Return of the Fearsomely Hip Hair Stylist

This time he wanted to cut this new style with angles, and I said, sure, why not.  Short will be fun for summer.

I like how you can see the other stylist in the background of the first picture, with her bright fuchsia hair. They are certainly a stylish set at this salon.

Chefs at Work

I arrived home on Friday evening and the boys were tossing up all the play food plus wooden blocks.  What was going on?  "We are Ninja Cookers!" exclaimed Buster.  And so they were, preparing tasty dishes for our admiration.

Happy Father's Day to all!

We had a lovely day, starting with hosting brunch at our house for my sister and her family, and finishing with homemade pizza for dinner.  SwingDaddy has mastered the dough.

We gave him a steampink cravat pin and the Geek Dad book of projects for dads and kids. I'm very intrigued by the proposal to build a mission out of cake.  (In California, all fourth graders complete a project where they construct a model of a mission for their history lessons.)

Office Pros

Nanny J wasn't feeling very well today and my meeting schedule was light, so I brought the boys into the office with me.  They were really excited to get sandwiches (and chips!) at the cafeteria and settled into my office with their crayons and paper activities..

The whiteboard was popular too, although it was a tough balance on whether to keep the door closed (quieter for folks working nearby) or open (the marker smell is overwhelming!)

And That's a Wrap!

Q-ster has completed second grade!

His wonderful teacher held a farewell breakfast this morning for kids and parents.  As usual, everyone went overboard with provisions, resulting in boxes and boxes of cereal, donuts, crates of juice, fruit coming out of all corners.  It was very festive and fine way to say good-bye to a year that could have been challenging (a combined 1st/2nd grade class) and instead was pretty stellar.

It was great to be in the classroom almost every week - I had a much better sense for how Q-ster was doing and also got to see his emerging leadership skills.  I'll have to figure out how to manage next year, with two in school!

One Done

Well, the micro dude is all finished with preschool.  How did that happen so fast?!

His last week was great - a field trip to the local pizzaria, where each child got to make a tiny pizza (and eat it!), lots more crafts, and a water day where they ran through sprinklers on the lawn.  Buster is pretty satisfied with his school experience and can't wait for kindergarten to begin.

Royals of the North

I'm an occasional fan of royals, largely because of the nice clothes, I think.  In any case, our favorite Nordic country has issued stamps in honor of the 40th birthday of the Crown Prince and Princess.

Plus, this weekend, Princess Madeleine of Sweden got married!  Her financier husband, Chris O'Neill, has declined a royal title, as he intends to stay in business while they continue to make their home in New York City.

He says that he's getting used to representing Sweden, and he's off to a good start.

Her older sister, Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel (who accepted a royal title after marriage, since his wife is heir to the throne and they take royal duties full time,) brought baby Princess Estelle.

It's said that the generation after next will all be queens - the first children of all the current Crown Princes and Princesses in the Scandinavian countries are girls.

Chickenhair

There's an outdated stereotype of the bumbling dad who can't fix his daughter's hair, but it's kind of opposite in our household.  SwingDaddy combs down the boys hair every morning, which as pictured above, is more exacting than you might imagine. 

On the other hand, I have often forgotten until we get out of the house, or even until we step out of the car at school.  The worse case - in May, SwingDaddy was out of town for the weekend, so I was solo with the boys, and I was sitting with Buster in the audience of Q-ster's piano recital while he was sitting with the other students on the other side of the room when I suddenly had the horrifying realization that I hadn't combed the boys hair that morning. 

I looked over at Buster.  His hair looked ok.  Surely I would have noticed if his brother's hair was crazy.  A few songs later, it was Q-ster's turn and I breathed a sigh of relief as he walked to the front of the room, looking tidy.

(This wasn't the graduation recital last week, it was a earlier, smaller one.)

And yes, the hair can get crazy.  That's Buster above.  And I have come across Q-ster in the morning as he looks in the mirror and sighs, "Chickenhair," as it stands on end like a rooster's comb.

Still, that's easier than long hair.  My colleague's wife often travels and he's highly competent with getting his son and daughter to daycare in the morning, but one time there was a festival day that required a fancy dress and fancy hair hair-do.  The dress, he managed, but the hair was a bit more of a challenge.  When they arrived at school, the teacher kindly smiled and said, "On our own this morning, I see."