THE Haircut

Okay, as most of you have heard, I had some drama last week when Marc and I made the mistake of going to Great Clips with a "buy one, get one free" coupon. Thank you. NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER, buy a box of Frosted Cheerios and force that sugary nasty stuff down your throat just so you can cut the coupon off of the box to save a few dollars!!! I went in wanting a trim, but also kinda wanting that Katie Holmes haircut, but not that drastic. I explained all of this in DETAIL to the girl and explained over and over that I did not want to look like a 60 year old librarian. Thank you. Before I knew what was going on, I looked up and she had chopped the right side of my hair off to above my chin. I about died. She cut it all the way around with not layers or anything and my hair looked worse than a librarian even, it looked like a big fluffy mushroom!! So, with some almost hyperventilation going and a poor Great Clips employee who was soooo mad at me cuz she could tell I hated my hair, Marc and I quietly paid our $13.99 and got out of there, Marc eyeing me very confused-ly the entire time. Before we left though, I did get her (much to her dismay) to go in and cut some layers to give it a little bit of a messy look and to make it not look so noticeable different from what my hair was before. I went home and emailed a few people to vent madly about the situation and after a week of styling it and getting the most compliments I've ever received on a new haircut, it's kinda growing on me. Yes, I was trying to grow it out and wanted it all long and beautiful by the summer (hee hee!) but now I guess I'm back to where I started... 2 years ago!! Or as Marc puts it, back to my junior year of college when we had been dating a few months and I got my hair chopped to the "Fait Hill haircut" and he completely hated it. Thank you. Well, he says he doesn't hate this one though. Don't you just love our husbands?? Here are some pics of the new 'do after FOREVER of washing it, blowdrying it, straightening it, and just picking at it to try to make it look at least a little bit cute. I know you're probably thinking that it's not as bad as I made it out to be, but TRUST me, these pics look NOTHING like it did when I first walked out of that cheap salon! I do have pictures of it then but not in a million years would I post them on this thang!!

I do have to say though, that just holding something as precious as this in your arms puts EVERYTHING into perspective! I don't care if that woman would have shaved my head completely bald, to Mason Thomas I'm the most beautiful woman in the entire universe!! :)

MaMaw's 95th Birthday Party

Last Saturday, March 21st, my mom's side of the family all met up in Sparta, TN where my MaMaw Thomas is in a nursing home. She turned 95 the very next day. We are so thankful to be able to celebrate another birthday with her, and I was especially thankful that my little boy could be a part of it! We could all tell that she is going slowly downhill because she has never acted this sad or been this quiet. We did get a beautiful smile out of her every now and then. She barely said two words. And those were to look up closely at my cousin Cathy's face and say "You have blue eyes." Cathy said, "Yes. I got them from you! We all did!" It is so special to look around at these family gatherings and notice that every single one of us, even down to the great-grandbaby Mason Thomas, has the exact same shade of blue eyes. And it's all because of MaMaw Thomas! We rolled MaMaw out into this little sitting area in the nursing home and celebrated away! It included balloons, a hot pink manicure, a couple of new pretty shirts from my Aunt Tizzie, and 2 cupcakes baked especially by my Aunt Bea; one with a "9" on it, the other with a "5" on it. :) Oh, and our new friend, Dean, or Paul, or whatever his name was. We kept calling him like 5 different names. He just kept wheeling himself in there and shouting random things at us. At one point he left and came back with a toy truck. He had eyes for my cousin Christy. He came into the room and looked straight at her and said as loudly as he could, "I see you!" We almost busted out laughing. It was the funniest thang I've ever seen. Christy was about to die and could not even look at him. And he kept telling my dad he liked his haircut. Oh, and he kept stealing my dad's newspaper. You'll notice him in the background of some of our pictures.

After we wore MaMaw out, we said our goodbyes to her, which none of us wanted to do, and moved the party over to my Aunt Bea & Uncle Everett's house. I love every single second I spend with my family and I wish we could all do it more often. It's so hard to get all of us together at once with us getting older and busier, so I was sooo excited for this day. I was also happy that Marc didn't have to work that day so he could make the trip with us. We were so looking forward to seeing my mom's brother's (my Uncle J.C. who passed away when I was in jr. high) family who live in Shelbyville, TN, but at the last minute they were not able to come. My cousin Brenda was very sick and my Aunt Ozelle was in the hospital for several days. Please pray for her health as she has had so many health issues for a while now. They are so special to us!

Four generations

Checking out MaMaw's beautiful manicure that had just been given to her by my cousin Cathy
So sweet!! My Aunt Tizzie (my mom's sis) with her granddaughters, Makena & Elizabeth, oh and Mason, too!
Mason loved watching these big girls the entire day

Mason loves his Great-Aunt Tizzie

MaMaw with 3 of her many granddaughters & 2 of her many great-granddaughters

Oh, this one is my faaaaavorite!! Look at Mason's sweet little mouth. He's doing a fish face and Cathy is doing it right back!

Showing off her special "95" cupcakes.. the funny thing is that the nurse took them away from us because they said they had to go blend them up so that she could eat them... Come on, just let her have some fun on her 95th birthday!! We were all kinda annoyed.

My second cousin Makena & I being silly

Makena is so good with her baby cousin. Every time we see her she takes such good care of him!

Mason with his cousin Dakota (my cousin Cathy's son)... He was the ringbearer in our wedding when he was 8. I can't believe he's now 14!!!!

MaMaw with her grands, great-grands, and a grandson-in-law :)

My brother Jody, Mason, MaMaw & me

Mason hangin' with his Uncle Jody & cousin Makena

Mason's Uncle Jody working with him on his walking technique... Oh my, I don't think I'm quite ready for that!!

My mom with her mom, 2 kids, & only grandchild

Bye, MaMaw, we'll leave you alone now so you can get some rest! She probably didn't know what in the world to think of all of us crazies!!

I was SO thankful for this beautiful smile she gave my mom, brother, and me as we were telling her goodbye! I will never, ever forget it. It was straight from heaven.

At Aunt Bea's & Uncle Everett's... Mason didn't waste anytime. He went right for his dinner!

Mason chillin' with Uncle Everett (my mom's sister Bea's, husband)

Outfit change! I wanted to show off the sweet outfit I made Mason in the sewing class I've been taking. It makes me so happy! He looks soooo cute in it! It's a different kind of look from the big boy look he usually sports!

My cousin-in-law, Tammy, meeting Mason for the first time. It was a surprise when she and her hubby Ray (my cousin) showed up. We didn't know they were coming! She's been watching Mason grow up on my blog. :)

Notice Marc getting some major love from his new little girlfriends! :) Love it!

Soooo cozy on Aunt Bea's lap

Oh, the serious game of Rummy going on

Jody getting some major giggles out of our second cousins, Makena & Elizabeth

My mom busting out some candy surprises for the girls. They were so serious in waiting for their treat! Andrea, what does this remind you of? Hee hee!

Ray & Jody... our mommas are sistas!

Discuss who's turn it was next to play with Baby Mason

An exhausted Cousin Christy & me
Sneakin' in some time with my sweet boy