Helpfulness and haircuts

Early this afternoon I had 4 GRUMPY kids and I needed a break. I resorted to the official standby: Disney. While they watched, I started cleaning. It wasn't long before Ammon joined me. He didn't like that movie. (Neither do I.) So he picked up the books in the family room and vacuumed it. Then Nathan came up. He vacuumed the hardwood floor (yes, Mom, with the appropriate little vacuum). Meanwhile, Ammon dusted. Bethie joined Ammon in dusting. Then I started folding laundry. All the kids sat down to help me fold (except for Sarah, who chose the movie and evidently was enjoying it). Nathan asked permission to wash the windows. They all helped. Sarah even joined them mid-window-washing. I didn't ask for any of this. They just did it. I think they love me. (I threw that in because just this morning I was manipulatively telling the children that since they weren't obeying me by helping to clean up their sleeping area they obviously didn't love me. This is a good parenting technique because I am a good mom, right?)

With the upstairs sparkling clean, I went downstairs to see what needed to be done. I found piles of hair. Bethie had been experimenting with the scissors.

Exhibit A: The front view of a cute little face. Notice the right is significantly shorter than the left.

Exhibit B: The "long" (but still thin baby-hair) side.

Exhibit C: The short side.

It will be easy to fix, I believe. As I was scolding her (in a nice voice) she looked at me and sternly said, "Don't talk to me like that!" Then she picked up an ukulele and started singing "Zipadee Doo Dah." She's just so adorable.

I tried to take her picture, as evidenced above. For that last one, I said, "Bethie stand here and look over there." She would move over to wherever I pointed for her to look. Then she would turn around, smile, and say, "Cheese!" It was quite difficult to get that last blurry, eyes-shut photo.