Haircut and more!!!

So it was probably passed time for a haircut for Trooper, but it seems like a pretty big step into manhood! The FIRST HAIRCUT. hee hee I never really gave Josie a real haircut until this year --little trims here and there but not a real one, so I was at a loss as to how to give Troop one but it was time. His hair was so long on the top we gave him a baby Mohawk. I feel bad for the babies whose mothers get attached to their baby locks and let them grow so long that they look like old men with comb-overs. hee hee
He actually really liked getting it cut and was giggling.
Here are some before and after pictures of his haircut.




Before: I am READY!









After: What a Handsome Devil I am!!













A little side story about this experience. I used the hair trimmers for Troops haircut and Josie was having lunch and talking to me while I was cutting. I was really concentrating on Trooper and his hair so I wasn't paying much attention to Josie. She was talking about daddy and hair and playing with the guards to the clippers. Then she started telling me about Daddy putting oil on her head when she was sick and giving her a blessing. I answered yes and asked her why she was remembering that. I turned around and Josie had taken the little bottle of machine oil that comes with the hair clippers and had dumped the little bottle on top of her head. So Troop and I are covered in hair and Josie in oil. I couldn't get mad cause she was so serious about it. We had a little talk about it and then had a little party in the tub. I think it is amazing what she remembers. The times she has had blessings she has been pretty sick and pretty out of it. But obviously it has left an impression on her. I love her so much.

Pirate Princess

Now for the long awaited Josie's Pink Pirate Party! Josie turned 3! I cannot believe how big she is. It really flies by doesn't it?! She has been asking and asking about her birthday for probably a year so when the time came we had a little talk with her about what she wanted. Basically the only thing that she really wanted was a party with all of her friends and family. She even gave me a list of people that she wanted there. We have always had a birthday party for her. I have thought about this alot and really have decided that it is ok with me to have birthday parties for kids. There was a conference talk by Elder Ballard that talked about teaching our children who they are and what their true potential is. He suggested that creating meaningful family bonds give our children an identity stronger than what they can find with their peer group or at school or anyplace else. And that this can be done through family traditions for birthdays, for holidays, for dinnertime and for Sundays. We have tried to create these traditions in our little family. So when I asked Josie what she wanted she was insistent upon a pink pirate princess party--(try to say that 10 times) hee hee So that is what we did. We had a little friend party during the day and a family party that night. She had a ball. Here are some of the pictures and things that we did: First we had them dress up like pirates. I had made a little place for them to climb up and look into the mirror while we gave them pirate bandannas, mustaches and beards and tattoos. They looked awesome and for the most part they wore them!! I was pretty impressed by that.

Here is a picture of some of them. I couldn't get them all to stand in one place at the same time.

They played a while downstairs and we played some pirate games, like pin the patch on the pirate and they won an earing and an eye patch. We then have a pirates lunch of hot dog pirate boats, sea water, goldfish, jeweled jello, and golden tatertots. Then we had a treasure hunt. We followed a map and clues around the house. They got spy glasses and looked for the color which had the next clue. Like"For this clue I could not find a rhyme, but it’s the color of pumpkins at Autumn time. . . . ORANGE". It was prefect for their age!!! They had lots of fun. Then they got a little treasure chest bad of their own filled with gold rolos, colored starbursts, and jeweled rings.

We then settled down to watch a little pirate backyardagains while they ate their treasures.







We had pink pirate cupcakes.












Then when their parents came, they walked across the plank, over a kiddy pool with gaters, and got a "Gaters Blood" red squeeze it, to take home. It was great!!!!






We had the family that night to eat the cake and ice cream.










I asked my mom to make Josies cake. It was incredable. She is sooo clever.









Then I added my favorite picture of the day!! What a scary pirate!!! It was such a fun day I hope that Josie remembers it forever and knows how much her friends and family love her. Happy Birthday Josie!

Beautiful Basement

Yeah!!! We made it!!! First I apologies for not updating as regularly as I should have. I feel like I am going to have to post like 10 new posts to document everything that has happened. So bear with me and if you get board skip something!! hee hee! First we finished our family room in the basement!!! I love it!! I cannot believe what a difference it has made already!! I don't have any before pictures so I put a picture of our still-unfinished-bedrooms to contrast!! I have to give all the credit to Joshy!! He did a fantastic job!! He is such a work horse and a great carpenter. Boy did I luck out!! You should see him in his tool belt he's hot! hee hee Thanks Joshy you are the greatest!