Cosmotologist

So, Mya decided that she wanted to already try her hand at becoming a hair stylist with the help of an accomplice. She found a pair of scissors and decided that she would cut her hair. One of Aleah's friends also always cuts her hair, so she thoughtfully helped! I walked into the play room to help the kids clean up so that Hank didn't eat their toys and I found THIS on the floor! I freaked out!!!!!!

So, here is what the final product looked like. As you can see, the left side is alittle bit "less full" than the other side. She now has bangs that go from behind her ear, all the way around!!!

And this is what happened to the back. As you can see, not quite even. I guess that we are going to have to have her Aunt Jenny (who owns her own salon and is her hair stylist) to teach her how to cut evenly :) Go figure that MYA would be the one to cut her own hair!!!!

Conference Bingo

I love when Conference time comes around because I love to hear the prophet and apostles speak. But with my lack of patience sometimes, I often get frustrated that I am not going to be able to even listen with the girls. So, we decided to try to get the girls involved and also try to get them to listen. I know this idea has been around forever, but I was excited that my girls were actually old enough to play it. I printed some Conference Bingo cards from the Internet, picked up little bags of M&Ms and set it up. We played it backwards though. We put all the M&Ms on the board and when they heard one of the words, they got to eat the M&M. I was amazed at how many talks they actually sat through and listened to. And more importantly, I got to listen to!! It was alot of fun! We were able to have some friends over and they had alittle girl that was 9 and so the girls wanted to be just like her and listened even more. It was great!! But they soon realized that it just took too long to hear ALL the words and said, "I'm tired of playing this mom! Can we just eat them all now?" Sure! You did well!!! Looks like new traditions are finally starting to come about in the Hemerson household!!

UNWIND

Here's Don! Here's Don unwinding! I can always tell when Don has had a stressful day and just needs to relax for a bit. He does puzzles! I came walking out of the bedroom the other night and found this.... a table set up in the living room with a puzzle spread out and I smiled! His favorite are the Thomas Kinkaid puzzles and he can sit for hours and hours putting them together. Now I know where Aleah gets it from :) She followed in her daddy's footsteps and loves doing puzzles. She usually asks to help daddy put them together. I am glad that he has found a way to unwind. We all need that sometimes :)

TURNING 5

Aleah turned 5 on Sunday and let me just say that I am just sad (and excited) to see her get SO big! She was so excited that her Grandma and Paka were able to come out and spend time with her. She got to go to Toy's R Us and pick out fun things that she wanted for her birthday. She also got to go have a sleepover at the hotel with Grandma and Paka and you KNOW there was NO spoiling going on there :) She is such a big girl and gets even more and more beautiful each day. I am glad to see that her curls are still there and that she is as sweet and smart as ever. She is such a great big sister and always watches out for her little sister. I love that she loves to sing and dance like her mommy and that her creativity in her drawing and coloring is continuing. She is very quick to see the best in everyone and isn't afraid to tell them that they are great! Not a day passes that she doesn't tell me that she loves me and that I'm her best friend. She is so sweet and I pray that she will stay that way. School has been so great for her. She is loving every minute of it and amazes me with all the new things she is learning!!! She is even starting to learn how to read already with the books that we got her for her birthday. It's so great having girls!! Her Great Grammie Frazier got her this dress up outfit. Isn't she SO beautiful???
How fun are these. The girls 2nd mom (Stacie) made them these cute little boxes and they were filled with all of their favorites... chapsticks, body glitter, necklaces, nail polish... anything a little girl would want! They have not been able to put them down since they got them. They take them everywhere they go and can't leave the house without their nails painted and their "lips on." (That's what they call having chapstick on) Too much fun!! Stacie, you need girls :) :)

These are two of Aleah's greatest friends out here. Coutney lives next door and has been coming over since the day we moved here. (literally) And Hailee is Aleah's friend from school. What sweet little girls!!! When I asked Aleah what she wanted for her birthday, all she wanted was a CTR ring. And so it was really fun to find a pink one small enough for her finger. Too much fun!!! What a good example she is already!!!
Her Aunt Kayla found the entire collection of the Little Critters books. Do you remember reading these when you were little? I love these books and so do the girls. We read them EVERY night before bed! They are so fun to read and the girls love hunting for the spider and grasshopper on every page.
Grandma and Paka let Aleah pick out a new bike. It seemed SO big to me but this is the one she wanted. My little girl is still too little for such a big bike!!
Aleah has ALWAYS loved to draw and Mya is quickly following in her footsteps, and so we decided to encourage this talent and get them an awesome easle for their birthdays. Too fun!!

Hank the Hamper

I am sick and tired of getting after the girls about cleaning up their toys. I feel like I spend the entire day, following behind them, cleaning up toys as they go. They move from one toy to another and pretty soon, you can't even SEE the floor in the toy room. SO, I was talking to a good friend of mine back in CO and she told me about Hank. He is a hamper that comes out at night and eats all the toys that are left laying on the floor. So, when I first told the girls about him, they kinda freaked out alittle bit. They started frantically cleaning their play room (yeah-- it's working) But what Mya did next made me fall to the floor laughing. She got this terrified look in her eye, slammed the door shut to the playroom and held it shut! She just said, "I'm gonna hold the door shut so Hank can't get in. You guys keep cleaning!" Wasn't that so sweet of her :) Then she said, "I'm just gonna hide these!" as she threw toys under a blanket. (If Hank can't see them, he won't eat them, right?)
So, later that night, Hank came to visit. Aleah's response, "Are you kidding me mom? That's just a hamper. He's not real!" Man-- I can't fool her, can I? Needless to say, it kinda freaked the girls out that this "Hamper Monster" is going to eat their toys, but it got them to clean up and keep their toys off the ground. Yeah!!!
As of this morning, "Shank" (that's what Mya calls him) is hungry cause he didn't get to eat any toys last night. So, we are going to try to see how long we can keep him hungry. Wish us luck!!!

Escape Artist

We decided that it was time to see how our new found dog friend would do if she was left alone in the house and so we went out for a couple of hours on Saturday night. We closed all the doors in the house and headed out. Well, we come home, open the garage door and she is standing in our garage. She managed to open 2 doors in our house to get out to the garage. Can you believe that? 2 doors!!!!! SO, we can't leave her inside. We decided to see how she does OUTSIDE while we went to church. Now, you have to remember, she is about 100 lbs and so we didn't think that she would be able to jump the fence. But sure enough, she did and ran away. Luckily she had tags on with her other owners phone number on it. Someone found her and she went back with them. Don finally realized that our place now is just not fit for a dog. I have to just really believe that "problems" sometimes solve themselves. But one day, I will have to give in and get a dog. She would have been great for our family if the timing was better. You know what they say about how timing is everything!
Bye bye Mia!!!

New House Guest

Don thought that it would be a great idea for us to get ourselves a dog. Despite the fact that we are renting... he still REALLY wants a dog. A client of his had this dog that needed a good home, someone who could help her lose weight and give her lots of love and attention. So, thoughtfully, Don felt like OUR home would be that place. So, last night he walked in the door with a 100 lb black lab named Mia! Yep-- you heard me right. She has the SAME name as my daughter! So, we are now trying to figure out a new name for her. The girls thought... Trina (that's our fish's name, our doll's names... everything in our house is named Trina), Bella, Sheila, Kia. Who knows! This poor dog is SO confused!

She really is a good dog-- what you see here is all that she does. She is 7 years old so she is already house broken and trained. What more could I ask for.... except that I DON'T WANT A DOG!!!!!! So, IF she stays, we are going to have to figure out a good name for her. The girls love her!! But they have always wanted a dog!

But after walking in on this (Mya reading a book to Mia).... how could I get rid of her?
So, TO BE CONTINUED.....