Reverting Back

The boys and I try to get out and play at least once a day.  It helps to break up the afternoon between naps and when LaVor gets home from work.  Plus, it gives us all a little exercise.

This last week, The Lime wanted to ride my longboard but I told him no.  Then he suggested we all sit on it and cruise down the street.  (We've done this before and it's quite fun.)  So with me in the back, The Lime in the front, and Doodlebug squished in between, we rolled down our street, walked back up, and rolled down again.  Before I knew it, my neighbor came outside and said she had to take some pictures of us.  

I was excited to have someone document the fun we were having since I usually don't make it into any of our family photos.

But then it struck me...my hair.

Yea, it's getting long.  That I'm aware of.  But the receding hairline is what really caught my eye.  I've always known I had one, and it gets worse after giving birth, but it seemed so much worse in these photos.

So as I was getting ready this morning, I stood in front of the mirror and combed all of my bangs forward.

A pair of scissors has not touched these things for a year.  I have always had bangs, and with a difficult Doodlebug on my hands last year, I needed to spend the least amount of time getting ready in the mornings so I could tend to a screaming baby.  So I decided to grow them out.  The simplicity was wonderful!  Being able to throw them back and be ready in half the time made me wonder why I didn't grow them out before.

But back to this morning.  I stood there for a while, contemplating on what I should do.  Finally, I wrapped a tie around them and snipped 'em.

Right after I cut them (literally, right after), The Lime and LaVor got home from what I thought was a doughnut run.  Turns out, they got the haircut memo too and surprised me with handsome hair.

I have come to accept the fact that my bangs define me.  I instantly felt like "me" after I styled them and realized I never felt completely like "me" this past year.  Something was always missing.

The bangs.

But now I'm back in the game.  And my receding hairline is camouflaged and my huge forehead covered.  Hallelujah!

Fairytale Town

A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail notifying me that I won a museum pass from a local news station.  On the back of it were a number of museums that we could use it for, including Fairytale Town.  Since we hadn't been in over 2 years, and LaVor's mom was spending the weekend with us, we decided to use it for that.

Doodlebug couldn't get out of his stroller fast enough.  He is always on the go and wanted to see and do everything by himself.

He did let me go down the slides with him (even though there were signs posted everywhere that you couldn't go down in doubles or sit on someone's lap) and probably would have been content going up and down the slides the entire time. Same with The Lime.

Shortly after we got there, we heard some little voices calling The Lime's name. Two of his classmates were also visiting that day and couldn't contain their excitement.

Doodlebug couldn't contain his excitement when he saw the animals. That boy loves anything that moves.

We took a quick refreshment break and then proceeded our fun with a visit to Mr. McGregor's garden, where the boys got to water the plants. Such a cute idea.

Doodlebug had a fit when it was time to move on. The pirate ship seemed to distract him fairly quickly, until another little boy wanted to steer and then the hysterics started right up again.

Thankfully, there was another slide just around the corner that brightened his mood.

And another!

From there, the trains caught the boys' attention.

I love getting out and allowing the boys to play, climb, and pretend. I was telling me mom recently about an incident I saw at a restaurant where a parent was there with their two boys and all three of them were on a device, not interacting with each other one bit. Meanwhile, The Lime was pretending the little containers of jelly were cars and racing them around the table. It makes my heart swell seeing our boys use their creativity for good.

Speaking of being creative, The Lime and Doodlebug were pretending to be the mice that transformed into people from Cinderella.

And to finish off the visit, The Lime walked across this "balance beam" type contraption, despite the stinker kid who told him it was his and to get off.

I entered another contest today to win another pass. Cross your fingers we win and get to have another fun (free!) Saturday at one of our local museums.

Doodlebug - Tally Mark 16

-Says "ha" for hot.
-Knows how to brush himself off when he falls down.
-Loves playing outside in his little car, on his firetruck, and riding the scooter (with my help).
-Still only has 8 teeth.
-Loves brushing his teeth and will take you to the drawer in the bathroom so you can put his toothpaste on the brush.
-Always sits in my lap when I'm putting The Lime's shoes on in the morning.
-Loves, and I mean loves, to help me around the house. He's a pro at putting the laundry from the washer into the dryer and loves to press the button to start the dryer.
-Has had a cold for two weeks. Poor thing can't get rid of this cough.
-Has become more vocal in the last week. For someone who doesn't speak English, we communicate very well.
-Loves to help me water the garden and usually gets soaked in the process.
-Understands so much and is great at following directions.
-90% of the time, he wakes up in the 5 o'clock hour.  Depending on what's going on that day I'll feed him and put him back to bed or let him cry it out.
-Gets kissed and told that we love him hundreds of times a day.

Celebration of Life

What a weekend!  Hard to believe that we did this all exactly six months ago and one month ago.  We're hoping the funeral services are going to be put on hold for a while between our two families.

But what some might expect to have been a somber weekend was quite the opposite.  We celebrated Omi's life with friends, family, food, fun, and laughter.  Any time someone expressed their condolences (which was always appreciated!), I let them know that Omi's lived a long, wonderful life and it was hard to be sad when we all knew she was so happy.  And I think that translated nicely in the weekend we had.

My brothers and their families, as well as my parents, all got into town Thursday night.  All of us traveled to Union City Friday morning to meet my two sisters, a few friends from our home ward, and my aunt and uncle from Washington D.C. for Omi's service.  All of the cousins and siblings gathered in the Primary room (it's not as big as I remember it being 19 years ago!) to practice our musical numbers.

We got to meet our brand new niece (grandbaby #19!) who just joined our family a month ago. The sweet little thing didn't make one peep in the four days they were here. Talk about perfect!

The service was filled with music and memories, lots of tears and laughter. I'm sure it's exactly what Omi would have wanted. She had beautiful purple flowers that rested upon her casket and she was buried with photos of those she loved. She and her husband are now laid to rest together on earth, but are reunited on the other side.

After the casket was lowered, we all threw flowers into the plot as we said our last goodbyes. Surprisingly, there were no tears from anyone (at least that I saw). Seriously, this ended up being such a happy, peaceful day.

My mom and her brother

Hayley and the line of great-grandchildren

Sweet Ethan had to throw his a couple times - it just didn't want to go in

Doodlebug and LaVor

My brother

Last was my dad - Love my mom and Sister Grow hugging in the upper left hand corner

Before everyone left the grave site, we had to take some pictures together. The first one with a dear family friend, Marlis Grow. She has touched so many lives, including every person in my family, and it was extremely special to have her at the church for the service and then the cemetery for the burial.

Our entire family has not been together in seven and a half years. What an amazing legacy Omi helped create!

My parents kindly and generously offered to take everyone out to lunch. It was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to visit and enjoy the moment. I only wish I took a picture of all the food they brought out. We had no clue what to order for 30 people so the waitress said, "Don't worry!" We trusted her and ended up with enough food to feed about 100 people. It was nuts.

From there, everyone went their separate ways. We didn't want to sit in Labor Day/Friday night traffic so we spent a few hours at my sister's where The Lime played and played and played with his cousins and the adults talked like old times. We finished the night off with a treat at the Ice Creamery before making it home by 11:00 that night.

Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready to meet my brothers and parents at IHOP for what we were planning to be brunch. We had to wait so long for our food that it ended up being more like lunch. I don't think they were ready for 22 people, 14 of which were children 11 and under.

As if we hadn't eaten enough that weekend, we had everyone over for dinner Saturday night. The kids ran wild with imagination and the adults talked. I loved having everyone here and LaVor did a fantastic job with dinner.

Sunday was our last day together and it just so happened that my cousin's wife was in town from Canada, with their brand new baby, and we were invited to their open house to meet sweet Lucy. I didn't take any pictures there (mainly because I just wanted to visit) but it was a nice ending to an even nicer weekend.

It was a special time to look back and reminisce about our Omi and bask in the delight she brought to our lives. We will miss her but are so happy that she's back home.