Hair Today...

If you know our Megan at all, you know she has fought with her curly hair since she was at least about 5. It is soooo curly it is hard to run your fingers through it. In third grade she made it a point to shower every single day just to wash and condition her hair so it could be manageable.

She has always had some curl, but it seems to be getting tighter all the time. Here is a picture from Fall of 2006:

Last night, I combed through her hair (dry) and cut off about 2 inches or so. The curl really shrinks up her hair. It was easily at the middle of her back and if she put her chin up, her hair could touch her waist if it was wet. Here's how she looked after the comb out:
My friend Traci led us to a wonderful product that chemically straightens the hair. It's like an anti-perm. Megan laid on the kitchen counter on her stomach with her head hanging over the sink. I put the goop on her hair and combed it as straight as possible for almost 20 minutes. It smelled exactly like a perm. She was not enjoying the process, but I reminded her that this is the price we pay for beauty. (I found it hysterical when my mom said the EXACT same thing today without knowing that's what I said.)

Here is how her hair looked when it was wet after the whole process:
It was so smooth and soft. The relaxer really helped with a lot of the frizzy-ness, too. She couldn't keep her hands out of her hair. We just let it air dry and this morning she woke up with this:

It's still a little curly but not nearly as bad as before. She can't wash it or swim in the pool until tomorrow night. Another price to pay. When I was combing through the straight hair, I was reminding her that she couldn't wash it or get it wet in the pool. She asked if the lake water would be ok. I said she shouldn't do that either. She said then let's not do this again for the lake next weekend. It was then that I fully explained that this will last hopefully until Christmas time. Here she thought this process would need to be repeated after it got wet again. Oops, I guess I didn't explain it very clearly the first time. She was relieved to hear that.

So, thanks Traci, for finding this gem for us. We hope it will last that 4-5 months and then we'll lather, rinse and repeat.

hApPy BiRtHdAy tO mE!

Yay! My birthday has finally arrived. 36 years ago today, my mom had to cut her camping trip short to head back to town. She was more than 2 weeks late with me. Evidently I was a little shy back then. I guess I've more than made up for it with the rest of my life. :)

I'm back. Did you miss me?

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted. Sorry about that...

So, what has been keeping me busy this past month?

I made a very quick trip to St. Paul for a one-day conference. I arrived in my hotel room about 6pm, my conference was the next day 8 - 3pm and then I left for home. Sorry I missed you, Shari!

The next day was the last day of school for our girls, and the last day of day care for our son. We just got a parenting raise!

We went to the lake for Memorial day weekend. My brother and my parents jointly own a place on Blue Lake about an hour north of us. It was too cold to be in the water, so we came home early on Sunday.

Monday was spent getting ready for a HUGE rummage sale at our house. We hosted it as a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team.

The sale went great. We raised over $600 for the American Cancer Society and the Tracy Voegele Medical Relief Fund.

Then I took a motorcycle safety class for 4 evenings. I had to be there each day by 5:30 and was home by about 8:30.

Friday, June 6, I got my motorcycle license. Now I have the itch to buy a bike of my own. I was planning to ride my dad's Honda scooter for most of the summer to save on gas mileage. That was why I was getting my license. I had so much fun at the class cruising around, that now I want one of my own. We'll see. I will definitely post about that if it happens.

Saturday, June 7 we set up camp at the CHS track for the annual Relay for Life event. It was an amazing night. Check out pictures and more info at http://www.relayblog.com/.

Sunday we got home (kids and all) about 6:30 am. We unloaded all of the Relay stuff and repacked the van to head to Wahpeton. My grandmother passed away and the wake was starting at 3:00pm for the family. My brother, Bear, arrived from Denver to go with us so he drove the first leg of the trip (I think - I was sleeping in the back).

Monday was the funeral and it went very well. Grandmom was 85 and had been having a hard time breathing lately. She told my parents a couple weeks ago that it was just getting hard to live. She looked so peaceful. It was a reminder that God knows what He's doing.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights were spent going to bed early to try and catch up on that missed night of sleep. I think I'm back on track now.

Tomorrow Jon and I are heading to Chicago. I have a meeting on Monday so we decided to go early and spend a couple days with our college friend, Bob. I should have more to post when we get back next week.

Thanks for returning to check on me. I'll work hard to not let so much time go between posts. :)

Have a great Father's Day weekend!