That's my girl!

I love to see how happy Leah is while doing gymnastics. It seriously is the highlight of her week. No matter what else is going on. Gymnastics is always at the top of her list!

Haircut day

Leah has been begging me to get her hair cut for months. Well, thanks to good ole' "screamin daily deals" I got half off at "Kids Cut and Waves" in Newhall, which happens to be where I go anyway, so it was doubly good. 

Here's Leah going under the scissors. hehe....

The girls love this place because after they get their haircut, the stylist does their hair with pretty flowers. Leah picked a braid across the top with red flowers.

But then she got home and wanted me to take it out. Oh well. It lasted for a couple of hours. 

Best part is, I think she likes it. What do you think?

Brandon got his haircut too. He's definitely warming up to this place, which is SO nice for me. Plus they have a Buzz Lightyear that has WINGS. Needless to say, he didn't want to give it back. We managed to leave relatively tear free though, especially when he realized he could trade the Buzz Lightyear for a lollipop. Whew! Problem diverted.

Here he is trying to show off his hair cut.

Floor Time

This little guy doesn't get much time on the floor. Because if he did, he would get stepped on, or jumped on, or smooshed in some way or another. But every once in a while I remember he needs to have some floor time, or sheesh, he's never going to learn to roll over. So I carefully put him down and then guard him best I can. Here I got lucky. Everyone else was preoccupied with something else. So he was safe. At least for a little while. And best yet, I think he was even having fun laying there. 

Julie

Since yesterday was a holiday and Ashlyn was off from school, I decided to have a little mommy-daughter (plus Carter) date and go down to the American Girl Doll Store at The Grove. Ashlyn was SO excited. She has been saving her money for a good 5 or 6 months waiting for something she really really wanted to buy. For a while I thought she would save it forever. But no. She finally found something worth spending it on. And spend it she did. Down to the last $5.00. And she was more than happy to do it. I've never seen her part with money so easily. But she came home with Julie's pet bunny "Nugget", pj's for Julie, a breakfast in bed kit for Julie, and a sweatshirt and pants outfit for Julie. Boy oh boy...this Julie is one lucky doll.

Ashlyn standing in front of a basketball outfit she is debating about buying for Julie. Julie does like basketball after all. But no, it didn't make the cut this time. Perhaps next visit.

This is Kanani. The new doll of the year.

After leaving that store we headed over to The Gap so she could spend her gift card she got from Pop for Christmas. She got two pairs of jeans and a new shirt. Then I told her I'd take her to lunch, but she chose to get a pretzel instead. So we got a pretzel, sat and chatted while we ate it and then headed home. I just love hanging out with this cute girl. She is getting so old and so fun to be with. She has lots of stories to tell. She's so patient and kind and never gets upset when something doesn't go her way (like for example, we couldn't go on the trolley at The Grove because I had Carter with me and couldn't unload and hold everything by myself. I felt bad, but she just said, ok, and then went on talking about her new things she got for Julie). I'm so proud of her and look forward to many more mommy/daughter dates in the future.

A Minivan...really??

I must admit, I have been known as a Minivan hater. I swore up and down that I would never...not ever, own one. Not me. No way, no how! Really and truly........That was then!

This is NOW! It took having four kids, but all I can say about it is that I am IN LOVE! I find myself wanting to go somewhere just to be able to easily load the kids and the groceries and the stroller and STILL have room to breathe. I have come over from the dark side. And I won't go back. Not until the kids are older, that is.

Having said that, I secretly (ok, not so secretly) love that we kept my Highlander. It's now Paul's car. But that's okay. He deserves a nice car after having to drive my old old metro that we bought when we were first married. Ironically enough, when he went to go clean it up and get it ready to sell, it wouldn't start. I would say it was divine intervention that we got this car when we did. Life is such a blessing and I love it!

Sleeping Baby

It's so funny to me the positions babies can fall asleep in. His head is practically falling off my lap.

Snow in SCV

It started out as a light flurry. We were all abuzz taking pictures thinking this would be the most we would get. But it didn't stop. It kept coming and then it starting to STICK! Hooray. Snow in our Valley. This probably hasn't happened for 20 years or more.

The kids came home and changed their clothes right away. We don't have snow gear here, so we had to improvise. Brandon refused to even put on a jacket (surprise surprise), so he didn't last too long, but he had fun throwing snowballs at the kid down the street. Leah and Ashlyn lasted a bit longer. And Paul and Leah even made a snowman together! He's little, but he's cute and he's the biggest snowman our yard will probably ever see!