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{A}’s 13th Birthday | 4th of July Weekend 2010 | Part III

July 20, 2010 By Laura 11 Comments

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By the time {A}’s birthday came, which was following the later part of the long 4th of July weekend, we were on a partying roll.   Per tradition in our family, the birthday person gets to choose what they’d like to do as a family, within reason.  {A} had a special wish indeed this year, but it needed to wait until the following day.  THAT exciting event, ultimately with a couple surprises in store for us, will be the next post in this section.  (You don’t want to miss it!) So meanwhile, we spent her actual birthday at home hanging out most of the day, which was very relaxing and enjoyable.

{A} is officially our first teenager!  Despite all of the warnings about parenting and the teen years, I don’t expect much to change any time soon.

Here’s a peek at her day:

01_birthday-breakfast Her birthday breakfast, which had a special twist this year….

….instead of the birthday number pancakes, Daddy made……

02_birthday-breakfast-idea ….a birthday number omelet!!

Yes, we are waiting for him to stop outdoing himself, too.

We were all excited to swim in our new pool!  LOL.

03_ It’s just a 16′ wide cheap one, with the inflatable ring.  But you know, it doesn’t take much to thrill us!

04_popsicles-summer-time Bomb Pops!
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05_michael “Word to the mother”.   Literally.  He was talking to me.   lol  ; )

06_triplets Summertime smiles.
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The birthday girls dinner request:  Sausage with peppers, onions and cheese, on a roll.

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Instead of birthday cards, the triplets wrote {A} love letters.  <sniff>  Among the sweet things they expressed, they told her how happy they are to have her as their big sister, why, and how much they love her.    She really does have a unique and special relationship, with each of them.
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09_anecklacecollage Grandma sent this birthday gift in the mail.  A pewter heart locket, with her initial on it.  She loves it.

10_gift I was coming out of my skin, waiting for her to open her gift from us!

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Yeah Baby!!  A sweet camera!   You know me….I researched this to death!  It’s a Canon PowerShot G11. As a girl who shoots an SLR on full manual mode all of the time, it was an education for me, shopping for a point and shoot!  But I found a beautiful one, that has features even I can be happy with!  See….our gifts are not usually this big in expense.  But, while this camera is pretty much hers, it’ll be the family camera for our little excursions, etc, when I don’t want to be lugging around all of my equipment, but know I’ll want to get photos.  Still, I’m very excited for her to have her own camera, and she has really been enjoying it ever since!  It was a great idea for her right now.   She is using it for all kinds of projects of her own.

14_aandcakecollage She wanted a Carvel ice cream cake, for her birthday this year.  How unusual for our baker!  But, her wish was our command.  So, we found one for her.

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It was not peanut-safe, so {S} had to have an ice cream sandwich instead.  Poor kid.  He looks so upset, doesn’t he?  ; )
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16_ Michael and I couldn’t stop looking at our birthday girl that day.  She looked so……13.  I had ongoing flashbacks of her birth, as I always do on my kids’ birthdays.  Those memories always make these days all the more sentimental.  I don’t quite know why I always do that to myself.   I am so happy to look at how beautiful they are turning out (inside, and out).  And yet I miss my babies and I want them back!!  It’s a bitter-sweet tailspin of turmoil, I throw myself into.

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When {A} was a baby, a lady we did not know at Mass, told us she had ‘such a sunny disposition‘.   I never really forgot that.  Mostly because her demeanor reminds me of it every day.  She just has a light and happiness about her, that we really love.  Except maybe first thing in the morning.  And an occasional day.  She can be on the grumpy side, then. Anyway, we just love her, and couldn’t feel more blessed, with all she brings to our family.  Except maybe first thing in the morning.  And the occasional day.  O.k., maybe even then.

After our relaxing, eating, celebrating, staring, birth-remembering and crying, we all went out bowling for a couple of games.    : )  Then we went home, and had an early night.  We had a BIG day the next day, which was a birthday event {A} will never forget.

Stay tuned for Part IV, when we tell you all about it.

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Filed Under: Celebrations, The Big Picture Tagged With: birthday, birthday breakfast, birthday-omelet, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, celebrations, life, traditions, triplets

4th of July Weekend/Part II/Parade & Fireworks 2010 | Plymouth, MA

July 15, 2010 By Laura Leave a Comment

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Most every year, we make it down to the Plymouth parade.  Being in America’s Hometown, it’s a big deal around here!  (As is Thanksgiving, and our parade for that.)

This year, it was HOT-HOT-HOT.  Full blazin’ sun, humid as anything, the works.  We enjoyed the majority of the parade, and then were all happy to cut out a little early, and get out of the sun!  It’s always a great parade though!

4th-july-parade-fireworks-2010-plymouth-ma-americas-hometown-9 The kiddos brought their American Pinwheels and Liberty Shakers they had made.  Other parents and kids were buying those $10.00-20.00 souvenirs off the carts,  but they were looking at ours, wondering where they could get those. ; )   {JM} also brought his Republican Beanie Baby elephant ‘Righty’.  I love that thing!

O.K….some parade photos…..

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You see this guy?  They were saying he’s a very old veteran…..102 YEARS OLD! (Yes, one hundred and two).
WALKING in the parade?!! In the heat!? That’s what we kept hearing. Talk about impressive.

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I have no idea who this fool is.

lol. Just kidding.  I mean…I really don’t know, but…

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I love corevettes, but {JM} asked me to take a photo of this car.  Not because it’s a vette, but because it’s purple.  It’s his other favorite color.  We may have another Donny Osmond on our hands.  (…….”I’m a little bit rock ‘n rollll…..”)

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This one the big boy asked me to take.  That would be Michael.  He loves GTO’s.  I think it’s petty nice too, but he likes some other old style cars, that I think are as ugly as sin.

So listen…….you know how some pre-teens might see, say……The Jonas Brothers, or one of those vampire guys, and freak out on the verge of tears of excitement, jumping up and down, just coming out of their skin with disbelief at seeing their idol with their own eyes?

That would be {A} when she saw this guy….

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Scott Brown!!  (If you don’t know, {A} is prepping to be the next hot-and-ticked-off-enough-to-do-something-about it, politician.   She has talked frequently about a seat in the House Senate.  But today she was talking about her plan to have a bowl of pistachios in every room of the White House.  Anyway….NOT the best photo.  {A} like…RAN up to him in a nano-second and asked for a photo with him…..and he said it had to be FAST, because there was a trolley behind him.  And there was!  I had not a second, to adjust setting or get some fill-flash.  It KILLED me.  But to {A}…..this photo is a treasure.  I have not printed it out yet, for fear she will sleep with it under her pillow, or something.

That night we all went to the Plymouth fireworks, too. Someday, when my kids are older, I’ll really get into getting great firework shots.  But I really just want to enjoy my kids on exciting nights like this for them.  They sat on top of the car to watch this year.  The fireworks were happening all around us, actually….down on the beach, and out from the barge in the harbor.

Our whole weekend was just one blast, after another. ; )  (Oh brother….. O.K….sorry.  lol. )

It was far from over too.  Stay tuned, and tell us about your 4th!

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Filed Under: Celebrations, Holidays, The Big Picture, Traditions Tagged With: 4th of July, America's Hometown-Plymouth-MA-4th-July-Parade-2010, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, GTO, parade, purple-corvette, Scott Brown, triplets

What’s Growing in the Gardens!

July 13, 2010 By Laura 12 Comments

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Finally, I have gotten it together enough, to show you what we’re growing in all of these garden beds we’ve got going.   I’m telling you, I find it extremely challenging to blog about garden updates, because everything changes so fast!   So, this post shares some of the rapid garden progress that can happen in what seems like the blink of an eye.

But I also wanted to share this little story with you.  A couple of weekends ago, we had a spontaneous tag sale.  We had quite the traffic for it too (thanks to Michael’s  Tag Sale professional signage that no one could miss).  But what was so funny, was people were more interested in our gardens when they got here, than our tag sale items!!  It was comical.  They were walking around, peeking under leaves, asking questions and generally flattering us to death.  For 2nd year gardens, we were puffing up a bit and struttin’ around like peacocks. I know…then we felt guilty.  lol.  But seriously….people were all over our gardens.  We sold a lot at the tag sale though too, once they got on task for their stop in the first place.

So anyway, back to the point of the post….

01_first_garden_bed Shown here first, is garden bed #1.   This photo was taken June 23, 2010, as are several of the following photos.

02_1st_garden_tags In it, we have growing 3 varieties of tomato plants:  2 Romas, 4 Early Girls, and 2 Burpee Big Boys.
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03_garden-bed Here is another view, taken the same day, to show the height of the plants.   As you see in this garden, we also have some Marigolds, Celosia, and Cosmos.
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04_2nd-garden_bed Garden bed #2.
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05_2nd-garden-tags In this one we have growing several plants of  California Wonder Green peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, and Straight Eight Cucumbers.  We also have in this bed, 2 more tomato plants, of the Sweet 100 Cherry variety.
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06_2nd-garden-newangle Here’s another angle, from the same day.
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07_garden-turtle-ii-decor Also in this garden, is my turtle.  I had a turtle just like this one some years ago, in my hosta bed, and the kids lost it!  We never did find it either.  So I bring it up now and then to the kids, when it comes to mind, because I really missed my turtle!  Well, we were in Michael’s Arts & Crafts one day, and one of them spotted the same exact turtle I’ve been missin’.  So they all pitched in a dollar and some change, and bought me a new one.  So this one has even more sentimental value, because the kids were thoughtful enough to buy it for me, and compassionate enough to feel bad about the one they lost, when I….was trying to make them feel bad about the one they lost. lol.  I love my turtle.  You don’t have to.  But I think he is cute.
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08_triplets-strawberry-bed You’ve seen a 100 photos of our whole strawberry bed, so I skipped that.  But we got quite the crop from our June Bearing plants!  The kids were out there picking them every day.    This photo was taken on June 8, when we were really cranking them out.
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The days were still occasionally cool, especially when the sun wasn’t out. Thus, Old Lady Winter here, in her fleece jacket. lol.  My mother used to call me Old Lady Winter, because I was always cold when I was younger.  “If you can hear me up there, Mom, I’m not cold all of the time anymore!  I’m more like Old Lady Hot Flashin’!“

Our Everbearing strawberry plants have put out some smaller strawberries (as is expected with this variety) but not the  impressive quantity yet.  We should have a crop in spring, summer and fall.  But spring gave us nothing, and summer has only given is a small handful so far.  Maybe the roots are still not established enough?  Maybe we should have plucked the flowers in the early season of this year too?  Anyone know?  We’re holding out hope.

10_strawberries But if they don’t start giving us some fruit this year, we may just rip the Everbearing plants out, and let the runners of the June Bearing take over.  Because they have been very good to us!!  I’m thinking we might need 2 strawberry beds.  Maybe 3. lol
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Care to taste the fresh berry sweetness?
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12_4th-garden-bed This, is bed #4.  It’s the new bed we built this year.   The tag salers really couldn’t get over our squash plants. One tag sale’n guy was so very amazed, he just stood there staring and asked, “What the hell did you put in there?!”  (Pardon his French. lol)
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14_yellow-summer-squash-tag In it, we have Yellow Straightneck Summer Squash, and also Zucchini of some kind, which I forgot to take a tag photo of, just like the Sweet 100 Cherries.

So, just to show you some growth and progress, and proof that we haven’t killed anything yet:

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….This is Bed #1, with photo taken this time on July 6, 2010.  The tomato plants had grown much taller and stronger for sure.  They are also beginning to produce fruit.  I am very excited about my tomato sandwiches to come.  : P’   Even the Marigolds and Celosia are bigger than we have ever grown.
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16_2nd-garden-bed-grown The Cherry tomatoes and pepper plants are growing well too.   Both gardens have grown even more, now a week later.  I cut the lower leaves on the pepper plants since this photo too, so we are expecting a big growth spurt.

But here’s what has really just grown out of control……

17_4th-garden-bed-grown ….the squash garden bed!  Man….that guy from the tag sale would probably fall right over, if he saw it today.   It’s truly insane, and I swear it has grown another half of a foot since this shot.  See that cosmo plant in the front corner there?  That thing too is MUCH bigger than our cosmo plants last year.  This thing has a trunk!

We water all of the gardens every night with the hose.  But I’ll tell you, the rain works magic.  If it rains during the night, we can’t wait to peek out there in the morning, because there is always very obvious overnight growth.  It feels like Christmas morning!
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18_summer-squash-photos Here’s just some fun summer squash shots.   I didn’t take any of the zucchini that day, because they were just so dark on the dirt.
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19_fresh-picked-squash We can’t even keep up with the squash picking.  I sent a heap home with my father, and the next day we had a heap more.  It’s madness.  Gave more to 2 neighbors, and there is a bunch more today.    I’m going to try making some zucchini bread.  We love steamed vegetables anyway, but we might not much longer,  if we keep eating it the way we’ve had to!  I think maybe we don’t need this many squash plants.  Does anyone have any recipes for us to use these?  Do send.

No Giveaway in this post.  But you’re certainly welcome to grab some squash, if you want some!

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Filed Under: Gardening, Seasonal Home decor, SUMMER Home Decor, The Homestead Tagged With: cucumbers, front-yard-garden-beds, gardens, green peppers, raised garden beds, strawberries, summer squash, tomatoes, triplets, zucchini

American Pinwheels

July 1, 2010 By Laura 9 Comments

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We had some guests down a couple of weekends ago, and while they were here, the kids and I got to making pinwheels.  O.k., in the end, it was mostly me really working on them.  They needed to be fine tuned, to work properly.  Making this quick little craft was on my agenda, so I already had the supplies.   The kids who visited us each took one home.

Ours has served mostly as home decor, since then, being the time span between Memorial Day weekend, and the 4th of July.   But today we took them down to the sea shore to really test drive them!

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They worked alright!

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The kids even ran like the dickens with them, to really get those pinwheels spinning.

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I was impressed with how fast the kids could run, with flip flops on, on rocks no less!

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Well, maybe except for {O}.  I’m going to be honest here.  My girl runs like a girl!   Even when she has brand new sneakers on, that are supposed to make you run faster than ever, right?   ; )   She has the daintiest run I have ever seen.  But you know I love her.  Running fast isn’t everything!

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Well, maybe to this one, it is.  He is another story.  {S} is definitely the runner of the family. He runs, and runs, any chance he gets.   Sometimes, when he shouldn’t.  To see him walk, when he really wants to run, is so comical.  (Well, to me as his mother, who knows him better than anyone else on earth.)   It takes everything he has within himself, to keep himself from running.  He truly needs to concentrate on every single step.  This is my boy who probably shoots an average of 1,000 hoops a day.  He really burns it up.  Look at that pinwheel spin!

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Making these is really so easy.  You start with square sturdy / heavy weight-ish paper.  I found American-themed 12 x 12 scrapbooking paper at, where else?,  Michael’s Arts and Crafts store.  I was thrilled there were several patterns, with different patterns on the back sides.  Can you say perfect?! I can.  I did.  I bought lots.

If you don’t know or remember the specifics of how to make a pinwheel, (as I did not) you can follow some general directions here.   I had my heart set on making some real Mack-Daddy pinwheels, so we started out using the full 12 x 12 sheet!  But guess what?  They didn’t work.  Hey, I’m no engineer.  12″ was too big, too floppy, too much.  That’s why I ended up crafting by myself in the end, fixing them all!   You think I’m going to let one of my crafts fail?  Heck no!  People talk!  These babies were going to spin like the dickens, and no one was leaving until they all saw it happen!

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In the end, we had a few 9″ ones, and a few 7″ ones.   They all worked.  I do have a tip or 2 though.

TIPS

• When you are making them this big, and cut the paper from each corner of the square toward the middle, it’s important to really stop 2 to 2.5 inches from the center, with every cut.   What’s more, I also took about a 2″ inch square of paper from the scraps, and sticky tabbed it good to the center of the back of the pinwheel.  This really gave it some better re-enforcement, and spinning power.

• Also, I used sticky tabs, when bringing every right-side corner to the center of the wheel, between every layer.  That makes it a lot easier to hold it together until you put the pin through anyway, but again, it gives it a flatter surface in the middle to spin better.   We used push pins, and 1/4″ dowels, sticky tabs and square heavy paper.

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The kids will be taking their American Pinwheels, and Liberty Shakers, to the parade and the fireworks this weekend.

We’ve got a full agenda for the long holiday weekend. A good mix of fun, relaxing (lol, we try but we’re not so good at it), celebrating, and of course…working around the homestead.  There will be SO much to share with you, when all is said and done!  What are YOUR family plans this 4th of July weekend?  We’ d love to hear how you plan to spend it!   Be sure to have fun, and stay safe!

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Holiday Crafts, Kids Arts and Crafts, Seasonal Crafts and Creations, SUMMER Crafts and Creations Tagged With: american-crafts, how-to-make-a-pinwheel, July-crafts, kids crafts, pinwheel-directions, pinwheels, red-white-blue-crafts, triplets

{O}’s (much discouraged) Haircut | Before & After

June 24, 2010 By Laura 16 Comments

Big haircut in the house!

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I have been talking for 2 weeks, about getting my hair cut again, because it’s driving me crazy.  This morning I mentioned out loud to Michael, how I’d really like to go get it done today.   But he said, “Me and the boys all need them too, anyway.”  We are rather spoiled, because our hairdresser, Janine, comes right to us, and cuts anyone who needs it.  SO convenient.  Sometimes I go to her, for a highlight, a dye job, or a big-deal-cut for me. But generally, she comes to us. So Michael called her as he always does (her number has always been in his cell phone), and she said she would come tonight!  She most always comes within a day or 2. Got to love that!

1_web_before Well that’s when {O} said she wanted to get hers cut short.  And then, that’s when the household went into a state of tissy, and great debate.

For some reason, her triplet brothers and big sister really, did NOT want her to get her hair cut that much.  Even her Daddy has scowled at the mention of it, many times.  I on the other hand, love it long on her, but feel like if she really wants to get it cut, she should be able to.  My only concern, is to be sure, she is sure.

Well trust me…..she was discouraged,  BEGGED, and someone even attempted to bribe her, all-day-long, not to get it cut, by her siblings.   But she stood strong, and never wavered, right to the end.  She was so excited.  She was sure.   It wasn’t necessarily about donating.   She just wanted it cut.  She’s all about style and fashion anyway.  She’s a girl like that.

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Even Janine made a little disappointed expression, when she came and we told her. Although she is DYING to BUZZ the boys hair!!  She has been waiting to do that.  I do believe she will be waiting, forever, on that one.  I love my long haired boys, and thankfully, they love it long too. {S} always wants it long enough for a ponytail. lol

So Janine first cut {S}, then {JM}, then me, then Michael, and THEN {O}.  Janine asked how how much, and {O} said “to here“, and showed her shoulder level!

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But Janine started cutting lower, and I could already tell it looked pretty cute at that length.  When Janine did all the way around, {O} went and checked it out to see if she should go shorter, but she came back out squealing, “I LOVE it!”
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4_b_fcollage BEFORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AFTER

It really did look pretty cute!   I think it was only about 8 inches taken off.  Nowhere near the 17 inches her sister cut off last year!  But for {O}, and her size, it was a lot. More than she had ever gotten cut at once before, anyway.
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She had her photo taken with Janine, just like {A} did last year.
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Her triplet brothers and sister decided it wasn’t so bad after all, and they would be o.k.   Daddy also loves it.

I think my little girl is a doll, with her long or short hair.  She’s even cuter today though, because of how giddy-happy she is with her new shorter haircut.   But what I really love about her , is that she already has such a strong sense of self-confidence. She knows who she is, and what she wants, (as much as a 7-point-10 year old can) and while she will listen and consider, she is not shaken by the opinions of those around her.

She follows her own heart, and the beat of her own drummer.   I think that’s going to take her somewhere in life.
No matter what her hair looks like.

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Filed Under: Life In General, The Big Picture Tagged With: before-after-haircuts, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, girl-first-haircut-of-long-hair, little-girl-first-long-hair-haircut, triplets

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