Here a pretty, there a pretty, everywhere a hair pretty

Our prettier 'Hair Pretty' display.

As I looked over at my daughter's American Girl doll I was surprised how much she really does look like my daughter. Right down to the very messy brown hair.

I picked up the doll and started brushing her hair. Time for an intervention, for the doll and for the girls.

This is one of the styles in the book,
a french braid with beads tucked in with bobby pins.

One of our issues is inspiration. I would love to fix the girl's hair in all sorts of cute ways, but my five-year-old either wants a big pony tail or just a head band.

So, I went on Amazon and found a great book all about fixing little girl's hair. It has lots of great pictures and easy to read instructions. This proved to be inspiration for both of us. She can look through the pictures and get ideas, and pick a hair style for the day.

Fortunately, they have styles for all hair lengths as well as varying time constraints.

Next I made a basket that contains all the tools and products I need to fix their hair. It includes a wide tooth comb, fine tooth comb, spray bottle, detangler spray, hair spray, & gell.   I also have a brush and bobby pins that match their hair color. The book gives suggestions about other tools that are handy. It has worked great to have everything in the basket. The basket saves time so I am not looking every where for items I need. It is also great for fixing hair on the go!

Our new guide to hair, and hair fixing basket.
A winning combination!

I decided to take a prettier approach to our hair pretty collection. I gathered several glass jars from around the house. The girls helped to sort and classify the hair pretties and then we lined them up on a shelf in the bathroom. It is now easy to grab just the right hair pretty and we are enjoying he decorative display!

This is my attempt at "Belle Hair"-- Not in the book.
Twisted sides, a bun and hair left down in the back.

Holiday Recipes

March is a big month in our house. One holiday after the other! We find that celebrating all the minor holidays is a great way to chase away those winter blahs!

We have Pi day on March 14th, (my husband the Math Major's particular favorite). Then a few days later is St. Patrick's Day followed by the First Day of Spring. We had a lot of fun celebrating as a family over the past couple of weeks.

As I planned for each of these holidays, I realized that I pretty much follow a recipe to keep them simple but sweet.

Here is my Holiday Recipe:

2 cups of ---prayer, dedicating the plans to God.

1 heaping cup full of--- reality

2 teaspoons of--- atmosphere

1/2 cup of--- crafts or baking

A bushel of--- theme related library books

1 cup--- free community event

A Dash of--- yearly traditions as needed

3/4 cup of--- digital camera

Sprinkled with--- light-hearted spontaneity 

Stir it together and every outcome is a surprise that is hopefully filled with joyful memories.
* Measurements are approximations

1. No matter what our plans, be it holiday or everyday, I find it is always a good policy to dedicate whatever we do to the Lord. It is good to invite Him to be part of the holiday from beginning to end.

2. A Dose of Reality. When making plans take into account all the factors that surround the holiday. Consider your children's ages, your schedule surrounding the day and how much time you will have to prepare during the week. Factor in financial cost, your energy level and the current state of your home.

One sure way to make a holiday not fun is to ignore any number of these factors and try to over do it. Children are easily thrilled and entertained. Enjoy that magic! Don't ruin it by pushing everyone in your house to the limit by trying to recreate Disney Land in the form of Valentine's Day.


3. Atmosphere is a wonderful element to include in your holiday. However, there is no need to try to decorate from floor to ceiling for every holiday. That takes a lot of money and work. Decorations can be as simple as a new center piece on the table.

Sometimes we decorate more than others. This year I decided to decorate just a little, and just for Easter. This was for multiple reasons. (1. I am pregnant and tired. 2. I didn't want to bother my husband to get them out of our shed because he is working full time and in school. 3. My house has been pretty messy lately and I didn't feel like decorating the mess.)

You know, I don't feel bad about not decorating and the girls could not care less. Every year I feel free to reassess what would work for that particular year.

I include our outfits in the category of holiday atmosphere. They had the best time wearing all green on St. Patrick's day, and switching to lighter spring colors on the first day of spring.

4. I try to plan either a craft or baking project that goes with the holiday theme. I rarely accomplish both, and having only one special mess to clean up is plenty.

5. For our home school we always have our weekly book basket that reflects the theme we are studying. Books are a big part of celebrating any holiday in our house. This is a great way to learn about the history of the holiday or discover new things about different cultures. Reading books leading up to the holiday really give the girls more ownership and enthusiasm when the day comes.

6. Why reinvent the wheel? There are so many free community events going on! Especially at your local library. Join in the fun!

7. Yearly traditions are great, but as I mentioned above, don't force them when it becomes unrealistic. Use them as guidelines for planning but be willing to let go of them, or pack them back up for the next year if it just isn't going to work.

8. Document with pictures. It makes the memory brighter for you and your kids. However, don't forget to enjoy the moment.

9. Be flexible, kind and joyful! Holidays big and small, religious and not so religious should always turn us back to God and bring us closer together as a family. If the 'fun' you are trying to force on your family is a nightmare...then what is the point? Use the holiday for the excuse that it is, an opportunity to do something fun with your family!

First Day of Spring!

Rather than lumping the Resurrection Celebration in with the bunny, chicks and eggs-- we separate them. This helps us to focus during Holy Week and really take time to learn all the important things about Easter. It also gives us an outlet for doing all those fun Spring Time festivities!

We had a great time Celebrating Spring this year!

 Our First Day Of Spring craft was decorating planters. We will be planting flowers and some veggies to watch grow.

 The community event we joined in with was "Read with a Daffodil Princess" at our local library. We went to this last year and it was such a fun event! The Daffodils are just popping up in our yard so they like to pick one for the princesses.

 We hunted for Spring Eggs, and invited my parents to join us in the fun. 

Since the girls have Gluten, Dairy and Egg allergies....our usual candy and cookie decorating needed to be reassessed. Since I am still working on a good sugar cookie recipe that they can enjoy cutting out and decorating, we just rolled (Gluten, Dairy & Egg free...) sugar cookies into balls and turned them into snicker doodles.

Also, finding things to go in the eggs were a challenge. Every kind of chocolate on the shelf had milk. There were a few bars of dark chocolate that were dairy free but they were not exactly ideal for putting into eggs. So we put some gummy candies, hair pretties and coins in the eggs this year.

We filled their Spring Baskets with non candy treats. They loved their play dough, pencils, socks, bubbles and notebooks! However, we did give them some peeps... this would explain the blue lips.

Other ways we celebrate spring is by packing up all their dark colored and winter clothes and getting out their brighter colored spring attire. This is also known as Fashion Week at our house, because Rose has to try everything on!

We also have been doing some Spring Cleaning!

St. Patrick's Day Celebration!

 One thing we like to do for any holiday, big or small is to wear holiday outfits. These shirts were brought back from Ireland by their Grandma and Grandpa. Perfect St. Pat's outfits!

 For each holiday I try to either do a craft or bake or cook something. This year we checked out this book from the library. It was full of great crafts. The majority of the items needed to complete the crafts were things we had around the house. This was a great exercise in following directions. My five-year-old had fun choosing the craft to make. I think we will get this book again next year.

I always try to have a special book basket to highlight each holiday. This was our favorite story from the book basket for St. Patrick's Day. It was a super cute story!

Lastly, we always like to look for a free event in the community to join in the celebration. This year the church I grew up going to was having a Celtic Music concert. The band that was playing is called 'The Irish Band.' They were so wonderful! The girls had the best time singing and dancing along!

Pi Day!

My Aunt Susan always told me that "Nerds make the best husbands." I took her advice and married a high quality nerd (takes one to know one). My Prince-Nerd-Charming is a certified Math Major and lover of all things Pi. I love this about him and as a devoted wife I want to find ways to show him that I love and appreciate him. Because Aunt Susan was right, he really is the best husband!

While up at Western Washington University I was made aware of the math holiday revered by Math Majors everywhere.... Pi Day... March 14th....as in 3.14.


The past several years Rory celebrated Pi day with the youth group. They had Pi games, a Pi art contest and of course lots of Pie to eat. They also talked about God's infinite love that extends far beyond what we can calculate or imagine. It's irrational.

Getting our picture taken with Albert, he too was a big fan of Pi.

This year we took Pi Day to the next level, and declared it a family holiday. Since Rory's Birthday is so close to Christmas this is a replacement celebration... And truthfully he would much rather celebrate Pi Day.

So here is what we did:
We made Shepherd's Pie for dinner.
We helped Daddy memorize to the 130th digit of Pi.
We got Daddy a Pewter Pi Lapel Pin. (A special present for daddy)
We also got a Math Adventure book- Sir Cumferance and the First Round Table (A book to share as a family. So Daddy could introduced the concept of Pi)
We traveled to Silverdale Library to participate in their Pi Day Celebration. Where we got to throw pies at a Picture of Albert Einstein, make a house of cards and have lots of fun!

 Next year we plan to make a pie and Pi digit Cookies with number cookie cutters.

Who's the Turkey Now?

The image behind the intimidation, supporting conspiracy.

Okay, so I am not really sure where this 'fear' of cooking birds has come from. I think it mostly stems from lack of experience and partially from the look of a raw bird waiting to be cooked. For whatever reason this intimidates me.
Apparently, I am not alone, because the 'How To' article I read stared out by dispelling the myth that cooking the Turkey takes culinary skill and talent. This myth buster was further confirmed during a group discussion at Bible Study around Thanksgiving time. The experienced Turkey cookers let out a little secret. They all cooked the Turkey and made the pies. The Turkey is the easy part, and they let their daughter's and daughter-in-laws toil with all the potato peeling and labor intensive side dishes.
So, it is a conspiracy...good to know!
Growing up my mom would cook a Turkey about twice a year, for the usual Christmas or special occasion. And truthfully, I can't really remember ever seeing the bird being put in the oven. We didn't really cook birds regularly, we just got those frozen Chicken Breasts from Costco and called that Chicken.
Now that I am on my own and our food budget staring me in the face, the only reasonable thing to do is to conquer my fear and cook the bird.
I started out small with a Orange Glazed Cornish Game Hens, they turned out delicious.
Then I worked my way up to chicken. Some in soup and a few roasted in the oven. (My first attempt was rather dry, but I improved on the second attempt).
Somehow I thought I was ready to move up to cooking a Turkey. Now, reason would dictate that with a small family and limited experience, that I would start with a small Turkey. But, no, that would make too much sense. We opted for a 20 pounder.

I love to cook and enjoy new recipes and challenges. But when a large frozen bird is staring me in the face it produces one reaction...procrastination.
Without fail, I always put off cooking the bird waiting in my freezer.

This particular Turkey had sat in my freezer longer than I could remember. So, I finally decided that it was time to cook the beast.
I let it thaw in the fridge while we went to my parents for the weekend. Then on Monday, came the day of reckoning.
I stared down that bird, read and re-read the directions on the package. Watched a 'How To' video and then read and reread the directions I found on line. Then I stared at the bird some more. In the midst of this procrastination I talked to my friend Leslie, her last words were..."Foil is your friend." Guess who was pretty much all out of foil? Not much foil to befriend my Turkey...would this be 20 pounds of foiled meat?

All the foil I had to cover my poor Turkey.

Well, time passed and kids distracted me and I still tried to get my game plan and muster up my gumption. I soon realized that I passed my window and had to make dinner for the evening, because there was no way this bird would be done in time for dinner.
It wasn't until after dinner was done and the kids were in bed that I started wrestling with the Turkey. Having just tucked in my 30 pound preschooler, my battle with washing the Turkey felt oddly reminiscent. I finally un-tucked the legs, figured out which end contained the secret compartment with the hidden pouch and the spot to stick the veggies. All the while questioning if I was doing it right.
When my 20 pound friend was finally tucked in, slathered with butter and herbs and deemed oven ready the clock read 9 pm. Hmmm....
At this point I had to dig through the trash to find out exactly how big this really heavy thing I could hardly lift was. Then I started counting the hours it would take to cook on my fingers. And the realization came to me. No matter what I did I was going to have to get up at 4am. Either to take it out of the oven or put it in so it would be done before the girl's ballet class. (Rory later pointed out that I could have just put it in at midnight and taken it out at 6. Where was that voice of reason when I was deliriously tired and trying to get this Turkey in the oven despite my big baby belly?)
Oddly enough I woke up at around 4 am on my own. Unfortunately for my husband I could not lift it out of the oven...again with the baby belly. So Rory got to get up at 4 am and help me... sorry honey!

Note the time in the back ground...The Turkey was finally cooked!

It wasn't until the next morning after we had rested and the Turkey had rested that we sliced in to discover exactly how dry this turkey was.
I am glad to report that it was not that dry. In fact it was pretty good. Not the moist masterpieces my mom and Aunt usually prepare...but good enough! It will be put to good use in Turkey Pot Pies, Enchiladas and all sorts of dinners to come.

Rose was excited to eat her Turkey on a Handle!

She thought it tasted great! One satisfied customer!

Re-Vamp...Sprucing up the place!

Well, you may notice a few changes around the blog this week. Thanks to my Brother-in-law, Phil, who graciously took some pictures of me this weekend. I have started the remodel project on the blog. Hope you like it so far. I still have to tweak a few things and work out a few kinks.

Here is one of the candid shots from our little photo shoot... Yes, this is Rose about to either bite or lick my hand. Oh, the precious moments in parenthood!