A hair cut, and some heart ache

So, last week on the way home from school, Liv said she wanted to get her hair cut. Short. As short as mine. Kate said "No, Liv! Then we won't be twins anymore." This argument held little weight for Liv and she said she wanted to do it RIGHT NOW. I figured it we were going to do more than trimming the edges, it was worth paying a professional to do it (nothing against my own fabulous hair cutting skills. Look no further than Jack, who runs in fear anytime I pull out the clippers...)

My hair stylist LeeAnn couldn't get Liv in for a week. So all week, Liv has been talking about how excited she is to get her hair cut. And Katie how much she doesn't want it to happen. How she won't be able to put Liv's hair in ponytails, and she loves doing that. How they won't be able to play her favorite game of having people guess who is who. And most of all, once she cuts it, they won't be twins anymore. No matter how much we explained it, Katie insisted on this last point.

I am sure there is a chapter in a twin book out there about how to handle this -- but I haven't read up yet on this particular stage of twinhood. So John and I just figured if Liv wants short hair, she should be able to have short hair. And we just will do the best we can to reassure Kate that their relationship hasn't changed even if their hair has.

So today, Kate asked if they could wear matching dresses (almost none of their clothes match). We had just gotten a bag of hand-me-downs recently which included the duplicate of Liv's Christmas dress from last year (thanks, Ruth!). They dressed up, and I got these photos (Liv with necklace):

And off to the hairdresser's we went. Liv went first:

And she was VERY happy with the results:

Kate went next -- just a trim. She looked like this before, during, and after (this is after, but you can image the scene):

Then Jack was up -- LeeAnn agreed to clean up his last haircut I gave him. 

We celebrated by going out to eat at Bonny's cafe.  We saw many people there we knew -- and to Kate's delight, people still didn't know who was who.

Whew. I think we made it through that hurdle. Mostly. Which is good enough!

***
And now, a few photos from the last few weeks. First up -- a dog and her girls:

And the photos below show the "shop" Kate and Liv created one night before friends came for dinner. They decorated it with leftover Christmas ribbons, and neatly organized all of their toys. Almost everything was available to rent. Not many options for long term ownership, however. (Kate in blue).

Christmas 2010

A few (or forty) photos of Christmas... first up, Christmas Eve. We invited a load of friends and family to indulge in an Italian dish called Bagna Cauda, putting everyone to work chopping veggies and drinking wine. Add a little garlic and butter, and voila... a feast.
 

The kids tracked Santa all night through the official NORAD Santa Tracker and reluctantly went to bed when he was still on the east coast of the U.S. They awoke to many wonderful gifts... from Santa, from family, from friends, and from each other.

These little plastic bits are called ZOOB and are REALLY full for building. Jack has been playing with them nonstop since Christmas.

Even Kaia had a stocking and was excited to get her treats.

Liv wearing a new dress from mom and dad, and a new headband from France

Santa brought Katie a little vet clinic -- she immediately ran downstairs to get her old Halloween costume to get to work.

Grandma Judy shows Olivia how to play the guitar brought by Santa

Katie tries her hand at her guitar

Christmas night meant a smaller, but even more indulgent, dinner with friends Pat and Andrea. Our house provided crab legs, French wine, roasted veggies, and rice, while Patrick and Andrea brought a delicious appetizer (the name of which I don't remember, but it included garlic, mushrooms, nuts, and blue cheese on toasted pieces of delicious bread) as well as mussels served in the Valencian style (with lemons and white wine). Ah....

The tablecloth and wine came from France...

Jay and Judy left on the 26th, and on the 27th, my parents came to town! One of the memories that will stand out from their visit was the fun of watching the kids ask my parents for stories, stories, and more stories... about dogs they used to have, about when my brother and I were "naughty" (never! It was always Steven's fault, anyway), about the things they used to do when they were kids, and more stories about dogs. My parents were more than happy to comply. We also played with a lot of new Christmas toys (Lego, erector set, dolls, etc.), went sledding, took Kate and Liv ice skating for the first time, ate many delicious meals, put together two puzzles, shopped, and had friends over. John and I even got in a date afternoon and evening and went to see True Grit and out for dinner. The only bad part is that, except for the ice skating outing, we didn't take many pictures -- we were too busy having fun, I think!
 

Kate snuggling with Mom

Jack and my dad built a ski lift from Jack's new erector set. Pretty impressive...