Finally

I went and got may hair done at the Curls Gone Wild salon in Gilbert. It was awesome. My hair has never looked like this dry before. I did not think my hair was ugly before, but now it is manageable. The biggest change is not how it looks to me, but how it feels. Before when I would wear my hair down after about an hour or two it was in a pony tail because it was huge and felt huge and smothering. Not anymore. This picture was taken a few hours after I got it done and as I was heading off for a (a very fun and very needed) girls night out.

 Funny things about that picture: Josephs head looks huge (it doesn't just look huge - it is huge) and he is about to bust out of those overalls and it is the first time her ever wore them. First and last time.

These pictures were taken tonight (Sunday) after essentially doing nothing to it for the past couple of days. I put it up in a clip while I showered and then spritzed it a little and then ran off to church.

It turns out I am not very good at taking pictures of myself in the mirror.

I don't want to go into all the details of what it is I do with my hair but involves - no shampoo or sulfate free shampoo. I have not been using shampoo for over a year now - just baking soda and water, but I think I will stop that now because I have been taught that I can clean with conditioner, I just need to give my scalp and good message all over and rinse and my hair will be clean. It involves a lot of water and conditioner and gel with no silicone or alcohol. I learned everything form Melanie my hair dresser at the salon and from the book, Curly Girl. If you have curly, wavy, or frizzy hair - you need that book. It will be the best $13.95 you ever spend. Seriously, get it! If you don't have curly hair buy it for someone you know who does. It will be the best gift you can give.

I love knowing how to do my hair and I am sad that I have gone so much of my life not knowing how to do it. I am glad I will know how to teach my children to do their hair. I have also enjoyed the knowledge that has come along with this whole experience because they don't just tell you what to do, they tell you why. I like that. I like my hair. The end.

Beautiful Mess

Sometimes the mess the kids leave is beautiful. Most the time it is not.



I reached my goal

You all may have noticed before I did that my hair is long. Really long for me. My goal (set years ago) was to grow it to my chest. The other morning I realized - I'm there.

As a reward I am taking myself to a curly hair salon called Curls Gone Wild in Gilbert. I am so excited that it is there. I had a consultation and the stylist is going to show me how to get my hair to be more manageable. So it doesn't end up in a pony tail every day. But it probably will anyway cause...I have a baby and he already grabs my hair.
Anyway, I am really excited cause it is hard to find someone who knows what to do with my hair. She had a lot of great reviews online so maybe she can teach me a thing or two about my hair.

bumbo boy

I love bumbo chairs. I think they are a great invention. Joseph could sit in it way earlier than I thought he would be able to. At first his head would fall backwards a little bit so Russ propped it up with the couch.

  

Grooooosssssss.

I decided to try it in the bathtub. Look at that thick baby kickin' it in the tub.

It would have worked better if it didn't float. I didn't keep him in long, but Gracie sure liked having him in the bath with her.

And she loved sitting in it when he got out.
Now I just bath him in the bumbo in the kitchen sink (I have a large kitchen sink).



New Years

New Years was a really nice night. I always love the holiday season because it usually means that friends who have moved away are in town. It was nice to just eat and hang out with some of my favorite people I don't see very often. We had a hot chocolate bar and fireworks and the kids watched Harry Potter in there room all night. They don't usually have a tv in their room and so it was very exciting for them.

Russ and I have always wondered when our kids would crash (especially William) because they usually just stay awake as long as we let them. Well we found out that they eventually will fall asleep on their own.

At almost 2 o'clock.

a new addition

I just added a new blog to my google reader. (If you don't have a reader and you read a lot of blogs, you should get one.)

http://www.wordofwisdomliving.com/

Seems like a good idea.

Thought some of you might like to know.

excavation

Last year for Christmas Russ brother Don made our kids an excavation kit. It was so awesome. He put plastic bugs and critters in sand and glue and then whittled a hammer, pick, and included a brush for them to dig them up. We are so lame for not getting it out for the kids to use until right before Christmas, but in my defense last year I got pregnant and we lived at my moms and then we moved and it got placed on a high shelf never to be seen until we remembered it when we heard Don was coming to town.

Such a cool gift!