new 'dos

Here are all three, showing off their new 'dos, front...and back!

a hair-raising weekend

We had a very exciting weekend! On Saturday, Tracy joined his Army Reserve unit in Dallas and jumped from the back end of a C-130. He was the last guy out of the plane…and got dropped into a wind pattern that swept him right into the only stand of trees on the drop zone! This was his first arboreal landing in almost twenty years of airborne ops…luckily the only things that got broken were the tree limbs when he had to cut his parachute down.

Today, we decided it was time to pay a probably long overdue visit to the hair salon. Pook, Bean and Bitty enjoyed meeting Erica, who regularly cuts Tracy’s hair. We’ve been talking to Pookie about getting her hair cut for a couple weeks. This is a traumatic topic for her, so we’ve been trying to ease her into it. It seemed to work, and she said she was ready to go in for a trim.

A couple weeks ago, I told Beanie about Locks of Love. She equates it with sorting through her toys and clothes – “we can give our hair to kids who don’t have any!” Last week, I got my hair cut into a chin-length bob, so when we got ready to head to the salon and asked her about getting her hair cut, she said, “I want my hair like my momma’s!” She kept saying it, all day, the whole time Pookie was getting hers trimmed, and finally, once more, when her turn came. Erica was happy to oblige and I know the Locks of Love folks will be happy to have her ponytail!

Beanie in the chair

Pookie, who was happy with her trim when it was over, decided that she wanted her hair “like my sister’s!” Inevitably, Pookie is going to cry at the hair salon. Last time, she cried because we cut it. This time, she cried because we wouldn’t cut it! She begged and begged for us to let her cut it short. We explained that she wouldn’t be like Jasmine or Ariel if she cut her hair short. She cried and pouted and begged some more. We told her we would wait two weeks and then if she still wanted it cut, we would come back. She pouted, but agreed. Last night at bath time, she said, “I decided I will keep my hair long until I am six. Maybe then I will cut it.” Whew! Glad we got that one right.

Bitty was the scene stealer of the day. Summer finally hit Austin with a vengeance and we decided to cool him off with his first real hair cut. I don’t think anybody realized that his hair was halfway down his back! At first he didn’t want to sit in the chair and he told Erica, “I mad atchoo!” But then he realized he was getting all the attention and he enjoyed it.

Bitty before...

and after! What a heartbreaker!

A "lih bit" X-rated

On Sunday morning, upon waking, Daddy said, "Can somebody please turn the sun off?" (nomoreginforyou!) Bitty said, after a moment, "fukt it."

Needless to say, I am quite certain that he did not pick up this language from me. Just ask Beanie. She will tell you that "summummabitch is a bad word. We can only say dammit."

birds & blooms

All three kids love the flowers that bloom on our hibiscus in the back yard. One day last week, we spotted a hummingbird enjoying them too! Beanie calls it the “hibiscuit” bush.

Bitty's cognitive and verbal skills have just expanded by leaps and bounds this year! The concepts that he focuses on crack us up. A while back, he figured out that whenever he asked for something and I told him that we were out, the next step was "You go store? Buy some?" Now he has begun applying that to things he wants, as well.

Me: "Let's put your shoes on so we can go."
Bit: "Wan' wear fwog shoes."
Me: "You don't have any frog shoes."
Bit (thoughtfully): "Hmm...wan'...you wan' buy some?"

Jealous Mommy

While I am stuck at work, slaving away, Pook, Bean & Bitty are playing the day away with Lo and Xi. Here's a picture of today's "pwoject:" finger & foot painting. Makes me want to play hooky and head for the farm!

July 4th, belated

Like the rest of central Texas, our 4th of July was rained out. A few days later, the sun came out and we played with sparklers at Paul and Megan’s. Check out this amazing sparkler-drawn UFO, complete with tractor ray and spotlight!

Three kids took advantage of the sunshine to try out their new shades. Pretty cool!

Over the past several weeks, Beanie has been throwing fits. Granted, she was always a little on the whiny side when she didn't get her way, but these have been full-on, wailing, kicking, make-your-momma-wanna-slap-you-silly fits. No doubt this is an emotional response to the major changes of Daddy going back to work and Beanie learning to share her sister and brother with Lo and Xi every day. Plus, there is the minor issue of Lo and Bean having equally strong personalities...you know, strong, as in forces of nature.

We have tried and tried to come up with ways to persuade Beanie not to throw fits. We have asked, ignored, spanked, time outed, taken away toys...nothing has worked! Two weekends ago, we stayed home for two days straight and she never had a fit. So on Monday I let her wear a "special" necklace to help remind her not to do it. I told her that if she could make it the whole week, she could have a special treat. Well, on Tuesday or Wednesday we forgot the neclace, so Cat gave her one to wear. Later that afternoon, Beanie went to Cat and told her that the necklace wasn't going to work and she could have it back because, "I like throwing fits!"

At least she is honest!

Two weeks later I am thrilled to say that she and Lo both went all week with no fits and everyone celebrated with an ice cream party on Friday. Yea!!!

Lake Travis sunset

This is a picture of the sunset on June 27 - the day the big flood came in the hill country. This photo was taken from the garden of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, which looks out over the lake from RR 620. Beautiful!

Amlo Farms: Home of The Flying Chicken

Jason and Cat recently acquired chickens...of course all the kids are fascinated with them (see Bitty's post chicken-chasing, pool-splashing crash in the photo) , but Pook is especially enamored. She has entered the "I want whatever animal I see" phase (my experience tells me that this can last a lifetime, Momma can probably corroborate!). When the chickens were little, the girls got to hold them some. But they are big now and have no desire to be held, poked, pulled on, etc., by small girls. In fact, Cat has given Pookie explicit instructions not to hold the chickens. One day a couple weeks back, Pookie turned up with two marks on her eye - a telltale sign of having been pecked. She admitted to Cat that she had been trying to hold a chicken when the chicken, most likely Clementine, who is her favorite, decided she'd had enough and pecked at her. When I arrived, Cat told me the story and so I asked Pook about it.

Me: "What happened to your eye, sweetie?"

Pook: (head hanging) "I don't know."
Me: "It's okay, I just need to know what happened."
Pook: "I was jus' outside an' I wasn't doing anything and one of those chickens flew up and jus' pecked me in the eye!"

At our house, Jason and Cat's farm will forever be the home of The Flying Chicken.