And the winner is...

Owen Wilson! It beat the "Jake G" by only one point. Paul is glad that my vote for Owen pushed him to the winner...he wanted to keep his long hair. The girl who cut it left him with somewhat of a mullet, so I've had to make a few adjustments here and there. I've learned that cutting guys' hair with scissors (instead of a buzzer) is hard, but I think I can do it in the future. I messed up a bit, but it looks better than when he came home from the salon!

But before we chopped it, we had a little fun.

The Blue Steel...a little creepy, I admit

Paul at his weirdest.

The Wave

The Steven Seagal...you should see the karate poses.

The Scarlet Pimpernel. "Sink me, the lady's a poet."

The "I am a SO happy cheerleader"...creepier still. Paul even finds this highly disturbing...in fact he isn't sure if he even wants to keep this one on the blog.

The Deadbeat

The EMO boy

The Rockstar

Which one is your favorite?

Our first crop

Hattie loves birds...and almost any animal for that matter. But we are not pet people. So instead we thought that putting up a bird feeder would bring animals for Hattie watch without all the hassle of a pet.

We put it up before the summer and it was a hit. Hattie was constantly watching the birdies out the window, which kept her entertained during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We got quite a following...eventually there were over 25 birds gathered on and around our little feeder.

Then we went to Ontario for the summer. When Paul came home 6 weeks later, we discovered corn growing below the feeder. I always figured we'd have a tough time growing a garden in Texas, but I think I was wrong.

P.S. A post about Paul's winning 'do is coming soon!

Sissy

That's one name that Hattie has for Anna. They really are cute together. Hattie loves to pat Anna on the head, and hasn't been violent at all...well, she has only hit her on purpose once! I love to watch Hattie interact with her, and try to snap a shot whenever I can.

(Thanks Jessie for the beautiful quilt!)
(And Anna may gain a Buddha belly to rival Hattie's)

Hattie was pretty upset when we took Anna out. And, by the way, that is the face Hattie makes when asked to smile.

Happy due date!

Today is Anna's due date. For what it's worth, I'm glad I wasn't pregnant these last 6 weeks! She's doing wonderfully, weighing in around 9 lbs, and Hattie absolutely loves her.

Do I have to cut it...?

For the last nine months I have been growing out my hair.

It started when Melanie asked me to grow it out a little longer than my self-cut, No. 2 chop job. I liked my buzz cut. It was quick, easy, and zero-maintenance. However, after several of our friends had seen our wedding pictures and had commented about how young I looked and then asked how long we had been married (evidently expecting a response of "oh...about ten years"), I began to reconsider. Melanie heard this (and some comments that Aaron made) and decided I needed to grow my hair out longer. To be completely honest she has been dropping subtle and not-so-subtle hints that I should grow it out a bit for the last couple years. Little did she know she was about to open Pandora's Box. Now look at me...a mangy beast. She was right...growing my hair out has made me look a lot younger, and it has also resulted in a rather unexpected change of view...I really like my long hair. In fact, I love my long hair (and a lot of people have commented that it looks good). But like all good things, there must be an end. Now Melanie has begun to hint that it is time for a cut (or maybe just a trim). But instead of just getting it cut, I thought it would be fun to poll our readers (I know...a little vain). The ground rules are the following: Wife's vote = 5 points, Family votes = 2 points, Friend votes = 1 point

So here are the questions:

1. Should Paul cut his hair?

2. If YES, which style of short hair should he get?



The "Christian Bale": Yes, you say, I looked better with the buzz cut.










The "Mentalist": Melanie likes this one only because she likes the show...but honestly...I would look ridiculous with this.








The "Wolverine": Yup...the chops are part of the deal.











The "Jake Gyllenhaal": Melanie wishes I had the blue eyes to go with this one.










The "Two Face": I actually like this one but I think I look like a total goober with a part...you never know though...







3. If NO, which style of long hair should he go for?



The "Owen Wilson": Broken nose not included.

The "Jon Bon Jovi": This is actually kinda what I am sporting right now.










The "Soundgarden": I think I would need a perm to make this one work.










The "Alexander": Greasy...but I could do it. Melanie says the goatee is not a part of this one...I agree.







Please post a comment with your votes by Saturday, September 5th and we'll post a picture of the winning "do" next week.

Iverson Rebellion 2009

Every year in Preston, Idaho is the Iverson Family Rebellion. Paul's grandparents have a nice big house for everyone to stay in...or set up tents around. Every year there is plenty of food, games, and crazy ideas. This year was no different.

For one reason or another (don't ask me...I haven't an idea) it was decided that there would be a parade, and each family would march in it. My one question was, if everyone was in the parade, who would actually watch it? Regardless, the parade was held. So Aaron and Tandy rigged up this awesome longhorn cow. And the rest of us threw ours together last minute. Can you tell Tandy is an artist? But I heard that Aaron did most of the work.

Yup, it was painted, shaded, and everything.

Here I am, the pregnant cow. I doubt this caused my water to break early.

All of the Texas Longhorns. I must say, we had the best entry in the parade, probably because Christina was the pooper scooper who shoveled all our chocolate cow droppings.

Here is Paul's mom, Jessie, with all of her granddaughters. Yes, Hattie is sporting a mustache. She accidentally drew on her mouth with a permanent marker, and Paul decided to embellish it! It was still slightly visible at church the next day.

Another part of the reunion included a fair, in which each family set up some sort of booth. All the boys took turns on the dunking booth, and I particularly like this shot of Paul.

And one of our "booths" was sumo wrestling. I didn't try my hand at this...it certainly would have been the cause of my water breaking!

The pie eating contest was also a hit.

And, making this reunion most memorable, was the gigantic slip and slide. Don't worry - I didn't go down. And Hattie wasn't the biggest fan.

All in all, a great reunion full of board games, late night 4 square games, and good conversation. We hope we can make it next year!

The Otter-pop girls

I've finally finished downloading, organizing, and renaming all my pictures from the summer, so over the next few days I'm going to try and catch up a bit during naptimes. Not that I expect all you readers to care about the details of my past summer, but I do it mostly for my own record keeping.

But I'll start with this little tidbit from a few days ago.

Hattie's friends Juliet and Callie came over for a swim in our inflatable pool the other day. Hattie is slowly remembering that they are her friends - the nine week break from Texas has clouded her memory. They enjoyed splashing each other, and Hattie actually stayed outside with them instead of coming to search for me. Once they left she was constantly asking for "Et" and "Ca-ee." We get together every week with Callie and Juliet, who are both very close to Hattie's age. And I get to enjoy a few hours with Chelsea and Kristina, two girls who are lifesavers here in Lubbock. I'm glad to be back where I am surrounded with wonderful friends.