Let the wild rumpus begin!

Once upon a time, there were two wild children who were fond of saying "no!" and ignoring their mother. In consequence, they sometimes appeared in public with messy faces, unkempt hair, and pencil scratches on their cheeks (sorry Evelyn! That one happened literally seconds after I warned her to be careful.) Oh, wait, this isn't a story--this is my life!

Anyway, I decided that my kids looked wild enough, and called to schedule hair cuts for the three of us. (Mine was just a trim, so you don't get a picture of me). This was Evelyn's first ever hair cut (unless you count me trimming her bangs, which I don't). She did pretty good--turns out that the promise of a sucker at the end can be highly motivating.

The finished product.

Andrew wasn't quite as excited about his haircut. (To be fair, he has such thick hair that his also took longer than Evelyn's. But I learned some good tips for cutting his hair in the future).


And because life in October (and with midterms upon us) isn't quite fun enough, we decided to head north to help my dad celebrate his 60th birthday. It was fun to see all the local cousins (sorry Justin!), and just generally hang out. Dan made fun of us because part of our "hanging out" meant my sister and I talking at the table while my brother Jared and my brother-in-law Samuel played their respective Nintendo DS's. But I think everyone enjoyed getting together. I know the kids did.

Jared brought these party favors for the kids, which they loved, but they were paper and filled with spit in like thirty seconds. Very gross. At least, though, the kids let us throw them away when they were too wet to function.

That afternoon, we drove up to visit Sarah and her family at Wheeler Farm. The place was a bit of a mob scene (we didn't know about the Saturday Harvest Festival--or whatever the actual fall-inspired name was--when we agreed to meet there). But the kids enjoyed wandering around and looking at the animals and climbing on the farm equipment, so I guess it really doesn't matter if the adults found it too crowded for our liking.


Doesn't this picture make you want to pinch those cheeks? (Or bite them?)

Evelyn and Lydia were quite smitten with each other. Evelyn insisted on holding Lydia's hand, and Lydia was thrilled to finally have someone smaller than herself to mother. (Maggie doesn't really count, since she's not quite old enough to respond willingly to Lydia's mothering.)


And of course, Maggie was her charming, placid self. She's also bidding fair to be the only red-headed grandchild. (Well, for now. Who knows what Matt and Laurie may turn up with? Certainly, our kids all seem to be predestined to have brown eyes and brown hair.)


This last pictures is for my sister, who gave us her daughter's old hand-me down dress and cape. The red looks *almost* as stunning on Evelyn as it did on Emi.