Happy New Year!

You may have noticed I'm a little late in posting things. That's because the day after Christmas I got sick. So now I'm playing catch up.

You may also have noticed I'm doing a lot explaining why we celebrate different holidays the way we do. I feel like we are now in the groove of how our family is going to celebrate holidays for years to come. It took a while to figure out what traditions worked for us and what new things we wanted to add. This is the same for New Year. Melodie's first two New Year's Eve celebrations she was up at midnight.

For her first one, we celebrated, just the three of us, at 9 o'clock PST. That's when the NY ball drops on the east coast. Technology is our friend sometimes. I'll admit it. I wanted those Kodak moments. We had been invited to a friends' house, and decided we would go if she woke up for a feeding around midnight. She did, so we bundled her up and off we went.

                                                      9pm                               Midnight

The next year we were in Northern California with family. There was a huge rain storm and we didn't think Rocky would make it back to my mom's house from family he was visiting a short distance away because streets had flooded. Plus, Melodie was sick. This is probably the sickest she ever was as a baby. But, we celebrated at midnight. I'm not sure if she was awake because she was sick. I do know we didn't wake her up. I don't think we tried to keep her up, although we might have just because we were with family. She still looked pretty sick, but it was fun celebrating with family. Plus Mel had her first taste of Martinelli's. Now she doesn't think we can have a New Year's Eve without it.

 

2008 was the first year we invited people over to celebrate at 9pm. It was a small celebration, but fun. Plus the kids were in bed by 9:30.

 

2008 NYE

 

The next year it actually turned into a party. I know call it our East Coast New Year's Eve Party. One tradition that started this year was throwing those snaps fireworks in the front yard. Another was Martinelli's after the ball dropped. One that was kept from my childhood was turning the Christmas Tree into the New Year Tree. This is accomplished by taking all confetti from off the ground and throwing it on the tree.

2009 NYE

 

2010 NYE

 

By the way, I was pretty proud of this cookie bouquet I made that year.

 

2011's party brought about a new tradition. I found this idea on pinterest, which led me to this website: http://partiesandholidays.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-years-eve-count-down-bags.html. Starting at 7 o'clock there was a bag to open every 1/2 hour. Inside the bag were goodies for all the kids. I remember I put in glow sticks, necklaces, noise makers in three of the bags, but I can't remember what were in the other two. This year I did bubbles, glow sticks, balloons, and noise makers (not doing one for 9pm like I did the year before). I focused more on things that gave them something to do (I was still sick and not really into entertaining). 2011 was also the first year I made jello in little cups. I didn't think about how much they looked like jello shots until just before the party. But the kids loved them, and we had to have them this year too.

2011 NYE

 

2012 NYE

 

And now we are in 2013. We don't make resolutions, but we have a lot to look forward to this year. We'll spend the next month preparing for baby, who will arrive sometime in Feb. My youngest sister graduates from high school this year. My niece turns 8 and will be baptized this year. Who knows what else will come our way?

 

Happy New Year! 

 

 

Congratulations Melodie!

Melodie received an award at school today. It was for advanding her grade in math. She sure doesn't get that from me. Rocky is really good at math (he even plays math games on his phone for fun).

We also found out she made it into the school talent show. She tried out with three friends on Tuesday. They posted the names after school today and their group was one of two lower grade acts chosen.

A good day for Mel.

Christmas Hairstyles

I know people who cry when they get their haircut. I'm not sure why. Maybe they don't like their new hairstyle, maybe they were attached to their hair. I don't know. I'm not very emotional that way. I've done things I loved to my hair (I loved when I dyed it black) and things I've hated (spiral perm...I looked like a poodle). But it grows out...it's just hair. I also don't like spending a lot of money on haircuts. Seems like a waste when I don't really do anything with my hair. I like wearing it down. So I trim it (sometimes) in the winter to keep it healthy and cut it right before summer. Cutting my hair once a year seems reasonable and usually there's enough to donate to Locks of Love. My hair is just not that important to me, but it's definately imporant to someone going through chemo.

So wanting to teach Melodie that hair is just hair so she won't be one of those girls that crys over a bad haircut, and wanting to teach her that there are people who need things more than we do, we've never cut her hair. She is growing it for Locks of Love. She used to have bangs, and we did cut those, but she's decided to grow those out. We've also trimmed her hair, but never a major haircut.

I am not very girlie. So when Mel's hair started getting long, I had no idea what to do with it. I could do a half up, half down thing, pigtails and a french braid. The problem with Melodie's hair is I couldn't just brush it and then let it go. 10 min. later it looks like she was running wild through the jungle. So I turned to the internet. I found some great sites with great ideas for hair. My favorite is: http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/. The styles are cute and she gives clear direction. I also like: http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/, http://cute2tryhairdos.blogspot.com/, http://www.girlydohairstyles.com/. And then, of course, I search pinterest.

Melodie is really good when I do her hair. Sometimes she watches youtube videos while I do her hair because then I can easily switch to the instructions. However, if I'm making something up or doing one I've done several times then we do her hair in the bathroom. We've had some of our best conversations while I do her hair.

I know I posted holiday hairstyles before (4th of July Hairstyles), but I thought some background as to why I do this would be nice. I love holidays. I love doing Melodie's hair. Last year on pinterest I happened upon hairstyles that were themed to holidays and I knew I had to try. For Christmas last year I only tried one:

I took inspiration from here: http://millermanes.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-tree-and-giveaway.html but really felt the tree needed a trunk. I also wasn't ready to try threading the ribbon criss cross through the tree. Not bad for a first attempt.

This year I went a little crazy. First I did this:

I came up with it on my own. Melodie picked out the ribbon. It's a work in progress. Thank goodness people still got that it was suppose to be a candy cane. It would have been better with a twist instead of a braid, but I'm terrible with twists. I will definately try another one next year.

Next I tried a wreath.

I got my inspiration from here: http://redpunzel.blogspot.com/2009/12/its-beginning-to-look-lot-like.html. I changed it quite a bit. This turned out to be my favorite. I love how the bow looks from the front. Next time I'll work on evening out the wreath. Her hair is so much thicker on top that it made the wreath uneven. Still, I liked it and so did she. Unfortunately it didn't last like because Melodie ran into another kid during recess. The bow and pom poms didn't make it through the visit at the nurses office. You'll also see the lovely black eye in the next picutres.

Then I thought I'd try the tree closer to the inspiration that I used for the one last year.

I still think it needs a single trunk. But I love the beads as ornaments. Melodie loved the pom pom tree topper.

The Rudolph bun came next:

The inspiration came from here: http://princesspiggies.blogspot.com/2011/12/holiday-hairstyles-rudolph.html. This one I actually tried to copy, but I'm not very good at buns. I unsuccessfully tried the sock bun. The I just tried the bun the only way I knew how, but then Rudolph's nose ended up crooked. The kids at Mel's school loved this one. I am going to work on buns this year so it turns out better next time.

I did manage a sock bun for an ugly sweater party we went to:

but it fell out shortly after we got to the party.

And just to show how beautiful her hair is:

Next up will be hair full of hearts. Of course, the baby is due on Valentine's Day, so we'll see. But I hope I'm able to. I have some great ones I want to try.

Christmas Eve Tamales

 I love holiday traditions. It is so much fun to share with Melodie some of the things I was able to do as a child around the holidays. One of my favorites is tamales. It's not the tamale making I like. I really don't like it. I don't like to cook, so tamale making is more like a necessary evil. But I can't imagine Christmas Eve without eating tamales and therefore they have to be made. 
 Have you ever made tamales? It's not extremely difficult, it just takes such a long time. Especially when you make as many as we do. Here's a little history of tamale making for me.
We used to make and eat them on Christmas Eve. But people grew up and moved away and that made it easier to pick a weekend to get together to make them. Then we freeze them and save them for Christmas Eve. I have a terrible memory and don't vividly remember making them with my great-grandma. For some reason what I do remember is that other relatives would bring food to eat with the tamales. My uncle made the best enchiladas. I remember making them after my great-grandma passed away with my grandma, mom and aunt. Kind of. My memory isn't great.
 2006 was monumental. It was Melodie's first Christmas. She couldn't participate yet (she couldn't even eat them), but it was still cute to introduce her to the tradition of making tamales. We met at my mom's house (Bay Area in CA). I came from So Cal, one sister from AZ, and an aunt from WA. Turns out this was monumental for another reason. It was the last time we made tamales with my grandma. Of course, we didn't know it at the time.

We made our tamales, froze them and I brought ours home to So Cal. We invited a family from church over on Christmas Eve and I hosted my first tamale dinner.

 

 My grandma really was the one who knew what she was doing. So the next year, 2007, is when my mom and aunt had to figure it all out. The recipe for the filling wasn't very detailed and they did a good job, especially since my aunt wasn't there so they were figuring it all out over the phone. We met at my mom's house again, but this time we made them on Christmas Eve since we were there for the actual holiday. The filling is something my aunt and mom have been working on since. This year Melodie had her first taste and loved it!

 

From 2008 to 2010 we had tamale weekend at my mom's house. The filling was still being perfected.

 

2008 Tamale Making

 

 2008 Christmas Eve

 

2009 tamale making

 

2009 Christmas Eve

 

2010 tamale making

 

2010 Christmas Eve

 

2011 was the first time we had tamale weekend at my house. I have an appalling lack of kitchen supplies, but we made it work. Also, living in So Cal, there's great places to buy masa.

2011 tamale making

 

2011 Christmas Eve

 

And that brings us to this Christmas. This was the first time I wasn't able to go to tamale weekend. Actually, my sisters couldn't make it either. My first thought was that I would buy tamales for Christmas Eve. There are so many places around us that sell amazing tamales. But my mom suggested I try it. Then I had a friend who said she wanted to give it a try and bought a pot. So, I got a few more friends together and spent an afternoon making tamales. I did have to call my mom a few times, but it was a success. We did burn one batch, but I consider that a success because I didn't really expect any of them to turn out. My filling was a little spicy, but had good flavor. We also made some sweet corn tamales. We enjoyed eating the finished product that night. Melodie didn't like the filling (I think it was too spicy for her), but she loved the corn ones.

I was very excited to serve tamales on Christmas Eve that I was more involved with making.

    2012 tamale making   

 

2012 Christmas Eve

                                         

 Oh yeah, see all those cookies? Another fun tradition...exchanging cookie plates with friends and neighbors.

 

When I called my mom to tell her the tamale making was successful, she responded with how happy she was that the tradition would continue. I agree.