WFMW - Hairstyles for girls (and mom!)

One of the things I absolutely love is fixing Ella's hair. Unfortunately, I was born with absolutely no talent when it comes to hair. I remember many painful hours spent in front of the mirror as a teenager trying to fix my hair only to hate the end result. Luckily for me, there are a ton of blogs that have come to my little girl's rescue. They show step by step how to give your daughter (or yourself) the cutest hairstyles around. I fix Ella's hair every morning before preschool and church. We are stopped at least once a day getting compliments on how cute her hair is. These blogs make it so easy that if I can do it, anyone can.

The first blog I found was "She does Hair." She no longer posts on this blog but I think it is a great place to learn the basics of hair styling. I still look through her archives a lot when I want a simple do. Here's the link:

She Does Hair

My go-to blogs for hair styles are these next two. Both bloggers have multiple girls and show everything from easy to complicated hair styles. They have quick video clips for some of the hairstyles so you can actually see how to do it. This helped me a lot when learning to curl with a flat iron and how to dutch braid. "Adopt a Do" has a lot of super quick hairstyles for the morning and even a section for dads.

Adopt a 'Do - Cute Girls Hairstyles

Babes in Hairland

I LOVE these next three hair blogs also and look at them frequently - I just don't find myself using them as much as the others.

It's a Girl Thing

The Story of a Princess and Her Hair

Girly Do's by Jen

Ella knows her hair HAS to be fixed before she leaves the house for school. Depending on her mood (and the time) sometimes we do super simple (like a french braid) or a hair headband. I like to let her pick her hairstyle the night before, that way she is a lot more cooperative in the morning. Here are some of the examples of hairstyles we have learned to do.

I searched through my photos to try and find some pics of Ella's hair done and it turns out most of my pictures don't really show off the hair, so I will have to try and take some that show the whole style. But here are a few where you can kind of see what I have done. I really really wish that I had taken more pictures of the different hair styles because I am missing most of my favorites.

I do variations of this style a lot (I wish I had better and more pictures)! These two hair-do's end in messy buns but I also finish it off using two ponytails, one ponytail, one bun, or leaving it down. I also will braid or twist the crosses. I have also thread ribbon through the crosses which is super cute. You can also do this hairstyle upside down with the buns ending up on top. You can find the instructions for this hairstyle on almost every blog I link to. It really is a lot easier than it looks.




This next hairstyle was a mistake but I was too tired to go back and fix it. Suprisingly, I had a lot more people stop me that day than usual.


I only wash Ella's hair every other day so a lot of her hairstyles are transformed for the next day. This next one, I just took the back down and put her hair into a ponytail.


In this next picture, her hair had two french braids the day before. In the morning it was really wavy and cute but it rained this day so the waves were gone by the time I took the picture.

I found this next hairstyle on "Babes in Hairland." It is one of my favorites to do because it is easy to adapt into a number of different hairstyles at the end. I don't often have enough time to do the "X" on the side so we will finish it with a braided bun and cute bow. I'm going to show the front, top, and back of this hair-do.

In this first pic, we had been at the farm all day and the side kind of got messed up (but still cute).





One more new blog I have found is Redpunzel. She has a section for Mom-Do's that are really cute and easy. I have had fun trying them on my own hair - sorry no pics of me.

Another post that might be of interest to you is how to make the cute hair bows you see everywhere. They are super easy! Here is the link:

Easy Hair Bow Instructions

For more great tips and ideas head to We are That Family where she hosts "Works For Me Wednesday" every week.

My previous WFMW posts:

Sweet Spinach Bread
Library Bags
Letterboxing
Curling Ribbon
Safe Plastics
5 Ingredients or Less
Laundry Tip
DIY Lip Gloss
Tips for Clothes Shopping with girls
How to teach a child to swallow pills
Removing old stickers, adhesive, etc.
Easy Hair Bow Instructions
Managing school papers
Fall Traditions
Coupon Binder
Toys Worth Buying - Board Games

Thanks for visiting!

Neighborhood Dig Out

Oh my. I think this weekend cemented our plans to retire in California. These pictures are from Sunday. We started shoveling on Friday (by we I mean Lance :). Most of the neighborhood was out in shifts all weekend trying to stay on top of the snow.

I love our neighborhood. There was a real sense of cameraderie this weekend as everyone helped each other out and looked out for those who were not able to shovel their own walks. This is a picture of our street Sunday morning. Lance was down out the end digging out my mom's car so she could get to work Monday morning. It took him 3 hours. He dug out our car yesterday with the help of our next door neighbor. Crazy, crazy snow.




This was the view right outside our door Sunday morning. The tree at the top of the post is the tree in front of our house. I love how pretty it is in the different seasons.


Ella had a blast "helping" her dad clear the snow. She built a snow sculpture, climbed "snow mountains" and ate a lot of snow :)





I'm not sure why but I'm getting a kick out of making the kids pictures more retro looking. Ella brought in a whole bowl full of snow and sat at the table and ate it with a spoon. I think it is her favorite treat right now.

We are now in the middle of another snowstorm. They are predicting between 10 and 20 more inches. I doubt the kids go to school for the rest of the week. The federal government has been closed for 3 days now. It's closed tomorrow but Lance has to work from home since it is his telecommuting day. Hopefully, I will post more pictures tomorrow after this current snowstorm. We only need 9 more inches to be the snowiest winter on record. Absolutely crazy.

Snow, snow, and MORE snow!

What a crazy winter we are having this year. It seems that every storm that comes this way brings snow with it. This weekend we were hit with what has been dubbed "Snowmageddon." It ranks #4 in recorded history for DC and this storm also brings us to the 3rd snowiest winter in DC history. So what does that translate to for us? Snow days, sledding, laundry, naps, hot chocolate, wet floors, warm baths, lots of movies, hide and go seek, snow ball fights, shoveling, pajama days, and lots and lots of family time.

Libby had a doctor's appointment yesterday morning. When we left it had just started to barely snow. By the time we got home, kids were already sledding and my two older ones were dying to go out.





I love how Spencer watches out for Ella when they are outside together. He always makes sure that she is included (even though he doesn't always want her to tag along).


Isn't the view from my deck beautiful?




The two pictures above were taken yesterday morning. The picture below is of our deck this morning when I woke up. It continued to snow for most of the day. Spencer left his sled outside yesterday afternoon. We know it is out there somewhere, we just don't know where.


Church has been cancelled tomorrow. I doubt we have school Monday and more snow is expected on Tuesday. The kids only had two days of school last week (they had Monday off and Weds. and Fri. were snow days). We have lots of food, games, movies, and general supplies . . . I'm just not sure how we are going to survive each other :)

Sisters

God has blessed me again and again, always my sister, always my friend

I snapped this picture of my two girls yesterday afternoon. Ella gets such a kick out of holding her sister - Libby tolerates it for the most part. Although I have some great pics of them smiling for the camera, I love this one of them just hanging out.

Ella knew before the rest of us that I was pregnant and she was going to have a sister. We thought my chronic illness had just flared again and I was back going to the doctor for many tests and new meds (including an x-ray, CT scan, and MRI - YIKES)!!! Pregnancy was not supposed to be a possibility so we didn't even suspect that outcome. One afternoon I was in the bathroom very, very ill. Ella came in and told me I had a baby in my tummy and that her sister was coming. I immediately dismissed the thought and corrected her. I told her we might adopt again in a few years but that I was not pregnant. I had no idea why she was bringing up babies because it wasn't a subject she ever really talked about. I remember feeling so bad that she would have to wait so long for another sibling. A couple days later, I realized my period was late - very late. I took a test . . . and then another . . . and then another. All positive. It seems our girl was right - her sister was coming.

Ella takes her role as big sister very seriously and loves to help with diapers, pacifiers, and folding burp cloths. She thinks she likes to help feed the baby but usually only lasts for about 30 seconds (can't say I blame her). I love these two sweet little girls and can't wait to see what the future has in store for both of them.

Two Weeks

Elizabeth hit the two week mark this past Wednesday. We have had so much fun with this little girl. I can hardly believe that she hasn't always been with us. She is holding up her head really well now, cooing, and loves to cuddle. We had her two week check-up and here are her stats:

LENGTH: 20 inches
WEIGHT: 7 lbs., 12 oz.

She is growing like a weed. We had an appointment 6 days earlier and she was 6 lbs., 4 oz (she had dropped a bit from her birth weight). So she gained over a pound in a week! Here are some pictures of her taken right at two weeks:







And finally, one black and white of her yawning:

I love cute little squishy baby faces!

Elizabeth Claire

Elizabeth is finally here! She was born on November 25th at 4:12 AM. She weighed 6 lbs., 12 oz. and is 20-1/4 inches long. I was induced for PIH and pre-eclampsia but we had already hit the full term mark. I hope to have her birth story written out soon. She is just the most perfect little baby. I completely forgot what it is like to fall instantly in love with a newborn. The kids are in absolute heaven. Ella is having so much fun helping me and has turned into quite the little mommy. Spencer is so sweet with his little sisters and is determined to make sports fans out of both of them. It is so nice having an 11 year old this time around. He helps me out so much with both girls.

Elizabeth is such a mini version of Lance - all the way down to his personality. She is the most laid back little thing. We are having fun making comparisons between the two of them.

Here are some quick pics from the last couple of days. I will try and post some more soon. Now that she is here I feel great and am eating everything in sight. Guess I need to make up for the past 9 months. It is crazy how good food tastes again :)




Two days old - coming home from the hospital:

April Fools Fun

The kids have already been victims recipients of some fun pranks this morning. I've been slammed with work this week but managed to do a few easy things.

Spencer - For my oldest, I snuck in his room last night and painted his toenails red. Lucky for me, he didn't notice until I was awake. We took it off immediately but I thought it was hilarious.

Ella - I found this idea on Family Fun. I put food coloring at the bottom of her cereal bowl and then poured the dry cereal on top of it. She watched as I poured milk on and was amazed when the milk turned blue. Both kids checked the milk carton to see if there was blue milk in there and were surprised when it was white. I would have done the same to Spencer but he eats WAY before I'm awake in the morning.

If I get enough work done today, I plan on making an April Fool's meal. There are so many cute ideas out there. I'm leaning towards these grilled cheese sandwiches (really pound cake and frosting) with meatloaf cupcakes for desert :)



HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Heart Shadowbox

I am in love with this cute little shadowbox. How easy would this be to make??? I think you could easily change things up with stars, butterflies, etc. I'm going to keep the hearts and make my version with my Cricut later this week. Ella's room has been undergoing a bit of a makeover these past few weeks. I'm excited to show everyone the changes (hopefully soon!).

Blood orange magic

Last week blood oranges were on sale so I bought a lot. I don't think either kid has ever seen a blood orange before. I decided to capitalize on the moment and tell the kids that I was going to do a magic trick and change the color of the orange. With great fanfare I cast a pretend spell on the orange, waved my arms around, and ceremoniously peeled the orange. Spencer didn't buy the charade for a moment but when Ella saw the deep purple color she looked at me with a new respect in her eyes. I love this age, when everything is so new to them. I tried to explain to her that it was all pretend but I'm not sure she quite believes me. We just ate the last blood orange a few minutes ago and she was again impressed by my "magic" - even thought I didn't perform any this time. It will be interesting next week when we have regular oranges again to see how she reacts. I just might lose my biggest fan :)

One cool book

I am so in love with this book. If you get a chance check it out. I ordered a copy for my kids immediately after reading it (you can read the book here). The illustrations and inventions remind me so much of Spencer's brain. He is always thinking outside the box. Actually, it reminds me of most boys I know. I'm excited to read it with the kids.

Valentine's Traditions

Yay! Valentine's Day is almost here. One thing we do to celebrate with the kids is we have what we call "The Jar of Loooove!" (Imagine me saying this in a groovy 1970's gameshow announcer voice so as to mortify Spencer and delight Ella). The week before Valentine's Day we place the empty jar in the middle of our table. Whenever somebody does an act of service or something loving for another member of the family, they get to put a marble in. If we get all the marbles in by Valentine's Day then we all go to Coldstone for some ice cream. Yay!! Coldstone is always a huge motivator over here. Some years we start this on Valentine's and do it the week after instead of before - basically whenever I remember to get the marbles down.

I had to take a picture outside today because I was losing light quickly in the house. If you look behind the marbles, you can see Spencer and his friend having a light saber fight in the woods. This is moments before an accidental bloody lip.

The other main tradition we do is a "Curtain of Hearts" for each kid. I hang dozens of hearts in their doorway that they have to walk through the morning of Valentine's Day. This is so easy and they love it so much. I don't have a picture of it completed so I'll try and describe it well. You just cut up a ton of hearts out of construction paper in all different sizes and colors and write love notes on some of them. Then you attach them to long pieces of curling ribbon (see picture below). Each piece of ribbon should be the length of the door. Then, hang about 10 of these strands in the doorway so it is full of hearts. I do this at night when they are asleep so it is something fun to wake up to.

I try to make the messages on the hearts pertain to each child. Ella's will probably have easy words and some pictures so she can read them herself. On Spencer's I usually put some Spanish phrases on for him to try and translate.



On a totally unrelated note, I didn't kill myself working out today - but I did walk 2.2 miles. Something I had to talk my tired, sore self into. Spencer's school is exactly 1.1 miles from our house. I have really been feeling lately that he needs some one on one time so I decided to surprise him and walk him home. I am so sore now but I am hoping it will get better soon!

Dear Friends

I made the mistake this past week of thinking I was a contestant on "The Biggest Loser." I found myself thinking things such as "If they can do xyz, I should be able to do so much more." Forgot completely that I also have a home, spouse, and kids to take care of. I am on the couch now and every muscle in my body is aching. Brilliant. New word for the week is MODERATION.

I'll have our family Valentine traditions up tomorrow :)

Ella in motion

Since going to the Nutcracker at Christmas Ella has been obsessed with ballet. It has been so much fun to watch her in her classes. She is such a determined little girl. They do several exercises across the length of the room to build up muscles -she takes it very seriously and works hard to do each exercise correctly so "she can become a ballerina."

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks:







And one from after class:

On my radar - Valentine's Edition

I've seen so many great Valentine ideas lately. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Check out these cute teacher gifts from Chris at Just a Girl. So cheap. So easy. So awesome! I think I'm going to make some for my bathrooms too.



2. I'm in love with the simplicity of this wreath Our Suburban Cottage. She has instructions over on her site.



3. How awesome are these Valentine's by vol25? I love her prints and stalk her Etsy store. I tried to talk Ella into the Valentine's but she had her heart set on cheapo Disney princess valentines. We picked them up the other day and she is so excited to hand them out.

4. I saw the cutest hair idea for Valentine's day on The Story of a Princess and her hair. Can't wait to try it on Ella.

5. Finally, a couple fun things to do with leftover candy canes from Christmas. This syrup looks so yummy! For the recipe head over to Story Book Woods


Candy Cane words - brilliant!



I just finished a marathon of real estate appraisals this week. I don't think I have ever worked so long or hard. I'm excited to have only a couple this coming week. We have some fun Valentine traditions that we do every year that I hope to have posted in the next few days. Can't go wrong with a holiday all about love!