Haircut Anyone?

What is it with my kids, scissors and hair? I know that everyone has a "I cut my own hair" story in their life, but really...I think we've had more than our share!

Mr. TD and Little TD went yesterday to get a haircut. They look awesome!

This morning, I was performing some vacuum cleaner maintenance and was using the scissors to cut Ariel's hair from the beater bar (Note to Mom's of girls: Don't get the Ariel costume from Build-A-Bear...the hair falls out of the wig.) and changing the bag. When I left my work area to take the trash to the can in the garage, Little TD grabbed the scissors. He proceeded to cut a chunk out of Princess TD's hair! Really, I am not kidding! Of course, I did take pictures to share.

I just don't know what it is about my kids and cutting hair...but I am thinking of opening a haircut place for them to run...anyone up for a cheap cut? No promises about the quality though!

Our Anniversary

We have always tried to take a trip around our anniversary to celebrate and have some time together. It's not really ever been anywhere fancy, we're just not that kind of people. Sometimes we visit friends. Sometimes family. But we usually try to get away from the house and the day in and day out of life to remember and refocus on what is important. We were only married for 2 years before we had kids, so every year since, we have included the whole family. We do receive some criticism for this, but this is the way we want to be, so if it bothers you...too bad!

This year we had planned to rent a camper and go camping. Well, since Mr. TD's truck died just 2 weeks before the trip, we had to cancel the trailer, and just camp in a tent. (We will be rescheduling the camper for later in the year. We will either rent it when it is too hot or too cold for a tent!) We had a blast. We walked through the park, picked out "good" sites for future trips, enjoyed cooking hot dogs and brats over the campfire, just your usual camping type activities. We even met another homeschool family visiting for the day on Monday. The kids had a blast playing with each other and were sad when it was time to leave.

We took a lot of pictures this time. There were 3 of us with cameras, so I will have to wade through the pictures and post some soon. But here's our site to hold you over...

Oh, and for those of you who think we are always COMPLETELY prepared for a camping trip, that didn't happen this time. We had to take a short trip to the local Wal-Mart for the items we/I forgot! So, when we do the group thing again, you might not want to rely on me to remember everything...it seems that my age is catching up with me...

We actually returned home early, on our anniversary, because of the weather and impending thunderstorms. We didn't do anything special that night because we were busy cleaning up the tent and getting things cleaned up. Tonight we will be heading out for a special dinner, and...we got a babysitter (Thanks, Aunt Jennie!)!

The Bluebonnets

I just love the pictures of kids in the bluebonnets. There is a park nearby our house that has a great place for pictures and it's much safer than stopping on the side of the road.

I was taking a general bluebonnet picture that I take every year when I saw a bee in the shot.

I zoomed in and got this shot.

I thought it turned out great, considering it's an automatic point and click camera! So, being the homeschool mom I am, we had a mini lesson about bees.

Here are the pics of the kiddos. Little TD hates having his picture taken, but I was able to get a couple of cute ones without his cheesy grin. I actually got so many, I had a hard time choosing my favorites!

Princess TD

Little TD

It looks like she's telling him a secret...

Being silly...

Last year, we took a similar picture to this one of Princess TD. As soon as I mentioned that we were going to the park for pictures, she wanted to take this one again. It just looks so cute!

I love this one. I just wish they weren't so hot and sweaty from running around playing. They were watching another child climb on the adjacent rock. It made for a great picture.

All in all we had a great day playing and picnicing with friends. This is one of my favorite times of year!

It's Official

Mr. TD is the proud owner of a new truck!

Check out the leg room...he's knees aren't touching the dash anymore! I think we could have a party inside the backseat, it's so huge!

We didn't get as much as we had hoped for the trade-in of his old truck, it basically paid for the brand new tires. We did find out what was wrong with his truck...the rings were blown! If we would have fixed it, it would have been the third engine for his '99 truck. Kind of makes you wonder about those engines, huh?

Congrats Mr. TD, and enjoy your new toy!

My 100th Post

I can't believe that I have posted 100 times! I really didn't think I had that much to say! I have had several posts running around in my head, but I have never been able to get them completed, so here are the highlights of them!

• What is it with my kids and food? They will eat JUNK all day long and never get full, but put some chicken and vegetables in front of them and they are suddenly so full they couldn't eat another bite! I don't let them eat junk (sometimes I do), but they ask for it all day long. They absolutely refuse to eat at a mealtime, and when I say mealtime, I don't mean a time on the clock, just the time when more than one member of our family sits at the table for the purpose of eating! I know it's just a phase but...AARRGH!!!

• A friend of mine gave me a very serious reminder about watching our children closely and protecting them from predators. I am almost paranoid about them coming in contact with someone who could hurt them. It is so easy to have a false sense of security with our schools, churches, neighbors, and coaches. The statistics show that it is someone close to the child that causes the most damage. These are desperate times, and when we are consumed with our own stresses, we can let down our guard, and that's when our children are the most vulnerable.

• I thoroughly enjoyed the time I was able to spend with my sister when she was at the hospital having my niece. I now know why I didn't have simple labors and deliveries with my children. I needed to learn about complications. Almost every complication that came up with both of my children came up with my little niece, and I knew how to translate them to my sister and clearly explain the benefits and risks. I really have to thank my wonderful doula for my education, because she was so great at explaining that to me!

• I used to worry a lot about my sister and the time she spent without her hubby when he was away serving our country. She had always told me that it was like a big family, but having never experienced that, I was skeptical. After being at the hospital for 8+ hours without eating, I decided it was time to find nourishment. It was a holiday weekend on post, so everything in the hospital was closed, and not being military, my only choice was Burger King. The nurses gave me directions, each nurse gave me different directions. I was trying to decipher which way to go when I left the hospital parking lot, when a soldier stepped on the elevator. He had just finished PT, and had met his pregnant wife at the hospital, she was having complications. He was very nervous, and talked non-stop (it is my guess that he was a first time dad), and as we reached the bottom floor, he offered to lead me to the Burger King. He said he was going home to shower and change and pick up some things for his wife, but he would take me to get food if I wanted to follow him. He said it was a little out of his way, but it wasn't a problem. So I accepted. He lead me right to the restaurant, waved, and shouted "Good luck" from his window as he turned around and headed to his home. This soldier was a servant, he looked more like Christ than I do sometimes. I do realize that this could be an isolated incident, but this was the way I was treated the entire time I was on post. Maybe the military life is like a big family. I have no doubt that my sister and her family are loved and cared for where they currently live.

• I think we will be homeschooling indefinitely. Princess TD loves that I am her teacher and loves doing school with me. She asked me if I could teach her swimming in her 6 year old school work. (Mom, I will teach her to swim like I do...face out of the water; Greta, don't worry, it will be in a pool with lifeguards...they just won't come in after me if I put my face in the water.) I am not so sure I am qualified to teach swimming, but I will give it a try.

• I love our family nights. We have been playing games and spending time together as a family on Sunday evenings for quite some time now. It is so much fun! We have been teaching Little TD to play UNO, and he is catching on! He is learning to match his colors and numbers so well. It's great that we can all play together. Next we'll have to teach them to play Hand and Foot! OK, maybe that's a few years off still...but I can hope right?

• We are so excited for our camping trip next week. It is one of the perks of homeschooling that we can make our spring break be when we want to go out of town! It will be a busy, busy week getting everything together, but it will be worth it!

• I really miss my far away friends. Several of them are going through some very difficult times in their lives. I wish I could be there for them to hang out, bring a dinner, and give them a hug. You know who you are...I love you all and I am praying for your specific situations.

Life Goes...and Goes...

Whew! We sure have been busy the last couple of weeks.

We had a visit from my sister and her family for a gymnastics meet here. My brother-in-law flew in at the same time Mr. TD returned from a business trip, and my sister and the kids came in the night before. We had a fun, short weekend visit and are looking forward to many more since they will be staying down here for another 3-5 years. Yay! I know my kids are thrilled...they just adore their cousins. The cousins are great too considering the age difference. They are very tolerant of the younger games, and are so sweet and thoughtful of Princess TD and Little TD.

We decided to go camping for our anniversary trip later this month. We finally decided to rent a camper...it was so exciting...but we had to cancel the trailer! Mr. TD's truck is not cooperating. It has decided that after 10 years, it should be "retired" so we are now in the market for a new tow vehicle. So, we will be camping in our tent for our trip instead of living it up in a camper! Please pray for rain between now and then so we can have a campfire...but it must stop before we leave so we don't get soaked!

School is going great. Princess TD is reading so well. She is still a little hesitant, I think because she prefers to be read to, but we are making great progress and she is not only reading her actual reading lessons, but also the other lessons as well. She's not quite taking off reading books on her own, but she's close. Her math is going well too. We moved up to the Singapore 1A book in December, and she's doing awesome. She's not a big fan of the handwriting lessons, but she loves to write notes and letters to everyone she meets. Little TD is enjoying his school too. We have slowed down in his book lessons and have just been working on finding letters, numbers and colors in our world as we live our life.

Mr. TD is back into his traveling schedule and adjusting to his new role with the company. We have become accustomed to him being home, so the last couple of trips have been a little more difficult on us all. We love our family time.

Spring has arrived and we are loving every minute of the great weather! We have planted flowers, spread the mulch and prepared for spring. Our azaleas are about to bloom. Now we're just waiting for the bluebonnets to be just right so we can take our annual pictures.