Last Day of School--May 23

Alex, my future rock star, on the last day of school!

The end of school came extremely fast this year! Before it was warm outside, practically before the snow melted, the kids were having field day, the concerts were being held, and the awards were pouring in. It just felt too early. I have always been one to say that school should be finished by Memorial Day. Well, this year, my wish came true. Now I'm thinking, "WHAT was I thinking?"

We've been out of school for two weeks now, and I'm now starting to settle in to the idea that all of the kids will be home all day long. Phew! It's tough keeping 5 kids entertained with wholesome activities all day long without killing each other!

Ah, Summertime!

Alex had been telling me since before the last month of school that he wanted to dye his hair pink for the last day of school. Well, since my good friend Susan Tietjen lets her girls dye their hair with Koolaid on the last day of school, it must be an okay thing for good parents to do, right? Besides, I figured he'd probably chicken out. Well, two days before school lets out, he's begging me to take him somewhere to find pink hair dye. I'm thinking Koolaid, but no, he's thinking official dye! James finds a kit at Rite Aid for $10. There is no way I'm paying for that, and I figure there is no way Alex will pay that, but I was wrong, and he used his hard earned and quite skimpy allowance to pay for it!

Alex is so lucky to have such a GREAT dad! James dove right in and opened the box and started on Alex's hair. First it had to be bleached. Then carefully dyed.

It turned out to be exactly the same color as my cell phone! Since pink is my favorite color, and I tried to color stripes of pink in my hair when I was a teenager with magic marker, I kind of liked it. And besides, when I was a baby, I had a pink blankie that I named Pinkie. Pinkie mysteriously disappeared when I was about 10. Now I have my own Pinkie again!

It was also so soft, I couldn't keep my hands off of it! The girls at school felt the same way! Alex said that all of the girls had to run their fingers through his hair. Surprisingly, it is quite the babe magnet! Everywhere we go, teenage girls come out of their shells to comment to Alex about his hair.

The color is now starting to fade to a bright pinkish orange and the roots are growing out. I haven't said a thing about his hair to him, and low and behold, the other day he was in the grocery store looking for products to take the color out of his hair!!!!! I think he's all pinked out! I told him we already have something at home that takes color out of hair. He was all ears until I told him that all you do is plug it in and buzz it over your head. Instant color and hair removal! He didn't like that idea at all. He's decided to grow his hair out and not cut it. We'll see how he feels when he has orange tips with platinum in the middle and dark blond roots!

I really love having a teenager. It is so much fun. It really does bring back a lot of good old memories!

Step One: Remove Color.

Step 2: Keep bleach moist and look foolish!

Step 3: RINSE. Ooh, la, la!

Step 4: Color PINK!

Step 5: Oh, yeah, who's cool now?