Heart Hair

Baby is due today, but so far she's been comfy and there's not a sign she's ready to come out. That could all change in an instant, but I'm glad that so far we've done some of our fun Valentine things. Before she makes her appearance I wanted to first share the fun things I did to Melodie's hair. Last year was my first attempt and it turned out pretty cute. I did heart pigtails. The idea and instructions came from my favorite hair blog.

So this is how Mel wore her hair to kindergarten last year. She looked adorable.

This year I did three days of heart hair. We started on Tuesday (there wasn't school on Monday) and today was our third day. Here's Tuesday's hair style, again from my favorite hair blog. It's called a twist-braided heart.

Not bad, but next time I'd but the top part closer together. When getting ready for school I don't have a lot of time to fix mistakes like I used to, but I still think it's a pretty style.

 

Here's Wednesday's hair style. I saw a picture of these three interlocking hearts on pinterest, but it didn't link to a website. I figured that making the hearts would be the same as the ones I did last year, and then I just played with it to do the best I could.

It looks good from the side, but I didn't like the look so much from the front. I think if I were to try it again I'd try the interlocking hearts in the back.

And here's the one from today. It's called heart down from this blog. I've been wanting to try this one for a while. Mine didn't turn out as perfect as hers, but I still think it's pretty. When I do it again, I'd make the weave part a little tighter. I think that would help.

 Happy Valentine's Day!

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.

Christmas Tree Pictures

A few years ago I switched from regular Christmas cards (which I love) to the photo ones. You know, the ones where you just plug in a picture to a website and order as many as you need. I had resisted for a while, but my kid was just so cute! In 2008 I took her to Downtown Disney (DTD) to take pictures of her in her Christmas dress by their beautiful tree.

I don't claim to be a photographer. I have a simple point and shoot camera I barely know how to use. I am not creative with poses. But I had a great time. It was slightly challenging to get a 2 year old to hold still, but she's such a ham. We both had fun.

And then I remembered that the various Disneyland hotels would had trees in their lobbies. So we took pictures by the trees at the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier Hotel, and the Grand Californian as well.

This was a little more difficult because I can never get the lighting quite right. It was also fun just seeing the different trees. I ended up using a picture of her in front of the DTD tree.

The next year I knew I wanted to do the same thing. Again, we had fun. This year she started doing poses, which I thought were hilarious.

Besides trees in the hotels, we found Santa's photo spot at DLH. Without him there, we could take as much time as we wanted taking pictures in front of the amazing set up they have.

 We skipped 2010 because we went to Walt DisneyWorld in Oct/Nov. They started putting up Christmas decorations in Nov so we used pictures from the trip.

2011 we went back again. This time there were a lot more poses that Melodie wanted to try.

And that brings us to this year. We were so excited. It was threatening rain, so we quickly went to DTD since that's the only tree that is outside. It wasn't there. Instead there was a Disney Fairies ice skating rink. I was pretty sad. They did have a little photo op spot with two snow covered trees. But I really like traditional Christmas colors. These trees were decorated in pink, blue, lime green and purple. I went with it anyway, because that's why we were there.

The DTD pictures are the two on the left. We also never made it to the Grand Californian because it started raining. It wasn't quite worth the walk over there because it had started raining and the tree is so orange.

 Next year I'll be doing this with two kids!

Meet Princess Minnie

 I did have intentions of being a really dedicated blogger, but who knew I'd feel this yucky all the time? I have finally accepted that I'll just be sick this whole pregnancy. It only took 6 months for me to give up hope, but at least there's only 3 months of nausea left.
 So, what did we do while I'm not feeling well and with a new baby coming? Get a new puppy of course!
 It wasn't expected. I'm still not okay from saying goodbye to our two dogs we had for over 10 years.
Everyone knows Jock was my favorite. Trusty was really Rocky's dog.

 

 Friends of ours got two puppies. They brought them to visit in August. They weren't sure if they still wanted two because the puppies would just play together and not with the children. They were adorable.

 Our friends were thinking of finding a new home for Kris, but still weren't sure. At the end of the month they asked if we could watch the dogs for a weekend. This turned into, "Why don't you keep Kris a little longer to see if you want her?" So we did. Melodie and Rocky quickly fell in love with her. I was excited that Melodie liked her. She didn't really care about our other dogs. It's not that she didn't like them, she just didn't care if they were around her or not. But she really liked Kris. However, we didn't care for the name, and in an effort of wanting Melodie to feel this might be more her dog than the others were, I asked what she would name Kris if we kept her. Princess. I was not going to call a dog Princess. In an effort to compromise, we decided to add another name. Melodie wanted Minnie after Minnie Mouse. I was okay with that since our other two dogs had Disney names. So, Princess Minnie kind of had a new name. She must have been confused for a while because we changed between calling her Kris, Princess Minnie and Minnie.

By this time, Rocky and Melodie were sure we were going to keep her. I was still not sure I was ready to "replace" Jock and I know puppies are a lot of work. Since I wasn't feeling well, I knew I wasn't up to the task. But watching Melodie with "her dog" was a big push in the direction of keeping her. Then one day I found myself at the pet store with Melodie and Minnie and we bought a dog tag.

 It was official. She was ours. Everyone knew she was ours long before I accepted it. She's a pretty good puppy. She chews on everything, but that's what puppies do. She has a lot of energy, but so does Melodie. She still doesn't fetch with a ball or walk on a leash as well as I want her to, but we're working on it. She's the first dog I've had that loves to bury things. I love watching her play outside with Melodie. Melodie and Minnie are great friends, although Melodie does get a little annoyed when Minnie doesn't do what she wants.

 After having her for about a month, one eye started to look funny. A friend of ours told us it was cherry eye. I'd never seen that before. We massaged it back in, but it turned red again. I took her to the vet and scheduled surgery. We had to wait a little bit because she was in the middle of puppy boosters. During that time, the other eye developed cherry eye too. For a time they didn't bother her, but a few days before they surgery she started scratching at her eyes. I had to put a cone of shame on her.

 

Look at her poor eyes! The surgery went well, and in a few days she was back to normal. I was NOT happy with the amount of money we had to spend, but I left it up to Rocky and he said we were doing it.

 When Halloween came around Melodie wanted to get Minnie a Halloween costume. I don't care for dressing up dogs, but Melodie asked every time we went to the pet store. A few days before Halloween, all the Halloween stuff was 75% off. There wasn't much of a selection left, but for $5 we got her a Halloween scrunchie collar things, a witch hat and a skirt.

Poor Minnie tried to get the hat and skirt off for about five minutes. Unfortunately it was kind of funny, so we put it on her a few times. She would finally accept her fate, but not happily. The scrunchie collar thing didn't bother her at all and I actually didn't mind it either.

In fact, Rocky and Mel just bought her a Christmas one. The bad thing about that one is that it has jingle bells on it. That's a little annoying.

 She's been fun to have around, but she's so funny.

We have two perfectly good dog houses, but she hangs out in the play structure instead. Maybe it's because the houses smell like Jock and Trusty. I don't know, but she doesn't really think she belongs outside anyway. Her favorite toy is this hideous blue cat. She shakes it, plays fetch with it, walks around with it in her mouth and is very upset that I won't let her take it outside to bury it. She also sits and lays down in the funniest positions.
 The week of Thanksgiving we took her to the dog beach. We'd never been there before, but since she has so much energy we thought it would be fun for her.

I think she was in heaven. We'll definately go again.
 I'm still not sure I was ready for another dog, but she's growing on me. As I was looking at all these pictures, it struck me how she doesn't really even look as much like a puppy as she used to. That actually made me a little sad.