Cut Your Kids' Hair at Home and Save Big!

Step one: Get a willing participant. Michael HATED having his hair cut. Sam LOVES it. No, he is not drugged here.

Start a'cutting.

Admire your fantastic work and the fact that your kid's nickname will no longer be Jethro or Hippie Boy.

Tackle-it Tuesday: My Closet at the Grant Street House in Overland Park, KS and Vintage Barbies

Every Tuesday, I tackle a different project around my home that's been bugging all of us!

Let's see what my closet used to look like:

What a mess! Kids' stuff always ends up in my space! And clothes fall off the hangers onto the ground and intermingle with my sparse collection of shoes ...

I need to find a new spot for hiding their toys that are in time-out. See that pink stool? We call that The Death Stool because Aron made it and Callie kept falling off of it. He balanced it out and the kids were STILL getting messed up on this stool. So I have it temporarily hidden until I can learn to administer stitches all by myself. (Just kidding, honey ... you build amazing furniture and I love you so much!)

I worked on it QUICKLY this past weekend so I would have something to post for you. See the effect you have on me?! You are forcing me to clean my house. My husband should send each and every one of you a bag of swag or something.

Well, never mind. I actually did not finish it. I did SOME of it, but then Monday kicked my butt so I will now distract you from that fact with some cool pictures of my vintage Barbies and my favorite piece of her clothing. My mom has given these to me/my girls and I keep them put up because they are a big deal and my kids would trash them. They are original dolls from the 1960s and their clothes are, as well. Some of their clothes were made by my Great Aunt Eva. Enjoy! And maybe I'll clean that closet for you by next week!

I could just die when I see that black and white suit with the hat on that vintage doll, and I don't usually give a crap about clothing. But when you get those 1950s and 1960s clothes in front of me I'm in heaven!

The original cases!

Encouraging Your Kids to Try New Things

So this is a picture I took of me stalking my son. PLEASE allow me to explain!

So my kid is the one with the green backpack because his dad is out of town and could not make it home for the bike ride tonight like he really wanted to and if his dad had been home he could have gotten his crap together and made sure he had a water bottle holder mounted on his old gearless bike. I'm sure I could figure out how to ride a bike but don't have my own and also have other little ones to take care of so I did the drop-off thing and let the dads take over. You know this is hard for me because I'm one of those overbearing overprotective moms!

Today he also had his first Fencing class. Sometimes when new things come up he is reluctant to try them. I may have been guilty in the past of letting him stop doing things when he wanted to. I sucked at ballet/tap and I sucked at softball and so many other things. My parents made me at least TRY to do some different things but I never cared about them and didn't last long. I honestly believe some kids just are not cut out for uber-activity-world. Plus we live on the outskirts of Affluent Land where kids are always in activities. (sidenote: turns out I am EXCELLENT at carrying babies and giving birth with minimal painkillers ... my mom used to think I was such a wus, and now I feel like I can do anything physical ... I was perhaps a late bloomer!)

Anyway, lately I am trying to change my ways. I don't want to PUSH him to do things he HATES, but if he is merely reluctant, I am trying to jazz him up about things. Like fencing. Of course it would have been easier to stay home and play. But I got everyone around and we made it to Fencing. And he had a good time. He only has 5 more times and then can decide if he ever wants to do it again or if he wants to try something new. But all I ask is that he finish those other 5 sessions.

Tonight he didn't feel up to the 5-mile bike ride for Boy Scouts. I told him it would not take long and it would be so much fun to hang out with boys he is getting to know. Plus you get exercise. Plus you work on your Cycling badge. How great that will feel to accomplish that. That is not something I could probably even accomplish at my advanced age! (I have probably not worked out since ... well, hmmm ... let me thing ... oh, I know .... it was the 5K Aron and I walked when I was like 2 weeks PREGNANT with JOEL!). I'm sure we'll have the same discussion soon when the 10-mile ride comes up, and I will give him the pep talk of his life.

As we drove away, his little friend we have with us said, "They can't go on Antioch [busy street]; he won't survive!" I'm like, "Don't say that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So I came right home and pulled up the email that had the route they would be taking and for a mom like me, that was like HEAVEN to have. I know where my baby is! I think when my kids are in their 40s I will be the same. My poor children.

So this picture is of me parked on the road waiting to see where the Troop was headed so I could get a shot of his bike ride. Thought he might like to see it someday, even if it is just from behind! It is also a good reminder for me that my kids are always riding away from me, every second of every day. It makes it that much more urgent for me to raise them well and to raise them to want to try new things.

Moshi Monster Monday: Draw Your Heart Out!

The last weekend Aron was home he had the kids quietly sitting at the dining room table drawing Moshi Monsters pictures (using their Moshi Monsters guides for help). He has some crazy Child Whisperer gift or something. What is it about dads that kids seem to listen to more than moms? Is it that kids are generally with their mom more? So do stay-at-home dads have the same problem as stay-at-home moms? Like does the mom come home from her full-time job and Get. Things. Handled? What if both parents work full-time? Does it just make a difference on who the biggest pushover is (me)? Questions to ponder later or in the comments section. Here is the artwork:

Rooby by Joel

Roxy by Michael

Oddie by Michael

Cleo by Joel for Callie

Pools and Drive-In Movies with a Bunch O' Kids

First of all, I want to apologize if you get my bloggy via email because some of you are getting it a day late. Yes, that can make you a dollar short, if you got the Friday Freebie email a day late, for instance. Sorry about that, and I will use all my technical expertise to check into the situation. Seeing as how that ain't much, the problem might be fixed in early 2015. So just come to the blog if you think about it. Which I know you do. Like every single minute of your day.

Second of all, my Sunday Weekly Wrap-Up show is slacking hard. Here's the wrap-up of last week: We had a ton of fun. Aron was out of town and we missed him tons like always.

Moving on.

Yesterday we went to the Lifetime Fitness outdoor pool for 4 hours with a friend who is a member. We got in for free and got FREE lunch for all dozen of us. We saved like $70. It's for sure freebie weekend for us! My friend is a good influence on me in that she encouraged me to go to Chik-fil-A. I am a good influence on her in that I encourage her to go to the pool! Michael lost a tooth in the pool, but the Tooth Fairy came anyway last night even without a tooth to take.

Later Joel was like, "Can we PLEASE go to the drive-in?????" And I was like, "There is no way I can do that with no Daddy to help." Aren't I negative? The thing about me, though, is that I might say there is no way, and then I go ahead and do it anyway, thinking the entire time, "It will be fine." Damn Geminis.

So here are a few pix from the drive-in. In Kansas City we go to the I-70 because they have 4 screens.

We like to grab Aldi food on the way ... like M&Ms and chips and juice pouches and other culinary nastiness. They were closed when we got there, though, so we hit Mickey D's (sockless in the car!) and got some frozen lemonades, Coke, food and cookies.

We had a great time! I felt all super-prepared with everything we needed and we even parked backwards like the cool kids do. Sam sat some, meandered around in front of the van some, sat on my lap, got sleepy but didn't go to sleep until we drove over to the 2nd movie for a few minutes.

The only decent photo I could grab since it was dark. This is from the previews.

I have fond memories of the drive-in from when I was a kid. We would go all the time and my dad had a rockin' 1970s van so I could fall asleep in the bed in back when I wanted to. So of course we take our kids as often as we can. Last year we didn't go at all so we were dying to go now. It was sad to go without Aron, but we had fun seeing Ice Age #27. Snow White and the Huntsman was not for us, so we drove over to the end of Spiderman then went home.

We got to talk to Aron on the way home. He had worked another long day. Turns out he will not be home Monday after all and will be gone longer. I cried on the phone because I miss him. Don't feel sorry for me, though, Readers, because crying just means I am still in love head over heels and that we like each other. He said he was proud that I took the kids to the drive-in and that he prayed for us!

All but Joel fell asleep on the way home, so basically getting all the sleepers in the house is my biggest challenge. I had the 3 oldest kids inside and in bed when Michael asked, "Did you put the Littles away yet?"

Total cost $8 for the drive-in movie for 6 of us because my kids are all under the age of 12.