Mullet-be-gone

When my older brother was little he had big, gorgeous ringlets of blond hair. I have seen pictures, and damn, was he a cutie! Legend has it, that while my mom was at work or out doing "mom things" my dad surreptitiously brought my brother down to White's Barber Shop, and, BAM, no more big gorgeous curls left...and they never came back.

I am pretty sure my dad broke my mom's heart that day, and I have heard this story at least twelve dozen times.

As Addison's hair finally started to fill in earlier this year, I was thrilled to find a nest of big, gorgeous ringlets at the nape of her neck. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that while the ringlets were sassy and adorable, they were slowly growing into a pretty impressive mullet.

So, with an apprehensive heart, I asked Aunt Kimmie to give Addison a trim.

Earlier this week we met over at Grandma's for yet another "first" in the life of Addison. Addie refused to sit with the cape on, and eventually we decided to get the job done, Aunt Nikki would hold Addie and Aunt Kimmie would attack the mullet.

With in minutes, all those curls were gone....but more importantly so was the baby mullet. And, oh boy, did she looked cute and perfectly coiffed.

No worries, I have a zip lock bag in my purse with one perfectly preserved ringlet, just in case, like my brother, those curls never reappear.

Tagged & Playing along

I got "tagged" by Lauren...I don't know what that means, but I'll play along...

The first part of the tag is to post the 6th picture from the 6th picture folder on your computer, which, oddly, is this: Addison last March napping at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Thankfully, she's napping now too. Primarily because I think she is in a carb comma, from the baguette she chowed on at Panera today.

The second part of the tag is as follows:

1. Link the tagger and provide the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs

Seven facts about me:

1. I am deaf in my right ear. I tell people that this is because my mom put the Q-tip in too far while cleaning my ears while I was a child, but that is a lie. I am missing a nerve (I think) and have never been able to hear out of that ear. I did try hearing aids for stint in middle school, but that was disastrous as I usually picked up the plumbing dispatch calls for Yankee Plumbing, making concentrating in Mrs. Soules social studies class very difficult. It is quite convenient, however, when I want to ignore you.

2. I have lived in four cities. I grew up in Pittsfield, MA (yes, Pittsfield is a city!). I went to school in Chicago at Loyola and lived in Chicago for years after. I lived in Evanston, IL for two years while working at Girls Hope (man, I did love Evanston ~ so cute). I now live in Cincinnati, and surprisingly love it here.

3. I used to be enrolled in a plethora of dance classes. I took ballet for years, tap, jazz and acrobatics. I even did gymnastics for what seemed like forever. If you have ever seen my coordination or dance moves you would swear I was lying.

4. I started off college Pre-med. I was even offered a scholarship to UMASS Amherst that put me in advanced science classes and placed me in a pre-med dorm. I quickly learned at Loyola that a huge component of medicine is chemistry. Chemistry is essentially math. I suck at math and therefore graduated with a degree in Communications (me and all the basketball players).

5. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2006 and was unknowingly pregnant at the time. Yep, that officially makes me awesome.

6. I am a list maker. I make lists for the grocery store. I make lists of chores to be done. I make lists of thank you notes to write. I make lists because I love the satisfaction of crossing off my accomplishments. Sometimes I even add things to my lists that I have already done just so I can cross them off.

7. I have seen Air Supply in concert three times. And I loved all three concerts, just me and a bunch of desperate middle aged ladies throwing roses at the stage. "Laying alone with my head on the phone, thinking of you till it hurts. I know you hurt, but what else can I do..." God love those sappy fools.

People I am going to Tag:

1. Renata

2. Cheeseman

3. Christin

4. Michael & Treavor

5. Christie

The Helper becomes Helpful

This month in Parents magazine I read that kids Addison's age like to start helping around the house.
Yes, I read Parents magazine.
I have to find out how not to break her. How else would I know not to ever leave her alone in the tub, at the edge of a pool or by a bucket of water? How else would I know all the tricks to getting an anal temperature (and know when to no longer take an anal temperature?)? How would I know when Addison could have strawberries and that yogurt makes everything better? How would I know that having wine nightly is considered a problem by some, and a god given right by others? Okay, I made that up, but who cares about those people who think it's a problem? They probably not only read Parents, but also Self and Women's Health. Losers.

Anyway, back to the point: How right Parents is.

Addison will help match socks while I fold laundry. She loves helping me get her undressed (she's particularly proud of her ability to remove her socks). When we are done playing, Addison will often help me or Andy pick up her toys (they are usually thrown with great emphasis in her toy bins). But last week she really proved her usefulness by helping me clean the kitchen floor....god I can't wait for her to be able to empty the dishwasher, take out the trash and scoop the cat litter!

Trick or Treat...Tinkerbelle or Lion?

After a lovely Sunday of enjoying the couch, installing a kitchen light, reading a book and throroughly enjoying a napping child, we headed over to Grandma Patty's to carve pumpkins. Addison did very little of the carving (okay, none of it) but she did model her halloween costumes with pride...I think she looks freaking adorable in both of them (Thanks Gram Johnson and Gramma Kathy!!).

Which do you think suits her best : A slightly chubby Tinkerbelle or a little surly lion cub?? If you ask me, it just depends on the day!

Friendship

Addison and I sometimes play the game, "You're on the top of a cliff...". Basically I say to her:

"You're on the top of a cliff with Mommy, Daddy and Giraffe. You have to push two, which do you save?". Sometimes instead of Giraffe I list Michelob or Aunt Nikki....Mommy and Daddy never get saved.

But I'll tell you who will always get saved...Miss Elise.

Elise missed StrollerFit Wednesday and today and poor Addison kept looking for her, and then holding her arms out to the side and shrugging her shoulders, as if to say, "Where's my girl at??".

Talk about BFFs.

Walking the zoo hand-in-hand The sandbox at West Fork Park

To Addison's Grampa...

Today would have been Bob's 54th birthday....there are still days where I can't quite believe that he's not right around the corner telling a corny joke or craving a SnoBug. I am sad for all of us, not having him around in our everyday lives, but I am particularly sad that his beautiful grandchildren won't be able to remember what an amazing and kind person he was.

I know that we will smother them with stories and my hope is that through our memories they will know how very lucky they are to have had such a compassionate and dedicated grandfather.

While we will honor him in our own private ways, and as a family, today I still wanted to add a chapter to Addison's blog about her grandfather. That way one day when she reads all this drivel, she will pause, for a moment or two, on today and be flooded with the beauty of who is was.

Here's to Grampa:

Feline Friendship

Addison has always been obsessed with the cat. She meows at her. She screeches at her. She follows her around endlessly. In the past week she has now decided to not only follow around the cat, but to then lay on her belly face-to-face babbling at her for as long as the cat will lay there....which is often several minutes.

Today after following the cat around and petting her ears, she decided to ransack our laundry basket, freeing one washcloth and one of my bras (classy toy, I know). She then proceeded to place both items on the cat. On her back. On her head. Around her neck. After each placement Addie would giggle uncontrollably. Amazingly the cat let her do this for almost 20 minutes.

More amazingly, the cat was purring quite loudly.

Pumpkins

Last Sunday Kim and I took the kiddos to a pumpkin patch to get in the Halloween spirit. Unfortunately, it was about 86 degrees, so it didn't feel very Halloween-y.

That did not stop our babes from enjoying the pumpkins, petting zoo, and cow train (barrels painted like a cow and then pulled behind a John Deere ~ awesome). Kim and I came home with pumpkins in the trunk and aroma of rotting pumpkins in the air....but it was worth the trip just for the photo ops.

So we finally got our acts together and began tackling the outward appearance of our house....as Keelin would say, we "Curb Appealed" it.
Three 32-gallon bags of weeds and dead bushes were were deposited at the curb last week. The dead trees that lined our property oh-so nicely met Rick's chainsaw. Our door has a wreath and there are mums on the porch. I think the neighbors are hating us just a little less.

We are trying to take advantage of all the amazing weather and get some more landscaping done, trimming and shaping bushes, planting trees, spreading mulch. All the cool crap that homeowners get to enjoy! I'm not complaining really, afterall it's October and the next 3 days are forecasted to be in the 80s.
Addison has been loving the weather: playing in the yard, on the swing set, and taking walks up the street. She is also finally learning that flowers are for smelling, not for ripping from their stems and smooshing in her fists.

Yesterday was such a fun day of story time, shopping, playing and splashing in puddles, that by the time 7 p.m. rolled around all she wanted was to get out of her uncomfortable clothes and crack a cold one.


Can't say I blamed her.