Saturday, June 13, 2009

Dance Hair

We've been experimenting with hairdos, trying to find a good, easy way to curl her hair for the recital. I did some googling and I have to say, Thank God for the internet! I learned so much! I found some awesome blogs that give all kinds of hair ideas with step-by-step instructions and even videos! I only wish I had found these five years ago! She's almost too old for lots of these styles.

In case you're interested
http://babesinhairland.blogspot.com/
http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/
From these you can find many others...
So after doing all my research, we did her hair like this for Thursday night's practice:





























Adorable. But after an hour of practice, no more curls. Yep, she defintely has my hair:











So, we did some more research and tried this last night:

First some crazy buns:



She didn't sleep very well,

"like sleeping on rocks".



And this morning:


Umm, ya.










Well, it definitely stayed all day!:




Yikes. Well, something in between I think.....



Sorry for the weird layout of this post. Blogger doesn't like that many pics... Can't wait to see what it looks like when I actually post it. My blog is narrower. It should be a hot mess. Sorry, but I'm leaving it. =)

Louie Tricks

So, to keep our bird busy and out of trouble, we teach him occasional tricks. He's is so smart. He just started saying "Peek-a-boo", so clearly! Cute. We've taught him to flip upside down on our finger on command, turn around and put his wings up when we say "wings". Now that he's started doing certain things, the kids have been creating variations of them. Wes has taught Lou to raise his wings when he points his finger, like a gun, at him and says "put 'em up!" So adorable. Just wanted to share this cute shot...

Friday, June 05, 2009

Count down to the recital!



And the count is 2 weeks!


Here are some shots of picture night last week. I ran out of time with Kayla so couldn't get a "finished product" picture before we had to leave. And Jake wasn't ready either, but it gives you an idea of his costume. He's in Hip Hop this year and doing two dances and the opening number as well. I'm proud of him for being so brave & doing three dances for his first recital! Kayla is doing three, too, but this is her third recital. She's an old pro. She's doing Tap and Jazz this year.

They're getting excited and a little nervous. But their dancing has really improved this year! Kayla's more graceful and Jake has really picked up on rhythm!


I'll post some pictures of Kayla's costumes later...

Our ambitious garden

I love summer! We've planted quite a bit this year and I'm excited to see how they do. The only one I'm a little concerned about is the grape plant. Typical of me, I saw this cute little plant and thought how fun it would be to grow grapes. The kids love them, Louie loves them, I love them... After planting it (and it's taking off by the way) I saw a full grown grape vine! Wow, they get huge! Hmm, now I can't move the little guy. Guess I'll have to prune and train it...A LOT! So here's a picture of the grape (green grapes, yum!). We also planted a strawberry patch since they've done so well in the past in our yard. We're hoping this planter will be a permanent bed that we can enjoy every year. I'll post some pictures later this summer...

We also planted a squash bed. I love squash! So of course, I blocked out how big they get and how much space they need and purchased way more than I had room for. We planted patty pan, crookneck, zucchini, and cucumber ( I know it's not squash, but a similar plant). Since I know I don't have enough room, I'm trying the vertical growing thing for the first time. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to get them to climb those bamboo sticks, I may add some netting around the pyramid. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them! On another note, with the squash, we don't get many bees in our area. Therefore, in years past, I've had problems with the veggies pollinating. I would grow huge, wonderful vines, but the squash would never grow past a certain size. Well, after some research, I got pretty good at hand pollinating and have had some great crops. I'm happy to say, this year my kids are old enough to help! Now I won't have to go out with a flashlight and a q-tip at 4 in the morning anymore! I can just call my kids and remind them to do it! Yay! (The squash flowers only open in the morning, and the female flowers only open for one day, so if you miss that day, you miss your chance. I work early mornings and the flowers are usually closed by the time I get home. This is a time I wish I was close enough to go home on my lunch break!)

Those are the only interesting pictures I have. We've also planted tomatoes, raspberries, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, asparagus, and lots of herbs! We figured if we were going to go to all the effort of planting, it might as well be something we can eat! Also, it makes it fun for the kids. I still have garlic bulbs and some other seeds to plant. Maybe this weekend...