Long Story Short

Before.....

.....Ta Da! After!

Locks of Love got another two pony tails from our family this week. We're a family of growers, apparently. :) Hannah looks so precious. I'm just CRAZY about her new cut, but she can't stand for me to go on and on about it, so I can't let this entire post be just about her hair. She would find that ridiculous, and I try very hard, as her mother, to not be ridiculous. She says hair is "no big deal", which makes me seriously question her DNA since I still fret and fuss in front of the mirror deliberating over bangs since my own big cut. Behind the ear? Swept left? Swept right? To clip or not to clip? I seriously beg to differ on the "no big deal" part. But HER bangs are just right, and completely adorable, and I just have to try really, realllllly hard not to mention it more than two or sixteen times each day. Or hour. Because that would be ridiculous.

I decorated the front porch for fall. This is my absolute favorite time of year, and I can't resist creating a warm welcome with all the colors that I love.

What I do NOT love is Halloween. Just never been a fan. So, I completely surprised myself by plucking this little guy off the Halloween display at Lowe's. Emma wanted him, and that is enough said. She loooooves the spider, and it just became abundantly clear that we weren't going to be able to leave the store without him. The boys picked out the big, fat pumpkin. We put him it in the back of the shopping cart, with the pretty mum. Miss Em sat on the pumpkin like a stool, and clutched the "pyder" while she picked flowers off my mum. It was cute. Ridiculously cute. I'm sorry, but it was. So, spider came home with us and he now graces our front entry way. Every single time we leave or come home we have to stop and pet him. And talk to him. And blow him some kisses. Every time.

If you look close behind the pot of flowers you will see what looks like a big bone on my window sill. It's actually....a really big bone. Ugh. The boys found it by the creek behind our house. Who knows what it is. They have concocted all kinds of stories about what kind of animal it was and how it met its demise. They consider this a fine treasure, and I can't conceive of it coming in the house, so the window sill was our grand compromise. Yesterday I thought someone was knocking at my door because I heard voices on the porch. I opened the front door to find some little neighborhood boys who had brought their friends over to see my cool bones. Gripes. Creepy. I suppose it goes with my new spider. I have a whole Halloween theme going out there. You don't think it says haunted house, do you? Because I sure wouldn't want to go overboard. :) I wouldn't want to be like the guy in front of me in Lowe's who was buying the detached head, the fog machine, and the talking mirror. His wife is going to have a hard time working her mums into that scheme.

One last photo for today. I graduated from a very small high school, where I was blessed with a phenomenal group of friends and some godly, patient teachers who really impacted my life. Coach Harris was one of those teachers. He knew how to get us to "buy in" to what he had to teach, and he was an absolute ton of fun. He was one of those teachers who always stayed twelve steps ahead of us without ever letting us know that. He stroked our egos and made us think we were cool, all the while picking away at our prideful selves and molding us into something that colleges could find useful! He was one of those teachers that I grew to appreciate more and more long after I left his classroom. He lives in Minnesota now, but he was in town today, and took the time to have lunch with with some "kids" from my class. He hasn't changed much; still a great guy who makes me want to listen to what he has to say. It was great fun to spend some time with old friends and to play catch up with the Coach. It was pouring rain and windy, so you can see I opted for the flat hair, side part, right ear tuck maneuver. Whoever said the hair thing is no big deal will possibly one day change her mind when she has lunch with people she hasn't seen in twenty years. In the rain.