Haircut or mugshot - you decide

So, I have been a lazy blogger recently. These pics actually happened several weeks ago but I did not post them because I wanted relatives to be surprised over Thanksgiving (and I was just kind of lazy and didn't get to it, plus 9 days of travel, etc).

Double A decided she wanted her hair cut short. She has been growing her bangs for about two years now and she wanted her hair as short as her bangs. I told her we would see what the hairdresser said as far as length with her curls. I really did not want her looking like Bozo the Clown if it got too short and curled up.

This first pic is not a great quality because I only had my crummy cell phone with me. However, it was an emotional moment for me so I really wanted a photo.

All the curls laying on the floor!!

These are the after shots:

It really is a cute style and the stylist did a great job. It is still pretty curly and to be honest might even look better because it does not have all that scraggly length to it anymore. I worried how Double A would feel because her hair has always gotten her so much attention. I asked her if she liked it and she said yes. Then I said "all your curls are gone!" and she said "I know, that is what I wanted." Well, maybe she did not like the curls as much as I thought she did!

OCHO

#8 has finally left the mouth.

We seem to have reached a standstill. Double A has had at least one loose tooth for about two years now but for the first time, none are loose now.

Double A wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy asking why the Tooth Fairy has not ever written her a note. She also asked what the Tooth Fairy does with her teeth. The Tooth Fairy replied with a note and .50 cents. The note explained that with Double A's teeth in particular she is making a wind chime!

Happy Halloween!!

The weather cleared up just in time for Halloween festivities. It has been raining all month. We have had record rainfall for October...the most since 1830! 12 inches in one month but today was sunny even though it was a bit cool.

This is the first year the kids have ever agreed to have coordinating costumes for Halloween. They were a huge hit in the neighborhood and I thought they were adorable. Unfortunately, my camera settings were weird and the pics are blurry. I am going to see if the will re-enact it tomorrow for better pictures but this is what we have at this point. Behold...the flapper and the gangster!!! (also, our new paint color)

Puppy Daze

This post is a little late but keep reading and you will see why!!

Here is the news update on the new little guy at our house. It all started when I had Belle at the vet and they had 6 week old puppies for adoption. I told Husband #1 and to my complete surprise he agreed to go see them! Then we decided to look all over if we were looking. We found this little guy at the Humane Society. We tried to bring him home that Saturday but as we were doing the paperwork he had some diarrhea and a temperature so they kept him until he coud be cleared medically. I went back to pick him up that Wednesday. He is about 3 months old. They say he is a mix of Treeing Walker Coonhound and American Bulldog. He definitely has some kind of hound with his ears and he does try to howl. The saggy face and eyes and squat nose seems to be where they think bulldog. I guess we will see as he grows what he looks like. Yes, he does have big paws. It has been estimated he will be about 60 pounds. We'll see.

His name is Louie. Our current dog, Belle, is 10 years old and was named for the area of Nashville where we lived at the time, Bellevue. So sticking with the theme, Louie is named for St. Louis!

Belle was not too happy but is coming around to the idea. She has put Louie in his place with snarling and growling and is teaching him she is dominant. She has also started playing with him, which is so cute, like in the picture below.

The kids are pretty excited. They want Louie to be on their bed while we are reading bedtime stories.

Double A seems to think Louie's legs don't work. She carries him everywhere and really wants him to sleep with her. I told her she has to wait until she is potty trained. She has been doing very well with the training sessions and commands.Everyone likes to snuggle with Louie. He has gotten to the point that he automatically sits on someone's lap if available. He is very cuddly.

Unfortunately we have had our first major mishap with Louie which brings me to the portion of this post on explaining why it has been delayed.

Louie ate my laptop.

A new keyboard is on order so I am currently typing without those keys. More challenging than I anticipated. Who knew you used B, N and L this much?! I have gotten a replacement power cord. It was actually smoking when I pulled it out of Louie's mouth. He didn't seem harmed, though.

Potty training is going fairly well. It has been monsooning here so sometimes he does not like to go out. When it is dry he LOVES beig outside. He does wake up earlier than I want, but then again I am pretty grumpy in the mornings anyway. It realy is like having a baby. Except when I leave the house I can lock him in a kennel! Overall, it has been a good decision and he has been a good dog in the first week and a half.

Need concrete proof I have lost my mind?

He lives with us now.

We're not in Kansas anymore!

Last weekend we traveled to the Southern Miss/Kansas game in Lawrence, Kansas. We picked the kids up from school and traveled about 5 hours and stayed in a hotel that night. When we woke up and dressed in our game clothes, we were the only Southern Miss fans in the hotel! It was a pretty good game except we ended up losing. Close game, though. The kids were okay for most of it but then got pretty bored. Double A started not feeling well. We drove home after the game and she was whiny and sick. Sunday she had 102 fever and stayed home from school Monday. I then got whatever she had. I spent Wednesday in bed with slight fever and hacking cough. I still have the hacking cough and scratchy deep voice. Husband #1 has been battling it but winning and Bumblebee seems to have missed it altogether, thankfully.

Self portrait before the game

Before the game in the stands...Bumblebee wouldn't cooperate for the pic

Bumblebee loves his cotton candy!!

This is how she spent the second half of the game...not feeling well.

Double A's horse show

What a busy weekend and it is only Saturday! Double A had another horse show today. She competed in Musical Stalls and Little Squirts walk trot trail (obstacle course on the horse). She placed 2nd in musical stalls and 4th in walk trot trail. She did well. She had a little trouble with the trail course with getting her horse to "listen." It seems the other girls had trouble too so no worries. Double A tends to get discouraged easily when her horse does not behave on the first attempt. We are working on that.

We are quite proud of her today and she is proud of herself, also. Bumblebee spent the four hours catching grasshoppers, crickets and caterpillars and basically just getting very dirty!