Is this a parenting milestone?

So Valerie cut her hair today. yes. awesome. Just as I want to take her to the states and take a ton of pictures. flippin' fabulous.

I usually set her in front of a movie, with a coloring book, a snack.. enough to hold her 20 mins so I can take a shower and get dressed. Usually this works.. most of the 'bad stuff' is up high. However she climbed the computer desk today and decided to cut her hair (and some books). She has actually cut Ellie's hair in front of me before but I caught her before she did much damage. As you can see below, she cut a LOT of it. There was about an inch and a half thick piece on the floor. It almost spikes out from the top of her head and a huge chunk of bangs is missing. The way her colic works, it's very noticeable.

If anyone has any ideas on how to get through the next 6 months of growing that chunk out, let me know. :)

To my fellow military wives

A friend sent this to me, which you've probably read before. However when I'm having a bad day, it surely helps. I hope it can help you. :)

The Military Wife

The good Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into His sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, "Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What's wrong with the standard model?"

The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order. She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of both a father and mother, be a perfect hostess to four or forty with an hour's notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu, and she must be willing to move to a new location ten times in seventeen years. And, oh yes, she must have six pairs of hands!" The angel shook her head, “Six pairs of hands? No way. "

The Lord continued, “Don’t worry, I will make other military wives to help her. And I will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband's achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say, 'I understand' when she doesn't and say 'I love you', regardless."

"Lord," said the angel, touching his arm gently. "Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish this tomorrow."

"I can't stop now," said the Lord. "I am so close to creating something unique. Already this model heals herself when she is sick, can put up six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave good-bye to her husband from a pier, a runway or a depot, and understand why it's important that he leave."

The angel circled the model of the military wife, looked at it closely and sighed, "It looks fine, but it's too soft."

"She might look soft," replied the Lord. "But she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure."

Finally the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord's creation. "There's a leak," she announced. "Something is wrong with the construction. I am not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this model."

The Lord appeared offended at the angel's lack of confidence. “What you see is not a leak," He said. "It's a tear." "A tear?" What is it there for?" asked the angel.

The Lord replied, "It's for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and a dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear."

"You are a genius!" exclaimed the angel. The Lord looked puzzled and replied, "I didn't put it there."

C is for Cookie

Who doesn't love cookies? Valerie loves to make things in the kitchen, cookies being her favorite. .. an obvious choice for a two year old. We have never made cookies with cookie cutters before for no reason really other than that it takes more time. ;) I let her pick out a few cookie cutters and we had a good time! She decorated them with frosting and sprinkles and the girls pigged out. Recently Ellie got her pink chair for her birthday and of course, silly me, thought we could hold off until Val's birthday for hers. riiight. Hers came about two weeks later. They have offically taken over the living room but it does give them each their own space and therefore fights over where to sit are almost nonexistent now! Worth the $ in my opinion. Take care!

I'm guessing it's because you have to convert and resize the files so much to post them online, but in person these pictures aren't so washed out and fuzzy!! ug. :)

Daily ramblings

Hello loved ones---

I haven't really "written" in awhile so I thought I'd just give a little update on the four of us. Crazy, right? No pictures!?! :)

Derrick is very busy this deployment and apparently the thermometer said 110 yesterday in the *morning* so he is blistering hot. Apparently he has a very dark head and a white body from his wet suit and cami's. ha. that's attractive! For those of you who have never been blessed to see a photo of D over a deployment he and his fellow EOD boys insist on growing thick mustaches during each trip. With his bald head and big thick dark mustache, I have to say he looks like Borat. I'm not a fan of that man, and he knows that thing has got to go before he gets back here. Needless to say Val finds it hilarious, and sometimes scary when she sees Daddy on webcam.

We were trying to work out a week together in May in Kenya but we've had to pull the plug. Apparently the demonstrations keep starting up again and it is just not the best time for me to be traveling alone through the region, or bring our kids into that kind of situation. Bummer.

So to make the most of having two young ones not stuck to a school schedule, we're going to be in the states for the month of May! I'll mainly be staying with my parents, with a few side trips to see friends in St. Louis, Indy, & Chicago. I can't handle going all the way to FL or much farther than the above areas but if you're around, feel free to come see us! I am looking forward to having a little bit of help with the 'terrible two's' as well as a chance to see some old friends that we couldn't get to over xmas with such a short trip.

That's about all that is going on around here. I've been taking lots of photos and enjoying the outdoors as you see below. Valerie has been going to the CDC about twice a week for a couple hours (as she calls it, "school") so that Ellie and I can have some one on one time as well as hit the gym. Val loves school and actually cries when I pick her up. She would rather stay. I apparently also embarrass her as I'm told not to sing in the car and that my music is yucky. nice. I thought I had a few years left.. but ahh well. Atleast my other child still wants to be around me!

Have a fantastic week-- :) Linds.

few more country pics

Jannelle and I drove out towards Enna today to take some more photos. I wanted to redo the spring flower shoot because the sun was so bright that the shadows were really harsh and not what I wanted at all. It was a hazy day which is perfect & not blinding you in the face while you're trying to "cheese" :) Unfortunately our tea party idea was canned when Ellie started screaming and stealing the other girls' food. They would rather run through the flowers like energetic little girls than sit pretty for us to photograph them.. of course, right? So the only photo I have of Ellie unfortunately is her eating a granola bar. After this she started crying and spent the rest of the shoot in her carseat waiting in the car. lol Ahh well. We never did find the red poppies so I may go back to drive a bit further next time. We'll see. Maybe next spring ;)

Monday already??

This week flew by for us. I feel as though I was just prepping for Monday morning.. and here it is again. We had a pretty good weekend - how was yours? We didn't do anything too crazy as the weather keeps changing drastically. Tonight Valerie and I had a princess night. We watched her new favorite movie, "Enchanted" and painted our fingers and toes. She of *course* had to wear her princess dress! Here are a few pics from the last few days.

Vallerina grocery shops

This one is for Grandma ;)

My mom sent me a big thing of tulle to make Valerie a tutu, as I posted a long time ago on here. I've been itching to find a way to use it in a photoshoot ever since. My friend Jannelle and I brainstormed and came up with the grocery store. Why? Because it represents the "mama" Valerie tries to be while still showing her innocent, two year old self. She happens to be obsessed with a little shopping cart Grandma Deb bought her at toys r us for Christmas so it worked out perfectly. The rain boots are just the obvious choice as well, as she's been wearing them for over a year now!

Pics by jReed.