Where do you live?

My new answer to this question is "Hell."

 This was in the shade.

Yeah, when does autumn start again? I forget.

The Hair Chronicles, Part Three

Nathan informed me the other night that I "never post" about him. I reminded him that I've posted several things about him recently, including an anniversary post and a couple about his hair. This will be another.

Shortly after Nathan's haircut, he decided to cut it again. It grows really, really quickly, and was in need of some maintenance. He buzzed his head in our bathroom. Check out the aftermath.

 Not too bad. 

I was worried when he started, but it looked really good.

Well, a few minutes after I walked out of the bathroom, I hear Ethan laughing and saying, "Daddy, you cut all your hair off! It's gone!" I assumed he was talking about the buzz. As soon as I rounded the corner, however, I saw this:

 Yeah. I made the same face you're probably making right now.

For a regular guy to shave his head is not a big deal, but this is a man that's had a long (really long) ponytail for a decade. I was SO not prepared for Mr. Clean.

The kids thought it was hilarious and fun. I was too shocked to join in the head-rubbing.

Check out those faces.

Now that it's been a couple of weeks since the shaving, he already has a lot of hair again. He also managed to get a wicked sunburn on his pasty white noggin, which then turned into a nice tan and helped his head look a little less shocking. Anyway, we discovered two things: head-rubbing can be almost therapeutic at times (it feels really weird and sticker-y), and Nathan has the strangest skull shape either of us have ever seen.

I love you, Hubby!! (And your hair.)  :)

Chop, chop!

We're going for a new look around here. Hairless.

A little while ago, I posted pictures of Nathan's drastic haircut. He donated his hair to Locks of Love, which I thought was great. Well, I've been needing to go get a haircut for a really long time as well. I was finally able to go (thanks to my in-laws' willingness to babysit!). I hadn't planned on cutting it to be super short, but changed my mind once I learned that I also had enough hair to donate. The result? Well, it's shorter than it's been in a long time!

The lady that cut my hair (Stephanie) also cut Nathan's! She actually took pictures of Nathan's cut, and when I went in for my haircut and she figured out who I was, she offered to send them to me. So, here's what we have:

Stephanie and Nathan (and his donation) .

 My donation.

Guess Anna didn't like my haircut.

I'm glad we were both able to do something constructive with our hair, rather than just have it swept up and thrown in the garbage.

Photobomb! 8-11-11

I seem to be nursing Miss Anna pretty frequently today, so I'm spending lots of time sitting in a chair. Courtesy of her hungry belly, here are some random photos!

Fun in Daddy's truck.

6-26-11

Aunt Hannah brought us some paint!

6-28-11

Sometimes Nicholas is the only one that can make her stop crying.

 6-29-11

6-30-11

This is why we're not supposed to throw toys.

7-25-11

Tons of toys at her disposal, and what did Anna want?

My pants pocket.

8-6-11

Grammy put a bow in her hair and thought it was hilarious.

8-6-11

It seems like only yesterday...

Then 

August 10, 2002

Now

Nine years, and we're still in love.

Happy Anniversary, Nathan!

I love you more each day.

Do NOT try this at home.

Two words that should never be put together: GREEN and EGGS.

My kids love Dr. Seuss. We own several of his books, and they are read very frequently before nap and bed times in our house. With that in mind, I had the brilliant idea (and I'm sure I'm not the first, so don't judge) to make green eggs for the kids one day. I just knew they would get a kick out of it. 

They did.

Their reaction: "Green eggs! Look how green they are! It's like in the book, Green Eggs and Ham!" And they proceeded to try to quote the entire book with their mouths full of turkey bacon.

My reaction: "What in the world was I thinking? This is so disgusting. *gag* I can't believe they're eating this stuff! *gag* I'm never doing this again, so they better enjoy it and *gag* remember it."

Yeah, it was gross. I mean, look at the putrid green color of the slimy eggs? If that's not enough to make you crawl under the table and cry, I don't know what is.

No more green eggs. That is all.

*Note: please excuse my naked children. We know them too well to allow them to eat with their clothing on. Especially food that has been *gag* dyed green. *gag*

More cousins!

Wow...we have a lot of family! It's so much fun, though.

Nathan's cousin, Tracy, and her family came down to visit from Mississippi a few weeks ago, and we were able to run out to see them for a few hours before they headed home again. It was nice, since it had been a really long time since we'd had a chance to visit.

Tracy and her husband, Bret, have three kids, so there were quite a few munchkins running around in Aunt Marsha's house. Four from our family, three from Tracy's family, two from Timothy and Tiffany, and another little girl (the daughter of Tracy's best childhood friend). Ten kids total - ten very young kids. It was a little chaotic. While we were there, we were trying desperately to figure out how the whole "first," "second," and "third" cousin thing works between all the generations and family branches, and I'm not sure we ever got it. Personally, I think I need a flow chart or something. They're just cousins. :)

 Yeah, they wouldn't stand still. This was our best attempt, and there are even a few missing.

L to R: Nicky, Kent, the little girl whose name escapes me right now (help!), Bailey, Zoe, and Ethan.

Not pictured: Christopher, Colby, Devan, and Anna.

Aunt Marsha and Aunt Libby do NOT enjoy having their picture taken.

We do it anyway, because we love them.

Anna is in this picture, too (little piggy...always eating).

Aunt Libby and Aunt Marsha hadn't had a chance to hold Anna yet, and I was happy that they were able to finally get their hands on her. We had a little trouble getting her to stop crying for Aunt Marsha (I think she was hungry, go figure), but Anna eventually calmed down and she was able to hold her for a long time.

Look how sweet. :)

Awww.

 Tracy got to hold her, too.

 Tracy and Bret with Christopher. So stinkin' cute!

We had a great visit with family, and I hope we get to see them all again really soon!

Oh, and we also discovered that Nicholas LOVES cheesecake. Direct quote: "Mama, you have to try this cake with the white icing on top. It's really dood (good)."

Nom nom nom.

(Side note: Aunt Libby makes the best marinated cheese and seven-layer dip EVER. That is all.)

Anna's Baby Dedication

On Sunday, July 10, we dedicated Anna to God during the morning worship service. This does not mean we're going to sacrifice her on an altar or anything, I promise. It only means that we've made a public vow to do our best to bring her up in a Christian home. We've made a point to do this with all of the kids. We don't do this to boast about our relationship with God or our parenting skills, because we are far (really, really far) from perfect. There are two big reasons why we dedicate our babies. First, it's a reminder about why we have our children to begin with. God gives them to us - they're a gift. We're recognizing that and giving Him the glory. Second, it's about accountability. Those days when it's so tempting to make the wrong choices, I have to recall that I made a promise in front of a large group of people to honor God in my parenting decisions. Does it always work? Nope. But it's always there, the elephant in the room.

Anyway, it was really nice, and Anna snoozed peacefully during the whole dedication, so we could actually hear what Dr. Edge was saying this time (ahem...ZOE!).

 The prayer.

(Zoe and Nicky were just checking to make sure everyone had their eyes closed respectfully.)

After the dedication, many of our church members came by to congratulate us and to meet Anna. It was so sweet, and we got lots of hugs and compliments on our family!

I'm glad so many of our family members were able to come for this special event!

Of course, no proper Alexander family function (or a Southern Baptist one, for that matter) is complete without FOOD. So, we all hauled back to our house after the service for some yummies and family time!

The kids' table.
Zoe, Ethan, Nicholas, and Micah.

Hannah and my nephew, Ian.

Ian giving Christopher a ride.

Zoe and Micah.

It was a good time, and I have to give a huge shout-out to my amazing husband for helping me get everything ready, and to my Dad for grilling some awesome burgers!

All of our dedications have been special times, but this one was particularly meaningful to me. Anna truly is a gift from God, a tiny miracle, and I am so grateful to have her. She has been such a blessing to us all, and I am looking forward to watching her grow into an amazing young woman.

Chatterbox

Our little Anna is learning the skills to survive here in the Alexander house. The most important one: talking a lot. If you don't learn how to talk loudly and quickly, you're probably not going to make it around here, mainly because we might forget you're around as you're drowned out by the rest of the noise. :)

She takes after her Mommy already...

Making the cut

We had an epic event at our house. My husband CUT HIS HAIR. This is huge. For those of you that know Nathan really well, you know that he's had long hair for the past 10 years, at least. Not anymore!

BEFORE:

AFTER: 

 

Weird, right? It was really funny, actually. He's been threatening to cut his hair for a long, long time. Years, probably. Particularly in the summertime, when it's ridiculously hot outside and he works in that heat for hours and hours every day. Well, he walked in the door one Friday evening and said, "What do you think?" I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. I wasn't expecting to have an emotional reaction to a haircut (after all, it's his hair, not mine), but I was honestly a little upset. It made me sad that his hair was gone and he looked so different! I do love the cut, though, and it looks great on him, but I was totally shocked!

The latest on Nathan's hair: he doesn't seem to like it much and is probably going to grow it out again. :)