Those Barlows and their road trips!

I was busy doing something (can't remember what now) And Mike came home from work. Went back into our bathroom and came out saying, did somebody cut their hair? He found some hair lying on the floor. Our first thought was Molly, so hollered down the stairs to her, "Molly! Did you cut your hair?" At this time I was in our living room which is actually a great room with our kitchen and dining room. Maddy was sitting at the table. I saw her perk up at Mike's question to Molly. She had this look on her face like "Uh-Oh! Don't look at me. Don'tlookatme don'tlookatme....." Yep, it was Maddy! Our easy kid, the one who never gets "into" things. I look closer at her and notice a big chunk gone from her just barely finished growing out bangs. Then a chunk gone from one side and then the other of her head. AAGH! I ran back to look in my bathroom, and didn't see enough hair. So I wondered out loud where it was. Molly led me to this on my CLOSET floor:

Talk about a mom's worst nightmare! And poor Maddy, she was SO embarrassed!

I think I did a pretty good job of salvaging her hair, though! I layered her hair the way I watched my hair get layered last time I got a haircut. And then I gave her some feathery bangs to "hide" her chop job. Why oh why do little girls who cut their hair go for the BANGS!?!?! 

Whew~! On to other adventures! We took yet another road trip last weekend. We found a cheap hotel room with a pool and headed up to Jackson Hole. We used to be able to do that more often, when we lived in Idaho Falls. We've really missed it. We don't ski, but we enjoy the scenery and the unique shops. And the kids really enjoy staying in a hotel and swimming!    

We even made a new friend!

(OK, so he's stuffed....)

 I really really don't like this pic of me, but here's the one family shot we got. (I really should invest in a good tripod. The camera is balanced on a drinking fountain here. )

This past week, my kids' school had their annual Music Festival. Each year every grade level puts together a number highlighting what they are learning. Our school has what they call "expeditions" each semester. All of their learning is focused on a certain subject. For example, right now the 3-4 graders are learning about Wolves. So, their Science and reading and geography have to do with wolves. The 1-2 graders are learning about Potatoes, so they put on a Potato Opera. It was so cute! Also at this festival the choirs sing. This is my second year playing for the school choirs. Along with that, I was asked to play for the Potato Opera. It was so fun! And to make it even more exciting, we held it in the Stephen's Performing Arts Center. If you don't know, this is a newer place in Pocatello that is top of the line. (It's where David Archuleta performed! Squeal!!) The acoustics are some of the best in the world right now. I'm so spoiled I've been able to play the piano on that stage twice now! It's too exciting to me to be scared of it. This year the school had a new music teacher. I worried how the Music Festival would go without our beloved teacher from before. I mean it was her "baby"! But, although I loved her and her music festivals, I'd have to say this year was the best so far. This new teacher implemented a few new ideas that made it so nice! For one thing, in between class numbers, while they were changing the staging around, they featured talents from Students. Some sang, some played instruments. It was so neat! It was such a good night! Although things sound amazing in this place, it is difficult to take good pictures without an amazing camera. (It's a BIG place!) So I just snapped this of the kids after. Maddy is holding the flowers that I was given by the school for playing. I almost forgot...one of the new things the new teacher tried this year was having the 3-4 graders (Mikey and Mailei) play the recorder. They performed some Beatles songs. It was cute. A LOT of work went into learning those songs, BUT I think the kids were a little disappointed. They were the only grade that didn't get to perform ABOUT their expedition. We'll see what he decides to do next year.

(Yes, Mailei IS taller than Mikey, but NOT this much taller. He's sort of sitting on the little ledge thingy behind him)

 Soccer season has started for Mikey. This year we finally remembered to request a coach. I debated between two who I really wanted. The funny thing is, those two combined and are BOTH his coaches! YAY
(The coaches got their team sponsored and were able to get these too cool uniforms)

 Is it spring yet?!?! I want to get these babies in the ground soon!