Locks of Love

Well, I finally did it! It was a promise I made to one of my girl scouts, Jennifer White, who at the ripe old age of nine, has already done it multiple times.

I cut off my hair and donated it to Locks of Love, an organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.





To get the required 10.5 inches, I had to go shorter than I wanted, but it was exhilarating and the reflection in the mirror is surreal. Not since childhood have I had my hair this short! How easy it is to take a shower and comb right through your hair without a half hour struggle!!

I'm still on the fence as to whether I really like my hair this short, but I am definitely liking the way it makes me feel when I think that I've made someones day a little brighter.

A Quick Get Away

In celebration of mommy's 34th birthday and for a school year nearly completed, we decided to surprise the kids with a quick get away to CoCo Key Water Resort in Boston, MA. On Monday April 7th we woke girl's up to get ready for school. I said to them, "Wouldn't it be nice if we could go on vacation today instead of school?" At first they thought I was just dreaming, but they quickly caught on and that is when the screams of excitement began!!!

We spent just two nights, but it was just enough to feel like a vacation and to break up the monotony of this time of year.

Easter

We celebrated this chilly early Easter by having an egg hunt in the yard with our great friends. We have 7 girls under the age of 9 between us and getting together is always an adventure and can often lead to parental exhaustion as was the case of Alexandra and Gabrielle's dad, Kevin...

Most popular eggs? Those filled with money, of course!!! Followed by the ever popular chocolate filled.

Most un-popular eggs? Those found and pillaged by a girl and thrown aside in the mad dash for those filled with money!!


The next morning we woke up to find that the Easter bunny had visited us and had left these wonderful baskets of goodies!!

A Day in the Life of a Pre-Teen Girl

The best sleep-over ever!!

Starring:

Lexi Wheeler (9) - loves softball and girl scouts

Abby van der Swaagh (8) - loves dance

Megan Hyatt (8) - loves horses and friends

Lauren Hyatt (5) - loves being part of it all

A First for Lauren

On Thursday, February 7th, 2008 Lauren lost her first tooth!! It had only been loose for a few days and we were all very excited for her. Mommy even went to the store and bought her a toothfairy pillow so we would be ready.

The special moment happened in Kindergarten on Thursday and her teacher helped her put it in a ziploc to keep it safe on the bus ride home.

Later that night, the toothfairy magically came to Lauren's room and took Lauren's special tooth for her collection and left behind 5 golden $1 coins (one for each year she is old), lots of fairy dust and a beautiful strand of butterflies and crystals (because it was her first)!

It's the little things in life that make childhood so magical.

A Family Gathering

During Christmas break, we drove down to Pennsylvania for a rare gathering of Dan's family...Dan's parents (from Florida), Dan's sister, husband and 3 children (from Pennsylvania) and Dan's brother, wife and 2 kids (from Idaho).

One would think that spending a week in a house with 16 people (8 of which are under the age of 9) would eventually lead to insanity, but it was suprisingly mellow and very enjoyable. The "cousins" had a great time playing and acted as if no time had ever passed since they'd last seen each other. Even the adults were able to relax a bit, although admittedly a lot of time was spent in the kitchen working on the never ending chore of feeding 16 people. It was a running joke for us to watch a platter of cookies or snacks be put down on the table and disappear within minutes!

Thank you to Diane and Brian for hosting and thank you to everyone for the very special memories.

Christmas 2007

As is our tradition, my parents come over on Christmas Eve night. We prepar and enjoy tons of different appetizers and snacks, we watch a Christmas Movie (this year was Santa Clause 3) and allow the kids to give out the gifts that they bought for everyone.

If there was ever a Christmas that had a theme, this was it...horses, horses, horses!! If they made a toy in the shape of a horse, we now own it, along with assorted versions of horse pj's, shirts, socks, hats, sweatshirts, blankets, pillows, sheets and art!! Katie on the other hand was quite happy to sit in her new little red chair from the Pottery Barn and watch everyone else open their presents.

The best gift of all turned out to be the one we swapped with Dan's sister and her family..the Nintendo WII! It's amazing how much fun this little machine can be, not only for our family, but for whomever we have over. On any given night in our house you might find us in the living room practicing to become professional bowlers, tennis players, Barbie Island Pricesses, High School Musical singers or famous Rattatouille Chefs!!