Locks of Love

My Mom and I decided that we would donate our hair to locks of love. My Mom was going to donate her hair back in the fall but I told her to wait for me. I needed a little more time to grow mine out. 

My Mom has been trying to grow out her bangs so she is glad that they are to her chin. 

We went to a salon in Clinton and they cut our hair for free because we were donating 10 or more inches. 

My Mom got her's cut all one length and I had layers put in mine. We are very happy with our hair. It did not end up being as short as I thought, having to cut 10 inches off. It will be great for the warmer summer weather. 

Spring Clean-up

 We had a clothes line in our backyard with cement paths on both sides.  Thomas removed the old, rusted clothes line last fall.  Now we removed the cement strips.  They were 30 feet long, 12 inches wide, and 4 inches thick.  Thomas used a sledge hammer and a shovel to get them loose. We wheeled each load around to the front and lined it in the street.  This pushed out little wheel barrow to it near breaking point.  Thomas always says that his arms can handle more weight than the wheel barrow can.     

 We built a short, round wall out of the broken pieces of cement.  We stacked the larger pieces, staggering the seams just like a brick wall.  We then tossed the small fragments in the middle. It took us three evenings to get it all moved to the front for Price city to pick up.  We also put out a few branches that we trimmed off our apple tree.  

 The city came and took it way on Friday. The boys loved watching the big front end loader. It took them less then 5 mins to get it all cleaned up. It also saved us 2 of 3 trips to the dump. We are grateful for spring clean up.   

Easter Ties

  We bought Seth and Carter new ties for my brother Andrew's wedding. I thought that they would be great to wear on Easter so I saved them for a few weeks. 

 We bought Seth's suit a few months ago at DI and he has love wearing it and looking more like Thomas for church. Carter also loves to be like his big brother and Thomas. Today Carter was able to wear a suit coat that Seth had out grown. It is still a little big but he was super excited to be like Seth. 

Seth's New Bike

Jennifer decided that it was time for Seth to get a real bike, not just a tricycle. We wanted to get him a 12 inch bike with training wheels. I figured that I would buy one at DI, but could not find one for quite a while. I started to think that I would buy one at Walmart or some place like that. I was looking online to check prices, when I saw the idea of a balance bike. Sometimes called a running bike or a no-pedal bike. Strider is one company that makes these bikes. The purpose of the balance bike is to teach kids to balance on two wheels. Training wheels do not do this. For more info for yourself check out these links.

Inventor's Ideas

Strider Videos

The only problem with Strider bikes, is that they are over $100. Thus I continued the search at DI.

We purchased this little beauty for $3. It was pink and purple when we got it. We took the off the pedals, the chain and sprocket to make it into a balance bike. Then we took off the wheels and the seat. We painted the frame white. We painted the seat green. We took the spokes and axles out of the rims and painted the rims green too. The tubes were in good shape with no leaks, which is surprising for a DI bike.

It was the perfect size for Seth. He started out slow, and mostly just walked. With time he will get the hang of balancing and will lift his feet and cruise along. When he is tall enough he will move up to the 16 inch bike that we have. He won't need training wheels, because he will already know how to balance.

Carter got a new bike too. It's Seth's old bike. He is very happy to have it all to himself.