Charlotte's 1st Haircut

Tragedy struck our family this week.  Tragedy involving our babysitter's daughter, my daughter's hair, and an unwanted first hair cut.  I got this picture and a very apologetic story from Ms. Lisa on Wednesday during the school day.  Ms. Lisa had gone to answer the phone and her 5-year-old daughter decided she wanted to try out her scissors on Charlotte's braids.  

                                                 

I was definitely sad because Charlotte's hair had gotten so long and I wasn't ready to get it cut yet.  This picture hides very well just how uneven it turned out to be.  When I finally got her home and took down the braids, the difference in length was very significant   However, it could have been so much worse - like if the other girl had decided to cut off the entire braid.  And, although it is not how I pictured getting Char's hair cut for the first time, it is just hair and it will grow back.  It makes a good story, nonetheless!

Here is my attempt to show how long and pretty her hair had gotten.

 This one shows the extreme unevenness.

 So, we made a trek to get a real haircut - you know, by a professional!  I wanted to make it special for her, so we went to a store in the mall called "Sweet and Sassy" that specializes in making little girls feel like princesses.  She did such an awesome job!  She was so calm and sat there and followed all of the stylist's instructions.  No tears!

 Charlotte even got glitter in her hair and special glitter stamps on her face.  Here she is checking it out in the mirror.

 Enjoying a sucker after her haircut.  

 Sassy new short hairdo

Baby Fowler #2

We are so happy to be expecting Baby #2!  I am 14 weeks along and due March 17.  This pregnancy has been very different from my first, so we are anxious to see if that means we might be having a boy this time.  We won't know that until the end of October.  During my first trimester I had only "waves of nausea" but nothing too horrible.  The biggest difference has been that I am still just as tired, if not more so than the first go round, but now I come home to a little girl who still wants my attention!  By dinner time I am wiped but trying to hang in there.  By the time Char goes to be around 7:30-8:00 I am either lying on the couch, or lying  in bed myself!
I have started to realized that I am having a few cravings!  For some reason, sandwiches are always on my mind.  I prefer that they are made by someone else, so I have been frequenting some fast food places.  We even went to Chick-fil-a and I ordered the chicken salad sandwich instead of the nuggets!  Gasp!  I have also been longing for avocado, especially on sandwiches.  :)  And, just like with Charlotte, I crave fried pickles or cheese fries with ranch dip.  Healthy, I know.  Also, when a food pops into my head, I have a very hard time not thinking about that food.  For example, at 9:00 in the morning the other day my student told me that she was going to the Rangers game that night and I instantly wanted nachos.  I wanted it all day but alas I never did get any.
We feel very blessed to be given this blessing of a second child for our family.  We ask for your prayers that this pregnancy is smooth, safe, and that this sweet baby is healthy.

We're back at it

Mark and I started back to work today, which means that Charlotte went back to the sitter.  She had a fantastic day!  She had no problems at drop off and played, and played, and played.  She even took a 2 hour nap over there!  By 6:30 tonight she told me she was tired and I rubbed her back while she laid with her head in her lap while we chilled in front of Dora on the TV.  Good first day!

Indoor Safari

In this Texas summer heat, I have been searching for fun things to do indoors.  We were lucky to find this very fun place close by called Indoor Safari.  It is a large indoor play area.  The things I loved about it was that it had age specific play areas and several different "extras" that were included in the price, such as a train ride and a ride on a mechanical animal.  We went with our friends Jake, Mallory, and Beau (an their Mommy, Alli, of course) and Charlotte had an absolute blast!

This slide into the ball pit was a huge favorite of Char's.  I think this is the first large ball pit she has every been in.

Charlotte adores her three friends and followed Jake everywhere he went.  It was good for her to have someone to "imitate" because she is definitely reserved and cautious in these types of situations.

Trying to get this picture of the two of them was hysterical because they would never both look at the same time.  This was the best I got!

Little Beau

Her ride on the giraffe.  It doesn't look like it, but she loved it.  She talked about it for a long time afterwards.

 If I thought two were hard to photograph, I had no idea how difficult four would be!  

This is the life! 

The train made a very small little loop, but it was enough to thrill the kids.

Ms. Alli was nice enough to fork over the 50 cents to let these three enjoy this final ride!

I would highly recommend this place to others with toddlers and preschool age children.  We will definitely be visiting again!

Rainy Day Fun

After several dry weeks, we finally got some rain today.  We happened to be playing outside when it first started to sprinkle because it was finally under 90 degrees!  So, I went inside and got Char's rain boots and umbrella.  Charlotte has never played in the rain before but the temperature was not too cold and we were outside anyways, so I decided to let her give it a shot.  She was hesitant at first to run in the rain because she doesn't particularly care for water falling on her head.

 So then she decided to try out the umbrella.

 After about 10 minutes she threw caution to the wind!

 She eventually took her shoes off to get really into it.  

It was definitely one of those moments that I was so glad we had a summer day off together because I would not have wanted to miss this time.

Here it is again!

So glad I have been married to this amazing man for the last 11 years!  I love you, Mark!

Cousins Week

The 3rd week in July we called "cousins week".  Technically, Charlotte had spent the two previous weeks intermittently with Mark's brother's kids, but this week we spent time with my sister's kids.  Mark and I kept her three kids for three days and then they kept Charlotte for two days.  Charlotte had so much fun playing with her cousins!  We took them to several places around us.  We went swimming, to a splash park, and to a jump place.  The kids ran themselves raged everywhere we went, which was exactly their purpose. :)  

Bath time with cousin Skylyn - these two are only 17 months apart!

While she was with my sister they went to a small amusement park called "Kiddie Acres".  It is filled with lots of rides for little ones.  She appeared to have really enjoyed it judging from the pictures.  My sister is a professional photographer, so her shots are definitely better than mine!

We ended the week by meeting my entire family in San Antonio at the Hill Country Hyatt Resort.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures there.  However, we did have a wonderful weekend with my family filled with a lot of water fun.  We are finally back home but Charlotte does ask multiple times a day, "Where are my cousins?"