An Act of Love (Photo heavy!)

Back story:

Hannah has had long hair for several years. I enjoyed it once she started letting me braid it and tie it up...but I was NEVER allowed to put "pony tails" in her hair...the cute "high ones" over the ears, making her look like Bindi the Jungle Girl. Low pony tails...behind the ears on the neck, were acceptable. One pony in the back, okay...2 braids, or one in the back, fine. She just started requesting buns (sometimes 2 low ones, really quite cute).

But...we bought a new house. With new carpet. CHEAP carpet. With lots of fibers coming loose. And it was tearing her hair up...it caused so many mats and it just never came out. Fresh out of the tub? STILL seeing carpet fibers in her hair. I'd brush it in the morning, and her back (and fanny - that's how long it was) would be covered in fuzz, thereby requiring an additional step of using a lint brush after the hair brush.

I'd been waiting till her hair was long enough to get it cut and donate it to Locks of Love. She knew that. Since she refuses to brush her hair or learn to tie it up, it fell to me...and thus, so did the decision regarding haircuts. I recently found out that the local Great Clips (NOT my favorite place for haircuts, they really messed mine up once...but that was in KS) did haircuts for free if you had 10 inches or more to donate. I carefully measured, and Hannah had well over the required 10. Locks of Love itself will take as little as 6, and Great Clips will do those cuts as well, but not for free.

Well...on Wednesday, Hannah had a 1/2 day of school, and Thursday was picture day. I wanted a new, fresh cut on her...and I was tired of the stringy, messy, straw-like mess that her hair was fast becoming due to all the constant tangling. So off we went. And she was NOT happy. She didn't want a hair cut. She didn't want to donate any hair. EVEN IF it was for a good cause. Then she tried the 6 inch tactic...just 6 inches, okay, Mommy??? NOPE.

I did take my camera...and I shot lots of pictures. You can SEE how unhappy she was (and you can see the mess that I had to deal with, too). In the end, they took 12 inches...and gave her the CUTEST little cut! I am proud that she sat there and let it be cut...and I know that deep down, in her heart, she knows she did a good thing, even if she didn't want to have it done. Someday, some child will be blessed to have a wig made of some of the most beautiful blonde hair!

The natty mess that drove mom batty!



















Hannah contemplates the loss of her hair



















trying to put on a brave face













Not too happy about it, though....













She didn't think I actually CAUGHT this (side note, she couldn't cross her eyes till a few months ago, lol!)













Combing out the mess and knots; the hair stylist was telling her how wonderful she was for donating her hair!



















STILL not too sure about the whole thing...



















Tying it off at about 12 inches!



















Last moments of long hairedness (is that a word?)













The scissors were starting the cut...



















Snip, snip, snip....



















GONE! Still a lot left, but a trim was needed...



















The braid...measured 10 inches braided. Can you tell she's so EXCITED? NOT. Don't guess I'll be posting these to the Locks of Love site.



















trying to get her to smile...waving the braid one last time.



















There are no words...she wasn't happy.



















Nope, still no real smile.



















The ensuing haircut.



















Caught in the act of "fish face"...she was pretending to breathe like a fish.



















Some last minute combing and fixing up...



















Voila! The finished product! Again...she wasn't happy to smile.




















But you know what? She told me yesterday that she LIKES her short hair...it feels nicer. And both Mom and Dad are happy too...washing the shorter hair is easier. It's now soft and silky again...not like straw!

some Halloween pictures...

These are just the start!

Hannah and Scotty were characters from Narnia: Prince Caspian. Hannah was Queen Lucy, and Scotty was King Peter. I was just a red Queen of Hearts.

We also had twins - each one of us had someone dressed like us. I was actually surprised there weren't more, especially of the kids. My twin's mom bought an adult-sided dress and altered it, because it was the ONE her daughter wanted.










And yes - this is the FRONT of Westview Community Church - I have more pictures to share, but I have to resize them - the transformation was just AMAZING!

you know...

you're popular when you get invited to two birthday parties on the same day. Seriously!

Let me back up a bit here....

As a kid, I was not popular. Sure, I had friends, and I loved the friends I had. I didn't really care who they "were", because to me, they were the folks I wanted to be around. Does that make sense? So, I wasn't part of the elite...the popular...the "snobs". Sure, I talked to them, and they were all nice to me, but it wasn't an inclusionary type of nice. And I really didn't care. I was who I was...a band geek, drama nerd, I hung out with people that others considered losers or bad...but they were nice to me and I was nice to them.

And I've kept that way all my life. I even find it a bit odd to NOW be part of a group of ladies who are "the popular" ones in life...because I never aimed myself in that direction.

But my daughter? Well...of course I want her to be liked. And to be a good friend. And to have people like her for who she is, and not for what she has. And to that extent, I don't go out of my way to buy her name brand clothing and high priced things to make her liked. But I don't set her up for failure either...I don't dress her in out of date clothing, make her wear polka dotted pants and striped shirts....or make her wear things that don't fit (either too big OR too small) just because "they still have good use in them". Hannah wears hand-me-downs from her cousins (and we are always appreciative of those, because, hey...CLOTHING IS NOT CHEAP!)...Hannah wears a lot of stuff from WalMart (because, HEY...low prices!).

So, I don't set out to make her Ms. Popularity. She does that all on her own. She's a well-liked kid...she makes friend easily. She's got personality PLUS...she has a magnetic smile that draws you in...she's a crazy kid that makes you laugh.

So...recently she was invited to a birthday party. I knew she would, she's been friends with Katy since kindergarten and they have attended each others' birthday parties every year. (heck, I even hang out with Katy's mom!). But when Hannah mentioned that another girl in her class was going to invite her to a party, I thought nothing of it. I told Hannah we'd wait till the invitation came. And it did.

And yes...she was invited to C's party...on the same day as Katy's party. But here's the kicker. It's at the same time. oh...the agony.

But wait...there's MORE.

It's at the SAME PLACE. Yup.

So...inasmuch as I would have said no to the second invite (having received Katy's first, AND also having known about it even before the invite), I felt that if I said no, and then we showed up, at the same place, for a different party, well....it would have been awkward, no?

So I called C's mom up and explained. She said she knew there was another party, but Hannah was the first (and only) kid she'd heard of that had been invited to BOTH parties. Seriously...what are the ODDS???? Both birthday girls are 2nd graders...at the same school...but have not been in the same class yet.

So, I'm off today to get birthday present number 2 for C's party. We'll figure it all out when we get there. I'll do what I can to be sure Hannah's there to sing Happy Birthday for both girls...and when they're all in the pool (oh, did I mention it's a pool party? At the Clarion Hotel? NO? Oops!) she will have to be gracious and play with both girls.

I think it will be a lesson for her as well...how to share herself without hurting feelings.

I'm glad my daughter is well-liked...it will be an asset for her, as a military child. Moving to a new community isn't easy, but I think she'll do well wherever we go!

no way....

My daughter was invited to a birthday party. For a BOY. (okay, that's not really odd, since we have many boys in the neighborhood and have been to several boy parties). But this one? a SLEEPOVER! Ah, but worse yet? This boy, her classmate, LIKES her. Yeah...we tease her that he's her boyfriend (he actually has 2 girlfriends; the other is a good friend of Hannah's as well, and all three were in the same class last year AND are again in the same class)

Okay, I KNOW they don't think in THAT way, but still....boy/girl sleepovers are just something I am not ready for. Heck, I'm not ready for sleepovers in general. I've already promised her she could sleep over her friend Ashlyn's house, once everyone is settled into a school routine.

I don't know when I started going to sleep overs. Luckily, we were given an "out" of the party, since a few others are NOT staying (though the other girl IS).

And on a side note: though we tease Hannah about this boy, we know he's a good kid. I didn't really think much about how our moving would affect others. We were talking to the parents of Hannah's classmates (these parents also happened to be Scotty's Sunday school teachers) about our move and they said "Oh, HG is going to be HEART BROKEN! We talked to his dad today and HG said he was happy because his two girlfriends were in his class" Oh my.....

Wordless Wednesday

On Her Own...

Hannah's always been really independent and headstrong...I've never kept this fact hidden. It causes me grief on a regular basis. But, as with all things that Hannah undertakes, when she is ready, she will go full bore and get it right.



Last year, it was swimming. She did NOT want to learn, never was going to...she cried the first day when they wanted her to put her head in the pool. But by the end of 6 weeks of lessons, she was doing pretty good, diving down for rings (albeit with little grace, lol) and swimming underwater without a care. This year, she moved up from her starting point (station 3) to her current session...where she is learning to do the backstroke, having mastered the crawl (or overhand) with rhythmic breathing (if you've never heard the term, it means breathing as you stroke, in a rhythm, or pattern). She's come through with flying colors.



Last year she also begged for a scooter. I am not fond of these things, but when our neighbor gave Scotty a 3-wheeledscooter, I knew it wasn't fair to Hannah NOT to have one. She insisted on a 2 wheeler, though. So, I scoured yard and garage sales and got one for $5 (not wanting to buy one for $25 only to discover she wouldn't like it). She taught herself...and got pretty good at riding it.



She's always done things in her way...she taught herself to write her name once she knew the letters in it...she can draw anything she sees...that's just Hannah.



So...her latest accomplishment? Well, it's in partial thanks to Ali's daughter, who has a 2 wheeled bike. Hannah decided to just pick it up and ride it. She's mastered it quite well in just a few days! I wish I had that kind of determination to just DO it and DO right!



And it appears that Scotty will follow his big sister...he's swimming like a fish NOW (today he passed into station 6 after doing his backstroke across the kiddie pool, stopping only once)...he too was a kid who was afraid to put his face in the water. Guess kids just KNOW when they are ready to do something. And Scotty's also learned to ride a 2-wheeled scooter. He about gave me a heart attack when I looked out the kitchen window one day earlier this summer and I saw him on the neighbor kids' scooter! He's got a lot of style and flair, as all things Scotty do!











And this? This is Akela...in one of her calm and quiet moments. (I put that up for you and the kids, Ali!)

Wordless Wednesday

They make me so PROUD!

Changes...

We just got Hannah's spring school picture back. I had considered not keeping it, but you can SEE the changes in her face. Scott really liked it, too. In comparison, here is the fall one:



And this is the spring picture:



Of course, this time, we didn't have the "chapstick fiasco" that we had last time (where Hannah decided to put some in her hair at bedtime the night before school pictures - AAAACK!) And I think you can see changes in her face as well. I know she looks much older in the spring picture...that might have to do with the teeth, of course. And the hair...but I STILL think she's the most beautiful girl around...bright smile, sweet eyes, great dimples. And if you click to zoom, you might catch the dusting of freckles across her nose and a few on her cheeks. TOO beautiful!

zoo-bee-doo-bee...

Last week (or was it the week before? I forget....see post below called Live much?) several band spouses went to the zoo...(it WAS 2 weeks ago...during spring break...NOW I remember). We had a grand time. The zoo here in Manhattan is not very big. There are no LARGE animals like lions, elephants or giraffes. But they do have snow leopards, lots of birds and a few tigers. There really are a lot of animals there. This is only the 2nd time we've gone to the zoo. We went when we first got here, in the dead heat of the summer (it was in the 100's), and found our zoo to be lacking. But I decided to give it another shot.

We met up with Eileen and her girls, Ginny, Randy and their boys, and Kim, George and their boys. It was all quite fun. Hannah loves when she gets to be with Eileen's girls, because the younger one, Sarina is her age! (we'd had a long drought of having girls the same age in the units we've been with!) And the older girl, Tessa, is really sweet and hangs with the younger girls. The rest of the crew was boys, boys, boys....

One thing we discovered at the zoo: When you are in front of the bear pen, you can look out over the fence and see Famous Dave's....and Target...and Arby's....which means you can practically see our house. The water tower near the park has the City of Manhattan logo on it as well as the Sunset Zoo logo. It was Scotty's discovery that we can see the water tower...and now, every time he sees it, he says, "Hey mommy, it's da zoo waddeh toweh (r's are hard to come by with him).

So, as usual, I took lots of photos...and I thought I'd share some with you.

Sarina and Hannah check out the chimpanzees.

This is the matriarch of the zoo...though I don't remember her name.
she just sat in the bucket...

Scotty poses with a sculpture...of course, he had the baby chimp by the head!

The black swan

I spent the better part of 20 minutes chasing peacock and peahens around to get pictures.
This one obliged me quite nicely.

I got up close and personal with a flamingo. I could have reached out and touched him.
I just kept shooting away. The lady in the purple behind him was amazed afterwards. She couldn't believe how close we were...I thought he was going to peck at me!

Hannah stops long enough to grace me with a "vampire" smile...check the fangs!

This is Sarina. She sports the "vampire" look too. When she and Hannah got together, it was like they'd been friends forever. I like friends like that!

This is Tessa. She has a ready smile and has the prettiest golden highlights in her hair...like spun gold!

Another shot of Hannah, posing after all our walking.

Where are the pictures of Scotty, you ask? Well, most looked like this:

I can't tell you why he was pouting...but he was....

Sharing Hannah...

Sometimes, my little girl amazes me.

We've had a struggle this year with reading. It's not that she can't read, it's that she doesn't WANT to. One time, I asked her why she didn't want to read and she told me that it was because I loved it so much. Ouch. That hurt. Reading is so much a part of my life that I want my kids to enjoy it too...because I know where it can take you. Reading can be an adventure, an escape; it can be knowledge or silliness. It's never mundane; it's always immersing yourself into someone else's life.

She recently got into this series of books called Rainbow Magic. The books are chapter books about fairies. There are a LOT of them (way more than I ever expected). We started off with a boxed set called The Weather Fairies. I had to make a bargain with her. She would have to read, out loud, one of her "easy reader" books before I would read her a chapter of a book. It was STILL a battle, but she would read grudgingly.

There was a lack of emotion in her voice, she would revert to baby talk and mumbled as she read. One day, I picked up her favorite bear, Carter, and made him talk to her, telling her that he couldn't understand her and he wanted her to read to him. All of a sudden, she had a purpose. She was reading to her bear. There was inflection in her voice...she would raise her voice at the end of sentences that were questions. She could tell, just by the book, where the "silly" parts were. And there was no mumbling or baby talk! This has been our routine lately; she reads to Carter and then we read to her.

So...last night was my monthly Bunco night. Scott also had a live on-line class to view, so he asked Hannah if she would read to Scotty. She was adamant that she would not. "He doesn't sit still and doesn't pay attention", she complained. We didn't give in to her arguments, and I told her it would be really helpful if she read to Scotty, to help out daddy. Then I left.

When I got home, I heard this cute story: Scott came upstairs from the office (and his class) to go to the bathroom. Scotty was having his snack. Scott told them to let him know when Scotty was done, he'd come with them to put Scotty to bed; Hannah was still going to have to read. A few minutes later, Scott came out of the bathroom, but Scotty was gone. He asked Hannah were Scotty was and she replied that he was in bed.

Apparently, Scotty finished his snack, so Hannah took him to his room, got a book, read to him, kissed him goodnight, turned off his lamp and turned on his music, and closed the door. Not only did she READ to him, but she put him to bed! That was just the FUNNIEST thing I had heard. She went from fighting us about reading to doing it ALL. Scott went in to give Scotty a good night kiss and he was all happy and excited that Hannah had put him to bed. Silly kids!

More on Hannah...she brought home her weekly pile of papers. I have been sorting through and keeping one or two things and tossing, right away, most of it. There is just so much of it. This one caught my eye, though. #3 was my favorite - and I'm sure "Ante" Sue would agree!


I love the way first graders write!

#1 translation: jimnskis puse is Gymnastics Plus, an open gym place.
#3 explanation (as told by Hannah). I know Grandma is in PA and Memere is the one that visited, but I couldn't write Memere, and then I would have to explain that it's just the word grandma in another language!
Hannah also usually underlines words she is not sure that she spelled right...I find that funny!

I think that soon, there will be a definite love of reading and writing.

As for the Rainbow Magic books...we have the complete first set, The Rainbow Fairies, and the complete second set, the Weather Fairies. We have the first book of The Pet Faries and The Jewel Fairies...but if you click on that link above, you'll see just how many more there are to get....oy!

Easter Sunday....

is done. And it was a great day. We went to church as a family and it was nice. Hannah sang with the Children's Choir and she was HILARIOUS...she was enunciating the words SO well that we could see her clear up in the balcony!

MacDonald Family, Easter 2008

Scotty...well, he is in a class by himself at all times! My neighbor Shawn gave us a 3 piece suit for him. One of the blessings of having a neighbor with 2 sons, one of whom is a year older than Scotty. We get lots of GREAT clothing for him. This suit was NO exception. Grandma Linda had sent a great shirt with sweater vest and matching tie, and we tried to talk Scotty into wearing that part of it instead of the vest with the suit, but he insisted on the complete outfit. Luckily he wanted to wear the tie that Grandma sent (he wore it the day he got it, with his t-shirt!!!)

After I dressed him (and we dressed him just like daddy, white underpants and t-shirt, white button shirt (dad's was blue), suit pants, vest (no vest for dad) tie and jacket.), he said to me, "mommy, I yook yike dose guys on the TB...the news guys!" (that would be: I look like those guys on the TV). And he surely did! I did a mini photo shoot before heading out to church and here's what I got:

I'm ready for my closeup

Strike a pose!

How's THIS? I'm awesome!Looking like the cat that ate the canary!

We came home, changed into our everyday duds, and got busy. We all had lunch and then I went out with my neighbors Shawn and Lori, and we put out a TON of eggs. All over the neighborhood. And then we gathered all the kids (7 between the 3 families!) and set them free to hunt. All kids ended up with FULL buckets. And it was nice, since we all put different things in our eggs, so we got a good variety of things! I let the kids stay out to play, and I headed in to make Easter dinner. Threw the ham in the oven, then realized that I didn't have any way to actually COOK all the stuff I wanted, since I needed at least TWO ovens! Shawn to the rescue! She let me make my macaroni and cheese, and pineapple stuffing in her oven. I'm so blessed to have good neighbors! (on a side note: Lori and her family will be moving away in June...we are ALL sad!)

The kids played outside until about 4:30 and then I called them in so that we could get cleaned up for our company. Our friend Shannon came over with her 3 girls (6, 3 and 11 months). Shannon's hubby is deployed right now, though he's coming back soon (and another side note: Shannon's leaving us in July...we are SAD for that too!). She brought a yummy salad and dessert. Her timing was impeccable, since every thing was just coming out of the oven. We sat almost immediately to eat. And it was GOOD. I tell ya, I'm not half bad to have around when it comes to cooking (of course, it doesn't hurt to have a few good recipes like mac and cheese and pineapple stuffing, both from Scott's mom). We ate, kids played, then they left, I finished cleaning the kitchen ('cept for the big stuff that needs hand washed, I'm doing that tomorrow a.m.) and now I'm blogging.

I hope that everyone else had a wonderful day....

He is Risen!
He is Risen, Indeed!!!