A Sweet Moment Ruined

Yesterday I had a very sweet moment in church. Ruby was sitting on my lap and Charlotte was leaning against me. We were all three snuggled close together listening to the choir.

Unfortunately the moment was ruined for me when I thought, "I hope neither girl has lice!" I got past it and went back to enjoying the moment.

Our last, knock on wood, experience with the frustrating, nasty, little creatures was about a year ago. I still find myself frequently checking hair and having thoughts like yesterday. It is amazing just how traumatic the experience is.

Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Curls

Charlotte has discovered that she can roll her own hair and wake up with curls whenever she wants to.

Last night she rolled her hair and Ruby's and put Eliza Claire's in a bun so they would all have curls this morning.

Ruby woke up with not a single curler still in her hair, and thus stick straight hair. Eliza Claire's hair was still wet so she had no curls. Charlotte was in tears because she had waves on one side and tight curls on the other.

Of course they were trying to leave the house for early church.

Charlotte and Ruby were not happy. Eliza Claire was unphased by the results.

Charlotte decided a pony tail would make hers acceptable.

Ruby needed curls. She left the house with hot rollers in her hair and instructions on when to take them out. I have no idea if she ended up with curls or not or what they looked like. But she wasn't pitching a fit any more so hopefully the results didn't start a new one.

Ah, life with girls


Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Happy Valentine's Day: The Hair Edition

The girls all decked out and ready for school. Ruby and Eliza Claire traded to these shirts because Ruby insisted that the sparkly heart one was "more my style!"

The one day a year that I'm a rock star hairdresser.

Eliza Claire and Charlotte both wore the style below.








Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Curls

Trying out new curlers

The back - ready for church

Ready for church - Looking much older than 8 to me

Mid-afternoon.  Still has curls.  They've held up better than I expected.

Jenn - Posted from my iPhone

Fun Braided Hair

I've been trying to persuade at least one girl to let me try this do for a couple weeks. Charlotte finally agreed this morning. It took about 10 minutes to do. Either I'm out of practice or it was more time consuming than I thought. I got the idea here.







Jenn - Posted from my iPhone

Can you see it?

A star? And a butterfly?

Cute, Quick and Easy

This is Eliza Claire's do for today. I put her hair in one big pony tail. Then I divided the hair in sections and twisted it until it started twisting in on itself. Then I used mini clips to hold it in place. Took less than five minutes.

All by Herself

Charlotte tied her shoes for the very first time this morning. She also fixed her hair. She is definitely Miss Independent.

Crazy Hair

Our church hosted an awesome family carnival last month. This is what everyone looked like when they got to dinner (at Chuy's, of course).

Yep, even Grandpa got in on the hair coloring fun.

The church is hosting another fun family event this month: Trunk or Treat your Way through the Bible! My family will be there. We would love to see all of our friends there as well.

In case you were wondering

I do still do fancy hair, occasionally. And Ruby's hair is long enough for her to get a turn more often. Today she asked for two braids...

Independence Day Hair

Eliza had "fireworks in her hair.



Ruby had a star.



Surprisingly the styles lasted all day. Through parade, nap time and all the way through the fireworks.

Bread, Hair and Fashion

This is random at best but it's what I've got today.

I had a couple of requests for pictures of the Five Minute Bread. So here they are. The first batch I had issues getting the bread in the oven and ended up with flour in the bottom of the oven. The flour burned and smoked but the bread turned out great.

The first batch

The second batch I got in the oven with no problems, it spread a bit more and was flatter, I think it could have cooked an additional five minutes or so. Again it tastes great. The kids love it.

Don't you love the little hand trying to grab the hot bread?

I did a hairstyle today I've never done before and it turned out perfect. Eliza Claire asked for two ponies. Her hair is getting long enough that I think two ponies look kind of weird. She likes braids so I asked her if I could braid her ponies and she agreed. I think the result is cute on her. It was a simple and quick do this morning.



Ruby, apparently with the help of Charlotte picked out her clothes and got herself dressed this morning. Not what I would have put together, but it is summer and I'm having to pick my battles. I did fix her hair and make her put on real shoes before leaving the house. I'm assuming people who saw her today knew she dressed herself. Otherwise I might be a bit embarrassed.


I'm sure before having children when I saw a child dressed like this I made some comment about never letting my children out of the house like that. But you know what I'm glad I could provide another childless person with this particular future lesson.

Off to finish dinner, put away laundry, wrap presents and get ready for two special girls' birthday tomorrow.
Jenn

Braids and Ponies

I did a variation of this hairstyle first on Ruby. I liked the idea but wanted something more symmetrical. I intended to do all three types of braids but on both sides of the head. However, I miscounted when I parted and put in the ponytails and did not have enough spaces for all three types of braids. Thus I skipped the fishbone braid. I forgot to snap pictures when I finished with her hair. You can still see the idea in these pictures from later in the day when we were swimming, though the twist braids are definitely starting to come out.


Later in the week I decided to do this style on Charlotte again with the intentions of doing all three types of braids but on both sides of her head. This time I got the parts and ponies right on the side I started with, but ran out of time due to it being VBS week. So I actually ended up doing exactly what was in the original post and just adding the unbraided side into the last ponytail for a side pony finish that I turned into a messy but. The asymmetrical style really suited Charlotte.




Can you tell Charlotte was not thrilled about having her picture taken in the garage while trying to get in the van to go to VBS? I was afraid if I waited to take the pictures after we got to VBS she would have ruined the style in the car so I snapped them while I could. The fishbone braid gets hidden behind the messy bun in the picture but it was definitely visible and distinct in real life.

I will definitely be using this technique again in the future.

My Mother's Day

I guess Mother's Day really started on Saturday for me. Michael let me sleep in until 9 am! Then Charlotte made me breakfast (a cheese sandwich - my usual) and brought it to me in bed. The rest of the day was pretty normal, except I had pink eye, again, and a sinus infection and had to make a run to the doctor. Then to a baseball game for Rehm. Then home to make tortilla roll ups for a fundraiser we were attending (recipe coming soon). Then to battle my computer that isn't working well - by well I mean horribly and I'm probably going to end up having to get a new one, but I'm being optimistic or in denial and just going with "not well".

Saturday evening, Michael convinced me to stay home from the fundraiser and rest - a very good decision. He took all the children to childcare and went solo to the fundraiser. I took a much needed nap. The children did not get in bed until 10 pm! This was the second night of late bedtimes. Not good. I was up 5 or 6 times with Ruby and Eliza Claire during the night and Michael another 3 times. UGH!

Sunday was also a full day. It started with getting four very tired children ready for church and assembling all the things we needed to take with us to our various activities for the day. I also had to open all of my Mother's Day gifts - most of which were made by my wonderful children. From Charlotte, I received a card all about me, a bunny necklace, and a painted votive holder. Rehm made me some beautiful flowers out of construction paper. Ruby and Eliza Claire made me "vases" with a heart message. [Funny aside: The teachers in their class told me that they asked the children what they wanted the message to say on the heart. Most said something along the lines of "I love Mommy." Eliza Claire's response, "I eat meat!" They obviously got her to say something else, or at least forged something else from her]. From everyone I received a necklace made from a key to my grandmother's house - the full story will be a separate post sometime soon.

We went to church (I worked, Michael volunteered in Charlotte's Sunday school class and the kids all went to Sunday school). Afterward we all toured the church's new building that will open next week. It is awesome! I can not wait to move in. It is going to be so wonderful. My dear son, who was not happy with the gift he had given me, used some of his bible bucks (reward money for learning memory verses, going to worship, etc.) to buy me an orange frog.

Following church we had lunch with Michael's parents. Then it was time for Michael and Rehm to go to the Texas A&M vs. University of Texas baseball game, time for Charlotte and I to go to Ballet Austin to see Cinderella with our dear friends the Weatherbys and GramNan, and time for the twins to have a nap! Grandma and Grandpa were gracious enough to watch Ruby and Eliza Claire while we went to our various activities.

The ballet was just amazing. Everything about it was just beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed it and Charlotte seem to enjoy it too. She sat through the whole thing, which given her attention span is amazing. We forgot to warn the girls that the characters did not talk. They were a bit confused for the first several minutes until we explained that small fact. After the first act all three could not stop dancing during the intermission. It was precious. Charlotte has decided that in the fall she wants to take dance lessons again next year, shocking decision for the day, I know.






We all met back up at Hoovers (my previous review of Hoovers) for a wonderful dinner and had the added benefit of having Miss Jenni, our beloved friend, for our server. We got to talk to Hoover himself and he was even nice enough to let me snap this picture.

Charlotte wearing a mask at Hoovers - it was a gift from Miss Jenni

Rehm wearing his mask

Grandpa, Hoover, Ruby, Miss Jenni and Grandma

After dinner we came home and got everyone in bed, late again tonight. It was a truly fabulous Mother's Day. But boy am I tired now. I wonder how many times I'll be up with the girls tonight?

A Star Is Born

Charlotte and Rehm performed in our church's children's choir performance of Nic at Night last month. It has taken me this long just to get this very simple post up. Sad but true. Mostly because I needed to download the pictures and I've been having major computer problems for the last week, but still.

The musical was very cute. It was the story or Nicodemus. They both did an excellent job and both seemed to have a great time. They performed on Saturday night and again on Wednesday afternoon. The twins were so excited to go to the "music show" or "you-si-cle." But of course kept getting squirmy and instited on going to the restroom at least three times during the hour long show.

Charlotte's choir performed a couple of songs at the beginning, one in the middle about the butterfly and sang the finale with all the choirs.


Rehm's choir had more singing and he was also in a little ensemble (yeah I have no real music terms here - I have no idea if it was an ensemble, a group, whatever). They had to go up three or four times and sing a little song with hand motions in addition to singing with the rest of their choir for other songs.

Of course, the occasion called for a special hairstyle for Charlotte. Since many of the decorations revolved around a star theme, we went with a star design in her hair. She looked darling.

Jenn

PS. All pictures except the last one were taken by Beth Bishop, not me.

Curls for Charlotte

Isn't she adorable?

Charlotte has been asking repeatedly for me to curl her hair. Of course she usually waits until the morning to ask and it is not possible to get her hair curled then. She asked Tuesday night and at first I put her off. She was really sad and I realized there was not an alternate time to do it until at least the following week. So we compromised. I put her hair up in pin curls and she didn't get a story that night - there wasn't time to do both.

Shockingly we got a second day out of the curls. This morning I took sections of the front and twisted it and added ponies and then re-scrunched the back. Messy and not as nice as the first day but quick and it made the girl happy.