Sloane's first haircut

My plan has always been to let Sloane's hair grow as long as possible and leave it untouched.  Let's face it, I had some pretty bad haircuts as a child.  Some were my choice (the pixie cut), and some were not (the mullet).  My only defense was that it was the 80's.  I wanted to save Sloane this pain and let her have long, beautiful hair.  Sloane does not always agree to having her hair combed and brushed.  It is pretty much a daily battle.  Getting a girl to put on a bow is a huge battle.  I swear that every morning Sloane will go to school with a perfect set of pigtails, but when I pick her up she looks like a cat attacked her while she was napping.  So, it was time for a little trim.  I took Sloane to a local kids' hairdressing studio, and she got to sit in a car and watch a movie while she got her trim.  Sloane was surprisingly a perfect little client.  All in all, she only had about an inch cut off.  We kept a few locks of hair as a keepsake and got a few pictures.

Reading Parade

One of Finn's goals for this year was to qualify to be in his school's reading parade.  He just missed the cut off last year and was really sad about it.  If you read at least 1500 pages, you can be in the reading parade.  The kids in the parade dress up in patriotic garb and the whole school gathers around and blows bubbles at the participants as they walk by.  We were very proud of our little reader!  Finn has become quite the reader this year.  He is reading above grade level and has graduated to reading chapter books.

Seeing Stars

Back in January (yes, January), Rick's company had an outing at the local hockey game.  The Texas Stars is a minor league team not too far from us.  We've been to a few games before, and they are always lots of fun.  This time, Rick's company was allowed to get down on the ice and play.  Sloane and Finn slid around on their shoes and also got to hit the pucks into the goals. Sloane had one weak moment where she slid across the ice right  in front of a huge group of people who were hurling their pucks into the goal.  Luckliy, she dodged all the pucks headed her way.

So close...yet so far

Their was a wave of Vikings patriotism in our household during the football playoffs.  It was a few years since the Vikings had been to the playoffs and Rick got his hopes up, yet again.  Rick busted out his Vikings jacket form high school and the kids were donning their jerseys on game days.  Sadly, the vikings didn't pull through (duh).   One thing was accomplished, however.  Finn became a true Vikings fan.  Poor guy never stood a chance...

Ringing in the New Year

The Schwarz family really gets wild and crazy on New Year's Eve.  We took it pretty easy this year and decided to have a family New Year's celebration.  We had a delicious dinner at the restaurant Lupe Tortilla with some friends and their kids.  The kids busted out their festive noise makers at the end of the meal (sorry other restaurant patrons!).  Afterwards, we went home and played the Xbox dancing game together.  We let the kids think that they were staying up until midnight, but we let them do the East coast countdown and sent them on to bed.  They were none the wiser...

Birthday interviews

I'm going to try something out an idea that I saw on Pinterest. I saw a pin that had mom's interviewing their children every year on their birthdays so that when you look back on the interviews you can see how much their tastes have changed. So, these weren't technically done ON their birthday but the idea is the same. Here are their answers to the questions at ages 3 and 7.
 Because Sloane has a limited vocabulary (although it growing so much every day), I decided to give my answers that I guessed she would choose as well.
Sloane's interview:
 1. What is your favorite color? My answer: Pink. Sloane says Pink is my colo-or any time you give her something that is not pink. Even her cereal bowl must be pink. She wants her room painted pink, pink clothes, and pink EVERYTHING. Sloane's answer: Pink (duh)
 2. What is your favorite toy? My answer: It changes on a weekly basis. Right now it is paper doll sticker books and the shrinky dink maker. She is fickle like her mama. Sloane's answer: doctor set (Sloane was playing with a doctor set during the interview, her viewpoint may have been skewed)
3.What is your favorite fruit? My answer: Definitely strawberries. This girl can kill a carton of strawberries. Sloane's answer: strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? My answer: Sophia the Princes and she demands the same episode every time. The one with the trolls. She even picks up a stick and pretends it’s a club like the trolls have and sings their favorite song “Make some Noise.” Sloane's answer: Beauty and the Beast
 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? My answer: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which is unfortunately banned at her school. Ugh! Sloane's answer: yogurt (girl does love her some Greek yogurt)
 6. What is your favorite outfit? My answer: anything pink or a tutu with cowboy boots, natch! Sloane's answer: princess outfit
7. What is your favorite game? My answer: Sloane likes to play games with Finn, as in mess up all of the pieces and aggravate him to death. Sloane's answer: I don’t have a game (lies!)
 8. What is your favorite snack? My answer: Fruit snacks or monkey bars (organic strawberry granola bars) Sloane's answer: yogurt
9. What is your favorite animal? My answer: Puppies Sloane's answer: a horse
 10. What is your favorite song? My answer: “Make some Noise” the troll song I mentioned previously Sloane's answer: BINGO
11. What is your favorite book? My answer: 101 Dalmatians, the Rescuers, or The Rescuers down Under I read these books every single day of my life to her OVER and OVER again. Sloane's answer: Rescuers Down Under
 12. Who is your best friend? My answer: Mama or McKenna from school Sloane's answer: Noni (she will be excited to hear that)
 13. What is your favorite cereal? My answer: She would love for it to be Lucky charms but I make her eat healthier cereal Sloane's answer: Dora cereal(lies- I caved and got her Dora cereal and she refused to eat it) 14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? My answer: Swing on the swing Sloane's answer: swing
 15. What is your favorite drink? My answer:Puppy juice- what she calls root beer. She has only had this on very special occasions Sloane's answer: hot cocoa
 16. What is your favorite holiday? My answer: Probably Halloween- Sloane loves to dress up Sloane's answer: Halloween
 17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My answer: Her dora blankie, her bunny lovey named Penny (named after a character from the Rescuers), and one of her three favorite books. Sloane's answer: mama (this is true)
 18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? My answer: Kolaches and donuts with pink sprinkles Sloane's answer:pancakes
19. What do you want to eat for dinner on your birthday? My answer: Mcdonalds- chicken nuggets Sloane's answer: cake
 20. What do you want to be when you grow up? My answer: Who knows? First female President? Sloane's answer: doctor (again she was playing with a doctor set at the time of the interview, but I'm all for that)

 Finn's answers:

 1. What is your favorite color? battery charged blue (apparently this is the name of a Crayola crayon)
 2. What is your favorite toy? video games (He loves Madden football)
 3.What is your favorite fruit? mandarin oranges
4. What is your favorite tv show? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (what year is it again?)
 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? subway sandwich
 6. What is your favorite outfit? athletic clothes and rainbow loom bracelets (rainbow loom bracelets are bracelets that are all the rage at my school. They are made of rubber bands and all of the kids are making them including Finn)
 7. What is your favorite game? Knockout, the basketball game (Finn loves to play this at basketball practice)
 8. What is your favorite snack? goldfish
9. What is your favorite animal? dog
10. What is your favorite song? don’t know
 11. What is your favorite book? 101 Science Experiments
12. Who is your best friend? Aidan (always!)
 13. What is your favorite cereal? Cookie Crisp (I don't know who bought this for him, but I'm guessing Rick is involved)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play tag
15. What is your favorite drink? Mug root beer (why do my kids like root beer/ It makes me want to gag even thinking about it!)
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
 17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Lovey (yes, Lovey is still around)
 18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cookie crisp cereal (Yeah right)
19. What do you want to eat for dinner on your birthday? Shake's ice cream
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? video game maker or football player (Finn has been OBSESSED with football lately)

Holiday photos