Hair, Hair Everywhere!

I am under a time crunch to complete some things before my family reunion next week. My friend Lisa took the girls all morning and part of the afternoon so I could get some things done. I picked up the girls, came home, and put Sophie down for her nap. Lilly told me she wanted to watch 101 Dalmatians and I wanted to continue my projects, so I left Lilly alone for a while downstairs. What a mistake that was!

When I got to a stopping point and headed down to check on her, oh what a mess! I saw some of her blond hair sticking out from under a blanket, and thought she was hiding from me. When I lifted the blanket, I discovered it was just hair. As I looked around there was more hair in front of the TV. Lilly was hiding from me, with her new self done do in the guest room. She really did a number on herself, she pretty much cut herself a mullet.

FRONT-note the micro bangs

BACK-Mullet?

Facing left-note the bald patch behind her ear

Facing right

One real kicker is that we just got her hair trimmed and cut into a cute bob yesterday! The idea must have been fresh on her mind. Ron was already headed home on the train by this point and coincidentally needed a haircut too, so we waited for him and than headed back to the hair place for the second night in a row. The girl who cut her hair said this was by far the worst self-cut she had ever seen. She tried to salvage what she could, but there was not much to do considering how close to the scalp Lilly had cut in a few places. It looks better, but I am very afraid she will be mistaken for a little boy. After the cut was complete we went to Target for a few headbands to wear now, and some clips once it grows out a little.

After the cleanup

Hopefully it will be grown out to a good length by the time Kindergarten starts. I must admit there were a few tears shed today (on my part). It has been an interesting parenting situation for Ron and I and I am not quite sure we have it all figured out yet. Lilly went quiet about the whole thing, so we'll see if we can get the rest of story out of her tomorrow. If this were someone elses child (and if family picture weren't in a week), I would definitely be laughing, hopefully I'll find the humor in it soon.

And while the camera was out, Sophie also wanted to have her moment.

If it is possible I think her hair may be getting curlier

One curly haired girl, and one baldy. Mom doesn't know how to style either of them!

Pumpkins and Princesses

Halloween was again met with great anticipation in the Fuller household. Last year Lilly provided us with one of my favorite quotes when she came running down from one house and declared, "people are the best!" This year she asked her parents and sister, "isn't this just the best day?" Halloween seems to be a favorite for Lilly.

In the years past I have always picked out the girls costumes, but this year Lilly definitely wanted a say. And if you allow her her say it will always be "PRINCESS." So as I was looking for princess costumes I found a picture of two girls about the same ages as my girls in these costumes, I thought they were cute, and got the approval from Lilly.

Princess Sophia on the porch after a hard night of trick-or-treating. She definitely got the hang of things this year mastering the, "trick-or-treat", "thank you", and "Happy Halloween". Today she was still yelling "trick-or-treat" when someone knocked on our door.

Princess Lillian next to her pumpkin aka "Big Happy Face."

We carved our pumpkins for family home evening on Monday and did not take pictures until Friday, so they are looking a little sad. I also must confess that we cheated this year and printed patterns out from the Internet instead of carving them free hand. One advantage, however, to this method was that the girls got to pick thier own out and were very happy with the results. The pumpkin above on the left is Ron's, referred to as the angry face, and Sophie's is on the right. When she saw this one she said, "little happy face" and she and her pumpkin have been called that all week.

The spider pumpkin was mine, and the "big happy face" pumpkin was Lilly's.

LOOKING BACK.......

Lilly's first Halloween as a pig (2 months old)

One year old chicken Lilly and her Alaska friends

Two year old kangaroo Lilly

Lilly the angel (3) and Sophie the octopus (10 months)

LILLY LOST!

Last week Lilly's preschool class had a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Lilly and her friends were all playing in the hay maze when I realized I hadn't seen her in a while. I climbed up the steps that overlooked the maze and could not see her. Some of the other moms and I were standing at the entrance/exit, but nobody saw her leave. The Pumpkin Patch was wide and open and she wasn't there, so I started to look at the two tent areas on either side of the maze. She was not there either. By this time I was starting to panic, the other moms had joined the search and were checking the grounds with me. I said a quick little prayer right before making my third or fourth pass of the grounds. I stopped and looked over the side of the outside of the hay maze and through a small hole in one of the hay bales on an inner ring I saw Lilly's face. She was hiding in the maze and told me she was waiting for her friend. Man, that was a horrible feeling!

Minus that incident the field trip was quite fun, we got our pumpkins, and Lilly is loving her preschool class.

Lilly's preschool class

Our sweet little witches

Sisters at the Pumpkin Patch

Panda-monium

For the last few days of our trip we stayed with my grandparents in Potomac, MD. They were great hosts and helped us navigate the metro so that we could spend one morning at the National Zoo.

The animals were cooperative and gave us quite the show for the short time we were there. The cheetah was chasing rabbit meat on a series of wires, the three year old panda was posed right in front of a large window eating a popsicle, the orangutans were all climbing over a series of high ropes called the O-line, and the hippo was swimming and snorting at us. Sophie still recalls our trip with some of her classic two to four word phrases like "zoo...panda...eating...popsicle" or "hippo...swimming."

Just as a side note Ron and I have become big fans of the September/October vacations. Our visits to Yellowstone and various places along the East Coast have been quite pleasant. Light crowds, temperate weather, etc. Plus our trip to Hawaii last year in October was quite reasonable for hotel and air, as far as Hawaii goes. I am afraid with Lilly quickly approaching school days this brilliant travel period may come to an end, but those with some flexibility should definitely check it out.

3 year old panda, Tai Shan, eating his fruit popsicle

Taking a picture of Tai Shan proved to be quite difficult because of the glare coming off of the glass. The one just above was the best I got, but this one is kind of interesting with Soph, the panda, and me taking the picture.

The girls and I in front of the panda store

Ron and the girls with the pygmy hippo (if you look real close you can kind of make out the hippo on the left)

Historic Richmond

Downtown historic Richmond was quite the place. We wandered around with Brad and Dani and my mom while we were there for the wedding. Mostly we checked out the Civil War Monuments (all dedicated to the heroes of the South-of course). Ron really wanted to check out the Confederate White House and museum, but we ran out of time (plus it cost $, and the monuments were free). Plus all the old homes and churches were absolutely beautiful. Watch out Carter and Brandi, we will definitely be back, there is still tons more to see and do in Richmond.

The family in front of the Stonewall Jackson monument

Ron and the girls in front of one of my favorite buildings downtown, if I remember correctly I think it is now a museum dedicated to Richmond architecture.

Our future home

Grandma Mecham and the girls in front of the Robert E. Lee Monument (this ones for you Natalie)

Get Me to the Church on Time

Carter and Brandi's big day was October 18th. They were married in a beautiful historic church in Richmond, Virginia. Afterwards, at the reception, we had one of the most delicious and fancy dinners. The reception was held at an Italian retuarant called Maggio's. I beleive there were four courses with about four different foods per course. Yummy and very filling.


Once we got Lilly out on the dance floor there was no stopping her. She danced and danced through to the end. Sophie, about midway through the reception had had all the party she could take and took quite a significant nap. My parents, grandparents, little brother Brad and his wife Dani, were all able to make it out. It was the first time in a long time that I can remember having us all together.

Sophie tuckered out at the reception

Lilly with Uncle Carter out on the dance floor


Cake cutting time for the bride and groom


My parents, and grandma and grandpa Mecham at the reception

PA and Baltimore

We just got back from a week and a half back East. We started the trip at my parents house in Annville, Pennsylvania. Lilly and Sophie loved going to Hershey's Chocalate World, they especially liked the ride with the singing cows. We got in some good quality time with Grandpa and Grandma and I got caught up with some old friends.


The primary reason for our trip was to go to my brother Carter's wedding in Richmond, Virginia. So after a few days in Annville we started south to Richmond. On the way we decided to stop at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.



We saw the dolphin show and did a quick run through the rest of the aquarium. Lilly loved being at the inner harbor and seeing all the ships so we had lunch afterwards on a balcony overlooking all the ships.


Ron, the girls, and half a fish

Mom, Sophie and Lilly in front of the shark tank. (We tried to get a picture with a shark, but the girls kept running away when the sharks came around.)

Wings in the water tank