One Year Castiversary

I realized I never posted about this on the ole blog before, so I thought it would be good to post about it today - exactly one year after our first (hopefully last?) broken bone in our family.  Beware, this is a long, picture heavy post!

On June 13th (easy to remember because it's one of my nephew's birthdays), we had friends over for supper and the kids were all playing outside on our play structure (still in our "old" house on Settler's).  Olivia came inside crying that she hurt her wrist.  Being the incredibly sensitive mom that I am, I kissed her better and sent her back outside.  It didn't take long and she was back inside complaining that it still hurt.  Olivia doesn't complain about pain, so I knew it wasn't good.  I figured it was probably just sprained and said she could lie down and watch tv with an ice pack on.

I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to take her in for an xray.  I have no great love for emergency waiting rooms and hate to waste the doctor's time so I was definitely leaning towards not going.  But, I figured in this case maybe it was better safe than sorry, so the next morning we headed in to our local ER.

Turns out it was a good thing I took her in.  She had a greenstick fracture.  Basically this means that it didn't snap all the way - sort of like if you tried to snap a young, green stick of wood - it bends and splinters instead of breaks.  These are pretty common in young kids because their bones aren't as hard and brittle as adult bones are.  Thankfully, they also heal fairly fast.  She had to have a temporary cast put on for a week until the swelling would go down, and then she'd have a permanent one put on for about 4 weeks.  Not a great start to summer holidays which were just a couple short weeks away!

So, after she got her temporary cast, we went to Chicken Chef for lunch as a consolation prize.

One week later, (June 21st) we were back at the hospital to get the temporary cast removed.  Here she is posing with her temporary cast by the snack machine that I didn't let her get anything from, even though she begged.

 Here's the doctor checking out her temporary cast.

Then it was off to get another xray.

Of course, this particularl patient had one or two or a thousand questions, so the doctor and xray technician went over the xrays with her (and me!)

If you look closely you can see that on the middle xray in particular that there is a slight bulge at her wrist.

Here's the doctor cutting off the temporary cast.

Check out the bruising.

And on goes the permanent cast.

The temporary cast had been very itchy, but thankfully the real cast was not!  

It did, however, put a slight downer on Olivia's very first overnight camp experience at the end of June, as she wasn't supposed to go swimming or get it wet.  (She did manage to sweet talk them into putting some sort of cover on her cast and she was in the water a little bit)

On July 5th we went back to the hospital to check if her cast was ready to come off.  We knew it wasn't very likely, but there was a chance.  So, we snapped some pictures of all the autographs, just in case.

More xrays and the verdict was - not quite, one more week.

In the meantime, we got creative so she could still enjoy the summer.

Finally, on July 12th, we went back in and the cast came off!

Happy one year castiversary!

Olivia's 7th Birthday Interview

I know, Olivia turned 7 LAST JUNE, but I forgot to do her birthday interview.  So, I told her to pretend it was last June and try to answer the questions like that.  Here we go...

How old are you now Olivia? 7
What grade are you in? 1
Who's your teacher? Mrs. McLure
Do you like school? a little
What's your favourite thing about school? lunchtime
What's your favourite subject? art
What's your favourite colour? purple
What’s your favourite drink? 7up
What's your favourite food? cheese, everyone knows that
What’s your favourite game? Monopoly
What’s your favourite treat? chocolate
What's your favourite snack? cheese
What's your favourite dessert? chocolate 
What's your favourite restaurant? My Mom, she's the best cook
What's your favourite place? Disney World
What's your favourite thing to do at Disney World? Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
What's your favourite toy? my Furball
What's your favourite book? Snowman at Night
What's your favourite sport? mini golf
What's your favourite movie? Brady Bunch
What's your favourite TV show? Good Luck Charlie
Who's your favourite celebrity? Taylor Swift
What's your favourite thing to do? watch TV
What's your favourite thing to wear? a dress
Who are some of your best friends? Kylie, Hannah, Leah, Liv, Arwen
Who's your favourite person? My Mom and Dad
What is your favourite song? Who Says by Selena Gomez
What's one of the best things you've done with your family? Go to Disney World
What's your favourite store? Claire's
What do you want to be when you grow up? spa person
Anything else you think we should know about you? I'm nice

At Olive Garden with Nathan and I for her special birthday dinner out.

Olivia's artwork

This is the pastel artwork Olivia brought home this week - I was quite impressed!  

They did both a colour one (still hanging up at school) and the black one.  Because it's pastel it rubs off the paper easily, so I told Olivia I'd take a picture of it before throwing it out.  Yup, I'm one of those moms that throws out the majority of the paperwork they bring home.

Olivia's Hearing Update

Figured today would be a good day to update you on Olivia's hearing difficulties.

We saw the ENT specialist in May and he confirmed that she had fairly severe fluid build up in both ears, but especially in her right ear. He wanted a full audiological exam done and then a follow-up appointment in November. We were free to call sooner if she developed any continuous ear infection difficulties. At first she was having some trouble with that, and I thought for sure we'd have to bring her in early and get tubes put in her ears, but they ended up going away and she hasn't had any subsequent issues.

The audiological exam was done in June and had less than impressive results. Her right ear had fairly significant hearing loss, including only being able to hear conversationally at 8%. Not good.

We seemed to be noticing some improvement, and with no more ear ache troubles, we remained hopeful that God was healing her, likely through the growth of her body causing the eustachian tube to angle properly (instead of being too horizontal, preventing proper ear drainage, as this was likely the cause of the trouble).

Today was her follow up appointment - she first had an audiological exam followed by an appointment with the ENT specialist. And - her hearing is perfect and the fluid is gone! No surgery needed, not even any follow up appointments needed. Praise the Lord!

PS - forgot one crucial part of this story....

Later this afternoon, after school, Olivia told us that, during the hearing test at school (routine for all kingergarteners and Grade 1ers), she could hear all the beeps, but she didn't raise her hand for all of them cause the hearing tests are fun and she wanted to go to more of them!

Oy vey! Only Olivia.

Don't worry, I made her fess up to her teacher (so she didn't waste any of our educational resources and money) and apologize for the deception. But I gotta say, privately, I totally laughed.

Girls singing "Glorious Day"

The girls absolutely love singing in church. Here they are singing "Glorious Day" by Casting Crowns. I'm accompanying them on the piano, but the mic doesn't pick it up very well apparently.

Enjoy!

Olivia'isms

I overheard the following (short) conversation a little awhile ago as Olivia and Jacob were watching TV together in our room on our bed....
Jacob: Mom! More water, mom!!
Olivia: She's not your maid, ya know.


Olivia really doesn't have a filter between her brain and her mouth right now.

She received a birthday card from a cousin her age. When she asked her cousin what the triangle shaped drawing was, she was told it was a muffin. Her response? "How is that a muffin?"

The first time she saw an older kid with braces, she asked him "Why do you have a bracelet in your mouth?"

Apparently a few conversations about societal niceties are in order. ;)

Olivia's Age 6 Interview

I got this idea from a friend's blog and thought it was a great idea. Even though it's not their birthdays, I'm doing it now anyway. I'd like to do it every year and put it in their photobooks. You know, if I ever get around to making their photobooks.

So, here's Olivia's interview!

How old are you now Olivia? 6
What grade are you in? What grade am I in? Kindergarten
What's your favourite thing about school? recess
What's your favourite thing you do in school not during recess? inside recess
How about not including inside recess? printing, drawing pictures actually
Do you like school? no, maybe, yes
What's your favorite color? favourite colour's fuschia and purple
What’s your favorite drink? drink? I'll have to think about that one for a moment, mom. Mom, you know those cans downstairs? I like all of those. So you can't write them all. (orange crush, grape crush, Dr. Pepper, I think that's it)
What's your favorite food? perogies and cheese
What’s your favorite game? game? I'll have to think about that one too. Do puzzles!
What’s your favorite treat? My favourite treat is, think about it. Chocolate bars! Kit Kat and, mom, you know that one that umm, is that, sounds kind of like oreo, the one that you eat it and it looks like bubbles inside? What's it called? Aero!
What's your favorite snack? favourite snack? Jell-o
What's your favorite restaurant? can I do 3 favourites? Hannah's?! Montana's! Boston Pizza and Tim Horton's
What's your favorite place? My favourite place is visiting my cousins in Alberta
What's your favorite toy? toy, my favourite toy is, hmmm, think about it. My dolls.
What's your favorite book? My favourite book is, think about it. Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
What's your favorite sport? hockey, soccer, ummm, that's it
What's your favorite movie? My favourite movie is the one that's coming out - Cars 2!
What's your favorite TV show? TV show, my favourite TV show is L'il Lulu
What's your favorite thing to do? do puzzles, that's my favourite game!
What's your favorite thing to wear? dress
Who are some of your best friends? Amber, uh, Liv and Arwen
Who's your favorite person? Amber, I mean me!
What is your favorite song? Song? God Save our Gracious Queen, I like that one.
What's one of the best things you've done with your family? be around them (gives Mom a hug) That's my most favourite part with my family. Having my dad's birthday, mom's, Emma's, Soph's, Jay's. Is that the last question? Going to restaurants.
Not Disney World? Disney World!
What's your favourite thing about Disney World? My favourite thing about Disney World is the rides.
What's your favourite ride? My favourite ride is the Peter Pan one and Mountain Thunder Railroad? Was it called that one? Mom, you know that one where you go very fast? Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Code Black!

Who knew a trip to Walmart while on vacation would result in such an exciting story to tell?!

We went down south to the City for a mini family vacation this week. We like to go during the week because the cross border traffic is significantly lower which means less busy shopping and less waiting at restaurants - especially since we're a table of 6. Works out nicely that hotels are cheaper during the week than they are on the weekends too. And the significantly shorter border wait is another huge plus. Thankfully, Nathan's job (self-employed home builder) allows us to go during the week.

Anyway, it had been one of those fairly hot, muggy days that just feels like a storm's a comin'. We were finishing up our shopping for the day at Walmart and had just finished putting all our purchases in the cart and were heading for the till when we heard an announcement over the speaker system which said something like this....

"Attention all customers and staff. This is a Code Black. All customers and staff please proceed to the electronics department at the back of the store."

We had no idea what a Code Black was, but considering a major gust of wind had just blown down some displays, we had a fairly good guess.

At first the girls weren't too nervous. They were wondering what was going on, but seemed relatively unconcerned.

When we got to the electronics department the staff directed us to stand in the area between two pillars that were grey in colour as it was the most structural sound part of the store area. We had only been there a minute or two when suddently the entire store was plunged into pitch darkness as the power went out. I immediately reached out to the girls near me (Jacob was in the front of the cart and Olivia was sitting in the rear section of the cart) and said "It's ok, it's ok". Thankfully the blackness only lasted momentarily as the emergency power source kicked on the emergency lighting. It was nothing like the lit up store we had been in only moments before, but at least we could see.

But now the girls were getting a bit nervous. A worker stopped by (I'm assuming because we had kids) to explain to us a bit more what was happening. I think it may have been a bit better for the girls if we hadn't received the extra information - ignorance is bliss and all that. She said that a Code Black was a severe weather situation and that a tornado had touched down somewhere close by but that's all they knew. They had no idea how long the Code Black would last but for now we just had to wait it out.

Meanwhile, practically every person there had their cell phones out - calling people, texting, tweeting and Facebooking. Some were crying and hugging each other, but most people seemed to be relatively calm.

A few minutes later they decided to direct us all to leave our filled shopping carts behind and head to the staff break rooms at the rear of the building. A few people refused to go back there - they felt is was more unsafe due to the proximity of the outdoor walls. But we figured that the management staff knew where the safest area was and we just had to trust them, though I would've preferred a basement shelter!

I found it disconcerting because we couldn't see what was going on outside. We had no idea of knowing how serious the situation was. I instant messaged my best friend, gave her a quick update of the situation and asked her to pray, especially since the kids were starting to get a bit upset.

As they were herding us to the back staff rooms, our oldest started to become very distressed, at one point she was leaning over and almost hyperventilating, shaking and crying in fear. We did our best to reassure her that these were just extra safe precautions they were taking to be on the safe side, and that they had to go overboard to make sure everybody was ok (similar things I was saying to myself in order to keep my own fear to a minimum and remain calm for the girls' sake). However, reason does not usually work well once fear has taken hold that much, so I just prayed for her quickly and quietly (but out loud so she could hear me) while we were heading back to the rooms.

We found a corner of the room and a couple of the kids sat on the floor while we waited. I prayed for Emma again and then dug in my purse for my phone to let Olivia play a game to keep her distracted - hey, whatever works right? A few minutes later an employee came in and announced that the weather had calmed enough that people could leave it they wanted to, though we were welcome to stay a bit longer till it calmed down more. At this Emma had a huge grin on her face - she told me that she had just prayed for God to give her a sign if we were going to be ok, and right then the employee came in and said the weather had calmed, so now she knew we were going to be ok. It was so sweet. She wanted to wait longer before leaving so I sat down in a chair vacated by a man who had left immediately and held Olivia who was easily calmed and then we waited some more. Fairly soon, Nathan decided to take Jacob for a walk around the store because he was getting restless. Sophia was now showing signs of some distress so I moved Olivia to the floor to continue playing with my phone and held Sophia on my lap which calmed her down easily. After a few more minutes had passed, the employee returned to let us know the weather was ok and we could leave.

Jacob was completely unaffected by the entire thing. He tried to reassure the girls a few times "There's nothing to be scared, everything's ok". It was cute.

Unfortunately the power in the store was not back on, and even after it came on it would take an hour for them to have the tills up and running again. So, we left our cart of items behind and headed to Target! ;)

While we were there Emma started to feel sick. I'm not sure if she had had an adrenaline rush and this was the afteraffects of it, or if that's just normal after a stress-filled fear incident. So we quickly headed back to the hotel where she felt safe and could lie down. After more praying she was able to calm down and go to sleep - though she didn't want to eat the ice cream blizzards Nathan had picked up.

She was able to have a sound sleep, but the next day she had another episode of shaking, crying and feeling sick and I prayed over her again and also reasoned things out with her. We had come down on these holidays multiple times and this was the first time anything like this had ever happened, and that the very next day was probably the least likely day for it to happn again, blah, blah, blah. I told her that God was in control, that God was good, that God loved us, that God was with us no matter what happened and that we could trust Him. (I didn't tell her that that didn't mean we would for sure be safe. There's a time and a place for deep theological discussions, but this was not one of them!) She didn't eat a whole lot at lunch after that either, but since then she seems to have been ok.

We are very thankful for our physical safety and continue to pray that the kids (and Emma in particular) will not have fear related episodes related to storms in the future.

Who knew a trip to Walmart would turn out to be so eventful?

Olivia's Audiologist Appointment

Olivia had an audiology appointment today.

She's been notoriously bad for saying "What?" constantly when we spoke to her, but we chalked that up to her personality and simply not paying attention, or even selective hearing (all you parents know what I mean!).

And it definitely is still partly that. She is still Olivia after all. But during regular Kindergarten screenings in the fall, some red flags went up. She has problems in the screening on Nov 18 in her right ear only, and on Dec 8 in both ears. We received a notification that she needed to see an audiologist for further screening.

That appointment was today and she failed the screening test. Today's test indicated that she has normal hearing in her left ear (she heard 5 out 5 of the tests) but possible hearing loss in her right ear (she heard only 1 out of the 5 tests) and middle ear problems in both ears. The audiologist indicated that right now what she is likely experiencing is similar to having plugged ears on an airplane - something an adult would complain about, but children are highly unlikely to.

At this point we need to schedule an appointment with her regular doctor for treatment of her middle ear difficulties and wait for a referral to Audiology for a complete hearing test/full audiological evaluation which will likely take a couple of months.

In the meantime, we need to advise her teachers to speak on her "good side" to make things easier for everyone involved. And I certainly need to remember this myself too!

The audiologist suggested that at this point things could go either way and that she could not predict which way they would go. She said that we may be able to simply clear up the middle ear difficulties and things would be fine, or there may be further steps necessary to address the hearing loss.

In each of her tests the results have been progressively worse, though all screenings have taken place during winter (ie cold season) which can impact results as well.

There is some history of hearing loss in Nathan's extended family which is making me less than optimistic about future test results.

However, I am thankful that it is not a more serious problem. Hearing loss is certainly not life threatening, and would be my "loss of choice" if I was forced to choose (I, personally, would rather lose my hearing than my sight, for example).

That being said, we are still praying that her middle ear difficulties will be healed and her hearing completely restored, but that God would be glorified no matter the outcome - and humbly ask for your prayers as well. Thank you.

Homemade Easy Bake Oven Mixes and Recipes

With 2011's Goal#3 in mind (to be a more deliberate mother), I finally caved.

Olivia has been begging for an Easy Bake oven for years. Literally 2 years. And she's 5. So, yeah, almost half her life.

And until this Christmas I had steadfastly refused. Why? Because I didn't want to have to bake with her. I didn't want the mess, I didn't want to pay money for those silly little mixes, I didn't want to be bothered.

Yikes, that sounds even worse when I type it out.

I don't like to do crafts with the kids because I know I would go all perfectionist on them and freak out if their handmade bracelets didn't have an exact pattern, if they couldn't do it the way I would do it. Because a 33 yr old and a 5 yr should be able to make the same calibre bracelet. I know, I get the ludicrousy. (Is that even a word?!)

OK, selfishness acknowledged.

Technically, Olivia had begged for the Easy Bake cupcake maker - but all the reviews I read on it said it was a piece of junk, so I convinced her that the oven was what she wanted, and I finally gave one of her Grandmas the OK to get it for her for Christmas this year (God bless all Grandmas who wait for permission for these types of gifts!!). And, oh, let me tell you, was she ever in her glory - it was as if the heavens had opened up!

Now, my old self may would have been tempted to let that Easy Bake oven sit on the shelf hidden away, giving the "Later" or "Another day" answer a million times over (yes, this is Olivia - it would've been a million times!). Or I would've just made Emma do it with her. Yes, there are definite advantages of having older kids around! ;)

But my new self, my 2011 self with Goal#3 in mind, did not do that.

Oh, no!

In fact, the very next day after she got that gift, on a Sunday afternoon no less (sacred napping time around these parts), she asked to "do the Easy Bake oven" and I said "Yes!". And so we made cake with icing (both mixes included in the original box).

Psst - you know what?

I had fun.

What was that Tammy? We couldn't hear you.

OK, OK, I had fun!

And Olivia? Well she had an absolute blast!

Sidebar: Technically that was in 2010 but I already had my 2011 goals in mind at the time ;)

Then we left for Alberta to visit family. The very next day after we returned, guess who was asking to do the Easy Bake oven again? Yup, Olivia! And guess who said yes? Yes, 2011 Tammy! So, we made the cookies from the mix that came with the box. Olivia even let Sophia help! They each got to make 3 cookies in their pan, and we even melted chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in the oven warmers to put on top of the cookies.

Both times it took much less time and mess than I thought and resulted in happy children - why have I not done this earlier?

So, now that all the included mixes had run out, I went to my trusty old friend Google to find some homemade Easy Bake oven mixes because my cheap Mennonite thrifty side would not allow me to spend $ on those mixes. Plus, they can't exactly be healthy if all you have to do to get cake or cookies is add water to powder (see Goal#4 - I'm getting a 2 for 1 deal here!)

And Google did not disappoint (though I should've searched with the Swagbucks tool bar to earn Swagbucks, but I digress).

Turns out there are oodles of things you can bake in those Easy Bake ovens and oodles of recipes to choose from. This post has pretty close to 200 (!!) recipes split into categories and labeled as easy, intermediate or advanced. Everything from cakes, brownies, cookies and bars to biscuits and scones, to pizzas and bagels - your own creativity is the limit after viewing these recipes!

So, I picked the Baked Cinnamon Apple recipe because, after quickly clicking on a couple recipes, it used ingredients I had on hand! ;) Olivia loved them! Although I think she actually liked eating the extra/leftover ones before they had cooked (one large apple does not fit into 2 of those little pans!) better than the baked ones afterward. She really wanted to make the brownies, so I picked up some chocolate syrup so we can try those next time!

Here are the recipes (after all, that's what my post title promised you - took me long enough to get around to it, I know!)....

Baked Cinnamon Apples
1 large apple
1/4 teaspoon butter
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar

Wash a large apple, remove center core.
Slice across apples to make 1/2" thick rings.
Grease pan with butter.
Place apple slices in pan.
Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon then sugar.
Top with butter.
Bake in Easy-Bake Oven about 20 minutes.


Brownie Mix
2-1/2 tablespoons sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon oil
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons chocolate syrup

Blend all ingredients until the batter is smooth.
Pour batter into greased and floured toy cake pan.
Bake as directed in child oven (I think it's preheat for 15 and bake for 10)



I also found a recipe on Allrecipes.com for a larger cake mix, good for 10 batches, to save time - and create your own little mix package!

Easy Bake Oven Cake Mix
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp unsweetened lemonade drink mix
1/3 cup shortening

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and lemonade drink mix and stir to blend.
Cut in shortening with a fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles corn meal.
Spoon about 1/3 cup mixture into 10 small containers or sealable plastic bags.
Label and store in cool, dry place. Use within 12 weeks.

Preheat Easy Bake oven for 15 mins.
Grease and flour a 4 inch miniature cake pan.
Empty the contents of one bag cake mix into a small bowl.
Using a fork, mix with 4 teaspoons water until smooth.
Bake according to manufacturer's instructions (I think 10 mins)

In fact - according to this recipe, all you need is regular commercial cake mix (3 tbsp any flavour) mixed with 1 tbsp milk) and voila - let them eat cake! How easy is that?!

Easy, but not as healthy (processed and all that!). So, here's another homemade version...

Easy Bake Oven Chocolate Cake
4 tsp flour
2 tsp cocoa
1 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 dash salt
1/8 tsp vanilla
4 tsp water
2 tsp vegetable oil

It would be pretty easy to multiply that by 10, omitting the wet ingredients, in order to make your own mix to have on hand, ready to just add water and oil at baking time!

Recipezaar (now Food.com) has a whole ton of recipes as well - you can check them out here - including omelettes!

Easy Bake oven Omelet
1 egg
4 tsp shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp oregano (or spice of your choice)
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
cooking spray

Preheat the Easy Bake Oven for 15 mins.
Spray 2 Easy Bake Oven pans with cooking spray.
Scramble the egg in a bowl.
Divide the egg between the 2 pans.
Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper.
Sprinkle 2 tsp of the cheese on top of each egg.
Bake for 15 minutes.


One thing to keep in mind - since the Easy Bake Oven works by simply using a light bulb, you have to be careful when baking meats that you only use meats that need to be warmed, not cooked through!

OK, I was going to be done, but then I found this ....

Easy Bake Oven Deep Dish Pizza
2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 dash salt
1 tsp margarine
2 1/4 tsp milk
1 tbsp pizza sauce
1 1/2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat Easy Bake Oven 15 minutes.
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and margarine until dough looks like medium-sized crumbs.
Slowly add milk while stirring.
Shape dough into a ball and place into a greased pan.
Use your fingers to pat the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan, then up the sides.
Pour the sauce evenly over the dough, then sprinkle with the cheese.
Bake 20 mins.

You could even add a slice of pepperoni or veggies or some other meats that only need to be warmed up not truly cooked through.

Honestly, I'm actually getting a little excited to try some of these! Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks. ;) And, I only thought of it now, I totally should've taken a picture!

Goal#3 is officially underway.

Halloween 2010

Emma was a pirate (apparently $14 Walmart costumes don't come with eyepatches or anything), Sophia was Miss Morticia, Olivia was a good witch and Jacob was a pirate as well (he looks very enthusiastic, doesn't he?!). And no, we do not suddenly have 5 children. The little cow is my niece Taylor. The guys took the kids trick or treating while us ladies were driving home from our girls weekend away - shopping pics to come tomorrow!

And, of course, our trick-or-treaters were the polite ones who yelled "Trick or treat!" at every house and said thank you for the candy. We followed all of my sister's excellent Trick or Treat etiquette advice before she even posted it. Cuz we're cool like that.

Picture Day!

So today was Picture Day at school. Which means last night we were pouring over hairstyles trying to pick what we were going to do - has to be something that looks good from the front - it's Picture Day after all.

There are numerous hairstyle websites out there, but these two are my favourites...
The Story of a Princess and Her Hair is a fabulous blog. You can see their hairstyle gallery on Facebook and when you pick your favourite style there is a link back to the specific blog post with the tutorial on how to make it. Perfect!
Babes in Hairland is another great blog with lots of pictures and instructions.
Thankfully both blogs tag their posts so you can easily search for what you want - like for Picture Day, I picked "Mostly Down" and got some great ideas. And they had to be easy cause I didn't have time to practice - you know, since I left this to the night before - surprise, surprise!

Anyway, I think they turned out great!

Here's my oldest princess sporting this hairstyle....

The picture on the left was taken after school, and it was super windy today, which usually means frizz crazy hair for Emma, but it's actually looking pretty good still! And here is a view from the top - not so sure any of that will show on the pictures, but oh well - it looked super cute anyway!



Sophia wanted her hair the same way I did it for our fall family picture day - simply parted down the middle, with one braid on each side, and then bring the braids up and cross them and pin in place. Voila! Front and top profile pictures so you can see the details. Sophia looks less than impressed - she was in a hurry to get out the door this morning and I'm snapping pictures!



Olivia wanted hers to be the same as Emma's. At least Sophia picked a slightly less time consuming option. Weaving in hair ribbons is not something I do every day! Oh, and I used a crochet hook cause it was handy at the time! (crochet hat pictures to come shortly!) It turned out really cute, and I got at least one really amazed reaction at Costco today when I took her and Jacob shopping. The front profile picture is also from after school. Emma took Olivia's picture this morning, and let's just say it didn't turn out as cute as this one ;)


I'm reinspired to try cool hairdo's on the girl's hair after finding these blogs again after a long hiatus. And I have to do something in the girl's hair anyway. Their hair gets soooo tangly if it's just left down like this (not looking forward to combing it out tomorrow, let me tell you!). They usually have a ponytail or two, or a braid or two anyway. Probably wouldn't take much more to fancy it up a little. That would mean investing in a few cute flower clips and other hair accessories. And is it just me, or is there a black hole of hair accessories in your house too?! It seems like I'm always having to get more hair ties.

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out those hairstyle sites if you have girls. They've got holiday themed stuff and everything (love the Valentine's stuff in particular!). They also have some hair do's for girls with a bit shorter hair, and for babies. Be prepared to waste spend a lot of time browsing the sites!

Olivia's First Day of Kindergarten!

September 13th could not come soon enough. Olivia was beyond ready for kindergarten - she would've been ready for kindergarten last year already ;)

But the day finally came - here she is, ready to go!

The whole crew ready to walk to school (the extra girl is Olivia's best friend, who is one year older than her)

Can we get there any faster?! (we live directly behind the school - our house is the 3rd from the right with the yellow slides - so it's a super quick walk to school)

Actually in class and changing into indoor shoes for the first time.

3 down, only 1 to go - can't believe it's gone this fast.