A Holiday, A First Haircut, and Another Big Life Lesson

Monday was a big day for the twins. Fenley had his umpteenth haircut (I really have lost count but I think we are somewhere in the 7-9 times range for his unbelievable and fabulous tressles). On the other hand, sweet, little Mary Elinor has lasted almost 26 months without a single haircut. Monday was a big milestone for her personally...her first little haircut!! She did not have a confused mullet like Baby Bear but rather a full on mullet that was starting to get a few wandering eyes in public. I just could not bring myself to cut what little tiny amount of hair she had accumulated.

I finally talked myself into it {rather Gita swore to me at Bear's first haircut, if we cut her hair, then it would grow in properly}. We dragged her up to our local kids cuts place and Fenley showed her the ropes. Mary Ellie had a blast watching Fenley and was a cool customer when it came to her turn. She is kind of known for her stellar dramatic performances that will someday win her an Oscar but she was thrilled to do what "Fenny" was doing and sat there without one little tear. Mommy wanted to cry a little but I choked back the tears because the mullet was killing me! Voila....Mary Ellie looks adorable! She has a tenny, tiny, little bob thing working and she looks pretty darn cute.

Pre-haircut with the mullet and looks a little too comfortable driving the monster truck with her rattail

Mamie waiting her turn and watching Fenny go first

Really not sure about the polyester cape thing but trying to go with the flow for Gita

Dum Dum basket in one hand + one sucker in the mouth = READY TO CUT MULLET

Daddy came! (Okay, let me explain about Fenley's longalls and why they are open which is a twofold answer: 1. They were hemmed a long time ago because he was short...he has grown since which pulls the buttons. I need to cut stitching and let the hem out 2. We are sooooo over snap buttons in the crotch because now that he is going to the big-boy potty, these are just not condusive to our life. Get ready for your hand-me-downs, Bear!) Fenley is cute even if the pants are short and the pants bust open with every move.

"I get you! I get you! I get out!" is what Fenley and I say to each other after a little game of chase and tickling follows. I got you, sweet boy! I never, ever want to let go either.

How cute is her haircut!?!
 Daddy and Mamie after the big 'do

Mommy gets a quick picture with her little girl. Mary Ellie is so proud of herself for getting this haircut. It was very endearing to watch. She smiled and was a little bashful at the attention. And today during a walk around the neighborhood, I caught her kind of swishing her hair a little. My heart melted a little to watch my only little girl get a little fancy for a moment. {Mamie is not a fancy, fancy girl. We do not own princess anything in this house, I buy her pink but I like it more than she does, but she is a navy Mary Jane girl. No frills, no fuss, no other colors...just a good sturdy shoe/girl with a little hair flippin' occassionally!}

Ah! I am a little obsessed with the hair, I know that. But she can atleast look back and see how adorable it was from all angles.

She's BAAACCCCKKKK.......navy Mary Jane, that is. {The cute outfits from Music Class and haircut photo op discarded after naps for some reason} Mary Ellie dressed herself to go to the park. I have heard this day was coming. She is usually agreeable with what I pick out but when there is no need to argue.... why argue? Mary Ellie put on her pink coat {thank you, Gigi, from Costco last year...thankfully it still fits}, her polka dot jammy pants, an Old Navy pink tutu {thank you, Angie! also from last year...also still fits}, the only socks she owns {white with a ruffle} and good old Navy Mary Jane. I did really, really try to get her into her sneakers and leave her proper school shoes resting in the closet on the holiday Monday but no, NMJ, had to go to the park!

In retrospect, not sure why we let our 13 month old slide down this huge slide but Mary Ellie did show Bear how to do it and the parents decided this was good enough for them?

Bear about to slide with his Daddy

Um, yes, we did let Fenley go to the park in his navy sneakers, Santa Claus jammies {thanks Poppy and Tammy} and hand-me down pull-over {also from last year and BIG THANKS, Lauren, who is so kind to always give Fenley and Bear her triplets' clothes}. If you are sensing a theme, we are grateful little church mice to all our kind friends and family giving the children clothes! I love childrens' clothing because it is cute and I know my days are numbered picking out their clothes but we are SO grateful to our friends and family that pass things our way and I do not want any of them to ever feel otherwise because as you can tell...we really do use it in the most interesting and chic ways.
All the chatter about clothes and all my work planning a little trunk show for next week, keeps sending my brain back to a bible study topic last week. The goal II "to love the Lord with all my strength" brought up the topics of being healthy, exercising not for looks but to be healthy and use your body as God created, AND it came up about what we put on our backs. A bright girl in bible study brought up Matthew 6:25-34

Do Not Worry

    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I like this and I keep coming back to it over and over planning this precious trunk show and the mailbox full of Spring Catalogs. So, guess what I did Monday? I did not worry how they looked and they certainly did not care how they looked. If I got strange looks from other parents, then....well, fine, so be it! The twins were happy being them and wearing just what they wanted. Santa Claus is totally fine a month after Christmas AND there is apparently no bad time for a tutu and Navy Mary Jane. I have so much to learn from my children. Thank you God, for the big lessons that little people teach me everyday.

PS  Speaking of catalogs:
Dear Gary and Elaine,
Do you think Land of Nod could incorporate the theme pictured below into their next catalog and the push-Radio Flyer's multi-uses because our Bear loves to climb in it and just sit {if you read the blog often enough, you will also sense a theme to Bear's favorite activities: climbing into objects Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod probably never fathomed} AND Mamie just discovered the "sitting duck" and decided she could push him around in the wagon. Do you think a catalog could work with this idea? Have your people call our people. ;)

funny enough: re-looking at this picture: Cousin Aiden's hand-me-down jammies on Bear, and Fenley's pajama pants are from yours truly but the mismatched top was a birthday gift from, Carly, at school. We really must fake pulling it together when we leave the house or we just never have it together most of the time by looking at our pictures and I never realized it! Maybe Land of Nod will not be calling anytime soon!

Bear decided on the last shot to stand and show how much fun he was having. If you are a detail-oriented person, then you may have already noticed the tiny hand on his shoulder trying to put him back in his original place.

Walk a Mile in Our Shoes

To walk a mile in our shoes would add a good dose of hilarium and humility to any one's life. We have had a great week so to choose this week to begin your adventure would start you off on the right path even if it is the road less traveled for most families with the two lambs and bear in tow.

The Road Not Taken Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;         5 Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,         10 And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.         15 I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.         20 Say for instance you were Mary Ellie's navy blue Mary Jane. It began it's journey in the closet snoozing (probably quite happily) and hiding from the winter wonderland outside. A navy blue Sea Wee had taken it's place. It did not matter to Mary Ellie that it was around 20 degrees outside. She found Fenley's summer Sea Wee Sandal and decided that was what she was going to wear with her new skinny jeans (a gift!). I decided to let her be since she was not going anywhere. Navy Blue Mary Jane got the better deal getting to sleep in a bit longer as did the navy blue Saddle Oxfords because Fenley, in his two-year-old might, choose the navy blue Crocs. We had to keep walking on because life cannot stop for silly shoe choices. I can say that this week concluded where we all learned a little and walked away a bit wiser and more educated. Only the navy blue Mary Jane got a brief vacation and down time.... The twins' precious preschool is headed by a wonderful and intelligent woman, Ms. Hooper. She arranged to have a presentation by a psychologist to visit the school to give a lecture entitled "Raising Responsible Children in an Era of Indulgence and Entitlement". I needed to hear this and learn from this presentation. The psychologist, Dr. Goonan, touched on topics such as Developing Positive Self Concept, Protecting Self Esteem, Obstacles to Development, and Developing Potential. Dr. Goonan broke down these to the most basic level to understand everything perfectly (this sleepy shepherd was much obliged to the slow momma version). I took pages and pages of notes and the bottom line is I walked away a more educated parent and so thankful God placed my twins in this preschool with a caring Director of School that shares our values and presents opportunities to the children and parents to learn. Dr. Goonan also teaches Parenting with Love and Logic (which is on my nightstand "to-read" pile I showed in an earlier blog. I started and it is an easy-to-understand and approachable method to child rearing.) Taking the book one step further, I am arranging with Dr. Goonan and a group of friends, for him to teach us more about this book and how to apply it to your children and parenting methods. I think the lambs and bear need their momma to know this. Here is a helpful link: http://www.loveandlogic.com/ Parenting with Love & Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay The Mary Jane still warm and safe in the closet. I also got serious about one of my New Year's resolutions and got back to bible study. Here is how the introduction to Daniel began which is all awesome food for thought, spiritual reflection, and spending time with God. Remembering what we learned about knowing and doing God's will and that "if we don't know where we are going, we are sure to get there". Let's take some time to set up some personal goals and objectives for the New Year that line up with his purposes for our lives. Consider the Lord's command to each us in Luke 10:27 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy strength, with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thy self". Let's use these God directed goals and set objectives for reaching the goal. Objectives need to be something you have control over and something that can be measured. Remember we are not vowing to do these things, but purposing in the Lord, looking to Him to help us accomplish these objectives..... Goal I: To love the Lord with all thy heart and soul. Prayerfully consider, what are some strategies that will encourage you to love the Lord with all your hear and soul? Goal II; To love the Lord with all my strength. What are your objectives to love the Lord with your body/strength? Goal III: To love the Lord with all my mind. What are your objectives to love the Lord with all your mind? (Thank about books, movies, Bible studies, etc you want to pursue (or not) that will help you accomplish this) Goal IV: To love thy neighbor as myself. What tangible ways do you want to show love for your neighbor this year? How will you do this? (Your neighbor may be your family, friends, or anyone you feel the Lord wants you to reach out to. Write out what you want to accomplish and how you plan to do this. If you have small children, you may also want to work through these goals with them in mind, for example: to encourage my children to love the Lord with all their hear and soul, I will set aside a time to pray with them at bedtime, or I will read (name the specific) books out loud to them each week or atleast three times. *This bible study small group questions is directly from Kathy Phillip's Prepare for Life study. Thanks to God for putting me exactly where I need to be for bible study too! This was a much more God-centered and thought provoking approach to setting goals for the new year. I mentioned before some silly goals and not getting too personal about my New Year's resolutions so the blog does not take on a checklist of objectives quality, this was a wonderful way to begin bible study for me as I try to complete one resolution: get back in bible study!! These questions are a great way for anyone setting goals and objectives for the year because it sets a road (less traveled or heavily trodden) for your personal relationship with God and His purposes for you! Jeremiah 29:11-13  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Sea Wee out. Mary Jane in.

After seizing the opportunity to learn and become a smidgen better parent via the school lecture and presentation, drawing closer to God, fellowship with friends, and evaluating my personal objectives, we did a lot of playing this week. Playing with friends at home inside because it was freezing!! Thanks to Reed and Reese our twin buddies to for coming over (big thanks to momma Kendell for getting them here and being my friend). Thanks to Will and Campbell for coming over, and momma Chelsea for entertaining me and teaching me more cool things. She told me about Habitually Chic. Hop on over to that for some eye candy fun.
http://habituallychic.blogspot.com/

As I am in crazy get-rid-of-the-cribs-because-the-twins-are-escaping mode, found this picture on Habitually Chic of a big-kid room really inspiring



This is in My Library right now because it has beautiful pictures of space for children:
Rooms for Children Stylish Spaces for Sleep and Play by Susanna Salk



Love this room! I really want to recreate some elements for our new big-kid room

Loving these linens too

AND Chelsea told me about NAPO. National Association of Professional Organizers
http://www.napo.net/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Check out this dream organizer she found!
http://www.squaredaway.com/

If anyone saw my scary hoarders room, you would know how much I need this person in my life. My sweet friend, Kate S., had told me she hired a professional organizer, and after this beautiful and inspiring link, I am SOLD {Or at least motivated}. I had no idea in my mania it was officially National Get Organized Month. Thanks, Chelsea, for all the fun new information.

Momma got to sneak away and play too. Joe came home and I went across the street to hang with Nesi and Christi. Believe it or not, three women got to hang out chat design, life, parties, and fun girly-things for 3 hours and not once did we really discuss our kids. What a break from the normal mommy chatter. These women are cool and have kids and are not your crazy-helicopter-hovering mommas, what a combo. Nesi is an interior decorator (designer? not sure the difference or term, sorry, N) that has her own company Chateau Chic. She is also way kind to email pictures of things she discovers that I may like. Awesome! Thank you, Nesi. And I will show everyone pictures when I get it all together. Christi has an incredible blog for party planning with stunning and inspiring ideas so hop over to her blog:
http://pisforparty.blogspot.com/
For more pictures of her own son's party go here:
http://katelandersevents.blogspot.com/2011/01/stylish-guest-party-feature.html
 AND, she shared with me this fun blog:
http://hiphiphoorayblog.com/
Here are a few pictures from Christi's youngest son's party.





Thanks, girls, for the girl time and fun chat. Best of luck to Christi who hosted her other, son Nicklaus' birthday party today. Cannot wait to see those pictures because we all put together her party favors and looks adorable!

Mary Jane discovered but needed to be on the correct feet  because they originally and most definitely were NOT.


Where was I.....guest lecturer {check}, bible study {check}, playdates and fabulous new blog info {check}, time for just us grown up girls {check}.....ah...TGIF. Friday Night around our house is usually a "can you believe we survived another week" where Joe comes home at a decent hour and we get take-out or whip up something quick and try to catch up on our DVR collection of shows from the week we never get around to watching in the chaos. Not this Friday! We were invited to the home of a man Joe works with for a nice old-school dinner party. We had a wonderful time, as Ned and Sue are a great couple, so smart and fun, and wonderful hosts!
You know in the movies where people have grown-up dinner parties with interesting guests?? For once, we shed our sneakers or work loafers in the hubby's case, and put on our going-out shoes. The crowd included no less than 5 attorneys (okay, probably does not sound hopping at this point but they are great men and woman!), 1 blogger (haha, me), 1 queen of the proper entertaining (that would be Sue), 3 marathoners, 1 doctoral student for Immunology focusing on viral infection and the link to aging (keep us updated, Emily!), 8 documentary lovers, 8 book fiends, and no less than 6 Food Network/Jeffrey Garten fans. It was so fun and a nice adult-outing for us sheperds with worn out shoe leather. We almost panicked when we looked at our watch and realized it was 11 pm and our babysitter was expecting us an hour ago! I learned so much about new documentaries to see and a few more good-reads that rounded off the week of learning to a nice closing point. I will keep you updated on that as we check those off. Thanks to Ned and Sue for the wonderful dinner party! {also, stay tuned because Katherine is sending me new foodie blogs and Sue ,her Tres Leche recipe}.

Okay, back to the Lambs and the Bear....

Saturday: Navy Mary Jane takes a much needed break and fancy Red Mary Jane comes out for Chick-Fil-A and the park day trip. The week is over and the weekend off to an awesome start. Kicking it off was a park trip because it finally warmed up and lunch at Chick-Fil-A. The twins are chick-a-holics. You can overhear them actually talking to themselves in their rooms "french fries...yum" and Mary Ellie chimed in to Fenley "and chickey nuggets, Fenny". It was the most hysterical conversation I have heard between two two year olds. Topped ONLY by the fact Fenley refused to leave the play scape today and Joe had to climb in to retrieve the rascal. Enjoy the pictures.

Bear watching is complete shock that Daddy had to climb in the playscape

Joe to the rescue

rascal retrieved

Thank goodness tonight is date night. Whew. What a week. Hope you find it all as information filled and fun as I did! Blog heaven. Thanks for walking a mile in our shoes {particularly our beloved navy Mary Jane}

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

PS Oh, and poor navy Mary Jane....by Friday night, tuckered our from her week of work, Fenley fed her a few chicken nuggets when he finished with his. I am sure NMJ (navy Mary Jane) is so glad it was Saturday and red Mary Jane was on duty.




Enjoy the rest of your weekend fellow travelers!