Fancy Hair

I don't have a lot of experience with hairstyles and techniques for females. One time when we were kids, Julie taught me how to braid, which I thought was pretty fancy. But since my hair has never been long, and because I was never responsible for doing my sister's hair, I just don't know much about long hair.  Thankfully, Meghan does, as Clara has had long hair for quite awhile, and Hannah's is now long enough to need some styling.  I have learned how to do some nice pig tails, but that's about as far as I've gone.  Meghan, on the other hand, can do all sorts of fancy things, like braids that are integrated into her hair (maybe a French braid?) and other advanced (at least from my perspective) techniques.  Today I noticed Clara had another crazy setup with multiple strands, some of which merged with others, all tied together with some flower bands.  More of Meghan's great handiwork.  I do hope to get better and learn more, though, as I'd like to be able to do some of these things too.

Filling Some Big Shoes

I mostly wear flipflops or other sandals in the summer, but today Hannah found some closed-toe shoes of mine and was super excited to try them on. Though I don't often wear true heels because I am terrible at walking in them and look ridiculous, these are some wedges so are higher than flats. She seemed to think she was pretty cool to be able to try on the tall shoes for grownups and actually be able to walk in them and I thought she was just super adorable.

A Family Connection in Connecticut

I don't often get to travel for work outside of my regular territory, but today my sales rep and I had a meeting in Stamford, CT.  I went to Connecticut once or twice as a little kid, but I certainly don't remember it, so this was essentially my first time.  Some interesting things about Stamford:

• By some metrics, it is the wealthiest city in America.
• One out of three residents is foreign-born, and a language other than English is spoken at home by 42% of the population.
• In 2006 it was the 9th safest city in the US.
• UBS has its North American headquarters here and its trading floor is the largest column-less trading floor in the world.
• The Royal Bank of Scotland also has its North American headquarters here.
• Starwood Hotel and Resorts, Pitney Bowes, and the WWE all have their headquarters here.
• The Maury Povich Show, The Jerry Springer Show, and The Steve Wilkos Show are all taped here.
• Meghan's dad grew up here and spent his whole life here until he joined the military.

The last one isn't exactly a famous fact, but it was the most meaningful one to me.  Unfortunately my trip was really short, or I would've liked to have seen the city some more and get some input from Mark on what to do, where to go, and what to see.  We got in pretty late last night, and we did find a pizza place (Atlantic Pizza) that was open late that had pizza by the slice that you could custom order with whatever toppings you wanted from a pretty nice list of options.  So I was able to combine my loves of pizza and Gorgonzola cheese for the first time, which was delicious.  Also, our meeting this morning was really productive, so it's been a good trip, even if it was a short one.

Two More Memberships in the Zero Cavity Club

Today I took Joshua and Clara to the dentist. Hannah stayed with Halie and got to go swimming so I think she probably enjoyed the trip the most despite not even being there. For the older two, it went pretty well. Clara was a little nervous about having her teeth cleaned. But she did okay and then they watched the educational story on the iPads.

Then they got to brush the puppy's teeth before Dr. Matt came in and declared them cavity free. He pretty much confirmed what I thought about Clara when he said, "Well she's definitely going to need braces". I feel like all kids get braces nowadays anyway, but she has the teeniest mouth and there is really not even room in there for the teeth she has now so I am sure we will be starting appliances around 8 and all that with her. Anyway, after that, they got to take their pictures for the "cavity free" wall and then get some prizes along with a sugar-free lollipop. They really enjoy going to the dentist as much as anyone can.

Three Kids, Two Toads, One Wagon

Tonight I wanted to take the kids outside after dinner.  Recently I was looking at our calendar with pictures from last year and noticed the wagon in one of the pictures, and I thought about how we don't use it very often.  So I decided to use it tonight and take all the kids on a wagon ride.  When Joshua saw that's what we were doing, he asked, "Are we bringing treats?  Like cookie treats?" I realized he was remember from last December when we used the wagon to deliver Christmas cookies to our neighbors.

One cute thing about Joshua is he has sometimes struggled to differentiate the effects of stimuli to his senses, such as between a bright light and a loud noise.  You can see that here, as the camera flash was really bright, and his first instinct was to plug his ears.

While we were on our walk, I noticed a toad.  I picked him up, and as toads tend to do in self defense, he peed everywhere.  But because I did not pick up the toad in my mouth as most of his predators would (I guess I'm thankful I didn't pretend to be a dog), his attack had no effect other than to create a large wet spot on the concrete.  Joshua thought this was hilarious.  I offered to let the kids pet him, and Hannah was indifferent, Clara was a little concerned (look at her concerned face in the first picture before she later decided it might not be so scary), and Joshua was excited though a bit hesitant.  After they petted him, I put him down to hop away, but then noticed a second toad.  Clara asked to pet him, so I picked him up but this time forgot about the peeing thing, and his urinary attack splashed a little on Clara's finger, which became a big news item and something they immediately and excitedly reported to Meghan as soon as we walked in the door when we got back home.

Making the Band

Our kids really love music, whether it's listening to it, singing songs, or making their own rhythms. Today they gave a very loud drum concert with various play pots and pans and spoons. It also involved a dance routine.

Date Night at Granite City

Today Jason and I had a date night. Normally we try to eat dinner some place we can really enjoy and that we can't take the kids. We have started watching the Good Wife, though, and it takes us forever to get through a series since Jason travels and some nights it just doesn't work out. So we really wanted to watch a few episodes tonight, which meant we wanted to stay in Olathe for dinner so we would have time. Unfortunately, Olathe is not really known for having good restaurants. There really aren't any. So we went to Granite City, which hangs its hat on being good enough to not offend anyone, but not good enough to actually be good. It's basically a slightly nicer Applebee's. So we had a pleasant dinner full of mediocre food and then we went home to watch our show. It was a nice and relaxing night that we really enjoyed, though I do think it will be a very long time, if ever, that we return to Granite City.