You know school has started when....

......V would rather do my homework, and I would rather do his. 

 

"I'm sorry" flowers from a fight 2 months ago are still on the counter in the kitchen.  

 

 

 

The only person who does dishes can't keep up with my stress baking. (see previous picture...)

I made pie instead of working on homework.

I ate pie for lunch and dinner.

Nose.

You can pick your friends.

AND

you can pick your nose. 

 

But you can't pick your friends' nose.

You can pick YOUR nose

 

 

AND 

you can pick your kids' nose.

But you can't pick your kids.

Princess Braid Tutorial

*disclaimer* My camera officially died on our Escalante trip.  Sand got into it. So it died. Sad day. SO the pictures I took for this mini tutorial are from my iPad. So they are blurry. Deal with it :)

Miss Messy Face is like any other 3-year-old. She LOVES to pretend to be someone other than herself. The latest trends have been Disney Princess's. Namely Rapunzel. SO my sister came up with the AMAZING way to make Rapunzel hair :) and I am now sharing it with YOU. MMF is going to be Strawberry shortcake for Halloween and I decided that because she LOVES her Rapunzel wig so much I would make her one in red, just like Strawberry. It can also double as Little Mermaid hair, whom she also idolizes.

First chose a "hair" color. I bought red (for this project) and brown (because brunettes just don't get enough credit these days) for a wig that I am planning to make later on. Of course, yellow covers most Disney Princess's and the famous Rapunzel.

First measure your kids head. Then add about 8 inches. (this is really all guess work, it took me three tries on the red wig, so if you find something scientific that works, let me know). Then you want to unravel a bunch of the yarn until you think you make it into a good medium braid.

Then tie off one of the ends like so. I like to double knot it, then wrap the yard around a couple of times and knot it again. My child is also know as "M the Destroyer" so when I make her something, I make it to last.

Cut the loops off of the other end.

Then braid it. At this point you want to grab your child and measure it around her head to make sure it will fit her, with room to SPARE you've still got to tie this thing. Make sure a piece of yarn is tied to both ends of the braid. 

I didn't make my braid long enough, but because YOU made  YOUR braid long enough, what you want to do is tie the ends of the braid together. You can either make a giant knot, or you can do several little knots by tying the loose ends of yard together. Whichever gets the job done. Make this knot SUPER durable. Set the headband aside for a minute, we are going to move on the big braid.

Grab a friend, two chairs, or a piano bench and get started!! Wrap all but about a yard of your remaining yard around something... the bigger the "something" the longer the braid is going to be. Don't do it to tight, or you won't be able to get it off, and the length of the yard won't be as consistent. 

When you're done it should look something like this. But don't take it off of your chair quite yet. 

Remember that yard-ish of yarn you sat off to the side? Well use some of it to tie off the hair you have just wrapped around your chair (this is going to be the "top" of your braid). After you do that you can take the hair off of the chair.  

Grab the piece you just tied off and pull it so it is at the top of what is going to be your braid. (this is hard to explain, I hope I am doing a decent job).  Then cut off the loops at the end of the braid. 

Wrap the big braid around the knot on your headband so it it covered.  Then tie off the big braid at the bottom of the headband... like in the picture.

please no smarmy comments about the state of my pedicure.

Braid, the big braid. :)

Tie off the end of the braid with some of your extra yard. Then trim the end of the braid so the hair is all the same length (or do something fancy with it...like make a V)

*Admire your handy work.*

Give it to the girl.

Hapari Giveaway

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/giveaways/hapari-swimwear-rocks/

I am posting someone else's giveaway because I want to enter the giveaway :)

First day of school!!

MOM TAKE A PICTURE OF MY BACK PACK!!

I say "Smile!" and this is what I got.

MMF can't let him have ALL the attention.

Have a great day at school V! We love you and you are growing up so nicely! You make us smile and laugh. You are such a good big brother, thanks for being such a good example for her! You are so good at feeding your fish and being responsible. You are SO ready to be going to kindergarten! Do your very best and you will be fabulous!  You are the best five-year-old I know!

Jammies

Nothing is seemingly more important to my three-year-old than a good pair of jammies. Well actually a SPECIFIC pair of jammies.... and in fact I think that they used to be a Cinderella costume but because it was pretty much a rag I dubbed them "jammies" and hoped they wouldn't make an appearance outside of the house.
Well the fateful day came when they had to be thrown in the trash. She had peed in them so many times they permanently smelled of bathroom, the sash and sleeves were shredded and the stains from breakfasts past were too set in their ways to leave.  I gave her the news of their fate:

~"Mommy where are my long jammies?" (that's what she calls them).

"erm... ahhh...well I have some bad news about that...."

~Looks at me with big eyes... "bad?"

"yes... we threw them away in the trash, they were just getting so yucky."

~Almost in tears.

"BUT I have some good news too, Mommy is going to try and make you a NEW pair!! YAY!"

~Claps hands, "YAY!! New long jammies!!"

They were a little too long so I improvised.

Oh can these Jammies TWIRL!!!

She is such a princess :)

With the help of my wonderful neighbor we were able to re-create another version of the jammies, to the satisfaction of Miss Messy Face.

More Fourth of July!

Chillin with the kids before the festivities begin. 

Miss Messy Getting her face messy for real!

She looks a bit nervous.

GLITTER!!!!

CUTE!!

The cutest girl in the world.... and she knows it.

Who could this boy want to be?

Again with the nerves..!

LOOKING GOOD!!!

SPIDERMAN!! SPIDERMAN!!!

He is SO COOL!!!

V found a buddy who was also Spiderman and they ran around like superheroes the whole night!

BIKE PARADE!

V Decorated his bike with dad!

"GO FASTER LITTLE GIRL!!"

MMS holding up the line of kids, she was going wary slow. Dad had to help her along.

She made it around! I was only lapped twice!