She decided to go short

After much deliberation, Kaylee decided that the time had come to redo her look. She insisted that she was prepared to go all the way to her shoulders.

Before...After...
We cut off about 6" tonight and so far she's happy.

Brotherly Love

This just melted my heart when I walked in and saw Derek helping Kaylee paint her fingernails. It may have had more to do with the challenge of the project than trying to make her happy, but for whatever the reason, I was so glad to see him doing something nice for her. (Incidentally, he's mortified that I'm posting this!)
Kaylee was elated with her new French manicure! For some reason she always wants to dress up and look nice on Saturday - probably because she wears uniforms to school every week day.

Boy Scout Court of Honor

Last night we attended our first Stake Boy Scout Court of Honor for Derek. I suppose that after we get through scouting with all 3 boys, we'll be really tired of them! We were proud of Derek for earning several Merit Badges and his First Class Rank. I can't believe that he's almost as tall as me now!
Of course, he is still small compared to all of the other young men in our ward. Here's a group picture of the scouts in our troop. On Sunday when Derek passes the Sacrament, it's almost comical to watch him stand between the tall older boys.

A bad stick

Some of you probably know that I give plasma occasionally. I've been a blood donor since I turned 18, but I switched to plasma for a semester in college for some extra cash (you get paid for plasma donations). Recently, I noticed that there was a plasma center here in town, so I have gone occasionally - partly for a little extra money and partly because I think it's kind of cool and gives me some guilt-free reading time. For those who don't know, for plasma donation, the needle is quite a bit bigger and it stays in your arm for about an hour. During that time, blood is drawn, centrifuged to remove the plasma, and then returned to your body through the same needle. The process is repeated many times until enough plasma has been obtained. Then they pump saline into you to replace the volume that was lost. Because not all of the blood cell is used, you can donate plasma up to twice a week.
The above picture, although a terrible angle of my arm, shows what my arm usually looks like when I'm done. No big deal. In all my years of donating blood and plasma, I've always had really clean sticks - no problems. In plasma donation, though, if you get a "bad stick" (meaning the phlebotomist messed up) it can be really bad because when the blood is returned to your body, it leaks out into the surrounding tissue creating a very impressive bruise. Mine wasn't nearly that exciting. They noticed the problem and switched arms before the return cycle, but I still got a small battle wound. I know I'm crazy, but I thought it was pretty cool. Just had to share...
(The little indention is scarring from my college donations in case you're morbidly curious).

"Baby Hippogriffs"

For some reason, Brandon & Kaylee decided they were baby hippogriffs. I'm sure they got the idea from the 3rd Harry Potter movie, but I don't think they've watched it recently, so I'm not sure what brought this on. They crawl and fly around the house making some pretty hideous noises. It makes every task interesting. Brandon always wants to be referred to as whatever he is currently pretending to be, so instead of saying, "Brandon, please go make your bed," you have to say, "Baby Hippogriff, please go make your bed," in order to get results. Ah, the simple joys of childhood.

Tragedy for the school

My thoughts have been occupied much of the day by the news that a teacher from the children's Elementary School was killed by her husband yesterday morning in a murder-suicide. I knew the teacher briefly because she took a few days off to volunteer at the middle school last year. Her daughter is in 7th grade classes with Derek. Another daughter is Kaylee's age. My heart goes out to those poor girls (who were home at the time of the shooting). It has really made me think about the uncertain nature of life and how thankful I am for my blessings.

Tropical Storm Fay

Just wanted to let everyone know that Fay is officially out of the picture! That means I can finally stop checking the National Hurricane Center's website every few hours. After almost a week of meandering through the State (making landfall 4 different times), it appears she will finally depart. We appreciate those who have checked up on us. We feel extremely blessed that we have experienced only minor rain and wind. The track was such that we were miraculously kept out of the heavy storm bands. We feel terrible for the devastation of those who were hit hard, but are thankful to report that all is well here!