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The Big Hair Day

Here she is, rockin' the new hair do!!

Isabelle and I went today and got our hair cut.  We have both been growing it out for over a year.  We decided a while back that we were going to grow out our hair and donate in honor of my SIL and her Aunt Kim.  Isabelle needed to have a bun in her hair for her ballet recital on May 20.  We went the Monday after that and chopped it off.  

After spending some time doing some research on the internet, I decided that Pantene Beautiful Lengths was the organizations that we would donate to.

Isabelle sat down in the chair first.  She had not been growing out her hair as long so we decided to cut it off at a higher point and layer it.

Then she got it styled!

We ended up getting very similar styles, but there is no doubt, she pulls off short hair a little better than I do.

Here is Isabelle showing off the hair that we are sending off.  Altogether, we are donating 20 in. of hair for wigs.

Parker was with us the whole time for moral support.

Isabelle and I had a great time doing this together.  I am so proud of her for being willing to share something that she has so much of, with someone who really needs it.  I would encourage everyone who can, to consider hair donation.  It only takes a year or so to grow, but can mean so much to the receiver. 

Similarly, please keep Kim Smith in your prayers.  She is an amazing woman.  She shows great strength and while she fights this disease.   We love her very much!!!

Ballet Recital

Isabelle is on the far right end, I was on the wrong side but I think I got a better view.

Ready for her performance!

The ballerinas waiting to go on.

Their teacher performed for us.

Group shots, worn out from all the dancing.

All the ballerinas!

Christmas Videos

Ballet Videos

The Zoo!

The zoo had member's night. They open the zoo up at night to members only and all the rides are free. There are music stations and a few other fun things, but we chose to focus on the rides. First we went on the train. This was Parker's highlight. He would have been content to ride it all night long. Spent the whole time with a huge grin on his face.

Look at the delight on his face!

Then we went on the carousel. Isabelle, the big girl, got to ride all by herself!

Parker got to ride with mommy, but I don't think he minded.

Then the kids got to ride the boats. The true joy was ringing the bell. Each boat had two bells. I felt so badly for the girl who was running this ride. Can't imagine how long it takes her to get that ringing out of her ears.
Finally, we rode the spinning ride. This was the "craziest" ride and we weren't exactly sure how the kids were gonna do with it, but they had a great time!

Catchin' Up

So, it has been a while since I have posted so I will do a pic post. As you can see, we have done a lot of water play. Pics are in descending chronological order because I am too lazy to reorder them. Enjoy!

kids playing

Easter Morning

So, I completely forgot to take a "completed" picture of the kids in their Easter best, but I thought the bare chest pics more than made up for it. Besides, these pictures are much closer to real life. :)

Parker not sure if he is still dreaming or that loot really is for him.

Philip convincing him it really is okay to dig in.

Isabelle making sure that Parker is finding everything all right. (Really, making sure he didn't get anything she wants)

Christmas!

We had a great, quiet Christmas here in Marion. It was just the four of us, but so relaxing and great family time. Philip was off the whole weekend, and we had lots of time to play with our new toys.

This was our tree, biggest one yet and the kids loved it, Isabelle learned very quickly how to turn it on/off and that was what she did as soon as she woke up every morning.
The kids love Philip's Christmas train and that was their joy every night, playing engineer with Daddy. Didn't take them long to figure out how to make it go.

The excitement of seeing the presents Christmas morning. We didn't put the presents out before them because I wasn't sure I could trust the kids to leave them alone. But it was fun to see their surprised faces when they saw their loot.

Breaking open the stockings...

The crash after all the morning excitement. Parker is striking the same pose in his crib.

Our last minute Christmas present. Truly the best dog ever. The kids love her.
We got a membership to the Memphis zoo from my parents. The kids love it, but this is how we explored the first two times, hence the wagon in the present picture.