Wordless Wednesday

Hair today, Gone tomorrow.

The wedding has come and gone – and so have my split ends.

Last night, I finally got the guts to chop off my locks. I went from having hair three inches below my shoulders to this!

For (nearly) 26 years of my life, I lived with super straight hair. I used to give my college roommates a hard time about how long it took them to straighten their hair – I hopped out of the shower, blow dried it and was good to go!

But, after having Gavin my hair did a complete 180. I had to completely relearn how to style it. But, over the last couple of years I’ve worn it longer – mostly due to our recent wedding – which kept it looking fairly straight. My stylist kept laughing as she cut – the shorter it got the more my curl bounced up!

Now, I don’t have to do a thing when I get out of the shower – a quick towel dry and wham, I’m ready for the day!

I’m excited to run out and get some new hair product to go along with the new ‘do. Luckily, I received multiple “get it free” coupons in the mail this week for all sorts of products (thanks to mybargainbuddy.com – find her on facebook!) so I won’t have to spend a dime!

Weekday Date Night

I got to go on a date with someone other than my husband last night. And while he’s only about three feet tall and about sixteen and a half years away from being legal, we had a blast!

Earlier in the day, I told Gavin that Daddy was working late so he could pick what we could do post daycare hours. He quickly replied, “Take mama to Applebees to eat chicken!” Melt my heart a little more buddy!

He excitedly ordered his own meal, a Joe Mauer (kiddie cocktail) and chicken tenders wit’ fwench fwies. And he ate every.single.bite! Music to this CF mama’s ears.

After our meal he asked to go to the play area (the restaurant is in the mall), but when we got there all the kids were well under two years of age. After about 10 minutes of playing he ran to me and said, “dey all babies mama. I too big for dis today.” While I would never bribe him with candy from a vending machine – ok, ok I totally did – we headed off to a couple stores and got him a bunch of clothes for next summer. This was the first time I had brought him shopping without a stroller - I wasn’t able to tie him down! My little tornado actually managed to keep his fingers off the clothing displays, didn’t scream at me to “’urry up!” and I was smart enough to head to the store constantly running cartoons until the very end.

By the time we got home, he was spent. A full belly, with energy burned at the play area and from just walking around the mall. We curled up on the couch to watch the “silly little guys” – aka Despicable Me – and he fell asleep giggling at the little yellow minions.

I think I’m going to have to go dates with this short little guy more often. He’s fun, he makes me laugh, and his meal choices are seriously cheap!

A Night Out

Last night, our neighborhood celebrated national night out at our home. With a block as social as ours – it wasn’t long before our driveway was filled with people. Sweaty people. Yikes, was it humid!

In typical potluck style, the tables were quickly covered with an arrangement of different foods.

By registering with the national program, the local emergency crews “may” show up – and because our neighborhood has gatherings all summer long, I really wanted something that would stand out from the other parties. So, I contacted the police department by email and apparently nagged him enough because low and behold…

 

We got not only a large fire truck, but a police car as well. They were all great – the kids had a blast checking out the cop car, and they all commented on how uncomfortable the back seat was - hopefully more of a deterrent to keep them out of the backseat in the future!

The firemen showed everyone the inside of the truck – as well as all of the tools on the outside. At first Gavin was hesitant to get close to such a large vehicle – but in the end he sobbed as they pulled away.

We sure are blessed to have such fantastic neighbors!

Enjoying the fruits (and veggies) of summer.

It’s been an odd summer season, weather wise. With a long & cool spring, record breaking highs, & torrential winds & rains –our garden is finally turning out the larger vegetables.

Case in point.

The jalapenos, peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, herbs and tomatoes are growing in leaps and bounds – every morning Gavin and I tiptoe across the dew covered grass to see what can be picked and eaten that day. The shrieks of, “Mama, that ‘mato turned red! We can pick ‘em!” is a far better wake up call than the strongest of coffees could give me.

And for what we don’t grow in our backyard, we pick up at our local farmer’s market. Even as the market is shadowed by the towering buildings of downtown - there is something rustic about shopping for local vegetables from nearby farm lands. The array of vendors is impressive – from friendly Amish with home baked goods to immigrants who barely speak English, nodding happily as you check out their produce. I still cannot believe that the first time we truly got to eat local sweet corn was at the very end of July this year!

This little boy could barely contain his excitement for the stuff, impatiently waiting for it to cool off enough for him to eat. While his technique still misses about half the kernels, he has moved on to a full ear, unlike last year!

And to top off our Sunday of fresh food – my little chef and I whipped up some strawberry smoothies. Far better – and cheaper – than we could have gotten at any store.

Probably because they were made with love.