The Girls Donate Their Hair!

Lucy and I donated our hair yesterday!

Here's what happened.  

Lucy saw a picture of my sister Heidi, who had just cut and donated her hair.  We explained to her, briefly, about cancer and chemo therapy and the need for wigs, and she immediately wanted someone to have a wig with her hair in it.




In a moment of motherly panic, I pictured my darling daughter bawling over her ultra-short hair, regretting her rash decision.  So I said, "Sure!  I'll donate mine, too!"  and then instantly regretted the offer.  I actually had zero desire to cut my hair.  I wear my hair in a casual clip or an easy ponytail every single day.  But once the offer was made, it was out there.

I half-heartedly tried to back out.  I asked her, "Lucy--do you really care if Mommy cuts her hair, too?  Or was it just that you wanted to donate your hair?"  She sat thoughtfully for about 2 seconds before saying decisively, "I want you to do it, too."

I tried to get her to go for a little longer haircut.  Ya know... something like this:



But she turned me down flat, saying she wanted it as short as her friend Julia's.



So... that's how we both ended up with super cute and super short hair!  And somewhere, someday--somebody will benefit from her childlike, selfless donation and my reluctant, self-concerned one.

I think she looks absolutely adorable.  And she loves her new hair.  She was beaming from the moment it was cut.  She says that she likes how different it looks.  The first thing she said this morning when she woke up was, "Mommy!  Look--no tangles!!!"

Tinkergarten

We tried out a new class today -- Tinkergarten.



It's all about getting kids outdoors and helping them to "just be kids" in the way that former generations did.



Kids are usually so directed in their activities now, and very little of their time is devoted to unstructured, imaginative free play outside.




So Tinkergarten basically encourages that.




It's not completely unstructured, but the direction given is flexible and minimal.



In this class, the leader read Stone Soup to the kids and then encouraged them to make their own stone soup!



They pretended various forest finds were celery, carrots, potatoes, etc.  And they stirred up their watery, muddy soups with sticks.



It was really fun!

First Day of Kindergarten - Homeschool

Yesterday was the first day of Kindergarten, and it was quite a day.

 

No one's behavior warranted a lollipop at Charlie's swim lesson, which was a disappointment--though not unexpected by the troops.  

Some days everything feels like a battle.  It's unfortunate when those are also the days that your throat hurts, you're wheezing, and you have a cracked rib from coughing so much.



I remember sick days before I had kids.  It was amazing.



You could be sick all day long and just do nothing.



I didn't take many of them back when I worked full time, but I sure wish I could have appreciated them more.

But I digress.
 

We visited Daniel at work.  That was a treat because we'd never been to his Fairchild office since they moved to Richardson.




The kids could see all kinds of construction vehicles, cars, and even a train from the kitchen windows.  Quite a treat.



We inherited a hermit crab two days ago.



The kids are very interested in him, though they haven't settled on a name yet.  The girl who gave him to us -- she lives down the street.



I made it clear that I cannot guarantee any great longevity for him, and she said that was fine.




We'll just do our best.  But my track record with plants is not good.



Lucy just informed me, "the bug is asleep."  Time for a little taxonomy lesson.

Colorado Vacation 2016

Well.  We had a great vacation.  We just got back last week from an 11 day journey to Colorado.  We were in Denver for 3 nights, Glenwood Springs for 4 nights, and Estes Park for 2 nights, with a hotel stay on the way up and back.  It was quite a trip!  There are a TON of pictures here.  I'll write a little bit about each set.



The night before we left, the kids got to sleep in their clothes and on the floor!  It was extremely exciting.

We left first thing in the morning and made it to Wichita, KS by the afternoon.  Thank goodness.  The kids did... about as well as you would expect 4 kids to do in their carseats with minimal coping skills and limited conversational skils.



Charlie slept in his first closet of the trip.  He was to sleep in many more closets before the end of the trip.  Closets are ideal for him.  Dark, small, no distractions.



On our way to Denver the next day, we stopped at this great little diner.  I don't know what year the diner started seeing patrons, but its significantly aged decor seemed genuine.  It has been there a long time.  The food was great, and Papa and Daddy were good enough to take the kids out to explore while we were waiting on--and after we finished--our food.

The morning after we arrived in Denver, we explored and delighted in the Children's Museum of Denver.  It was amazing.



The ball section was fantastic.  The kids loved standing under the "ball release," which would dump a bunch of balls every so often.  Oliver liked loading the balls into a certain tube and then watching them get sucked up to the ceiling and then back down to be played with again.  The thing Elliot was playing with... I never quite understood.  But there were cranks.  He liked it.



Charlie and I snuck away for a bit so I could feed him, and the room we found was just gorgeous and empty, so I couldn't resist a quick little impromptu breastfeeding selfie.  It's just such a precious, short time in life.  And after how many complications and how much work I've put into breastfeeding, it feels nice to capture a peaceful moment of it every now and again.



The last part of the children's museum was hay bales outside (good for jumping!), a picnic, and then water play.  Lucy loved jumping from bale to bale.  Oliver adored the water play.



On day 2 of our Denver stay, Nonnie and Papa (and Mimi and Papa) stayed with the kids so that Daniel and I could enjoy The Forgotten Gospel Conference at The Sanctuary Downtown.  It was so fun to be there.  Great speakers and good people.  I enjoyed re-connecting with some friends I hadn't seen in about a year.

The next morning was very special -- Oliver and Charlie were baptized!  We had been looking forward to this day for a long time.  We are excited to raise these kids, teaching them about God's abundant love for them and for all of mankind.

Keeping Charlie entertained during the weekend was not the most enjoyable task.  He played in the luggage room... got walked up and down the street by Papa... got held by me (a lot)...  and got held by my good friend and kindred spirit Deb, pictured in the top left corner.



All the volunteers at the conference worked so hard and were so hospitable.  Pictured above are Susan and Peter Hiett of The Sanctuary.



I was hoping for a family picture while we were all in our Sunday best, but I settled for a kid picture.



After church, we headed west toward Glenwood Springs.  It's a charming little tourist town in the mountains.  We ate a really good/interesting toco dinner that night, and Papa entertained the kids with his magic.



The next morning we made use of our hotel's awesome pool and slide!



No minimum height requirement on the slide meant we rode that thing all. morning. long.  So fun.



The next day we took the gondolas up to the caverns and amusement park.



We rode the Ferris wheel, made our way through a maze, played musical instruments, saw a cave...




...but the part the kids really enjoyed seemed to be the sandbox.



The hotel was great.  In addition to the pool and slide on the ground floor, the kids loved the waffles in the morning and the carpeted fire escape we used to get up and down from our third floor room.



Oh, and the jacuzzi tub!  They loved that.  Let me tell you, you can make an impressive amount of bubbles with hotel-filtered-water and some jacuzzi jets.  Impressive.



We celebrated Nonnie's birthday with a night on the town at a "modern barbeque" restaurant that was delicious.

The next day, we went to the hot springs to swim.  It would have been tons of fun, but Charlie aspirated some water and quickly started having breathing troubles.



Papa and I took him to the ER, where they put him on oxygen and admitted him to the ICU for monitoring overnight.  He perked right up and did fine that night--thankfully!



The next morning, after we were discharged from the hospital, we drove north east toward Estes Park.  It was interesting, coming into Estes Park from that direction.  We drove over Trail Ridge road and the Continental Divide.  Turns out Oliver gets super carsick, just like me (and Lucy, I think).  He puked as soon as we got out of the car.



We arrived at Sprague Lake in time for a quick hot dog cook-out with Aunt Karen, Mimi, and Papa.



Unfortunately, it rained before we had a chance for s'mores.  But that was okay.  We used Papa's sterno fire to roast some marshmallows back at the cabin afterward.



Mmmm... s'mores.



Mimi had kindly rented us a boat load of books from the library, and the kids enjoyed hearing Papa and Mimi read from them that night.

We cram packed the next day with activities.



We watched the hummingbirds...



...we did a nature walk with one of the YMCA staff...



... we painted a jet, a train, and a cupcake a the craft shop...



... we played on the play ground...



... and we went on a hay ride!  There was a fire ban, so no roasting of the marshmallows for us.  But Lucy and Elliot still very much enjoyed eating their four marshmallows each.  They told lots of people how lucky they were.



On our way home from Estes Park, we stopped for lunch and a quick visit with good friends Sarah and Bryan.  It was such fun to see baby Georgia, whom I hadn't seen since she was just a week or two old!

And that, my friends, was our vacation to Colorado!