Lots and Locks of Love

Monday (Sept. 12, 2005) was a hectic day… a really good day, but a downright busy day! If Woody hadn’t been doing all the driving, it’d have made a good choice for a “taxi mom” post.

The Woodyettes and I had a good school morning (we’re getting our routine down pretty well!) while Woody worked a half day. He came home at lunchtime and changed hats – for the afternoon we needed a personable chauffer!

There wasn’t time for a REAL lunch, so we grabbed a Lunchable® (We don’t usually have them in the house, but at 10 for $10 last week I caved!) apiece, and headed out the door. Our first stop was my doctor’s office where I had an appointment for a small “procedure.” (Those family members who may be reading need not worry -- nothing life threatening! I just had four un-lovely beauty marks removed from my upper back. I’m a bit tender, but healing nicely.)

Next stop was our local Fantastic Sam’s. Since early summer, Jelly has been trying to convince herself to get a haircut. Her true motivation is the fact that she is extremely tender-headed. I guess the preface to this needs to be understanding that other than a few inch-or-so trims, (one we counted as her official 1st haircut when she was five) Jelly has not really ever had a haircut. She, like all the babies in our family, was born and stayed basically bald for nearly a year. Once her beautiful blonde hair began to come in, it was destined (that’s definitely another story – one which she and most family members already know) to keep growing, at least until after she was baptized. That happened in June – she was indeed the beautiful blue-eyed, long-wavy-haired blondie, all in white, of my dreams. That special event fulfilled, she has been free all summer to choose a different look. At first she was very sure right away that she wanted the haircut (and the end of agonizing hair-brushing sessions), then when the appointed day came, she decided she’d wait until the end of the week. When the end of the week arrived, she informed me that she would wait until after we got home from our vacation so that she could have long braids when she wanted them. In similar fashion, the rest of the summer has progressed, swimming lessons and all. Then, as I brushed out her hair after last Saturday night’s bath and hairwashing, she informed me that she really did want her hair cut. Enough (pain), apparently, was enough!

Now, since her hair has been growing nonstop without interference, it was quite long. We had heard about a really neat program – Locks of Love. So, in memory of her cousin, Brianica, this week Jelly had 12 inches of her beautiful blonde locks cut off, and then she donated her ponytails to make a wig for “a little bald girl who’d like not to be.” In this mama’s eyes, because of her beautiful heart, Jelly is more beautiful than ever with her bouncy new do!

Not to be left out, on that same Monday afternoon, Doodle had her first official haircut ever! Because of her gorgeous curls, I’ve never felt a need to do even an even-it-up kind of trim. Doodle had decided that she wanted to keep her LONG curls for a bit longer, so she had a mere two inches trimmed. She can still have french braids whenever the need arises! ;o) Usually it arises whenever the Woodyettes want to play some version of American Girls or Little House on the Prairie.

After all THAT fun, we still weren’t finished. Chauffer Woody next drove us to one of our two local libraries. Even if we weren’t homeschoolers, we would still be avid readers. It's in the gene pool. (Read that to mean that we read more books than our budget allows us to buy!) And on top of that, our homeschooling methods of choice cause us to spend LOTS of time and money (yup, overdue book fines!) at the library. We love living books!

After checking out, oh 30 or so books, (enough for about a week!) we were on our way home to a family night celebration dinner! Steak and caviar? Ah, goodness no! Pizza and chocolate shakes!! Now that's love! ;o)