Bang! Bang!

We've led a pretty charmed parenting life, considering we have five kids.  Unbelieveably, we've escaped most of the unpleasantries that come with having little ones.  I've heard many the horror story involving Sharpies, poop, nail polish, crayons, and much worse.  Upon hearing these stories, I usually think to myself, "How have we not experienced that??" Then I quickly knock on wood somewhere, and applaud myself for raising such good and neat little children who would never do such horrid things ;)

For example:

We have never had crayon on the wall.

Sharpies have always respectfully remained Mommy and Daddy pens.

We have never had anyone go near make-up or nail polish, unless you count the occasional request for "pink cheeks" or painted fingernails.

Poop has never been smeared anywhere.

We have never had a "runner."  (read: we don't have a boy. I'm making a big generalization here, I know!)

We have never had anyone touch or drink toilet water, or flush any foreign objects for that matter.

We have never had anyone brandish scissors and cut their own hair.

Damn.  There goes my trophy.

Of course, Annie would be the culprit.  She keeps us on our toes, and continues to surprise us with an unprecedented wild streak in this family.  Last night, while reading bedtime stories to the girls, I asked her to go wash her hands -- a normal request that I was sure she was capable of.  I continued to read a few more lines from our library book, blissfully unaware of what trouble she was up to.  Thankfully, Matt happened to walk past the bathroom at that moment, and found Annie holding scissors...that had already cut a big chunk of hair..bang hair that had been slowly growing out over the last 6 months!!  Anyone who has ever grown out their own bangs, or gone through the process with their little girl, will understand the shagginess we went through to get to this point...neat hair long enough to pull back into cute little dos.  At least we have a picture of both of the twins without bangs to prove it.   

Apparently, Annie wasn't sold on the bangless look, since she seized her time in the bathroom to take this matter into her own hands.  Regretfully, the twin mom in me (and the twin, too!) had no sooner laid my eyes on the hair in the sink than I began wrestling with whether to cut Tessa's bangs as well.  As traumatic as Annie's self-shearing was, it would have been more traumatic to have one twin with bangs, and one without.  I know I'm speaking twinese right now, and I'm probably crazy, but I didn't want the bangs (or lack thereof) to be the way people told them apart.  So, I immediately got to work evening out Annie's hair,

and then trimming Tessa's too.  But, I should note, Tessa actually asked for her bangs to be cut before I had the chance to try to make my case.  She's a twin.  She gets it :)

Tessa and Annie have the rest of their lives to get different hair cuts, develop their own styles, and find their own way.  For now, they can look alike, and like it ;)

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lock up our crayons, Sharpies and nail polish.  Unsavory  things happen to the best of us, it seems!