1st Hair Cut

Every kid gets a hold of scissors and plays hair dresser at some point in their childhood. Its a time honored rite of passage. That fateful time arrived for Lorelai yesterday morning, she was at her grandparents.

Derek gave me my first hair cut when I was just about Lorelai's age. Ha! And here's the pep talk he gave her after he found out that she'd followed in his footsteps:

Derek: Was Meme mad?
Lorelai: Oh yeah.
Derek: Was Grandpa mad?
Lorelai: Yeah, and Grandpa never gets mad, but he was mad.
Derek: Do you like it though?!
Lorelai: Yep.
Derek: Well then, don't let them bring you down!!!!

She's unbelievably proud of the job she did, and really... it could have been soooo much worse. So tonight we swung into the salon and let them trim up the back, and as the hair dresser was looking at her she started to ask if Lorelai had cut hair from both sides, and she beamed that she had indeed. I didn't even notice because it was SO even. The hair dresser called over another stylist and they commented about how it was an overall impressive job, ha!! All they trimmed off were a few scraggly pieces from the back, so it's not drastically different.

Without further ado, here are the pictures of her salon trip!

Anniversary Snapshots

Our unity candle is going strong, and and here's my lobster just before it met it's fate!

7th Anniversary Date

We went to Red Lobster, and had a great time then curled up in front of the tv for The Bachelorette!

 

 

Lucky Number 7

Call it luck, serendipity, providence, karma, fluke... call it whatever you want. We're going to call it grace. Somehow by the grace of God, we're celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary today. Rusty and I have never exchanged gifts, those of you who have followed this blog you know that we just buy something together and we follow a traditional/ modern anniversary guide chart and pick something to add to our collection. The things we've accumulated are:
1. paper- a money tree that is miraculously still alive
2. cotton - king size mattress
3. leather- couch and chair
4. appliances- front load washer and dryer
5. wood- play set
6. iron- bottle tree
7. copper- cross
We've really hit our knees hard this year. In this season of our marriage we've dealt with life and death, ups and downs, make it or break it, break ins and break downs (y'all know the drill "richer or poorer, sickness and health", etc, etc, etc) ... and earlier this year we received the best marital advice: "you've just got to make yourself more like Jesus", we must live, love, forgive, and serve like Him. Jesus taught, by example, unconditional love. When you drive up to my home the first thing you will see is this years addition to our anniversary collection, a copper-toned cross. Seven years later and I can still hear the echoing, epic voice of our preacher/ officiant/ friend, Stan Little, ringing out "What God has placed together, let no man put asunder." (Mark 10:9)

BRAVE

 

This movie was fantastic, and I loved the moral of the story: "mend the bond torn by pride". The focus of this movie is family, and Pixar's first princess movie was a huge hit for ours! Lorelai is already playing her role in supporting the merchandising department with both Merida dresses, the archery set, the red wig, the gladiator shoes (that she decided against wearing), the doll, the figurine set, a dining plate and cup, a tiara and septor! And, I'm sure we're not done supporting BRAVE.

BRAVE

 
 
 
 

Fashion Friday

I got these Ralph Lauren skinny pants (size 4, hallelujah) brand new, tags still attached for $4.95 at Goodwill (hallelujah)! And, I'm feeling like its a very fashionable Friday for the Ballentine's... Lorelai is dressed in her Merida dress (complete with a red wig and archery set) ready to see Brave this afternoon!

Daddy Daughter Date Night 2012

 Rusty ordered a matching corsage and boutonniere. 


















My mom and I mamarrazied them the whole night!


















We stopped for a few pictures. 














Lorelai was gorgeous, and even got new silver glass slippers, and a sparkley tiara just for her date. 




















Reservations for 2!  The daddies were told to park in the lot down the street.  And, were greeted by the princess cow.














A horse drawn carriage took them to Chickfila! 














There was live music!  It was so beautiful and I even got a misty eyed.


















The menu.














Each little girl received a red rose!


















The wait staff was even tuxedo clad.



















Chickfila literally rolled out the red carpet for this event. So magical.














L loves horses. 


















And, a Cinderella carriage delivered them back to the parking lot down the street.  So neat! 



















A quick picture with the princess cow to end the night!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the two best dads in the world, mine and L's.  Last night Rusty took Lorelai to Chickfila's Daddy Daughter Date night, and my dad toted our camera bags so my mom and I could follow quickly behind snapping pictures.  Our Chickfila is one of the top 10 ranked Chickfila's in the country, and we love participating in their awesome, free, Christian activites.  They always roll out the red carpet to make kids feel special at Chickfila, so fun!!

Fashion Friday

 

Tomato, tomato.

Pillow, dogs butt.

Swimming Saturday