Saying Goodbye to Great-Grandma

I am sure I have mentioned it before, but my kids are super lucky.  They have three living great-grandmothers.   They have been getting to spend a lot more time with Great-Grandma Miller over the past several months as she has been living down here in Charlotte with Jonathan's parents.  Today though we had one last dinner at Firehouse Subs with her before she heads back up to Michigan to live again.  Hopefully we will be able to head back up to Michigan sometime soon to visit with her again!

Thanksgiving is coming!

Justin is learning all about pilgrims this week at preschool.  He came home today with a hat they had made at school, and the hat has not left his head since.  It makes me laugh sometimes the things they get attached to, even if they are for a short period of time.  We went grocery shopping and to dance drop-off with the pilgrim hat in place this afternoon!

Time for a Change: New Haircut

While many of you woke up this morning with change on your minds, I have a feeling it was a bit of a different change than the one that occurred in my house today.  While everyone was rushing out to vote, I was driving my 6-year old to a salon to make her very own change.  Katelynn has been asking to chop off her hair since May.  I am not even joking.  She used to not want to even get it trimmed because she wanted it long and then all of a sudden when she and I went to get our haircut prior to going on our cruise, she requested that we chop it short.  I thought it was a random idea she came up with and pushed her that day to not go too short just yet.  I honestly thought she would change her mind.  Somehow my kids always get an idea stuck in their heads though and don't give it up until they get it.  (Gee, I don't know where they got that one from!)  So, we have occassionally heard about this haircut idea but never acted on it. 

Today Katelynn didn't have school, but Justin did.  This is very unusual for me to have Katelynn and Ryan home with me and not Justin.  In fact, it's the very first time Justin has ever went to school and Katelynn stayed home.  I made a big to-do over the fact that it could be a special morning for Katelynn (who was sulking that she didn't get to go to school) and asked her what she wanted to do.  She immediately said, "I want to get my hair cut short!"  (This was this weekend when we were discussing what we would do on Tuesday.)  So, after double and triple checking that this was really what she wanted once the day was here, we headed off to get her hair cut.  She started talking about going to her ears, but I persuaded her to stick to around her chin area.  It is such a change!  I imagine it will be much easier to brush, but there will no longer be any ponytails or braids for a while!

Katelynn seems to love her new hair cut.  There was a moment this evening when she asked me what we would do if she didn't like it.   I told her that once it was cut, we just had to wait for it to grow longer again if she thought it was too short.  She says she just wanted it a centimeter longer; I told her she'll get that centimeter in the next week or two, but she is still smiling and enjoying her new hair. 

An Official Candy Addict

How could I have forgotten to post this picture?  This was taken the morning after Halloween when I still had the candy bowl sitting on the kitchen table.  While I was trying to get breakfast ready so the big kids could get to school, Ryan was helping himself to a piece of chocolate.  He ate the wrapper too!

Lazy Weekends Aren't Always Bad!

The kids and I were daddyless all weekend, and I always dread that.  It's one thing to be without Jonathan during the week, but I strongly dislike him being gone over our weekends.  This weekend we didn't even have any plans to keep us busy while he was away.  I have to admit that Saturday felt like the longest day.  I have a cold, and all I wanted to do was nap (but three kids do NOT want to nap on a Saturday).  We had fun, but I still felt so guilty that I was watching the clock some waiting on bedtime.  Sunday, however, was a great day with my kids!  I had went to bed in preparation for daylight savings ending and them being up earlier than normal, and I felt so much better as a result.  We had nowhere to go and nothing to do and yet we had a blast!  We played games, fingerpainted, colored, played with toys we haven't touched in a while, went outside, and even still had time for some of mommy's boring chores.  It was a productive and fun day with my little ones.. and this is the only photo I have to show for it.  Justin's face is cracking me up in this one!  The big kids were the only ones who had been coloring, but of course Ryan wanted to join in.  Justin was so sweet and told him that he could come color with him.  He got him all set up and gave him crayons, but then he couldn't reach around Ryan to color too!

These are the days we enjoy...

It got a little scary here at the beginning of the week.  We had two pretty cold days, and I was already wishing for summer to return.  Yes, I did live in Michigan once upon a time ago but that was almost 11 years ago (Can you believe it.. it has actually been 11 years in January?!) and my blood has thinned and well, I have always hated the cold.  This is one of the reason my heart belongs in North Carolina... the weather is mild all year long.  But, I had been bragging about our 70-plus degree weather and then wham- out came the mornings that I had to start my car before loading the kids in and providing them a jacket (light one but still) to get to school.  I just wasn't ready for it!  We had skipped the long-sleeve weather without a jacket and went straight into the cold.  Of course, there was a perfectly good reason for it and who I am to complain when there are so many people in New York that have nothing because of Sandy and the horrific weather it brought them.  I suppose this is one of those times when "It could always be worse.." comes to mind.

All that being said, Friday finally brought on some good fall weather again, and we enjoyed every minute of it!  The boys and I spent our morning at a local park with some friends, had lunch out and about, and then picked up Katelynn and came right home for more outdoor fun until dinnertime!  We can never get enough of the great outdoors this time of year!

 
Ryan is such a big boy on the kid's playset now.  He can climb up and slide down all by himself. 

Love this kid!  He has such a fun personality! 

 

Did you notice Katelynn has adopted my witch's cape?  She has worn it non-stop for the past two days as soon as she gets home from school.  (And if you are wondering what is in her hair.. today was the day we sprayed her hair blue for school spirit day so her scalp still has the remaining blue in it.)

Elementary Spirit Week!

It was spirit week this week at Katelynn's elementary school.  They were not in school on Monday due to teacher conferences and Tuesday was "Dress to Impress" for picture day.  Then the fun began on Wednesday!!

 

Wednesday:  Dress like your favorite book character and bring the book with you to school.

Katelynn wanted to wear her princess dress so we scoured her book shelf for a book that it would work with.  We finally found Princess Penelope, made a crown that matched hers, made a "P" necklace and we had a Princess Penelope look-a-like!!

Thursday:  Pajama Day!!  (Complete with the red sparkle Dorothy shoes!)

 

Friday:  EXTREME Croft Colors (which are blue and green).  I suggested color hair spray and Katelynn was in love with the idea.  It actually really surprised me.  She has been having so many "issues" with not wanting to be the center of attention that I was shocked she was determined to have colored hair.. and she loved it.  She came home from school upset that some of her blue had come out during the day!