Before and Afters

 Regan

 Katherine

 Lauren

Well, we were long overdue for some haircuts.  We've been  talking about it for a while now.  Katherine was opposed to a hair cut, but I told her we needed a trim, Regan wanted a little cut, and Lauren wanted a "short cut".  I have to admit, I was probably more nervous than they were.  We have a difficult time finding people that will cut our hair the way we want. On top of that, Lauren has curly hair.  They just don't know what to do with it :)  They actually cut off more of Lauren's trying to get it even and then tried to straighten it with blow drying and eventually used oils.  She loved her hair until she realized they were taking her curls out.  The curls came back after about 20 minutes.  They all love their hair (and it's all much easier to brush!)

 The ponytail starting to curl back up.  We measured the ponytail at 14 inches and the rest of the hair that they cut after that (on the floor) was 1.5 inches.  CRAZY!

 My girls...

 We went to our old city this weekend and met with some of our good friends.  Hard to believe that this cutie was only a baby when we left.  She had an adorable personality.  She said she wanted us to move back :)

 Lauren decorated her with stickers :)  the little girl and Benjamin were engrossed in the cartoon on tv

 Our good friends took us out to eat...

 Yeah for Papa Johns!!  We had some happy kiddos (and parents)  Katherine ate 4 large pieces!

 THIS! This was a wonderful surprise for all of us!  Regan's good friend from our old city moved away about the same time we did.  Well, this sweet family moved back 5 days before we arrived for a visit and we happened to run into them.  Needless to say, we kidnapped our friends and went out to eat and swimming at the hotel :)

 All the kids were older, but it was like no time had passed.  The same kids paired up as before. You couldn't pull these two apart!

 Fun times at the pool....4 kids, 7 kids, not much difference ;)

This summer Katherine and Lauren are taking an art class.  They have been having a blast.  They get themselves up in the morning, get dressed (their choice of outfits) and fix their own hair.  This day's art project was hand print cacti.  Too cute.

Summer is Here

 Summer is finally here!  We ended the school year with two final performances.  Lauren (above) with her skating routine and Katherine (below) with her final dance.  They both did an excellent job.

You can watch Katherine's performance at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teq8vYJEnds&feature=youtube_gdata
Here is part of Katherine's graduation ceremony from last week.  It's a little long, but wanted to put it on here for those who were interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmwqfGw22Ys&feature=youtube_gdata

 We also wanted to celebrate the 4th of July.  Jonathan made these AMAZING miniature cheesecakes and put blueberries on top.  They were so good!  Makes me want to celebrate America's birthday everyday ;)

 Since school is out, the whole family went grocery shopping.  WE buy our groceries at several different places.  We go to the outdoor markets and a small grocery store with limited options and a bread store most of the time.  Occasionally, we make the trip to a big super market that has several imported items and things that we like to eat (cheese, frozen chicken, tortillas)  The only part about going is that it's not the easiest place to get to and from.  It is in our city,, but from our house we must walk several blocks to a bus station, wait for the bus, take the 25-30 minute ride, get off the bus, and walk another several blocks to the store.  If Jonathan goes by himself, he can take a taxi there and a bus home (it is difficult to find a taxi in that area of town) This day, we all went because it's been REALLY hot here and the kids wanted to go into the freezer...I'll explain later.

So, we headed off to the store.  Lauren didn't quite make it all the way :) Almost there!! Down the street, under the bridge, and a short walk to the store.

This is what the kids were waiting for...the freezer!  Inside the store reminds us of a Sam's Club.  After we look at everything, we go to the meat and dairy section.  I guess they want to make sure the things stay cold so they just make the entire room refrigerated (or freezer temps...it's 2 separate rooms)  They even have jackets to put on before you enter. 

 I didn't have a jacket and thought it felt really nice, but after a few minutes I was ice.  My glasses were so fogged up leaving the room :)  It was like a 10 minute vacation from the heat though :)

 Benjamin liked standing under the AC...I couldn't handle it.  It was too cold.

 Jonathan surprised me with a date :)  He took me to this Brazilian restaurant.  It was amazing!

 When we got home, the kids had decorated the house and prepared a show for us.  We were each given crowns, Jonathan got a tie, and I got a ribbon.

They were cute doing their show.  We really enjoyed our time out.