~Lyssa Lou's first haircut~

Last Thursday (on one of the most ridiculously hot days I've experienced in Iowa) I took Lyssa down the street to introduce her to my fabulous hair dresser, Stevie Light.  I love Stevie and think she has given me some of the best haircuts of my life.  I trust her completely with my own hair (and thats saying something because I have a lot of hair) so I decided I could trust her with my Little Lyssa's hair too.

I've never cut any of Lyssa's hair, even though she sported an unfortunate looking faux hawk for much of her first year of life.  I just never had the heart to cut it.  This summer her hair has gotten soooo long.  Here's a before shot, with her hair wet (so it's not showing off her amazing curls, but is showing the length).

BEFORE 

Lyssa sat in the chair with Stevie like a Pro!  Apparently she trusts Stevie as much as I do.  We had her even everything out, layering things a little bit and tapering the front where Lyssa's long bangs have been growing over the past year.   

DURING

Five minutes, a five dollar tip, plus a bang trim for Mommy, and a snack size bag of Skittles later, we were home!  

AFTER

And look!  The curls are still there!  I was so worried that they would all be cut off with her first haircut, but so far they're here to stay.  Here to stay with those big beautiful eyes...

I just can't get enough of this cute little lady.

~Omaha~

Did you know that Nick's favorite little sister, Nichelle, came to visit us for a week in June?  

Well, she did and we had lots of fun.  

In between getting ready for our month long vacation out West and swimming lessons we played at parks, swam, ate out, shopped, played RockBand, and took a day trip over to Omaha where we visited the amazing Zoo!

There aren't many pictures in existance of me and my two kiddos, and I'm not exactly thrilled to take pictures in my current pregnant state, but I couldn't resist getting a shot in the butterfly bench.  So cute!!!

The aquarium, the indoor jungle, the butterfly house, the cat house, the gorilla house... all are amazing!

We even zipped through the basement of the desert dome the last 20 minutes the zoo was open.  Napless Lyssa fell asleep somewhere between the bat caves and the dark swampy alligators.  Alec was running on fumes, but was still fascinated by everything.  

Even though we were there for hours I still felt like we only saw about half the zoo.  I think I could spend two days there easily and NEVER get bored.  

We headed over to the Old Market in downtown Omaha, where we ate some amazing Old Chicago deep dish pizza and some delightful homemade ice cream that made all our bellies happy.  Then we were off to the BIG SLIDES.  They're super fast and quite steep so I was surprised that the kids wanted to go on them over and over and over again.  Lyssa caught air every time she went down and ended up flipping over on her tummy.  

Part of me so badly wanted to try them out... next time.

Then we were off to explore more of the riverwalk that runs through downtown Omaha next to the old market.  They had all these "artistic" benches everywhere.  The little houses were our favorite.

The rarely caught family photograph.  Thanks Nichelle!  

(Don't you just love the expression on Alec's face?  That kid cracks me up!!)

Knowing we still had a 2 hour drive home, we headed back to the car and put the kiddos in pajamas.  Then we decided to stop off at the Winter Quarters Temple for a quick peek around.  The visitors center is really cool, and there are some neat statues in the cemetery but it was late and even the temple was closing up for the night so we just walked around the front for a minute, danced with the fireflies amongst the beautiful flowers and green grass, and headed home.

It was a fun filled day for everyone, and totally worth my swollen legs and feet.  Thank goodness I had a few days to recuperate and prep everything before heading out West with Nichelle and the kids.

Thanks so much for coming to visit us, Nichelle!  We had a blast!

~Fireflies~

June 12, 2010
Do you love fireflies?  We sure do.  In fact, if you walk past our house around dusk (as many people do in our neighborhood) you will probably see us doing this...

Some people think we are looking at them and give us funny looks.  It's like they don't see the magical fireflies between us.  When we actually do meet their gaze we always smile back, but mostly we just want to stare at the fireflies.  They're so beautiful, and relaxing to watch.  (Sidenote: On one of the first nights they came out we let the kids stay up until 10 pm running around the yard catching lightening bugs with our next door neighbor.  It was the stuff dreams are made of.)  The kids and I think fireflies blink their enchanting lights as a way of gently saying "sweet dreams" and "good night" to everyone who has enjoyed the summer day.  These two have played hard and enjoyed the extended hours of sun to their fullest...

and now it's time to sleep.

Father's Day!!!!

I know we are a week and a half late with this, but that's what you get when I'm doing the great american roadtrip halfway across the United States, pregnant, with two kids and no Nick.  

Plus who wants to spend all their free time on the computer when there are friends and family to see!

Happy Fathers Day, Nick!  

We love you to bits.  You're the coolest dad around in our book.  You spend so much time with them and they know they are top priority in your life.  They'll never be able to honestly question your love because it shows in everything you do.  We're so glad you're done with your summer school semester and can't wait until you come join us on vacation.  

See you Friday!!!!!!

~Little Swimmer Alec~

For the last two weeks Lyssa and I have spent part of our morning watching Alec do this...

  That's right, Mr. Alec is taking swimming lessons this summer.  The first day was touch and go.  After about 5 minutes Ms. Ashley sent me to the car because he wouldn't calm down.  I was really worried it was going to be a rough 2 weeks, not because Alec is afraid of the water but because he's afraid of strangers and new situations.  After that initial freak out though he was happy as pie and has wanted to go back ever since!

Alec really likes his teacher, Ms. Ashley... and I'm pretty sure by now the feeling is mutual.  He just talks and talks and talks to her while doing all the things she asks him to do.  He trusts her completely and she gets a kick out of the funny things he says.  He's told her all about our family (even baby Cordelia), what cool things you get to do when you are a grown-up, who his best friends are, where we go each day, what he eats, his favorite color (dark blue), and what he wants to be when he grows up.  It changes from day to day but usually involves having a computer and making the world a better place or helping people.  Today when we left swimming lessons he said that maybe when he grows up he would want to be a swim teacher.  Ms. Ashley has obviously left quite an impression on the little man.

The first few days Ms. Ashley went easy on Al and didn't push him to go off the diving board.  Then I made him show her how he could already jump in from the side and go all the way under and touch the bottom.  He put on such a show and did it over and over and over again!  Ever since she's made him jump off the diving board every day and he loves it.

Poor Lyssa Lou is super jealous that she doesn't get to do swimming lessons this year, but talks about how next year when she is three Ms. Ashley will be her swim teacher.  Good thing they BOTH get treats after lessons for good behavior or she just might jump in the pool!  All around it's been a great experience.  

Thanks, Grandma, for making it happen!  

~Who is this little boy????~

And where has my bread disdaining, pb&j hating son gone????

Not sure where he went.  

Do you see what's in the little man's hand?  Would you believe he begged to eat it for lunch today (with a cold glass of milk just like his moma)???   

Let me tell you... I feel like I've gotten really creative over the past 3 years trying to find easy to pack lunch food for this little bread hater.  It's been a slow process getting him to eat bread of any kind, starting first with french toast, then french toast with peanut butter, then toast with peanut butter, then bread with pb&j open faced to finally the easy to stow and go pb&j sandwich.  Each step took months of reintroduction and patience, (Oh, mercy... the patience!!!) but we're finally there!!!  

Don't even bother trying to use anything but wheat bread though or it WILL be refused.  I don't really mind.  We don't usually have anything around the house besides wheat/multigrain bread anyway.  Don't cut the crusts off either.  That's one of his favorite parts (and so much more economical and time efficient).  Oh the lunch/picnicking possibilities!!! 

Hallelujah!

Her Mother's Daughter

A few weeks ago (before I decided that I'm too pregnant to hang out in the humid heat in my own house and started using my A/C) our house was sweltering hot by mid-afternoon.  I never napped well, and Alec and Lyssa frequently woke up hot and grouchy.  One day in particular Lyssa woke up and her entire back and legs were soaked with sweat and she was not happy about it, so I let her change her clothes.  She peeked in her closet and chose an old pink poka dot dress.  I gladly put it on her and instantly felt all nostalgic.  

See, this pretty little number is a dress my mom made for me when I was her age, and though I don't remember much from those very young years I remember LOVING that dress.  

My sister, Erin, had a matching dress that I likely wore after she grew out of it, so that may be why I remember it so well. (Apparently they also had detachable collars at one point, though I don't remember them... or Erin's friend that I'm trying to copy in this picture.)

As Lyssa ran around in her "pink dress", whirling and twirling I couldn't resist taking pictures!  I've come to the conclusion that this little number must have shrunk over the years because it is much much shorter on Lyssa than it was on me at that age, and neither of us has ever been very tall.  

me (age 2)

Lyssa (age 2)

It's fun to compare the two of us at that age.  Though I have seen similarities between the two of us in younger pictures, Lyssa definitely has a look all of her own, with darker hair, darker skin, darker eyes, the classic "Parkinson upper lip", and no crazy cowlicks (Alec was not so lucky).  She's also got her own brand of personality, and I LOVE IT!

There are still enough similarities though that you can easily say 

"She is her mother's daughter" 

and for that I feel lucky.