Zoe and the not so pretty hair!

The entertainment of children is endless. I'm sure I've said it before. The stupid things husbands allow children to do without thinking through the consequence is equally entertaining and aggravating. Here is an example of husband stupidity and Zoe mischief!

A couple of weeks ago, Landon decided it was time to give Parker and Owen haircuts. I'm sure you see where this is going. Owen likes a buzz cut while Parker prefers it spikey on top. To keep the house loose hair free, Landon took the boys and the kitchen stool to the front yard where he began using the electric clippers. Zoe sat on the porch watching contently, while I ran to the store. My gut feeling was to take her with me, but what could happen?! Landon's responsible, right?

Thiry minutes later I receive this message on my cell phone.

With two sets of clippers and Landon using one of those on Parker's hair, he never heard Zoe turn on set two. Now, everyone who knows Zoe, know you never turn your back on her! Some even say she is plotting to take over the world. I, in this particular case, think she just wanted to feel pretty and independent. She didn't quite understand what she had done at the time, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the outcome she expected. Landon's first response was "Oh Zoe, your hairs not pretty anymore." He didn't laugh....then.

Later that night after lots and lots of laughter at Zoe's expense, we took a better picture. Go ahead and call it poor parenting to laugh at your kid, but you try not to laugh when they shave a quarter of their heard. After Zoe's bath, we let her look in the mirror for the first time. Her sadness and shock was immediate. She didn't cry, but she starred at herself intently for about five minutes. After getting into her pajamas, she quietly got her shoes and a knit beanie on then came to me to say, "Mommy, hat go buy, peeze?" I had planned on buying a couple of hats on Monday morning, but with a plea like that, there was no saying no. So at 8:30pm on Sunday night, Zoe and I ran to K-Mart and Wal-Mart where she picked out a Dora baseball hat, butterfly baseball hat, and three bandanas. There where still no smiles from the little lady, but she was satisfied. And even later in the evening, we got her to model her pink bandana with a smile.

The decision whether to shave her head or not was our next debate. Landon wanted to shave it, but after the consultation of my moms group and a local hair salon (where everyone had suggestions and snickers!) it was decided that Zoe will be going with the ultra conservatve republican comb over until it grows long enough to turn it into a cute pixie cut. Thankfully we live in Utah so a comb over will blend it well!



Two weeks later she still insists on wearing a hat or bandana if we leave the house.

Four Little Words

There are certain things we wait for our kids to do. Things we teach and sometimes dwell on. These things include saying "Mama" or "Dada", crawling, walking, and so forth. I recall Landon coming home every night from work when Parker was a newborn. He'd hold him and say "Dada" over and over again. He'd move Parker's mouth with his thumb while he was saying "Dada". It was cute at first, but promptly got annoying. Months later, what was Parker's first word? Kitty, but Dada was the second.

I was the one who encouraged Parker to crawl and walk. I remember getting down on the floor and showing all my kids how to crawl. Owen had the army crawl down at four months and almost skipped the full crawl. He needed extra encouragement with walking. Zoe, well, we should have pushed her down. She hit all her milestones too early. Landon's grey hair will attest to this.

We encourage our kids, sometimes we push them and sometimes we are surprised by them. It was to my delight last week when Zoe came up to me and jumped on my back. This wasn't the surprise. The surprise was that she pulled my ear close and said, "I love you mommy!" There was no prompting other than our daily good morning and good night love. It was just there. It is a happy "first" that I hope to always remember.

It is so easy to loose the joy of being a parent and lately it's been a daily struggle. But, moments like this are rejuvenating-So thank you Zoe Kaye. I have a feeling you have wisdom underneath all that silliness.

Punched Out!

Now, I understand that hitting is wrong. My kids usually understand that hitting is wrong, but there are times when a good punch just hits the spot as was the situation between Owie and Parker on Sunday evening.

On Sunday Parker helped Owie with his seatbelt while Landon and I were still making our way to the car. We were headed to dinner. There were no comments or crying and we found ourselves blissfully on our way with little difficulty, a rarity in our family. As we pulled into the restaurant after a ten minute drive, I turned to talk to Parker who had been unusually quiet in the car. (Parents seldom notice that something could be wrong with the silence, we simply enjoy it! And often when we realize something may be wrong, we still just enjoy the silence!) Anyhow, as I turned to talk to Parker, he burst into tears, "My brother punched me and knocked out my tooth!

Tears immediately formed in my eyes as I quickly translated Parker's blubbering for Landon. I was trying to spit out something sympathetic to Parker but all I could do was laugh. Landon was no better, but he did manage to get out of the car and go around to console the grieving boy. You see, Parker's tooth had been loose and was about ready to be pulled out. I was going to have Landon pull it out on Monday so Owen simply beat us to the punch.

After words of encouragement and a search for a tooth that is still missing we went into the restaurant. The tooth will probably never be found due to the broken white candy cane pieces that were all over the backseat of the van.

Thankfully the Tooth Fairy knows that these things happen and Parker cheerfully woke up on Monday morning to find a pack of gum and a crisp $1 bill under his pillow.

Wasatch Back Relay....What Have I Done!!!

So there is excitement and terror in what I have done, but today with the help of Kamille, we created a team to run the Wasatch Back Relay. Oh, it should be fun and a bit crazy knowing us and most of those involved. Truth is, that if you are friends with me or Kamille...worse yet, me and Kamille, there isn't much sane about you.

http://http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/index.php

So a team of 12...well, we are still two short, but they will come. (Any takers?) The Wasatch Back Relay, for those who don't know, is a 178 mile relay race that spans over 24 hours. It starts in Logan, Utah and ends in Park City, Utah. There is truly only one word to give this race justice.....ALTITUDE! Ha! You thought it was going to be a naughty word. I'm saving those for race day. Our van will probably need a dollar jar. And after we are done we will probably be able to buy a Park City timeshare.

Our next step, other than finding two more teammates (hint, hint!) is to name our team. Our two current possibilities are 1)WTF...I thought this was a 5k? AND 2) WWJD? Certainly NOT THIS! It's up for a vote among our ten runners, although I've temporarily named it #1, I have an equal fondness of the second. Yes, they are crude. My mother already chastized me, but as Kamille put it when hearing team name #1 was, "If that's the worst we hear during the run, we are doin' good!" Sometime Primary songs just don't cut it!

Well, I had to make a quite post to insure that there isn't much sane about me, but then...we already knew that!

Annie

Today the World's Best Cat passed away. I'm quite sad about this. We got Annie when I was 14 or 15 traveling back to Salt Lake from a weekend vacation with the family in Mesquite. We stopped at the Smith's in St. George where a boy was trying to get rid of a bunch of kittens. My mom picked this long haired black kitten. I fell in love with Annie, a perfect tabby. As we got in the car with the black kitten, I begged and pleaded for the little orange one until Delbert turned around and we went back for Annie. It really didn't take much convincing. We never even made it out of the parking lot.

Annie got his name because 1) I loved the movie Annie as a little girl. 2)The boy giving out the kittens was positive he was a she. Katie (the black cat) was also a he. We learned this when we took them to get spayed and they wound up neutered.

Annie is the worlds best cat for a variety of reasons. He would lay on your chest for hours. He'd curl up on your pillow and purr. He was friendly, but not annoying. He liked popcorn. He was great with kids. They could abuse him and love him in anyway they pleased and he would take it. Eventually he might go hide, but he wouldn't hiss, scratch or bite. He just go limp and wait for the kids to be done with their misguided love. He was tough too. I once saw him take on a raccoon. The fight was a draw because I scared them, but it takes balls for a cat to challenge a raccoon.

I'm not sure where cats go when they die, but Annie deserves the finest spot in kitty heaven. You were one of the highlights and staples of moms house.

Halloween

I'm catching up on a few major activities from the year...so here is Halloween! With a variety of Halloween parties and activities this year, our Halloween costumes were put to use!
Parker was Indiana Jones but preferred being called Dr. Jones. Owie was a t-rex. Is that any real surprise?! And Zoe was a princess on warm days, but on Halloween she was a ladybug. We had lots of fun and got lots of candy. Parker had the most fun handing out candy at home, but trick or treating with friends door to door was a close second.

Our She-Devil turns 2!

It is official; yesterday my darling daughter turned two. Of course she had a birthday party with a My Little Pony cake, which she tenderly refers to as her “Hee Haw cake”. To Zoe, there are no horses, only donkeys. I hope that doesn’t indicate what kind of boys she will date when she is older. On the other hand, aren’t donkeys/pack mules seen as sturdy and reliable? From a parent perspective that must be better than the wild stallion. I’m sure it’s something quite different from a teenage girl’s point of view. The comparison must be similar to dating the nice guy. You know the one I’m talking about, the one who is always “the friend”. Thank God we aren’t there yet. As eager as I am for Zoe to outgrow the terrible two’s, I’m nowhere near ready for twelve through twenty four, and Lord knows her daddy isn’t!

Back to Birthday Joy (but aren't the tangents fun!)…..We celebrated with candlelit muffins in the morning. Our Christmas tree was transformed into a birthday tree, a highlight to Parker who is going to be sorely disappointed that he won’t have a Birthday tree for his January 9th birthday. And while Parker and Owen fully appreciated the candles and decoration, our Sweet Zoe was interested in birthday cake. Prior to yesterday she related birthdays to only one thing and that was CAKE! Yes, she sings happy birthday. Yes, she thoroughly enjoyed unwrapping her gifts with assistance from Owen and Lilly, but the highlight was the birthday cake that she cried about all afternoon. She sobbed. She clung to my leg. She climbed on the counter. It nearly took calling in the Marines to keep her from accomplishing her mission of capture the cake.


Thankfully the arrival of family and friends distracted her from her mission to engulf herself in cake. We stuffed animals and had snacks, and then we unwrapped gifts. A highlight at any birthday party, especially because all of the kids want to help. It’s great practice for Christmas morning this time of year. We now have more Barbies and My Little Ponies that necessary. In fact, Santa is reconsidering. Also received was a much needed kitchen, which was a grand idea; however the play food could go. Who knew that stepping on a plastic French fry could hurt?
What happens when Landon and I stumble upon a drum stick or banana? Will it rival the Matchbox car or lego?

Overall, our She Devil had a splendid birthday filled with lots of family and friends. It was exactly how a birthday should be, one filled with love. So congrats to you, Ladybug, for making it thus far. And a bigger congrats to daddy for successfully managing two full years of having a princess.


We love you Zoe! And despite what Owie tells his preschool teacher, we have no plans on giving you away as tempting as it may be sometimes!

Pics to come!