Since I actually took the pictures (as horrible as they may be), Richie said I should post them. So, without further ado, my recent haircut. Just three weeks late. :)
And can I just encourage you if you are thinking of having your hair cut in a drastic way, please consider donating it to Locks of Love.
My sister, Jessica, with Abigail (left) and her daughter, Lorelai
Samuel (right) and cousin Brian
I can't look at this picture without hearing Whitney Houston singing, "I believe the children are our future..."
Look out America, here comes my little world changer!
We'll see how creative we can actually get through the winter. :)
For more Frugal Friday tips, head on over to Biblical Womanhood.
There are certain things that will take place in the future that I look forward to with great anticipation. And as I dwell on them, I get so excited I feel like I could burst!! Which is a gross understatement.
I can literally choke myself up with the thought of hearing every single language join in one chorus praising the Lord at the same time. We recently had a Spanish/English service at our church and during worship my spirit just began to cry out with the desire to hear all the nations declaring His praise together.
And on top of that, it's not going to be just humans, but every creature. Can you imagine what that is going to be like!!?
One might say we're an attractive family. When it comes to dirt.
It just doesn't stop coming. We must carry some genetic phenomena that draws the dirt to our house. Oh wait, that would be called children, right? *grin*
But I know it would be a falsehood to place the whole blame on the little ones around here. It does happen to be very convenient though. I mean, who am I going to blame when I have a stain on my shirt and there are no longer any kids in the house?
I just don't understand though, how my floors can attract so much dirt? I think we could vacuum twice a day and still go to bed with dirty floors. Where does it all come from and why won't it leave? *sigh* Kind of like post-baby weight, you know.
It's one of my life's true mysteries. If nothing else, I can proudly say, yes, my house looks lived in...
We just got back from the most exhausting vacation I've ever had. I don't even know where to start, so...I've been avoiding the computer. I feel like avoiding a lot, BUT I'm trying to break that habit...gotta jump in some time, right? All part of that end of vacation, back to reality thing.
We have been overloading ourselves on colonial life and the early English settlers with a little science, farm life, and presidential learning in the mix for fun. Yep, good old Williamsburg, VA has been our playground for the last eight days. (I should be able to post some pictures in a couple days...once I quit avoiding going out.)
Anyway, we're back and I wish I could say well rested, but we have many memories and that's important. And there were so many things that we didn't get to do! We'll have to visit again some time a few years down the road. I'll probably share about different experiences in the next week or so, but I wanted to get back into the swing of things.
And I totally have to give a "shout out" to God because even though we didn't get back home until 7:30 pm last night, we had a good first day home today! :) Thanks, God, for taking such good care of us!
There's been so much going on and I just don't have the time to get it all down, but here's a small (and I'm sure incomplete) recap of what's been going on here.
I saw something at The Happy Housewife a week or two ago that I just had to share. You can use a sheet protector to extend the life of your workbooks.
Sound confusing? It's not. Cut a slit in the side of a sheet protector and fit it over the page you want to use. Use a dry erase marker to "write" in the book and when you are finished with the lesson, you can erase it and move the sheet protector to the next one. This way you can reuse the workbooks.
For the original entry, click here. She gives a photo pictorial in case you need to visualize it.
This is great for homeschooling, but I think it would be awesome for of all types of other "books". Mazes, word searches, crosswords, bible study guides, etc. I haven't tried it yet because we don't do too many workbooks except handwriting and art and Caleb needs to continue those in pencil, but I can't wait to give it a whirl. I love an idea that stretches my dollars and is easy to implement! :)
Egg Incident #2 - The picture really doesn't do it justice.
Case of the Strawberry Bandit
This is one of my favorites, probably because the whole thing was so funny. I was slicing strawberries in the kitchen to put up. The boys were playing on the front porch with the front door open so I could keep an eye on them. Samuel quietly comes in and next thing I know swipes a handful of strawberries, flies out the door, and devours them. There was no sign of their existence, except what you see on his face. And in his ear.
One of many marker messes. Not to mention fingernail polish on 2 occasions.
I personally like his use of color here. So pretty. And don't you just love those toddler feet!
Finger licking good.
This is what happened to the leftovers of Caleb's birthday cake. I think he enjoyed, don't you?!
And just so you know that he does get clean. One of many baths (I think one day he had 3). You gotta love a good bath shot.
The maid knows her job is secure with this one around. ;)
Okay, obviously I've been messing around with my blog. Not what I want, but since I already did this much, it's what I'll stick with for a while. I already miss my green and white design from before! What do you think?
I was just trying to go for something a little simpler. Less busy. I like this one, but it's not quite me. So, we'll try again in a couple months I'm sure. :) The ongoing search for "Jo Ann" in a blog, without paying for it. Brighter colors, stripes, polka dots, ribbons. I have an idea in my head, but I need time to learn and put it together. And patience.
I got this off of The Cutest Blog On The Block. I needed something quick to work off of. They have some adorable designs!
Okay, so my sister, Jaclyn, and I were talking today and our conversation has pushed me into the realm of my next blog step. Participating in my first ___________ ... I don't know, what is this called anyway?
Side Note: I was not kidding when I admitted my techno unsavviness and my desire to remain there to some degree. The whole blog button, carnival, and various other terms I cannot even remember right now from bloggy world overwhelm my already overloaded brain. Who knew such a vast and confusing land existed in cyber world? :) Now I can at least say I tried it once. And by the way, do we think we could start any more of these?! There's only like 500 for each day. Ah, I digress...
Anyway, here's a couple tips for conserving water, saving on your water bill, and things that might help in a time of drought:
1. When you need to get warm or hot water from your faucet, catch the cold water in a container as you wait for it to heat up and use it to water plants. In further thinking, I guess you could always use it to "flush" the toilet, fill up a humidifier, or anything like that.
2. Save the water that you have used to boil pasta, veggies, etc. in and let it sit. Once it is cool, use this to water plants. This is important where Jaclyn lives because the city charges her for the water that goes down her drain. An added bonus if its "veggie" water, it could add nutrients to your soil.
These may not make a huge difference, but every little bit helps, right?
Quickest photo I could find of Caleb already on the computer Man, tough crowd. Between comments left and conversations on the phone and in person, the need for my repentance is clear. In order to restore everyone's sense of peace, let me give the background on the previous post.
She's auditioning for a prequel to Annie.
Okay, so now I know that I'm the only one who thinks I am funny. Perhaps it's sleep deprivation.
Anyway, I was watching the daughters of a friend and they had brought their new Build-a-Bear buddies to show me. One of them had made an elephant and it was the proud owner of the lovely red tresses.
Please rest assured that the lovely Miss Abigail only had to endure the wig for as long as it took to snap the picture (notice the poor quality). She was a very good sport about the whole thing.
If I had to pick my favorite answer, it would be B) A desperate attempt to quiet Richie's constant comparison of his haircut with Abigail's. I do not find that funny. Comparing a sweet baby girl's head to that of a father who's losing his hair. Talk about cruelty! ;)
And now that my sister, Jessica, has made a connection to George Costanza's mother (see her comment in the previous post), I find no ounce of humor in the photo.at.all. I guess I won't be posting the picture I took yesterday of her in a blonde wig... :)
This is:
A) The newest version of Baby Laugh-n-Grow
B) A desperate attempt to quiet Richie's constant comparison of his haircut with Abigail's
C) A strange outlet for Jo Ann's love of red hair
D) A homeschool science experiment gone terribly wrong
E) None of the above
My precious baby girl
One of the main reasons I opted to use an alternative schedule was to stagger the shots she'd be receiving that contained aluminum. Since I was a sophomore in college (yikes-11 years ago), I have been against most things aluminum. I've been slack lately, drinks from soda cans, not looking for a deodorant that doesn't contain it, etc., but this was really important to me and her little body.
The biggest hindrance we face, which is extremely important to me, is getting the MMR broken into individual doses. I need to contact our local health dept. and see if they offer each single vaccine because our doctor's office cannot.
I personally did not feel comfortable with going unvaccinated. So, this offered a sensible option to me. I feel like her body will be able to process the "nasties" that are in vaccines better and it won't overwhelm her. All while still being protected against some pretty offensive illnesses.
I was surprised at how easily Abigail's pediatrician was in agreeing to an alternative schedule. He even commented that the alternative schedule in The Vaccine Book was one of the best he had seen. He and I tweaked it a bit to fit my family's needs and it was pretty simple.
I will have more co-pays and need to keep track of it, but her health is worth it. She will have shots every month for a while. I fell bad about that, but I think it's better than overloading her body in one sitting.
I do believe we might travel overseas as a family at some point, so better to space them out now than whammy her all at once, if the opportunity does present itself.
There is so much more controversy going on right now than I thought. I read an interesting post by Stephanie at Keeper of the Home and was surprised to learn that some public service announcements will be released soon concerning vaccinations.
I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that the whole public health thing has me concerned to some extent. I don't know what the right answer is though. I guess that's another reason why I like the alternative schedule so much.
When trying to make our decision about vaccinations, I read several different viewpoints from other moms on the subject at Prayer of Hanna. I really appreciated reading what they all shared a while back and their blog is great to get different perspectives on a lot of topics.
I wish the vaccines contained different ingredients and I wish there was no risk of illness. But that's not the real world. Become informed and educated, pray, and make the right decision for your family.
I started my day with hair problems and ended it with hair problems. Not mine, but that which belongs to the head of my firstborn.
Caleb has always had an obstinate cowlick. It's as relentless as he is in many ways. We have spent years trying to tame it. We've shaved it. We've grown it out. And yet, there it remains bringing back many fond memories of Alfalfa from Little Rascals.
He has currently been growing his hair out and we are beginning to see some progress in getting the stubborn thing under control, but with it has brought new issues. Issues that, in all my *ahem* parental wisdom, didn't think we'd face until Abigail got older.
He went through a phase at 5 where he wanted a Mohawk. So, we obliged with a faux-hawk every once in a while and he was appeased. Now, he wants a small ponytail like Annakin from Star Wars.
In the midst of trying to reach some sort of compromise and trying to not let it get too shaggy, I cut it the other day. He hated it. He disliked it so much that he fought tears as he stomped upstairs to his room to console himself. When I finally saw him 1 and 1/2 hours later, he let me style it and it actually looked pretty good and in style.
I offered to buy him some styling gel to help hold it in place and I thought life was good. So much once again for my so-called parental wisdom. I have created a monster! He is constantly checking his hair and gets upset if anyone touches it. Repeatedly asking me if it still looks okay. Today, he kept asking me to put more in so it wouldn't move and got upset when I wouldn't.
In case you're not understanding the severity of the problem...he practices running around the house to estimate how fast he will be able to go when he's playing with his friends without his hair being disturbed!
And I'm left disturbed. How can an 8 year old boy be so worried about his hair? I am trying to be the good mom and pick my battles, but I am seriously ready to get the razor out and use it on his well-coiffed head. You see, he's added something else to his bedtime routine at night...fixing his hair.
