.  I loved thinking back on all the fond memories I have with my dad too. 
I was having a super stressful week with trying to get what seemed like everything in the world done before Sunday.  My "to do" list was a mile long.  Somehow, I managed, but I still call it a miracle.  Among the things to do, I made this cute Father's Day banner.  I got the idea off of Pinterest, (of course!), and am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  We started out the day with a nice breakfast and gifts.  What better way to start a day, huh?

 I got this idea from the Lowe's website.  It thought it was really sweet.

 Daddy-O opening all of his gifts.  I really do try to only buy one gift a year on Father's Day, but I just can't do it.  Maybe next year! 

 This was from Andrew.  Now they can play ball together.  Josh was actually pretty excited.

 Andrew got right into it!

 One of his gifts was a snow cone maker.  It works OK but I don't think it will really get used that much.  :-/

 These kids are the luckiest in the world to have Josh as their crazy, funny, silly, wonderful Dad! 

Memorial Day 2012

 We had a great Memorial Day.  It was probably the most fun Memorial Day that I can remember. Josh worked from home that day so that when it came time to do fun things, he could go too.  It was so nice to have him with us.  We had a big BBQ at the park with a bunch of friends.  The adults played a kickball game, the kids played on the playground, and we just ate and ate.  They had a ton of balls there so we also got to play catch with our kids for a long time.  It really is the simple things in life that make it so sweet.  I loved playing catch with Anna.  She tried so hard.  It was so relaxing, with perfect weather.  Great time for all!

 Josh threw a football with his friend Greg.  Sorry this picture is so far away, I just wanted to document the event. 

 Here's the crew. 

 This is Josh's team for kickball waiting for their turn to kick. 

 Later that day, a big group of us went to the pool and swam.  It was perfect.  The kids loved it and it was so fun to visit with friends.  The water was almost perfect, good enough for me to get in.  After we swam we had ANOTHER BBQ!  This time it was just right outside our apartment.  We all brought our own meat and something to share.  It was great!  The kids all played while we got to visit. 

 Andrew and Sam loved these chairs.  They kept throwing their heads back and laughing hysterically.  It was cute. 

 Our good friends and neighbors, Greg and Jenna.

 Here's the other side of the lawn. 

 These are just a few pics of the kids on their bikes outside.  It was a beautiful day so I thought I'd snap some. 

 Anna loves whizzing down this hill as fast as she can on her bikes.  It is the perfect slope.  It gets her going fast enough without being too dangerous.  Plus, it will keep her entertained for quite some time. 

She Got Him Good

You may not know this about Andrew but he can be quite aggressive.  I think part of it is the boy in him.  I wasn't expecting that when I had him, even though I have brothers.  Either my brothers weren't super aggressive or I was oblivious to it because they left me alone.  Either way, it's been a surprise for me.  Andrew is constantly hitting Anna and pulling out large bits of her hair.  He just attacks her!  What has been more surprising is that Anna has never retaliated.  Honestly, never once.  She'll just sit there and scream and cry.  She'll yell at him to stop but has never hit back.  All of that changed this week.  

I was upstairs putting away our laundry while they were two floors down in the basement.  I heard them yelling, which is very common in our house, and didn't think too much about it.  I thought that I'd wait for them to come to me.  I've been trying to teach Anna to come and get me when Andrew hurts her instead of just sitting and taking it.  So after a few minutes I hear a yeller coming up the stairs but this time it wasn't Anna.  It was Andrew.  He came up with big crocodile tears sobbing and wanting to be held.  I picked him up and tried comforting him.  He was pretty upset so it took a while.  I noticed something red on his cheek but thought that he just bumped into something, also extremely normal. 

About 30 minutes later, we were all in the kitchen when I was looking at his cheek.  It seemed to be getting worse.  I looked closely and then it hit me.  "Oh my gosh, she bit his cheek!"  I about died.  I turned to Anna and asked her if she bit him.  She denied it.  I asked her again and she denied it again.  I told her that she had to tell me the truth if she wanted to play with her friends later that day.  She then confessed.  I asked her why she bit him and she said it was because he was pulling her hair.  I was just baffled that after all this time of no retaliation that this was what she chose to break her perfect streak.  I was upset.  I explained how it doesn't matter what other people do to us, it's only important what we choose to do.  I told her it was wrong of Andrew to pull her hair but it was also wrong for her to bite him.  She had some quiet time in her room and came out feeling just fine.  I, however, was still in shock.   

 After thinking about it however, I began thinking, "well he deserved it."  I would never tell her that it was a good choice to bite him, but honestly, he's always beating up on her.  He had it coming.  I think that after all of this time, it's just been building up in her.  Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and just bit him!  Smack dab on the cheek.  She wanted it to hurt and wanted it to show.  Wow.  I always tell Josh that I often feel like a referee between the two.  They fight a lot.  Perhaps now Andrew will think about it a bit more though. 

 Don't worry, their friends again.  They are quite inventive too when they need a height boost. 

(The first picture shows the bite mark the best).