She has long n' lovely locks. Now what?

My first (semi) Successful French Braid

After I got run over by a car last July, one of my old neighborhood friends somehow found my blog. A new friendship was started; a sort of an electronic, catching up through pictures and oh-so-witty bantering through comment windows. It was the sort of comradery between two gals that can only be understood by those who have know the thrill of the comments number moving from 3 to 4.

In the meantime, my four year old daughter Lily kept growing, and so did her lovely brown hair. It is long, and thick, and long, and lovely, and long. It falls below her waist, and it is healthy and shiny and so loverly.

So now I am presented with a problem. I don't know how to do hair. My own hair as a child was short, brittle, thin and gross. Neither of my sisters was inclined to let me play with their hair. (Can't imagine why...) Both my older daughters have cute, but short, bobs. Sure, I can brush out Lily's hair and pull it back into a ponytail, or even a daring "half-up"on occasion, but outside of the baby "top knot" that was about the extent of my skills.

Then I noticed that my friend, Kori, was doing a blog called The Story of a Princess and Her Hair , which featured her daughter sporting amazing hairstyles, including step-by-step instructions to get it done. (There is a contest to win a professional flat iron on her site: read the "curling hair with a flat iron" post and click on the contest link for instructions to enter.)

I looked at the pictures. I read the instructions. Unfortunately, my arms didn't work due to my accident, and I couldn't even BRUSH my 4 year olds hair, let alone dare a half-up. (Dale did though, don't worry!)

I had to bide my time, and wait for my arms to work.

Finally, the day arrived that I could brush out her hair without having to take a Tylenol. I could finally take on...(dun, dun, DUNN!!) the French Braid.

The first attempt was not too awful. I'm getting better as I go. And now, I feel confident, armed with my brush and mad braiding skills, to take on some of the cute styles on her blog so that she can have, without a doubt, the CUTEST HAIR IN KINDERGARTEN! Which is what life is all about, right?

Now if I could just get her to hold still....

Grandma, I Love You!

Even though you are far away in Mexico, we still wanted to say happy Mother's Day to you!



Elliotte wanted to join in, but she was busy:

Mr. Quimby

Okay, his first name isn't mister, but maybe it should be. Hmmm. I'll have to think about that.

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures. Ignore my shaggy-doo in the bottom one! See his darling blue eyes and cute pink nose? Just what Dale wanted. Happy Mother's Day to ME!!

Rebecca Jane, Age 9

Family party! Isn't this a great cake? She helped me design/decorate it. It was quite tasty. Have I mentioned that I love using modeling choclate over frosting or fondant? We used modeling chocolate for the antlers, eyes, nostrils, but chocolate frosting on the moose for that "furry" look.


Rebecca decided to have the antlers for the moose have five points on one side, and four on the other to represent 9 years old. We used her hand to mold it into the right shape. (yes, I need a haircut. No comment required.)

Rebecca has some balance issues, so we got her some stilts to practice with. Yes, I'm aware that it seems as if this would be setting her up for failure, but it turns out she is doing very well at them. She also got a long jump rope (Cinder-ELLA, dressed in YELLA...), pierced ears, (yikes! If you double click the top pic you can see them...but ignore the sloppy frosting work on the moose...there's a reason I like modeling chocolate!) and of course, I had to make her a duct-tape carrier for her build-a-bear. (she wanted to spend 8 bucks on one at the store, but I vetoed with the promise to make her one.)

Notice all the webkinz hanging out of the straps everywhere? She got FIVE of them for her birthday: One from me and four from friends at the party. Guess she told them all what she wanted for her b-day, huh?

Oh, and the green frisbee on the floor was Dale's gift. It is made from recycled milk jugs. I got it for him in hopes that we would be getting a dog soon, and it worked!

I guess we get what we ask for, eh Rebecca Jane?

Build-a-Bear...Easiest slash Best b-day party EVER!

Because anyone who knows me is already fully aware of this fact, I might as well come completely clean.

I go overboard occasionally.

Okay, I go overboard a lot.

So when Rebecca had a friend's birthday party coming up, I thought, what the heck. I might as well go overboard again.

Flashback to her 6th birthday. End of kindygarten year. I, I mean, SHE decided on a dog theme. Mom decides to make invitations and spends hours scouring the internet for great dog pictures and editing ad nauseum: (Come: to a party, Stay: from 2-4 p.m....etc. It truly was one of the cutests invites ever...I even included "bloodhound's guide to finding the party"
with a map.) Maybe I'll find that invite and post it. It really was adorable.

But that's not enough. Oh, no. Every kid at a dog theme party needs a doggy bag, right? So why not SEW them, patchworked from various "furry" fabric, including a printing on fabric a different breed of dog on the front, none of the 14 the same?

And what to put in said doggy bag? Why, "sealed" cans of dog food, of course, made from reusing a soup can, relabeling it (again, more computer time in design) and filling with Chex Mix. (If you are intersted in the "how" let me know...."

Then there were the chocolate bones, the dog collar crafts, the doggy decorations.... I easily spent around $200. It was a great party, though. (p.s. I'm not the only over-doer out there. One of the moms...you know you are, JB!...got in the theme action, too, getting me (I mean, HER!) a stuffed yellow lab, complete with dog dish, leash, and a shirt embroidered with the name "Quimby" across the front....)

So this time, I thought I'd take the advice of said JB and try a Build-a-Bear party. I have never been there, really, but it sounded fun.

I'm reluctant to admit this, but I think this party might have even been cooler than the dog one. I know, I know, it pains me to think someone could do this better, but let me plead my case:

***Payton. He was the party host guy. He was awesome. He walked around with a bear strapped to his back and was just the right level of silly. This left me free to snap pictures and hang out.

***Location. Um, in case you didn't know, cleaning my house is NOT my top priority in life. I know, pick yourself up from the shock. Guess what? You don't have to clean up before the party if it's at the MALL!!

***No gift bags, only a gift bear. Come on, what kid wouldn't rather take home a fully-clothed build-a-bear they picked out themselves than, say, a can of dog food in a home-made doggy bag, with a crafty dog collar thrown in? Just sayin.

***No ice-cream. We did have rice krispy treats cut into the shapes of bears. (Again, JB...you're a genious!)


This is Rebecca stuffing her new Rabbit, Rosey. The number one rule of a build-a-bear party? The birthday girl always goes first.



Blame it on heredity.


Logan stuffing his bear, Cinnamon. We didn't bring Lily cuz her b-day is coming up in June, and I figured she could do a party here also, if it worked out. I wasn't shelling out another $25 bucks just to do a repeat next month!


This is Rebecca the next day. She and Rosey are inseperable. So happy birthday, Rebecca. Hope it was as memorable for you as it was cheap* for me!

*cheap refers to amount of money tendered toward invitations, Rice Crispy Treat ingredients, and each invitee's bear budget (minimum guest budget, $10 per child, not including discounts. $25 budget set by adult rendering payment at Rebecca's party includes a bear recommended to not exceed $12, combined with clothing not to exceed total $25 budget set by adult rendering payment, except where secondary responsible adult, such as invitee's parent, renders overages directly to Build-a-Bear. It is recommended that budget be a minimum of $20, before discounts, per invitee to allow both bear and clothing to be acquired by invitee) plus the lack of time spent in preparation for, cleanup of, and other stress related activities that go into throwing a friend birthday party for any particular 9 year old girl.