A Nail Tale

As my mom likes to say, "Where there is a Cargill, there is a story" and I often prove that statement to be true.

So, I have a certain place that I like to go get pedicures. It is owned by a sweet little Asian couple and they are the only 2 people that work there. The man does pedicures and the woman does manicures.

One day, I was getting a pedicure by the nice Asian man when this guy (we'll call him "Body Builder Guy") walks in and sits down next to the Asian man. He starts a friendly conversation in which they include me in on. They knew each other from the gym. The Body Builder guy tells me that he does pedicures and has done them since he was 14! Needless to say, I was surprised. He continued to sit there and chat it up. Some other customers come in and sit down to get pedicures and Body Builder guy makes himself right at home and starts their water and gets their massage chair going. Let me remind you, he doesn't work there! The Asian man finishes my feet except for painting my toenails and Body Builder guy offers to paint them for his Asian friend so the Asian man could move on to another customer. This put the Asian man in an awkward situation. He didn't want to be rude to the Body Builder guy but again...he didn't work there! So, I tried to ease the situation but telling him that would be okay and he actually did a pretty good job.

But how often do you go get a pedicure and it goes like this?

First Day of School

This week was the beginning of the school year for the Allen family. Our kids go to the preschool at our church and you go the number of mornings that you are years old. So, since Kie is one, he starts going one mornings a week. Kati Ann goes four!

Kie started on Wednesday. Though, he still has a hard time staying awake all morning, he did great!

Kati Ann started on Monday. As she said, "I had a really good day inside but outside was only a little good." She took a pretty big fall on the playground that knocked the wind out of her and hurt her back but after she got home and got some Tylenol and some TLC all was well.

Its hard to believe that Kati Ann is old enough to be at preschool 4 mornings a week. I've said I'm certainly glad they work us into going to school because by the time she's in Kindegarten, I might be okay with getting everyone out of the house 5 mornings a week!! Four mornings almost killed me this week :)!

Dentist

I took Kati Ann to the dentist for the first time this summer. She did really well having her teeth cleaned but we discovered that she had 2 cavities. So, we had to go back to have them filled. She really handled the pain well, she just got tired of them messing around in her mouth.

Colorful

Having a boy has really been eye-opening for me. Kie is always into everything and of course most of it goes in his mouth. In a matter of one week, he had eaten a green crayon and figured out how to take the lids off markers and ate black crayola marker.

Cute Kids

I couldn't resist. They are as sweet as they are cute! I <3 these kids so much!

Feathers

Our kids have a neat opportunity to be around "kids" much older than them ALOT. Several of our "big kids" have feathers in their hair and Kati Ann thought it was so cool. She asked me if she could have some and when their was a Groupon offered for 1/2 off feathers, I thought it was a good opportunity for her to get some. So, we went and got her 3 feathers, pink, blue and purple in her hair. She was so proud and the teenage girls thought she was super-cool. It was fun!

Jamaica

After 9 years of marriage, 2 master degrees, 3 churches, 5 houses and 2 kids, Jared & I decided we needed a vacation. We really haven't had the opportunity to vacation before, though we've dreamed of doing it. We planned a vacation to Jamaica an entire year in advance and were like kids waiting for Christmas for our vacation! We were so excited. We enjoyed 5 days in beautiful Jamaica just relaxing, eating delicious food, reading books and we even hiked Dunn River Falls! It was a cherished time that we would love to repeat. Hopefully, it won't be another 9 years.

Summer Project

Before

After

This summer was busy, as usual, for two parents in student ministry but we found time to do a fun project of painting Kati Ann's bedroom furniture pink and the bottom half of her wall blue. Her furniture is the bedroom furniture I had growing up so it was ready for a bit of a change. We had fun doing it and she loves it!