My little girl is growing up...

Elsie had her first haircut on Saturday. I have been putting it off for months, but it just needed to be done. It was so long and getting to be a big hassle to style and take care of.

 I may have cried a little bit as I took the first couple of snips...

 Elsie was very good about sitting still and letting me work. She is used to holding still while I do her hair, and this wasn't any different.

 Elsie was excited to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse during the whole thing. I just had to watch out for the Hot Dog Dance; Elsie always likes to dance along.

 "What's this, Mom?"

 The finished product. Her hair is a lot shorter, but it looks healthy and light.

 My little girl suddenly looks so much older. I still get a shock every time I look at her and realize half her hair is gone. I'm happy with how it turned out. It looks very cute, I just have to get used to it.

Nine Months

Little Alice is nine months old. Actually, she was nine months old yesterday, but we had a big day full of Halloween parties and we never took pictures. Her front teeth still haven't broken through, but they have been on the edge for weeks and they should be here any day now. She has fully mastered crawling and can get just about anywhere. If I happen to walk away it's not long before I see a little face crawling to find me. She still prefers to army crawl, but she will get up on her hands and knees just to try it out every once in a while. Alice will follow Elsie everywhere, and Elsie uses this knowledge to get them both in trouble. Alice is still very snuggly and attached to me; she is very much a Mama's girl. Dad is fine when she wants to play, but other than that it has to be Mommy.

Hand print ghosts

Elsie has wanted to make these ghosts ever since she saw her cousins make them.

Don't mind her messy hair or the fact that she is still in her jammies. Some things are more important than getting ready for the day.

I haven't left the house in 5 days...

...but I guess it is for a good cause. Potty Training Take 2 is happening at our house right now, and I have to say it is being pulled off with flying colors.

We started a month or two ago by telling Elsie that once she used up all of the diapers we were not getting any more. We talked a lot about how when the diapers were all gone that meant it was time to wear panties and use the potty. Whenever she would get a new diaper we would talk about what would happen when they were all gone.

They ran out on Sunday and we really started buckling down on Monday. She has been wearing panties all week. She has had a handful of accidents... We started setting the timer for 20-30 minutes and when it beeped it was time to sit on the potty. We read books and sing songs to help her sit longer and "try". Yesterday and today she started jumping up and saying "oh, I have to use the potty" when she needed to go without and prompting from us.

With how much of a fiasco it was the first time we tried, I was really nervous to give it another go. But Elsie is older and wiser now, and was ready to get out of diapers. She was telling us whenever she peed and that she needed a new diaper. If we couldn't change it right then she would get upset and yell that she needed a new diaper. Even though she asked for them, she hated getting her diaper changed. It was time and she knew it, and it made all the difference.

Here's hoping this time sticks!

Pumpkin Patch Fail

I thought it would be a fun family activity for us to all go to a pumpkin patch last weekend. When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a couple trying to get into their car. Apparently they had lost their keys in the corn maze the night before and were back with their dad to try and break into the car. Alan walked over to see if he could help, and 45 minutes later Alan succeed in getting the trunk open. Then it was just a simple matter of pushing down the back seat enough for Elsie to crawl through and climb to the front seat to open the door.

 After standing outside in the wind for that long, the girls were FREEZING. I didn't expect it to be that cold so we didn't bundle them up as much as we could have. It wasn't all that cold outside, but the wind made everything at least 15 degrees colder. (Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was COLD.) We went inside the little barn and got a cookie warm from the oven to try and warm the girls up.

 By the time they had thawed out, it was getting close to nap time. Add that to the fact that it was still super windy and cold, we decided not to go all the way out into the pumpkin patch. We chose a few of the already picked pumpkins and called it a day.

So that's the story of how we went to the pumpkin patch but didn't actually go to the pumpkin patch. I guess there is always next year...

Fall leaves

Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of two girls in the leaves all by myself? It's not easy. I snapped a few shots of them, but Alice didn't know what to think about the whole experience and I never got a smile out of her. I played around with the pictures and tweaked the colors a little bit. Is it too much? Do they look  too "fake"?

Quick note

I have a few posts coming up about what we've been up to the last couple of days, but I just wanted to jump on really quick and say that Alan has finished up all of his training at work! Hooray for Alan! Hooray for finishing within the six month timeline! Hooray for a pay raise! We are all very proud of Alan and his hard work.

Sold

On a whim, I attended a class about coupons at my local library. All of a sudden it seemed like this whole new world has opened up to me. I started collecting them and sorting them and planning out shopping trips... I have to admit it is a little addicting. I am still very much a novice at the whole game, but I'm getting better. This is my biggest haul to date...

One Dr. Pepper Ten

Three Suave Professionals Shampoo

Three Suave Professionals Conditioner

Three Always 16c packs

One Lysol Dual Action wipes

One gallon whole milk

Three Grands Biscuit sandwiches

Total price: $32.05

I paid: $7.20 for a savings of 77.5%

It's pretty awesome. I actually only paid for the shampoo, conditioner, and pads. The rest was all free. Not bad for a rookie.

Who says...

...you can't have an Easter egg hunt in October?

October is here