Cut the Mullet!

I made an appointment for Jack with my stylist.  I wanted to take pictures while his hair was cut and she offered to do it for very little money.  It sounded fun!  But we couldn't get a non-nap time appointment for a couple weeks.  This weekend his mullet has been looking pretty rank.  I decided I couldn't take it anymore.  As soon as he woke from a (3 hour) nap I whipped him onto the back porch with a bowl of mango, stuck the camera in Ben's hands, and went to work.

Pictures!

 Above, ready for church.  Mulleted.

Below, the last gasp of the mullet.

Below, first snip (Sniff! My baby is gone!!)

Below, lots of head turning.  He tolerated it very very well.  No tears or fussing.  Just a lot of curious turns.

 Above, all done!  A celebratory bite of mango for Mom!

Below, my handsome boy.

New glasses!

What do you think?

More Circus Training

A Very Jack July

After a particularly rough crash, Jack resolved his tears with this bicycle toy kept on a high shelf.  I pulled out my camera when I noticed him making his "vroom vroom" noises.  Ben taught him that, of course.



Ben and Jack went hiking with Grandpa Rick in Fairplay.  There are many beautiful photos on Ben's flickr page.  I love this portrait:

I took a video of Jack and me on the porch for my Dad's birthday.  The lighting was weirdly ethereal so I snapped a few photos too:

Ben calls these PJ's Jack's sorority shorts:

Last weekend my parents came to visit!  I have so much fun seeing them, and Jack had a blast too. It was too hot for most of the playground equipment, but he likes stairs enough to be happy.

And he got a sunscreen-as-hair-product do in the shade.

They brought us Palisade peaches.  Jack ate three that day.

A quick stop at the Apple store to swap out a broken iPad.

Then Jack was let loose in the play park.  Holy cow, did he had had fun.

This was the first of many many times climbing up the water rapids.  It was incredibly noisy there, but I could see Jack's mouth moving the whole time he played.  They tell me he was going "Da! Da! Da! Da!" non-stop.

Spending Spree

I don't buy a lot of frivolous things.  Unless you could chocolate and diet coke.  But every once in a while I go on a spending spree.  I've got a bit of Christmas money in my savings account that I can dip into when the urge strikes.  Here are some recent purchases.

A dresser for Jack's room. 

He outgrew his changing table in length and I've been window shopping (online) for a vintage dresser since he was an infant.  Finally hit a good one on craiglist for the right price.  I love solid, old furniture.  Now I have my eyes peeled for a coordinating nightstand. 

With a salon appointment next week, I was inspired to do a little making-over of my image. 

I ordered some hair feathers from Etsy.  Now I look like this:

Ha!  Just kidding.  I ordered some brown and purple and only one thin stripey that is currently in my sister's hair. I put some in partly hidden just to see if they work well (yes!).  I'll put them in more obviously after my visit to the salon this week and before the trip to San Diego. 

I also go these, courtesy of my personal family ophthalmologist:

It's handy having a prescriber with you in the store, and a long time user to give you tips for putting contacts in.

 Aren't I alluring?  It will take some time to get used to them.  But I'm already loving being on the computer without my glaring, scratched up glasses.  Speaking of which . . .

I ordered these:

They are the Webb frames from Warby Parker.  It's a great glasses company.  You really all about them on their site.  I love their vintage style frames, the try at home offer,  and the buy-one-give-one program they have.  Ben scoffs at how hipster they are, including their name-which comes from two characters of Jack Kerouac.  You probably haven't heard of them ;-)

So hot

It's either a sign of the second coming, or a sign that it's too hot. We all take refuge in the basement.

Baby Names

 I had the pleasure of returning to my women's clinic for an annual check-up.  I grinned when I saw Jack's birth announcement on the big wall outside their ultrasound rooms.  Totally the cutest on the wall.  While waiting in the tiny room (getting the cold sweats in my flimsy thigh-high, open-backed gown) I wrote down all the names on the birth announcements they had on this smaller bulletin board.  So I present to you a sample of baby names in the Denver Suburban Area for 2010:

Ethan
Zeke
Alexander
Axel
Trace
Kaimani
Lydia
Brody
Layne
Noah
Wallace
Jon
Kailynn
Isabella
Zoey
Aletheia

Conclusion: I think if we had a girl someday I could totally pull off "Anathema."

Tying it old school

Miranda beat me to jumping on the friendship bracelet revival that's happening in the online fashion/craft community.  But she forgot that the best way to make them is safety-pinned to your jeans.  That way when you stand up to get another Capri Sun, you can go back to knotting while watching Duck Tales in a different place because your kid brother took your spot on the couch.  

For my first bracelet I picked the most nostalgic color combination I could.  I remember thinking one day in the second grade "Gosh, I can't go wrong pairing pink and teal!" Lavender and cornflower round out the set.

I hoard craft supplies.  This is my original box of embroidery thread from 20 years ago.  Note the fancy-pants ombre and glitter threads in the upper left boxes.  I believed those cost 1.49 each, THREE times the normal cost of embroidery thread in the early nineties.  I saved them for special occasion bracelets.

I've made five bracelets over the last few days.  They are quick and colorful.  Wish I could wear them all summer until the break off.  But I'd rather not risk getting blood on them at work. 

A Morning at the Park

With the day off (but call tonight) I took Jack to Park Day, as hosted by friends from church. They arrange a schedule of different parks for each Tuesday over the summer. Jack is just getting to the age and ability where he can enjoy playgrounds.



He liked the slide too, but I have to arrange him at the top because he keeps trying to crawl down it head first.

Today's Park, Ray Ross in Lakewood, has a "splash pad" with water jets. I did not prepare well because I mistakenly assumed Jack would be scared to be with all the other kids splashing about.



Wrong. With shoes off, he crawled into the mini pool the older kids made by sitting over the drain. Then he crawled over to this bigger water jet after a big kid abandoned it. It was a bit much for him and he gets a little exasperated. I love how he decides to try the smaller jets, then quickly changes his mind for the big one again!



I wish we could have stayed longer. But I only brought mango and graham crackers to eat and lunch time was swiftly approaching. Also, without swimsuit or towels Jack didn't have anything to change into after being thoroughly soaked. He was too wet to enjoy the playground equipment. We tried, but he stuck to everything. Next time I'll do better. Hey, at least I remembered sunscreen and a hat today!

Condors

Amanda has been in Peru.  Among much other awesomeness, she got to see condors in the Andes.  While discussing their wingspan over Old Chicago entrees (and Jack eating his weight in garlic bread), we figured each wing is about as long as my sister-in-law, Jenn.  So of course Ben made this:

Be happy, Jenn, that we found a full body picture of you aside from the one in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. 

Too Tall part II

We were suddenly in darkness.  He did it several times before I pulled out the camera.  Ben said "I guess we'll just be in the dark now."

Standing Tall

I recorded one of our efforts to help Jack stand. He's just nervous to let go on his own.



But I happened to catch him taking a step!

Rainy evening

Wish I was home. Ben sent this too me at work.

Happy fourth!

Hooray for getting off work early on holidays! Hooray for friends with pools!

Favorite so far

I haven't been terribly impressed with any couples' dances on SYTYCD so far.  Yes, the dancers are all top notch.  But the choreography hasn't had any stand-outs yet. 

Well, then I noticed that I've re-watched this piece four times already:



Ok. So that was a ball of awesomeness. And by Sonya Tayeh no less. She can really pull it out sometimes. I think they are over-using her this season. Her couples' dances all start to feel the same. But this group number makes up for all of those. Great costumes too. And shoes! Thank you for putting your dancers in shoes! (shaking fist at Tyce Diorio)