Before and After Hair

I got a REAL haircut last week.

I was nervous, but excited.  I showed up with my Pinterest hair pictures and crossed my fingers.

I went to a place with the chair that goes up and down and everything!

She even washed my hair. (Honestly, it took her 3 shampoos to get through all my hair!)

It was a big deal.  I haven't had anybody wash my hair for me in a LONG time.  I was sort of magical and relaxing.

When I lived in Minnesota, I went to a friend who cut hair in her kitchen.  And, then, I didn't really trust anyone/know anyone down here.....so I just haven't gotten my hair cut.  I took to trimming own split ends.  Then, we found another friend who trimmed me in her kitchen.  But, she quit before I got the courage to get a "real" haircut.  So, as a result, my hair just got long and longer and longer.

Here is what I looked like when I showed up in Georgia.

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(Seriously....look at how little and cute S-girl was!  I forget how young she was when we moved here.)


So, here is my before hair....

Those are my natural waves that come out more and more the older I get....and the longer my hair gets.)  (Thanks, Dad!)

Still sort of wet in this one...so here is one from A-girl's birthday date with me.

And, now....the after.....

I love it, but I haven't quite been able to replicate what she did.  She straightened it and then curled my ends.  Waaaay too much work for me on a daily basis....but I might be able to manage it for special occasions!  I made my hair really soft too.  I sort of felt like a movie star.

A Few Random Things....

It is VBS week here, so I am gone half of the day and in an exhausted stupor the other half of the day.

But, here are some random things from what has been going on around here.

S-girl lost her first tooth.

L-girl made matching dresses for her and her little sisters.  D-man and A-girl were on their first mission trip....so she took the job as oldest sibling very seriously and did a GREAT job!

V-girl has decided that she is too big for naps.....so, instead she does this at the dinner table....again.

Rainman and L-girl (really mostly L-girl....see her down there past Rainman's legs?) ripped off the truly disgusting carpet on our basements steps and I am happy to report that the wood is in great shape...so I should be able to paint them with something really cute.

As his Father's Day gift, Rainman's office went from this.....

To this.....

And, last  but not least....

I was recently cutting D-man's and A-man's hair (I am actually getting pretty good at it).  Anyway, in the middle of A-man's cut, I was interrupted so I needed to step away....this is what I came back to....

Can you see it there.....under his arm?  He grabbed a wad of hair from the floor and stuck it under his arm. 

That boy cracks me up!

Crazy Days

We have had some crazy days around here lately.  I tried to fly up to Minnesota to see my mom and sisters.  The added bonus was that I would actually be present for our annual Oscar party.  I never made it.

I sat at the airport all day trying to get on as a standby (you know, one of those perks of working for the airlines).  I sat through 5 flights in about 10 hours....no luck.  My suitcase did, in fact, make it to Minnesota and took its sweet time flying back to Georgia!

I cried.

In front of strangers.

I met a nice lady who bought me ice cream.


We have had two members of our church family pass within 24 hours of each other.  Another church member has had an emergency surgery and in the ICU.  Just lots of emotion swirling around.

Rainman and I got to go see the movie Courageous at a friend's church.  Wonderful movie.  Wonderful message.

The big kids have had a few odd jobs for people - a good way for them to earn money and learn responsibility and pride in their work - but also requires me to be their driver to get them to and from....If Rainman is around, it is actually kind of nice.  At the last job D-man worked, I was able to read uninterrupted (except for a visit from a really nice lapdog) for about an hour! 

It has just seemed a bit crazier than usual around here.  Take a look for yourself.....

Her hand shows a reminder to do her homework - History in the Making.

 Nice Snuggie, huh?

Our house suffered from all of our craziness too.....

Could anyone even sit on this couch?

I managed to give D-man a hair cut.....he wanted an in between short cut, before he gets his buzz cut when it officially gets hot down here.

Such a handsome boy, isn't he?

There has been more craziness with birthday parties and company.....but that is all I have time for right now....it is crazy around here, you know?

I Want My Mullet Back

Do you know that Billy Ray Cyrus song?  I want my mullet back....

Unfortunately, one of my children has been sporting a mullet....okay, half a mullet....she is cute, but even she cannot rock the mullet.

Can you see how she has hair in the back on one side....but not the other?

Here is the view from the back:

Long and lovely on one side....and basically bald on the other side.

She has rubbed the back of her head on her bed since she was little.  The side where the hair is broken off was the side that she faced, when I nursed her at night. Apparently, she was rubbing off/breaking off her hair on that side.

I kept hoping that once we stopped nursing, she would stop rubbing her head and her hair would grow in.

It didn't.

Someone has suggested that I get her satin sheets.....which would probably help with the breakage, but somehow just seems wrong for a 2 year old to have satin sheets.

So, I had to take matters into my hands....before various relatives grabbed scissors and did it.  It was threatened numerous times at a recent family wedding. 

Here is a little better view right before I (hairdresser extraordinaire) cut her mullet off:

See?  Empty on the right side!

And after!

Cute, huh?  Although, I do sort of miss her little lopsided mullet!

New Hair

I forgot to show you pictures from our new, recently acquired hair cuts from our trip back to Minnesota.

Although, somehow I missed pictures of L-girl's...not sure where I was or what I was doing....but it did turn out cute.  I will just get "old" picture for hers....

Before....

This is a really bad shot - but shows you how long her hair was and that she had let the bangs I had cut for her grow up because she wasn't sure if she still wanted them.

Here she is with her new cousin....in her After shot....

Don't her eyes look huge and lovely?

S-girl's cut was the most dramatic and I love it!

Before:

The back of her hair had never been cut before and it was that thin, sort of crunchy baby hair.

The After:

The only thing I don't like is that it makes her look older!

A-man went from this...

To this......which he adores....

(We could all sort of see in to the future after this cut of A-man with muscles and tattoos somewhere down the road.  Yikes!)

A-girl got the ends of her trimmed as little as possible and she is shooting for hair down to her rear end.  She is thinking she may donate it at that point to Locks of Love...but we will see.

I also got a new cut while I was in Iowa visiting my best friend....but that picture is on her phone...so I will see if I can get one of those to show you too.  I really did feel like a new woman...that day.  As suspected would happen, I have not been able to get my hair to look or feel (Rainman was practically petting me because my hair felt so soft) like the stylist did when I walked out of the salon...oh, well....that is the life of a mother.

Kayla's Kwik Kuts

I have become the official barber of our household. 

I have no training whatsoever. 

None. 

But, when you are following Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, every penny saved can go towards paying off your debt snowball!!!  So, viola....Kayla's Kwik Kuts was born....although just between you and me - I give really slow hair cuts!

I already showed you L-Girl's new bangs...in case you missed them, here they are again in all their glory!

I also recently cut D-man's hair.  He finally got too hot with his Justin Beiber-esque coif.  As seen below at the spelling bee.

And, as seen here....the real reason he finally wanted it cut....

All that hair makes for VERY hot baseball in Georgia!

So, he got this hair cut....

He calls it "The Hawk" because I buzzed the sides and left it longer on top - so he can rock a faux mohawk if he wants...he usually doesn't, but he could if he wanted to.

A-man was looking a little crazy too, so even though I loved his little curls we was getting on the back of his head, he too, needed a good summer cut.

Before.... or how it looked most days when we left the house....because I forgot to check to see if his hair was combed!

Before....after I had combed it a bit....

During...

And after...

A-Girl just wants her hair to keep growing and growing and growing - so I just trim her ends.  S-Girl has not had her first mommy hair cut yet...I am a little afraid of her hair... it is very fine -but it is getting split ends - so I am going to have to tough it out.  I will keep you posted.  V-Girl doesn't need one yet....don't be fooled by this picture...

  Check our her "bug bit right between the eyes" bindi!

Rainman, since our move to Georgia, has adopted this really difficult style....

So, how about me?  This is what I looked like when we moved.....

I got a trim a few months after we moved.  I didn't like what she did and haven't had it cut since..that was November of 2009. 

So, as part of our Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover....and Style Maven of the South that I am...

I wear it in a bun or a french twist every day.  I don't think I have every seen this particular view of my ear before.  Weird.....

I was wearing pony tails - but my hair is so heavy, it gives me headaches so..... there it is.   My friend Alicia and I used to joke that one day we would become bun wearing missionaries....I guess I am half way there already! 

Someday soon, I will be going to get my hair set every week and wrapping my hair in toilet paper when I sleep at night  -  so I don't mess it up whilst sleeping!  But, all of that glamour and maintenance will have to wait until we finish our Total Money Makeover!