First Time Ever...

I put in hair extensions for Joeliana.  She LOVES THEM.  It took a few days, but she should be good to go for a month or so.  I have never done this before, but her hair is SO prone to tangles that I decided to give this a try as a protective style.  
Because I know that you will ask, here is where I learned to do this.

As Requested

Here is a picture of the back of Alia’s hair, per a new friends request at Where The Acorns Fall

And, yes, crzy4myfam, I do the girls hair myself.  I have looked at a lot of blogs and youtube videos and books to learn and I really do enjoy doing their hair!
Thank you so much for the sweet comments about Alia’s hair, our anniversary and the broke Bronco.  
The children set up a beautiful candle lit dinner for us downstairs for our anniversary Sunday night and served us...it was so nice.  

 I looked horrible...I wasn’t feeling too good.  What a precious and thoughtful thing for the children to do for our anniversary.  There were dozens of candles and they brought in our iron table from outside (after they tried to knock the snow off) and decorated it so beautifully.  Then, after they had served us, they went upstairs and took care of all the little one’s so that we could enjoy our special dinner.  

Steve did get home safely last night and the Bronco IS going to cost quite a pretty penny to fix.  We are going to attempt to tow it ourselves from Denver to our home here in Black Forest tomorrow, so that our most beloved and generous mechanic down the road can fix it, for less than what it would cost in Denver. 
Here are a few other fun pictures from our days...

 Precious Joeliana-we also call her Joeli-love.

 I picked this up at Hobby Lobby and we have been having so MUCH fun with it.

 Buzz Lightyear is saving the world from TheraPutty (I’ll tell you more about this amazing stuff later, but if you can’t wait, look on Amazon).

And Bible time with a baby...it take a lot of patience, discipline and creativity!  Thankfully, Kiana has all of those and is a great help!
Loves to you all!

I Had A Post, but...

Yep, I did...I had a post...something I feel is pretty important.  However, it will not be posted today...
Mercy, I have felt hormotional today.  Steve was gone all week last week and the weekend zipped by.  Monday seemed to have come to quickly and the morning presented us with just enough snow and ice to make driving difficult.  The only 4x4 that we have is my Baby.  So today, Steve left for Denver, where he works most days, in the “baby" - my Bronco.  I know you shouldn’t “love” a car, but I do have “deep affection” for my Bronco.  
Fast forward...it’s the end of the day, and I am finally stealing a few INTERRUPTED minutes to finish the post I wanted to put up and I get a phone call from Steve.  The clutch on the Bronco just broke and he is on the side of the road...which, by the way, we are under a wind chill advisory...it’s 5 below right now.  Last I heard my baby was being towed and Steve was trying to get a rent car so that he can get home.  I tried to keep working on THE post, but finally decided to wait.  
Soooooo,
here are the pictures of Alia’s hair that I did last week, because I did want to share them with you and may be today is a good day for them.

Here is her hair after corn row braids and a night of sleeping in satin covered sponge curlers (from Walmart). 

 This one shows her hair before I put it in a pony tail.

 And these two show her hair after I put the back in a pony tail.  It was really cute and she loved the curls.  And if she looks cold, that is because it was!!!  However, her crazy camera lovin’ mom wanted natural light...poor baby.  So she bucked up and put on a happy face for me, cuz, you know, she LOVES ME...isn’t it great to be loved!

Praying my man is home soon tonight.  By the way, we celebrated our 23 anniversary this weekend...but all I can think is that I am missing him.  And praying our Bronco is home soon and doesn’t cost too much to fix. 

Learning African Threading

My little African princesses are so beautiful and since the day that they have come home it has been a priority for me to learn to take care of their hair in the most natural and healthy way possible without destroying our budget.  It nearly killed me when one of my little princesses cut her hair last year!  However, it has come back beautifully and I wanted to try something new that I saw over at Nadine's GirlsLovesYourCurls.  It's called African Threading.  We have a Sally Beauty Supply here, so Steve stopped and bought me some black weaving thread and I was ready to go.  I started with Nadine's detangling and washing video's, and then began on the threading.


First, I love Nadine's YouTubes...she had a great sense of humor and she also explains what she is doing so well.


I also love the African threading because it is quicker and easier than micro-cornrows or box braids, yet I still feel that the girls hair is in a protective style.  I will be using this style more often and I would encourage any mother of a beautiful African daughter to give this a try.

And one more picture, just cuz she is so darn cute....love those eyes or what!!!!

What Is Today? Tuesday?

Do you ever have weeks where you "forget" what day it is? That is how I feel right now. I always get like this in summer because we are on a different and more relaxed schedule then during Autumn/Fall. The children have enjoyed sprinkler playing today.

I really do enjoy working on the girls hair. It's a little like art to practice different styles. Some styles work and some don't. Landon helped feed Keshawn while Garett and Kiana enjoyed their piano video from Dandy and Gommy - "Piano For Life".

Here's the final results from today.

Keshawn was really upset when we wouldn't let him chew on grass and stuff...."sorry baby".

Just cause she's cute....I told her she looks "Swedish".  Of course, Steve's family is straight from Holland, so she obviously took after his side of the family. We just say that my side of the family is "Texan". That pretty much sums it up.  I do think that she has a "Texas size" attiude...LOL.

Thankfully, it doesn't take long to make Keshawn happy again.

I'm relieved to have the girls hair finished. The lego's from yesterday are picked up, laundry is caught up and tomorrow is hair cut day for me and packing. 
Time to go make some yummy Sweet and Sour Chicken for supper.

Sometimes, Only Pictures Tell The Story....

I have 3 days to get my family ready for me to leave them for 5 days...including Keshawn, which I am already having serious problems leaving. It's just not right, but it is the best thing. I need to get two girls hair done so that daddy doesn't have to worry about that.  I started with the shortest and therefore, the hardest-Joeliana.  I was getting some hair makeover from Alia while I worked.

Every few years we introduce a new group of chicks to our flock of chickens so that we have a pretty steady flow of eggs, and I just love having my chickens outside the window to look at. I really enjoy them. Our baby chickens had just been released to be with the rest of the flock-a total of 33 chickens. Something happened that has never happened in 13 years. A fox finally tore through our fence and we woke up on Sunday to a carnage of feathers and chewed off heads (again, no pictures). We lost over 3/4 of our flock of chickens. It really did sicken me for those poor chickens, and for the money that we had just lost.  Also we have KILLED (not sure how) a total of 5 fish in 5 days. Oh well...Garett asked if we could cook them...NO!!!!  Only the ones I catch on purpose!!

Kiana has been trying so hard to learn how to braid her sister's hair.  She practiced braiding and beading Alia's hair before I need to get the serious job done in the next 2 days. This will be hard because I cut my braiding finger and it is now infected....sorry not pictures of that. 

Here is the labored finale of Joeliana's hair. I really stuggled trying to braid her short hair in a way that Steve would not have to worry with. I sure hope it last, at least until next weekend. 

Caresse, Kiana, Landon and Garett have really started pitching in more with Kalyn gone. I appreciate their help so much, however....

when I saw these all over the down stairs....

...and this mess in the school room...

...and saw this little guy laying on the couch sick....

well, I wished for her.

Kalyn is having an amazing time in Mx. We all miss her, but I am so glad that she is getting to experience missionary live with our precious friends that are totally family to us. So, this is one of those days that I don't really have much to say, but I'm thinking of you each. 
Landon is crying and not feeling well, so I must go to him. Sorry that I don't have anything better to write about, however, this is our life today.  I am thinking of you all.

Just Barely!!! and this and that...

Joeliana's hair is JUST BARELY long enough finally for me to corn row and box braid it. I am glad of this because keeping her hair in braids protects her hair as it is growing out and it looks nicer on those days that I don't have time to work with the loose hair.

SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE (except when she isn't!)

Show Off

These flowers gave up their lives for this...cute though, aren't they.

Double Adorableness

I surprised my two little girl darlin's with these adorable dresses (actually, we got four of them, because they are SO CUTE). I found Sallee at It's Poppy Dip through another blog friend and I am so glad that I did. 

In fact, Joeliana and Alia love them so much I am sure that I am going to have to order more...and I am going to have to beg Sallee for a larger size for Caresse also!! The prices are great, so I hope that you will visit her blog and  help support their adoption with these cute dresses. 
By the way, Joeliana's hair is finally getting longer...long enough for box braids all over, but not really long enough for cornrows yet. So we still keep it loose most of the time. And Alia's hair needed a break from the tiny cornrows, so I did something different. I put in the cornrow along the front, then did medium size twists all over her head (held at the end with clips). Then today, I took the twist out and fluffed her hair out. I am in love with this style, though it will not really last more than a day or two. Of course, I could probably re twist at night and then re fluff the next day...

Beautiful African Hair

I have promised to put up a post of my "how to" routine with the girls hair. Of course, since Joeliana's horrible surprise, I only have one little darlin' to work on. By the way, thank you to those who have offered suggestions on how to help Joeliana look cute while it grows out, especially thank you Cul-Ture-Queen mom and Beads, Braids and Beyond! for your help and suggestions!
The most often asked question is where did I learn to do the girls hair. I learned from three primary places....
two books - It's All Good Hair by Michele N-K Collison; Kids Talk Hair by Pamela Ferrell
and
I learned so much from the video's at Shuruba. From those videos I have also clicked over to YouTube and looked around for kids hair styles. I don't spend a lot of time on this, but occasionally it gives me motivation and ideas.
A few things I have learned is
-keep practicing, you will get better
-look for others to learn from...I love Beads, Braids, and Beyond! and Happy Girl Hair: Natural haircare for kids.
-have fun with it...learning to take care of my girls hair ended up being a wonderful bonding and attachment time for us. And I always tell them how beautiful they are. I really enjoy the time we spend on their hair.
So, yes...it does take a long time to do, however, a good style will last two to three weeks.
Here goes...
First, a bath...wash and condition hair. A friend gave us some Barry Fletcher products that I love (you could look this up on line), but normally I use Infusium 23 Moisturologie that I buy at Walmart. I use the Kakakiki Komb to carefully comb the conditioner through with. This is worth your money!

Now comes the blow drying. Not everyone does this step, however, my girls curls are so tight that this step helps me to braid later.

I lather tons of leave-in conditioner and sometime even Shea Butter Oil to add even more moisture into the hair. On high heat, low blow I CAREFULLY begin to "straighten" her hair with the above comb brush. I am VERY careful here...never pull. This takes time, but it helps me later, and I feel that the heat helps to condition the oils into her hair really well here.

BEFORE

AFTER

Now, I'm tired...(kidding, sort of)
Ohh, my new love...I have tried ALOT of styling products, but I think I have finally found my favorite...Happy Nappy Styles. This is my first time to use this when I braid the girls hair and I really like it.

This is where watching the video's at Shuruba will help you learn to braid, so I wont reteach what she did so well.

I got this style idea from Beads, Braids, and Beyond! I think is looks really cute on Alia.

I hope this is helpful!
Have fun!