The Haircut Incident of 2010

Last Wednesday I took Drew to get his 3rd haircut. Isn't it adorable???
Doesn't he look so sweet/happy/darling???

Do me a favor and commit those photos to memory.

Because I am never. ever. taking him for another haircut.

I took him for his 3rd haircut last Wednesday, and it was a complete and total disaster.

Awful.

The morning started off so promising. Drew had a "shot only" appointment at the pediatrician's office. He started crying from the minute that I placed him on the scale to be weighed. He cried a lot when he got his immunization, but eventually settled down. He got his Bob the Builder sticker and we were on our merry way.

I ran by Hob Lob to grab a couple of things, then was feeling ambitious enough to get Drew's haircut. I was checking things off of my to do list left and right. Check. Check. Check. I decided to take him to a different place than we had been using just out of convenience (rather than driving across town to our usual place).

We walked in the door and waited for about 5 minutes until it was our turn. I sat Drew into the cute little taxi seat and buckled him in. The hairdresser began the haircut, and what ensued can only be described as a scene from The Exorcist.

With the first snip of the scissors, it was as if my child was suddenly possessed by the devil.

It was bad. Like really, really bad.

My sweet, precious, passive child lost his ever loving mind. He screamed, he cried, he shook, he flailed about, he threw his head back and almost fell out of the chair.

I was holding him in a head lock as the poor hairdresser snipped away at his hair. All of the sudden she calmly says, "Oh my, I cut myself. Excuse me for just one moment."

What?!?!

She headed to a back room and called the other hairdresser back to assist her. The other stylist came out to tell me that it would be a minute because the cut was "pretty bad." I walked back to assess the damages and offer to help.

The poor woman was bleeding like a stuck pig. I felt so bad!

She put gauze and a dressing on her wound and came back out to finish the haircut. Bless her heart.

I, of course, apologized profusely and tipped her very well. She assured me that she has had kids that acted much worse.

I'm certain that was a bold faced lie.

She went so far as to suggest that we continue to bring Drew back to her, so that he would have the same hairdresser each time.

It sounds like a good theory, but we won't be needing another haircut any time soon. We'll resort to pigtails and french braids before we endure the blood, sweat, and tears (literally!) that experience entailed.

I have a feeling that this incident will lead me to a new self diagnosis - Haircut PTSD. ;)

P.S. I accept the majority of the blame for this experience. Why on earth did I think that it was a good idea to take a teething child that had just gotten an immunization to get his hair cut right before nap time???? Live and learn, I guess. Live and learn.

10

"Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be."
-Robert Browning



10 years ago today, you changed me from a Miss to a Mrs.
We stood before God, our family, and our friends as we entered into our marriage covenant.
I chose you and you chose me.



I knew that I loved you long before I ever should have.
When we got married, I was only 20 and you were 21.
We were babies.
But, we got to grow up together.
I wouldn't have it any other way.



You have been so patient with me as I learned
(and am still learning) to be your wife.
You are the definition of "slow to anger."
Nothing ruffles your feathers.
You are the most even keeled person on the planet.
For the life of me, I cannot understand that characteristic of yours.
But, I love it and benefit from it daily.



10 years later, I still choose you.
I'll never quit on you.
You're still my favorite person of all time.
When something great happens, you are the one that I want to celebrate with.
When something awful happens, you are the one that I want reassuring me that everything will be alright.
I'm still crazy about you.

I love you more today than I did yesterday,
but not as much as I will tomorrow.

While our Daddy was away...

we had LOTS of time to play. :)

While Wade was in China/Japan (see post below), we tried to stay really busy. Our sweet friends were kind to invite us on several fun outings. We had pool playdates, lots of lunches out with friends, went to the zoo, dog sat for a sweet little pooch, went to the Children's Museum, and had Vacation Bible School at church. Whew - it was a busy 2 weeks! All of those activities definitely helped the time pass quicker, though.

The zoo was a BIG hit, of course. There was a semi-cool front (the high was in the mid-80s) the day after Wade left, so Leah & I took advantage of the lower temps and took the munchkins to the zoo.

Drew really liked the flamingos. They came up so close to us.

This was our first visit since they opened the Museum of Living Art (MOLA) building. It is filled with reptiles and amphibians. Right up my biggest boy's alley. :)

He thought that the Burmese Python was pretty cool.

Drew liked the turtles

and the smaller snakes.

Clayton asked this poor guy approximately 1,278 questions about tarantulas. Bless his heart.

The Komodo dragon was the grand finale of the MOLA.

The birds were the biggest hit of the day, though.
Sweet Mags was lovin' life!

Two birds at one time. The boy's got mad bird skilz. ;-)

Drew preferred to feed them from afar. The first one that he held spooked him a bit.

Kelli & Doug got a new miniature Dachshund. Her name is Teener the Weiner Dog. Ha ha! They let us dog sit for them one night while Wade was away. Teener is a cute little pup, and the boys absolutely adored her. Clayton spent every waking moment snuggling with her or playing with her. He really enjoyed taking care of her. We had her from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning. Drew woke up that Sunday morning and the first words out of his mouth were, "Puppy! Puppy!" He remembered her from the night before and couldn't wait to play with her again. :) He was S.A.D. when Kelli picked her up. He stood at the door and cried big huge alligator tears. I'm sure that our neighbors could hear his wails of "Puuuuppppeeeee! Puuuuuppppeeeee!" three doors down. It was pitiful.

Clayton made a point of walking Kelli to her car and trying to get her to make a deal with him. He said, "Kelli, I have a deal for you. You can have Sydney and we will keep Teener." Ha! Needless to say, she didn't take him up on his offer. ;)

Sydney & Teener managed to get along with only a few small girl fights.

Can you tell that Clayton kinda liked her???

We ran a quick errand that didn't require getting out of the car, so we took Teener along for the ride. Clayton fell asleep petting her.

We went to the Children's Museum with the Brewers, too. It was fun to watch Drew & Luke really play together and get into all of the activities. They were very cute together!

Loaded up in the Burb

Last week we had Vacation Bible School at our church. I got to teach in a Kindergarten class and the boys each went to their own classes. It was so much fun! I loved our sweet little group of Kindergarteners. They got REALLY into all of the activities - recreation, snack, music, crafts. They were so excited to be there!

Clayton & Drew had lots of fun in their classes, too. The curriculum was called Saddle Ridge Ranch and was western themed. The boys brought home TONS of super cute crafts from the week. Picking them up and seeing everything that they had made was the highlight of my day. VBS made for a very long week, and the kids were all exhausted by Thursday. But, it was so much fun! I am already looking forward to serving again next year. :)

So, that's a little recap of our two weeks sans Daddy. We managed to survive and thrive while he was away, but we sure were glad to get him back!

Ni Hao, Daddy! - Part 3

Wade made another trip to Asia this month for work. If you are counting, this is his 3rd trip there in the last year. I am so proud of how hard he has worked to get business from his accounts there. He has poured hours and hours into researching the cultures and how business works in China and Japan. He puts his heart into his job and loves what he does. He has such a great work ethic!

For this trip, his boss, Tony, went with him (as well as their interpreter). Wade & Tony have grown to be very good friends, so I think that Wade enjoyed having Tony with him for this trip. They worked very hard and had some very promising meetings. They also were able to squeeze in some fun touristy things over the weekends. They started out in Nagoya, then went to Tokyo, then Kyoto, then Beijing, then back to Nagoya. He was gone for 15 days - June 2nd through June 17th.

I have given up on getting Wade to guest post on the blog. It's just not his thing, I guess. But, I really want for his trips to be documented. So... I'm going to attempt (yet again), to retell his travels through pictures. :)

Tokyo

Tokyo at Night

Eating at a restaurant where you grilled your food at the table

The Tsukiji Fish Market

Wade said that this fish was about 6 feet long. Check out that knife that they are using to hack into it. Pretty impressive.

Part of that fish became their lunch. Can't get much fresher sushi than that. :)

They went to the Toshogu Shrine in Tokyo. These were all pieces of wood that people had written prayers on.

A 5 story pagoda

Kyoto

Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion)
The top two levels are covered in pure gold leaf.


Some cool lanterns in Kyoto

Beijing

Wade and his boss, Tony, at a canal in Beijing

Wade said that buildings like this were everywhere.
Each individual tile is hand-painted, and they even cover the ceilings.

Beijing

At a restaurant in Beijing

Beijing - Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Gate ("the Gate of Heavenly Peace") into the Forbidden City

The Zhengyangmen Gatehouse

The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong - Mao Zedong was a Chairman of the communist party in China. He died in 1976. He was embalmed and put in a crystal coffin where you can still view his body today.

Beijing - Summer Palace

Summer Palace in Beijing

The Archway - looking onto the East Palace Gate and with The Tower of the Fragrance of Buddha in the distance

Wade was determined to hike up to the Tower of the Fragrance of Buddha,

and he made it. :)

Beijing - The Great Wall

Wade at the Great Wall



Wade & Tony at the Great Wall

Whenever Wade goes to China, he buys the kids toys at the little markets there. I tease him that it is "Chinese Christmas" whenever he gets home. Clayton is always chomping at the bit to see what Wade brought back.

I have come to think that Wade has some sort of personal vendetta against me, though. It's like he's desperately trying (and nearly succeeding) to drive me to the brink of insanity. He chooses the loudest, most obnoxious toys possible! The kids love them, but they drive me crazy. I may have even removed the batteries in a few of them and claimed that they were "broken." ;)

To give you an idea, these are the toys from this trip:

There is also a whale that sings in Chinese (loudly, I might add!) and a dog that has an awful yappy bark non-stop. Those two were "broken" at the time of filming. Ha!

We are soooo glad that our Daddy is back and we are all under one roof!!!