caroline the hairdresser

caroline had finished up her school for the morning, so she and amelia were playing quietly in their room while ethan and i stayed busy with schoolwork. caroline kept warning, "don't peek, momma!" so i didn't. and about an hour later, the project was finished. caroline's first hair customer...

i introduce "barrette girl":





the really funny thing is that i can never seem to find a barrette in this house!

here is the hairdresser and her customer. :) they don't look very happy in this picture, but they were. :) they just didn't like the brightness of the camera flash. and they were both probably a little worn out from all the barrette-ness of the day!


too bad i can't just hang amelia up on the wall as the barrette holder. :)

good gifts to our children

it is soooo much fun to surprise the kids!! and it is getting harder and harder as they get older and smarter. :) but last night's surprise was definitely a "christmas morning" surprise, so the fact that it was out of the blue made it even better! since we moved to this house, we really have had nowhere to store the kids' bikes out of the elements. we have some storage out back, but we have just piled stuff in there... not really making use of the space. so the kids' (hand me down) bikes have gotten rusty, and the tires on the girls' bikes have been in horrible shape for some time now. well, last saturday, we finally bit the bullet and cleaned out our utility room. we tore down an old workbench and got rid of a bunch of junk, which really gave us a good bit of space in there... and i realized that there would now be room for BIKES!

the kids have been pretty content with their used bikes these past few years, so we thought it was time for everybody to have new bikes. (i did try to find a used one for amelia in good shape, but it ended up being just as good of a deal to get her a new one.) fast forward three days, and bikes are purchased and ready for surprising! the plan was to give the kids the bikes last night as soon as i got home with caroline's that was ready for pick-up at toys-r-us. (i love shopping online at midnight in my pj's for local stuff!!) well.... i didn't think about her bike being in a BOX since we wheeled the other two right out of the store. so rather than brian have to be all secretive while putting it together, we went ahead with our plan.

we hid their new bikes in the utility room and told the kids that we thought there was room in there now for their bikes, so we wanted them to come out back with us to see... and what does ethan do? he runs out the front door to get his (rusty, chain falling off) bike to bring it around back. we quickly stopped him and eventually got the kids in the backyard. :) we opened the door to the utility room, and... surprise!


ethan immediately took his bike up and down the street for a ride while the girls "helped" daddy assemble caroline's bike.

this is a pretty blurry picture 'cause this boy was flying down the road!


look at all of daddy's sweet helpers in a little row! the look on brian's face makes me laugh SO hard! i think he is asking, "is this supposed to get finished tonite?"


the girls inspected every piece to caroline's bike.


amelia tried out the seat.


it was pretty much a circus in there, but brian just patiently plugged along amidst the chaos. it wasn't too long before it was looking like a bike!


somebody's getting antsy...


and a little excited!


yay! the bike is ready!! (minus the streamers)


i think caroline is pretending to ride in this picture. i have no idea what amelia is doing. and hallie is just thinking about when SHE will get to ride this bike one day! :)


caroline was such a good sport about her bike not being ready right away, though i know she was dying to get out there and ride it! here's a little video of caroline's bike, finally ready to roll:


we ate our dinner in a hurry so that the kids could have a little night-ride up and down the street before bedtime. not ideal for picture taking, but ideal for smiles and fun.


caroline was amazed at how fast she could ride with tires that actually kept air in them!


and i was amazed at how well little miss priss rode on her new bike!


so last night was the first of many, many rides with their new bikes. they went to bed on cloud nine, and i think i did too.


after we had given the kids their bikes, and they were still in shock from the surprise, i could not help but think about matthew 7:11...

"if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

bikes are just a drop in the bucket. thank you, God, for your Good Gifts!