Katie's First Haircut

Katie definitely needed a haircut.

Aaron and I thought we'd take her to Kid's Hair. I brought some of the boys there once, when my clippers were broken, and it was a fun place. They have little televisions at each of the stations, and put movies in for the kids to watch. I thought it would be a great experience for Katie.

When we arrived, we found they had a 70 minute wait, so we made an appointment to come back after some shopping for Aidan's birthday. When we returned, we were told it would be just a few minutes. Then we noticed something. There were two hairdressers working. One of them, a kind-looking young woman, had just started a haircut. The other was just finishing up. She wasn't so kind-looking. In fact, she had black-dyed hair, shaved to a buzz on the sides, and a 4" Mohawk down the middle. Her lip was pierced, and she was sporting enormous hoop earrings to match.

Suddenly, I realized that this scary lady was going to be the one to cut Katie's hair.

Aaron and I quietly started discussing what we should do. Before we could make up our minds, she came to the counter and asked if Katie was ready. Aaron and I looked at each other, and Aaron said, "We actually need to get going now." Then, we bolted. I didn't look back. Aaron said the woman was glaring at us.

I'm sure they thought we were being intolerant. I briefly wondered if I was being intolerant. But all I could think was that I wanted my daughter to have a great first hair cut experience. This woman looked scary to me. Can you imagine how Katie might have reacted? Besides, I wouldn't go to someone who looked like that to do my hair. Why would I put my daughter's hair into her hands?

I don't understand why a children's salon would hire someone who looks scary to cut hair. I know that there are high-end salons downtown that have scary-looking hairdressers, but there is a different clientèle there. This isn't the venue for that.

Well, we left the salon, and headed toward Eden Prairie. I was pretty unnerved. We found a Great Clips. There were only normal, kind, neat-looking hairdressers there. Katie got in without a wait, and I calmed down pretty quickly.

Katie was a little timid about getting into this interesting chair.

But the lady looked nice, and she made Katie feel very comfortable.

When it was over, she offered to braid Katie's bangs to keep them out of her face.

The hairdresser put some hair in an envelope for me as a keepsake. Even though she took off two inches in the back, her hair still has beautiful curls. It looks very clean now, and the ends aren't scraggly anymore.

I had a very fun time with my little girl's first hair cut, despite the horrible start to the experience. Although I wasn't able to get any smiles on camera, Katie really did enjoy it. She kept the braid in all day, and wasn't too happy when I took it out for bed. I'll have to try doing it myself tomorrow.

All Tuckered Out

One night, a few weeks ago, I asked Aaron to put Katie to bed. She has him wrapped around her little finger, however, and he let her come in his office and listen to music for a little while first. Guess who ended up putting Katie to bed?

Joseph Picture

My camera's USB cable was missing for a few weeks, but now it has been found, so I am adding some pictures a little later than I had hoped. Previous pictures from Joseph have been compliments of friends who emailed their pictures to me.

This is William and me in my backstage dressing area before the show. He came back for me to put his blush on.

This one is Aaron, William and me after a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Spring Break

Katie, Brandon, William and Dallin in a cave near the Grizzly Bear exhibit

It is Spring Break for Waconia, which is kind of silly, since Spring doesn't arrive until Sunday, and then they go back to school on Monday. But, in any case, that's what they called it, so that left me with finding ways to occupy the time of seven children for a week.

The early melt-off in Minnesota meant that the first few days of break were too sloppy to play out in the grass. But, we got the bikes out, and the kids were able to ride. There were some really nice temperatures - in the 60s, even - during the week, so the kids enjoyed being outdoors a lot.

Monday night for FHE we went on a field trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota. We all enjoyed the omnitheater movie, Arabia. It even kept Katie's attention for almost the whole hour. The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was a big disappointment. We were expecting to see Dead Sea Scrolls. Instead, there was a lot of pottery, other scraps, like rope and hairnets, an audio tour, and a lot of displays with maps and charts. As far as the scrolls went, we got to see three very small scraps, and that was it. I think some of the kids got something out of it, but if we had realized that they weren't going to have the scrolls on exhibit, we wouldn't have paid the extra fee for the exhibit. The rest of the exhibits were a hit, though. They weren't ready to leave when we needed to head for home, which is a good thing, as we purchased a year's membership. The price of getting our family in was awfully close to the membership fee, anyway, so it made sense!

Unfortunately, I had a stomach virus relapse on Tuesday, and was not up for anything for two days. It was rainy outside on Tuesday, so the kids mostly played video games. On Wednesday, they did get to go outside to play for a little while, but it was mostly a repeat of Tuesday.

Thursday, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Pratt's Grandparent pass at the Zoo, we had another field trip. Grandma brought cousins Timmy and Andrew along, so it was two on nine. Thankfully, three of the nine are old enough to be helpful when they aren't fighting with each other. After that, I came home and crashed, while Brandon took a few kids on a bike ride to the nearby park.

We've been taking it easy indoors today. I've given four of the boys hair cuts, and we've been cleaning. Those boys who are done with their chores have been playing video games, as it is back down to 40 degrees again, so they don't feel like playing outside.

I'm afraid Spring Break isn't as fun as the kids would like it to be. If you ask Brandon, 95% of kids go out of town for the week. Mostly to Hawaii or Disney or some other warm place. However, I have seen plenty of kids around the neighborhood. We even ran into our good friends, the Drays, at the Zoo yesterday. So, maybe we aren't as abnormal as my kids think. Although Hawaii would be nice.

I Cannot Go to School Today...

Sick
by Shel Silverstein
"I cannot go to school today," Said little Peggy Ann McKay. "I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry, I'm going blind in my right eye. My tonsils are as big as rocks, I've counted sixteen chicken pox And there's one more--that's seventeen, And don't you think my face looks green? My leg is cut--my eyes are blue-- It might be instamatic flu. I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke, I'm sure that my left leg is broke-- My hip hurts when I move my chin, My belly button's caving in, My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained, My 'pendix pains each time it rains. My nose is cold, my toes are numb. I have a sliver in my thumb. My neck is stiff, my voice is weak, I hardly whisper when I speak. My tongue is filling up my mouth, I think my hair is falling out. My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight, My temperature is one-o-eight. My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear, There is a hole inside my ear. I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what? What's that? What's that you say? You say today is. . .Saturday? G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

About two weeks ago, William came down with a stomach bug. We hoped to keep it from spreading throughout the household by quarantining him in his room, and moving Aidan to the living room couch overnight. Unfortunately, Benjamin started complaining of diarrhea, and then told us he'd thrown up the next day. Aidan followed suit and threw up a couple of days later. Then, it was Dallin's turn.

Benjamin asked if he could sleep on the couch, rather than sleeping on the bunk bed and being by Dallin. We told him he had nothing to fear, as he'd already had the bug and couldn't catch it again. Two nights later, he covered his bed, the carpet, the wall, and a good part of the bathroom with puke overnight. The next morning, coming out of my slumber, I had a revelation: Ben had lied to us to get out of school the first time. I mentioned it to Aaron, who ran downstairs to ask him. Sure enough, he admitted playing sick to get out of school. If only he had stayed away from Dallin, he might have been safe. Unfortunately, while Ben was home from school, Dallin, after he'd been eating well and looking fine for 36 hours, threw up in his classroom at school. That was a fluke, as we'd had evidence of Dallin's previous puking.

Brandon has not gotten the bug. He has stayed away from sick people, and slept on the couch while others who share his room have been sick. Katie fared pretty well until yesterday, when she had a lot of diarrhea, but she hasn't hasn't thrown up, which I am very grateful for. Tristin and I, however, both had rough nights last night. Aaron just developed the cold sweats while I've been writing this, and has started the "cleansing" process. Let's just say, you don't want this bug.

I keep typing words that I know I can spell wrong and having to go back and correct them. My brain seems to be suffering, along with my stomach and aching head and body. Aaron just asked me what time it is, and it took me a second to figure out how to answer his question (duh, he asked me because there is a handy little clock on the bottom right of the computer screen).

Well, I'm sure I've uplifted everyone with my post. I am getting tired, and need to get this laptop off of me. I hope all who read this are able to escape this bug.

After-Show Letdown

Eight performances later, and our run of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is over. I started to get sad after the Saturday night performance, even though there was still one show left. I didn't bawl yesterday afternoon, but I got a little teary-eyed a few times.

The show was very successful. We had a number of sold out shows, and some great audiences. Our Friday night audience this past week was one of the best. They stood up and clapped along with us when we got to the "Go Go Go Joseph" part of the Mega Mix (the curtain call), and were engaged and enthusiastic throughout the show. You wouldn't believe how much an audience that responds appropriately loudly during the performance can fuel more energy into the cast.

The thing I'll remember the most about this experience was the people I met and became friends with. My fellow Canaan Chorus members will be missed, especially Brenda Patterson, Ginny Fogg, Becky Salita, Martha Keenan, Vicki Turner, and Carol Thomas. Bill Coldwell, our director, Joan Nelson, our vocal director, Drew Hasty, our orchestra director, and Katy Jarvis, our choreographer, all left great impressions on me, and I'd be enthusiastic to work with any of them again. Connie, one of the stage hands, became a friend throughout the performances. She and I always chatted before the opening scene while we waited, and we figured out we knew a few of the same people.

One other thing I'll certainly remember about this experience is how important it is to follow promptings. I really felt good about auditioning for this show. I was excited when I got cast. I had to overcome fears that it was too much time away from my other kids in the evenings. That was hard. But, once I saw how good it was for William, and also how much it helped Aaron, giving him a creative outlet during a particularly stressful time, I knew I made the right choice. Participating in an organization like this is good for getting through a long Minnesota winter, too.

I'll probably be auditioning with CVFT again. This summer, they are doing a musical melodrama, written by one of the cast members from this show. In it, villainous Drake Foulweather tries everything, including marriage, to get control of the land left to Mary Goodhue by her father. In the end, Mary's goodness saves the day and leads to a happy ending for the heroes and a well-deserved comeuppance for the villains. Doesn't that sound fun? It will be held in the Chaska Community Center, which is only a 15 minute drive from my house, rather than 25 minutes, so that is really nice!

They are also having a week-long DragonFly Arts Camp (day camp) for kids in June. William is very interested in this, and I think we'll let him do it.

Aaron fell in love with the keyboard he used in the show, and it has motivated him to start thinking again about getting one for his composition hobby. I'm encouraging it.

There's plenty to look forward to, so I'm not going to let this show's end get me down.