I’m at my wit’s end with my daughter’s hair. She has long hair that at one point was very curly. It’s now somewhat wavy.
It goes past the middle of her back.
And she HATES to have it brushed.
She looks adorable when it’s up or in clips. It’s cute even when it’s down.
But while I see other little girls at her school with brushed, smooth hair, my daughter’s hair is usually every which way and often in knots.
I’ve threatened to cut it, but she likes it long and daddy likes it long. And so do I.
On Sunday I put in several braids. By last night, it was a tangled mess. After her bath, I put in lots of conditioner. When she got out she wanted to play on the computer, but I told her first we were getting her unruly hair back in order.
Wrapped in a towel, she put her head on my lap while I worked at it with a comb, section by section. I pulled out at least three small clumps that got stuck in the comb.
It took 25 minutes. My daughter, exhausted from school, fell asleep.
Once her hair was all smooth, I put it in a ponytail, put her in PJs and tucked her in bed.
It was much easier to work with this morning. I know part of the problem is I just get too busy at night to brush it.
But after last night, I’ve got to make it a priority: morning and night. That, or a pair of scissors may be in order.

We have new tile in the bathroom thanks to Mr. Reese and a friend.

My husband came down from the upstairs last night triumphant.
“We have working toilets upstairs!” he announced.
My son, 6-years-old, looked at his dad and said, “So when it’s Saturday again, can you do my room?”
My husband smiled and scooped his son up into a bear hug. “You are just too precious,” he said.
We’re still in remodeling mode at our house. It began in Feb. 2008, after we decided to stay in our home rather than purchase another place.
It’s not that we need more room, there are just a few things about our house that drive us nuts.
But as soon as the decision was made, we tore up carpet and vinyl flooring downstairs. It took 9 months, but now downstairs we have click-in wood-like flooring, crown mouldings and wainscoting.
That was all done by October. In January, we tore out the carpet in the loft and my son’s room upstairs.
The flooring is down on the loft, but my son hasn’t had use of his room since then. All his furniture is in our room. Plastic covers his floor ready for the wood-like flooring.
And we got sidetracked and did the bathroom tile the last three weekends. To be honest, I was just jumping at the chance to get rid of the 6-year-old carpet that had been damaged beyond repair. Yes. We had carpet in the bathrooms. The house came that way.
My son is ready for his room to be done though. It’s not that he minds having his bed next to ours (he usually ended up in our room most nights anyway). I think he’s just at an age where he wants easier access to his clothes, his stuff, his toys. And he wants them in HIS room.
I’m not promising, but I’m hoping we can make a dent on it this weekend. Though even if we do, I’m sure his bed will stay just where it is so post-surgery next week he is close to us.

I can’t think of one subject to focus on. It was a normal, busy, sunny Arizona weekend for our family: complete with remodel project, a birthday party and a visit to grandma’s.

Yes, remodel project. Again. We’ve started the upstairs. My superman husband and a friend nearly completed the tile in the master bathroom yesterday. It started Friday night. I went to a friend’s to get the tile saw and on the way home my daughter fell asleep. So when I made it to the driveway - after driving 35 mph on side streets - I wrapped her up and put her into bed. Mr. Reese and I started tearing the bathroom apart while our son looked at a Lego catalog. That kept him busy for two hours, until 10 p.m.

I know. He should have been in bed. But we had more to do and I THOUGHT he would fall asleep on my bed. Not only did that not happen, but at 10 p.m., his sister woke up.

So what did I do? I let them play video games while we finished in the bathroom. At 11:30 p.m. we finally all crawled into bed. They were only mildly moody on Saturday, thank goodness.

Is tomorrow really Monday?

photospin

I sat in bed late last night - still wildly awake from working late last night - and thought about a devise I wish someone would create.
A clock. A special clock that alarms in intervals to help me and my kids get out the door on time in the morning.
My clock would do this:
7:15 a.m. Awake me and my daughter for a bit of snuggle time before going down to make coffee
7:25 a.m. Awake my son and remind him to put on clothes before coming downstairs
7:35 a.m. Remind both children it’s time to get shoes on and eat breakfast
7:45 a.m. Remind my son to read his school book, remind my daughter to AGAIN put on her shoes, and remind me to get up and take a 2 minute shower
7:55 a.m. Remind me to get out of the shower that I clearly spent too much time in and remind the kids to get their backpacks
8:00 a.m. Remind all of us to get on shoes AGAIN if we want to make it to bus on time
8:10 a.m. Remind us we didn’t make it to the bus and we have 10 minutes to get in the car to make it to school
8:15 a.m. Remind us - since we’re still in the kitchen - to feed the dog, make sure she has water and PUT ON SHOES
8:20 a.m. Remind us that if we don’t leave now my son will have a tardy slip
8:35 a.m. Let us know “Forget it, you didn’t make it and might as well crawl back in bed!” (yea, right!)

On Friday, I was greatly anticipating my weekend of doing NOTHING. No football games. No soccer games. No holiday events to attend. I just planned to hang at home, maybe get some gifts wrapped, and perhaps make some cookies.

Well, some of that happened.

We have had a leaking shower for a while and, well, we tried to fix it ourselves. Did you know that the calcium in Valley water and make pipes stick together? And if you twist too much they break?

So, Saturday night when we didn’t have water at the house I packed up the family - and the cooking making supplies - and went to my in-laws. They live just down the street and the kids couldn’t wait for a “sleepover” at Grammie and Boppie’s house. We still made cookies, but the wrapping isn’t done yet. We spent Sunday afternoon at home with the plumber (a very nice guy who didn’t mind the mess everywhere). Guess it’s going to be one of those years we do it Christmas Eve!