Almost 2 months ago, when Amber was on Spring Break, I told the girls we could do something special. Anything they wanted to do. Somehow the idea of pierced ears came up. Both girls were so excited. They were both going to go and get their ears pierced. It was all they talked about all night. The next morning, Amy says, "I don't want to get my ears pierced." Not shocking at all. I kept waiting for Amber to back out as well.
I called a couple of places at the mall to find out when they would have 2 people on the schedule that would be able to do ear piercings. One person to do each side at the same time. I learned that from my neighbors little girl. Grandma took the girl to get her ears pierced and came home with one pierced and there was no way she was going to sit in that chair again to have the other one done.
On the way, we stopped at a beauty school and Amber got her hair trimmed and both got manicures. They thought they were hot stuff. Then off we went to the mall. I was still waiting for Amber to back out. We went in, she sat down while they marked her ears, and boom they punched those earrings through. Not a tear in her eye.
She did so good keeping them clean and turning them. She is a bit obsessive with rules like that. She was SO excited when it finally came time to change them. So Dave and I, loaded the girls into the car and went to 3 different stores before she picked out the "perfect" earrings. Once we got home, we decided to change them out. If I knew now what I didn't know then...YIKES! Amber is so skittish anyway, then add to that the fact that she was an ear infection baby and had her tubes removed in the ENT's office with the doctor, a nurse and myself holding her down. ANYTHING that has to do with her ears is a hairy situation.
So the starter earrings are a little tougher to get out than I remember, but I got one out without too many tears. Amber insisted that we put the dolphin earrings in that she pick out, but more about that later. For some crazy reason I let her have all control. MISTAKE! Once she was given control there was NO WAY she was giving up...even if it meant sitting in the bathroom and sobbing for more than an hour. Which is exactly what she did. I stood back and patiently waited until she called me for help. I also gently reminded her that if she wanted my help all she had to do was ask. At some point she decided she didn't want the dolphin in after all, but she wanted the starters back in, in all her hysteria, I cold have cared less as long as this was all done. Long story short...one of the starters got dropped down the drain in the bathroom...new level of hysteria reached...dad intervened, mom got dolphin earrings in.
Lessons learned: 1. Don't give Amber more control than she can handle. 2. Dolphin earrings have fins that will poke into ears and cause nasty issues on little girls who wear their earrings too tight. 3. You can't see earrings from the front if your little girls has chuncky cheeks.
P.S. I have pictures on my phone that I cannot figure out how to upload onto my blog.
Her dance class was small, only four girls, but that was a perfect fit.
I think Amy was a little jealous of the costume. She insists that she is going to take dance in the fall. We'll see.
I am always so amazed at how these kids all pick up and start playing as if they saw one another yesterday. In reality, we haven't seen anyone, except Grandma and Grandpa, since July. I know when I was young and hadn't seen my cousins in a while, I was a little shy to begin with, but not these kids. It is really something to see their relationships.
This is a picture of me and B.J., my cousins Meredith and Stephanie and my Grandma Rahm. I am the only one not looking at the camera. 
