drumroll please...

so yesterday morning i woke up to avery having pooped her bed, which she NEVER has done before, and saying, (in a crying voice), "oh no! mama, oh no!" she was very concerned about this. did i mention it was 5:30 am? it was. so i cleaned her up in the tub, started laundry, gave her tylenol for her fever and held her. she threw up that morning as well and kendall and i decided that he would take her to the doc while i took ethan with me to the sister in law's house to get my hair cut! THANK YOU ELISE! she did a great job and i am very happy with it and just having it shorter in general. she asked me a couple of times if i was sad to be cutting it off, and honestly, i am not one bit sad. i think what helps me not be said is a) i've had it this short before b) i always knew i was donating this hair, i grew it out just for that purpose and c) it's darn hot with it that long and i was ready to be cooler:) i decided a couple of months after avery was born to grow my hair out and donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, as discussed here, because of my mom. part of her mother's day present is going to be a little book of pictures of my "hair journey" ending with today. shhhhh...don't tell her. and if you read this mom, pretend you didn't read that:)

before front:

before back:

after with ethan:

and we put some color in it! yay!

ready to send off!!! (i think i had 10-11 inches total!)

thrifty fun....

i am once again going to extoll the virtues of the thrift store. this time, though, it isn't savers, although that is one of our favorites. we recently acquired a goodwill by our house, and when i say "by our house" i mean, right down the road, 2 minutes away. if that. awesome. so i went the first day it opened and it was a crush of people and we could hardly manage our cart. so i decided to go back today to check it out again. they had a sweet table and three chairs (for kids) for only $40 for all the pieces. it was cool. like kind of IKEA-ish, but i didn't get it, because for some weird reason, paying a lot at a thrift store ("a lot" is a relative term especially at thrift stores) goes against my grain. like i hardly ever buy anything that isn't under $5 each. i may buy a few things but they are usually not more than $5. we like books because we get only really good condition ones and they are very inexpensive. but saturday i found fabric. i actually really like buying fabric at thrift stores because they have, sometimes, crazy amounts of fabric for not much at all. you just have to hit it the "right" day. today was my day i guess. i got more than 9 yards of fabric (by my measurements, how my mom taught me when not using a tape measure...tip of your nose and arm extended...anyway...i'll measure for sure later) for about $5. i'm not joking. it was amazing.

i got this pink cheetah print, it was actually in two pieces but they were both on the same hanger and one said $.49 and the other said $.29, for real (but she only rang it up as .20 i don't know why) and they equal about 2.5-3 yards each.

i got this brown beauty (blue tag special, 1/2 off) for $2.00, there is about 3 yards.

i finally i got this white kind of twill (like denim weight) with pink and black stripes, also about 3 yards and a little more for $2.50 (it was also blue tag special, 1/2 off). it was amazing.

the brown is a knit, kind of stretchy and i am thinking maybe a skirt for my maternity self...i think skirts may be my modus operandus for getting through this nasty heat coming. the white with stripes, like i said, is kind of a heavier weight, not heavy, but not super light cotton either, and i'm not sure what it will be. the pink cheetah is just amazing and maybe something baby if baby is indeed a girl. what would you make with these thrifty fabrics?

same old same old...

okay so i don't have anything really huge going on in my house. just thought i'd check in and say hey.

hey.

why does it seem like Christian Bale can't make a bad movie these days? his stock is WAY up. i mean, batman? come on, amazing. the prestige was awesome. (also a good read, very twisty and a little scary) now he's doing this terminator thing, i almost want to go see it because he's so good. almost.

we recently watched the x-men movies, in preparation for the origins movie. i liked them. i was actually one of those kids that watched the cartoon x-men a lot when growing up...so it didn't surprise me i liked them:) little known facts of jen.

i am getting my haircut next week. very excited about this! i'll post pictures when it happens. and there may be color as well. awesome!

last day...

today is kendall's last official day of class at law school...he'll still have things to do but not class! wahoo! we are so proud of you kendall, way to go baby!

playing with doh...

we like play doh (yeah, that's really how you spell it huh?) at our house and avery is having some of her first forays into playing with play doh. so we have to remind her not to eat it or throw it all over the house etc. (they only play with it at the table for this reason...i digress) the kids were playing with it this morning and then we got all cleaned up and avery was really being kind of cranky. kendall had gotten up with them so before he left, i said, "did avery eat breakfast yet?" and he said, " no she didn't eat but ethan did" and then i thought, well there's the answer to the cranky question...and then ethan said," she didn't eat breakfast mom, but she ate some play doh!" silly boy! he says the funniest things and his timing is getting really good too:) he must have funny parents, or at least one of us must be funny...now which one is it? (actually kendall is MUCH funnier than me so i already know:))

the beach towel issue...

so i know i'm not the only one whose kids refuse to carry their own towel. but wouldn't that make it easier to go to the pool or splash pad if they carried their own towel, because i'm carrying a towel for me, a towel for smaller child who can't carry it, the "beach" bag, and any number of other things, such as the actual smaller child. so i came across this idea on Anna Maria Horner's blog and i love it. i want to do this! anyone want to do it with me? we could have a project day:)

the long strap is the one they carry it with and i like this idea because there's no velcro securing the towel together to scratch the child....

funny things kids say...

or at least ethan for right now....



we were getting in the car after church on Easter Sunday and ethan said, " why does the car smell like sun?"

on that same afternoon he stoutly refused to eat anything, (not even candy...weird) and i had finally cajoled him into eat a sandwich and he was getting positioned in his seat and his hand slipped off the table somehow and he banged his chin on the table, biting his tongue in the process. and then it started to bleed and he says..."see, this is why we don't eat!"

we were getting in the car again and ethan said, "i like it when it's hot, i like it when it's cold...and i like it when it's mooning" (apparently that means when the moon is out:))

he came out to go to the bathroom last night and saw kendall writing in his journal. then when kendall was putting him back to bed he said, " good luck with your writing, dad!"

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

i checked out the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman from the library a little bit ago and didn't get around to reading it until the day it was due. and i thought, well, i waited for it, i might as well read it and let it be a day or two late rather than have to wait on a list AGAIN, because i couldn't recheck it out because someone else had already requested it. so i read it in about 3-4 hours. seriously. not a long book, and a very very fast read. i really enjoyed it. the cover picture was not encouraging (i am vain enough to be thankful they made the movie coraline much cuter). and i am now excited to see this movie...should be good (as a sidenote, those who live in Mesa and surrounding, it is now at The Picture Show, the second run theater at superstition springs where the tickets are $2 a piece). anyway, the book was kind of dark, i probably wouldn't let anyone younger than...i don't know...12 read it. it's definitely not a kid's book. but i really thought it was well written (this man is a good writer, i also enjoyed his book, The Graveyard Book). it was delightfully spooky, would be a good halloween read (as would The Graveyard Book). Coraline comes to realize a lot about herself and her current situation in the book and i liked the ending. read it, it's quick, easy and good:)