hair today, gone tomorrow

I have to tell a story, because these pictures definitely need some explaining.

I suppose this is a week for me to learn lessons. The two I learned last night were:
- Read directions BEFORE operating electric equipment
- Always double check what you are doing before you make any dramatic changes in ones appearance.

Lat night I bought some clippers to cut the boys hair, I have been cutting Scott's hair with some borrowed clippers and thought it would be a good investment. I decided to try out my new toy on Jack. I was fiddling around with all the attachments and amidst my excitement I forgot that I had taken off the clipper attachment and just the bare blade was exposed. I proceeded to take a massive chunk out of the golden locks of jacks luscious hair. lesson #1 learned..always double check. the damage was bad enough that I couldn't even buzz it...we had to shave him. bald. like not-a-hair-left-on-the-kids-head bald. No problem I thought, until I learned lesson #2 about one minute later. Always read directions. I neglected to read that the clippers needed to be charged for no less than three hours before using them. About one minute into shaving his head, the clippers die and this is what I was left with...






My very own Benjamin Button! I guess we will know what Jack will be looking like in his geriatric years. Scott walked in from work at this point and had a panic attack. You can also notice jacks somber face, I didn't get many smiles from that little guy last night.

BUT, no worries, we let the clippers charge and now we have a FULLY bald two year old. (insert sigh of relief)



And now he is ALL smiles!

I knew she was being TOO quiet....

I thought I learned my lesson with jack...when they are being quiet, they are never up to any good.

Not my sweet Bianca, she was NEVER supposed to get in any trouble!

I guess it was my fault. What mother, in her right mind, leaves an open bin full of clothes laying in the middle of the floor?!?

note:this bedroom was clean about 15 minutes prior to her crawling in there to destroy it. Oh, and my daughter usually isn't still in her pajamas at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but the little doll is sick.

chocolate cupcakes, powdered sugar, and a sweet little five year old...

This is my Darling Niece Bailey.  Her big sister and dad are in Utah for the LDS film festival, so she's been feeling a little blue because she really wanted to go.  

So what does Auntie Jill do with a down-in-the-dumps five year old? 

What any awesome aunt would do...

Have a cupcake slumber party!

We made a some amazing creme filled chocolate cupcakes, which she stirred, poured, frosted, and dusted herself...with a little supervision of course.

Now I think all the rest of my nieces need to live closer so I can host a few more cupcake parties!

Winking 101

Having a young toddler has taught me many things.  Something in particular that I have learned is that teaching a young child a new "trick" is always a process.  Think back to your first child, how many hours were spent teaching them something as simple as Patty-Cake, or using a fork, or drinking from a cup...all these things require a process.  

Now wink.

seems easy, right? Well try and teach a two year old to wink and it seems as though you are trying to teach them to speak a different language.

First, he sees the wink and can't figure out how to open his mouth and close one eye at the same time.  (when you wink, unless you think about it, you will naturally open your mouth)

Now we are getting closer, just get that eye closed all the way.

Ok, now just get that eye closed AND the mouth more "normal" looking.

And there it is...perfection!!

That one is for you Nana Cindy and Bompa Greg!

bedtime routines

Most people have strict bed routines for their kids, as they should because children need consistency. Some people read stories, some people sing sweet lullaby's**, and some people have a snack and a glass of warm milk.

Not at the springer house.

Our nightly routine consists of jumping off window ledges,

and having wrestle mania with dad...these are our last ditch efforts to squeeze the last bit of energy out of a very high strung little jack-hammer.

Here is sad bianca who has usually been sound asleep for about 4 hours befor jack goes to bed...she was not happy to be awake for a quick diaper change.

**note: Don't worry, I do read stories and sing songs to my children. Lots of them.

The rains came down, and the floods came up...

Remember the 14 inches of snow we go last week, and remember how they didn't ever plow the roads? Well, when all of the sudden the temperature rises, and the snow turns to rain, this is what happens...

All of the slippery snow is compacted under about 6 inches of slush. You can imagine the driving conditions...

All of our cars were stuck, all at once.

Gotta love it!

A winter wonderland...

When we moved to Washington I was worried about several things, one of them being that Christmas and winter in general just wouldn't be the same with out snow. Here, it will snow occasionally (like once a year), but will be all melted by morning. You can imagine my surprise when we woke up to this a few days ago...


Not only did it stick all day, but it kept snowing,



and snowing,

and snowing.

Currently we are covered with about 14 inches of snow and it looks like there will be no let up for about a week. Because it rarely snows here, no one ever invests in snow plows, shovels, or any snow clearing gear, which means the roads and everything else are a COMPLETE mess. All the schools have been shut down and Scotty had a short work week (and it's looking like no one will be going to work tomorrow either!)

So, it looks like I don't need to worry about having a white Christmas...but I think I got a little more than I bargained for!

note: Washington hasn't seen snow like this since 1968

P.S. did you notice the deer in the first picture?

A real tree AND colored lights

According to Scotty, because we live in the "evergreen" state, it is something of blasphemy not to have a real tree. I decided that this year I would give in and get a real tree, even though the previous two years I have successfully gotten my way with a fake one (I love my shedless, waterless, pre-lit tree) This weekend we went to a HUGE 10 acre Christmas tree farm.

The weather was beautiful and Jack was in 2 year old heaven. That kid ran circles (literally) around those trees until he couldn't run any more.

Scotty was nice enough to let me pick out the perfect tree and then he got to feel all sorts of manly cutting it down with a saw

And here is the Beauty...lit in all her glory! Oh, a side note: I hate colored lights, loathe them in fact. I think they are tacky. Scott has been begging and pleading with me to get colored lights this year, claiming "white lights aren't as christmasy or festive". I decided that since we splurged on a real tree I would once again appease my man and give in to the colored lights. I guess I am coming around because I hate it less and less everytime I look at it. Maybe by Christmas I will even (gasp) enjoy the colored lights...it will be a Christmas miracle!



***Scott also wanted tinsel, yes, tinsel on the tree. I drew the line there. no tinsel. ever.

I think it's finally time...

...for Jack to graduate from his crib to a toddler bed. This was the scene my sister in law walked in on when she checked on jack yesterday.


"Um, Jill...does Jackson know how to get out of his bed?" I heard her say from inside his room.

"Not that I know of..."

"Well you better come see this!"

Then from the room I hear a little voice say "I stuck, I stuck"

The poor kid didn't even know what he had gotten himself into when he swung his feet over the edge of the crib. Notice how he is looking down, unsure of what's beneath him.

So he just sat there, in a pickle, not knowing what to do. (that is the reason I was able to capture this on film...the kid was terrified.)

I guess now we should get him a toddler bed before he is actually brave enough to let go and we find ourselves in the emergency room.

I'm not going to lie, I have been dreading the day that Jack makes the switch to the toddler bed. Not because I am sad to see my little guy grow up (heaven forbid I get sentimental about this), but because I love that I can stick him in his crib and I know that he is contained in a 5x3 foot safety box. I'm afraid that without the crib to keep him out of trouble, he will wreak all sorts of havoc in his room at night.

Let the adventures, and the clean up begin!

Happy thanksgiving

This is the face of a girl who really enjoyed her turkey and mashed potatoes...I hope you all had a very filling thanksgiving!

A few differences...

Men and women are different. That's all there is to it. If you haven't figured that out than you are probably not married, and if you are, then your marriage probably won't last much longer. After having been married for THREE whole years (I know, I should be a veteran by now) I still find myself sometimes frustrated with the "man" way of thinking.

Naturally, men are inclined to see a problem, and find a solution. Case closed. Women tend to want to know what their friends think about the problem, what emotions are being involved, and we carefully weigh out all the options...yada yada yada, you know the routine ladies. One way isn't better than the other...just different. And also, men usually take things very literally. Come on, haven't we ALL told our husbands we're "ok" when really we aren't, but think they should know enough to figure it out on their own. I know you are all smirking right now because you know exactly what I'm talking about.


Sorry that was a long introduction for this very short story.

The other day I asked Scotty to put some Cheerios on the tray for Bianca to snack on while I finished dinner. He did, and left the room. no problem. I turned around to check and I saw her tray with half a box of Cheerios on it. In my head I was thinking "since when does a few mean 75?" I thought "some" meant 5-6...you know, so her little pincher fingers could develop their fine motor skills by picking up one dainty cheerio at a time, and so she could have just enough to hold her over before dinner.



If you put a million(okay, I'm slightly exaggerating) Cheerios in front of a hungry baby, what do you think she will do with them...That's right, start stuffing her little fists straight into her mouth like a little chipmunk gathering acorns. Check out those little balled fists in the above picture, it's like she couldn't get them in there fast enough.


Then I asked Scotty in my loving wife voice "hey sweetie, why did you have to put so many Cheerios on her tray...?" He gave the perfect manly reply: "because then it keeps her busy longer" DUH- what was I thinking, you are a man, and men solve problems. Case Closed.




So anyway, I got a good laugh out of it...and now I just know for next time I need to specify "5 or 6" Cheerios on the tray not "some".

p.s. This wasn't meant to be a "man" bashing post... just a "men are different than women" post

A little something to hold you over...

things are a somewhat slow right now in the blogging world for me, so I decided to do this tag that's going around. This is the 4th picture in the 4th folder....

This is a picture of Jack the day we got home from the hospital. When we left the hospital that day, he was weighing in at a mere 5 lbs 10 oz...he was so TINY. Notice how small his head is compared to Scotty's thumb. What a sweet little peanut!

I tag anyone who hasn't done this yet...