Haircut

I'll admit that I don't exactly remember it. But the story has gone down in the family history books. The time that I cut my own hair. I actually don't think that I cut my own. I was probably 3 or 4. My best friend, Amy Lauren, was over at my house playing. We thought that it would be fun to give each other haircuts. I'm told that it wasn't pretty. I'm not sure why there are no pictures to document the occasion.

So, every time that Mary Laine has asked for scissors, I've had a good excuse ready. But when Gary and I reviewed the list of things that ML will be working on in preschool next year and saw "Cutting in a straight line" on the list, I thought that it was time to bite the bullet and let her go ahead and start practicing cutting with scissors. But I had a plan. I would tell her over and over that her scissors were for cutting PAPER and never for cutting HAIR. That Mrs. Tracy (our hairdresser) or Mama or Daddy or another GROWNUP could cut her hair, but that it was NEVER a job for kids. Then I planned to put the scissors way out of reach and only allow her to cut under close supervision. 

I found a preschool Cutting With Scissors activity book. As soon as we got home from the store, I let her sit at the table (away from the curious hands of little brother) and get to work. We decided to do two pages. Both were very simple exercises on cutting in a straight line. She looked so cute as she wrinkled her little nose and stuck her tongue out, trying so hard to get those scissors to cut along the dotted line. And I thought, "I need a picture of that face. I want to remember how big she's getting and how adorable she is when she's concentrating so hard on a new craft." The camera was one room over. I would be gone for just a few seconds as I ran to grab it. And that's the moment that I let my guard down.

When I rounded the corner, Mary Laine had her head buried in her hands. I immediately assumed (silly me) that she was ashamed that she couldn't cut in that straight line. She can tend to be a perfectionist at times. So I looked at the jagged lines on the page, rubbed her back, and encouraged her. And then I saw it. The pile of hair on the floor. 

It is in these moments that parenting becomes difficult. I wanted to smile a little at her reaction to her disobedience, but I had to remain stern. I wanted to snap away with my camera, but I couldn't appear to be glorifying the moment. I gave my best stern voice over my muffled laughs and said her name. And that's all it took. She burst into tears. 

There were no accomplices, Langdon's and Deacon's hair remained intact, and the bangs actually look good (don't ever tell her I said so!). I'd say that we came out relatively unscathed. So, hopefully we can check this off our list and move on to bigger and better things. Did I ever tell you about the time that Amy Lauren and I lit every candle in her house? I better go and hide the lighters!

He Is Risen Indeed!

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)

And after a long, fun-filled day, this is how I found her sleeping 

when I went to get her up from her nap:

Play Ball, Mary Laine!

We signed Mary Laine up for t-ball this year. I was more than a little hesitant at first, but am so glad that we did. She is loving it, and it's definitely stretching her in new ways. She's not used to being around so many boys and so many new faces all at once. Our first "game" is next weekend.

Coach Matt teaching ML how to swing

Langdon is her biggest fan

Chilling with Annie

Needs to work on keeping her eye on the ball

At the end of practice, everyone had a chance to run the bases. When Mary Laine came up, it was like a scene out of Play Ball, Ameilia Bedelia. Mary Laine was a little confused at first and kept trying to run and get the ball, but she finally got the hang of it. She was on third and her coaches told her to "run home". Poor Mary Laine was so confused. She had no idea where our home was. It probably didn't help that her Daddy had literally just run from our home to meet us at the field. Hopefully we'll get into the swing of this t-ball thing soon.

Atlanta

Last month, we made a very quick trip to Atlanta. I know, I know. I've been telling many of you for a long time that I'll come and visit the next time that I'm there, but we made alot of friends over the five years that we were there and also have some college friends there as well, and there just isn't enough time. Hopefully we'll see you the next time that we're there, and, in the meantime, our door is always open for you to come here to visit us (hint, hint!).

Mary Laine is finally old enough to really love hanging out with her pseudo-cousins/future best friends, the Galbreaths. Probably twice a week since we've been back, Mary Laine will sigh and say, "I miss Carter and Kelsey!" (Don't worry Collin, you'll make the cut in a few years, I'm sure.) She had so much fun!

We also got to meet Lee for the first time. She is just as adorable in person as she has been in her pictures.

We were sad to go after such a whirlwind of a trip. We'll be back soon, or I'll never hear the end of it from Mary Laine.

A visit from Grammy and Pop-Pop

We did do more than read while they were here, but I guess that the quiet reading times were the only ones when we thought to get the camera out. We loved your visit Grammy and Pop-Pop. Please do not let getting caught outside in a near-tornado or Grammy getting pummeled by a 300 pound former college linebacker keep you from coming to visit again. We didn't want for you to get bored!

March Cuteness

Here are a few miscellaneous pics from March. I will have more to post later.

I (Kathryn) was sick, so Gary took over for a couple of days. Here is what I found when I emerged from my isolation:

After almost 10 years of marriage, though, I have learned that it is when things start to look like the above pictures that Gary is on the brink of greatness. He got his birthday present a little early and started on his first project right away:

Our tiny storage room has just gotten much more organized. We can now actually see the floor again.

And here are some pics of Langdon with his best bud. Deacon seems to be enjoying Langdon much more too these days.