A Real Hair Cut...Sort Of

Scarlett's hair was getting pretty long and tangly.  She never liked combing her hair and it was always such a mess.  I posed the idea of cutting her hair to her even though I wasn't 100% sure and she loved the idea.  I thought I would miss her long hair and all the fun braids I like to do.  But I finally decided that it looks pretty messy most of the time so we would go for it. 

We had plenty of time on New Years Eve to cut it.

Don't mind the messy bathroom.  Why don't we have any drawers or cabinets?

I did not do the greatest job, but it turned out ok.  I'm sure it is uneven but you can't really tell.

Scarlett loves it.  Cutting it was definitly the right choice.  Now it looks fairly decent most of the time and she doesn't have to worry so much about tangles.  And it will be easier for everyone to tell her and Penelope apart.

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Scarlett's 5th Year Movie

I put together a birthday video of Scarlett's life this past year.

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Last Day of School

Monday was Penelope and Scarlett's last day of school.  Tucker officially ended school last week.  Wohoo I'm so happy it is summer!  I'm pretty sure everyone in my family was really excited for school to end.  The kids had a great year, I'm just ready for a schedule break.

I wanted to get some pictures of their last walk to school... kind of.  We actually are planning on walking to the school a lot this summer to use their playground/library/free lunches.  But this felt different.  We usually drove to school in the mornings but it was nice out so I wanted to walk them on their last day.  I always walk to pick them up after school, rain or shine.

Over all it is a pretty nice break to get out of the house every day and get some fresh air.  I wanted to get a picture of my walking buddies.  Tucker usually comes too.

The girls both really liked their teacher.  Scarlett had Mrs. Chinnock, who was a lot of fun.  Scarlett said she was going to miss her.

Penelope had Mrs. Sherry who she really liked.  Mrs. Sherry was a little more strict but I could tell she cared a lot about her class.  She is actually going to China to teach a bilingual class for the next two years.

I'm grateful for all the school teachers!  That has got to be one hard job!

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School Fun

The end of the school year has been lots of fun for the kids.  Penelope's first grade class went on an all day field trip to the Seattle Art Museum.  I even had to drop her off at school and hour early and pick her up two hours after school regularly gets out.  She said she had sooo much fun.  I could tell that she was worn out.

They also had a whole week of dress up days.  The first picture is of job day.  Both girls just picked something they wanted to dress up as and made it clear to me that they probably don't actually want to be that when they grow up.  Penelope is a dancer and Scarlett a teacher.

Hawaiian day was fun.  Penelope first wanted to wear a grass skirt too but she changed her mind.

I was excited for twin day because they get asked constantly if they are twins anyway.

And lastly crazy hair day.  Penelope did not want to participate.

On crazy hair day Scarlett's class went on a field trip to the park.  The boys and I decided to meet her class there and hang out with them for a bit.

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Frontier Girls Party

Penelope and Scarlett had their last frontier girls meeting/party the other day.  Bob took the boys camping that weekend so we had some fun girl time.  Over the past few years the girls have learned so much with their troop.  The've done lots of outings and learned about so many different things.  Some days were hard  because it can be scary for them to do things with a big group of people they aren't really close with.  I'm proud of them for getting out and doing it anyway.

 Here they are earning their last buttons.

 Scarlett's face is a mess in this next picture because she had been eating watermelon.

 After they ceremony the kids went and played at the waterfront.  They spent a while looking for crabs.

 Bothe girls surprised me by saying they wanted to go on the kayak.  Only the singles were available so they had to go out alone.  They each still wanted to do it and Scarlett wanted to go first.  I was holding Calista so another dad was nice enough to walk out into the water and lift Scarlett onto the kayak.  I was a little nervous because their was a small current and neither of them really know how to use a paddle.  Once he pushed her out she started floating away and shouting, "I wanna come back!"  I could tell she was panicking.  Some brothers from a different girls family were swimming and they swam over and turned Scarlett around and pushed her back to shore.

Penelope still wanted to try, but she didn't get as far.  The second she sat on the kayak she changed her mind and said she wanted to be done.  It was a big step for them to even be willing to try it!

I am really grateful for their leaders!  They've put in lots of work over the years and we appreciate it!

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Scarlett's Birthday

Scarlett's birthday was only a week and a half after Calista was born.  I thought Calista would be born at least a week earlier so I was going to plan Scarlett's birthday after I got out of the hospital.  I usually try to only worry about one thing at a time.  As it worked out we had to pretty much do everything for her birthday the night before.  I didn't want her to feel overshadowed so we tried our best to do all the things we normally do.

It is amazing how little traditions can become so special and exciting for kids.  I think when it is something we only do on their birthday and we do it every year they learn to look forward to it no matter how small it is.  So we blocked off her door with streamers, we decorated her chair at the table, and we let her pick all the meals for the day.  She loved it and thought it was great.

Scarlett and Penelope had a big frontier girls field trip for most of the day.  They rode the ferry and went to visit the Suquamish museum on the Indian reservation.  She said it was one of the best activities they've ever done.

After they came home Grandma and Grandpa Swift came over for the festivities.

Scarlett really wanted cupcake hair.

She loved all her presents.

I even made the requested Shopkins cake.  Calista took her fist ever nap in her carseat and I spent the entire time making her cake.

Things felt a little last minute to me but Scarlett said she had a great birthday and I'm happy with that.

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Scarlett Birthday Photography

On May 6th Scarlett turned six years old!  There was a lot of talk and excitement about it being her golden birthday, but in the end we never ended up doing anything extra for it.  She did great for her birthday pictures.

One great thing about Scarlett is that she is never mean.  Yes she gets upset a lot, but I never see her try to retaliate or harbor any ill will towards us or her siblings.  If she does something others don't like it is always because she is only thinking about herself, not because she would purposely do something to upset them.

Being Scarlett's mom is an adventure.  Just a couple days ago I saw her open the back door and throw something out.  We then had the following conversation about it.

Me: "Scarlett, what are you doing?"

She hesitated and I and I can tell didn't want to answer.

Me: "Scarlett... (stern voice)"

Scarlett: "I'm putting an aminal out of our house."

Me: "An animal?  What kind?" (At this point I'm assuming it is an ant)

Scarlett: "A snail."

Me: "A snail?" "Did you bring a snail inside the house?"

Scarlett: "Yes"

Me: "But you weren't playing outside today when did you do that?"

Scarlett: "The other day."

Scarlett is going to be an amazing mother!  She loves her baby sister so much and is very attentive to her.  Scarlett always wants to hold her and if Calista is crying she tries hard to calm her down.  She will hold her and bounce her and even sing to her.  It is the cutest thing ever!  Scarlett will make sure she is warm and nicely put blankets over her, or try to put her socks on her.  This is funny because Calista can kick a lot and Scarlett has a hard time.  She doesn't even complain when I ask her to throw a diaper away for me.

Physically Scarlett seems to be a little less active than the other kids.  She says she is "tired" when we are playing an outdoor game and will want to quit and lay down on the couch.  It is almost unnoticeable because, it is just a little bit and her personality is so "loud," but I've noticed she doesn't run around quite as much as the others.

Scarlett really doesn't like to clean up after herself.  She is very messy and it is a real struggle to get her to clean up her room or anything.  I think she has gotten away with getting the other kids to clean up her stuff a lot.  I feel bad for Penelope because they share a room and I think she does most of the work.

In this next picture she got upset because I told her we weren't done taking pictures.  These two are her natural authentic angry faces.

Scarlett is my most emotional child yet.  She definitly wears her heart on her sleeve.  Her emotions are plainly written on her face, which is great when she is surprised, happy, or excited.  When she is upset it is a different story.  Aside from Calista she cries the most out of all the kids and we also often get her pouty face.

When Scarlett gets in trouble we usually take her blanket away.  She loves her blankets so much that this seems to be a pretty effective punishment.  I'm not talking about a blanket that keeps her warm at night, we don't take those away, just the ones she loves and tries to carry around everywhere.

I think Scarlett is doing well in school.  Sometimes she tells me she loves it and other times she will say she doesn't want to go anymore.  She has friends who are always giving hugs and shouting "bye" to her when I pick her up, but I think she plays by herself at recess.  She is happy to do her own thing and plays what she wants.  I don't think she really plays with the same group of kids and she does have one friend she talks about but that is it.

I love being her mom and am so happy she is part of our family.

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Baby Baluga

Penelope and Scarlett had their end of year music performance called "Baby Baluga".  Normally I don't like how they combine kindergarten and first grade for performances because there are too many kids and too many parents to see.  This year it worked out in our favor because things are busy with a newborn and it was nice to just go to  one performance.

They did great!  Both girls were excited and seemed to really enjoy it.  Tucker had done the same exact songs a few years ago so the night before all three of them were singing the songs together around the house.  It was cute.

Both girls got to be in the front so I could see them.  Penelope just had the music stand in front of her most of the time, it didn't block her face though.

I had a relief society activity that night so Calista, Leon and I went to the day performance and Bob and the kids went to the night one.  Leon got a little difficult toward the end.  I think he was having a hard time paying attention, but it wasn't too bad.  Calista slept the whole time.

This video is of the song that has been stuck in everyone's head since the performance.  Scarlett thinks it is funny. 

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