Boo!

We have declared this year the Year of the Lame Costumes. Bumblebee Transformer and Fairy are just too cliche.

A look back... UPS boy and turtle were adorable. And unique.

Love this picture.

I skipped a year here because I couldn't find it, but Jonah was a sandwich two years in a row. How awesome was this costume? Wish I still had it, but the kids ruined it after too much play and I'm not sure i have it in me to remake it. It was a bit time consuming and I only had one child. Maybe next year we can stir their creative juices once again....

Spooktacular

Last Sunday we headed to the zoo for an event that we hadn't been to there before: Spooktacular. Apparently the rest of the city decided to head out there too. It was insanely crazy when we initially got there. So many kids, all in costumes, and it was like a lost child waiting to happen. That being said, we didn't get too many pictures. There were stations set up all over where you could get candy and do different activities.

First up, face painting and hair spraying for Abby. As you can see, her hair has grown in quite a bit. Thankful for fast growing hair!! She is attempting to sit perfectly still here.
Can you see the sparkles and blue spray in her hair? They didn't have pink, so blue had to do. Speaking of which, Abby is on costume number three this year. She was going to be a mermaid (which we bought and now are in need of returning), then SuperGirl (I vetoed that one due to price) and her third choice then was the fairy which she's content with.

They were feeding the elephants while we were there, which was fun to see. We had never seen an elephant being fed before and it's amazing how much they use their noses like a hand. This guy had even discovered how to beg for more.

Our little cub. Have you ever seen a more adorable guy?

The fun even wore him out a bit. Jonah isn't in the pictures, but I'm sure we'll get him covered this weekend.

Prepare to Be Amazed

River City Rodeo

A few weekends ago Brian, the kids and I headed out to the River City Rodeo to check out the sights... and smells. It just so happens that the second largest rodeo in the world is held in Omaha every year and we have never been out to see it! There were tons of free activities for the kids and in true rodeo fashion, the kids and I even shared a turkey leg for lunch. Yep, we're that family.

We didn't really know what to expect when we arrived and this is what we walked in to. There were calves, sheep, pigs, chickens, and other livestock lined up from wall to wall. The animals were being ushered from here to there by all the 4-H kids, so we even had some close encounters with animals. And our strollers might have gotten caked with manure too. :)

In my attempt to get a picture of the kids in the Qwest Center "barn", I squatted. The kids decided they should too. :) Can you see Abby's new cowgirl boots? She loves them.

Levi's favorite part: the lights. As we were sitting back and admiring the livestock, the man on the left asked us where we were from. We told him Omaha, chatted a bit, and then he asked if the kids would like to see a calf up close. Nebraskans are the best, I tell you. So nice!! Anyway, we said sure and he brought his calf over to this holding pen and let the kids have a turn at grooming her. The kids were so grateful and loved pretending to be a cowboy/cowgirl. Although you can't tell, there were all kinds of studded leather for purchase. I always had wondered where some of these cowgirl items were found. :)
Upstairs they had a special area with all kinds of educational agricultural activities. We don't have any pictures of those (daddy was on the phone working and mommy was attempting to not lose any of the children at this time). There was also face painting and since everything else was free, we indulged the kids. They loved getting to choose what to have painted.
We couldn't leave Levi out of all the fun! What a cute little cornhusker.
After lunch they gave a free tour of where the rodeo actually was being held. It was so cool to get behind the scenes info about the rodeo and we learned a lot about this sport. We would love to get tickets to go next year! By the way, this is the Qwest Center arena, where Brian actually played Creighton at. In this picture we are standing on 8 inches of dirt. Amazing!

Ah, Memories

I was listing a bunch of things on Craigslist this morning and came across these long lost pictures from when Uncle Nick and Aunt Ali were here in early July. We loved having you guys out!! Can't wait to do it again sometime. On a side note, look at Abby's long, flowing hair. Holy cow. Brian and I both commented that we hardly recognize her like this. I am never cutting her hair again. Just kidding... sort of.

Thank you, Nick and Abby, for being the only ones to listen when I said, "Say cheese!" :) Come on, Ali!

The Innocent One

So cute and flashing his smile like crazy all the time lately, but at this particular moment it was while I was making dinner. See if you notice Abby at the end... "Jonah, lets go play tag!!" We are bussssssssssssy around here! But loving it (most of the time).

Brian thought this one was worth the upload too... enjoy!

The Incident (also known as The Great Hair Massacre of '10)

This is Abby a little over two weeks ago. In August we had gotten her hair cut, and it actually was cut a bit shorter than I was aiming for. The stylist asked her if she wanted it a bit shorter and Abby said yes, so shorter it went. (Why was no one asking me??) Anyway, apparently Jonah thought it needed to go a bit shorter.
Two weeks ago today, Abby was napping, Jonah was in his room for quiet time, and I was downstairs attempting to calm Levi down enough to nap. Around 2:15 or so he finally fell asleep and was sleeping on my chest. Around 2:30, I heard Abby get out of bed and sneak into Jonah's room. She knows she's not supposed to do that and I sort of waited to see what would happen. Not wanting to wake up Levi from a much needed nap (his fussy tummy has made a good nap a rare occurrence), I could hear them playing in Jonah's room and decided to let it slide. Abby had slept 1 1/2 hours and if they were nicely playing in there, I figured I would let them be. They have been bickering a lot lately, so I was sitting downstairs so glad they were getting along, picturing them looking at books together and sweetly playing. After roughly an hour of them playing up there quietly (which sounds like a while, but I could hear them playing for the first half hour and really there's nothing that they could get in trouble with up there... I thought), Jonah came down. I was so proud of their getting along and excitedly said "Jonah, what were you guys playing in there?" Jonah proceeded to tell me that he cut Abby's hair. I asked him "What?" figuring he just cut a tiny bit and felt so guilty that he needed to tattle on himself. He told me that he wanted to make a nest and was using Abby's hair to make it. Next thing I know, Abby turned the corner and this is what I saw.
At this point, I think I said something along the lines of "Nobody move!" They were looking at each other cracking up. Abby then said that she went potty in her pants BOTH WAYS, which is I think the reason she woke up in the first place... she had to go to the bathroom. I immediately called Brian telling him to come home, briefly explaining him what happened, and assuring him that it was probably worse than he was imagining. I then put Abby on the toilet, called my mom, called a friend, and tried to figure out what on earth to do. Really, I was trying to figure out how to undo it, but clearly that wasn't possible. I cleaned Abby up, made an immediate haircut appointment explaining the situation on the phone, and once Brian got home cried. :) I mostly was in shock about it all, but the main thing that was hard for me was how different she looked. Where did my little girl go?? Brian and I went to check out the scene of the crime.

The nest

The barber's chair
More perspectives of the cut. This side isn't so bad.

The back, top, and right side were all pretty short. As in, some areas, including the bangs, were almost to the scalp.

Getting the hair cut. Clearly Abby has no problem with her hair as it is.

She got it buzzed down to a 2 in the back!!!

The final pixie wanna-be cut. :) The gap in the bangs is hard to work around.

Jonah, is that you?? :)

Tuesday morning, Abby woke up, looked in the mirror, and said "I look like a boy." So, we decided to go to something super girly and get her ears pierced. :) She was excited about it and knew she wanted pink diamonds. It was a nice relief to have something to have people talk about when they saw her other than her hair. She loves the earrings and felt girly once again. She may look a bit different, but she's still our sweet (but crazy) little girl.

And her partner in crime, Jonah, has been forgiven and has learned his lesson. If you ask him, he'll tell you "I will never, ever, ever cut anyone's hair again."

Morals to the story:

- Kids are crazy

- Take scissors away from Jonah unless supervised :)

- Quiet ALWAYS equals trouble, even if you don't know what they possibly could find to get in trouble with

- I clearly needed to be humbled. I didn't know how much I treasured Abby's hair. It is OK to think it's beautiful, but vanity had found it's way into my train of thought and I had put my daughter's appearance in a place of too much value.

- Hair is just hair. It has already started growing back a bit and doesn't have the "freshly massacred" look anymore. Really though, I'm just so thankful that no one got hurt and other than a couple of tiny nicks, Abby was just fine.

In the end, we will someday have quite the story and pictures for Abby's rehearsal dinner.