Summer :: Day, um, I've already lost count

Yesterday didn't really count, since I had to work. So this could be day 5, right? Maybe this counting thing isn't going to work out...

So we had big plans today...Room Cleaning Day! Yes!! I can't say we made great strides in cleaning, but progress was made. Yes, there were tears, some whining, and even some bribing, but it wasn't all THAT bad. We made an exhaustive (and rather expensive) trip to Costco and then got to shop for new swimsuits at Old Navy. At what age is swimsuit shopping not fun anymore?

We had planned to swim this afternoon, but the weather took a turn for the worse and lightning kept us away. The girls got to sleep over at Papa and Gramma's though, a mid-week sleepover is the best!

Summer ::: Day 4

The forecast called for a hot and sunny day, but with the clouds and wind gusts it wasn't a good day for swimming. We headed over to Papa and Gramma's house for a holiday barbecue with Jason and Jessica and Layla. Olivia didn't want to let the swimming thing go, so we filled up an inflatable pool with freezing cold hose water and she went to town!

Summer :: Day 3

We woke up to a beautiful (muggy) sunny morning...perfect for a bike ride to the donut shop! Olivia and Daddy rode their bikes up to get some breakfast while Meredith slept in...9:40! Guess the campout finally caught up to her. We spent the morning playing in the backyard shade. Then it was off to the Bark and Blues festival in Prairie Village. We met Stella and Layla and Jason and Jessica for some fun at the amazing Frontier park. We did a lot of dog-watching and some people-watching and a lot of Layla-watching. What a blessing it is to have the whole family in town. The girls can't talk enough about how great it is to see Jason and Jessica and Layla anytime we want.

This evening we met up with the Waters family for some miniature golf and ice cream! It sure felt like summer!!

Summer :: Day 2

Meredith made it home from the campout around 10:30. Olivia and I had spent the morning scouring an I Spy book. That kid is a good finder! We headed to the library to check out a few more I Spy books...guess we may have a summer-full of clues and hunts. The day was a little gray and drizzly, a perfect day to hang out inside and rediscover all the toys we've missed while we spent our days at school. Late in the afternoon we headed to the Ruff house for some much-needed face time and dancing and hiding and seeking and even MORE (wet) trampolining.

Summer :: Day 1

We had plans to do nothing today. It turned out to be a gray day, a perfect day for lounging in jammies until noon. About that time, Olivia got a phone call from Josie asking her to come play. "What am I going to do?" asked Meredith. Wouldn't you know, 10 minutes later came the phone call from Jackson. Not a bad way to start summer vacation, playing with some of your best friends. Meredith had plans for a backyard campout at Brianna's house. The weather didn't seem to want to cooperate, but the girls (almost all 6 of them) slept outside after a night filled with roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, and insane amounts of jumping on the trampoline. I'm sure they slept well... Olivia got some undivided attention from Mom and Dad, and we headed out for cheeseburgers (go figure) and some post-birthday shopping. Daddy talked her into a Nerf gun, and a battle ensued when we got home. They shot some bad guys and aliens...phew! A successful end to a great day.

Summah, summah, summahtime

Here we are, the start of the Greatest Summer Ever. Right?!? That's the plan at least. This is also the start of the Blog About the Greatest Summer Ever.

School officially ended on Thursday, May 26th. What an amazing year it was. We had the two best teachers, with the two best classes, and the two best students. Lots of friends were made, and even more memories were made. But we're moving on...ready to make the most of our summer vacation. We have plans for playdates, field trips, mini-vacations, more playdates and lots of days spent at the pool. And what better way to remember all of our adventures, than by blogging about them. Ready to follow along?

A New 'Do

So I have to admit, I'm surprised this is the first experience we've had with self-administered haircuts in the Cairns home. We made it through those unstable and explosive toddler years without a single split hair. But now, at age 5, Olivia took it upon herself to trim. Not a lot, not anything super obvious, but enough.

Yesterday Olivia announced that she had a new game for us to play, pin the horn on the unicorn. She asked for paper, scissors, tape and a pen and headed upstairs to do some serious craftin'. She came down a short while later with a tiny unicorn head, a "corn" to pin on this head, and an Olivia-sized eye mask she had cut out herself. Apparently she left all the supplies upstairs, including my scissors. Guess they were just too tempting...

As I threw scraps of paper from the game away tonight, I see a fairly large organized clump of hair in her trash can. I say organized because it wasn't just a few random hairs. This was an obviously cut chunk of hair - hair that was held together during the cutting and then disposed of.

"Olivia, what is all this hair in your trash can?"
"I don't know."
"Whose hair is this?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" (yelling at me, like I'm at fault somehow)
"Olivia, I need you to tell me the truth...did you cut your hair?"
"NO!!"
"Olivia?"
"It was an accident!"

Of course, the fact that a large section of hair is missing right next to her face shows her guilt. She starts crying, repeating that it was an accident. As I question her further, she gets more upset. She throws herself into bed and pulls the covers over her head, trying to hide the evidence. I tell her to relax and I'll come back when she's ready to talk. (Of course I grab the scissors as I leave.) So when I come back, we have a talk about what happened. She admits she didn't want to tell me what happened because she thought I'd be mad. I explain that I wasn't mad she cut her hair, but I got upset that she lied about it. I mean, really, how did she think she'd get away with that? An accident? But what made her decide to cut it? She knows how scissors work and that you can't tape hair back on your head. Was it just one of those things she had to try? The urge was just too great I suppose.

And to be honest, the hair isn't really all that bad. It could have been so much worse. I gave her a hug and told her I still love her bunches, even if her hair looks silly.