Purplicious.

Some of you know that Kayley’s been battling alopecia, and has been having a super rough time of things. A friend of mine from high school, Tony, works at an upscale salon in downtown Denver and agreed to work a little hair magic with Kayley to try to make things right. And he did such an outstanding job! I’m going to give him an amazing review on Yelp, too, but for now, here’s a plug. Need a fantastic stylist, who has decades of experience, and is a true artist with haircolor? Go see Anthony at Henry’s Salon. You won’t be disappointed. Tell him Laura and Kayley sent you!

It’s been 100% Kayley Perma-grin around here since last night. I’m sure today at school, all her little friends are oohing and ahhing over her awesomely purple hair. And, bonus, I’ve just been named Coolest Mom Ever. Yay! Seeing Kayley with a smile on her face again is the best part.

OMG I will never be this cool, EVAR.

Actually, that’s a lie. I was TOTALLY THIS COOL IN 8TH GRADE. You can ask RaeJean.

I stole Kayley’s digital camera and found DOZENS of self portraits, almost all in the same pouty-lipped pose. There were probably a dozen just of Kayley and her best friend Taylor, and here are a few of those. I actually remember how hard it was being almost 14, feeling like a grownup, wanting to be taken seriously, but still acting like a kid most of the time. Part of me wants to break out the camcorder and capture some of their smart assiness, so I can show it to them in five years and watch them cringe! The other part of me wants to hang out with them.

And holy cats, can you imagine what life is going to be like in our household in another eight or nine years, when I have THREE teenage girls?

It’s snowing!

Yay! First snow of the season. I’m cracking up at my kids – they are flipping out over the snow, like they’ve forgotten about the existence of snow altogether. They’re ready to go out and build a snowman, and I’m having a hard time convincing them that the light dusting we got of powdery, dry snow won’t stick together at all. Oh well. It’s Colorado, and I’m sure we have lots of snowman-worthy snow in our future. And I’m sure our biggest snowfall will occur after a 75 degree day, since that’s how it always goes around here.

I’m getting ready to meet Kayley and her dad over at her school for a parent teacher conference. (Cue scary music.) I have to take the little girls along with me, but maybe I can bring along some crayons or something to entertain them. I hate parent teacher conferences. I never realized how embarrassing it would be as a parent to have a slacker kid. I hate how WE are always judged by the teachers and given the hairy eyeball when Kayley doesn’t get her homework done or fails to turn it in, as if we’re somehow encouraging her to fail. We’ve done everything in our power to get her to step up and be a good student and she just has no interest whatsoever. I’m not sure where to go from here, but I’m picturing her having a career working at Target or something. Drag.

At least I have the little ones and their future music careers, right? They’ll take care of me in my old age – I’m sure of it!

Fingers crossed that K’s teachers have hopeful words for us!

She looks better in it than I did!

Kayley wore my costume from last year to her buddy Dylan’s birthday/Halloween soirée. Doesn’t she look cute? She LOVED being so tall – between the wig and the shoes, she was a good 8 inches taller than her usual shrimpy self. I think she had fun, but she was worn OUT by the time I brought her home. I guess teetering around on those shoes all night wears a girl out. She was asleep in bed before I had my pajamas on.

I love this time of year.

OMG, I have to go through this with 4 more kids??

Kayley and I just had a very tense discussion about homework, and more specifically, TURNING IT IN. I don’t know why it’s so easy for her to send a thousand text messages a day, but so difficult to turn in her homework. Tears were shed by her and by myself as well. And I confiscated her phone. I’m debating whether or not to answer all her messages to Dylan, posing as Kayley. That’d just be mean, though, now wouldn’t it?

I’ve made a decision about the homework battle. It’s her baby now. She’s a quarter of the way through 8th grade and I’ve been dragging her by the nostril since the first week of 6th grade to turn her rubber duckin’ homework in. And I’m just done with it. I almost hope she flunks 8th grade, because I don’t see how she’s going to figure this nonsense out otherwise.

Not a lot of joy in the LaLa household this evening, I’m afraid.

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