Creepy crawlies!!!! YUCK!!!

So, yesterday we had all of the girl cousins and Jaxon for a sleep over. They were having so much fun playing hide and seek, riding scooters, eating....basically anything that would make them dirty and stinky! When we were getting ready for bed I told all of the kids that they had to take a bath. Abby (my sweet niece) DID NOT want to take one. My mom said that no one had to do anything that they didn't want at grandma's......good rule, usually! I said that they all needed to and that we could get Abby to WANT to take one. I said that all of the girls would be playing in the tub and my mom said "It is a princess party!". Of course that made Abby want to take one! There was only room for 3 girls at a time in the tub so we put Katie, Kylee and Abby in for the first round. I got all heads of hair wet (being careful not to get any water in Abby's eyes). I then loaded up the heads with shampoo and started scrubbing away. When I got to Abby's and started on the side of her head she started to cry when I scrubbed against what I thought was a bumpy mole. I was very careful for the rest of the washing and conditioning. Once they were all clean and smelling MUCH better I took Abby out first. I decided to take a look at her 'mole'. I looked down and saw that her 'mole' had a bunch of legs and it head in Abby's head! AHHHH!!! It was a tick! I very calmly told Abby to hold on and then ran in to get my dad! What would we do without dads? Good thing he was there, neither I nor my mom would have been able to get it out! (wimps!) She was not happy (to be expected!) but sat there so good while my mom held her and my dad pulled that little bugger out of her head! Katie was mad because she didn't get to see the tick while still attached to Abby! :) All the kids and the dog then received a very complete and intense search for ticks! Luckily there were not any more of them. One of the things that gives me the willies is that I scratched it with my fingernails! Ewww!!! The sweet part of the whole thing is that when Abby was done being debugged, she wanted to call her dad to get the needed sympathy that comes from dads.....see! What would we do without dads?!

Grandpa looking at the tick.

See the tick in there?

YUCK!!!! Poor Abby!

I want my daddy!!!!!!

"I want my daddy!" This has become a daily mantra for Kearney and Ireland. Nice for James...not so nice for the twins or those who have to listen to the sadness in their voices! Poor little things are missing their dad so much they want to leave all of us (and the wonderful weather) to go back to the HORRIBLE heat of El Centro to see daddy!

After we got here, to try and help another child obey we(me in person, James by phone) used the threat of being sent back home by a certain date (Friday) if the said child did not start obeying....(don't judge! Sometimes you do what you have to do to help children mind!) When I told James how the girls were feeling and what they were saying his first response was to say "Don't threaten to send them home if they don't mind!". Haha!!! Now, before you think that Parker and Kylee are not wanting to see their dad, think again. The difference is that Parker has to help his grandpa work around the yard (I am sure that he is totally helping to speed up the process...what 7 year old doesn't make things easier?!) and Kylee has her cousins(Abby and Katie) and other children to play with (plus she likes that it is not hot!).

It got me thinking about when James ends up getting the job he wants (ICE Agent....2 years away!). He will have to go to training for 5 months! Yes, 5 months!!!!!! What are we going to do? My suggestion is to buy new shoes! Lots and lots of shoes! We love and miss your James! Can't wait until August 9th!

Mom, can I cut my hair?

Man, I never thought that I would dread hearing that question! Kylee has been asking for the last couple of months to cut her hair. I was so afraid that she would regret it. She bugged me enough and on her birthday in to Dollar Cuts (my hairstylist in Utah was out of town, and we were not in El Centro for that hair stylist) and some lady with crazy red hair chopped it off! I wanted to cry, but she was so excited! Parker, Kearney and Ireland were there with us and the twins were in heaven! They were moving side to side and wiggling all over. They were having so much fun. When they saw Kylee with her short hair they said 'She looks like a baby' because it was short. They then told me that I looked like a baby too! haha Well, over the next week, Ireland was thinking about it and decided that she wanted her hair cut as well! I felt like I was being bombarded!!!! The day before Kearney and Ireland's birthday (July 15th) we went in to the same Dollar Cuts and cut it off. This was both of their first hair cuts! Can you believe that? 4 years old!!! Ireland wanted her's short, but Kearney was very quick to let you know that she wanted long hair! They all look beautiful, but because they (the twins) have such fine, thin hair it looks better short, but Kearney is working on becoming Rapunzel, so it is still long. One of the funniest things about this situation is that Kylee has been trying to be like the twins lately (she wants to be triplets), but with this she was kind of annoyed with Ireland for copying her! Go figure!

Here is Kylee with her long hair getting ready for the chop!

Waiting to be called up!

There go the locks!

It looks so cute!

The back view. She loves it and really loves not having to brush out all of the knots (especially after swimming!

There go the blonde curls!

Ireland went first (to see if maybe Kearney wanted to cut her's short like her sister).

Doesn't she look happy?! And so adorable. Her mom fell in love with it!

Now it was Kearney's turn! She kept saying 'I don't want it short! I want it long!' I think she wanted to make sure that there was no error made!

Just a small trim was made!

She was so happy with her cut!

Front view. Now it is really easy to tell them apart! No more tricking their primary teacher (or mom!)

Back view. Don't they look cute holding hands? It just melts my heart!

First time and feeling stupid!

I have been reading everyones blogs and I love reading about what is going on with friends and I LOVE looking at their pictures! So, I decided to do a blog of my own. James asked me what the point of doing it was, and I told him this way I can say what I want and nobody is there is disagree or argue with me about it! (that is mainly kids.....) There is only one problem....I am totally computer illiterate! When I set up my facebook account, my mom had to walk me through everything so that I knew what in the heck I was doing. Same thing here. Thank goodness I have a lovely sister (Katie) who knows what she is doing. She is going to come over and help me figure this whole thing out. So, in time, I will be adding pics and changing to a cute background! Yeah!!!!

The kids and I are up in Salt Lake for an extensive visit. We got here on July 3rd and are staying with my parents until August 17th....they are so kind an patient to have us live with them for so long.....if you have heard how loud Kearney can scream you know what I am talking about! It has been so much fun seeing and spending time with all of my family. I think I am going to have a hard time going back to El Centro!