playingSALON
I admit that I could not get to my camera fast enough to catch Noah and Caitlyn playing salon, but the aftermath is captured forever. I went upstairs to round up the kids for our daily "go get dad at BYU" trip. In hindsight it was really quiet, but at 5:00pm, I am not my sharpest. I walked into Caitlyn's room to find that Noah had seated her at her table in a blanket draped seat. He had laid out all the various combs, brushes, clips, bows and sprays before her. He was armed with pair of baby fingernail scissors. "Look mom, I am cutting Cait's hair" as he pulled a chunk out and deftly snipped 2 inches from her head. I wanted to laugh and tell them they were cute, but the practical mom in me decided it was best to nip this scenario in the bud. I told Noah that people who cut hair have to be finished with kindergarten and even high school and then go to special hair school. He wasn't aware. "So, did you go to special hair school mom?" -No "How come you cut Benj and Me's hair then?" That was a discussion for later. I gathered Caitlyn's fallen tresses to show Jeff. I fille an entire sandwich bag. She ended up with a partial mullet, with one side short and the other long with some bangs.
Caitlyn got her first real salon haircut the next morning. Jeff convinced Caitlyn that Heidi was a princess who cuts hair and she sat perfectly still for the whole thing. Lucky for us Heidi was able to make it look like we meant her to have layers and swoopy bangs. Now we just have to train her hair to stay parted on the other side so the mullet underneath won't show...

before and after thank heavens for thick hair

Let It SNOW

Maybe this is normal weather, but it seems like a banner year for snowfall here in Provo. We have gotten a couple inches every weekend since the beginning of December. Usually it snows an inch or less, but we have been getting at least two inches from each storm. Yesterday was our first work week storm which doubled our 7 min. commute and dumped 4 inches on our slippery driveway. At least our children are loving it. Noah dressed up as an "astronaut" and went exploring the surface of the moon (our backyard). He even built a snow polar bear complete with fruit loop facial features. Caitlyn seems impervious to the cold and regularly escapes to eat "snowcones" even in bare feet.

Polar Express





That's right. The Heber Creeper makes a magical transformation every December to become the Polar Express. Grandma and Grandpa Meldrum surprised all the grandkids with tickets to kick off the Christmas season.
We braved the blizzard in Provo Canyon to meet everyone in Heber. The kids were giddy to a)be together b)ride a train and c) its the Polar Express of course. We rode in a 1940s train car decked with lights and all the Christmas trimmings. Chefs served "Mrs. Claus' Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies" and piping hot chocolate. Well, warm chocolate. The only exception was Noah, whose piping hot drink quickly ended up in his lap. He was more frustrated and embarrassed than hurt. Luckily, his paranoid mother had insisted on two pair of pjs, just in case we had to vacate the train for any reason. This came in handy as we had a brother with a change a clothes handy.

Along the way, we each got a Polar Express storybook and followed along with our own storyteller/host. By the end of the story, we had rounded Deer Creek and all the kids were pressed up to the windows to catch a glimpse of the North Pole and Santa Claus. While we waited for Santa to come to our car, we sang songs, heard silly Christmas jokes and had a Ho Ho Ho contest with all the grandpas on the train.

All the kids were excited for Santa, except Caitlyn. Her response to Santa's arrival was classic avoidance technique. She finally had to relocate from Grandpa's lap to dad-- it was just too scary. Santa gave all the kids one bell from a reindeer harness. Mason (our cousin) got two for being born on Christmas Day.

Finally our conductor came around to punch tickets and Mrs. Claus handed out the recipe for those great cookies. Caitlyn loved Mrs. Claus and told her that she wanted "presents" for Christmas.

It was a lot of fun and very magical for the kids. It was amazing to see the wonder in their eyes as each detail from the story came to life.