Sharing Christmas!

We hope all of you had as Merry a Christmas as we did here in Parma. Santa was good to the kids (better than maybe they deserved :)). The kids are carrying on the holiday by singing Christmas songs and wishing everyone they meet a Merry Christmas, so aside from all the presents being removed from under our tree it's still Christmas here. Here is a pictorial review of our Christmas celebration

Traditions

So our little family will be spending Christmas by ourselves in Parma again this year, and while we are getting more used to the idea, it still makes me a little sad to not be around family. We could drive to Greg's parents house 5 hours away, but the years we've planned to do that the weather hasn't cooperated and it's hard for "Santa" to find us there and then we have to transport all of the presents back home. So we decided it's best if we stay at home and start having our own family traditions. So while I have a plethora of traditions from both our families to choose from I was wondering what some of your favorite traditions are. What do you do on Christmas Eve that makes you giddy with excitement for the next day? What do you do after all the presents are opened on Christmas day? What do you do to make it last longer. My mother was notorious for making sure Christmas lasted all day. I love that!

Book Review: Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

This is my all time favorite Christmas book. My mother has read this book to me at least once a year for as many years as I can remember. I even had her read it to me when she came around Christmas time a couple of years ago, just after Madalyn was born. It has now become a tradition in my little family to read it the night we trim the tree. However, my kids love it and I read it many more times than that. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.

It is the story of Mr. Willowby who gets a giant Christmas tree and puts in up in his house only to find that it's too tall. So the butler chops off the top and gives it to the maid who finds that it's too tall for her room and chops off the top. The top keeps getting passed from person to person and from animal to animal. It rhymes delightfully and it's just fabulous. Read it, I know you'll love it! I got all excited when our Christmas tree this year was too tall for our house, so much so that I took a picture of our tree that was exactly like Mr. Willowby's. See?

Guess Who's Two?

Our little Madalyn turned two last Saturday! Time just flies by. She still seems so little, although I know that will change with the new baby coming in March. She is such a cuddle bug and loves to be held still so I guess I still think she's a baby. But she's a big girl. She loves to play, laugh and rough house. She'll tackle her 6 year old brother and laugh while she's doing it. There is never a dull moment with Madalyn around. We love her and her sparkling personality. Here are some pictures of her party. We were at Greg's parents' house over the Thanksgiving weekend. That little doggy has hardly left her side since she got it on Saturday, she loves it!

To shop or not to shop?

I was wondering about the people that get up at 3 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving to sit in the cold outside of Target (or some other store)and fight the crowds (apparently they aren't the only crazy ones) just to get a good deal on something. As someone who used to work retail, I hated working the day after Thanksgiving, partly because Friday is just as much a holiday in my family as Thursday, and partly because a lot of the customers were not morning people. But I have sisters-in-law that sit down on Thanksgiving, ads in hand, and plan their attack. It just isn't for me, no deal is worth waking up that early for (I am not a morning person either, maybe if they had midnight sales, hmmm...) and I really don't like being shoved around. What about you? Are you a shopper or a sleeper?

An Emma Do

So ever since I first saw "Emma" with Gwenyth Paltrow I have studied the hairstyles to see if I could master any of them. They are so intricate and so beautiful. You can ask my younger sisters, as they were the poor souls that sat through some rather frustrating attempts. Well, I think I finally figured at least one out, or at least as close as I can come without being able to get up close and study it. So this one is for Alissa and Stephanie. Luckily my 4-year old was accomodating on this day. She calls it her "Fancy Nancy" hairdo, which works too. It may or may not be too grown up for a 4-year old but it was beautiful. Start with extra curly hair. I convinced Lorelei to wear foam curlers to bed, so her hair was nice and curly. Then starting from the bottom of the hair, pull the hair into at least three ponytails. You start from the bottom to hide the parts. Then just start pinning the hair up until it looks right. I left a little down because that's how Harriet is wearing her hair at the end of Emma while they are in the greenhouse. Then just take little ribbons and tie in some bows or whatever else pretty you have. If the ends of your ribbon stick out funny just use your curling iron to curl them. She loved it as you can see in the last picture.

Halloween Pictures

So here are some pictures of our very fun Halloween. We had a pixie, a princess, and a paleontologist (a scientist who studies and finds dinosaur bones). Aren't they adorable? I have to say we had the cutest kids out trick or treating. I hate the gory scary costumes that little kids wear these days. Just give me a princess, a clown, or a scarecrow. They had a lot of fun until Jacob started complaining that his bucket was getting too heavy, a sure sign that it's time to go home. The best thing about living in a small town is that they don't have a lot of trick or treaters so they give you a handful of candy instead of just one piece, which means, fewer houses, more candy. HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Hope you had a good one too! Oh by the way, Jacob and Lorelei drew the faces on the pumpkins (Greg cut them out of course), I think they did a pretty good job. Lorelei's is the spooky one and Jacob's is the happy one.

Book Review: No, David!

I am crazy for children's books. I love buying books for my kids and I enjoy reading them, sometimes I think I like them better than my kids. So I thought I would share a few of my favorites. This book is called "No, David!", by David Shannon. It is hilarious! The pictures tell most of the story as the David's mom comes up with more and more ways to tell him no. My kids love all of the David books (I think there are 3 or 4 others) and they have the words memorized. Also by David Shannon, "Alice the Fairy" is another book about a little girl that's a temporary fairy in training. I love how she uses sugar to turn oatmeal into cake. So check them out.

More Beauty Tips From Madalyn

Do you suffer from seasonal dry skin? Well, Madalyn has just the thing for you. A Ranch Dressing mask. Just apply dressing liberally to face and hands and allow time for the fats and oils to be absorbed into your skin. Avoid the eye area though, something Madalyn didn't take into account when she was testing out her products. Rinse thoroughly.
Repeat as needed. Gentle enough for daily use.

Double french braid and day after do

I love this hairdo! I use it probably more than any other and I always get rave reviews. It's best to do the french braids with the hair super wet. I think it's easier to control and it keeps the flyaways to a minimum. I also use a pomade on Lorelei's hair since she is cursed with fine hair like mine. Basically do a zig-zag part (just take the end of a rat tail comb and make a lightning bolt, while separating the sides. ) and then french braid on each side all the way down and then flip up the ends. I love this part because I can never seem to get the ends of my french braids to look right around the nape of the neck and this hides them perfectly. Add a couple of darling little bows and Ta-Da! The best part is the next day you take out the braids, leaving the zig-zag part, and put it into some quicky little knots and you have a great hair do that took 2 minutes. Love it!

Jacob's Gone Fishing!

So Greg and his brother Russell took Jacob out fishing a couple of weeks ago out on the Snake River. Jacob wanted very much to learn how to gut a fish. It's a long story. Other than I think it was longer than Jacob's attention span could handle and he was completely grossed out by the actual gutting of the fish, I think they had a good time. They actually caught something, which is more than I can say for my first and only fishing outing. Here are some pictures to enjoy.







Can you tell he was ready to go home?

Have you ever wondered...

I bought a new package of socks last night, I know, it's not something people usually blog about but it got me thinking,

Why do socks come in a resealable package? Do you ever use the bag ever again? Can't they think of some other things that should be in a resealable bag, like fish sticks for instance? Why don't they come in a resealable bag? And while we're at it why will kids eat dirt but not the food that's put on their plates?

Fun Website

This is one of my kids' favorite websites. Jacob started playing on this website when he was 3 or so and I am pretty sure it's one of the reasons he reads so well. Lorelei calls it her ABC games. Check it out and guess what, it's free!!!! Gotta love that! Sorry, I tried to insert it as a link but blogger won't let me, so you'll have to do it the old fashioned way and type it in.

www.starfall.com

It's time for another hairdo!

Greg laughs at me and tells me that I have a lot of hairdos on my blog. I tell him that in order to avoid it becoming strictly a hair blog I make sure that there are at least 2 other posts between hair posts. Doing hair is a fun part of my day and I like the creativity that it requires and that Lorelei looks so stinking cute afterwards. So here is a fun one and it doesn't require more than 10 minutes (unless you are a slow braider like me and it takes a bit more time). First make a zig zag part on the top of the head and then make a part from ear to ear, so you'll have a rectangle with a lightning strike down the middle. Does that make sense? Then take each of those sections and make an uneven braid on each side of the head.
To make an uneven braid just have the two outside sections be very thin and the middle be thick. Secure the end of each with rubber band. Then put those two braids into a ponytail with the remaining hair. You can stop there and it'll be super cute but I flipped the ponytail so that it kindof looks like a waterfall. Make a hole behind the ponytail holder with your fingers and bring the hair in the ponytail up from the bottom of the hole and tighten. Then curl the ends of the hair. I really should do step by step pictures. That all sounds very complicated but it isn't I promise. Good luck and enjoy.

Digital Scrapbooking

So I have been messing around with digital scrapbooking for the past few months. I have a lot to learn but I am enjoying it. I can do it with the kids running around me and I only have to make each page once, unless I forget to save it and then I have to start over. I like that I can change the sizes of the pictures and play around with their positions. Plus I am not afraid to use embellishments because I don't have to pay for them every time I use them. Here are the first two pages I did. I think they turned out okay, it doesn't hurt to have such stinking cute kids.

Greg's Backpacking Trip

Here are some pictures from Greg's latest backpacking trip. He and two of my brothers went up to Crimson Lake, which is somewhere north of Stanley Idaho. I think they had a good time. What do you think?

The beginning

Jacob started 1st grade on Tuesday. I walked him to school, gave him a hug and kiss and he walked onto the playground with 300 other kids. I watched him get swallowed in the crowd and said a little prayer that he was going to be okay. I went across the street from the playground and like a stalker watched him until he went inside. It was a very very very long day. I have never been so anxious in my life. I think by 2:15 I was going very nearly out of my mind. You see, Jacob has never been away from me for longer than 4 hours, except when I've been in the hospital after having babies. And then people that knew him and his, let's call them eccentricities, were watching over him. Now he's gone for 7 hours with a teacher that doesn't know him or his eccentricities and darn it I miss the kid. Last week I was so tired of him yelling at his sisters, talking my ear off about dinosaurs, and not going to sleep, and now I miss him so much I hardly know what to do with myself during the day. I count down the hours till I can go and get him and know that his is safe. Am I a crazy mom?
Jacob on the other hand likes 1st grade, although he complained that it lasted too long, and that he didn't have enough time to eat his lunch. At home he would take 45 minutes to eat lunch, no such luxuries at school. He loves that he gets 3 recesses and he has the same reading teacher as last year. We'll see what next week brings.

Twisted braided ponytail

This is one of my go-to hairdos when I am in a hurry. It works best if the hair is pretty wet and/or slicked with pomade to keep all the flyaways at bay. Just part the hair in the middle (or anywhere else you'd like) to the crown and section off a small piece on each side at the front and start twisting down to the middle adding hair to the twist as you go. If your daughter is more obliging than mine you can have her hold one side while you do the other, otherwise clip it while you do the other side. Then just bring the two sides together making sure the hair that's not twisted is laying nice and flat, braid down to the end.

Stalling Tactics

My 6 year old has quite suddenly decided that he is scared of the dark. I may sound like an insensitive mother, but I don't think he's really scared. First of all, he has a nightlight and the hallway light shining right into his room, so there isn't any dark to be afraid of. Now he wants us to go in there and talk to him at length about his fears. When we've convinced him(at least for the night) that there isn't anything to be afraid of in his room, he moves onto monsters under his bed. Last week when Greg was out of town, Jacob called me into his room to tell me that he was afraid that there were monsters under his bed. I told him there couldn't possibly be in monsters under his bed because there is so much stuff under there they wouldn't fit. To which he responded, "What if they are just little monsters?" I told him that if that's the case he could just stomp on them. He got his "I have an idea" look on his face, and said, "What if there was a coelyphysis (sp?)under my bed, then he could eat all the monsters." For those that don't have a dinosaur obsessed child, a coelyphysis is a carnivorous dinosaur, you'd have to ask Jacob for more details about it though. I told him that that was a great idea. He could pretend that a coelyphysis that could eat all the pretend monsters (because Jacob knows deep down that monsters are pretend). He screwed up his face and told me that that wasn't going to work because the coelyphysis lived in Asia and not North America. I threw up my hands in exasperation, turned on the lamp, and walked out. No more stalling tactics. just go to sleep!

Rhubarb Slush

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine and it's fabulous! Even if you aren't a big rhubarb fan, you will love this!

Rhubarb Slush
8 c. diced fresh or frozen rhubarb
1 pkg. (16 oz.) fresh or frozen unsweetened strawberries
3 c. sugar
8 c. water
1 pkg. (3 oz.) strawberry jell-o
1/2 c. lemon juice
Ginger ale or lemon-lime soda, chilled

In a Dutch oven, bring the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, and water to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-8 minutes or until rhubarb is tender. Press through a sieve; discard pulp. Stir in jell-o and lemon juice until dissolved. Transfer to a freezer container and freeze, stirring occasionally, until firm (I haven't ever stirred mine and it seems to work fine). May be frozen for up to 3 months. To use slush: In a punch bowl or several pitchers, combine equal amonuts of rhubarb mixture and ginger ale. Or for one serving, combine 1/2 c. rhubarb mixture and 1/2 c. ginger ale in a glass, adjust according to taste.

Enjoy!

Messy Curly Ponies

I love love love this hairstyle. It is quick, looks so fun and it doesn't have to be perfect. Just make an exaggerated zigzag part and put each section into ponytails and then flip them to make knots. Then part the rest of your hair into two ponytails. Curl each of them and then just bobbypin a few random sections. Add a couple of cute bows and a goofy smile and you're ready to go.