the mullet

My children are blessed in their first year of life to grow a very stylish mullet.
With Jenna, I put it in pigtails and remained in denial. But this time I have accepted the truth and chopped it off!

I thought he would be scared of the clippers because he cries every time I try to run the vacuum or dry my hair, but he was calm and cool about it. And now he looks like such a big boy :)

too cool for school

How did this happen? I have a Kindergartener!

I did tear up when we dropped her off, but it's only because I'm so proud of her! She was so excited and not at all nervous. I'm sure she thought I was crazy for trying to make such a big deal about it. But I'm excited for her as well!
Jenna gets to go to a great school and she loves her teacher. In fact, we found out that they share their first and middle names! She called Jenna her "mini-me!" I'd say teacher's favorite student is in the bag :)
Although I'm sad that she has full-day Kindergarten, there are some positives. She gets to take fun classes like music, art, media, PE, world language, and technology. And Liam gets a great morning nap, and lots of mommy time!
It's going to be a great year!

He's a trooper while we wait in the heat to pick up sister :)

We have now entered the era of pick-ups and drop-offs, homework, PTA's, snow days, packing lunches, parent-teacher conferences, back-to-school shopping, summer vacations, and report cards.
Our lives will never be the same again!

tooth fairy

We didn't really see this one coming! One day out of the blue Jenna tells me she has a wiggly tooth and two days later (July 25) we're calling the tooth fairy!

If you want any of my advice on the subject, here it is: put the tooth as far away from the sleeping child as you can manage! Jenna saw the movie Rise of the Guardians, so we were already done for...
It was seriously the most stressful thing I've done as a parent. I mean, whose idea was it to put the tiny little tooth directly under their heads and expect us to replace it with a surprise!? I felt a little like Indiana Jones...
I had to wait until I was sure she was asleep, then tip-toe into the bedroom, making sure to avoid the squeaky spots and not wake either child. I carefully felt around under her pillow, finding nothing, so I left to get my phone for a little bit of light. I sneaked back in, all set with a fake story in case she woke up, and still couldn't find that stinkin' tooth! I just about gave up when I took a step back and stepped on the little ball we put her tooth in - hallelujah! I replaced the tooth with a smiley-face paper tooth I made, carefully slid it and a lollipop under her pillow, high-tailed it out of there, and finally took a breath!

The lollipop was all Jenna's idea. She told us that is what the tooth fairy would bring, and I couldn't disappoint my little girl! She was over the moon excited when she woke up the next morning.

Exactly a week later, about an hour after her first dentist appointment, she lost her second tooth!
It was a ton less stressful this time, because I had already done it once and she hadn't tossed around so the tooth was still under the pillow.

We did money this time, but honestly she was more excited about the little paper tooth I made. I'm pretty sure she's actually forgotten about that dollar!

Speaking of the dentist, she loved it! I know, slap on the wrist for waiting this long to bring her, but I'm not stressing because she has no cavities and can't wait to go back! Seriously, she asked for days to go again. They did such an amazing job making it fun and not at all scary for her.

I'm not sure exactly when my baby turned into a kid, but she's a great one!