Ian's Hair Salon?

After my race Saturday morning, we were busy getting ready to travel to New Orleans for Nana's (Josh's grandmother's) 80th birthday party. Ian and Afton were playing so well together, so we weren't too concerned about what exactly they were up to. I heard them in her room, Ian humoring her by playing with her vanity/keyboard. Again, I was preoccupied trying my hardest to get ready fast and also prepare some food that we were bringing for the party. The door to Afton's room was closed. I still thought nothing of it. After all, they were getting along great last I heard. It happened so fast. I heard Josh first, then I saw Afton and her BUTCHERED HAIR! Ian said she asked for him to fix her hair just like Cinderella, so he went and grabbed the kitchen scissors and chopped away. She had one long strand left, that I had to cut. I studied her hair closely, considering whether or not I could try to fix it myself because of the time crunch. It was still okay in the front-thank goodness-so I could see the potential in an a-line style to blend the SUPER SHORT hair with the waist-length-turned-shoulder-length-hair. I changed that thought quickly and while Josh took care of scolding Ian, I raced Afton to a children's salon a few blocks away. Thank goodness they had an opening and saved her hair as best as they could. After all of that, we were still only 30 minutes late for the party. I think I'm still in shock. I haven't shed tears, but it was emotional for me this morning when she woke up with bed head and the back of her hair stood straight up. I had to wet it down, then SPRAY it down. Oh how those curly locks will be missed. My coping skills tell me it could have been worse. I've seen a lot of little girls with a chunk of their bangs cut to their scalp. This cut was at least somewhat salvageable. Afton always called her hair "Punzel" hair, so now we call it "Snow White" hair because she's the only princess with short hair. Actually, I just remembered that Rapunzel had her hair cut short in the end. A HA! Now I can use that story too! Sweet.

Here is the best picture I could find to show the "before"...

Here is Afton waiting her turn at the salon with Ian's idea of Cinderella hair.

...and here we have the "after"

It's a good thing she's so adorable that it doesn't matter what hairstyle she sports!

Goodbye hair that was never cut until now. 

We'll keep you for a somber remembrance of days gone by.

[Cue Boys2Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday"]

10K Complete!

This picture is my only evidence of running in the Mardi Gras Mambo 10K, 2012.

I had a friend, Leah, also running the race and her husband, Mitch took this with his phone. I was on either mile 2 or 3 at this point. I like the hair action. I didn't know that it flew around that much behind me! [Side note:  In case you didn't see the comments on Facebook, the guy hiding behind my hair is a member of our church from the Denham Springs area. Josh grew up knowing his family. Small world, huh?] 

Josh stayed home with the kids, so I celebrated to myself when I crossed the finish line. It went something like, "Go Me!" in my lonely little head. Then I asked to trade my silver beads-with a super cool medallion-for green, devoured some jambalaya, drank some Gatorade, ran into a girl from church who also left her husband and kids at home and ran alone. We had a good laugh about our experience! I kept a good pace the whole time and ran exactly what my goal was. I wanted to stay under a 10 minute pace, and I finished the 6.2 miles in 1:01 (about a 9:50 pace). My new goal for the future is a 9:30 pace or slightly faster.

I didn't have any pain issues, which I'm chalking up to my Epsom Salt soak and our family prayer lead by Ayden earlier that morning.

And now it is time for...

Stacy's Most Awkward Moments:  

Awkward Moment #1: Trying to drink RED Gatorade at the mile 2 marker while running and splashing it all 

over my face and hands.

Awkward Moment #2:  Trying a new tactic at the next water table by holding a mouthful of water in my mouth, then realizing that I couldn't breathe through my nose, resulting in snot all over my face, then hands, then pants.

Now that I have run a handful of races, 

I've finally confirmed that it's just impossible to drink gracefully while running.

   

6.2 Miles, Here I Come!

Okay, so I hope all of this training I've been trudging through for the last 8 weeks pays off for me tomorrow. I did great up until last week with Ian's birthday and Valentine's Day. Then we were on a family vacation from the 17th to the 23rd, so I slacked off a little. Also, driving from Orlando to BR hasn't been good on my joints AND I bruised a rib or two while chasing Afton in a store when I turned a corner and jabbed my side into the corner of a wooden shelf. I also finished a Z-Pack today because I had a nasty sinus infection while on vacation. Needless to say, I have a few setbacks for my big day tomorrow. I ran 3.7 miles in 45 minutes on Thursday, which is SLLLOOOW, so I'm a little nervous. Okay, I'm very nervous. During my run on Thursday my ribs hurt on the left, my knee on the right, and the soles of my feet felt bruised-I'm guessing as a result of the walking through Disney World on Tuesday. I want to run the race at a ten minute pace at least. Before last week I was at about a 9:30 pace, so hopefully today's "rest" will have me ready. Rest? What is that? I had a workout rest, but there is never rest from housework and children. Wish me luck! For now I will ignore the floors that need mopping, the piles of clothes that need folding and the dishes that aren't dishwasher safe in need of-you got it-washing. I guess they'll be ignored until I recover from the race. That might not be until at least Monday. Sheesh.Who knows, maybe I'll have some pre-race jitters in the morning and get to all of that mess. But for now, my blinders are in full effect. Vacation post coming soon...

Ian Charles is a FIVE-YEAR-OLD!!!

There's my sweet little man. He was so excited about his birthday party! 

Well, he was actually crying to his teacher on the 14th because he was scared that turning 5 meant that his school work was going to be really hard. Poor thing. She assured him that it wouldn't change and he was too smart to worry anyway. Oh, and I don't have pictures of his cupcake party at school. (I left the memory card in our computer at home AND the video camera battery was dead.)

My friend, Lindsay, had him stay the night at her house with his best bud, Erik, the night before his party so I could prepare for everything (she was so much help) and she reported to me that he woke up at 4:30am and turned on all of their lights. He was ready for his big day! 

At first he wanted a Cars 2 party, then he changed his mind and decided on a "constwuction"-translation:  construction- party with the big vehicles "wike excavatoes and dump twucks and stuff." 

He requested nachos, cheese balls, and strawberries for food, which turned out to be delicious and made a happy boy which is what it is all about, right? 

Side note:  We planned on having the party at a local park so the kids could all dig with trucks in the sand, but we had rain the day before and the day of was the coldest day of the year so we had to move it to our house. It was still super fun, but I went a little bizerk the day before trying to reprogram my brain to prepare. Thank goodness I had Josh and my friend Lindsay to help me get it all put together. We had a kiddie pool filled with rocks for digging, but the kids just preferred to run around and play, which was fine. 

 Coolest cake I've ever made, and I was a little prideful over it!! 

 The kids each had a toy CAT vehicle with chocolate rocks as parting gifts.

 "Pin the Stop Sign on the Construction Site"

Pay attention to 2 things in this picture:  

1. The awesomeness of the construction striped cake
(inspired by this website that I found off pinterest)

2. Afton's total melt down caught on camera. I later realized that she wanted to have one of the orange cones (made of marshmallow creme fondant) to eat with her cake and apparently felt betrayed.

 I tried to get a picture of Ian in front of his gift bench, but these guys all joined in.

It made a super cute picture!

Opening his gifts...the long awaited part of his big day!!

Oh, my little big Ian. You are such a joy in our lives. 

You have a way of melting everyone's heart without even trying.

You are so smart, hilarious, dangerously stubborn, kind hearted, sly, 

you have got some serious dance moves,

and you are a carbon copy of your Paw-paw Charles, by the way- 

even in the fine motor skills and music departments. 

Were we inspired with your middle name or what?!

Watch out world, because this is one amazing kid on his way to greatness!! 

Hello There.

Hello internet. How are you? Great. Oh, us? We're chugging along. How about an update on a few things?

Well, the Patriarch of the house got a little older and wiser.

The wife made his favorite cake:  German Chocolate.

We celebrated by watching the Saints play a stressful-up-to-the-last-second game. 

Maybe next year, right? I've heard that every year of my life except for that one glorious time.

Anyway, we love this man. 

He's a thoughtful, cheerful, playful, lovable husband and father!

Happy 30 something years-and NOT counting-babe.

 Afton has reached a new milestone of imaginative play.

Here she is celebrating her "Punzel"-translation, Rapunzel-birthday party with her friends. 

She passed out instruments to everyone, made sure they were all happy and ready, then she danced around in a circle playing her harmonica. It was so great, I had to blog about it.

Afton gets to have a lot of lunch dates with just her mom and dad. LUCKY!

We have until May-when school lets out and the mayhem begins-to enjoy this special time because she'll be starting school next year. AHHHH!

Here she is striking a pose after lunch and a Barnes and Noble's visit.

Mom's favorite lunch spot-Zoe's Kitchen. Dad likes it a lot too, but Serop's is his number one. 

Afton will share the spinach rolls, hummus, and picks the tomatoes and feta cheese out of Mom's salad. 

She doesn't like naps, but this is what happens at about 6pm when she skips them.

Momma finally got back to the sewing machine to construct a V-Day dress for Aff. 

She loves it and won't take it off! 

More to come...we are now preparing for Ian's birthday party, 

so his and Ayden's neglect from this post will be well adjusted. They are hilarious, by the way.