Tame the Mane

Because Abby was basically bald until she was 2, I was so excited when Hannah came out with a head full of hair...

...then it turned blond and has been a party animal ever since

After a bath I won't dry it at all. I just mat it down to her head to air dry that way

It stays down only until someone breaths in her direction and then it will pop right back up

I've tried the "single-ponytail-sticking staight up-thing" (Ryan calls this "The Antenna") and two little pig tails (Ryan calls this "The Devil Horns") but I can never get all the strands of hair, so in addition to the do, she ends up with tons of "sticky-uppie" hairs

(notice my look of defeat)

I've never been good at hair. I was "anti-product" but Hannah's mane is changing my opinion. What should I use? and how?...seeing as I've never used anything before :)

Help!

q-tips

What is it about one year olds and a new, barely used, neatly stacked box of q-tips?

Maybe it's a primal instinct to turn order into chaos.

Abby suffered from the syndrome when she was one (the episode cost us 2 boxes)

Hannah has taken her lead, only now there are two bathrooms, each equipped with its own box of tantalizing cotton balls on a stick.

After covering my bathroom with almost an entire box worth (and being sternly scolded), she made a b-line for her bathroom and did the exact same thing.

Oh well, at least Hannah has moved on from the "eating trash out of the trash can" phase

Super-Jumpers and Duct tape

I have the greatest Dad. He is always happy and optimistic. He is the kind of person you want to be around all the time. His only fault is that he doesn't visit often enough. He did visit this Labor Day weekend.

Two factoids about my Dad:

- - - - -

One - He makes up names for people and things that would otherwise remain nameless

Examples:

-The guy who buys one soda at Wendy's and gets 6 refills over the course of 8 hours - "Get-a-life-guy"

-The artistic funnel that changes colors on top of the Science Center - "Phlanosphere"

-That extra big push on the swing using momentum from the pushers body - "Super-Jumper!!"

I can still remember the tick in the tummy brought on by one of Dad's super-jumpers

Two - Duct tape can fix anything

except for a crack in a sink - for that you need "Amazing Goo" (no, Dad didn't name it!)

Bye Grandpa!! Come back soon :)

Before and After

Blogger won't let me load more than a few pictures at a time...

...so I've created an album on my facebook page that has all the before and afters

People often ask, "would you do it again?" I very quickly respond no...

...at least not with 2 kids - one not walking yet.

I can't begin to describe the work involved (so much more than I anticipated). Everything took twice as much money as planned and 4 times as much time.

We ate nothing buy TV dinners for 2 months.

It is super rewarding! Neither Ryan or I had ever done anything "handy" before so it was neat to see that we could teach ourselves and create something fairly nice.

Two Art Museums

Sometimes the architecture of an art museum is more interesting than the art. At least thats the case for me with these two.....

Enter each museum. Look straight up. This is what you see.

Milwaukee Art Museum - designed by Santiago Calatrava

Guggenheim Museum (New York City) - designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Both pictures courtesy of your truly :)

Milwaukee

My dad is quite the sentimentalist and has developed an odd love affair for the city of Milwaukee.

Not so recently he took me there and now I have a growing love for this city too

Check it out...

this photo's not even edited!

just lovely

that is a sunrise, not sunset - a trip to Milwaukee "Dad-style" requires early morning walks

sailboats are so pretty

hundred year old water tower...why don't we make these beautiful anymore?

...to Milwaukee, with love :)

We're Back

Hello...long time, no see

...Coming Soon (I hope) - our renovation before and afters